c. 2007 Religion News Service
Orthodox Send Relief Supplies to Fire-Damaged Greece
(RNS) The U.S.-based International Orthodox Christian Charities is sending emergency relief supplies and a team of Orthodox priests to Greece to help communities devastated by weeklong wildfires.
As firefighters douse the remnants of blazes that have killed 64 people and cost the country at least $1.6 billion, according to news reports, IOCC says it is budgeting $75,000 for immediate needs.
“IOCC’s response to the crisis is a pan-Orthodox expression of hope to the victims,” said IOCC Executive Director Constantine M. Triantafilou. “The organization is addressing emergency needs, such as providing livestock, with an eye towards Greece’s long-term need to rebuild its agricultural sector.”
The forest fires, concentrated in Greece’s south, have damaged Ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympic games; destroyed at least 1,500 homes, and left 4,000 people homeless, according to international reports.
The Orthodox priests heading for Greece are experienced in trauma counseling, the IOCC said, having worked previously on projects after Hurricane Katrina and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Founded in 1992, the Baltimore-based IOCC is the official humanitarian aid agency of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, an umbrella group representing nine U.S. Orthodox churches.
_ Daniel Burke
TSA Responds To Sikh Screening Concerns
WASHINGTON (RNS) Officials of the Transportation Security Administration pledged Thursday (Aug. 30) to continue discussions with Sikh leaders who expressed concern that revised airport screening procedures discriminate against people wearing turbans.
The TSA revised its rules about head coverings on Aug. 4.
“The new standard procedures subject all persons wearing head coverings to the possibility of additional security screening, which may include a pat-down search of the head covering,” reads a description of the rules on the TSA’s Web site.
The agency said such a measure was needed if security officials “cannot reasonably determine that the head area is free of a detectable threat item.”
Sikh men _ and some women _ wear turbans as a matter of religious duty. Sikhism requires men not to cut their hair. After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, some Sikhs were attacked after they were mistaken for Muslims.
Majit Singh, board chairman of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, said members of the Sikh community consider the new procedure to be discriminatory.
“We are deeply troubled at the potentially marginalizing effects this policy revision has on the Sikh American community,” he said. “While the need for securing our nation’s airports is undeniably important, the new screening procedures directly `profile’ the Sikh American community and other communities of faith.”
The agency said TSA Administrator Kip Hawley “takes their concerns seriously and is interested in reaching a workable solution that does not compromise security.”
Singh welcomed the response, saying he looks forward to working with TSA officials to create a procedure that “ensures that civil liberties are not violated.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Freed South Korean Church Worker Yoo Kyung-sik
(RNS) “I can’t sleep due to concerns that we caused so much trouble. I feel very sorry.”
_ Yoo Kyung-sik, 55, one of the South Korean church workers freed after being held hostage in Afghanistan by the Taliban for six weeks, speaking on South Korean television and quoted by the Associated Press.
KRE/LF END RNS
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