c. 1996 Religion News Service

Burma bars religious leaders from meeting Nobel laureate

(RNS) An international delegation of church leaders was blocked by Burma’s military regime from meeting with Burmese democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The Rev. Larry Tankersley, director of the National Council of Churches Southern Asia Office, who has just returned from Burma, said the delegation had been scheduled to meet with Burma’s leading dissident on Nov. 16.

Instead, when on the way to her house, they found the military had closed the road to traffic. They parked their cars two blocks away and tried to walk in, but were stopped by military personnel who insisted the church leaders could not advance any farther.

Tankersley said the military gave no reason for blocking the meeting.”The world should know that in spite of what the Burmese government has told the world, Aung San Suu Kyi is not free,”Tankersley said.”She is still essentially under house arrest.” Suu Kyi has led the National League for Democracy in Burma, also known as Myanmar, since the late 1980s. She was placed under house arrest by the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in 1989 and held for six years. Her outspoken advocacy of democracy won her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Although she was released from house arrest in July 1995, recent events _ including the barring of her meeting with the international religious leaders _ and the arrest of a number of other pro-democracy activists _ have suggested the regime is again cracking down on pro-democracy activists.

In addition to Tankersley, the delegation of religious leaders included representatives from the World Council of Churches, Great Britain’s Christian Aid and Norwegian Church Aid.

Cult Awareness Network’s identity sold to Scientologist

(RNS) The basic pieces of identity of the bankrupt Cult Awareness Network (CAN) _ its name, logo, telephone number and post office box _ have been sold to a Scientologist lawyer after years of legal wrangling between the Church of Scientology and the anti-cult group.

Last week, Steven L. Hayes of Los Angeles purchased CAN’s identity, which included office furniture, for $20,000, The Washington Post reported Sunday (Dec. 1). Hayes, who is not a Church of Scientology employee, represented several fellow Scientologists in a lawsuit against CAN in the early 1990s when his clients wanted to attend CAN’s national conference.

CAN filed under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in June after a jury ordered the anti-cult group to pay more than $1 million in a lawsuit involving a Bellevue, Wash., man. The jury found CAN, along with a deprogrammer and his two assistants, liable for depriving Jason Scott, then 18, of his civil rights after his mother sought to have him deprogrammed of his beliefs. Scott had been attending a conservative Pentecostal church.

Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, control of CAN was transferred to an independent trustee, Philip R. Martino.”I have an asset to sell. It’s a name,”Martino said.”I sell it to the highest bidder.” Hayes said he represents a group of several people”united in their distaste for CAN”who plan to revamp CAN so that”religions that have been attacked in the past would have an opportunity to at least show what they believe the truth to be.” David Bardin, an attorney who has represented CAN, found the turn of events unsettling.”It kind of boggles the mind,”Bardin said.”People will still pick up the CAN name in a library book and call saying, `My daughter has joined the Church of Scientology.’ And your friendly CAN receptionist is someone who works for Scientology.” The Church of Scientology has long criticized CAN as a”hate group”and issued a special report in 1995 that described the network as”the serpent of hatred, intolerance, violence and death.” Kendrick L. Moxon, who represented Scott and frequently has Scientologist clients, is seeking the purchase of 270 boxes of CAN files. Martino said he doesn’t plan to sell those files until names and personal information are removed. He estimates that process, to be paid by the buyer, will cost about $50,000.

CAN, which was founded in 1974, had offices in the Chicago suburb of Barrington, Ill.

Anglicans affirm communion with Scandinavian, Baltic Lutherans

(RNS) The Church of England has ended the biennial meeting of its general synod by affirming the so-called Porvoo Declaration as an”act of synod,”the most solemn affirmation the Anglican denomination can make.

The Porvoo Declaration takes its name from the Finnish city where it was signed and calls for allowing intercommunion among Anglicans and Lutherans of the participating churches as well as the mutual recognition and full interchangeability of priests and ministers between the Anglican churches of Britain and Ireland and the Lutheran Churches of Scandinavia and the Baltic countries.

It is similar to a proposal that will be before the U.S. Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America next summer.

Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey called the agreement, reached in 1992,”a historic step toward the unity of Christ’s one holy, catholic, and apostolic church for which we long.” Carey said the Church of England is”committed to the search for visible unity with the largest part of the Western Catholic Church from which we all stem.” In addition to declaring the Porvoo agreement an”act of synod,”the agreement was also celebrated by a worship service in Westminster Abbey attended by Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the Church of England.

In other action at the general synod, delegates adopted a resolution allowing bishops to refuse to act on complaints, giving gay-rights advocates a victory.

Gay rights supporters said that without that change, opponents of homosexuality could file complaints against every sexually active gay priest in the Church of England.

Another directive said the new disciplinary procedures should rule out heresy trials.

The synod also adopted guidelines which will have the effect of gradually introducing the practice of allowing children to take their first Holy Communion around the age of six followed by confirmation at a later age, usually in the teens.

Currently, the church’s rule on Communion, which dates back to the 16th century, says that”there shall none be admitted to the Holy Communion until such time as he be confirmed.”

Update: Mother Teresa’s condition better but still critical

(RNS) Mother Teresa prayed and ate her lunch sitting in a chair Monday (Dec. 2) and doctors said they were optimistic the 86-year-old nun would recover from her latest health problems, although they still are concerned about potential lung and kidney complications.

Wire service reports from Calcutta said the nun remained in critical condition following her heart attack two weeks ago and an angioplasty Friday (Nov. 29) to increase the blood flow to her heart.”I am very hopeful, and I am sure the Mother will survive,”the AP quoted Dr. Patricia Aubanel as saying

Reuters quoted a bulletin from the B.M. Birla Heart Research Center, where the Nobel Peace Prize winning nun is being treated, as saying that she is”alert, cooperative with doctors, accepting her treatment. She had lunch sitting on the chair. This afternoon she is sleeping peacefully. Doctors continue to be optimistic.”

Pope urges unions to continue to struggle for”truly just”world

(RNS) Pope John Paul II said Monday (Dec. 2) that people have a fundamental right to work and told trade union leaders their organizations have a continuing role to play in”building a truly just and democratic world.” John Paul made his comments at a two-day Vatican meeting of trade unionists from around the world.”In the dynamic and changing context of today’s economy, the right to work has to be reaffirmed as a fundamental right, corresponding to people’s fundamental responsibility to support themselves and their families,”John Paul said.

He said that while the demand for greater economic efficiency was”legitimate,”the”tragic and often unjust situation of those who do not find work, or have lost it, must be a major concern.”At the same time, how can we not recall the ways in which workers in some parts of the world are made the object of shameless exploitation, as a result of ideas of the economy which disregard every moral value?”he asked.

The pope also condemned abusive child labor practices and the sweatshop exploitation of women worker.

During World War II, John Paul worked in a stone quarry in his native Poland and has often spoken of the special affinity he feels with workers.

Quote of the day: former President Jimmy Carter

(RNS) In his new book,”Living Faith”(Times Books), former President Jimmy Carter relates his very visible”born-again”faith to the political world he inhabited as a governor and president. In an interview in the current issue of U.S. News and World Report, Carter spoke of the tension between his spiritual values and his life as a politician:”There are some innate beliefs I have about my Christian faith that contradict American laws I was sworn to uphold. For example, I never have been able to believe that Jesus Christ would approve abortions or the death penalty. But I took an oath before God that I would uphold the Constitution of the United States as interpreted by the Supreme Court. And when I was in office, Roe vs. Wade prevailed, and I enforced it and accepted it. I’ve always been thankful I never was faced with a decision about the death penalty.”

MJP END RNS