c. 1997 Religion News Service

Catholic bishops, Christian Coalition urge denial of China trade status

(RNS) The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have joined forces with the Christian Coalition and other conservative groups to urge Congress not to renew China’s”most favored nation”(MFN) trade status.”Freedom for markets without freedom of worship is not really freedom at all,”John Carr, secretary for social development of the U.S. Catholic Conference, told a news conference Wednesday (May 21).”Despite the hopes of the (Clinton) administration and others, religious persecution in China is serious and apparently growing,”Carr added.

On Monday (May 19), President Clinton announced he would seek to renew China’s MFN status, which essentially means that trade between the United States and China would continue without special tariffs or other economic barriers.

Clinton said such ties are”the best way to bring China into the family of nations and to secure our interests and our ideals.” But significant numbers of both conservatives and liberals oppose the move, citing China’s record on human rights and religious persecution of Christians, Buddhists and other religious minorities.”The bishops I represent know that if they served in China they would face harassment and perhaps imprisonment simply for teaching Catholic doctrine and voicing their fidelity to the pope,”Carr said.

The Christian Coalition also urged Congress to reject renewal of MFN for China.”We certainly believe the United States should remain engaged with China and maintain the dialogue that has been established between the two countries, but we have grave concerns about the mistreatment of people of faith by the Chinese government,”said Heidi Stirrup, the group’s director of government relations.”U.S. foreign policy and trade policy should be consistent with American values,”she added.

Congress passes bill protecting volunteers from some lawsuits

(RNS) Congress has overwhelmingly passed and sent to President Clinton a bill to protect volunteers from some lawsuits that could stem from their charitable work.

The bill, passed Wednesday (May 21), would protect a volunteer from liability for harm caused while properly engaged in volunteer work unless the harm was caused by willful or criminal misconduct or conscious, flagrant indifference, or resulted from a crime of violence, international terrorism, a sexual offense or a violation of civil rights law, the Associated Press reported. “Throughout our history, whether coaching baseball or aiding disaster victims, the men and women who volunteer to meet these needs have made us a better nation,”said Rep. John Porter, R-Ill., a co-sponsor of the bill.”Now we’re giving them the protection they need.” Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C., another co-sponsor, added:”If you’re being a good Samaritan and there’s an accident that isn’t your fault, you shouldn’t get sued.” Inglis said volunteering in America is in danger because of”frivolous lawsuits.”He cited a poll indicating that one in six potential volunteers withholds services because they fear lawsuits.

Porter said the issue is not so much that volunteers have been made to pay large judgments in suits but that they have been forced to bear the burden of hiring lawyers and going to court.

Religious groups call for democracy in the former Zaire

(RNS) As the chaos subsides in the former Zaire, now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo, religious groups are calling on the new government of Laurent Kabila to establish democracy and provide security for humanitarian aid workers.”Respect for human life is critical if children are to have the opportunity to maximize their potential,”said Dean R. Hirsch, president of World Vision International.

Hirsch said the new government should take steps to”establish security so that humanitarian efforts can be effective, establish a government which protects the rights and property of the people and puts an end to the corruption and personal political and financial gains of a few officials.” Saying the country is entering a time of transition, Hirsch added that the international community”must not sit by merely as observers. Now is the time for the rest of the world to unite in support of peace and freedom in Congo, and throughout the entire Central Africa region.” The National Conference of Catholic Bishops also expressed deep concern over the ongoing violence in the region, even as Kabila locks his hold on power in the former Zaire.

Archbishop Theodore McCarrick said recent reports from Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi are”an indication of a continued campaign of regional destabilization by armed groups of militia and undisciplined military.”He cited, among other incidents, the unwillingness of Kabila’s rebel forces to cooperate with the United Nations mission sent to investigate allegations of human rights violations by the rebels.”We call on the intentional community to make much needed financial and logistical provisions available for the immediate deployment and protection of human rights monitors throughout the region, but particularly in former Zaire, now that the rebel army has succeeded in overthrowing the Mobutu (Sese Seko) regime,”McCarrick said.

In a separate development, the United Methodist News Service, the official news agency of the denomination, reported that three Methodist missionary couples had returned to the former Zaire to resume their work.

Colombia’s high court legalizes euthanasia

(RNS) The Constitutional Court of Colombia, the Latin American nation’s highest judicial body, has legalized euthanasia for terminally ill people who have clearly given their consent to the act.

In a 6-3 decision, the court ruled Tuesday (May 20) that a person acting under strict euthanasia guidelines cannot be held criminally responsible for taking another person’s life. But it said judges would have to come up with the guidelines and consider on a case-by-case basis whether a person is terminally ill, the Associated Press reported.”Certainly each death is going to create a conflict, so the judge will have to evaluate the circumstances of each case,”said Antonio Barrera, the court president.

The ruling was made in a case filed by a man who opposes mercy killings and wanted all references to it removed from Colombian law. Prior to the ruling, Colombian law had defined mercy killing as homocide to end intense suffering caused by injury or disease. It was punishable by at least six months in prison.

Dissenting judges said the ruling overstepped the court’s powers of constitutional review and entered the realm of lawmaking.

Mother Teresa: Don’t profit off the nun bun

(RNS) Mother Teresa has written the Bongo Java coffeehouse in Nashville asking it to stop profiting from the merchandising of goods related to a cinnamon bun some people find bears the likeness of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Roman Catholic nun.”My legal counsel … has written asking you to stop, and now I am personally asking you to stop,”Mother Teresa wrote in a letter from Calcutta dated March 25 and received this week by coffeehouse owner Bob Bernstein.

But Bernstein told the Associated Press he has no intention of stopping.

The episode began in October when a customer preparing to bite into a cinnamon bun recognized what he thought was a likeness of Mother Teresa. Coffeehouse workers shellacked the bun and placed it in a counter display. The story has circulated around the world, drawing tourists and visitors to the coffeeshop.

Bernstein has been selling T-shirts, prayer cards and mugs with the bun’s image on them. The only concession to Mother Teresa’s concerns is that the merchandise no longer carries her name.”I don’t think we’re doing anything in bad taste,”Bernstein said.”If she saw the fun and good spirit in which we’re doing things, I think she’d appreciate it.” Jim Towey, the lawyer who represents Mother Teresa in the United States, said the nun”has a great sense of humor and appreciated the story about the bun _ until it got commercialized.” Responded Bernstein:”If it were sacrilege, we’d stop. But it’s not. It makes people laugh; it makes people think of ultimate things. You know, if it really is her image, then it really is a miracle.”

Quote of the day: Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman

(RNS) Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, speaking at the National Consultation on Food Security, called to develop a U.S. strategy for cutting world hunger in half by 2015, pledging an”unprecedented U.S. effort to uproot hunger wherever it occurs.”But Glickman said poor nations have to change too:”Leaders of hungry nations have got to enact the democratic and free-market reforms necessary to stabilize their country, serve the needs of their people and strengthen their economy and infrastructure. Without these changes, we’ve seen time and time again that there’s little the outside world can do to help.”

MJP END RNS