c. 1998 Religion News Service
UCC leaders warn on total human cloning ban
(RNS) Leaders of the United Church of Christ are warning that a total ban on human cloning research would foreclose any scientific and medical benefits that might come from such research.
Congress is considering Republican-sponsored legislation that would legalize such a total ban, but some scientists and a handful of lawmakers from both parties oppose making it as sweeping as the proposed bill.
In a letter to Congress, UCC President Paul Sherry and top denominational officials urged the lawmakers not to include”non-reproductive uses”of cloning techniques in restrictive legislative.”As Christians, we believe that science and medicine should be used for the sake of those who are sick and suffering, and that research toward that end should receive our support,”the letter said.”Therefore, we are open to consider the scientific and medical benefits that might come from non-reproductive human cloning.” The letter was drafted by the Rev. Ronald Cole-Turner, a Pittsburgh Theological Seminary professor and an expert on bioethics issue. Also signing the letter were the Rev. Thomas Dipko, executive vice president of the denomination’s homeland ministries board, and the Rev. Wallace Ryan Kuroiwa, executive director of the church’s Office for Church in Society.
In the letter, the church leaders said the liberal mainline denomination opposes the”reproductive use of human cloning”but leaves the door open for non-reproductive uses, including pre-embryo research through the 14th day of fetal development.
African-American leaders, People for American Way oppose vouchers
(RNS) Members of the African-American Leadership Council of People for the American Way have called on political officials to reject initiatives supporting school vouchers, which they say will hurt public education.”Vouchers and public education cannot coexist,”said the Rev. Timothy McDonald, chairman of the council and an Atlanta pastor, at a Washington news conference Tuesday (March 31).”Either one will succeed at the expense of the other or both will fail.” Council members were especially supportive of African-American ministers who have been opposing congressional voucher proposals for the District of Columbia.”The fact that vouchers are dominating the education reform debate is an indictment of Congress and a clue to their real goal … to disenfranchise the majority and empower an elite minority of the American population,”said the Rev. Graylan S. Ellis-Hagler, pastor of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington.
Conservative groups have supported vouchers as a way to use tax dollars to help parents place their children in private schools, including religious schools. But members of the council and officials of People For, a liberal Washington-based advocacy group, criticized the proposals as a means to take money away from public schools.”Voucher schemes are the equivalent of a drive-by shooting, where our neighborhoods and our children are the victims,”said the Rev. Rolen Womack, a council member and a Milwaukee pastor.”Vouchers are simply another way to de-fund our schools.” Womack added that parents who have taken part in a Milwaukee voucher program have found that their $3,600 annual voucher is inadequate to cover the cost of uniforms, books and transportation.
Legislation concerning vouchers is being considered on Capitol Hill, including one proposal that would help low-income children in Washington to get publicly-funded vouchers.
People for the American Way and the NAACP are working together through a”Partners for Public Education”program to fight voucher proposals and build support in communities for public education. McDonald said the groups have jointly held conferences involving school superintendents, teachers, parents and community leaders to tackle problems in the public schools. They have held conferences in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Chicago and plan to hold more in other parts of the country.
Promise Keepers layoffs occur as planned
(RNS) More than 300 Promise Keepers staffers earned their last day of pay for the foreseeable future on Tuesday (March 31).
Layoffs of the ministry’s entire paid staff are occurring as planned, said Steve Ruppe, the director of public affairs for the evangelical men’s ministry.
Promise Keepers officials announced Feb. 18 that their 345 paid staffers would be laid off Tuesday.
Ruppe said as of Tuesday, there were 323 staffers still working full-time. The 22 employees who were no longer working there”have already found other employment or have left the ministry,”he said.
About 100 of the 223 staffers who were employed at the ministry’s Denver headquarters have said they will continue to work in a volunteer capacity and an additional 75 volunteers from the community are planning to work there as well.”We have more than 100 Denver staff members who have indicated they will be in the office sometime in the month of April, if not every day, to volunteer for the ministry,”Ruppe said.
Ministry officials still expect the layoffs to be temporary, he added.”The expectation is that it will be a fairly short period of time but … months, weeks or days, I cannot give you,”he said.
The ministry has received numerous pledges of financial assistance, but Ruppe did not have a figure on how much of those pledges have been followed with actual donations.”We do know that donations are up and we have very strong donations and are extraordinarily appreciative of the giving that has gone on to this ministry,”said Ruppe.”It has given us the ability to become current with all our vendors.” Ruppe said the number of registrations for the ministry’s 1998 men’s conferences is”approaching about 100,000.”Nineteen events have been scheduled from May to October.
Promise Keepers gained international attention when it brought hundreds of thousands of men to Washington for the”Stand in the Gap”rally last October. At that rally, Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney announced it would not charge admission fees to upcoming conferences in the hope Christians and non-Christians alike would attend.
Ministry officials said the decision to rely on donations and no longer charge conference fees led to the layoffs.
WCC urges U.N. to form indigenous peoples’ forum
(RNS) The World Council of Churches has called on the United Nations to create a permanent forum where the concerns of indigenous communities can be heard by the international community.
The WCC issued its call in testimony before the U.N.’s Commission on Human Rights, which is meeting in Geneva.
One of the flashpoints in current human rights debates is the tension between indigenous communities, such as American Indian tribes or Australian aborigines, and their national governments.”The seriousness of indigenous peoples to make their contributions to the United Nations is the backdrop to the creation”of a permanent forum, said Line Skum, a WCC staff member with the ecumenical agency’s Indigenous Peoples program.”This is no longer an option to be discussed … it is a matter which needs to be expedited.” Skum praised the human rights commission for its efforts to include voices from the indigenous communities in debates. Most U.N. debate is limited to representatives of member nations and some U.N.-recognized non-governmental agencies.
Skum also said the establishment of a permanent forum where the indigenous could voice their concerns should be seen as a partnership between states and the communities. Such a forum, she said,”is not a concession by governments, nor merely acquiescence by governments to pressure from indigenous peoples.”
Reorganized Latter Day Saints put women in leadership body
(RNS) The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has, for the first time, appointed women to upper-level leadership positions in the denomination that traces its founding to Joseph Smith.
On Monday (March 30), delegates to the denomination’s World Conference in Independence, Mo., named Linda Booth and Gail Mengel to the Council of 12 Apostles, second only to the three-member First Presidency in the church hierarchy.
Less than a handful of the 2,800 delegates voted against the appointment of the women, the Associated Press reported.
The church, which like the larger Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), traces its origins to Joseph Smith. However, the Reorganized church maintains it _ and not the Mormon church _ is the true successor to the church founded by Smith. It maintains that the Mormons led by Brigham Young improperly rejected the rule of lineal succession and that the church should be headed by a descendent of Smith.
The Independence-based Reorganized church also broke with Young over the issue of polygamy, which it held to be contrary to church rules.
The church has ordained women to the ministry since 1984.
Quote of the day: Rabbi Nilton Bonder
(RNS)”Only if we assume a general attitude of nonviolence in life, which is really incompatible with slaughter, should we abstain from meat. We should not become vegetarians for compassionate reasons if we cannot extend that compassion to other areas of life.” _ Rabbi Nilton Bonder, writing in”The Kabbalah of Food”(Shambala), on maintaining consistency between diet and religious beliefs.
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