c. 1998 Religion News Service
Activists for and against abortion condemn doctor’s slaying
(RNS) Activists on either side of the abortion issue have condemned the murder Friday (Oct. 23) of an Amherst, N.Y., doctor who conducted abortions.
The American Life League was among the anti-abortion groups criticizing the slaying of Dr. Barnett Slepian, who was shot by an unidentified sniper who fired through his kitchen window. Slepian, 52, was an obstetrician-gynecologist who friends say refused to abandon clients seeking an abortion despite protests against him.”Abortionist Slepian was mercilessly gunned down in his home,”said Judie Brown, league president, in a statement.”Such violence against a fellow human being can never be justified.” Likewise, the Revs. Paul and Rob Schenck of the National Clergy Council encouraged”all people of conscience to defend life peacefully,”the Associated Press reported.
The Schencks assisted in organizing the large-scale”Spring of Life”abortion protest in Buffalo in 1992. Amherst is a suburb of Buffalo.”The murder of Barnett Slepian is wrong, sinful and cowardly,”they declared.
Patty Brous, president of the Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, an abortion rights group, said threats of violence against providers of abortion is increasing across the country.”We live in an environment where we have to be eternally vigilant about potential violence,”she said.”The threat is always there.” But at least one anti-abortion group has dubbed Slepian’s killer a”hero.” The founder of Pro-life Virginia added that the doctor’s murderer had stopped the physician’s”blood-thirsty practice.””We as Christians have a responsibility to protect the innocent from being murdered, the same way we would want someone to protect us,”said the Rev. Donald Spitz in a statement.”Whoever shot the shot protected the children.” The New York Times reported that the national director of Operation Rescue, another anti-abortion group that organized the 1992 Buffalo protests, issued a statement that neither condemned nor condoned the murder.
The Rev. Flip Benham linked”the spirit of murder”to the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.”We have shed the blood of the innocent in the womb, and we are now reaping it in the streets,”he stated.
Gloria Feldt, national president of Planned Parenthood, said Slepian’s name had appeared on the Internet on a list of abortion doctors who were targeted for death.
Within hours of the shooting, his name was”crossed off,”she said.”Lists of this sort have existed for years, and are taken very, very seriously”by abortion rights groups, she said.
Slepian is the third U.S. doctor killed since 1993 who was known to perform abortions.
Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of N. America denounce porn
(RNS) The Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America adopted a resolution denouncing the prevalence of pornography and obscenity in America at the group’s recent annual meeting.
The statement expressed concern about what it said was the increased availability of pornography”through increasingly sexually explicit movies and television programs, magazines, videotapes and, most recently, the Internet.” The resolution, which echoed a statement adopted by the National Association of Evangelicals earlier this year, added that”these materials exploit persons made in God’s image, destroy healthy relationships and distort God’s gift of loving, mutual sexuality between husband and wife.” The resolution called on religious leaders in the Pentecostal and charismatic communities to work through education and law enforcement efforts to reduce pornography and obscenity in their communities, reported the Assemblies of God News & Information Service.
The Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America began in 1994 when African-American and white religious leaders met in a gathering now called”The Memphis Miracle.”The focus on reconciliation continued at the recent meeting, held Oct. 19-20 in Tulsa, Okla.”The PCCNA came to Tulsa for reconciliation, revival and unity to bring believers together in one accord showing love for one another,”said the Rev. Billy Joe Daugherty, chairperson of the host committee.
Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson of Memphis, Tenn., a member of the general board of the Church of God in Christ, and the Rev. Thomas Trask, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, were re-elected as co-chairmen of the PCCNA Executive Committee.
Arab TV station to offer Muslim-only programming
(RNS) A new Persian Gulf-based television channel promises Islamic-focused programming devoid of the”decadence”and”impropriety”it said permeates Western shows currently widely available throughout the Middle East.
Originating in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, Iqra, as the channel is named, is available free to satellite dish-owners across the Middle East and much of Africa and Europe.
Iqra means”read”in Arabic and is the first word of the Koran, the Muslim holy book. The Arab Radio and Television company launched the station, which aired for the first time on Oct. 21.
Abdul-Qader Tash, Iqra director, said the station would promote moderate Islam. Iqra’s soap operas, game shows, children’s programming, religious discussions and other family-oriented offerings will contain no references to alcohol, nudity or mixing of the sexes _ all of which Islam frowns upon.
A company mission statement said”we aim to present entertaining programs that are devoid of decadence and impropriety and are appropriate for viewing by Muslim families.”
Report: Vietnam’s Catholic bishops seek visit by pope
(RNS) Vietnam’s Roman Catholic bishops want the communist government to invite Pope John Paul II to visit the country in 1999.
According to the Vatican City-based Fides, the news agency of the church’s missionary arm, the pope could make the visit next August if the Vietnamese government gives its approval.
Fides said the visit would be timed to coincide with the conclusion of the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the apparition of Our Lady of La Vang. This year’s festival celebration drew 100,000 pilgrims, marking, Reuters reported, high hopes that hard times for religious believers in Vietnam might be drawing to an end.
The bishops’ decision to ask the government to invite John Paul was made at a meeting of the Vietnam Bishops’ Conference, which ended Oct. 18, Fides said.
Vietnam has a Roman Catholic population of about 8 million, the largest Catholic community in Southeast Asia outside the Philippines.
Quote of the Day: James Kullander
(RNS)”The pope should welcome the New Age for keeping alive the metaphysical study of the ultimate human questions that he feels has been abandoned.” _ James Kullander, a graduate student at Union Theological Seminary in New York, commenting in the New York Times Monday (Oct. 26) on Pope John Paul II’s most recent criticism of New Age spirituality contained in his recent encyclical”Faith and Reason.”
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