c. 1999 Religion News Service

Religious freedom panel urges more U.S. government support for issue

(RNS) A State Department advisory panel on religious freedom has urged the White House and Congress to raise the issue’s profile, including providing adequate funding for a newly established independent commission to monitor religious persecution abroad.

In its final report issued Monday (May 17), the State Department Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom Abroad also said U.S. attempts to promote religious liberty in foreign nations should rely on”incentives”rather than embargoes and other such measures”likely to impose or increase human suffering.”Such incentives might include economic assistance.

The 2-year-old, 20-member committee has been replaced by the 10-member U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom created last year by congressional passage of the International Religious Freedom Act.

The legislation made religious freedom abroad an official U.S. foreign policy concern, and gave the president a range of options for dealing with nations that persecute citizens because of their religious beliefs. Those options range from private diplomatic communications to full-blown economic embargoes.

However, the report emphasized that any White House response should be”moral”and in proportion to the extent of the problem. Reflecting the general position of some Christian and other religious groups, the report warned against the use of economic embargoes that hurt innocent civilians _ including those already being persecuted.”Embargoes and similarly sweeping measures are not advisable, except in response to the most grave ongoing injustice, and only on the condition that the basic human needs of innocent civilians continue to be met,”the report said.

The 65-page document noted that funds for the new commission were not specifically appropriated in the act that created it.”With the many budget cuts already in place at the State Department, it is important that Congress demonstrate its full commitment”to religious freedom abroad”by providing the funds necessary to accomplish the work it has mandated,”the report said.

The committee also recommended that President Clinton deliver a”major address explaining the importance of religious freedom at home and abroad.”Despite”several helpful statements”and general support for the issue, the report noted that Clinton has never delivered a major speech on religious freedom.

Pope marks 79th birthday on working day even `more normal than usual’

(RNS) Pope John Paul II joked about his 79th birthday Tuesday (May 18) but kept to a schedule the Vatican described as even”more normal than usual,”the Vatican reported.

Birthday greetings poured into the Vatican for the ailing pontiff, who often speaks of his determination to lead the world’s 1 billion Roman Catholics into the third millennium of Christianity next year.

A week ago (May 11), John Paul took time off to drive to the hills of Tolfa, 35 miles north of Rome, and walk in the woods, but Tuesday he followed a full schedule. John Paul was an enthusiastic hiker and skier before a broken thigh bone and what is believed to be Parkinson’s disease limited his mobility.

Keeping to the practice of saving his celebrations for the day of the saint for whom he was named, he followed a schedule on his birthday that was even”more normal than usual,”Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said.

Arising at 5 a.m., he celebrated Mass in his private chapel with 17 Italian prelates making the ad limina visit to the Vatican required of all bishops every five years. Nuns, who also attended, presented the pope with two birthday cakes, which he admired but did not immediately sample.”As soon as the Mass ended, the pope greeted the bishops present, one by one, and then, joking about entering his 80th year, said, `Octogesima Adveniens,'”said Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Genoa. He referred to the message that Pope Paul VI issued in 1971 to mark the 80th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s landmark encyclical on the church’s social teaching,”Rerum Novarum.””At this point,”Tettamanzi said,”one of the bishops rejoined, `Holiness,”Centesimus Annus”‘”_ the name of John Paul’s 1991 encyclical on the 100th anniversary of”Rerum Novarum.” German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder also wished the pope a happy birthday following a 25-minute private audience in the papal study. In keeping with protocol, Schroeder presented John Paul with a gift to mark the audience, an 18th century print of Wavel Cathedral in Krakow where the Polish-born pope celebrated his first Mass after he was ordained a priest in 1946 and where he later officiated as archbishop.

John Paul ate lunch, his main meal of the day, with Cardinals Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state; Bernardin Gantin, the dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals; and Camillo Ruini, president of the Italian Conference of Bishops.

Gambling commission plans to recommend ban on collegiate sports betting

(RNS) A gambling commission that is finalizing a national report plans to recommend a ban on legalized gambling on collegiate sports.

Within hours of approving that recommendation Monday (May 17), the National Gambling Impact Study Commission drew criticism from a pro-gambling congressman.”The anti-gaming forces on this commission made a ridiculous recommendation that will never be accepted in Congress or the casinos in Nevada,”said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

Gibbons called the recommendation”a clear violation of states’ rights.” It currently is legal to gamble on sports in Nevada and Oregon.

A majority of the nine-member panel said gambling threatens the integrity of college athletics and decided to call for a ban in a report that is scheduled to be completed June 18, the Associated Press reported.

During its meeting Monday in Washington, the commission made several recommendations to Congress, the gambling industry, and state and tribal governments.

Those recommendations include:

_ Native American tribes currently running casinos should use portions of the revenue to help diversify their finances and reduce dependence on gambling.

_ State lotteries and other kinds of governmental gaming should ban aggressive strategies targeting youths or poor neighborhoods.

_ Casinos should post the odds of winning and warnings about the risks of gambling.

James Dobson, president of Focus on the Family, a Colorado-based conservative Christian ministry, and a member of the panel, let some of his proposals die without debate. One was a proposal to have casinos establish daily, monthly and annual loss limits for frequent players.”There’s no sense fighting battles when you don’t have enough support to win,”said Dobson.

Salvation Army gets a new top general

(RNS) The Salvation Army has elected Commissioner John Gowans of the United Kingdom to become the evangelical Protestant denomination’s new general, the top post in the worldwide church body, the group announced Tuesday (May 18).

Gowans was elected May 15 during the 10-day meeting of the denomination’s 74-member High Council at Sunbury Court, near London. His appointment becomes effective July 23.

He will serve as the top official of the denomination, which has members in 106 countries, until Nov. 13, 2002, his 68th birthday.

Currently territorial commander in the United Kingdom, Gowans has held posts in France, Australia and the United States.

Japan considers outlawing sect accused of 1995 subway attack

(RNS) A top Japanese government official said Tuesday (May 18) the government is considering invoking a never-before-used anti-subversion law to outlaw the doomsday sect accused of the deadly 1995 nerve gas attack on the Tokyo subway system.”At the time when the decision was made not to apply the Anti-subversive Activities Law, we decided to wait and see for a little while whether there remained fears that the cult could commit more crimes,”Home Affairs Minister Takeshi Noda told a news conference.”But since then they have insisted that they remain the same as before,”he said.”Therefore, it is worth seriously considering this issue again.” The law, promulgated during Japan’s labor and leftist turmoil after World War II, was considered so controversial that it has never been applied to a group, Reuters reported.

The group, Aum Shinri Kyo (Supreme Truth Sect), is accused of carrying out the March 1995 nerve gas attack that killed 12 people and injured more than 5,000 others.

In 1997, Japan’s Public Security Commission decided not to outlaw the group, ruling it no longer posed a threat to society because it was nearly bankrupt and most of its key leaders were in police custody.

Japanese officials say the group currently has about 2,100 followers compared with some 10,000 at the time of the subway attack.

If outlawed, members will be banned from holding meetings, producing publications or conducting any business that could be construed as a group activity.

Pope, German chancellor explore possibilities for peace in the Balkans

(RNS) Pope John Paul II met with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder Tuesday (May 18) to explore the possibilities for”a just and honorable solution”to the conflict in the Balkans.

John Paul, who has appealed repeatedly for the return of ethnic Albanians to Kosovo and a halt to NATO bombing, spoke with Schroeder in German for 25 minutes at a private audience in his study overlooking St. Peter’s Square.

Schroeder, current president of the European Union, also met with Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, who acts as the Vatican’s foreign minister.”During the meetings, there was a wide-ranging survey of the principal current issues, dwelling in particular on the dramatic situation in the Balkans and on the possibility of reaching as soon as possible a just and honorable solution to the problems throughout the area,”Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls reported.

While receiving Schroeder’s entourage of 17 and posing for photographs, John Paul questioned the German leader about relations between German and immigrant communities.”They are going very well now because the people are learning to understand each other,”Schroeder said.

The pope noted that many of the immigrants were Muslims, and Schroeder replied,”Yes. In fact, they are mainly Turkish, but I underline that there is now more understanding among everyone.” The German chancellor arrived in Italy Monday (May 17) for bilateral talks with Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema in the Adriatic seaport city of Bari. He scheduled a visit late Tuesday to the San Damiano military base near Piacenza in northern Italy, where Tornado fighter-bombers of the Luftwaffe stage NATO missions against Serbia.

An Italian spokesman said that in two hours of talks, Schroeder supported Italy’s proposal that NATO halt bombing if China and Russia back a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw Serb troops from Kosovo and allow an international force to guarantee the return of Kosovar refugees.

L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, called in an editorial Tuesday for diplomats to step up attempts to halt”the inhumanity against the refugees and against the civilian populations”and end”the tragedy of so many innocents besieged by hate, weakened by hunger and hunted by death.”

Quote of the day: the Dalai Lama

(RNS)”People are dying of starvation, some are killing people by bombing them. We need a wider view of the world, a world as one body. … If you have inner peace, you will have world peace.” _ The Dalai Lama, speaking Tuesday (May 18) in New Delhi and announcing a World Festival of Sacred Music to begin Oct. 9 in Los Angeles aimed at uniting people of different nationalities, religions and cultures.

DEA END RNS