c. 1997 Religion News Service

Clinton bars use of federal funds for human cloning research

(RNS) President Clinton, warning scientists against”trying to play God,”Tuesday (March 4) issued an executive order banning the use of federal funds to pay for human cloning research.”Each human life is unique, born of a miracle that reaches beyond laboratory science,”Clinton said.”I believe we must respect this profound gift and resist the temptation to replicate ourselves.” Clinton’s directive was issued in the wake of recent breakthroughs in the genetic reproduction of animals that have stirred debate among ethicists and religious leaders, and fears among some that the cloning of humans could be the next step.

Clinton compared the recent scientific breakthroughs to the advancements that followed splitting the atom, unleashing the age of nuclear weapons. He urged scientists to”move with caution and care.” Last week, in the wake of the report that scientists in Scotland had successfully cloned a sheep, Clinton asked the National Bioethics Advisory Commission to review what ramifications cloning would have for humans and report back to him in 90 days.

On Tuesday, Clinton urged privately funded scientists not covered by the ban to observe a moratorium on human cloning experiments.

He said he understood the desire to use cloning as a means of curing disease, but said the ethical implications must be examined.

Pope appeals for end to fighting in Zaire

(RNS) Pope John Paul II has issued an appeal for an end to the fighting in eastern Zaire and the United Nations says it is seeking security guarantees so relief workers can resume aid to an estimated 370,000 refugees displaced by the fighting.

John Paul, in a statement issued Monday (March 3), called the situation in eastern Zaire, where rebels and government forces are fighting,”an insult to human dignity.”No man of goodwill can ignore the fate of these people, who, in the regions touched by violence, live in conditions which are an insult to human dignity and where life is constantly endangered,”John Paul said in a speech to Zairean bishops meeting at the Vatican.

John Paul said he deplored the”attacks against people, as well as the looting and destruction suffered by the institutions and the church properties in several of your dioceses.” On Saturday, United Nations and other aid agencies pulled out of Kisangani _ the logistics hub for the relief effort in eastern Zaire, where hundreds of thousands of refugees from Rwanda are located _ because of security concerns caused by a rebel offensive.

The fighting has displaced an estimated 170,000 refugees from their camp at Tingi-Tingi, and U.N. officials told Reuters they were streaming toward Kisangani.”Assuming Tingi-Tingi has fallen”to the rebels,”we have practically no access to the refugees we had identified in December,”a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said.

German Protestant leaders condemn church blessings of gay unions

(RNS) The leaders of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), the umbrella organization for 24 Lutheran, United and Reformed church bodies, has issued a strong condemnation of one of the country’s regional Protestant bodies that allows the blessing of homosexual unions.”A special blessing being given in a service of worship for people who live together in same-sex partnerships, or in heterosexual relationships without being married, will mean that the model character of marriage and family becomes unclear,”the council of the EKD said.

The statement was sparked by a decision in February by the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church to recognize long-term partnerships _ either homosexual or heterosexual _ as permissible lifestyles for Christians.

The North Elbian church is one of the 24 members of the EKD.

The council, the EKD’s governing body, said the action by the North Elbian church meant it had”departed from the existing consensus within the fellowship of member churches.” According to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency, the North Elbian action has sparked a fierce debate in Germany.

The conservative newspaper Welt am Sonntag said the North Elbian action means the Protestant church in Germany”is a further step along the path toward self-marginalization.”The decision that marriage is no longer the obligatory form of partnership calls into question a central issue of the ecclesiastical and Christian tradition.” But the leftist newspaper Die Tagenszeitung said the conservatives should”do penance”for criticizing”a modern but nevertheless spiritual church.” The EKD council said it has been working to achieve a broad consensus between the sharply differing viewpoints on the issue of homosexuality.”The unity of the church and truth is not helped when the search to find a broad consensus is abandoned and replaced by majority votes in synods”of individual churches, the council said.

American Family Publishers considers a divine winner

(RNS) The American Family Publishers doesn’t leave anyone out of its list of possible winners.

A sweepstakes notice arrived at the Bushnell Assembly of God church in February and announced that God, of Bushnell, Fla., was a finalist for the $11 million top prize.”God, we’ve been searching for you,”the sweepstakes letter read, according to the Associated Press.

If God were to win, the letter went on,”what an incredible fortune there would be for God! Could you imagine the looks you’d get from your neighbors? But don’t just sit there, God.” Sweepstakes officials did not return phone calls for comment, but Bill Brack, pastor of the church, joked that the letter was proof of God’s existence within his congregation.”I always thought he lived here but I didn’t actually know,”said Brack, whose church is about 60 miles north of Tampa.

His 140-member congregation is considering whether to mail the entry. The church could use the money, but if the congregation wins, Brack said he’d settle for 10 percent on the dollar with American Family.

And Brack also has an idea what will happen if another winner is chosen.”God would be disappointed,”he joked.

Teens new target for anti-abortion campaign

(RNS) Operation Rescue is targeting a new audience _ high school kids _ with a three-month anti-abortion campaign to turn teens away from sex and abortion.

Groups of picketers carrying signs with color pictures of bloody and dismembered fetuses protested at high schools in eight states on Monday (March 3). Project Awareness had planned protests in 100 cities, according to a report by the Associated Press.”We have tried the school boards,”said Operation Rescue Director Flip Benham.”We have tried the courts. We have tried the legislators, and now we are going to the schools.””We’re at the schools because this is where the battle is for the hearts and minds of kids,”said Philip Faustin, who led a picket line outside Abraham Lincoln High School in Denver.

Most students reacted strongly to the pictures. Some supported the picket lines as a good tactic to discourage abortions.”I think it’s just sick to see something like that,”said Angie Grant, a ninth-grader at Lincoln.”Seeing what those mothers are doing to their babies, it’s just not something I would do.” Some students resented the fact that picketers targeted their schools.”This is a place of education and we shouldn’t be bombarded like this,”said Melbourne, Fla., junior Tenesha Martin.”Abortion is a serious decision and they act like it’s an easy decision for a woman.” There were no arrests Monday, but one protester in Madison, Wis., reported being beaten by five male students outside West High School, according to a report in USA Today.

Witches worship in New Hampshire cathedral

(RNS) Witches and pagans have received official permission to worship in a nondenominational New Hampshire cathedral starting Tuesday (March 4).

After a two year fight, trustees of the Cathedral of the Pines War Memorial and Chapel decided to allow the witches to worship at the cathedral rather than risk taking the argument to court, according to an Associated Press report.

Diane Des Rochers, high priestess of the AppleMoon Coven, said the cathedral’s decision was”extremely appropriate”since it allows the coven”equal access with all other faiths.” Des Rochers started the controversy in 1995 with a request to perform a pagan wedding at the open-air site. After being turned down, she filed a complaint with the state Human Rights Commission.

Cathedral trustees responded by revising cathedral by-laws to state they had authority to decide which groups could worship at the cathedral based on the group’s belief in”God Almighty.” But last year a human rights commissioner investigating the case declared the cathedral a public war memorial, not a church, and said it could not prohibit any religions from gathering there.

Des Rochers said after trustees learned more about the witches’ nature-centered religion _ which does not include Satanic rituals _ they decided to allow the witches to worship at the cathedral.

The Cathedral of the Pines War Memorial and Chapel, located in Rindge, N.H., has been a place of worship for members of many religions for 50 years. Its Altar of the Nation is built of stones from each state and with soil from every foreign land where U.S. troops have fought.

ELCA executive resigns after receiving massages

(RNS) The human resources director of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has resigned after reportedly having received massages from an escort service.

A reporter with KARE-TV in the Minneapolis suburb of Golden Valley, Minn., contacted the denomination while working on a story about the owner of a local escort service who was convicted of prostitution-related charges on Feb. 5.

The station reported that the names of the Rev. A.C. (Chris) Stein and the Chicago-based denomination appeared on lists compiled by police of credit card charges to the escort service. The two charges from 1994 were for $260 each.

Stein acknowledged he twice purchased massages during business trips to Minneapolis. The Rev. Robert N. Bacher, executive for administration of the ELCA, said Stein”denies that any sexual misconduct occurred on either occasion but also recognizes it would be difficult to continue serving effectively under the circumstances.” Bacher noted it is not in keeping with church policy to use an ELCA credit card for personal expenses.

Stein said he reimbursed the church for the charges at the time and Bacher confirmed that he had.”Pastor Stein has made many contributions to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in his ten years of churchwide service,”Bacher said.

Quote of the day: Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey

(RNS) Archbishop of Canterbury George Canterbury ended a month-long sabbatical at the Virginia Theological Seminary with a sermon voicing his opposition to same-sex marriage. Carey spoke shortly after the seminary had eased its rules on admitting homosexuals and cohabitating couples as students:”Let me make this personal. I do not find any justification from the Bible or the entire Christian tradition for sexual activity outside marriage. Thus, same-sex relationships, in my view, cannot be on a par with marriage and the church should resist any diminishing of the fundamental `sacramentum’ of marriage.”

MJP END RNS