c. 2007 Religion News Service

Romney Thanks Abortion Opponents for Aiding His Change of Heart

AGAWAM, Mass. (RNS) Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told more than 650 people on Thursday (May 10) that he is proof that the work of abortion opponents can sway people.

Romney, who received the Mullins Award for outstanding political leadership from a local chapter of Massachusetts Citizens for Life, described himself as a “conservative Republican” who has fought hard against abortion after earlier supporting federal law upholding abortion rights.

“I’m evidence that your work, that your relentless campaign to promote the sanctity of human life, bears fruit,” Romney told the audience.

Considered a moderate Republican when he ran for and won the Massachusetts governorship, Romney has been criticized for shifting his position on abortion by some who think the change is part of an effort to gain favor with his party’s conservative base. Earlier this year in South Carolina, considered an important primary state, Romney described himself as “firmly pro-life.”

During his speech, he said he was one of a long line of converts that included former Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. He also said it was instructive to look at “the double standard at work here.”

“When a pro-life figure changes to pro-choice, it hardly gets a mention,” he said. “But when someone becomes pro-life, the pundits go into high dudgeon.”

Romney said he “began to focus a good deal more of my attention on my own views” about abortion in the midst of a fight over cloning and embryo farming in connection with stem cell research. He said he concluded that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, was wrong.

Romney said the thinking behind Roe v. Wade “has so cheapened the value of human life that rational people saw human life as mere research material to be used and then destroyed.”

He said, “The slippery slope could soon lead to racks and racks of living human embryos, `Brave New World’-like, awaiting termination. What some see as a mere clump of cells is actually a human life.”

Protesters of the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund of Massachusetts appeared outside the banquet hall to protest Romney’s appearance. A few chanted, “Mitt Romney, we have heard, that you won’t keep your word.”

_ Michael McAuliffe

Religious Groups Oppose Bush’s Warhead Plans

WASHINGTON (RNS) A Bush administration plan to develop a new hydrogen warhead has energized faith-based anti-nuclear activists, religious leaders said Wednesday (May 9).

In a conference call sponsored by California-based Peace Action West, the speakers announced a new coalition of religious organizations to oppose the administration’s “Reliable Replacement Warhead.” The planned warhead would supplant Cold War era missiles with more modern technology.

“We ought not to be hypocritical,” said the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches. “We ought to be cutting our nuclear weapons, not restocking them.”

The coalition includes Peace Action West, the NCC, the California Council of Churches and the National Religious Partnership.

Leaders said those groups represent more than 35 major churches nationwide, as well as Jewish, Muslim and other faith communities. They said the churches would urge their members to petition Congress to stop the new warhead.

A spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the Reliable Replacement Warhead program, was unavailable for comment.

Administration documents, however, argue that the new warhead will permit further reductions in U.S. nuclear stockpiles.

_ Charles O’Toole

British Hindus Lobby to Save Condemned Sacred Bull

LONDON (RNS) Hindus in London are trying to prevent the slaughter of a sacred bull which has tested positive for bovine tuberculosis and which, according to government regulations, must be euthanized.

The bull, called Shambo, is one of a herd of 35 cattle owned by a Hindu temple in Wales, the Community of the Many Names of God. The temple also has about 15 water buffalo and an elephant _ believed to be the only Hindu temple elephant in the West, and a gift from the Sri Lankan government.

The cattle and water buffalo had their routine TB test in mid-February. Shambo’s test was inconclusive, but when he was retested on April 24, the result was positive.

“This doesn’t mean he has TB,” the temple’s Brother Michael said. “It merely means he is suspected of having TB.” Brother Michael said the test sometimes throws up many false positives.

But according to Graham Brooks, president of the British Cattle Veterinary Association, the standard test produces “very few” false positives, between 3 and 5 percent. The problem, he said, is that the test also produces false negatives.

Shambo is now being kept in strict isolation in a specially constructed shrine. He was seen on Tuesday (May 8) by the temple’s veterinarian, who declared him to be in excellent health with no clinical signs of disease, Brother Michael said.

On May 3, the temple received official notice of intended slaughter. The temple’s lawyers are investigating what legal remedies are available, and plan to hold talks with government officials about the case.

Hindus say they are scandalized by the idea of Shambo being killed.

“If we were to permit (the government) to kill Shambo, it would be an appalling desecration of life, the sanctity of our temple, and Hinduism as a whole,” said Brother Michael.

If necessary, supporters plan to form a human chain around Shambo’s shrine to prevent his being taken away for slaughter.

The temple also has the support of the Hindu Forum of Britain, which acts on behalf of Britain’s 700,000 Hindus. “Killing a sacred temple cow or bull is considered to be highly sacrilegious,” the Forum said in a statement.

_ Robert Nowell

Quote of the Day: Vatican spokesman Rev. Frederico Lombardi

(RNS) “Every time the pope speaks off the cuff, the Secretariat of State reviews and cleans up his remarks.”

_ Vatican spokesman Rev. Frederico Lombardi, referring to the pope’s remarks Wednesday (May 8) that seemed to indicate Mexican politicians who voted for abortion rights could be considered excommunicated from the church. The Vatican later sought to clarify Benedict’s words with an edited transcript of the pope’s remarks. Lombardi was quoted by The Associated Press (May 11).

KRE/RB END RNS