c. 1998 Religion News Service
Clinton spokesman: Lott’s views on homosexuality `backward’
(RNS) White House spokesman Mike McCurry, who Tuesday (June 16) criticized as”backward”Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott’s description of homosexuality as a disease, has himself drawn fire from Gary Bauer, president of the Family Research Council, who said the Clinton administrations is taking”marching orders from the radical homosexual activists.” Lott, in remarks on”The Armstrong Williams Show,”said Monday (June 15) he believes homosexuality is a sin.”You should still love that person,”said Lott, R-Miss.”You should not try to mistreat them or treat them as outcasts. You should try to show them a way to deal with that problem, just like alcohol … or sex addiction … or kleptomaniacs.” McCurry was asked to respond to Lott’s remarks during a Tuesday press briefing at the White House.”For over 25 years, it’s been quite clear that sexual orientation is not an affliction,”he said.”It is not a disease. … And the fact that the majority leader has such views, apparently, consistent with some who are fairly extreme in his party, is an indicator of how difficult it is to do rational work in Washington.” McCurry went on to name Bauer and James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, as people whose views are shared by”the extreme point of view in American political life”of some Republicans.
He said such views have led to opposition to the nomination of James Hormel as U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg. Hormel, a San Francisco philanthropist, is gay.
Bauer, in a statement, protested McCurry’s comments.”It’s unfortunate … that, today, every American who believes homosexuality is wrong has been labeled an extremist by the White House,”Bauer said Tuesday.”Homosexuality is considered unacceptable behavior by every major religion in the world and by most Americans.” On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, agreed with Lott’s assessment of homosexuality, The Washington Times reported.”The Bible is very clear on this,”he told reporters, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket that included several relevant Bible references.”I do abide by the Bible.” A prominent gay-rights organization protested the stands of Lott and Armey, the newspaper reported.”Armey’s comments, as with Senator Lott’s comments, are further evidence that the extreme right has the leadership of Congress in their back pocket,”said David Smith, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay political group.
Pope hopes to heal Austrian church in wake of sex scandal, dissent
(RNS) Pope John Paul II, set to visit Austria at the end of the week, said Wednesday (June 17) he hopes his trip will help heal the wounds of the church created by a sex scandal at the highest level and beset by an increasingly vocal liberal bloc calling for reform.
Speaking at his weekly audience, John Paul said the last few years have been a time of suffering in the Austrian church and its 6.3 million members.”The pope and his bishops want to help overcome these problems,”John Paul said.
John Paul is scheduled to make a three-day visit to Austria beginning Friday (June 19). In 1995, the church in Austria was rocked by the news that its most senior prelate, archconservative Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, had been accuse of sexually molesting a schoolboy 20 years earlier.
Groer was forced to resign as archbishop of Vienna. He angered large numbers of Catholics by failing to openly acknowledge his guilt, even after several other priests and monks alleged they, too, had been subject to his sexual advances.
In addition, Vatican officials were slow _ even reluctant _ to move against Groer, now 78 and in poor health. He has been exiled to a convent near Dresden, Germany, and forbidden to exercise the functions of his office.
In addition, the church in Austria has been divided by vocal reform efforts of liberal Catholics and the We Are Church movement, demanding an end to priestly celibacy, women’s ordination and greater power for the laity in the church’s decision-making process.
India’s Catholic bishops urge defusing of tensions with Pakistan
(RNS) India’s Roman Catholic bishops said Wednesday (June 17) the mounting tensions between India and Pakistan in the wake of nuclear weapons tests by each country must be defused through increased diplomacy.
And they warned against the two nations engaging in an arms race in the face of the immense poverty that afflicts both countries.”The most urgent and pressing need is to de-escalate the tension through diplomatic and political discussions in an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect for life,”the bishops said in a statement.
India tested nuclear weapons last month, ending the country’s 24-year moratorium on nuclear tests, prodding Pakistan to retaliate with its own weapons testing.
Christians make up at tiny minority in the overwhelmingly Hindu nation.
In their statement, the bishops said more attention needs to be focused on the condition of the people of the subcontinent.”Resources needed for combatting poverty, for waging war on hunger and disease and for empowering the people through education, shelter and a respect for their human rights, should not, and must not be diverted in a race involving hostility, war and destruction,”the bishops wrote.
They also said any development of nuclear power should be used to help people instead of for military purposes. “The poverty and under-development in the Indian subcontinent make it particularly important that the region’s scientific and other resources and energies are focused sharply in ameliorating the lot of the people.”
Afghan authorities keep girls out of school
(RNS) The United Nations requested an emergency meeting with Afghanistan’s Taliban leadership Wednesday (June 17) after the Islamic-oriented religious rulers ordered the closing of more than 100 schools for girls.
The edict also affects many home-based vocational training programs teaching girls such skills as carpet weaving and sewing.
When they delivered the closure edict on Tuesday (June 16), a Taliban official said the schools conflicted with the army’s aim of keeping women uneducated and unemployed, the Associated Press reported.
Taliban, which follows a strict fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, has also banned music, ordered men to don beards, wear head coverings and attend mosques.
The United Nations, in a statement issued in neighboring Pakistan, said the closures”will have a devastating impact on the welfare of many of the city’s neediest people _ particularly women and children.” The United Nations and the Taliban leaders have been at odds over issues involving women since the religious-based army took control of much of the country and the conflict has threatened to disrupt U.N. projects and programs in the country.
Under the new rules, the Muslim government will issue licenses to schools but only girls under 8 will be allowed to attend and teaching will be limited to the Koran, Islam’s scripture.
Taliban critics contend the severe strictures against women are based on tribal customs, not Islamic principles.
International Bible Society executive to step down
(RNS) A top executive of the International Bible Society has decided to step down and pursue other opportunities.
Lars Dunberg will leave the post of international president effective July 31.”I’ve committed my life to spreading God’s Word and now I sense that God is calling me to a new chapter,”Dunberg said in a statement.”We just want to wait on God and see where he leads.” Steve Johnson, the society’s director of communications, said the decision was”completely motivated”by Dunberg, and members of the board of directors chose to honor his wishes.”It took the executive committee completely by surprise,”Johnson told Religion News Service.
The IBS has no immediate plans for replacing Dunberg. Senior vice president William Jefferson will continue to help oversee the society’s 50 national offices around the globe.
The IBS, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., is a ministry that translates, publishes and distributes Scripture in more than 500 languages.
Popular Muslim preacher dies
(RNS) One of the world’s most popular Muslim preachers, Sheik Mohammed Mutwali Sharawi of Egypt, died Wednesday (June 17). He was 87.
Sharawi, who was the minister of religious endowments under assassinated President Anwar Sadat, died at his home near the great pyramids, the Associated Press said.
Sharawi won praise for his interpretations of the Koran throughout the Islamic world but some moderate Muslims believe he was out of touch with the modern world, especially on issues involving women and human rights.
For example, Sharawi supported female genital mutilation and ruled women should not be placed in high-level government positions or become judges. He also opposed organ transplants and interest being paid on bank deposits.
His most controversial action was publicly giving thanks to God when Egypt was defeated during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, contending if Egypt had won it would have become a communist country.
Sharawi also had a popular weekly televised lecture on Islamic teaching.
Quote of the day: Author and men’s ministry leader Steve Farrar
(RNS)”If you attempt to teach your children about God without loving God yourself with everything you’ve got, believe me, they are going to figure that out. … They would be better off discovering the truth about Him on their own than to learn it from a father who knew the truth, but didn’t do the truth.” _ Steve Farrar, author and founder of Men’s Leadership Ministries in Bryan, Texas, in his new book on Christian fatherhood,”Anchor Man”(Thomas Nelson).
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