c. 1997 Religion News Service

Alabama judge defends Ten Commandments display

(RNS) The controversial Alabama judge who has refused to remove a wooden replica of the Ten Commandments from his courtroom defended his position in Washington Thursday (March 20), saying his actions are part of his duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution.”We are a nation founded on a higher law. … I know what the Constitution says,”said Alabama Circuit Court Judge Roy S. Moore at a ceremony in his honor at the U.S. Capitol.

Moore, a judge in the Etowah County Circuit Court, has generated a national controversy by displaying a plaque of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom and opening his court sessions with prayers by a Protestant minister. The American Civil Liberties Union has sued to eliminate the plaque and the prayers, and lawsuits are pending before the Alabama Supreme Court.

Republican Alabama Gov. Fob James has said publicly that federal authorities would have to”run over the state troopers and the National Guard”if they tried to remove the plaque.

On Thursday, Moore was honored at a ceremony organized by the National Clergy Council, which describes itself as a Washington-based”informal network”of Catholic and Protestant clergy”who share a common concern about the moral deterioration in American culture.” In remarks during the ceremony, Moore criticized”rogue”activists who he said have”convinced (the American people) that the First Amendment precludes the acknowledgment of God.”The notion of the separation of church and state”is a lie,”Moore said.”This government and this nation were founded on the God of the holy Scriptures,”said Moore, adding that morality based on the Ten Commandments is vital to the future of the nation.

When asked whether he would also allow a Muslim or a Buddhist to pray in his court, Moore responded,”Somebody in my courtroom would not offer a Buddhist or Muslim prayer”because only those clergy”who acknowledge the God upon which this nation was founded”are invited to pray.

Also appearing at the ceremony were U.S. Alabama Senators Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby, both Republicans, and Rep. Robert Aderholt, the Republican congressman who represents the district where Moore’s courtroom is located.

Aderholt sponsored a non-binding House resolution adopted on March 5 that expresses support for Moore and asserts that the”public display, including display in government offices and courthouses, of the Ten Commandments, should be permitted.” Shelby said he would be introducing a similar measure in the Senate.

Several Jewish organizations and civil liberties groups have been highly critical of Moore’s stance.”I’ve got a commandment for Congress and Judge Moore: `Thou shalt not play politics with religion,'”said Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

House votes again to ban”partial-birth”abortions

(RNS) The House of Representatives voted Thursday (March 20) by a more than two-thirds margin to ban a controversial abortion procedure called”partial-birth”abortion by its opponents.

The”Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act”received 295 votes in favor and 136 against, with two members not voting.

Identical legislation was vetoed last April by President Clinton, who said he believed the procedure was sometimes medically necessary to save a woman’s life, protect her health or preserve her ability to bear children. The House bill would only allow the procedure in cases to save the life of the woman.

A two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate would be needed to override another presidential veto. The Senate has yet to schedule a vote on the bill.

A lengthy debate between supporters and opponents of the legislation preceded the House vote.”Something is rotten in the United States when this barbarity is not only legally sanctioned but declared a fundamental constitutional right,”said Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said the ban is”frightening and dangerous”for women.”In the 24 years since Roe vs. Wade, American women have never been in more danger of losing their right to choose their own health decisions than they are today,”she said.

Support for the ban was fueled by the recent confession of Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, that he lied during last year’s debate when he said the procedure is rarely performed and only done to save the life of the mother or when a fetus is severely malformed. In February, he said the procedure is often done on healthy mothers carrying healthy fetuses.

The procedure, medically known as an”intact dilation and evacuation,”involves partially extracting a fetus, feet first, and collapsing the skull in the birth canal by suctioning out the brain. It has been used in second- and third-trimester pregnancies.

Nobel laureate not optimistic about U.N. plan for East Timor

(RNS) Nobel Peace Prize recipient Bishop Carlos Belo says he is not optimistic about the prospects of a new United Nations plan to end tensions between the Indonesian government and the predominantly Roman Catholic territory of East Timor.”(For many years) I hear the same things, the same resolutions,”the Roman Catholic bishop said in an interview Thursday (March 20) with the Reuter news agency.”I am not hopeful.” An estimated 100,000 people have been killed since Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony of East Timor in 1975. Although the continuing struggle has been largely political, religion has played a central role. About 80 percent of the East Timor population is Christian, while the Indonesian government is largely Muslim.

Last month, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed a special envoy, Jamsheed Marker of Pakistan, to help find solutions to the crisis. Marker arrived in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta Thursday and is scheduled to tour East Timor over the weekend.

During an interview in his home in East Timor, Belo told Reuters that”there is no substantial chance”for immediate changes.”This is our daily cross. Here we have (experienced) fear many times, given the number of soldiers, the number of troops (in the area),”he said.

Belo added that young people continue to be arrested and detained without trial in East Timor, often because of their participation in demonstrations against the Indonesian military.

Belo was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 with Jose Ramos-Horta, a spokesman for East Timorese autonomy. The Nobel Peace Prize Committee said it made the award in hopes that a just solution to the East Timor situation could be found.

Update: Two more regional RCA bodies approve salvation amendment

(RNS) Two of the largest regional bodies of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) have become the second and third denominational divisions to approve a controversial amendment requiring pastors and churches to annually affirm that salvation comes from Jesus alone.

In separate meetings Tuesday (March 18), the 17,038-member Classis of South Grand Rapids and the 15,682-member Classis of Zeeland, both in Michigan, voted to ratify the proposed amendment to the denomination’s Book of Order.

The amendment also is expected to pass in the RCA’s largest regional body, the 21,995-member Classis of California. Almost half the members of that division belong to the Rev. Robert Schuller’s Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Calif.

The salvation amendment was adopted by the denomination’s General Synod _ the church’s highest decision-making body _ last year, but still must be approved by two-thirds of RCA classes and then come before the General Synod for a second time before the measure can take effect.

The amendment’s author, the Rev. Patrick Shetler, argued that the amendment is a matter of simple doctrinal integrity.

“We need to either come out and openly say that the doctrinal standards are worthless pieces of paper or some people need to leave,” he said.

Opponents of the amendment have called it inappropriate and redundant.

Salberg picked to lead Jewish umbrella agency

(RNS) Melvin Salberg, a New York attorney who heads the American Zionist Movement, has been nominated to become the next chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

The conference, an umbrella agency for 53 American Jewish groups, is the Jewish community’s united voice on Israel and other foreign issues. Salberg’s selection by a conference nominating committee virtually assures his appointment.

Salberg’s election ended widespread speculation in the Jewish community that former U.S. ambassador Ronald S. Lauder, an intimate of Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would be named to the post. Lauder, heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics fortune and a former ambassador to Austria, heads the Jewish National Fund, one of the groups belonging to the conference.

Salberg has a long record of involvement in Jewish affairs. Among his many posts, he served as chairman of the Anti-Defamation League from 1990 to 1994.

The conference chairmanship is a two-year post. Leon Levy, the current conference chairman, leaves the office June 1.

Christians offer pancakes, prayers to Spring Break students

(RNS) As an estimated 500,000 college students descend on Florida’s Panama City Beach for the annual spring break trek this year, some 3,000 young Christians will be offering prayers and pancakes in a new evangelistic project.

Free pancake breakfasts are a key element of “Beach Reach,” an evangelistic program sponsored by the Baptist Student Union and Campus Crusade for Christ, according to an Associated Press report.

“We’re not going to push God down their throat,” said Rachael Elrod, 19, a sophomore at Campellsville University in Kentucky. But when the opportunity comes up, project participants will talk about Jesus and the Bible.

“It’s a confrontational type of evangelism, but it’s done in a way that it’s not confrontational,” said the Rev. Darren Tipton, leader of the Beach Reach project.

Beach Reach participants also are offering free rides to students, hoping to do a little evangelism along the way. In addition, the ministry is sponsoring volleyball tournaments and evening worship sessions where students can gather to sing, read the Bible, and listen to Christian rock music.

Jason Holbrook, 24, a 1995 University of Kentucky graduate, said he used to spend his spring breaks drinking and partying, but now he is involved with the outreach program.

“You’d party and spend all your money on spring break and just wake up hung over and miserable,” Holbrook said. “I kind of grieve for these guys because I remember how I felt.”

The Beach Reach project is one of several evangelistic programs Christian ministries are sponsoring in popular spring break destinations.

Quote of the day: Columbia University professor Robert Thurman on Tibet

(RNS) Tibet, a country occupied by China, has become a cause celebre for many American religious and human rights activists. The New York Times _ noting the appealing personality of Tibet’s exiled religious and political leader, the Dalai Lama _ asked Robert Thurman, a former Buddhist monk turned Columbia University professor of Indo-Tibetan studies, to explain the issue’s growing popularity. He said:”The Tibetans are the baby seals of the human rights movement.”

MJP END RNS