c. 1998 Religion News Service
Dutch Christians ask for Bosnian `disappeared’ accounting
(RNS) Some 60,000 Dutch Christians have signed a petition calling on the Muslim, Croatian and Serbian leaders of Bosnia for a”clarification”on the status of the nearly 20,000 people still unaccounted for following the end of the war in Bosnia.”In spite of the international pressure to look and to focus on rebuilding the country, for those who have lost a loved one it is very important to find out what happened to that person,”said Heleen Kleijn-Jonker, coordinator of the Dutch campaign and staff member of the Mission and World Service agency of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.”If this does not get priority, it will stand in the way of reconciliation,”she added.”You can’t have peace without justice.” The petition also calls on the Bosnian government to cooperate with international efforts to bring to trial those responsible for the”disappearances.” On Wednesday (May 13), investigators from the international war crimes tribunal investigating crimes of genocide in Bosnia came across what they said are the bodies of some of the the 7,500 Muslim men missing from Srebrenica, the one-time United Nations-declared”safe haven”for Muslims that was captured by Bosnian Serbs near the end of the war. It is widely believed the captured Muslims were massacred and their bodies hidden by the Serbs.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, 19,786 people are still unaccounted for in Bosnia, including 16,455 Muslims, 2,435 Serbs and 658 Croats.
Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency, reported the Dutch petition had been given to Bosnian government representatives as well as Bosnian religious leaders, including Jakob Finci, president of the World Conference on Religion and Race and president of Bosnia’s tiny Jewish community.
Finci and other Bosnian religious leaders are scheduled to visit the United States beginning next week (May 19) to discuss peace and reconciliation issues.
In addition to Finci, the Bosnian delegation is expected to include Roman Catholic Cardinal Vinko Puljic, archbishop of Sarajevo; Mustafa Ceric, a leader in Bosnia’s Islamic community; and Metropolitan Nikolaj Mrdja of Sarajevo, leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Update: Death sentence against Pakistani Christian suspended
(RNS) The death sentence given a Pakistani Muslim convicted of blaspheming Islam and the Prophet Muhammad has been suspended by a Pakistani court.
The suspension _ issued Tuesday (May 12) by a two-judge panel of the Lahore High Court _ remains in effect until a full appeal of the sentence is decided.
The judges’ decision followed two days of Muslim-Christian clashes following the suicide of a prominent Roman Catholic bishop, who killed himself to protest the death sentence given Ayub Massih, 26.
Massih, a Catholic, was sentenced to death in April after he was convicted of blasphemy, a capital offense in predominantly Muslim Pakistan.
Massih was charged with speaking favorably about Salman Rushdie, the writer who went into hiding nearly a decade ago after Iranian Muslim officials declared his controversial novel”The Satanic Verses”blasphemous and placed him under a death sentence.
Reports from Pakistan say the charge against Massih was part of a land dispute between Muslims and Christians.
Meanwhile, the National Council of Churches has sent a letter to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif expressing regret over the death of Bishop John Joseph and concern for Massih.
The New York-based church group described Massih as”a man medically and emotionally ill as well as innocent of the charges brought against him by religious fanatics. … We understand he has been deprived of legal help due to threats by these same fanatics against lawyers who might take his case.” The NCC urged repeal of the blasphemy law”in order to create fairness and equity for all religious communities”in Pakistan.
New rabbinic group hopes to represent Judaism in interfaith forums
(RNS) A new pan-denominational, national Jewish rabbinic organization has been organized with the hope it will be able to present a unified voice in interfaith forums.
The North American Boards of Rabbis was formally born during two days of meetings in New York that ended Tuesday (May 12). Some 30 rabbis from across the United States and Canada attended the meetings. The rabbis represented Judaism’s Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist branches.
Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the New York Board of Rabbis and organizer of the meetings, said the new organization hopes to take the place of the defunct Synagogue Council of America.
The council _ which had both rabbinic and lay members _ succumbed in 1995 to squabbling between its Orthodox and non-Orthodox constituents after 70 years of representing American Jews in national and international interfaith forums.
Schneier said the new organization hopes to avoid becoming caught up in the Orthodox vs. non-Orthodox dispute currently permeating the Jewish world by involving only those rabbis from both camps who already take part in the activities of local boards of rabbis.”We have identified 30 boards of rabbis in major cities in the U.S. and Canada,”said Schneier, who is Orthodox.”There’s a perception in the American Jewish community that rabbis from the various streams do not get along. But based on the evidence of the 30 boards of rabbis that exist already, I must say that perception is false.” Schneier said the North American Boards of Rabbis”will merely create a macrocosm out of the microcosm. We’re hopeful that by taking national what exists in so many cities, we can create a body that represents rabbinic Judaism in its dealings with other faiths.”
Catholic leader urges caution in tightening citizenship requirements
(RNS) Bishop John S. Cummins of Oakland, Calif., head of the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration has told Congress that proposals it is considering to tighten the citizenship process for immigrants should not make naturalization an unattainable goal.”The current criteria for attaining citizenship are time tested,”Cummins said.”The standards immigrants must meet to become citizens are high, but not so high as to be unattainable.”Altering the criteria in any way that would would place citizenship out of reach of more immigrants would be detrimental to us all,”he said.
In particular, Cummins criticized some proposals floated in Congress to deny automatic citizenship to all individuals born in the United States regardless of the legal status of their parents.”It is equally important that automatic citizenship for individuals born in the Untied States, regardless of their alienage or the status of their parents, be preserved in the law and in the Constitution,”Cummins said.
FBI preparing report on Argentina bombing that killed 86
(RNS) The FBI, which is cooperating with authorities in Argentina, say it will have a report on its probe into the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires of a Jewish community center that killed 86.”We will furnish within one month an analysis and recommendations from the investigation to the government of Argentina,”FBI director Louis Freeh said in Buenos Aires Tuesday (May 12).
No suspects have been apprehended. But immediately after the blast, an Argentine judge probing the case called for the arrest of four Iranian diplomats. The warrants were turned down by the Iranian government.
Relations between Iran and Argentina have been cool since then, Reuters reported.
The FBI probe has focused on whether the bombing was”sponsored by a particular group or foreign state.”Freeh said the report will not be made public.
Quote of the day: Evangelist Billy Graham
(RNS)”The doctors said `slow down’ _ they didn’t say `stop!’ I’ve been running for many years, and now I’m going to turn the running over to Franklin.” _ Evangelist Billy Graham, speaking to a crowd May 9 at a joint crusade in Albuquerque, N.M., with his son Franklin Graham, who will be his father’s eventual successor as chairman of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
DEA END RNS
