c. 1996 Religion News Service

Disney, under attack by religious groups, puts Catholic cleric on board

(RNS) The Walt Disney Co., under attack by some religious groups for straying from the path of family values in its entertainment and personnel policies, has named the Rev. Leo O’Donovan, president of the Jesuit-run Georgetown University in Washington to its board of directors.

But in a statement, the company said there was”absolutely no connection”between O’Donovan’s appointment and the criticism.

O’Donovan, in a statement issued through Georgetown, said he viewed his appointment to the board as”an important opportunity to influence and help one of the world’s largest communications companies.”As a Jesuit priest, a theologian, an educator and a university president, I hope I can contribute to Disney’s ongoing interest in providing family-oriented entertainment and recreation.” Disney, which built a reputation for providing family-centered entertainment in its movies and theme parks, has come under growing criticism from conservative groups, including the Southern Baptist Convention and the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, because of the firm’s attitudes toward gays and the content of films distributed by some of its subsidiaries.

On June 12, the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, voted overwhelmingly to urge its 15.6 million members to boycott Disney theme parks, films and other products because of what they said was the company’s”promotion of homosexuality.” The boycott was prompted by a Disney policy that extends insurance benefits to the partners of gay employees and by its distribution, through subsidiaries, of controversial films such as last year’s”Priest,”a British film whose characters included a homosexual priest and a priest involved with a woman. The boycott resolution also criticized Disney for allowing”homosexual and lesbian theme nights at its parks.” Michael Eisner, chairman and chief executive, praised O’Donovan in a statement, calling him”a distinguished scholar and theologian (who) has a knowledge of business as well.”He brings wisdom, a keen intellect and proven judgment to our board,”the statement said.

Eisner last year completed two terms on the board of Georgetown, and his son, Michael”Breck”Breckenridge, graduated from the school in 1992.

O’Donovan, 62, has been president of Georgetown for seven years. He teaches theology and has been an associate editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.

Doctors’ group reaffirms stand against assisted suicide

(RNS) The House of Delegates of the American Medical Association (AMA) voted overwhelmingly Tuesday (June 25) to reaffirm its long-held stand against euthanasia and assisted suicide.”Today’s overwhelming reaffirmation sends a strong message,”said Dr. Nancy W. Dickey, chair of the AMA board of trustees.”The medical profession will not tolerate being put in a position to judge the value of the lives of the patients we are trained to heal, comfort and care for.” The vote by the 430-member House of Delegates, the 296,000-member AMA’s top policy-making body, was nearly unanimous. It was the fourth time in two years the delegates rejected a proposal that it rethink its position on the issue.

The AMA’s reaffirmation of its stand against euthanasia comes in the midst of a growing national debate on the issue prompted by passage of a pro-euthanasia referendum in Oregon, two federal court rulings overturning state laws on assisted suicide and Michigan’s Dr. Jack Kevorkian’s highly publicized involvement in 32 cases of assisted suicide.”Individuals have every right to control their own destiny,”Dickey said in a statement issued after the vote.”This does not mean, however, that they have a right to have their physician, their trusted ally in health, help them to die.”Physicians must be armed with the knowledge and the know-how to compassionately control pain, encourage and preserve patient autonomy and identify those individuals considering suicide and get them the help they so desperately need and are silently requesting,”she said.

Catholic bishops urge Senate to reject welfare reform bill

(RNS) The U.S. Senate should reject the current version of the proposed welfare reform bill, the U.S. Catholic Conference (USCC) said, because in its view it endangers poor children and families.”The target of reform ought to be poverty, not poor families,”Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., said in a letter to members of the Senate released Wednesday (June 26). Skylstad is chairman of the Domestic Policy Committee of the USCC, the social action arm of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Skylstad said the bishops opposed provisions of the bill that would impose strict time limits on aid to welfare recipients and cut off the aid even if a recipient did not find work. The bishops also oppose a provision that would bar states from using federal funds to provide non-cash assistance to families when financial aid is ended.

He also criticized what he called the”unprecedented”denial of benefits for immigrants and a”family cap”provision denying benefits to teen mothers or those who become pregnant while on welfare.

The letter said bishops share the bill’s goal of”reducing illegitimacy and dependency, promoting work and empowering families”but said the legislation should be rejected in its current form and reworked.

Hillary Clinton’s”consultations”spur controversy over her religion

(RNS) Media reports of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s meetings with human-potential researcher and self-styled”global midwife”Jean Houston have involved the first lady in a controversy over her religious beliefs.

The controversy was sparked by passages in a new book,”The Choice,”by Washington Post Assistant Managing Editor Bob Woodward. The book describes meetings between Clinton, Houston and prominent anthropologist and writer Mary Catherine Bateson in which Clinton was encouraged to imagine conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt and Mahatma Gandhi.

Subsequent reports of the meetings described the sessions as”seances”and spoke of Houston as a”New Age guru”and”spiritual adviser”to the first lady. The meetings, according to Clinton, were to help her with her book,”It Takes A Village.” Clinton, in a two-page statement released Monday (June 24), explained the meetings with Houston and denied that Houston was her spiritual adviser.

In her statement, Clinton said she had spoken publicly from her early days in the White House about the fact that she occasionally imagines having a heart-to-heart conversation with Eleanor Roosevelt as a way of dealing with the burdens of being first lady.”Imagine my surprise when what I have been doing since 1993 in front of large audiences was now being reported as a sensational revelation,”the statement said.”The bottom line is: I have no spiritual advisers or any alternative to my deeply held Methodist faith and traditions upon which I have relied since childhood.” Nevertheless, the reports prompted one group _ the Institute on Religion & Democracy _ to take the opportunity to criticize the leadership of the United Methodist Church.

Diane Knippers, president of the Washington-based conservative advocacy group, said Clinton’s meetings with Houston and Bateson highlight”the lack of spiritual leadership and biblical teaching from mainline denominations like the United Methodist Church. … Like many Americans, she has sadly sought spiritual meaning outside Christianity.” The reports have also prompted scrutiny of Houston’s claimed credentials. On Wednesday, Houston corrected a widely distributed resume that said she had completed her doctoral studies in the philosophy of religion at Columbia University. The work, according to Houston and Columbia officials, was never completed.

The New York Times also reported that Houston, who sometimes describes herself as a psychologist, does not have a license to practice psychology in New York.”I consider myself a philosopher and I’m called a psychologist in every place but New York State,”she told the Times.

Religious leaders meet with Clinton on church fires as support continues

(RNS) Religious leaders left a prayer breakfast with President Clinton Wednesday (June 26) agreeing with his continued calls for tolerance and hoping to build cooperation among their members in the wake of a series of church fires at mostly black, Southern churches.

As high-level meetings continue on the church fires, more organizations are offering financial support. Promise Keepers, the Christian men’s ministry, announced Tuesday (June 25) that it will commit $1 million to assist the churches.

President Clinton”is setting the tone for America,”said Debra Jackson, cochair of the fund-raising committee at Glorious Church of God In Christ in Richmond, Va., whose interior was destroyed in February 1996.”He is sincere in his effort to bring this to the forefront by saying … these acts are intolerable.” She said she hopes the meeting with Clinton will serve as a”wake-up call”to help build cooperation among religious leaders who represent disparate groups.”People are reaching out,”she said.”They’re crossing denominational lines. They’re crossing racial lines. … We’re beginning to come together.” Don Argue, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said the meeting included about 60 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders. Argue said he plans to get in touch with the 52 member denominations of his organization to learn what they are doing to support the burned churches.”It (the meeting) will have no meaning if it doesn’t get to the grassroots,”said Argue, whose organization has been working with the National Black Evangelical Association to encourage donations to a rebuilding fund established by the relief agency of the National Association of Evangelicals.

The Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, said the meeting helped bring”continuing attention”to the series of fires.”Bringing it to national attention is going to help solve it,”she said.

Pastors of burned churches were able to address some of their concerns with Clinton, including the fact that some churches’ insurance policies have been canceled after the fires.”If the policy is canceled, then you can’t rebuild because you have to have insurance to rebuild,”said the Rev. Alfred Baldwin of First Missionary Baptist Church in Enid, Okla. Baldwin is still waiting to hear from his insurance company after a fire burned his church 2 1/2 weeks ago.

Religious leaders said Clinton assured them that his administration would investigate their concerns about insurance.

Quote of the day: Dr. David Larson, a research psychiatrist at the National Institute for Healthcare Research, on doctors and prayers of healing.

(RNS) Dr. David Larson, a research psychiatrist at the National Institute for Healthcare Research in Rockville, Md., spoke to Time magazine for its June 24 cover story on faith and healing. Larson spoke of the discomfort some doctors have with their patients’ belief in the healing power of prayer. He noted that fewer than two-thirds of doctors say they believe in God.”We physicians are culturally insensitive about the role of religion. It is very important to many of our patients and not important to lots of doctors.”

MJP END RNS