c. 1999 Religion News Service

Land mine treaty goes into effect; pope urges U.S., others to join

(RNS) Churches around the world rang their bells at noon Monday (March 1) as an international treaty aimed at outlawing and eventually eliminating anti-personnel land mines. At the Vatican, Pope John Paul II hailed the treaty and called for continued efforts to liberate the world entirely from”these terrible and sneaky devices.” The church bell ringing ceremony was initiated by religious groups, especially those denominations affiliated with the World Council of Churches and the U.S. National Council of Churches who have been in the forefront of the decade-long effort to ban the weapons.

Land mines kill or maim an estimated 27,000 people each year.

The new treaty has been signed by 133 countries _ but not the United States, China or Russia. Some dozen countries have destroyed their entire stock of land mines.

John Paul, speaking from his study window to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square Sunday (Feb. 28) for the midday Angelus prayer, said that for the international community, the treaty”represents a goal that marks a victory of the culture of life over the culture of death. “The Holy See has given its own support since the start, signing and ratifying the document in Ottawa on Dec. 4, 1997,”he noted.

Using an Italian word that can be translated as either”sneaky”or”deceitful,”John Paul cautioned that,”For the world to be liberated from these terrible and sneaky devices, the road is, unfortunately, still long.”I pray to God to give everyone the courage of peace so that the countries that have not yet signed this important instrument of international humanitarian law do so without delay and mine-clearing activity and the work of rehabilitating the wounded can continue with perseverance,”he said.

Government and non-governmental experts estimate that even if no new mines are planted, it will take two decades to clear the tens of millions of mines already scattered in some 60 countries. Underscoring the problem, Radio Rwanda reported Monday that two children were killed and six others wounded when a land mine exploded in northern Rwanda.

President Clinton has set 2006 as a target for joining the accord but says the mines are currently needed to protect U.S. troops deployed along the border between North and South Korea.

Liberal Jews suffer setback in battle for Israeli recognition

(RNS) Reform and Conservative Jews battling for state recognition in Israel have suffered a temporary setback in their court battle to legitimize non-Orthodox conversions to Judaism.

A test case before Israel’s Supreme Court involving an adopted 10-year-old boy who underwent a Conservative conversion was withdrawn Monday (March 1) by the child’s family, after the boy’s mother decided to opt for an Orthodox ceremony.

The mother, whose name has not been published, had her son undergo an Orthodox conversion last Friday even though the boy had already participated in a Conservative conversion ceremony several years ago.

An Orthodox leader, Rabbi Israel Rosen, was quoted as saying the conversion of the child by Orthodox rabbinical authorities had”pulled the rug out”from beneath the current Reform and Conservative court appeal.

Meanwhile, the president of Israel’s Conservative Movement charged that the Orthodox rabbis involved had essentially bribed the boy’s mother into dropping the court case by offering a quick and easy Orthodox conversion. “For six years this woman tried to convert her son and she was refused by the Orthodox rabbis because she was not religious enough,”said Ehud Bandel, president of Israel’s Conservative Movement.”Now the rabbis agreed to perform the conversion without any preconditions _ as long as she dropped the litigation. That shows that what guides them is not Jewish law, but their concern about their own monopoly over religious life.” A recent Supreme Court hearing on the child’s case was a trigger for massive demonstrations by ultra-Orthodox groups and their political leaders two weeks ago in Jerusalem. Orthodox politicians also have launched a prolonged campaign to limit the authority of the civil courts in matters of religion and state.

The other litigant in the current test case, which was launched in August 1995, is now living with his family abroad. However, Reform and Conservative leaders said there are other court appeals now in the pipeline. One group of 23 families and individuals who underwent Reform and Conservative conversions two to three years ago is currently waiting for the Supreme Court to schedule a hearing on their cases.

Oral Roberts hospitalized following mild heart attack

(RNS) Evangelist Oral Roberts’ condition is stable after the prominent preacher was admitted to a California hospital following a mild heart attack two weeks ago, said a hospital spokeswoman in Newport Beach, Calif.”Oral is now recuperating. We hope he will be up and going soon,”said the family in a statement released Sunday (Feb. 28).

Restricted flow of Roberts’ primary heart artery _ the same one that caused problems six years ago _ was behind the 81-year-old evangelist’s recent heart attack. An angioplasty procedure, meant to reopen the artery, was performed without complications, said spokeswoman Debra Legan at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach.

Roberts currently serves as chancellor of the Oral Roberts University which he founded in Tulsa, Okla. Roberts retired from the position of University president in 1993 and continues to travel widely for speaking engagements. Richard, his son, now serves as president of the university.

Renewed Christian-Muslim violence claims five more lives in Indonesia

(RNS) New Christian-Muslim violence Monday (March 1) has claimed at least five more lives in Indonesia.

The ongoing violence _ most of it centered around Ambon, a provincial capital some 1,400 miles east of the national capital Jakarta _ prompted the southeast Asian nation’s military chief to warn of escalating consequences for Indonesia should it continue.

More than 150 people have died in the Ambon area this year.”We have to handle this problem,”said Gen. Wiranto, who like many Indonesians, uses only one name.”If not, it could create disintegration and instability in the nation.” Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, has experienced widespread political and economic unrest since last year. The unrest has exacerbated ethnic and religious differences, prompting fighting between the nation’s minority Christians and its majority Muslims.

In Ambon, indigenous Christians have clashed with Muslims, most of whom are migrants from a different ethnic group.

Monday, Christian rioters burned at least a dozen Muslim-owned houses and damaged a mosque, the Associated Press reported. One Christian was killed in the fighting, and four Muslims died when police opened fire.

Methodist lawyers challenge church court ruling

(RNS) A group of United Methodist lawyers has asked the denomination’s top court to reconsider a ruling barring official jurisdictions in the church from adopting titles or labels of unofficial groups.

The rare action challenged the denomination’s Judicial Council ruling that a Methodist annual conference”may not identify or label itself as an unofficial body or movement.” Several of the church’s conferences _ geographic governing bodies _ and a church agency have identified themselves with various movements over the gay rights issue within the church.

In ruling that the official bodies could not adopt such labels, the Judicial Council cited, among other reasons, fear that the use of such labels would lead to schism in the nation’s second largest Protestant church body.”We would urge that fear of schism should not be the rationale for legal decisions,”the letter, signed by 18 lawyers said.”United Methodism will survive. This is not a fragile denomination.” Judicial Council officials would not comment on the letter.

Most of the conferences and the church’s ecumenical agency have identified themselves with the Reconciling Congregation movement that voices support for gay and lesbian rights at all levels of church life.

`World heritage’ synagogue in Morocco reopens

(RNS) Morocco, once home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the Muslim world, has reopened a 17th century synagogue for worship.

The Aben Danan Synagogue in Fez had been closed for nearly 50 years. The structure _ classified as a”world heritage”site by the United Nations _ is owned by French businessman Benjamin Danan, vice president of the World Jewish Congress.

Andre Azoulay, an economic adviser to Morocco’s King Hassan, said reopening the synagogue”aims at safeguarding the Moroccan Jewish community cultural heritage and insuring the continuity of its identity,”Reuters reported.

Azoulay is himself a member of Morocco’s dwindling 2,000-year-old Jewish community. As recently as 1956, more than a quarter-million Jews lived in Morocco. All but about 8,000 have since left, most for Israel, France, Canada, or the United States.

The two-year effort to restore the Aben Danan Synagogue cost $150,000.

Archbishop of Canterbury renews call for debt forgiveness

(RNS) Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey has again called on Western nations to act to cancel the debt of the world’s poorest countries to mark the turning of the millennium, a year churches are celebrating as a jubilee year.

Carey, giving the annual Lent lecture to the Marlborough Brandt group, said that by unpayable debt he meant debt”so vast that it exceeds the conceivable ability of a nation to settle it now or later”_ debt that had accrued through the corruption of dictators, ignorance of international finance, or, sometimes”the desperate attempts to feed many mouths.””If it is argued that these debts to other nations cannot simply be waived overnight, then let the rich countries of the world show the moral courage to at least make a start,”Carey said.”That, I believe, would be a truly valuable contribution to the proper spirit of the millennium. It would lift a huge burden from the shoulders of the world’s poor. It would send a message of hope and offer the prospect of a new start.” Carey said he was not suggesting that wiping out the debt would be a panacea for all the ills in the developing world, nor that it could work in isolation.”Any moves in that direction must be part of a broader vision of regeneration and consolidation to which those moves are clearly linked,”he said.

Carey also called on the British government, which has pledged to increase development aid to 0.3 percent of its gross national product, to set a clear timetable for meeting the internationally agreed-upon target of 0.7 percent of GNP.”Such a step, I believe, would be applauded widely and set a brave example,”he added.

The Marlborough Brandt group was formed in 1981 in the Wiltshire town of Marlborough in response to the Brandt Commission report published in 1980 on the North-South divide and what could be done to overcome it. An annual lecture is among its activities.

Quote of the day: The Rev. John D. Hardin, Jasper, Texas

(RNS)”Hate is still living and alive. But love has already won the race.” _ The Rev. John D. Hardin, pastor of Mount Olive Missionary Baptist Church in Jasper, Texas, preaching Sunday (Feb. 28) after the conviction and sentencing of white supremacist John William King in the hate murder of James Byrd Jr., who was dragged behind a pickup truck for over two miles by his ankles.

DEA END RNS