c. 1996 Religion News Service

(Following is a collection of international religion stories compiled by RNS staff, wire and denominational reports.)

State Department criticizes Farrakhan visits to Iran, Libya

(RNS)-The State Department has condemned Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan for”cavorting”with leaders of Iran and Libya-countries the United States considers sponsors of international terrorism.”It’s shameful that an American citizen, much less a major religious leader in the United States, would cavort with dictators like (Libyan leader Moammar) Gadhafi and the Iranian leadership,”State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said at the agency’s regular briefing Wednesday (Feb. 14).

Burns’ comments came after news reports quoted Farrakhan as making a number of anti-American comments during his month-and-a-half-long trip to Africa and the Middle East.

They preceeded Farrakhan’s stopover in Iraq on Thursday (Feb. 15), where Reuters news agency reported him as saying he had”a very wonderful meeting”with Saddam Hussein and that”Iraq is a great Arab nation.” Earlier in Iran, Farrakhan reportedly told state-run Tehran Television that”we shall utilize American Muslim unity as a lever of pressure against the United States’ arrogant policies”toward Iran. He was also quoted as referring to the United States as”the great Satan,”a phrase used by Iran’s late revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini.”You can quote me: God will destroy America by the hands of Muslims,”Farrakhan reportedly told a Tehran newspaper.

There has been little reaction to remarks attributed to Farrakhan by African-American leaders who supported his Million Man March of black men in Washington last October. However, the Rev. Joseph Lowery, president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, told Religion News Service that”if indeed he said (what has been attributed to Farrakhan), it’s a reckless and unfortunate statement on his part that will undermine his credibility.” The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was among the speakers at the October March, declined any comment.

Burns refused to say whether Farrakhan’s remarks were either treasonous or seditious. But he said that because Farrakhan”has a following of a lot of people in this country who believe in him,”it is”shameful and … inexcusable”for him to stand with the leaders of Libya and Iran.”You know, the blood of Americans is on Gadhafi’s hands, and it’s on the Iranians’ hands,”Burns said.

On Jan. 26, while Farrakhan was in Libya, the Libyan news agency JANA reported that Gadhafi had agreed to contribute $1 billion to support activities by the Nation of Islam leader in the United States.

Farrakhan is due to respond to critics of his trip during a talk he has set for Feb. 25 in Chicago.

Sudan relief efforts unhampered by U.S.-Sudan tensions

(RNS)-Relief efforts by U.S. religious agencies to aid internal refugees in Sudan’s bitter civil war will not be disrupted by a new freeze in U.S.-Sudanese relations, according to officials from several groups.

On Feb. 12, the U.S. government said that the last diplomatic personnel had left the embassy in Khartoum. The United States acted after the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution calling on Sudan to stop”assisting, supporting and facilitating terrorist activities.””These developments won’t affect our work,”said Kasey Vannett, an official with Catholic Relief Services in Baltimore.”We have almost no dealings with the government of Sudan.” Catholic Relief Services has committed $20 million to relief work in Sudan.

Jonathan Frerichs, a spokesman for the New York-headquartered Lutheran World Relief, and Andrew Natsios, a Washington official of Seattle-based World Vision, echoed Vannett. World Vision has an $8 million program in Sudan and Lutheran World Relief a $1.5 million program.”The U.S. move doesn’t have any impact,”Frerichs said.”What the U.S. does diplomatically doesn’t make us pull out.” Nearly all relief work by U.S. religious agencies is in southern Sudan, an area controlled by the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and populated largely by Christians and animists. The SPLA, seeking greater autonomy for the region, has been waging war against the Khartoum government, run by the fundamentalist National Islamic Front, since 1983.

In recent weeks, however, an offensive by the SPLA has created fears among U.N. officials of a new wave of relief needs.

Operation Lifeline Sudan, the U.N.’s umbrella organization for Sudan relief, issued an appeal Feb. 6 for $100 million in aid.

Sudan has been the target of a major but little-noticed, decade-long relief effort to meet needs created by the civil war and bouts of drought. The United Nations estimates 1.3 million people have died and 3 million southerners been forced from their homes since the fighting began.

Study finds Britain’s Jews are marrying outside the faith

(RNS)-A study by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research, a new think tank in London, has found that 44 percent of Great Britain’s Jewish men under age 40 are married to or living with non-Jewish partners.”Years of speculation on these issues have been brought to an end by these findings, and they are not good news for the maintenance of Jewish identity,”said Antony Lerman, executive director of the institute.

The report also found that just 20 percent of the men in the 60-to-70 age group were married to non-Jewish partners.

Between 20 percent and 25 percent of all Jewish women were married to non-Jews, Reuters reported.

In the United States, about 52 percent of Jewish men are married to non-Jews.

Stephen Miller, dean of social sciences at London’s City University and the report’s co-author, said a large number of those who marry outside the faith wish to maintain some sort of Jewish identity.”While one third do not belong to a synagogue, many maintain their identity in other ways-they hold ceremonies without ritual; they practice but they don’t believe,”the report said.

Presbyterian mission worker shot in El Salvador

(RNS)-The Rev. Alejandro Hernandez, a Presbyterian Church (USA) mission worker in El Salvador, was shot and wounded after leaving a Salvadoran Lutheran Synod youth event, the denomination’s news agency reported.

Hernandez, a U.S. citizen, works with a Lutheran community in the rural Chalatenango area of El Salvador. Officials said Hernandez is in stable condition after reconstructive jaw surgery.

According to Presbyterian officials, neither Salvadoran police nor Lutheran officials know the reason for the Feb. 2 attack, but the police have said they suspect it was an attempted carjacking.

Zimbabwe Catholic bishops oppose any `witch-hunt’ against gays

(RNS)-Zimbabwe’s Roman Catholic bishops have issued a pastoral letter condemning any attempt to persecute homosexuals.

The bishops, in their Feb. 5 letter, said the Zimbabwe Bishops Conference wants to”distance the church from any attempts to institute a `witch-hunt’ or hate campaign against persons with homosexual tendencies,”reported the Africa Press Service, an ecumenical, church-sponsored agency.

In the letter, the bishops stress the Catholic teaching that homosexuality is a”disorder”and”cannot be claimed as a `human right.'”But they said that while”we want to eliminate a disease wherever it exists, we do not eliminate those who suffer from it.”It is therefore not right for anyone, including the government, to harass, persecute or torture people simply because they are known to have this inclination,”the letter said.

Last summer, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, a Catholic, led a highly publicized campaign against homosexuals in his country, banning a gay organization from participating in a book fair. In a series of speeches, Mugabe called homosexuals perverts, sodomites and beasts, and said they have no rights in Zimbabwe.

Haitian priest sees chance for democracy, urges judicial reform

(RNS)-The Rev. Freud Jean, a Roman Catholic priest who served on Haiti’s Truth and Justice Commission, says the peaceful transfer of presidential power in Haiti last week is a sign democracy might survive in that country.”The fact that we have had a successful transfer of power from one elected president to another gives a good chance of having a strong government that could unite on one political program,”Jean told a London news conference Thursday (Feb. 15).

A united government, he said,”might have enough strength and unity to create the right dispositions to let the process of democracy continue.” Jean served on Haiti’s Truth and Justice Commission that investigated allegations of human rights abuses in Haiti between 1991 and 1994, the period that began with the military ouster of democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and ended with Aristide’s restoration.

Jean said the commission collected evidence relating to 5,450 cases of alleged human rights violations involving 8,000 victims. The offenses, he said, included summary executions, rape and torture.

Last week, in Haiti’s first modern peaceful transition of power, Aristide was succeeded by newly elected President Rene Preval.

MJP END