c. 1999 Religion News Service
Florida judge rules Scientology official can be sued
(RNS) A Florida judge has ruled that a leading Scientology official, David Miscavige, can be named a defendant in a lawsuit resulting from the 1995 death of church member Lisa McPherson.
Hillsborough County Circuit Judge James S. Moody’s Tuesday (Dec. 14) ruling is likely to mean a lengthy delay in the case, according to Scientology attorneys, because Miscavige will now have to hire his own legal team. A trial in the case had been set for June 2000.
McPherson was a Scientology member who died while in the care of church members after she suffered a mental and physical breakdown in Clearwater, Fla.
The lawsuit, filed by McPherson’s family, alleges that Miscavige”totally controls”Scientology and directed the care given McPherson, who, according to an autopsy detailed in court records, died of a blood clot caused by severe dehydration and prolonged bed rest.
Miscavige is chairman of the board of the Religious Technology Center, which according to a church-published reference book has as its prime role protecting Scientology copyrights and trademarks to maintain the”purity”and”orthodoxy”of church”technology.”RTC is not involved in day-to-day affairs of the church’s”ministry of religious services and ecclesiastical management,”according to”Scientology: A Reference Work.” After McPherson suffered what has been described as a breakdown, she was kept for 17 days at a Scientology-owned hotel in Clearwater. During that time she was kept isolated and given vitamins, herbal remedies and sedatives but was never seen by a licensed medical doctor, even though she lost more than 49 pounds. When finally taken to a hospital, she was pronounced dead on arrival.
The church denies any responsibility for her death.
The suit maintains that Miscavige was informed of McPherson’s failing health and directed how she should be treated. In 1998, Miscavige denied he directed McPherson’s care in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times.
Moody’s ruling came after a hearing at which Scientology attorneys argued that Miscavige could not be named a defendant in the case because of an earlier agreement in which the McPherson family’s attorney had pledged to limit his suit to the church and not go after other Scientology entities and officers. Moody said the agreement did not protect Miscavige because of definitions involved.
In a separate criminal case, Scientology has pleaded not guilty to charges of abuse, neglect and practicing medicine without a license in its treatment of McPherson.
U.S. sex education focusing on abstinence
(RNS) Abstinence has increasingly become a focus of sex education in the nation’s schools, according to two new studies.
More than a third of U.S. school districts teach abstinence alone, while a majority urge students to delay intercourse until marriage but to use birth control and practice safe sex if they don’t.”Abstinence, teaching children to wait to have sex, is a core element of most sexuality education programs today,”said Tina Hoff of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which conducted the research along with the Guttmacher Institute.
The twin surveys polled secondary school principals and district superintendents.
The findings were welcomed by religious conservatives who have long pushed for abstinence education.
Amy Stephens, a spokeswoman for the National Coalition of Abstinence Education, said:”Ten years ago, abstinence wasn’t even considered; it was laughed at. A lot of avenues have opened up for kids to hear this message. That’s a good thing.” But officials with Kaiser and Guttmacher, which are affiliated with groups that advocate more discussion of birth control, said they were concerned by the findings.
They argued that young people will have sex no matter what they are taught and that a lack of knowledge about birth control could leave them more vulnerable to unwanted teen pregnancies.
Religious leaders ask Clinton to take stand on `Sudan’s agony’
(RNS) Some 200 religious leaders, representatives of human rights groups and college campus organizations have issued an open letter to President Clinton asking him to take a stand on the war in Sudan.”Your voice above all others _ declaring to the world the reality of Sudan’s agony _ will be heard and heeded,”the Dec. 9 letter to Clinton declares.”We implore you, in the name of countless lost Sudanese, to raise the profile of Sudan and to add your public voice and leadership to ensuring the success”of peace talks between the government of Sudan and breakaway rebels in the south of the country.
According to some estimates, the war between the Islamic government in Khartoum and the largely Christian and animist rebels in the south has resulted in some 2 million deaths.
Those signing the statement argued that the government is committing genocide in its efforts to crush the rebels of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army and calls on Clinton to support legislation that would allow U.S. humanitarian food aid to go to the SPLA.
The”food-as-a-weapon”proposal has sharply divided human rights and humanitarian aid groups.
On Dec. 10, Human Rights Watch wrote Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urging the administration to oppose the proposal.”Food aid is inappropriate for human rights reasons,”said Jemera Rone, Sudan researcher at HRW.”The SPLA has admitted diverting relief food intended for famine victims during the 1998 famine in southern Sudan. Giving them food aid would reward them for that abusive behavior.” The signers of the open letter to Clinton also urged him to meet with Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and others familiar with the Sudanese government’s polices and practices.”Either America leads the way towards peace at this crucial historical juncture, or an unspeakable catastrophe evident to all will take its final, dreadful toll in a century already defined too fully by indifference and genocide,”the letter says.
Among those signing the letter were Prison Fellowship founder Charles Colson, the Rev.Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); Bishop Robert Morgan, president of the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church, and the Rev. Kevin Mannoia, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
The letter was released shortly before Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir announced that he was dissolving the country’s Parliament and declaring a state of emergency _ a move believed aimed at Hassan Turbai, the powerful speaker of the Parliament and the country’s chief Islamist ideologue.
Vatican hints meeting between pope and Russian patriarch is possible
(RNS) Following a meeting in Moscow with the Russian Orthodox patriarch, the Vatican secretary of state indicated Wednesday (Dec. 15) he believes a historic meeting between the pope and the patriarch may be possible.
Preparations for a meeting between Pope John Paul II and Alexii II, patriarch of Moscow and All Russia”could begin toward the end of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000,”Cardinal Angelo Sodano said.
Sodano, who traveled to Moscow to re-consecrate the Roman Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception on Sunday (Dec. 12), held a 40-minute meeting Monday with the patriarch.
Talking to reporters at the end of the visit on Wednesday, the cardinal compared the search for Christian unity to building a house.”Some more bricks have been laid. One can say that now we are at the first (American second) floor,”he said.
Asked whether the pope would be willing to travel to Jerusalem for talks with Alexii, who will meet there with fellow Orthodox patriarchs Jan. 2-7 for the Orthodox Christmas, Sodano said that if invited the pope would be willing to change his schedule and go.”Certainly, if the patriarchs invite him cordially, unanimously, to pray together and for fraternity,”the cardinal said.”However, I couldn’t say whether all 15 patriarchs who are going to Jerusalem have an invitation to the pope in mind.” The Polish-born John Paul has made Catholic-Orthodox dialogue a priority of his pontificate and is eager to visit Moscow, but the patriarch has rejected Vatican overtures and criticized the Orthodox patriarchs of Romania and Georgia for inviting the pope to their countries.
Relations between Moscow and the Vatican have been strained for a decade over issues relating to the return of property to the Ukrainian Catholic Church and charges by Orthodox leaders that Catholics are seeking converts among the Orthodox.
Sodano also held meetings described as cordial with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He said they discussed the situation in Chechnya.”It must never be forgotten that the Chechens are Russian citizens and the government has the duty of aiding them and defending them,”Sodano said.
Putin told the Itar-Tass news agency that Sodano’s visit”will give a certain impulse”to Catholic-Orthodox relations.
Quote of the day: Anti-Defamation League national director Abraham Foxman
(RNS)”It almost cheapens faith and spirituality and beliefs. When you appear in church it’s fine, but not on the political stump the way we’ve experienced it in the last several months.” _ Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, complaining about the presidential candidates’ repeated references to their religious faith in campaign speeches. He was quoted Dec. 15 by the New York Times.
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