c. 1997 Religion News Service
USA Weekend readers split 50-50 on Southern Baptist boycott of Disney
(RNS) A survey of callers to USA Weekend has found a 50-50 split in American support of the recent decision by Southern Baptists to boycott the Walt Disney Co.
Based on phone calls, online votes to the magazine’s Web site and postcards mailed in by readers, the magazine received 107,060 responses that revealed that 50.5 percent of voters did not support the Baptist effort and 49.5 percent were in favor of it.
The response was the highest of eight surveys the magazine has done this year.
USA Weekend is a weekly magazine published by Gannett Co. and distributed in 496 newspapers across the country. The survey appeared in its July 18-20 issue.
A total of 95,279 unduplicated calls were made to one of two 800 numbers designated for a positive or negative response to the boycott. An additional 11,360 people voted online and 421 readers voted by sending in postcards to the magazine.
Votes cast online demonstrated less of a down-the-middle split than votes via phone or postcard. Seventy-one percent of the people who voted electronically said they would oppose the boycott while 29 percent said they would support it.
Forty-eight percent of those voting by phone or postcard were against the boycott while 52 percent of them were in favor of it.
The phone lines were open from 6 a.m. EDT July 18 to midnight EDT July 24.
USA Weekend also has polled its readers this year on genetic testing, ways to reduce teen pregnancy, flag burning and whether or not they would clone their cat or dog.
In other Disney-related matters, a corporate responsibility committee of the United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits has asked agency staff members to contact Disney to get reaction to allegations about the company that have been made by the American Family Association. The AFA, which already is boycotting Disney, was founded by United Methodist minister Donald Wildmon.
Wildmon’s organization and Southern Baptists have criticized Disney for its programming, such as the Disney-owned ABC show”Ellen”that features a lesbian character, and policies, including its extension of insurance benefits to partners of homosexual employees.
Also, the Rev. Paul Gilchrist, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church in America’s General Assembly, told RNS Wednesday (July 30) he plans to write a letter to pastors and elders of his denomination encouraging them to participate in the Disney boycott.
Gilchrist said the denomination’s general assembly, which meets once a year, has not”formally joined in the boycott,”but has passed a resolution stating that members”abhor what Disney and other corporations do to promote the homosexual lifestyle.”
Pope meets with widow of Joseph O’Dell, executed murderer
(RNS) Even after his execution by lethal injection in Virginia on July 23, convicted killer and rapist Joseph O’Dell remains an international focal point for opponents of the death penalty.
O’Dell’s body arrived for burial in Italy on Wednesday (July 30), news agencies reported, and Pope John Paul II offered comfort to his widow, Lori Urs, whom O’Dell wed on death row eight hours before his death.
Vatican officials said the pope met privately with Urs after his weekly audience. He was among numerous prominent figures and organizations that unsuccessfully appealed to Virginia Gov. George Allen to spare O’Dell’s life.
O’Dell had become a cause celebre in Italy, a nation seeking a worldwide ban on the death penalty.
He is scheduled to be buried in Palermo, Sicily, which named him an honorary citizen and will erect a monument in his honor. The cemetery is the resting place of victims of the Sicilian Mafia as well as assassinated mobsters.
Some Italian politicians have criticized the burial and planned remembrances.”Italy should not become a criminals’ cemetery,”said Sen. Paolo Danieli of the National Alliance Party.
Presbyterian leader criticizes”covenants of dissent,”funds withholding
(RNS) So-called”covenants of dissent”and the withholding of funds _ two tactics increasingly used by both sides in the raging debate over ordination standards, especially of non-celibate gays _ have been criticized as”not responsible”by a top leader of the Presbyterian Church (USA).”One of the great gifts of our Presbyterian system is the adequate means and open access to change our constitution,”the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the denomination said in an interview with Presbyterian News Service, the church’s official news agency.”We have become too quick to disavow the constitution, and that’s a violation of church order.” Kirkpatrick made in his comments as the denomination continued a fierce debate over what kind of sexual standards can be applied to church officers, including pastors.
Earlier this year, when the church adopted Amendment B, the so-called”fidelity and chastity”rule, a number of local jurisdictions adopted varying statements of defiance. The rule was widely interpreted as requiring gay church officers to to be chaste.
Then, after the denomination’s General Assembly, meeting in June, sent to presbyteries a new amendment, commonly called the”fidelity and integrity”amendment and widely perceived as softening Amendment B, opponents of the new amendment called for the withholding of funds to protest it.
Both tactics are wrong, Kirkpatrick said.”Whenever you advocate a violation of our covenant together as Presbyterians _ which both covenants of dissent and withholding of funds are _ you inevitably strengthen the position you oppose.” He said compliance with the church’s constitution and support of the church’s mission were both”moral obligations”of Presbyterians.
Update: French official says Scientology still a sect, not a religion
(RNS) A top French government official says the Church of Scientology will continue to be regarded as a sect, not a religion, despite a court ruling that referred to the controversial group as a religion.
Under French law, religions are non-profit groups and broadly tax-exempt, but sects are not.
On Monday (July 28) an appeals court ruled that”the Church of Scientology can rightfully claim to be a religion.”The opinion was part of a judgment that acquitted nine people and reduced sentences for six others who had been convicted of manslaughter and fraud.
Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement of the Socialist-led government, however, said Wednesday he was”the only one with the authority to recognize religious associations”and he would not recognize Scientology as such, Reuters reported.”We have never had the idea of recognizing the Church of Scientology as a religious association,”Chevenement said.
The public prosecutor in Lyon, where the trial of the Scientologists took place, had appealed the court ruling, accusing the judges of exceeding their powers.”Did the Lyon appeals court have the power to define a religion?”Chevenement asked.”I don’t see the point. Because that has no legal value, it has no judicial consequences.” France’s neighbor Germany also does not recognize Scientology as a religion, and officials there have tangled repeatedly with Scientologists.
House committee passes measure banning human cloning
(RNS) The House Science Committee on Wednesday (July 23) approved legislation to permanently ban the use of federal funds for research on human-embryo or human cloning.
The measure, sponsored by Rep. Vernon J. Ehlers, R-Mich., would make permanent President Clinton’s recent executive ban on such use of federal funds.”I feel it’s extremely important for us to make a statement to society that (human) cloning is not acceptable in the United States,”Ehlers said.
The Science Committee, which passed the measure by voice vote, rejected arguments of some members that the bill would hamper research that could yield breakthroughs in agriculture and in the treatment of many diseases, news sources reported.
Ehlers said one purpose of the bill was to insure such work would continue.”It is very important to continue that work because it does promise medical advances,”Ehlers said.
The Biotechnology Industry Organization, a trade group, opposes both the bill and the president’s ban as”imprecise, overboard and adversely affecting vital biomedical research,”officials said.
The House Commerce Committee must approve the bill before it can be sent to the full House for a vote.
Quote of the day: 15th century Persian poet Jami
(RNS) Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami, a 15th century Persian poet and follower of Sufism, is quoted on the subject of God in the new book,”Essential Sufism”(HarperSanFrancisco):”A beautiful creature is merely a single blossom from the vast garden of God. But remember that a picture fades, a flower dies, and the reflection in the mirror is eclipsed by the real Light. It is God who is real and remains so forever. So, why waste your time over something that is here today and gone tomorrow? Go directly to the source without delay.”
END RNS
