c. 2000 Religion News Service
U.S. Reports Lowest Abortion Rate in Two Decades
(RNS) The number of legal abortions in the United States dropped to its lowest rate in 20 years in 1997, the government’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said Thursday (Jan. 6).
About 1.2 million legal abortions were reported to the CDC in 1997 (the latest year for which figures are available), a 3 percent decrease from 1996 and the lowest number since 1975.
The CDC pointed toward a decline in unplanned pregnancies, attitude changes about abortions and reduced access to the procedure as factors that could have influenced the drop in numbers, the Associated Press reported.
In previous years the CDC report included only the total number of abortions from states, but this year the report included for the first time information from some states about drug-induced abortions and those performed through surgery.
Sixteen states reported 2,988 drug-induced abortions in 1997, but the CDC said that could be an undercount since some studies have estimated about 4,300 drug-induced abortions were performed within the first six months of 1997 alone.
The CDC also reported that slightly more than half of women who received an abortion in 1997 _ 52 percent _ were 24 years of age or younger, and most were white and unmarried.
Fifty-five percent of the procedures were completed within the first two months of pregnancy.
Final statistics on abortions in 1997 _ including each state’s total number of abortions _ will be made public in the summer.
Clinton Says Ramadan a `Gift from Islam to the World’
(RNS) President Clinton, greeting Muslims as they prepared to mark the feast of Eid-al-Fitr, called Ramadan, the holy month of fasting which ended Thursday, a”gift from Islam to the world.” Ramadan, Clinton said in a statement from Shepherdstown, W. Va., where he is participating in peace talks between Israel and Syria, reminds people to”aid those who face poverty and suffering.” During the month of Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunup to sundown, abstaining from eating, drinking, cigarettes and sex. The sighting of the new moon marks the end of Ramadan and the start of the festival of Eid-al-Fitr. Reuters reported that in the United States, Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, the festival began on Friday while Syria, Tunisia and other predominantly Muslim nations will begin their celebrations on Saturday.”We hope and pray for a world where all faiths are respected; where people of different beliefs and ethnic backgrounds can live together in harmony, finding strength and joy in our differences and in our common humanity.”And we pray that the new moon will bring a new era of peace between nations _ in the Middle East and all across the world _ so people can emerge from the shadows of violence and make better lives for their children,”said the statement released late Thursday night.
In New York, meanwhile, USA Today reported that Ramadan has altered the city’s rhythms because many Muslim taxi drivers have been stopping work earlier each day _ often just at rush hour _ to attend a mosque for prayers.
But the city’s taxi officials say they have gotten no complaints from passengers.”This is America, and this is New York City,”Diane McGrath-McKechnie of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission.”And it is everyone’s privilege to worship as they choose, and we celebrate that privilege and diversity,”she added.
High-ranking Lama from Tibet Flees to India
(RNS) Tibet’s third highest-ranking lama, the only top monk approved by the Dalai Lama and China’s Communist government, has fled to India in a weeklong trek by foot over the Himalayas.
The Karmapa Lama, 14-year-old leader of the Kagyu Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, arrived in Dharamsala on Wednesday (Jan. 5), said Tenzin Chonyi, president of the North American branch of the sect.
The Karmapa Lama reached the north Indian town that is home of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, after traveling 900 miles on foot from his monastery near Lhasa, Chonyi said.
China’s official Xinhua news agency confirmed the boy had left his monastery and traveled abroad. It did not say where he went or if he was expected to return, Reuters reported.
The unusual departure of the Karmapa Lama, born Ugyen Trinley Dorje, mirrored the Dalai Lama’s own escape into exile in 1959 after a bloody and abortive uprising against Chinese rule.
In 1992, the Dalai Lama and Beijing both officially approved Dorje as the 17th reincarnation of the Karmapa Lama. China has been grooming him as a”patriotic”lama since that time.
The Dalai Lama’s office in New Dehli declined comment.
Thousands of Muslims Demand Holy War Against Indonesian Christians
(RNS) Tens of thousands of Muslims poured into Jakarta on Friday (Jan. 7),demanding a holy war against Christians living in two riot-torn provinces of Indonesia.
Maluku and North Maluku _ about 1,600 miles northeast of Jakarta _ have been plagued by religious fighting between Christians and Muslims for about a year. The fighting has left nearly 1,000 dead in recent weeks.”We give (President Abdurrahman Wahid) one month to stop the killings of Muslims,”said Husin Ali Al Habsy, a speaker at the rally.”Otherwise, we are ready to send at least 10,000 people there to defend the Muslims.” The Jakarta protest, held across the street from the presidential palace, followed a series of smaller protests in the capital in recent days by Muslims, who make up 90 percent of Indonesia’s population of 210 million.
Christians used to have a small majority in the two provinces, but over the past 20 years the migration of Muslims from Indonesia’s other islands to Maluku and North Maluku has changed that, the Associated Press reported.
Indonesian naval troops have blockaded the islands in an attempt to halt the spread of violence (though ships carrying emergency aid will be allowed through the blockade), and officials say the violence has subsided in recent days.
About 17,000 refugees have fled the provinces since late December.
Author Walter Wangerin Wins National Book Award
(RNS) The Rev. Walter M. Wangerin Jr., an acclaimed author, has earned the Theologos Award for the Best Children’s Book of 1999.
Wangerin received the honor for his book,”Water Come Down,”at an American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature meeting in Boston. The book was published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers in Minneapolis.
The author of more than 25 books, Wangerin has received numerous other literary awards, including The New York Times’ Best Children’s Book of the Year and the American Book Award, both for”The Book of the Dun Cow.” Wangerin, a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is a professor and writer-in-residence at Valparaiso University in Indiana, an independent Lutheran university. He is also a speaker for the ELCA radio program”Lutheran Vespers”and a columnist for The Lutheran, the ELCA’s magazine.
Quote of the day: Boris Yeltsin, former Russian president
(RNS)”I feel holy.” _ Boris Yeltsin, former Russian president, on his arrival in the Holy Land for the gathering of Orthodox religious and political figures to mark the Orthodox Christmas observance on Jan. 7.
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