COMMENTARY: Balkans war top religion story of year

c. 1999 Religion News Service (Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.) UNDATED _ Here are my picks for the top 10 religion stories of 1999: 1. The Balkans saw the worst fighting in Europe since World War II and only the presence of an international peacekeeping force, including […]

c. 1999 Religion News Service

(Rabbi Rudin is the national interreligious affairs director of the American Jewish Committee.)

UNDATED _ Here are my picks for the top 10 religion stories of 1999:


1. The Balkans saw the worst fighting in Europe since World War II and only the presence of an international peacekeeping force, including Americans, prevents further warfare. Religious differences fuel the diverse Balkan conflicts that are rooted in long-standing hatreds among Orthodox Christians, Muslims and Roman Catholics _ all going back hundreds of years. In 1999 Kosovo was added to the growing list of global trouble spots.

2. Although World War II ended almost 55 years ago, the moral and historical reckoning intensified this year. Switzerland’s disgraceful anti-Jewish record during the Nazi period was officially acknowledged, and the growing controversy swirling around the wartime activities of Pope Pius XII represents the escalating search for truth and accountability. Many religious institutions, businesses and governments clearly failed between 1933 and 1945, and the current search to discover why is irreversible.

3. The leaders of the former Soviet Union and Cuba could not crush religious impulses among their citizens. Now it’s China’s turn to learn that lesson. The activities of the Falun Gong and Beijing’s inability to squash the movement captured world attention in 1999.

4. The deaths of two moderate Muslim monarchs, Hussein of Jordan and Hassan of Morocco, dramatically altered the religious and diplomatic landscape of the Middle East and North Africa. The election of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak moved the peace process forward despite many obstacles. Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, a pair of ill and aging Arab leaders, seemed to have heard their personal time clocks ticking. The new year will see whether they move more quickly than in the past to reach a settlement with Israel.

5. Hate crimes increased in the United States. The bombings of three Sacramento, Calif., synagogues; Benjamin Smith’s deadly Midwest rampages against Jews, blacks and Asians; and Buford Furrow’s shooting spree in a Los Angeles Jewish community center were painful reminders there are many extremist groups in the United States who carry out violent acts including murder.

6. The Vatican-Lutheran theological agreement is evidence that Christian ecumenism remains alive despite the rise of an assertive evangelical movement that opposes such reconciliation. While Catholics and Lutherans drew closer, it was a different story within Judaism where relations between Reform and Conservative Jews and the Orthodox remained strained. The dispute centers on the status of Reform and Conservatism in Israel. The forces of religious unity and its twin, disunity, were fully in evidence in 1999.

7. Southern Baptist attempts to target Jews and Hindus for conversion met with sharp criticism from many religious leaders, including Christians. The Southern Baptist Convention called for a proselytizing campaign next summer in Chicago with thousands of missionaries going house-to-house seeking converts. Chicago Jewish, Protestant and Catholic leaders, including Cardinal Francis George, publicly condemned the plan. Hindu leaders in America as well as in India also denounced the SBC campaign.

8. The resignation of Archbishop Spyridon, the Greek Orthodox leader in the United States, came after a bitter public campaign was waged against him by both bishops and lay people. It is rare for an archbishop to resign, especially as a result of lay dissatisfaction, and some observers claimed Spyridon’s departure marked a growing”Americanization”of Greek Orthodoxy in which the laity will play an increasingly significant role in all church matters.

9. Two large Christian bodies, the World Council of Churches in Geneva and the National Council of Churches in the United States, both experienced severe financial crises in 1999. As a result, the WCC and the NCC embarked on cost-cutting efforts that frequently included sharp reductions in staff and programs. In the first decades after World War II, the WCC and the NCC played major roles on the global religious stage. Proudly”liberal and prophetic,”the two organizations now face a time of introspection as they seek to survive in an increasingly decentralized religious world.


10. The eagerly anticipated arrival of 2000 energized a host of individuals and groups to engage in forms of”millennial madness.”Believing”the end is near,”Kim Miller, a Christian cult leader from Denver, promised to kill himself in Jerusalem so he could be resurrected three days later just in time for the new year. Not surprisingly, Israel and later Greece deported the group.

DEA END RUDIN

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