c. 1997 Religion News Service
Russian Orthodox leader urges spiritual revival
(RNS) Patriarch Alexy II, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, marked Russian Orthodox Christmas by calling on church members to help foster spiritual revival in the nation.”It’s high time to muster the spiritual forces of the nation,”said Alexy, who officiated at a lengthy Christmas Eve service (Jan. 6) in Bogoyavlinsky Cathedral in Moscow.”May wisdom, love, faith, truth and concord help Russia achieve spiritual renovation.” Unlike the Greek Orthodox Church and most other Christian bodies, the Russian Orthodox Church, which follows the Julian calendar, celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7.
Dressed in a shiny golden robe, the Orthodox leader was recently released from the hospital after suffering from pneumonia, the Associated Press reported.
Until recently, Orthodox Christmas celebrations were banned under Soviet rule. Christmas had been banned as a holiday by the Bolsheviks after the 1917 revolution. In 1991, the holiday was restored to its former status during a time of religious revival in Russia that followed decades of officially atheist Communist rule.
Government leaders now attend church services during major religious holidays. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and other top officials sat at the front of the ornate Moscow cathedral as Alexy spoke Christmas Eve.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which was severely oppressed in the 1920s and 1930s, is now a key part of the new Russian establishment, often mediating sensitive political situations.”The revival of all the aspects of church life continues more actively than ever,”Alexy told the ITAR-Tass news agency.”It is not without reason that this beneficial process is often described as the second baptism of Russia.”
Jewish groups pull out of event over Nation of Islam inclusion
(RNS) Two Jewish groups have dropped out of a”Day of Dialogue”sponsored by Mayor Marion Barry of Washington, D.C., because a Nation of Islam representative is on the event’s organizing committee.
Regional officials of the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress said Monday (Jan. 6) they would not participate in the event, which is set for Jan. 15 and is intended as a day of racial reconciliation.
David L. Friedman, regional ADL director, charged that including a Nation of Islam representative on the committee undermines the event’s credibility because the Nation of Islam”is part of the problem, not part of the solution.”Friedman said the Nation of Islam, led by Minister Louis Farrakhan, is”one of the organizations that has been most closely associated with fanning the flames of intolerance.” Abdul Arif Muhammad, a local spokesman for the Nation of Islam who was appointed to the organizing committee, said the Jewish groups’ actions would”intensify racial polarization between the races.” Barry, speaking through a spokeswoman, said he hoped the Jewish groups would reconsider their actions.
The Nation of Islam and Jewish groups have long been at odds. Jews have accused Farrakhan of being anti-Semitic, while Farrakhan has accused Jews of having played a large role in the African slave trade.
Farrakhan, meanwhile, has made another trip to Libya. It was his third visit in a year to the North African nation considered a pariah state by U.S. officials.
Farrakhan has called for an end to U.S. sanctions against Libya. The sanctions were imposed after Libya declined to turn over two suspects the United States believes are responsible for the terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 in 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Some 270 people died in the incident.
Poll suggests Israeli Jews are flexible on Jerusalem
(RNS) A new survey of Israeli Jews has found that while 79 percent are opposed in principle to negotiating with the Palestinians over the future of Jerusalem, 45 percent said they would consider a proposal to cede to Palestinian control some Arab villages and settlements that are within the city’s limits.
The findings suggest that Israeli Jews are more flexible on the religiously and politically explosive issue of Jerusalem than previously thought, according to the survey by Jerusalem’s Guttman Institute of Applied Social Research and the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland.
Survey results show that Israeli Jews are somewhat flexible about Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries, which have been enlarged by Israel since it gained control of formerly Arab-controlled East Jerusalem in 1967. Israel has also formally annexed all of the city.
For example, 59 percent said they favored redefining Jerusalem’s boundaries to ensure the city retains its current Jewish majority. Jerusalem’s Old City, which has an Arab Christian and Muslim majority, was excluded from what those surveyed were willing to give up.
The Israeli government’s position is that Israel has sole sovereignty over an undivided Jerusalem. Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of their hoped-for independent state.
The final status of Jerusalem _ holy to Christians, Jews and Muslims _ is supposed to be settled in the last stages of the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. The issue is considered perhaps the most difficult of the entire Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
Reed named `Outstanding Young American’ by civic association
(RNS) Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed has been named one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans for 1997 by the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Reed, 35, executive director of the politically conservative organization founded in 1989 by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, will be formally honored at a ceremony scheduled for Jan. 11. The coalition, which claims to have 1.7 million members and supporters, was considered a major influence in the election of the first Republican-controlled Congress in 40 years in 1994.
For 59 years, the Junior Chamber, a civic association of young people in their 20s and 30s, has honored people early in their careers for their contributions in a variety of fields, including entertainment, community service, medicine, business, science and journalism.
Past honorees have included Presidents John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton. Other honorees have included Elvis Presley, Nelson Rockefeller and actor Christopher Reeve.
Quote of the Day: Gloria Steinem
(RNS) In a Tuesday (Jan. 7) New York Times column, Gloria Steinem, founding editor of Ms. magazine, commented on the film”The People vs. Larry Flynt,”which focuses on the controversial publisher of Hustler magazine:”Let’s be clear: A pornographer is not a hero, no more than a publisher of Ku Klux Klan books or a Nazi on the Internet, no matter what constitutional protection he secures.”
MJP END RNS