c. 2005 Religion News Service
On Way to Mosque, Stampede Kills Hundreds of Iraqis
(RNS) In the largest Iraqi loss since a U.S.-led coalition invaded the country in 2003, between 600 and 1,000 Muslims died in a stampede during a Shiite religious pilgrimage in Baghdad on Aug. 31.
Some Iraqi government officials said they feared the number of dead could eventually exceed 1,000.
The deaths came as thousands of Shiite pilgrims made their way over a crowded bridge toward the Kadhimiya mosque in the northern Baghdad suburb of Kazmain.
Iraqi Defense Minister Saadun al-Dulaim told Iraqi TV that “a certain scream caused chaos in the crowds,” leading to the stampede, in which many were crushed to death. Bridge railings collapsed and other pilgrims fell or jumped to their death in the Tigris River below, according to the BBC.
According to Reuters, two top Shiite officials blamed insurgents for the attack, claiming they had deliberately spread a rumor that a suicide bomber was among the crowd, thus sparking the panic.
But al-Dulaim said most of the deaths were not related to insurgent activity, according to the BBC. He said seven or eight civilians were killed in an insurgent mortar attack earlier in the procession.
Hussein Hirji Walji, president of the Organization of North American Shia Ithna-Asheri Muslim Communities, said that under Saddam Hussein’s rule few Shiite pilgrims had been allowed to visit the mosque and its surroundings.
“Obviously that area is not equipped to handle large numbers of people, resulting in this disaster,” he said from Minneapolis. Walji said the Shiite community in the U.S. would hold special prayers for the victims of the tragedy.
Worshippers in Iraq were marking the martyrdom of Imam Musa al-Kazim, the seventh imam in the Twelver Shiite tradition. Shiites believe that Imam Musa and his grandson were buried at the Kazmain shrine.
Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari has declared three days of mourning for the victims, according to Reuters.
In Washington, the largest U.S. Muslim civil rights group issued a statement.
“We offer sincere condolences to the loved ones of all those who died or were injured in this tragic incident and pray that the people of Iraq will one day be able to live in peace and security,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
_ Andrea Useem
Poll Shows Democrats Losing Effort to Appear Religion-Friendly
WASHINGTON (RNS) Democrats are losing their effort to convince voters that they take religion seriously, especially among independent voters who say the party has become less “friendly” to religion, according to a new Pew poll.
At the same time, voters seem concerned that religious conservatives among Republicans, and secularists among Democrats, have too much sway in the two parties. Independents seem more concerned about religious conservatives in the GOP than secularists among Democrats.
The poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that fewer than one-third of voters see the Democrats as “friendly” to religion _ down from 40 percent last year. The drop has been sharpest among independents, down to just 24 percent from 43 percent last year.
The GOP continues to be seen as friendly to religion by 55 percent of Americans, a figure that has changed little since 2003.
Roughly one-third of both Republicans and Democrats say religious conservatives and secularists have too much power within their parties, and core loyalists in both parties are equally critical of the other.
Two-thirds of those surveyed said liberals have “gone too far” in trying to keep religion out of schools and government. Respondents were more evenly split _ at about 45 percent each _ on whether Christian conservatives have “gone too far” in trying to impose their religious values on the country.
Bare majorities of about 52 percent said Republicans are more concerned with protecting religious values and that Democrats are more concerned with preserving individual freedoms.
The poll of 2,000 adults, conducted July 7-17, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Orthodox Want Church Built on Site of Russian Tragedy
BESLAN, Russia (RNS) Russian Orthodox Church officials are proposing that a church be built in the ruins of Beslan’s School No. 1, where 331 people, more than half of them children, were killed a year ago in the worst terrorist attack in modern Russian history.
Bishop Feofan of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz met with President Taimuraz Mamsurov of North Ossetia, where Beslan is located, to discuss the proposal last week. The plan would see a church built around the school’s shattered gymnasium, where nearly 1,200 people were held captive after armed militants seized the school on Sept. 1, 2004, and demanded that Russia end its 10-year campaign to crush a separatist movement in nearby Chechnya.
After a 53-hour siege, Russian forces stormed the school amid gunfire and explosions.
Debate has been raging over what to do with the ruins of the school, which remain largely untouched from a year ago. Many Beslan residents want to see the school maintained in its current form as a memorial to the victims. Some say building a Christian church on the site would send the wrong signal in Beslan, which is home to many Muslims.
“This is not a good idea, many people are opposed to this,” said Julietta Bassieva, a member of the Beslan Mothers’ Committee, a support and lobby group for families of the victims.
Three days of official mourning were scheduled, beginning with a candlelight vigil for the victims early on Thursday (Sept. 1). Ceremonies were scheduled across Russia.
Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II was scheduled to lead a requiem service for the victims in Moscow on Thursday. In a statement, Alexei called on Russians to pray for survivors and families of the victims.
“On these commemoration days of sorrow, when all of us join in mourning, the Russian Orthodox Church expresses her profound sympathy and spiritual support to the people who lost their loved ones,” the statement read. “Sympathy and prayers will help them overcome the pain of the loss and give them the strength to live.”
_ Michael Mainville
Israel’s Supreme Court Forbids Destruction of Settlement Synagogues
JERUSALEM (RNS) Israel’s Supreme Court issued an interim stop order Tuesday (Aug. 30), forbidding the government from destroying synagogues in settlements Israel evacuated.
The stop order will remain in effect at least until Sunday (Sept. 4), when the court will convene for a second time to discuss the future of the synagogues in Gaza and the northern West Bank, which were slated for destruction along with the settlements’ other buildings.
Israel evicted 9,000 Jewish settlers in a six-day military operation that began on Aug. 15.
On Aug. 23 the court ruled that the army could destroy all 30 synagogues and eight yeshivas and seminaries, as long as all portable items _ from pews to stained-glass windows _ were first salvaged for use in new synagogues.
At the time, the army expressed concerns that extremist Palestinians would desecrate the synagogues once Israel relinquishes the abandoned territory to the Palestinians in the coming weeks.
Reflecting the sensitivity of the issue, the court decided to reconvene following an appeal by Israeli’s two chief rabbis.
Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger, who head the chief rabbinical council, ruled Aug. 25 that the army’s planned destruction of religious institutions would violate Jewish law and perhaps motivate Jews to stop fighting for former synagogues confiscated throughout the world.
Instead, the rabbis said, the government should insist that the Palestinian Authority protect the synagogues, a pledge that would be enforced by guarantees from several international governments.
_ Michele Chabin
Christians Sentenced for Allowing Muslims to Attend Sunday School
(RNS) Three Indonesian women who ran a Christian Sunday school program were convicted and sentenced Thursday (Sept. 1) to three years in prison for allowing Muslim children to attend their school.
The judges cited the Child Protection Act of 2002, which forbids “deception, lies or enticement” of children that might lead to their conversion.
The program, called “Happy Sunday,” was run out of the homes of the three women, Rebekka Zakaria, Eti Pangesti and Ratna Bangun. Launched in September 2003, the program’s purpose was to provide Christian education for Christian students. As it grew in popularity, though, the women admitted some Muslim students who had verbal consent from their parents.
According to media reports, none of the Muslim students converted to Christianity, and the teachers sent home any students who did not have parental permission to attend.
The women were arrested in May after their school was closed by the Muslim Clerics Council. According to the human rights organization Jubilee Campaign USA, based in Fairfax, Va., the Clerics Council and other Muslim groups shut down 35 churches in August and at least 60 in the past year.
Religious freedom experts worry that the conviction signifies a shift in the attitude toward religious minorities in Indonesia, which is home to the world’s largest Muslim population.
“It’s especially troubling and worrisome since it occurred in Indonesia, a country long known for its relative religious freedom,” Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at Freedom House’s Center for Religious Freedom, told Compass Direct, a Christian news organization that monitors religious freedom around the world.
“If it signifies the future direction of the country, the consequences will be terrible,” he said.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Papal Apartment to Be Refurbished for New Pope
VATICAN CITY (RNS) For the first time in 30 years, the Vatican’s papal apartment is getting a major facelift.
It includes an expansion of the study and the addition of a jet-black grand piano to replace the worn instrument then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is said to have used for late-night renditions of the works of Mozart and Beethoven.
The apartment was last refurbished in 1975, near the end of the papacy of Paul VI. John Paul I, who was pope for just 33 days in 1978, did not have time to make any changes to the 16th-century building, and John Paul II is said to have been unparticular about the state of his living quarters.
When Ratzinger was installed as Benedict XVI in April, little could be done to the apartment except apply a coat of fresh paint and remove the medical equipment placed there during John Paul’s final days.
But now, taking advantage of the fact that Benedict has not spent the night at the apartment since July and is likely to stay away until late September, the papal residence is getting a complete makeover.
The part requiring the most work is the expansion of the papal study _ the room from which John Paul often addressed the crowds in St. Peter’s Square _ which will double in size, mostly at the expense of nearby office space for support staff. The adjacent study of Don Georg Gaenswein, Benedict’s personal secretary, is also being improved.
Additionally, three lay nuns assigned to look after the pontiff’s needs will each have her own room, rather than a single room for the three of them, as in the past.
New furniture _ Vatican media has described it as “modern and simple” _ is being brought in to replace older furnishings. The centerpiece will be the piano, imported from Benedict’s native Germany. The pontiff is known to be a fan of classical music and an accomplished pianist.
Benedict moved into the papal residence April 30, exactly four weeks after John Paul II’s death, and stayed there every night until July 11, when he left for a vacation in the Italian Alps.
The pope is to return to the Vatican in late September, once the renovations are complete.
_ Eric J. Lyman
Katrina Shifts Focus of Separate Islamic, Baptist Meetings
(RNS) Two religious organizations that were holding their annual meetings have quickly turned their attention to victims of Hurricane Katrina.
A coalition of U.S. Muslim groups meeting at the convention of the Islamic Society of North America in Chicago announced Sunday (Sept. 4) a pledge to raise $10 million in humanitarian relief. Meanwhile, the president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, whose meeting began Monday in Atlanta, has designated the first three Sundays of the month as “Katrina Disaster Relief Sundays” for his congregations.
The Islamic coalition announced the formation of a Muslim Hurricane Relief Task Force to coordinate its aid. Members include the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Circle of North America, the Islamic Society of North America, the Muslim American Society and others.
“It is a national and Islamic obligation to assist one’s neighbors when they are in need,” said Sayyid Syeed, secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America, in a statement.
“The American Muslim community pledges to do its part in helping those Americans, of all faiths, who suffered such great losses in lives and property.”
The Rev. William J. Shaw, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, said in a statement that his denominational meeting, which ends Friday, will include a report from the three states most affected by the hurricane.
“The convention prays fervently for all who suffer from this catastrophic disaster,” he said in his statement. “Its ripple fallout will impact not only the direct victims in the area but millions across the country in higher food, fuel, home and other related costs.”
In addition to the fund-raising effort, the denomination’s Web site features a “Katrina Connections” project that allows people who have been displaced by the hurricane to send e-mail messages to let others know how they are and where they are located.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Katrina Swanson, Pioneering Female Priest of Episcopal Church, Dies
(RNS) She was part of a group of women called the “Philadelphia 11,” who became the first female Episcopal priests 31 years ago in a controversial ceremony that received national attention.
Four years later, the Rev. Katrina Swanson became the first woman rector in the New York metropolitan area, serving at St. John’s Parish in Union City under the Right Rev. John Shelby Spong, then a liberal bishop from Newark, N.J.
Swanson died Aug. 27 of colon cancer at her home in Manset, Maine. She was 70.
Her relatives remembered her as a proud pioneer for the church who had a strong social conscience, an adventurous spirit, and a popular, take-no-guff attitude with church children.
“She was tough,” said the Rev. George Swanson, her husband, citing her experience running after-school basketball programs in the church gym. “If you swore in her gym, she had the whistle, and she’d say, `Jose, you’re out!’ She’d say, `Jose, I know you’re OK, but you’re out for today, you can come back tomorrow.’ … People she would rebuke loved her.”
Katrina Swanson had wanted to join the clergy since her teenage years, but she knew it was not permitted.
Still, in 1967, she consulted with her father, Bishop Edward Randolph Welles II. One of four Episcopal priests in her family, Welles gave her his support and ordained her in 1974 after her six years of private study.
After her ordination, her husband made her an assistant priest at his church in Kansas City, Mo., but the bishop there, the Right Rev. Arthur Vogel, made him fire her. The same bishop later disciplined her for three months, threatening a church trial over her ordination.
At St. John’s in Union City, she started an after-school program that eventually served 100 children and instituted bilingual services.
“She would speak in the service in a way that wasn’t biased in gender,” said William Swanson, one of her two sons. “Where it said `Lord,’ she would say `Leader’ … because traditionally a lord in a court or lord of the house is a masculine term.”
She retired to Maine with her husband in 1996, taking up beekeeping, watercolor and oil painting, organic gardening and dancing.
Swanson’s body was cremated. A three-day memorial and symposium on liberty and justice will be held in her honor next July at St. Saviour’s Church in Bar Harbor, Maine.
_ Jeff Diamant
In a First, Muslim Model Crowned Miss England
(RNS) A teenage model born in Uzbekistan has become the first Muslim to be crowned Miss England.
Hammasa Kohistani, 18, is a model and student of design who was born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. But since she was a young child, she has been living in Uxbridge, one of London’s westernmost suburbs. She speaks six languages, including Russian, Persian and French.
Three others among the 40 contestants were also Muslims: 21-year-old Dilay Topuzoglu, a telemarketing operator; 23-year-old Sarah Mendly, a sales representative; and 22-year-old Sonia Hassanien, a beauty salon owner.
Kohistani, crowned Saturday (Sept. 3) in Liverpool, is now one of the contenders to become Miss World in a contest to be decided in China in December.
Historically, beauty pagents have been controversial for Muslims because some believe scantily clad contestants violate Islamic principles of modesty. Abdul Hamid, vice chairman of the Lancashire Board of Mosques, criticized Mendly for taking part.
“If she has chosen to take part in this context, she immediately goes out of the circle of Islam,” he said. “This competition is business-orientated and has no social significance whatsoever. It is not correct for her to take part.”
_ Robert Nowell
`Lutheran Handbook’ Selling Briskly
(UNDATED) Move over Garrison Keillor. Sure, “A Prairie Home Companion” has poked fun at Lutherans for almost 30 years, but now Lutheran theologians are claiming their own place in the comic spotlight.
We refer all doubting Thomases to “The Lutheran Handbook” on “How to Tell a Sinner From a Saint.” Or “What to Bring to a Church Potluck (by Region),” “How to Avoid Being Burned at the Stake” or “How to Banish the Devil From Your Presence” (Martin Luther himself suggests breaking wind).
This handy little book, which also includes serious sections such as “Five Important Things the Lutheran Reformers Wrote (or Translated) and Why They’re Still Important Today” and a modern translation of Luther’s “Small Catechism,” is flying off bookshelves. Since April, 50,000 copies have been printed, says a spokesman for Augsburg Fortress, official publisher for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Two Oregon pastors, who own their own copies of “The Lutheran Handbook: A Field Guide to Church Stuff, Everyday Stuff, and the Bible” ($14.99, 227 pages), are among its biggest fans.
The Rev. Suzan H. Farley, pastor of St. James Lutheran Church in Portland, Ore., says the funny, functional handbook will appeal to young people who are used to seeing serious subjects infused with humor (such as “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”).
“It’s a question of whether we can bring humanity into the Bible and our faith,” Farley says. “People come to Christianity through relationships, not because of doctrine and not because of Bible classes.”
“Humor is such a part of being human,” says the Rev. Tom Hiller, the interim pastor at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Cornelius, Ore. “Martin Luther was a funny guy,” he insists. “Lutherans can laugh.”
Which reminds the two pastors of their favorite denominational joke: How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb? They answer in chorus: “None; we don’t believe in change.”
_ Nancy Haught
Quote of the Week: Evangelist Billy Graham
(RNS) “The disaster of Hurricane Katrina may be the worst tragedy America has known since the Civil War. … It may be the greatest opportunity to demonstrate God’s love in this generation.”
_ Evangelist Billy Graham, in a Friday (Sept. 2) statement.
MO/PH END RNS
