c. 1997 Religion News Service
Ouster of S.C. school official sought after religion remarks
(RNS) At least two national groups have called for the resignation of a member of South Carolina’s board of education after he made disparaging remarks during a meeting abouts non-Christian religions.
Henry Jordan made the remarks during a discussion about displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools. Referring to possible opponents of the idea, Jordan said:”Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims.” Jordan later said his remarks were not meant to be taken literally, the Associated Press reported.”What I want to do is promote Christianity as the only true religion,”Jordan said.”This nation was founded to worship, honor and glorify Jesus Christ, not Mohammad, not Buddha.” Jordan said he made his comments during a time when he believed the tape recorder for the meeting had been turned off. He blamed the”leak”of his comments on those who want to derail the influence of Christianity in public schools.
Separate calls for Jordan’s resignation came from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.”There’s really no way you can redeem somebody after a remark like this,”said Ibrahim Hooper of CAIR.
NCC supports bill to tax cigarettes for child health coverage
(RNS) The National Council of Churches (NCC) has given its support to proposed legislation that would sharply boost the federal excise tax on cigarettes in order to provide funds for health coverage for families of the nation’s approximately 10 million uninsured children.
The legislation is sponsored by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.”The Hatch-Kennedy bill is neither as complete nor as compassionate as we might hope, nor as we believe a caring society needs to provide,”said the Rev. Albert Pennybacker, the NCC’s associate general secretary for public policy.”But it reaches to redress an intolerable inequity. The promise of life in every child requires, as all decent people must agree, at least a healthy chance.” Hatch and Kennedy announced their proposed legislation earlier this year at a meeting sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), which is helping to lead the campaign for its enactment.
According to the CDF, of the nation’s 70 million children, 10 million lack health insurance coverage and most of those live in families whose parents are working but whose employers do not offer health insurance. Most of those earn too little to afford private health insurance but too much to qualify for Medicaid.
Pennybacker said there were”strategic differences”among the NCC’s 33 member denominations on the bill, but”those differences, in every instance, lie in wanting more, not less.””The moral mandate is clear: the love of neighbor means especially the children. … And the consequences for failing to attend to `the little ones’ _ that is, for causing them to `stumble’ _ is also clear and dreadful: God will not ignore those who ignore the children. Neither must we.”
Film on Southern Baptists to air on PBS in June
(RNS) A film documenting the Southern Baptist Convention’s views on women pastors will be featured on public television in June.”Battle for the Minds,”a documentary produced by Steven Lipscomb, will be featured as part of the PBS series”P.O.V.: Television with a Point of View,”which showcases independent non-fiction films.
The hourlong film is scheduled to air June 10 on PBS. (Check local listings for program dates and times.)
Lipscomb, a Los Angeles lawyer-turned-filmmaker, decided to focus on women pastors and the nation’s largest Protestant denomination after learning about his mother’s experiences as a student at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. The film includes interviews with those on both sides of the controversy and uses the debate on women’s role in ministry as an example of the greater ideological battle between conservative and moderate Southern Baptists.
The film won the”Director’s Choice Award”and the”Best Feature Film”award at the 7th Annual Louisville Film & Video Festival in November.”Having grown up in a family steeped in this tradition, the film comes directly from my heritage and in a way, from my heart,”said Lipscomb.”I felt like it was a story that needed to be told, because people were not able to tell it themselves.”
Nobel winner says peace prize brings suffering to East Timor
(RNS) Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo says his 1996 Nobel Peace Prize has brought more suffering to Indonesia-controlled East Timor.
Belo was named co-winner of the award in recognition of his support for human rights and his outspoken defense of the Timorese in their quest for independence from Indonesia.
Belo said the award appears to have led to increased repression by Indonesian authorities.”The number of cases of arrests and torture among the youngest in the territory has increased,”Reuters reported the bishop as saying at a dinner in his honor in Lisbon, Portugal.”Many were questioned, tortured and some were imprisoned … just because they shouted `Long live the Nobel, Long live Ximenes.'”
Protestant official finds racism in Latin American churches
(RNS) Racism permeates Latin America, including the churches, and while it is not violent it reaches far into and distorts the structures and theologies of the churches, a key official of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) said.
Norman Bent, secretary of CLAI’s pastoral committee on racial discrimination, said he believes the reason racism in Latin America has not turned violent can perhaps be laid to”the feeling of guilt”of the Spanish ruling elite who had colonized and governed the continent.
CLAI is the leading interchurch agency in Latin America, bringing together mainline Protestant and some Pentecostal churches from the region.
Racism is at the very root of modern Latin American life, Bent said in an interview from Bolivia with Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency.”Indigenous and black people do not hold political, economic or cultural power. Black and indigenous people do not hold leading positions at universities, not even in anthropology departments.” That kind of racism can be found in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches, he said.”In the church structure, leaders are white, middle-class and male,”he said.”The theology is the … theology of Europe, and indigenous and black theologies have no influence. In their educational programs, the churches do not fight against racism. The God the church is shown is a white God with a beard.”
Quote of the day: House Speaker Newt Gingrich
(RNS) House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., spoke at a prayer breakfast in early May at the National Religious Broadcasters Public Policy Conference:”I believe it is vital that we reassert the centrality of faith in the definition of America … There’s an enormous difference between any person of faith who believes there’s a Supreme Being and a person who believes we’re simply protoplasm temporarily here … But the vision that there can be a secular American polity divorced from the reality of the Creator is a hopeless, empty desert of despair. It is impossible.”
MJP END RNS