c. 1996 Religion News Service

China warns against what it calls”religious infiltration” (RNS) The Chinese government said Monday (Aug. 12) that hostile foreign forces are using religion to undermine its socialist system and that widespread construction of temples and churches are creating a heavy economic burden.”Hostile international forces resort to ethnic and religious issues to `westernize’ and `split’ socialist countries and step up religious infiltration,”Reuters quoted the official People’s Daily newspaper as saying.”In some places in China, the rampant construction of temples and churches has exerted heavy economic burdens on local religious believers,”the newspaper said.

In recent months, China has taken a stricter stand on religion after a period of relative tolerance that has permitted a substantial revival of worship around the country.

According to Western human rights groups such as Amnesty International, however, religion has helped fan the flames of ethnic discontent in such places as Buddhist Tibet and the far western Xinjiang province, where there have been clashes between government troops and Muslim separatists.

In May, China ordered tighter controls on Xinjiang’s border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Last week, the government-controlled Xinjiang Daily criticized what it called”ethnic separatism and illegal religious activities”in the province and said they had become”a key threat to the stability”of the region.

In January, the government officials charged with overseeing religion in China ordered all places of worship to register with the government and said that a key aim of allowing some measure of religious freedom is to develop”young patriotic religious preachers.”

Assemblies of God urge Disney boycott

(RNS) The Assemblies of God, one of the nation’s largest Pentecostal denominations, is urging its members to boycott the Walt Disney Company’s products and theme parks.

The denomination’s 250-member General Presbytery, at its annual meeting in Springfield, Mo., voted Aug. 7 to urge members of the 11,800 Assemblies of God churches nationwide to boycott Disney because of concerns about moral messages contained in Disney films, books and videos.

The presbyters voted to express”deep disappointment”in some actions by Disney, specifically citing the publication of”Growing Up Gay,”a book for teens, by Disney-owned Hyperion Press; distribution of the movie”Priest,”by Miramax, a Disney subsidiary; and the annual”Gay and Lesbian Day”festivities held at Disney World.

The Assemblies of God action follows a similar disapproval of Disney voiced in June by the Southern Baptist Convention, who called for a boycott if Disney continues”this anti-Christian and anti-family trend.”

Youth missionaries caught in Chicago crossfire

(RNS) Two Texans on a youth mission trip to a Chicago neighborhood are recovering from wounds sustained when they were caught in the crossfire of a street-corner shootout Aug. 3.

Ali Stanke, 13, of Waco, Texas, was grazed by a bullet, treated and released from a Chicago hospital, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent Baptist news service.

Stanke was one of nine teens who had traveled to Chicago on a mission trip sponsored by the Seventh & James Baptist Church of Waco. Linda McManness, a professor of Spanish at Baylor University in Waco and one of four adult sponsors on the trip, was hospitalized for two days after being shot in the thigh. After two days in the hospital, she returned to Texas.

The two were part of a group that had just finished an evening orientation session at Uptown Church when they became trapped between two gun-toting youths.

Uptown Church, which has welcomed volunteers to its urban ministry program for 20 years, had never experienced that kind of violence, said Uptown pastor Tom Maluga.”Part of the reason there is risk here is that there is tremendous need,”Maluga said.”By and large, the church and Christians have pulled out of the cities, fleeing risk and seeking comfort. … When you pull out the light, what’s left? Darkness.”

Los Angeles Jewish seminary opening with more students than expected

(RNS) Almost three times as many students as expected have signed up for the initial term of Conservative Judaism’s first full-fledged seminary program in Los Angeles, the denomination’s only one outside of New York.

Thirty-four students _ 16 of them women _ have enrolled for the fall semester at the University of Judaism, The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday (Aug. 10). About a dozen were expected for the term, which begins Sept. 3.

Last fall, when it was first announced that the University of Judaism would offer full rabbinic training, it set off a furor within the Conservative Jewish establishment, which feared the move might split American Judaism’s 1.5 million-member centrist movement into East Coast and West Coast branches.

Until now, only the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York has ordained Conservative rabbis. While Conservative rabbinic students could, if they wished, spend two years in Los Angeles, they also were required to spend a year in Jerusalem before completing six years of total studies in New York. Now, the University of Judaism will ordain Conservative rabbis on its own following a compressed four-year program.

Differences between the leaders of the University of Judaism and the Jewish Theological Seminary have largely been resolved, with Conservative Jewish leaders in both Los Angeles and New York now saying their movement is in no danger of splitting.

Quote of the Day: Alan Keyes, former Republican presidential hopeful:

Alan Keyes, who challenged Bob Dole for the Republican Party’s nomination for president this year, spoke Sunday (Aug. 11) at Skyline Wesleyan Church in Lemon Grove, Calif. Addressing Dole’s promise to cut federal income taxes by 15 percent, Keyes, who stressed the need for personal morality during his campaign, said:

“I’ve never seen a tax cut I don’t like. But I’m not going to stand here and say that (the nation’s) problems are going to be fixed by some tax cut. … I’m here to tell you that’s not right. … The problems we face as a people are problems that money can’t solve because they come from a moral corruption that money can’t correct. … If politicians, whether they are Republican or Democrat, say that money is all that matters, they’re all shilling for the destruction of our souls for political self-gain.”

MJP END RNS