c. 1996 Religion News Service
World Council of Churches urges international action on Burundi
(RNS) A top World Council of Churches official Thursday (July 25) called on the United Nations, the European Union (EU) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) to”speed up their efforts to provide the protection for the most vulnerable people”in Burundi and Rwanda and to enforce a cease-fire and negotiated solution to the ethnic warfare in the region.”The failure to take effective steps against the perpetrators of horrendous crimes in the Great Lakes region (of Africa) contributes to the violence,”said the Rev. Michael Davies, speaking on behalf of the Rev. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the 330-denomination organization.
The statement, issued in response to the massacre of an estimated 300 persons in the Bugendana refugee camp in the Gitega region of Burundi, came just hours before reports that the Tutsi-led army overthrew Burundi’s government and named former Tutsi military leader Pierre Buyoya to replace President Sylvestre Ntibantunganya, a Hutu.
On Wednesday (July 24), Ntibantunganya, apparently fearing the coup attempt, took refuge in the home of U.S. Ambassador Morris Hughes.
Although spared the large-scale genocide that enveloped neighboring Rwanda in 1994 following the downing of an airplane carrying the presidents of both Burundi and Rwanda, on-going violence has claimed an estimated 30 lives a day over the past two years.
Davies estimated that 150,000 people have been killed in Burundi since ethnic conflicts began in 1993.
Denouncing the massacre at the Bugendana Camp, Davies said,”Once again the victims have been principally children, women and aged persons.” The massacre was also condemned by Pope John Paul II and by the White House.”Burundi continues to sink into an abyss of violence whose victims are drawn from among the weakest in society,”John Paul said in a statement issued Wednesday (July 24).”I cannot but state my horror.” The White House, in a statement issued Wednesday _ a day before the coup _ also condemned the massacre and said the United States will not”support a government installed by force or intimidation and reiterates that it will work actively to isolate any such regime.”On Wednesday evening, the U.N. Security Council also warned against any attempt to overthrow the Burundian government.”The cycle of violence in Burundi must cease,”Madeleine Albright, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said in a statement after the U.N. action.”Extremists cannot be allowed to set the agenda. The international community will not acquiesce in efforts to solve Burundi’s crisis by military means.” Despite the condemnations and the call for international action, however, the diplomatic community on Thursday appeared uncertain of what other action it would _ or could _ take. Albright, for example, said the United States would provide logistical support for a peacekeeping force but ruled out any American troops in such an effort.
Canadian church-goers give more to poor than those who stay home
(RNS) A survey of the link between charity and religious beliefs in Canada has shown that those who attend church or religious services weekly are almost three times as likely to give to the poor overseas as those who never attend.
According to the survey, whose results were reported Wednesday (July 24) by Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news service, although those who attend religious services either weekly or monthly make up only one-third of all Canadians, they account for more than half _ 52 percent _ of those who contribute to overseas relief.
The survey also showed that those who worshiped regularly were also more likely to volunteer their service to community organizations.
Half of regular church-goers do voluntary work, compared to one-third of those who never attend services, and 39 percent of those who occasionally attend services, according to the survey. “If you took all the Christians out of society, you would see some major differences,”said Andrew Grenville, vice president of the Angus Reid Inc., polling firm.”You wouldn’t see the same amount of giving and the same number of volunteers.” Other studies have shown Canadians to be among the most generous in the world. Gordon Floyd of the Canadian Centre of Philanthropy said that one recent British study showed about eight in 10 Canadians saying they give to charity and another showed that Canadians donated more cash per capita to charity than the British, French, Spanish and Americans.
When it comes to giving to overseas aid efforts, however, Canada ranks eighth among the 21 developed nations. Norway tops the list as the most generous overseas donor.
United Way of America says 1995-96 campaign raised $3.1 billion
(RNS) United Way of America, the umbrella organization of 1,400 local United Ways, said Thursday (July 25) a total of $3.148 billion was raised in the group’s local 1995-96 charitable fund-raising drive.
The figure represents a 2.3 percent increase over the $3.078 billion raised in the 1994 campaign.
Officials said it was the largest increase in total campaign revenue since 1990. In 1992, the national organization was hit by a scandal involving the spending habits of its then-president William Aramony. He was ousted as head of the umbrella organization and in 1995 was convicted of stealing $600,000 from the group.
United Way contributions support approximately 45,500 charities.
Officials said the largest single source of revenue continues to come from employees of corporations and small businesses.
In 1995, the average gift from an employee was $146, up $14 from the previous year. The average corporate gift was $10,025.
Report: Gunman planned to kidnap Tutu over apartheid grievances
(RNS) A gun-carrying man arrested by South African police told authorities that he wanted to kidnap retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu in an effort to get the country’s”truth commission”to hear his grievances.
Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigating atrocities committed during the apartheid era in South Africa.
On Monday, the All Africa Press Service, the news agency of the Africa Church Information Service, based in Nairobi, Kenya, quoted a commission spokesman as saying the unidentified gunman managed to carry his weapon past a metal detector at commission hearing in Bloemfontein but for unknown reasons aborted his plan.
The spokesman, Mdu Lembede, said that although Tutu was”shocked”by the incident, he was still”very light-hearted and in good spirits. The archbishop is not going to let something like this bother him.” According to the All Africa Press Service, the gunman told police he was angry because supporters of the African National Congress forced him to flee Bloemfontein in 1989 after he killed a local business rival.
In a separate apartheid-related development, South Africa’s Constitutional Court rejected Thursday efforts by the families of murdered activists, including Steve Biko, to prevent apartheid killers from being pardoned if they confess to their crimes.
Biko, one of the most prominent anti-apartheid activists whose story was told in the film”Cry Freedom,”was killed in 1977 while being detained by the police.
The 11-member court, South Africa’s equivalent to the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled that Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission has the right to grant amnesty to people who committed human rights abuses under apartheid if they tell all about their crimes, Reuters reported.
The commission, in a statement, said it welcomed the ruling because it will allow the commission to tell the true story of apartheid rule. But a lawyer for Biko’s and other families, said the commission’s power to grant amnesties deprived them of their right to redress and justice.
Hong Kong cult leader defends advice to drink bleach
(RNS) The leader of a small Christian sect in Hong Kong known as the Church of Zion has defended his advice to followers to drink bleach despite warnings from doctors that it could be dangerous.”The Bible has reference to living water … rain has hydrogen peroxide,”the Rev. Leung Yat-wah told a news conference, Reuters reported Thursday (July 25).
Leung created a flap in the British colony after telling 1,000 followers that hydrogen peroxide, an ingredient of ordinary bleach, could cure minor ailments like sore throats as well as such killer diseases as cancer and the AIDS virus.
Doctors in Hong Kong have warned that drinking the liquid could cause seizures, respiratory failure and heart attacks.
But at the news conference, a dozen of Leung’s followers testified that the liquid dispensed by the church had cured a number of their ailments from asthma, stomach ulcers and heart problems.
Quote of the day: The Haftarah Commentary on the commemoration of Tisha b’Av.
(RNS) On Thursday (July 25), Jews around the world commemorated Tisha b’Av, the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av and traditionally marked as a day of calamity for the Jewish people.
According to Jewish tradition, the two holy temples of Jerusalem were destroyed on this day, the first in 586 B.C.E., by the Babylonians and the second in 70 C.E., by the Romans. The ninth day of Av is also the day Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain issued an edict in 1492, expelling the Jews from the country.
But The Haftarah Commentary _ Reform Judaism’s new book of commentary on the weekly liturgical readings _ suggests that the emergence of Israel as an independent Jewish state should alter the meaning of the day:”Nearly 150 years ago, David Einhorn, A German-American rabbi officiating in Baltimore, Md., preached a famous sermon in which he advocated the retention of Tisha b’Av as an important observance _ albeit with a totally new message. God has willed the exile, he said, because Judaism’s message was to be brought to the four ends of the earth. Instead of mourning the results of Divine Providence, we should be grateful for it, for we will now be enabled to be harbingers of a new and better age, something that could never have been accomplished had we maintained our small state in its ancient land. Hence, the old day of mourning should be turned into a festival of joy.”
MJP END RNS
