c. 1999 Religion News Service

Pet magazine asks: Do dogs go to heaven?

(RNS) Does a big fire hydrant in the sky await Fido if he’s good on Earth?

Employing more serious language, Dog Fancy magazine’s September issue put that question to a Roman Catholic priest, Jewish rabbi, Buddhist leader, Southern Baptist spokesman and others in what it termed an extension of the debate over”animal theology.” The Rev. Brian T. McSweeney, vice chancellor of the New York archdiocese, told the monthly magazine that”heaven was designed for humans. The reason dogs may be there is for us, not for themselves. Dogs will go to heaven perhaps because of our relationship with them. I would think a loving God wants us to be happy and allows us to have animals that shared love with us.” Rabbi Gershon Winkler, an exponent of mystical Judaism who lives in Cuba, N.M., said he believes”everything, humans and animals, every blade of grass, all are endowed with a spirit and every spirit returns to its creator. … Every animal based on how it lives in this world will reap its reward, its divine bliss in the world to come.” Lama Pema Wangak, director of New York’s Tibetan Buddhist Center, noted the Buddhist belief in the reincarnation of”consciousness,”which is present in all living entities. Dogs are subject to reincarnation as well, said Wangak, as well as the law of karma, which determines the form of the reincarnation.”Dogs can go to heaven or dogs can go to hell. Dog’s actions decide where it goes, like human’s actions.” Herb Hollinger, a spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention, said”the vast majority”of Southern Baptists believe only humans have souls, which most likely precludes dogs from reaching heaven. But he also said the Bible notes that someday the lamb will lie down with the lion,”which would lead you to believe that heaven may be somewhat like it is here and there may be animals.” At least one of those interviewed by magazine, which is based in Mission Viejo, Calif., strongly believes man’s best friend has a deserved place in heaven.”I think the species as a whole is a natural shoo-in,”said Stephen H. Webb, an associate professor of religion and philosophy at Wabash College in Indiana and the author of”On God and Dogs”(Oxford University Press).”A dog is an animal (that) has sacrificed its bestial nature and has entered into a relationship of loving mutuality. … Some dogs do act in evil ways, but I think all dogs will be redeemed, as (I think) all humans will be redeemed, in heaven.” Latest Israeli religious fight is over Reform and Conservative radio ads

(RNS) Calling them”ideologically controversial,”state-owned Israel Radio has delayed running ads by the Jewish state’s Reform and Conservative movements that invite non-Orthodox Jews to their High Holy Day services.

The refusal is the latest flare-up in Israel’s long-running dispute between the nation’s Orthodox establishment and the two more liberal movements, which are seeking to expand their acceptance among Israeli Jews. The Orthodox consider Reform and Conservative Judaism in violation of traditional Jewish law.

Reform and Conservative officials said they would sue Israel Radio if the station continues not to broadcast the ads, which were set to start airing this week in advance of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, which begins at sundown Sept. 10.

A spokeswoman for Israel Radio said the station had not scrapped the ads _ which it earlier had agreed to broadcast _ but instead was seeking a legal opinion on whether they were indeed controversial, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency news service reported Tuesday (Aug. 31).

In a $360,000 joint advertising campaign, Israel’s Reform and Conservative movements have been placing large print ads in newspapers and on public buses. The radio ads were scheduled as a part of the campaign.

The six radio ads noted the movements’ liberal interpretations of Jewish tradition and provided a telephone number to call”if you want to learn about this type of Judaism.” Yossi Cohen, an account executive at the Cohen Plus ad agency handling the radio ads, denied there was anything controversial involved.”There is no provocative message here. This is just a warm message from two movements inviting people to learn about them.” While Reform and Conservative Judaism account for the vast majority of American Jews who attend synagogue, the movements are small in Israel, where the bulk of the population is either Orthodox or secular.

Religious groups urge Texas court to overturn gay ruling

(RNS) A coalition of Protestant and Jewish religious groups has asked the Texas Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court ruling requiring that a child of a marriage ending in divorce could attend only a”mainline”church with her mother.

In a friend-of-the-court brief, the religious groups said that”a loosely worded divorce agreement has led to an improper judicial intrusion into the sacred domain of religious belief.” At issue is the divorce agreement between a Christian mother and Jewish father under which each party promised to provide religious training to their daughter.

The mother took her daughter to Metropolitan Community Church at Wichita Falls, Texas, a Protestant church whose ministry focuses on gay and lesbian Christians. When the father objected to the mother’s choice of church, the lower court found that only”mainline churches would be utilized by the parties for the religious training of the child (that is) the subject of this suit.” It said”mainline churches”included Methodist, Baptist, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic and a”Jewish synagogue”but not the Metropolitan Community Church.

The religious groups challenging the court’s ruling included the American Jewish Congress, the National Council of Churches, the American Friends Service Committee and the Universal Fellowship of the Metropolitan Community Churches.

In their brief, the religious groups told the appeals court that the constitutional defect in the lower court’s ruling was not that”it enforced an agreement dealing with the religious upbringing of the child, but rather that the trial court usurped to itself the right to decide which religions are mainline, or orthodox, enough to be acceptable. This the Constitution barred it from doing.” The religious groups also said Texas law barred the courts from substituting”their religious judgments for those of the family.” They also said that a variety of churches _ including some named by the court as”mainline”_ had once been thought of as peripheral and that the Metropolitan Community Church and its position regarding homosexuality”is widely shared by other churches.””The decision of the court _ arrogating to itself the power to decide what churches are theologically acceptable _ is untenable,”the religious groups told the appeals court.

For millennium, still room at the inn in Jerusalem

(RNS) Only three months before the turn of the millennium, there are still rooms at the inn in Jerusalem, says the city’s mayor, Ehud Olmert.

But Olmert predicted the number of visitors to the city during the year 2000 would exceed current Israeli Tourism Ministry projections of some 2.6 million to 3 million tourists.

Olmert made his comments Sunday (Aug. 29) at a news conference sponsored by the new Jerusalem 2000 Administration that will oversee the city’s millennium activities.

He predicted pilgrims will flock to the city in the wake of an expected papal visit at the end of March.

Olmert also said roughly $10 million has been spent so far to prepare Jerusalem for the millennium and the city is stepping up its efforts to cooperate with the 42 Christian churches involved in Year 2000 events. There are some 13,400 guest rooms in the city, and tourists typically remain for three to four days.

Quote of the day: Geir Lundestad, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute

(RNS)”I think (the Nobel Peace Prize) brought the situation in East Timor higher up on the international agenda. The Indonesian invasion had taken place in 1975 and East Timor had seemed to disappear almost entirely from the agenda. Many of those who had supported East Timor’s cause had lost courage. The prize provided them with renewed strength and vigor.” _ Geir Lundestad, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, speaking on the role the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to East Timorese independence activists, including Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo, had in creating the atmosphere for the Aug. 30 vote on the territory’s future.

DEA END RNS