c. 1996 Religion News Service

Robertson says Dole’s running mate must oppose abortion

(RNS) Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson has said that Bob Dole will lose to President Clinton in November unless the likely Republican standard bearer selects an anti-abortion, social conservative as his vice presidential running mate.

In a Washington Times interview conducted Thursday (July 18), Robertson said that if Dole selects a”so-called moderate or somebody who is perceived as pro-choice”as his running mate, the results will be”absolutely devastating.” Not only will Dole be defeated, but Republicans also will lose control in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the November election, said Robertson, founder of both the Christian Broadcasting Network and the Christian Coalition.

Robertson also was quoted as saying that anti-abortion voters will stop contributing to or volunteering to help the Dole campaign if the candidate does not soon make it clear that he intends to select an anti-abortion running mate.”(Dole) should make his intentions crystal clear now to begin to rally his troops, because the troops are beginning to desert en masse,”Robertson said.

Gene Kapp, Robertson’s spokesman, told Religion News Service that the Times’ interview was the sharpest warning Robertson has so far given Dole against selecting a vice presidential candidate who favors abortion rights.

Dole had a solidly anti-abortion voting record during his years in the Senate. However, in an effort to appease moderate Republicans _ many of whom favor abortion rights _ he has said that abortion will not be a litmus test in selecting a running mate.

Another disputed issue is the so-called tolerance language that Dole wants inserted into the Republican Party platform as another overture to moderate Republicans. As proposed so far, the language acknowledges that Republicans disagree on abortion and capital punishment.

Some activists _ including Focus on the Family’s James Dobson _ have objected to the tolerance language because they say it weakens the party’s traditionally staunch anti-abortion stand.

Robertson said he foresaw no problem with the GOP platform. Ralph Reed, the Christian Coalition’s executive director, has also expressed support for the proposed tolerance language.

However, in a separate story published Friday (July 19), the Washington Times quoted an anonymous Christian Coalition”official”as saying that the tolerance language will be changed when Republicans finalize their platform just prior to their national convention in San Diego next month.

The Times, citing”sources close to the platform process,”said that either the direct reference to abortion will be dropped from the tolerance language or a host of other issues _ immigration, term limits, foreign trade and tax policy _ will be added to avoid the appearance of singling out abortion.

Christian Booksellers Association changes name

(RNS) The Christian Booksellers Association has changed its name to”CBA”to better reflect an industry that produces not only books, but ceramics, sheet music, software, videos, and apparel.

A record number of retailers, publishers and merchandisers attended the group’s annual meeting that concluded July 18 in Anaheim, Calif.”Simply moving to `CBA’ is the logical thing to do and a win-win solution for everyone,”said Bill Anderson, president of the organization.”We never want to forget where we came from, and will forever be able to recall what `CBA’ originally stood for.” The move to the acronym will mean people inside the industry won’t have to change how they refer to the organization and CBA officials can better describe the association to those outside the industry, Anderson said.

When the organization was founded in 1950, Christian retailers mostly sold books. Now, books comprise only 26.6 percent of retailers’ sales, according to a survey of stores by the Christian Booksellers Foundation.

The convention was attended by 13,663 people, breaking the 1993 record of 12,663. A total of 2,801 retail stores were represented. Of the 419 exhibitors at the convention, 111 were first-time participants. The convention also grew in its international representation, with 801 participants from 59 countries.

Church of England asks for study of national lottery

(RNS) The general synod of the Church of England, concerned about the effects of Britain’s controversial two-year-old national lottery, has voted to ask the government to set up an independent review of the lottery’s operations.

The vote, taken Monday (July 15), was 391-0.

Delegates to the summer meeting of the synod raised a number of practical and moral issues regarding the lottery and its operations.

The Rev. Stephen Trott, a rector from Northamptonshire, called on the church to”give a clear moral lead to the nation by asking for it to be reined in and preferably scrapped.”He said the lottery is”one of a series of measures by the Conservative government which have contributed to a decline of morality since 1979.” The lottery has been a controversial issue for Britain’s churches because, while they generally oppose gambling, profits from the lottery are used to support a number of charities.

While the synod rejected Trott’s call for outright opposition to the lottery, it did ask that the independent review consider the effects huge prizes have on individual winners; the high profits made by the lottery operator; and the mechanism for allocating funds to charities.

Synod delegates said they wanted the commission to consider putting a cap on the size of prizes and reconsider the proportion of the lottery proceeds allocated to charities.

Others noted that as Britain’s official church, the Church of England is required by the government to maintain a large number of historic churches. Since the inception of the lottery, the government has reduced its general assistance for such maintenance and substituted lottery funds in its place _ an unstable source of continuing funding, according to some synod members.

The synod also endorsed a controversial report that debunked conventional”hell-fire”notions of hell. The report, first released last January, argued that while damnation remains a possibility for every human being, only God knows whether anyone has actually been damned. Damnation, according to the document, may well mean annihilation rather than eternal torment.

The synod also approved a joint declaration to be issued by the Church of England and the Moravian Church that sets out the beliefs the two churches have in common and the theological differences yet to be overcome.

The Moravian Church traces its roots to the pre-Reformation preacher Jan Hus. The joint declaration includes the churches’ acknowledgment of each other as true churches and recognition of each other’s sacraments of baptism and the Eucharist.

Among the differences yet to be overcome are the pastoral and juridical functions of bishops and the Anglican claim to unbroken episcopal succession.

Faith may reduce fear of death, study shows

(RNS) People who are involved in religious groups fear death less than those who have no religious faith, a study by a California psychology school has shown.

A research summary of the work by researchers at the California School of Professional Psychology in Fresno, Calif., was released by the National Institute for Healthcare Research, in Rockville, Md.”Strong religious convictions and the belief in an afterlife are associated with significantly less anxiety and depression regarding the idea of dying,”said Dr. David B. Larson, president of the institute.

Researchers asked 200 people from different religious groups about their beliefs about religion and their feelings about death. They found that those who had stronger religious beliefs felt less distress, depression and anxiety when thinking about or dealing with death.

Unexpectedly, the research found that people who said they believed the most important part of religion was the possibility of life after death had higher levels of depression and anxiety than those who did not view that as the most crucial aspect of their faith.”In other words,”Larson explained,”a person’s death anxiety is only lowered by a personal commitment and investment in religion, not by paying lip service to a certain religion just in case there really is an afterlife.” The institute is a non-profit organization that conducts and distributes research about the significance of spirituality to health.

Orthodox official denies Serb official refuge in monastery

(RNS) Officials of the Orthodox Church in Geneva are denying reports that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, indicted by the war crimes tribunal investigating the ethnic cleansing during the civil war in the former Yugoslavia, will be given refuge in an Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos.

Mount Athos is an autonomous administrative region of 20 Orthodox monasteries in northern Greece. Karadzic has been indicted for genocide; presumably, a monastery would provide a sanctuary that would prevent him from being tried.

The possibility that Karadzic, a Serbian Orthodox believer, would seek sanctuary on Mount Athos was reported in the July 20 edition of the British magazine The Economist.

The speculation came as the United States led an effort to pressure Karadzic from giving up all political power in the breakaway Serbian enclave of Bosnia that he controls.

On Friday (July 19) news reports said that Karadzic agreed to give up his political power.”We wish and expect him to move from where he is,”said U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke, who brokered the deal that forced Karadzic to give up his political role. Karadzic’s stronghold is in the city of Pale, near Sarajevo, but Holbrooke did not elaborate.

Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency, said Friday that an Orthodox Church official in Geneva called the reports that Karadzic would go to Mount Athos”utterly ridiculous.” The Orthodox official said that”in any case, any such proposal would have to have the approval of the Greek foreign minister.”

Pope expresses sadness, condolences over TWA disaster

(RNS) Pope John Paul II, in a telegram to Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York, said Thursday (July 18) he was”deeply saddened”by the TWA airliner disaster.”The Holy Father commends the victims to the loving mercy of Almighty God and asks you to convey his heartfelt condolences to their families and to all who mourn their loss,”the telegram to O’Connor said, Reuters reported.

TWA flight 800, a Paris- and Rome-bound Boeing 747, exploded in a fireball on Wednesday (July 17) night. All 230 people on the flight were killed.

Quote of the Day: The Rev. John Maxwell, founder of Injoy, a Christian leadership institute

(RNS) The Rev. John Maxwell, founder of Injoy, an evangelical ministry that encourages clergy and business people to be more effective leaders, recently spoke at a missions conference at Ridgecrest (N.C.) Baptist Conference Center. According to Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, Maxwell told pastors to take responsibility for declining membership of their congregations:”A non-growing church is a reflection of a non-growing leader. If your church is not growing, it’s not because you’re in the Southern Baptist Convention, it’s because you’re a lousy leader. Church problems are not because of a bad church but a bad leader. If you’ve been at a church three years, every problem at the church is yours.”

MJP END RNS