c. 1999 Religion News Service
Seventh-day Adventists discuss birth control, religious bias
(RNS) The Annual Council of the Seventh-day Adventist Church has issued statements providing guidelines on using birth control and criticizing discrimination against religious minorities.”Planning for children in a Christian family is a great responsibility,”said Dr. Allan Handysides, health director of the Adventist Church and chair of the committee that drafted the document.”We have examined the various techniques and identified those which the church does not oppose and those which may be termed `birth control’ but which cannot be supported.” The statement,”Birth Control: A Seventh-day Adventist Statement of Consensus,”speaks of sexuality in marriage as”God-ordained and distinguishable from the procreative purpose.”It recommends married partners consider one another’s needs as they make choices concerning birth control.”Though it may be inferred that marriages are generally intended to yield offspring, Scripture never presents procreation as an obligation of every couple in order to please God,”the statement reads.”However, divine revelation places a high value on children and expresses the joy to be found in parenting.” The statement calls birth control methods such as spermicides, barrier methods and sterilization as well as hormonal methods of birth control and IUDs”morally acceptable.” But the statement condemns misuse of birth control for premarital and extramarital sexual relations, saying that although such methods may reduce risks of pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases, sex outside marriage is”both harmful and immoral.” The statement on religious minorities noted some nations publish lists of religious groups considered to be dangerous.”Seventh-day Adventists … believe that the law must be applied evenly and without capricious favor,”the statement reads.”We submit that no religious group should be judged because some adherents may appear to be extremists. Religious freedom is limited when aggressive or violent behavior violates the human rights of others.” Both statements were considered at a meeting of 330 Adventists at the church’s world headquarters in Silver Spring, Md. The meeting concludes Oct. 7.
Bill giving fetus more status draws mixed reaction
(RNS) The House of Representatives’ approval Thursday (Sept. 30) of a bill that would recognize the fetus as a separate entity was cheered by conservative religious groups who oppose abortion and criticized by those supporting abortion rights.
The bill, called the”Unborn Victims of Violence Act,”would make it a crime to harm a fetus during an attack on a pregnant woman.
The Clinton administration called the bill an”unprecedented”effort to make the mother and fetus separate victims and threatened a presidential veto, the Associated Press reported.
Janet Parshall, chief spokesperson for the Family Research Council, called the vote”a profoundly significant moment in pro-life history. This action by Congress recognizes the personhood of the preborn child.” Catholic officials, too, hailed the bill’s passage by a vote of 254-172.”The act embodies simple justice by extending federal protection to defenseless victims of violent federal crimes: those human beings injured or killed inside their mothers’ bodies during the commission of such crimes,”said Helen Alvare of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Rev. Carlton W. Veazey, president of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, said there is no consensus on when life begins, so the act would violate religious freedom.”Religions vary widely in their understanding about the beginning of life,”he said.”Government must not impose any one religious view about the beginning of life on all our citizens.” He urged support of programs combating violence against women and children as a more appropriate route for addressing intentional criminal acts causing a miscarriage or affecting normal fetal development.
Mark J. Pelavin, associate director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, expressed concern about giving the fetus a different status.”This bill is about advancing an anti-choice agenda by altering federal law to elevate the fetus to an unprecedented status,”Pelavin said.”In Judaism, the fetus is viewed as part of the woman’s body and not a separate human being maintaining equal rights. Judaism views the life of the mother as paramount, placing a higher value on the existing life than on potential life.”
NCC welcomes probe of 1950 massacre in Korea
(RNS) The National Council of Churches, one of the key groups pushing for an investigation of claims that U.S. military personnel participated in the massacre of some 400 Koreans in 1950, has welcomed the U.S. government’s decision to probe the incident.”Truth should be disclosed to the public, and the families of the victims should be compensated adequately,”the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, NCC general secretary, said in a statement.”Grievances filed away without any investigation should be reopened and those pending should be investigated post haste,”Campbell added.”Our country, committed to uphold human rights, can do no less. The South Korean victims and their relatives deserve justice.” On Wednesday, the Associated Press, citing several former American soldiers, reported that U.S. soldiers had indeed machine-gunned hundreds of Korean refugees trapped under a bridge near the South Korean village of No Gun Ri in July 1950 during the early days of the Korean War.
For nearly half a century, the U.S. Army has brushed aside the allegations and dismissed claims seeking compensation by survivors of the victims.
The National Council of Churches, together with its South Korean counterpart, the National Council of Churches in Korea, has been pressing for an inquiry into the incident since last December.
In March, the U.S. Army told the NCC it had”found no information to substantiate the claim that U.S. Army soldiers perpetrated a massacre of South Korean civilians”at No Gun Ri.
But the AP report cited a dozen former GIs whose accounts supported that of the South Korean villagers and the two church councils pressing the charges.
Campbell hailed the courage of the former servicemen who were willing to talk to the AP.”While they share responsibility for these atrocities against Korean civilians, they also merit our pastoral concern and care,”she said.”`Going public’ with such admissions carries a heavy price for themselves and their families, which must be acknowledged.” The NCC became involved in the case at the request of the Korean church council and pressed the Pentagon with information assembled by the Korean church body.
Although the Pentagon dismissed the Korean and American church councils’ information, Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera called the AP report”very disturbing”and promised”a thorough review”of the allegations. Secretary of Defense William Cohen, in a letter to Caldera, called for”whatever resources are appropriate to accomplish this review as thoroughly and as quickly as possible.”
Muslims still concerned over Disney’s Israel exhibit
(RNS) As the Walt Disney company prepared to open its Israel pavilion at Walt Disney World’s Millennium Village on Friday (Oct. 1), both American Muslims and Jews expressed concern about the exhibit’s treatment of Jerusalem.
A Muslim spokesman accused Israel, which helped pay for the display, of”politicizing”the exhibit.”The average person will leave this exhibit with the impression that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel,”said Khalid Turaani, executive director of American Muslims for Jerusalem, a coalition of U.S. Muslim organizations.”The Israelis designed it to further their own political agenda, not to educate Disney’s guests,”he said.
Turaani and other Muslim leaders toured the exhibit on Thursday (Sept. 30) as Disney officials sought to dampen the dispute that has unfolded in recent weeks over the display, partly financed with $1.8 million from the Israeli government.
On Sept. 17, in an effort to resolve the dispute, Disney released a statement saying the exhibition contained”no reference to Jerusalem as capital of Israel.” Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, who also toured the exhibit, said he was”disappointed, saddened, a little bit offended and at times angry”at the absence of any mention in the exhibition that Israel considers Jerusalem its capital.
Foxman said what he saw was”a sanitized Jerusalem, a Jerusalem unconnected to anywhere.” Turaani, however, said of greatest concern to Muslims is a video showing the Dome of the Rock, one of the holiest mosques in the Islamic world, fading away and being replaced by the Star of David.”This is an outrageous refusal to respect Islam’s heritage in Jerusalem,”he said.
A Disney spokesman defended the exhibit.”This was always intended to be an exhibit that celebrates the culture and people of Israel,”Bill Warren, a Disney spokesman, told The New York Times.”Certainly everyone that sees it will form their own opinion, and we respect that.”
Groups pledge $300,000 for multiethnic Catholic meeting
(RNS) Three Roman Catholic organizations, including an order of American nuns, have pledged $300,000 to help finance the first national multiethnic church meeting of Catholics.
The meeting,”Many Faces in God’s House: Encuentro 2000,”is slated for next July 6-9 in Los Angeles and will gather together representatives from the African-American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Latin American, Caribbean, Hispanic, Native American and European communities that make up the church in the United States.”The event will be vibrant in color and voice and stand as a living portrait of the Catholic Church at the launching of the third millennium,”said Bishop Gabino Zavala, chairman of the bishops’ subcommittee for the event.”As we move into the third millennium, we realize that we’re a very different church than we were just a century ago,”he said.”Parishes nationwide celebrate Mass in several languages. People of color abound in all our communities.” Among the donations to fund the group, the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas St. Louis Regional Community gave $150,000, earmarking $25,000 of the money to fund scholarships for people of color so voices of every race and economic range will be heard at the meeting.
American Church, part of American Paper Group, a printer and supplier of church offering envelopes, gave an in-kind donation of $105,000 by mailing 35,000 copies of a handbook for use by local groups studying the impact of multiculturalism before attending the meeting. Oregon Catholic Press, a liturgical music publisher, agreed to an in-kind donation of $75,000 for the printing and mailing of a poster promoting the event.
Quote of the day: Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura
(RNS)”Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people’s business.” _ Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura in an interview with Playboy magazine for its November issue.
DEA END RNS