c. 2005 Religion News Service
Thousands of Israelis Mark 10th Anniversary of Rabin’s Assassination
JERUSALEM (RNS) Thousands of religious and secular Israelis marked the 10th anniversary of the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on Monday (Nov. 14) by participating in a National Day of Dialogue organized by the Jerusalem-based Gesher organization.
Rabin was assassinated by Yigal Amir, an Orthodox Jew who opposed Rabin’s plans to relinquish land _ what religious Jews view as the biblical Land of Israel _ to the Palestinians.
The assassination increased pre-existing tensions between religious and secular Jews, and led to a re-evaluation of Zionism and Jewish values.
The annual event, which is the largest gathering of Jews from different religious perspectives, took on added significance this year due to the Israeli disengagement from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank in August, an event that similarly fragmented Israeli society along religious lines.
The annual Day of Dialogue, which was launched in response to Rabin’s murder, began with morning prayers at the home of Israel’s president, Moshe Katsav. Ordinary citizens then met in two giant tents erected at a busy Jerusalem plaza. There, religious and secular high school and university students, soldiers and passersby participated in round-table discussions led by trained Gesher facilitators. Several lectures were devoted to the theme of “Soul Searching” by different segments of the population.
Gesher also distributed 1,000 dialogue manuals to high schools, community centers and Israel Defense Forces educational officers. The manuals explored the theme of reconciliation through local Day of Dialogue programs.
Dr. Daniel Tropper, founder and director of Gesher, noted that “over the summer, we realized that our major challenge would be to reassemble the broken pieces of Israeli society the day after disengagement.”
_ Michele Chabin
Bush Asked to Push for Religious Freedom in China
(RNS) A U.S. commission monitoring religious freedom is asking President Bush to pressure the Chinese government to end its crackdown on Protestant, Catholic and other religious groups.
The request, by the Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), comes as Bush prepares for a Nov. 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea, followed by a visit with Chinese officials in Beijing.
USCIRF Chair Michael Cromartie said that just a few days ago a man in China was sentenced to three years in prison for selling Bibles. Cromarties said the man was a pastor of an evangelical church in China and had refused to register his church with the government.
“A lot of churches don’t want to be controlled by the Chinese government,” Cromartie said.
He noted that religion is “booming” in China, which makes the Chinese government uncomfortable.
“The government wants to be able to control it. It’s making the Chinese government a little nervous,” he said.
The commission has turned to the U.S. government for help after making a recent trip to China and discovering religious and political freedom in China is not advancing as the USCIRF hoped it would.
Cromartie added that economic freedom in China is not leading to human rights protection. Instead, individual freedoms in China are slowly diminishing.
“Through the State Department and the president we have to insist that China live up to its own government,” Cromartie said.
_ Tracy Simmons
Editors: To obtain a photo photo of Bar-Ilan University Professor Aren Maeir holding a ceramic shard with the “Goliath” inscription, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.
Scholars: `Goliath’ Shard Supports Bible Timeline
JERUSALEM (RNS) Although the inscription on a ceramic shard discovered during an archaeological dig probably does not refer to the biblical Goliath, the artifact’s age and inscriptions may be consistent with a period referred to in the biblical text.
Aren Maeir, chairman of the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology at Bar Ilan University, which carried out the excavations, said in a statement released by the university that the shard comes from a time period “which is depicted in the biblical text.”
The Book of I Samuel relates that Goliath, a Philistine giant, fought the much younger and smaller David, but lost the battle when David hit Goliath’s head with a stone propelled from a slingshot.
Maeir noted that the shard has been dated scientifically to a period just 50 to 100 years after David and Goliath would have lived, according to biblical historians. For this reason, he added, “recent attempts” by some scholars “to claim that Goliath can only be understood in the context of the later phases of the Iron Age are unwarranted.”
Although the inscription is written in Proto-Canaanite (Semitic) letters, the names mentioned belong to the linguistic family of ancient Greek and related languages. This lends credence to the long-held belief that the Philistines initially had roots in the Aegean region, before migrating to the Holy Land.
Despite the inscription’s uncanny similarity to the name Goliath, Maeir told the Jerusalem Post that the statistical odds of it directly relating to the Philistine giant are “small if nonexistent.”
A Purdue University Libraries professor who invented a system to determine whether ancient inscriptions apply to people in the Bible has come to a similar conclusion.
Lawrence Mykytiuk, associate professor of library science at the school in West Lafayette, Ind., says the pottery shard found in Israel probably does not refer to the biblical Goliath but does lend credence to the story surrounding him.
“This is evidence that non-Semitic names that are remarkably similar to Goliath were used within the time frame of this Philistine warrior in his reputed hometown of Gath,” Mykytiuk said. “It provides well-grounded cultural background that supports the biblical narrative.”
_ Michele Chabin
Dalai Lama Says All Religions `More or Less the Same’
WASHINGTON (RNS) Despite surface divisions, the fundamental compassion of religion holds the key to world peace, the Dalai Lama told an audience at a celebration of his 70th birthday.
“I’m Buddhist, but I can see the value of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and so on,” he said.
In broken but forceful English, the Tibetan spiritual leader told nearly 16,000 gathered in Washington’s MCI Center Sunday (Nov. 13) that civilization must realize there can be more than one truth.
“In order to have genuine faith, you need to have one truth, one religion. But that does not mean you lose respect for those of other traditions,” the self-described “simple Buddhist monk” said.
Religions become counter-productive to world order when they neglect the fundamental values of compassion, kindness and self-discipline that make them “more or less the same,” he said.
“If a religion only creates problems, I think we have the right to append that religion,” he said.
Compassion also holds the key to nuclear disarmament, more effective journalism and productive education, he said.
The Dalai Lama, whose title literally means “ocean teacher” or one whose religion is as great as the ocean, is the 14th head of state and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people in an unbroken chain dating to 1391. After China annexed Tibet in 1959, he fled to India and began traveling the world to gain support for Tibetan autonomy _ a mission he continues to this day.
While he turned 70 in July, birthday celebrations have been conducted throughout the year.
The speech came halfway into the Dalai Lama’s 10-day visit to the nation’s capital, which has included meetings with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The spiritual leader urged the U.S. government to support his efforts for increased dialogue with China.
_ Jason Kane
Former Southern Baptist President Adrian Rogers Has Double Pneumonia
(RNS) Former Southern Baptist Convention President Adrian Rogers has been hospitalized with double pneumonia, his Memphis, Tenn.-based ministry said.
The 74-year-old retired pastor has undergone antibiotic treatments since his hospitalization on Nov. 3, reported Love Worth Finding, his broadcast ministry.
The organization has been posting daily updates on its Web site, noting on Sunday (Nov. 13) that “his condition appears to be declining” and on Monday that “his condition remains the same.”
The Monday update, which continued requests for prayer, explained how Rogers contracted pneumonia while being treated with chemotherapy for colon cancer.
“Due to complications, a blood clot has formed in his lungs causing double pneumonia,” it said. “He is currently on a ventilator to help his breathing.”
Earlier in his hospital stay, Rogers, who is known for his deep preaching voice, apparently attempted to continue to preach even though the ventilator rendered him temporarily speechless.
“It was told that during a visit he was `signing’ Scripture and those in the room were being challenged to guess which Scripture he was gesturing,” the Web site reported.
Rogers retired from Bellevue Baptist Church in the Memphis suburb of Cordova in March. He underwent heart surgery last year and was diagnosed with colon cancer earlier this year.
In June, the Southern Baptist Convention honored Rogers with a resolution of appreciation that called him “the pre-eminent pulpiteer among Southern Baptists.” The three-time president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination was credited with taking the first steps that led to the Southern Baptist Convention’s conservative resurgence that began in 1979.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Pentecostal Bishop G.E. Patterson
(RNS) “Some were literally shocked to see me come in here today. But the saints of God know it’s not time yet, and it doesn’t matter how many of your enemies say you’re going to die.”
_ Bishop G.E. Patterson of the Church of God in Christ, the nation’s largest Pentecostal denomination, referring to concerns about his health at the 98th annual Holy Convocation. He was quoted by The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn.
MO/JL END RNS
