c. 2000 Religion News Service
Mormon President Announces Plans For Six New Temples
(RNS) Mormon church President Gordon B. Hinckley announced plans Sunday (April 2) for the construction of six new temples, three in the United States and three overseas.
Hinckley made the announcement during the church’s Annual General Conference.
“We shall go on in the process of bringing temples to the people,” Hinckley said of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the meeting in Salt Lake City.
The new U.S. temples will be in Lubbock, Texas; Snowflake, Ariz.; and “somewhere in the Tri-Cities area in the state of Washington,” he said.
Temples are also planned for Aba, Nigeria; Asuncion, Paraguay; and Helsinki, Finland.
The Mormon church has 76 temples in operation, but will dedicate two more within a week of the meeting. The Palmyra, N.Y., temple is scheduled for dedication on Thursday (April 6) and another in Fresno, Calif., is to be dedicated next Sunday.
Another 32 temples are under construction. In addition to the six announced Sunday, five others have been previously announced but their construction has not yet begun.
Temples are not used for regular Sunday worship, but rather for special Mormon rites, such as marriages, which Mormons believe last for eternity. They also are used for baptisms of the dead, in which Mormons stand as proxies on behalf of their ancestors.
The meeting was held for the first time in the new Conference Center, near Temple Square, not far from the church’s headquarters.
Pope Accepts Resignation of Popular Bishop of Chiapas
(RNS) Pope John Paul II has formally accepted the resignation of Mexican Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, a proponent of liberation theology who acted as mediator in the Zapatista-led peasant uprising in the southern state of Chiapas in the mid-1990s.
The pope, who in December transferred Ruiz’s closest collaborator to another diocese, chose Monsignor Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel to succeed Ruiz. Arizmendi Esquivel is bishop of Tapachula and secretary general of the Latin American Bishops Conference.
Ruiz, bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas in the impoverished state of Chiapas, has been a controversial figure in the Latin American church since the 1970s when he became one of Mexico’s leading supporters of liberation theology, a doctrine frowned on by the Vatican.
In instructions issued in 1984 and 1986, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith attacked the Marxist orientation of liberation theology, which links the promotion of human rights and social justice to Catholic theology. It warned activist priests against advocating violence to achieve social goals.
The congregation opened an investigation into Ruiz’s views in the early 1990s but because he had the trust of the indigenous peasants of Chiapas, he was drafted in 1994 to mediate between the Mexican government and the Zapatista National Liberation Army.
Ruiz resigned as mediator in 1998, accusing the government of “dismantling any possible means or effort to solve the crisis in Chiapas.” Mexico’s bishops said they supported the peace process but would not offer further mediation.
The bishop submitted his resignation, as required by canon law, when he became 75 years old on Nov. 3, 1999.
On Dec. 30, before the pope had accepted the resignation, the Vatican abruptly announced the transfer to another diocese of Monsignor Raul Vera Lopez, 54, who as bishop coadjutor would automatically have become Ruiz’s successor.
Vera Lopez was considered a conservative when the pope named him bishop coadjutor in 1995, but he too became an outspoken advocate of the rights of the indigenous peasants of Chiapas.
In announcing his transfer, the Vatican took the highly unusual step of issuing a statement explaining it was not intended to diminish “the commitment of the church in favor of civil peace and the spiritual and human formation of all the components of the population of Chiapas.”
Arizmendi Esquivel, 59, studied dogmatic theology at the Pontifical University of Salamanca, Spain, and served as a professor of liturgy and pastoral theology and rector of the Minor Seminary of Toluca. His present diocese is southeast of Chiapas near Mexico’s border with Guatemala.
Jury Awards $105,000 to Muslim Man for Discrimination
(RNS) A jury in Jacksonville, Fla., has awarded a Muslim man $105,216 after his employer fired him when he wanted to leave work early on Fridays to pray, an obligation required of Muslim men.
According to the Florida Times-Union, an eight-person jury awarded the money to Fareed Ansari on Wednesday (March 29). Ansari said he was fired from Ray’s Plumbing Contractors of Jacksonville in July 1997 because of “early absences on Fridays.”
Ansari began working for the company a month earlier and told his boss he would need to leave work early on Fridays to attend a weekly prayer service. Ansari said his supervisor said, “No problem.”
Ansari offered to work extra hours throughout the week or on weekends to make up for the lost time. He said he had done this with previous employers, but Ansari’s boss said that would not be necessary.
When Ansari went to pick up his paycheck in July, he was directed to the company’s offices and was given a termination notice. Patricia Dodson, Ansari’s attorney, said that other employees complained that Ansari was missing Friday afternoons.
“I felt devastated,” Ansari said. “I was in shock. I felt betrayed.”
The jury used the 1964 Civil Rights Act to uphold Ansari’s case. The landmark legislation says employers must make reasonable accommodations for an employee’s religious practices. The jury awarded $100,000 in punitive damages and the rest in compensation for lost wages.
A company attorney said he was “very disappointed” in the verdict, but company officials could not be reached for comment.
Ansari said he was grateful for the verdict.
“As a Muslim American, it’s wonderful,” he said. “I’m grateful for the Constitution and a country that has it.”
Orthodox Jewish Leader Criticizes Vote to Bless Same-Sex Unions
(RNS) An Orthodox Jewish leader said Friday (March 31) that the vote by Reform rabbis to bless same-sex unions is “another tragic assault on … the sanctity of our people” and threatens to undermine the fragile unity between America’s three major Jewish branches.
Rabbi Kenneth Hain, president of the 1,100-member Rabbinical Council of America, said the vote by Reform rabbis on Wednesday (March 29) is “beyond the pale of acceptable Jewish teaching and practice.”
Members of Reform Judaism’s Central Conference of American Rabbis, who represent the largest and most liberal branch of American Jewry, passed a resolution in Greensboro, N.C., that allows Reform rabbis to bless _ or not bless _ same-sex unions, saying the issue was one of upholding human dignity.
Reform and Orthodox Jews have been at odds over several issues, with Reform rabbis resenting the strong influence Orthodox leaders hold over Jewish affairs in Israel. Hain said last week’s vote threatens to rupture that fragile peace.
“As a timeless faith rooted in divine revelation, Judaism’s laws cannot be abrogated by fiat or majority vote or redesigned to fit a current behavior pattern,” Hain said, according to the Associated Press.
Hain was referring to passages in the Torah that explicitly condemn homosexual behavior. Reform rabbis said those passages actually refer to ancient ritualized sex between heterosexuals. Reform Judaism has long been on record as supporting equality for gays and lesbians, but last week’s vote was by far the strongest statement made by the rabbis.
Three of America’s leading Protestant bodies _ the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church and the Presbyterian Church (USA) _ also plan to tackle the issue of homosexuality at conventions this summer. Pro-gay leaders within those churches said last week that they take heart from the Reform decision, but many think it is unlikely to affect the debate this summer.
U.S. Criticizes Vietnam for Blocking Buddhist Celebration
(RNS) The government’s watchdog agency on international religious freedom blasted the government of Vietnam on Friday (March 31) for not allowing Hoa Hao Buddhists to gather for a religious celebration last Wednesday and Thursday (March 29 and 30).
According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Vietnamese officials prevented some of the 2 million to 4 million Hoa Hao Buddhists from assembling in Hoa Hao village _ their founder’s birthplace _ in the Chau Doc province.
The Buddhists had gathered for a special ceremony to pray for the return of their founder, Master Huynh Phu So. Vietnamese officials had permitted the celebration last year, but only as a one-time event.
Commission officials said Vietnamese police prevented the Buddhists from entering the sacred grounds in Hoa Hao village, and police surrounded the homes of Buddhist leaders and arrested them. Only about 1,000 people were permitted to enter the site.
The Communist government in Vietnam has kept close tabs on the Hoa Hao Buddhists because of their anti-communist views. The commission says Communist leaders have blocked public gatherings and the distribution of the community’s scriptures.
The commission’s chairman, Rabbi David Saperstein, said the actions against the Buddhists violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“It’s past time for the Hanoi government to respect its own constitution, fulfill its international obligations and stop such repression of religion,” Saperstein said in a statement.
Quote of the Day: Christian communicator Albert H. van den Heuvel
(RNS) “We have the most advanced and informed society in the history of mankind, yet we are incapable of using the powerful technology we have to create a community in which all people participate.”
Albert H. van den Heuvel, president of the World Association for Christian Communication, speaking during the Religious Communication Congress in Chicago on Thursday (March 30).
DEA END RNS
