c. 1999 Religion News Service
White House comment sparks Southern Baptist opposition
(RNS) Southern Baptist officials have voiced strong opposition to White House spokesman Joe Lockhart’s recent description of their denomination as an organization that perpetuates”ancient religious hatred.””I think the president has made very clear his view from any quarter, no matter what quarter it comes from, his views on religious tolerance, and how one of the greatest challenges going into the next century is dealing with intolerance, dealing with ethnic and religious hatred, and coming to grips with the long-held resentments between religions,”Lockhart said in answer to a question at a Dec. 16 press briefing about recent Southern Baptist efforts to pray for and evangelize Hindus, Jews and Muslims.”So I think he’s been very clear in his opposition to whatever organization, including the Southern Baptist, that perpetuate ancient religious hatred.” Southern Baptist Convention President Paige Patterson and other denominational officials responded to Lockhart’s comments in the Dec. 22 report of Baptist Press, the SBC’s official news service.”Apparently, because the president has very few convictions, he harbors deep resentment against those who do,”Patterson said.”I would say that the president or his press secretary or both have once again demonstrated that the one thing for which they have no regard is truth.” Southern Baptists have been criticized in some quarters for their prayer booklets that focus on Hindus, Jews and Muslims. Denominational officials defend their evangelistic work as an integral part of their acting out their faith.
Patterson, commenting on Lockhart’s statement, said”a good case could be made for the fact that the deliberate dissemination of false information about a group should probably qualify as a hate crime within itself”due to the possibility that announcements made in error could”engender hostility”toward that group.
Morris H. Chapman, president of the SBC’s executive committee, said he considers Lockhart’s remarks”hate speech”and a”bullying tactic.””Baptists do not now, nor have we ever, practiced persecution against people of other faiths, or of no faith at all,”Chapman stated.”The assertion that evangelism is morally equivalent to what the White House spokesman calls `ancient religious hatred’ betrays a deep disregard for historic Christian faith propositions.” Clinton, a member of a Southern Baptist church in Little Rock, Ark., has long been at odds with the SBC, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, over a variety of issues, including abortion and homosexual rights.
Christian human rights group says it bought freedom of 5,514 slaves
(RNS) A controversial Christian human rights group based in Switzerland said it had bought the freedom of 5,514 slaves in Sudan during a secret mission.
In a statement released Wednesday (Dec. 22), Christian Solidarity International said the redemption during the week of Dec. 12 brought the number of slaves freed through its program to 20,961. The program has existed since 1995, The Washington Post reported.”The slaves, mainly Christian and animist women and children from the Dinka tribe, were brought out of captivity in northern Sudan and returned to their homeland in the south by eight networks of Arab retrievers,”the Zurich-based group said.
The organization said it paid Arab middlemen about $50 per slave in its latest work. The organization said more than 100,000 people continue to be enslaved in northern Sudan or are”subjected to slavelike practices in (the) Sudanese government’s concentration camps _ often euphemistically called `peace camps’ for the displaced.” Christian Solidarity International believes the armed forces of Sudan’s National Islamic Front have taken animists and Christians in raids that it says are part of the government’s”jihad,”or Islamic holy war, against minorities who resist”forced Islamization and Arabization.” The government of Sudan denies slavery exists as such but officials say they are trying to halt abductions for forced labor.
Christian Solidarity has been criticized for allegedly fueling the slave trade. Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF, has said buying the freedom of slaves”encouraged more trafficking and criminality.”
Vatican denies papal limo cost $1.6 million
(RNS) The Vatican has denied that a luxurious Lancia limousine presented to Pope John Paul II from”the world of Italian labor”carried a price tag of $1.6 million.
The Vatican was clearly embarrassed by reports that the pope had accepted so expensive a gift only two days before the Christmas Eve start of a Holy Year that he has asked Roman Catholics to celebrate with simplicity and aid to the poor.
Paolo Fresco, president of Fiat, owners of Lancia, and managing director Paolo Cantarella presented the prototype of Lancia’s new Dialogos line to the pope Wednesday (Dec. 22) as”a tribute from the world of Italian labor.” Quattroruote, a monthly auto magazine, reported that the bulletproof limousine, which has a six-cylinder, three-liter engine and 24 values, cost an estimated 3 billion lire, or about $1.6 million.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls called the figure”erroneous information that must be corrected.”He added that if the Vatican had been told in advance of the published cost, the limousine”might not have been accepted.””I don’t know the actual cost of this automobile,”he said.
But, he said,”the automobile in question is a prototype of a series that will be produced soon. To attribute to the prototype donated (to the pope) the costs of research for the entire line is erroneous and misleading.” The spokesman did not deny, however, that the limousine has been customized to fit the pope’s needs.
Seventeen feet long and weighing three metric tons, it has a black metallic finish, a top that slides forward to allow the pope to wave to crowds along his routes and a low gear that allows it to move at a walking pace.
There are two seats in front but only one passenger seat, especially designed for the pope’s comfort.
Farrakhan says `near-death experience’ changed him
(RNS) Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, re-emerging in public after months of illness, says his”near-death experience”has changed him.
Speaking Wednesday (Dec. 22) in Chicago, a fit-looking Farrakhan preached a message of unity for all races and religions in the next century. In the past, Farrakhan has been criticized for making anti-white, anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic remarks.
“Only through our act of atonement can we be forgiven for what we have said or done to injure other human beings _ a member of another race or a member of another religious group, another nation or another ethnic group,” the 66-year-old Farrakhan told reporters and about 200 supporters gathered at the Nation of Islam’s main mosque on Chicago’s South Side. “We must try to end the cycle of violence and the cycle of hatred.”
Farrakhan has been recovering from complications stemming from treatment for prostate cancer, and had been in virtual seclusion since reports of his being near death began to circulate last spring.
He referred to those reports, saying he had a “near-death experience” in March caused by a radiation-related rectal ulcer that has yet to heal fully. He also said his health problems have changed his outlook, as he called for all people to unite on Christmas Day to pray for world peace.
Farrakhan, who spoke for more than an hour, said doctors have told him his cancer is in remission. But he said his ulcer is only 85 percent healed and may require surgery before he is “out of the woods.”
Farrakhan was surrounded by family members and several other religious leaders.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a Roman Catholic priest who is white, held hands with Farrakhan and his wife, Khadijah, as he led the group in prayer.
“I believe he is the man who can bring us together … as Christians, as Jews and as Muslims,” Pfleger said afterward, according to the Associated Press.
Amikham B. Asiel, a rabbi in the black Hebrew Israelite community, said he was heartened by the minister’s statement that divisions between the Nation of Islam and the Jewish community “must be overcome” _ though the Hebrew Israelites have been known for making their own statements against mainstream Jews. Mainstream Judaism does not regard the Hebrew Israelite community as being Jewish.
Addressing Farrakhan’s past statements, Asiel said, “I would prefer to take a more positive position and see where we go in the future.”
However, Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, which has long criticized Farrakhan, said the Nation of Islam’s latest remarks was”the same old rhetoric that we have heard before.” Foxman said”we hope Minister Farrakhan has indeed had an ephiphany. But only time will tell if there is a new Farrakhan for the new millennium.”
Arizona Baptist foundation announces plans to liquidate
(RNS) The Baptist Foundation of Arizona has announced plans to liquidate its assets in an attempt to repay millions of dollars owed to investors.
The new plans were announced after investors overwhelmingly rejected a previously proposed plan that was part of the foundation’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The original plan offered investors two options:”cash out,”where investors would receive 20 percent of their original investment, or invest in a new publicly held company that would be created to manage and hold the foundation’s assets.”The restructuring committee determined most investors did not want the proposed 20 percent distribution plan coupled with a new company, a publicly traded company,”said foundation spokesman Lew Phelps.
At a meeting of more than 1,000 investors of the foundation Tuesday (Dec. 21), the panel in charge of the liquidation announced new plans to sell the foundation’s holdings to recover as much of the investors’ money as possible. Action also was taken at the meeting to pursue lawsuits against former officials of the foundation, reported Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Arizona Corporation Commission, which regulates securities and utilities, halted the foundation’s security sales in August after accusing it of misrepresenting investment returns. The commission said the foundation also lacked the assets to cover money owed investors.
The foundation listed assets of about $200 million and liabilities of $640 in its bankruptcy filing. Investors are owed almost $590 million.
Meanwhile, a group of Arizona pastors has formed a coalition to raise the more than $400 million expected to be lost by investors.
Vatican to air gala worldwide Christmas Day telecast
(RNS) The Vatican has announced plans for a gala worldwide telecast on Christmas Day to mark the start of Holy Year 2000 and the third millennium of Christianity.
The Vatican Television Center said the two-hour program, beginning at 5 p.m. Rome time (11 a.m. EST), will be transmitted from the Paul VI Audience Hall with links to Washington, Cuba and the Holy Land.
In the Washington segment, televised from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Cardinal James A. Hickey will inaugurate Holy Year celebrations in the United States.
The program will open with Pope John Paul II explaining the purpose of the telecast and will end with a live transmission of him opening the Holy Door of the Basilica of St. John in Lateran in Rome, across the Tiber River from the Vatican.
Holy Year will start officially when the Roman Catholic pontiff opens the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve, but this year he also will open the Holy Doors of Rome’s three other major basilicas, starting with St. John in Lateran, the cathedral church of Rome.
John Paul will repeat the ceremony on New Year’s Day at St. Mary Major and on Jan. 18, the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, at St. Paul’s-Outside-the Walls.
Quote of the day: President Bill Clinton
(RNS)”As we celebrate this last Christmas of the 20th century, let us resolve to build a future where all people learn to love one another and to live together in harmony; where our children know true joy; and where our hopes for peace, freedom and prosperity for all are finally realized.” _ President Bill Clinton, in his annual Christmas address.
IR END RNS
