c. 1999 Religion News Service

Religious leaders urge `civility code’ for election campaigns

(RNS) The Interfaith Alliance, a 5-year-old organization of politically liberal and moderate religious activists, says it will push political candidates to sign a `civility code’ for the upcoming campaign.”In the last six months, we have heard almost all the leading presidential candidates express their faith as a matter of personal conviction and belief,”said the Rev. J. Philip Wogaman, alliance president and senior pastor at Foundry Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. Wogaman is also one of three spiritual counselors to President Clinton.”We are not here to question or judge those expressions of faith,”he added.”We are here, however, to call on those seeking the highest office in the land to put their faith in action by either embracing our Framework for Civility or providing their own.” The civility code, released at a Washington news conference Wednesday (Sept. 15), calls on politicians to”talk honestly”about their beliefs, motivations and purpose in running for office and”refrain from using deception, half-truths, falsifications or innuendo in describing your opponents.” But at the heart of the civility code is a call to respect the dignity of others and the diversity of religious voices in the public arena.”Though front-runners in the presidential race talk openly about their personal faith and values systems, neither candidate fully acknowledges the vast diversity that characterizes the American religious landscape,”said the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, executive director of the alliance and pastor for preaching and worship for Northminster Baptist Church in Monroe, La.”Candidates,”added Sister Mary Carol Bennett, a Roman Catholic nun and president of the Interfaith Alliance of Pennsylvania,”frequently assume `litmus test’ issues exist within certain faith traditions, assuming that people of faith are single-issue voters akin to special-interest voters.”Too often, candidates cling to the perception that there is one faith-based position on matters of public policy,”she said.”This idea ignores both the diversity and differences that exist between people of faith in our communities.” The civility code is part of the alliance’s Call to a Faithful Decision 2000 project. The project will include a series of voter education activities _ including support for voter registration programs but not candidate-oriented voter guides _ to challenge people at mosques, synagogues, temples and churches”to renew their commitment as citizens and as people of faith to participate in the political process.”

Evangelical association to move from Illinois to California

(RNS) The board of the National Association of Evangelicals voted Monday (Sept. 13) to move the organization’s headquarters from Carol Stream, Ill., to Azusa, Calif.”We had 50 board members vote and 75 percent voted for giving the new president the authority to move ahead with a move,”said the Rev. Richard Cizik, Washington director of the NAE.

NAE President Kevin Mannoia intends to rent a facility in Azusa, a Los Angeles suburb, until a decision can be made about a permanent location in the Los Angeles area, Cizik said.”The vision which Kevin Mannoia has cast makes it easier to be implemented in a … multicultural and ethnic community such as the L.A. base,”he said.

One of Mannoia’s goals is to help the predominantly white leadership of the association reach out to Hispanic and African-American communities.

Cizik said some former NAE officials opposed the move, but others thought it should be done without delay.”We are not driven by facility needs or bricks and mortar,”said Cizik.”We’re driven by vision.” About half a dozen NAE staff are currently in the Chicago suburb of Carol Stream, along with about 50 staffers of World Relief, the NAE’s international assistance arm, and five staffers of World Evangelical Fellowship, a group that encompasses 107 national umbrella groups of evangelicals across the globe.

World Relief has decided to merge its international headquarters staff in Carol Stream with the 27-member national ministries staff in Nyack, N.Y., said Linda Keys, director of public information for World Relief. It has not yet determined whether the joint staff will be located in the Chicago or New York areas or a third location.

World Evangelical Fellowship has not yet determined how it will respond to NAE’s decision, said Kathi Graham, the fellowship’s development manager. Its international council will discuss the matter at a meeting during the week of Sept. 19.

House panel backs bill designed to undercut Oregon assisted-suicide law

(RNS) Opponents of the Oregon law that allows physicians to help end the lives of terminally ill patients have hailed House committee passage of a bill to outlaw the use of controlled drugs for physician-assisted suicide.

Tuesday (Sept. 14), the House Judiciary Committee passed a measure that calls for lifting the medical licenses of physicians who intentionally use controlled drugs to cause a patient’s death. The bill passed on a 16-8 straight party-line vote, with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed.

All 15 patients who died in the first year under Oregon’s groundbreaking assisted-suicide law were given controlled drugs to end their lives, according to the Associated Press. The law _ which has twice been affirmed by Oregon voters _ was instituted in 1998.

Rep. Charles Canady, R-Fla., said the committee’s action”will help protect vulnerable people in this country from the misuse of controlled substances.” However, Democrats said the proposed legislation could discourage doctors from giving patients pain medication out of fear of unintentional death. They also maintained the bill interfered with the wishes of Oregon voters.

Americans for Integrity in Palliative Care, an Alexandria, Va.-based group of health care professionals and advocates for patient rights; Physicians for Compassionate Care, based in Portland, Ore.; and Family Research Council, based in Washington, were among the groups that praised the House committee’s action.”We applaud the Judiciary Committee for putting into practice the American principle of equal protection under the law, protection that includes the womb and the sickbed,”said Janet Parshall, Family Research Council national spokeswoman.

A Senate version of the proposed law has been introduced by Majority Whip Don Nickles, R-Okla.

Fetus bill is new abortion battleground

(RNS) A proposed federal law to impose additional penalties on those who injure or kill a pregnant woman’s fetus during the commission of another crime has become the latest battlefield between abortion-rights and anti-abortion activists in Washington.

The measure _ the Unborn Victims of Violence Act _ was approved Tuesday (Sept. 14) by the House Judiciary Committee on a 14-11 vote.

Abortion-rights advocates maintain the bill is another attempt to weaken the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion by raising the status of a fetus to that of the mother.

While deploring violence against women, Planned Parenthood president Gloria Feldt said”the intent of the law is clear _ separate the fetus from the woman, and attach rights of personhood on the fetus.” Feldt said the bill’s co-sponsors, Reps. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Charles Canady, R-Fla.,”have no credibility when it comes to protecting the rights of women. … They are outspoken leaders in the anti-choice, anti-family planning movement.” However, Graham told the Washington Post that the bill is designed to recognize the additional pain and loss involved when a fetus is hurt or killed during the commission of a federal crime, such as bank robbery, kidnapping or terrorism. He noted that three pregnant women were killed in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building.

The National Right to Life Committee hailed the measure as a”major new right-to-life-bill.” Eleven states have passed measures similar to the proposed federal law. In Arkansas, four men were recently charged with murder for killing a fetus during an assault on a pregnant woman.

New arrests of underground Catholic leaders reported in China

(RNS) An 81-year-old bishop, who has already spent 20 years in prison, and three priests in China’s underground Roman Catholic Church have been arrested, according to reports.

The Cardinal Kung Foundation, based in Stamford, Conn., said Tuesday (Sept. 14) that Bishop Lin Xili, who had been in hiding, was arrested Sept. 7 in southeastern China.

Two priests were arrested Sept. 3 and another was taken into custody in August, said the foundation, named after Cardinal Ignatius Kung Pin-mei, the bishop of Shanghai, who spent 30 years in Chinese prisons. He now lives in the United States.

China has two Catholic churches. One is officially recognized by the Chinese government. However, the underground church refuses to renounce its loyalty to the pope, making it an illegal group under Chinese law.

Only government-sanctioned religious expression is allowed in China. A recent State Department report criticized China for”government intolerance”of free religious expression.

In addition to underground Catholic and Protestant churches, the report said China also persecutes Buddhists, Muslims and others, including members of the Falun Gong movement, against which Beijing has launched a massive crackdown.

Chinese officials have rejected the report, calling it interference in that nation’s internal affairs.

Update: Zimbabwe government acts to block missionaries’ release

(RNS) The Zimbabwe government has responded angrily to a judge’s handling of a weapons case that involves three American missionaries.

The government said it would seek to block the early release of the three men and would appeal the relatively light sentences they received from Judge Ismael Adams.

The appeal could take years, forcing the men to remain in prison, the Associated Press reported Wednesday (Sept. 15).

The men _ Gary George Blanchard, Joseph Wendell Pettijohn and John Lamonte Dixon, all in their 30s _ were each sentenced Monday to 27 months in prison for possessing”weapons of war,”including more than 40 rifles and handguns and 9,000 rounds of assorted ammunition. The weapons and ammunition were discovered as the men sought to board a plane out of Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.

The judge suspended nine months of the sentences, and with credit for time already served and time off for good behavior the men could have been out of prison by November. Adams noted that the men had been tortured and otherwise mistreated while in custody since March.

The men, who were missionaries in war-torn Congo for Harvestfield Ministries, a Pentecostal group based in Indianapolis, said the weapons were kept for protection, hunting and sport, and they wanted to bring them back to the United States.

Patrick Cinamasa, Zimbabwe’s attorney general, said”the leniency of the sentences constitutes a betrayal of all civilized and acceptable notions of justice and of Zimbabwe’s sovereign interests.”

Quote of the day: Leonard Horn, former CEO of the Miss America Organization

(RNS)”It’s acceptable in today’s society, but no one could argue that an unwanted pregnancy or an abortion is an ideal. A failed marriage is not an ideal. It’s acceptable and it happens, but it’s not an ideal.” _ Leonard Horn, who served as CEO of the Miss America Organization, criticizing a controversial proposal _ now on hold _ that the pageant lift its ban on participation by women who have been married or had abortions. He was quoted Sept. 14 by the Associated Press.

DEA END RNS