c. 1999 Religion News Service

China maintains pressure on Falun Gong following sentencing of four

(RNS) Beijing police detained several dozen members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement Monday (Dec. 27), one day after four key organizers were given prison sentences of up to 18 years in prison.

In Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, five Falun Gong members attempted to raise a protest banner Monday but were quickly stopped by uniformed and plainclothes police stationed in the square, the site of frequent protests by the group since the communist government outlawed it five months ago.

Police questioned many other visitors to the vast plaza and led several dozen into waiting blue-and-white police vans.

The prison sentences were handed down Sunday at the conclusion of a one-day trial. Judges found the four Falun Gong leaders guilty of organizing and using an”evil cult”to undermine state law, saying the movement had illegally obtained and disseminated state secrets.

The judges also concluded that Falun Gong’s unorthodox health beliefs have led to as many as 1,400 deaths.

Li Chang and Wang Zhiwen were sentenced to 18 years and 16 years in prison, respectively _ among the harshest sentences given to political or religious dissenters in China this decade, the Associated Press reported. Ji Liewu and Yao Jie were sentenced to 12 years and seven years, respectively.

“I’m extremely angry,” said Wang Xiaodan, Wang Zhiwen’s 20-year-old daughter, who now lives in the United States. The government’s “inflexibility, its inability to recognize its mistakes, makes people furious.”

Falun Gong preaches a mix of meditation and physical exercises drawn form Taoist, Buddhist and traditional Chinese beliefs. The movement, which has millions of adherents in China and elsewhere, maintains it has no political agenda and only seeks to promote good health and moral living.

However, Chinese officials who maintain tight control over all forms of religious and political expression view the movement’s hold over its followers as a threat and have sought to destroy the group.

Church of Sweden is cutting ties with the state

(RNS) After nearly 500 years as the state church, the Church of Sweden will end its ties with the Swedish government on New Year’s Day and be treated like any other church in the Scandinavian country.”The church’s identity as a people’s church will become clearer when it’s not part of the state apparatus,”the Rev. Johan Dalman told the Associated Press on Monday (Dec. 27).”The church gets more power over itself. It can influence its organization more and adjust it when needed.” The Church of Sweden was a product of the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century when its rulers embraced Lutheranism. At the time, the ruler’s faith became the people’s faith.

Under the change, approved by the Swedish parliament in 1995, the church will no longer be an organ of the governmnet and children of church members will no longer be automatically enrolled in the church.

While some changes loosening ties between the state and the church have been implemented since 1995, on Saturday (Jan. 1), the church will become a separate legal entity. Bishops will no longer be appointed by the government and the church will no longer receive tax money.

While some 90 percent of Swedes nominally are Lutheran, observers said the change reflects demographic and immigration trends that have diminished the Lutheran presence as well as a recognition of Swedes’ general indifference to organized religion.

Christian-Muslim violence erupts in Indonesia

(RNS) Nearly 40 people were reported dead Monday (Dec. 27) in a fresh round of Christian-Muslim violence on the Indonesian island of Ambon, ignoring efforts to bring peace to a region once celebrated for its religious tolerance.

Indonesia’s official Antara news agency said the victims were from two days of clashes that broke out after a 14-year-old Muslim boy was hit by a car driven by a Christian.

Most of the victims were burned to death in arson and fighting on Dec. 26 in Ambon city, the capital of the Spice Island province, and already devastated by yearlong sectarian strife, Reuters reported.

Once held up as a model of interreligious tolerance, Ambon has been plagued by a year of violent clashes triggered by a dispute between a taxi driver and a drunk that have taken some 800 lives.

The Associated Press reported that in addition to the deaths, Ambon’s main Christian church and a Muslim mosque were set on fire.

Shiite-Sunni violence leaves 12 dead in Pakistan

(RNS) A Shiite Muslim gunman opened fire on a funeral procession Monday (Dec. 27) in Pakistan, leaving 12 members of a rival Sunni Muslim group dead and injuring six others.

The dead all belonged to the militant Sunni Muslim group Sipah-e-Sahaba, or Guardians of the Friends of the Prophet. They were attacked in a graveyard in Sikunder Pur, in northwest Pakistan, when the shooting occurred. They were there to bury a Sipah-e-Sahaba leader.

The gunman was identified by police as Salamat Shah, a Shiite Muslim, the Associated Press reported. Police reportedly said Shah attacked the funeral party because he did not want to remove a small building that local residents thought might become a Shiite Muslim mosque.

The Sunni-dominated local administration had ordered Shah to remove his building.

“We warned the administration that we feared he would try to attack us but they didn’t do anything,” said Hafiz-ur-Rehman, a local Sunni leader.

He said his organization, which has been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of Shiite Muslims in Pakistan, would hold a meeting to determine its response to the killing.

Most of Pakistan’s 140 million people are Sunni Muslims. In recent years militant groups belonging to both sects have sprung up in Pakistan and often clash.

Polls: Most American Muslims identify with Democrats but back Bush

(RNS) Two polls of American Muslim views show the growing community to be politically divided, independent-minded and generally middle of the road.

An American Muslim Council poll found that of the 32 percent of those surveyed who identified with one political party, 53 percent called themselves Democracts and 47 percent called themselves Republicans.

The AMC poll also found that 22 percent of the total 844 Muslims surveyed said that if an election were held today they would vote Democratic and 25 percent said they would vote Republican. Thirty-seven percent said they remained undecided.

A second poll released by the Council on American-Islamic Relations showed those surveyed favor Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush (25 percent) and former New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bill Bradley (24 percent) at this stage of the 2000 presidential contest. Democratic Vice President Al Gore (15 percent) and Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain (10 percent) trailed.

Thirty-five percent of those surveyed in the CAIR poll labeled themselves”conservatives”and 16 percent said they were”liberals.”Thirty-four percent said they were political independents.

Both polls were released earlier in December. Neither reported a margin of error.

Quote of the day: Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu

(RNS)”Jesus proclaimed that we’re God’s children. … That was truly revolutionary, truly radical. Would it still be in our world today if we recognized that we are sisters and brothers, members of one family? Would we spend obscene amounts on defense budgets of death and destruction when a small amount ensures a good life for our sisters and brothers everywhere? … Would we wonder what to do about budget surpluses when our sisters and brothers were starving elsewhere, dying of curable, preventable diseases everywhere?” _ Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a Christmas sermon at the Episcopal National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

DEA END RNS