c. 2006 Religion News Service
Britain’s Parliament Report Says Anti-Semitism is “Rising Tide”
LONDON (RNS) Britain’s Parliament said Thursday (Sept. 7) that anti-Semitism has become a part of “mainstream society” and that the nation’s 300,000 Jews are more vulnerable to attack now than they have been for a generation.
The report, issued Thursday (Sept. 7) by a parliamentary committee set up last year, called on the government, police, prosecutors, universities and the Jewish community itself to take urgent action to stem what it described as a “rising tide of prejudice.”
The parliamentarians said attacks on British Jews and their property have been steadily increasing since 2000 _ more than 530 such cases were reported in 2004 alone. It cited growing violence and tensions in the Middle East as an aggravating cause.
Dennis McShane, chairman of the 14-member All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-Semitism (none of whom was Jewish), said anti-Semitic sentiment “is appearing in the everyday conversations of people who consider themselves neither racist nor prejudiced” _ behavior he described as “driven by ignorance and complacency.”
The 60-page report said such behavior appears to be increasingly acceptable in “mainstream society” and that anti-Semitism “is no longer the sole preserve of the political far-right, but occurs across the political spectrum, including the left.”
The panel’s recommendations include a crackdown of anti-Jewish activity on university campuses, improved police reporting of anti-Semitic incidents and better education about anti-Semitism in schools.
The report said that the lack of a requirement that police forces log anti-Semitic incidents was “inexcusable.” It also lamented the failure of legal follow-up,including the prosecution of fewer than one in 10 such incidents.
The parliamentary report comes days after Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the chief rabbis of Israel signed a joint declaration setting out a framework for a formal dialogue between the 77-million worldwide Anglican Communion and Judaism.
The archbishop’s Lambeth Palace office in London said the pact “adds to the growing network of bilateral and multilateral dialogues between religious leaders in the Middle East and in the wider world.”
_ Al Webb
Ohio Backers Brace for Attacks on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
(RNS) Ohio scientists are bracing themselves for what they say is another effort to undermine Darwin’s theory of evolution.
At issue is a proposal before a State Board of Education committee, which meets Monday (Sept. 11) that would provide science teachers with guidelines for teaching hot-button topics.
Supporters say it addresses something largely missing in Ohio’s academic standards: lessons forcing students to think critically about complex issues.
But critics say it is a deliberate attempt to undermine science by encouraging students to question the validity of evolution, stem cell research and global warming.
“There’s no scientific controversy associated with any of them,” said Case Western Reserve University physicist Lawrence Krauss. “They are socially controversial issues, not scientifically controversial. By calling something controversial, you cast aspersions on it.”
Nonsense, said board member Deborah Owens Fink, who supports the proposal. Fink said one of the frequent criticisms of academic standards is that too often students learn facts and information just to pass a test.
“There’s nothing sinister or undercover here,” Fink said. “Students should be able to debate and discuss these kinds of issues. Anyone who says students shouldn’t is, I think, the group that has some kind of agenda.”
It was not clear whether the proposal will be voted on by the board’s Achievement Committee when it meets Monday, but critics of the proposal are taking no chances.
Campaign to Defend the Constitution, which calls itself an online grass-roots movement, has flooded board members with more than 14,000 e-mails urging them to reject the proposal.
_ Scott Stephens
Progressive Christians Finish Cross-Country Trek
(RNS) Progressive Christian activists finished their 41/2-month trek across the country Sunday (Sept. 3) at a Methodist church in Washington, D.C.
Organized by CrossWalk America, the march started in Phoenix on Easter (April 16) and covered 2,500 miles, ending with the rally Sunday at Foundry United Methodist Church.
Ten people walked the whole way and more than 11,000 participated in some way, most helping with lodging and food, said Rebecca Glenn, CrossWalk’s co-founder and co-president.
“We have a long-term goal of changing the face of Christianity in this country,” Glenn said.
Participants carried a copy of The Phoenix Affirmations, 12 progressive Christian principles. Glenn said the walk raised about $280,000 and that the money is going toward funding the walk, “getting the word out,” and a documentary about the experience.
Speakers at the rally included Diana Butler Bass, the director of a Lilly Endowment-funded study on mainline Protestantism; Harry Knox, a former Methodist pastor and director of the Human Rights Campaign Religion and Faith Program; James Burklo, a Presbyterian pastor and executive council member of The Center for Progressive Christianity; and Sushama Austin-Connor, the western regional manager for The Stillspeaking Initiative of the United Church of Christ.
_ Kat Glass
Quote of the Day: Plane Crash Survivor James Polehinke
(RNS) “Why did God do this to me?”
_ James Polehinke, the sole survivor and co-pilot of a plane crash that killed 49 people in Lexington, Ky.,on Aug. 27. He remains hospitalized with numerous broken bones and has not specifically mentioned the crash, according to The Associated Press.
DSB/JL END RNS