c. 2000 Religion News Service
Reform Jews Ask Governors to Reconsider Death Penalty
(RNS) Reform Jewish leaders have asked the nation’s governors to follow the example of Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who has placed a moratorium on the death penalty in his state after more than a dozen people on death row were found to be innocent.
“We commend Gov. Ryan’s actions and his leadership in saying aloud what so many across this nation already know: our criminal justice system is broken,” wrote the representatives of social-action entities of Reform Judaism. “When the stakes are this high _ with human life hanging in the balance _ we must be doubly certain before imposing a death sentence.”
The Jan. 31 letter was signed by Judge David Davidson, chair of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism; Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; and Mark J. Pelavin, associate director of the center. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is the Washington office of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
The letter was sent on the same day Ryan announced the moratorium until a commission he appoints reviews the use of the death penalty in his state.
“I now favor a moratorium, because I have grave concerns about our state’s shameful record of convicting innocent people and putting them on death row,” said Ryan in his declaration of the moratorium. “I cannot support a system which, in its administration, has proven to be so fraught with error and has come so close to the ultimate nightmare, the state’s taking of innocent life.”
Ryan continues to believe capital punishment is an appropriate form of punishment, but he’s concerned about the administration problems that have been discovered in his state. Since 1977, when the death penalty was reinstated in Illinois, 12 death row inmates have been executed and 13 have been exonerated.
In their letter to other governors, the Jewish leaders questioned whether others might be exonerated if more research took place.
“Illinois has learned of these mistaken convictions through the diligence and hard work of a well-funded public defender’s office and through the tenacity of a highly publicized university journalism class,” they wrote. “How many more people would be cleared if other states had these mechanisms? How many currently go to the death chamber for crimes they did not commit?”
Last December, Reform representatives joined other Jewish and Catholic leaders in announcing a joint effort to work for the abolishment of capital punishment.
China Bans a Second Spiritual Sect
(RNS) A spiritual sect similar to the outlawed Falun Gong movement has been banned by the Chinese government, according to a Hong Kong-based human rights group.
One hundred offices of Zhong Gong _ which practices “Qigong,” traditional Chinese meditation and breathing exercises _ have already been shut down by Chinese officials, the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China reports.
The government ban of Zhong Gong follows the December closing of their largest training base, located in northwestern China. Chinese officials have also closed about 60 offices of a company connected to the Zhong Gong movement in Inner Mongolia, Guangxi and Yunnan provinces, the Information Center said.
The crackdown on Zhong Gong _ which claims 10 million followers in China _ began in November after Chinese president Jiang Zemin declared the group a cult. Chinese police descended on the group’s main office in Beijing, confiscating assets worth 50 million yuan ($6.02 million).
Chinese officials banned a similar popular meditation sect last summer, the Falun Gong, which combined elements of Buddhism, Taoism and meditation.
Officials outlawed the group after its followers launched a series of protests _ including one that drew more than 10,000 people to Beijing _ demanding official recognition of the faith.
More than 5,000 Falun Gong members have been sentenced to labor camps without trial and another 300 sent to jail since September, according to the Information Center. On Tuesday (Feb. 1), two sisters who were part of the Falun Gong leadership were sentenced to six- and seven-year prison terms, while 30 other Falun Gong members who participated in a protest were sentenced to prison terms of up to two years.
Suspect in India Arrested in Missionary’s Slaying
(RNS) The chief suspect in last year’s slaying of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons has been arrested by Indian police, authorities said Tuesday (Feb. 1).
The murder of Staines and his two boys, burned to death Jan. 23, 1999 as they slept in their jeep after a Bible study, attracted worldwide attention.
Shortly after the murder, police identified Hindu militant Dara Singh as the main suspect in the case. Despite an intense manhunt and a $23,250 reward, Hindu villagers in the eastern state of Orissa successfully hid Singh over the past year.
Singh has been wanted in connection with several criminal cases and has been on the run since allegedly leading the mob that attacked Staines. He was arrested with two of his sons as he sought to buy a gun, according to wire reports.
The attack on Staines, a Baptist missionary who had worked with leprosy patients in India since 1965, came amid increased friction between militant Hindus and Christians. Some Hindu leaders have accused Christians of engaging in forced conversions. Christians vehemently deny the charge.
Staines’ widow, Gloria, said shortly after the killing that she forgave the killers. Nevertheless, she expressed pleasure Tuesday that Singh had been arrested so “he will not be able to kill others.”
“Hundreds of thousands of people all over India, irrespective of caste, creed, have said Dara’s action was not Hinduism and that they were ashamed of the deed,” she told Reuters Tuesday.
While Christians welcomed the arrest, they also expressed concern about a recent order on conversion issued by the Orissa state government.
The order mandates a police inquiry before anyone adopts a new faith in the state.
“The notice has been served only to Christians,” Isaac Puthensngany, a priest in the diocese where Staines was killed, told Reuters. “Conversion from Christianity is not taken into consideration by these people.”
Pope Inaugurates Controversial Parking Garage Next Door to the Vatican
(RNS) Pope John Paul II has inaugurated a controversial parking garage for Holy Year pilgrims built into a hillside next door to Vatican City despite the protests of preservationists.
The pope said at the ceremony Monday (Jan. 31) he was pleased that the garage, which is on land owned by the Vatican Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, “offers great urbanistic advantages without damaging the well-known view from the Janiculum Hill.”
The project provides five floors of parking for 93 tour buses and 732 cars and a sixth floor with a cafeteria, restaurant and pizzeria, shops, phone booths, an automatic teller machine and first aid facilities.
Completion of the $42 million structure was delayed by the discovery of archaeological fragments, including frescoes of birds and flowers believed to come from the walls of a second century Roman villa, in the rubble cleared to build a ramp into the garage.
The Vatican, backed by Mayor Francesco Rutelli, dismissed as “ridiculous” claims that construction of the ramp would destroy priceless Roman and early Christian relics, but Minister of Culture Giovanna Melandri ordered work stopped while archaeologists investigated further.
The government gave the green light for construction to resume Dec. 10 although some archaeologists continued to protest.
John Paul said the garage would serve the millions of tourists excepted to descend on Rome and the Vatican for Holy Year 2000 while improving “the traffic condition and the quality of life of the inhabitants of the area” long after the jubilee ended.
The Vatican and the Italian government shared the cost of the garage.
Church of England Appoints First Woman Cathedral Provost
(RNS) The Church of England has appointed its first woman to take charge of a cathedral.
Canon Vivienne Faull has been appointed provost of Leicester. A provost is the head of the cathedral chapter in a number of the Church of England’s more recently created dioceses where the cathedral is also a parish church and the provost is the incumbent.
Canon Faull, 44, whose husband, Michael, is a doctor at Leicester Royal Infirmary, has been a canon of Coventry Cathedral since 1994, the year she was ordained priest, and vice-provost since 1995.
North of the border, the Scottish Episcopal Church has had a woman provost since September 1998, when the Rev. Miriam Byrne was appointed provost of Dundee.
Quote of the Day: Nigerian Plane Crash Survivor Emmanuel Madu
(RNS) “I want you to say that God helped me out of this. I prayed. I’m not a Pentecostal or a fundamentalist or anything like that, but I know I survived with supernatural strength.”
_ Emmanuel Madu, a 33-year-old engineer who survived when a Kenya Airways jetliner crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the Ivory Coast on Sunday (Jan. 30). He was quoted by the Associated Press.
DEA END RNS
