c. 1998 Religion News Service

Holocaust victims, Swiss banks reach agreement

(RNS) Representatives of Swiss commercial banks and Holocaust survivors have reach an agreement under which the banks have agreed to pay $1.25 billion for assets lost during the Nazi era.

The agreement, announced late Wednesday (Aug. 12), calls for the money to be paid out by the two largest Swiss commercial banks _ UBS AG and the Credit Suisse _ and will cover all claims against them plus those against all other Swiss banks, the Swiss government and Swiss industry, according to news report.”We’ve sought to get the funds as rapidly as possible … to get the money to those who are in the last days of their lives,”said Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress, one of the major groups involved in the protracted negotiations.

For years after World War II, the Swiss banks, where many Jews shipped their money as the looming war and increasing Nazi persecution threatened Germany’s Jewish community, told Holocaust survivors they could not find the accounts or demanded death certificates from relatives of victims.

In 1996, one survivor sued the banks and the litigation grew into class-action suits involving 31,500 plaintiffs around the world.

In June, Jewish leaders rejected an offer by the banks to pay $600 million to settle the claims as insufficient and a number of cities and states in the United States threatened to impose sanctions on the two big Swiss banks if they did not reach an acceptable settlement.

According to the Associated Press, the first payment of $250 million will be made 90 days after U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman approves the agreement.”The settlement finally puts to rest some of the sad and ugly past of the Swiss,”said Abraham L. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

Gaylord Entertainment considers buying former Heritage USA site

(RNS) Gaylord Entertainment Co. has announced it is considering the purchase of the 2,000-acre site near Charlotte, N.C., that used to house former televangelist Jim Bakker’s Heritage USA complex.

If plans are formalized, the move would mark the second hotel development of the company’s recently formed Opryland Lodging Group, company officials announced Wednesday (Aug. 12).

Gaylord owns the Grand Ole Opry and the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn., where it is based. It also owns Z Music Television, which focuses on contemporary Christian music, along with other properties.

The consideration of adding the former Heritage site in Fort Mill, S.C., to its properties is contingent on board approvals and due diligence. It includes a 500-room hotel that is currently not in operation, a studio, residential housing, an 18-hole golf course and an outdoor performance amphitheater.

The company has a complete”walk-away”right if it determines the property is not an appropriate investment.”We believe the Charlotte area is a very good market for our Opryland Hotel concept, and it is a market that is ripe for an entertainment, convention-oriented hotel,”said Dave Jones, president and chief executive officer of the Opryland Lodging Group.”But while we are extremely interested in coming to the Charlotte area with our Opryland Hotel concept, there is still much work to be completed before we can consider this a worthwhile investment for our company and our shareholders.” Bakker was convicted in 1989 of bilking supporters of his Praise the Lord (PTL) ministry, which was housed at Heritage USA, out of $158 million. He served five years in prison and is now reportedly an unpaid missionary with the Los Angeles International Church.

Back-to-back news conferences keep gay issue alive

(RNS) In back-to-back news conferences Wednesday (Aug. 12), religious conservative who oppose homosexuality made it clear they are going to keep the issue highly visible while mainline and liberal officials said they would not let the conservatives have the last word.”We, the religious people, have to start to act up,”said Rabbi Yehuda Levin, punning on the name of a militant wing of the gay rights movement.”I think this is a new beginning of the family fighting back,”Levin, a member of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, told a news conference sponsored by the Family Research Council announcing continued efforts by conservative religious leaders to mobilize their constituencies against homosexuality.”God-fearing, decent, normal people have been the victims of a 30-year war,”he added.

The campaign by religious conservatives aims both to block gay rights legislation in Congress and the states and to make more visible”transforming”ministries that seek to convert homosexuals into heterosexuals.”Our outreach to the gay community and lesbian community is not motivated by hate,”insisted Bishop Harold Calvin Ray of the Redemptive Life Fellowship in West Palm Beach, Fla.”I would hope the message of the church would be: We don’t condense and compromise … in order to be politically correct.” But at a news conference sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, a major gay rights advocacy organization, a number of religious and social action groups took issue with the FRC’s panel of clergy.”Some say today that the Bible opposes homosexuality,”said the Rev. Pat Conover of the United Church of Christ’s Office for Church in Society.”The United Church of Christ responds to such tradition with the Holy Spirit-centered affirmation that there is yet more truth to break forth from God’s Word,”he added.”Jesus is recorded as having little to say about sexuality and nothing to say about homosexuality.” Rabbi Marc Israel, director of congregational relations for the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, disputed the religious conservative contention that they are not motivated by hate, accusing them of being an”intolerant, homophobic chorus.” The continuing debate in the capital comes as Congress, in the midst of its summer recess, still faces a number of unresolved issues involving gays and homosexual-related legislation. Senate Republican leaders, for example, have blocked a vote on confirming James Hormel, a homosexual, as ambassador to Luxembourg and last month the House voted to block federal payments to San Francisco or any other city that requires city contractors to provide benefits to same-sex partners. The Senate has not acted on the House vote.

New religions expert challenges European `anti-cult ideology’

(RNS) The director of the Italy-based Center for Studies of New Religions is challenging the”anti-cult ideology”that he says is becoming more prevalent in Europe.

Massimo Introvigne spoke at a meeting in early August at the world headquarters of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Silver Spring, Md.”The anti-cult ideology has become prominent in the media of France and Belgium,”he said.”This is extremely dangerous. In some countries, attacking certain sects has become a national obsession.” The sociologist and law professor was particularly concerned about”sect lists”that have been developed by governments of such countries as Belgium, France and Germany, reported Adventist News Network Bulletin.”Sects are attacked for brain-washing and mind control, which is not proven scientifically,”Introvigne said.”They may also be refused status as religions so that authorities can argue that religious liberty does not apply to them.” Introvigne said the”sect lists,”which are not legal documents, are being used to discriminate against religious groups.

The Belgian sect list includes Quakers, a number of Catholic groups and the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). He said the list also includes inaccuracies such as a statement that the Seventh-day Adventist Church began in 1963 when it actually began a century before that.

Introvigne, who is based in Turin, said hotel chains have used the French sect list to deny the use of conference facilities to certain groups.”I hope this witch-hunt will subside quickly since it is causing unnecessary suffering for many individuals and groups,”he said.”I trust sober voices will prevail.”

Newspaper exec moves to seminary communications post

(RNS) The former editor and vice president of The Hartford Courant has become the new director of communications at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.

David S. Barrett worked at the newspaper from 1971 to 1997, first in a variety of reporting positions and in the last three years as its editor. His new position with the seminary began July 20.”I am excited about joining Hartford Seminary,”said Barrett, a parishioner at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford.”It is a remarkable institution devoted to promoting interfaith understanding and serving the community.”

Quote of the day: Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong

(RNS)”The Anglican Church, once a moderating and open community for Christians, has now, in the last decade of this century, turned sharply in a narrowly conservative direction. … Now the Anglican Church, historically dedicated to determining truth through reason as well as through Scripture and tradition, has made an equally egregious error, this time against homosexuals. And those of us who seek to force the increasingly conservative church to address these issues from a modern perspective are dismissed as secular humanists, apostates or even as atheists.” _ Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong of the diocese of Newark, N.J., writing in Aug. 13, 1998, edition of The New York Times on a resolution of the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops labeling homosexual activity”incompatible with Scripture.”

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