c. 1996 Religion News Service

Religious leaders want ban on CIA use of missionaries

(RNS) A panel of religious leaders told a Senate committee Wednesday (July 17) that an absolute ban on the use of clergy by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was necessary to protect the lives of missionaries in foreign countries.

But CIA director John Deutch, backed by an influential Democratic senator, said he wanted the agency to retain the right to waive the ban under certain”exceptional”circumstances.

The conflicting views were aired during an open meeting of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee chaired by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. In addition to the religious leaders, the committee also heard testimony from Ted Koppel of ABC News'”Nightline”; Mortimer Zuckerman, chairman and editor-in-chief of U.S. News and World Report; and Kenneth Adelman, a columnist for The Washington Times.

The panel is considering whether it ought to make absolute the CIA policy which forbids the use of clergy, journalists and Peace Corps volunteers for covert intelligence-gathering purposes.

The issue surfaced in February with published reports that the waiver existed. The reports prompted an outcry by journalists and religious leaders.

On Wednesday, religious leaders and journalists told the committee that even the hint that they could be used by the CIA puts them in danger overseas.”As long as there is any reason to suspect that religious workers may be agents of the U.S. government, the lives and safety of these servants of the public good are in jeopardy,”said the Rev. Rodney Page, deputy general secretary for the Church World Service and Witness unit of the National Council of Churches.

Church World Service is the overseas humanitarian relief and development arm of the 33-member Protestant and Orthodox ecumenical agency.

Page said religious and relief organizations”go willingly to places where natural disaster, famine and war cause desperate need and threaten personal security.”Often they undertake these missions in partnership with or at the request of the U.S. government, in the belief that their own government will attempt to protect them and help them if they are in danger,”Page said.”Consequently, it is particularly distressing to us to know that these dedicated workers may, in fact, be endangered by actions _ or suspected actions _ of that very government.” Page said knowledge that the ban may be waived”places religious workers in jeopardy.”Whether or not the waiver authority is ever again exercised by the CIA, the possibility that it could be creates the perception that it is or will be,”he said.

Deutch, while insisting he has”no intention of using either American journalists or clergy for intelligence purposes,”argued that he is”able to imagine circumstances”where such a waiver might be necessary. He cited threats to the lives of American hostages and the possibility of a terrorist group using a weapon of mass destruction as examples.”So I, like all of my predecessors (as CIA director) for the last 19 years, have arrived at the conclusion that the agency should not be prohibited from considering the use of American journalists or clergy in exceptional circumstances,”Deutch said.

Deutch’s stance won the support of Sen. Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., the ranking minority member on the Senate intelligence panel.”I may risk being politically incorrect in saying so, but I simply don’t see why any profession should be completely and permanently excluded from the possibility of working with the CIA or DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency),”he said.”The determining factors should be the situation, and then the willingness of the individual,”Kerrey said.”If lives are at risk or a vital national interest is at risk, I don’t see why any American patriot should be forbidden to cooperate with an American intelligence agency.” Other religious leaders testifying at the hearing in support of the ban on the use of clergy included the Rev. Don Argue, president of the National Association of Evangelicals; Sister Claudette LaVerdiere, president of the Maryknoll Sisters, a Roman Catholic religious order; and John H. Orme, executive director of the Interdenominational Foreign Mission Association of North America.

Hearing set on religious expression constitutional amendment

(RNS) Public discussions about a proposal to amend the U.S. Constitution to address religious freedom issues will resume next week with a hearing Tuesday (July 23) before a House of Representatives subcommittee.

The hearing comes more than seven months after two Republican members of Congress proposed different versions of a proposed amendment aimed at reducing alleged discrimination against religion in public institutions and allowing greater religious expression in public places.

Some Republican leaders and groups, such as the National Association of Evangelicals, support a modified version of language originally proposed by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill.

That language, which has been through numerous drafts, now reads:”In order to secure the right of the people to acknowledge and serve God according to the dictates of conscience, neither the United States nor any State shall deny any person equal access to a benefit, or otherwise discriminate against any person, on account of religious belief, expression or exercise. This amendment does not authorize government to coerce or inhibit religious belief, expression, or exercise.” Rep. Ernest J. Istook Jr., R-Okla., proposed different language, which would specifically support student-sponsored prayer in public schools.

Istook’s press secretary Kristy Khachigian said the congressman, who is not a member of the subcommittee, still hopes student prayer will be specifically included in the amendment.

Forest Montgomery, counsel for the National Association of Evangelicals’ office for governmental affairs, interpreted the modified Hyde language to encompass voluntary school prayer.

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, criticized the proposal as a threat to religious liberty.”It would unleash the forces of religious bigotry in our public schools and dramatically increase taxes by forcing all Americans to pay for religious schools and ministries,”said Lynn.

A pope-Castro meeting? It’s possible

(RNS) Fidel Castro may not be welcome on U.S. soil, but the Cuban communist leader could find a warmer reception at the Vatican with Pope John Paul II.

The possibility of Castro meeting with the pope _ which has not formally been requested by either party _ was raised Tuesday (July 16) by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. He told reporters in Italy’s Dolomite Mountains where the pope is vacationing that”if the request (from Cuba) arrives we will consider it.” Castro has been invited to attend a worldwide conference on hunger scheduled for September in Rome by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

The Cuban embassy to the Vatican said Wednesday (July 17) that no decision had been made as to whether Castro would attend the gathering or, if he did, whether a session with the pope would be requested.

The pontiff has expressed a strong desire to visit Cuba, and a papal meeting with Castro would suggest such a pilgrimage is likely.

Talk of a possible meeting between Castro and the pope comes at a delicate political moment for the United States and President Clinton, who is not unmindful of the Cuban exile vote in Florida.

On Tuesday (July 16) Clinton vowed to stick with tough sanctions on the Cuban government. But he bowed to European pressure by delaying for six months any legal action against foreign companies that now own or operate the property of U.S. citizens that was seized by Cuba after the 1959 communist revolution.

A Castro meeting with the pontiff would not be free of risk for the Cuban leader either. While the pope has consistently opposed sanctions, saying they harm the most vulnerable citizens, he has called on the Cuban government to improve human rights and religious freedom.

Christian romance writer honored with a RITA award

(RNS) Christian author Francine Rivers recently was honored with a 1996 RITA award, the highest award for excellence in the”inspirational”romance genre, for her novel”As Sure As the Dawn.” The RITA awards were presented July 13 at the annual conference of the Romance Writers of America in Dallas.

RITA award entries are judged by fellow romance writers for overall excellence and quality in writing.

Rivers also was recently honored by Affaire de Coeur, a magazine for readers and writers of romance novels.”As Sure As the Dawn”was cited in a reader poll as the best inspirational novel published in 1995.”As Sure As the Dawn”is the third title in Rivers'”Mark of the Lion”historical romance series published by Tyndale House Publishers.

O.J. Simpson to be honored by Los Angeles church

(RNS) O.J. Simpson, the former professional football player and actor who was acquitted last October of murdering his ex-wife and her friend, will be made an honorary member of an influential African-American church in Los Angeles, Reuters reported Tuesday (July 16).”The Holy Spirit and all of God’s children are welcome in our house of the Lord,”said Bishop Larry Kirkland of the Brookins African Methodist Episcopal Church.

The Simpson trial was one of the most widely followed judicial proceedings in modern history and Simpson’s acquittal sharply polarized many Americans, often along racial lines.

Brad Pye, a member of the Los Angeles church who helped organize the ceremony honoring Simpson, said the church was not concerned about potential negative reaction to its action.”Kirkland was supportive of O.J. during the trial and O.J. just wanted to come and thank him for his support,”Pye said of the Sunday (July 21) ceremony that will honor Simpson.

According to Kirkland, a former All-American football player for Alcorn State University in Mississippi, Simpson will be made an honorary member of the congregation at the conclusion of the worship service.

DeFiore is new president of National Catholic Educational Association

(RNS) Leonard DeFiore, for the last eight years the superintendent of schools in the diocese of Metuchen, N.J., has become the new president of the National Catholic Educational Association.

The NCEA is the professional organization of Catholic educators. Its membership includes 200,000 educators serving 7.6 million students in the Roman Catholic Church’s educational system from pre-kindergarten through graduate university education.

DeFiore succeeds Sister Catherine T. McNamee, and is the first layman to head the organization.

As head of the association, DeFiore will represent Catholic educators’ interests in the national debate over government aid to education.

Bishop John J. Leibrecht of the diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Mo., and chairman of the NCEA’s board of directors, Wednesday (July 17) hailed DeFiore’s”vision and leadership”as a”great asset for all segments of Catholic education in the United States.”

Quote of the day: The Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector on religion and youth

(RNS) Robert Rector, senior policy analyst for welfare and family issues at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., writing in the July 15 issue of the conservative magazine National Review, summarized recent research showing that church attendance positively affects the behavior of young people:”The positive effect of young people motivated by religious virtues is the exact counterpart to the heavily publicized negative peer pressure exerted by street gangs who suck the young into lives of aimless violence and alienation. What we need are more gangs of Sunday-school students as an antidote to the Crips and the Bloods.” MJP END RNS