c. 2000 Religion News Service
Muslims Garner High-Profile Support in Fight Against Secret Evidence
(RNS) U.S. Muslims received some high profile support in their fight against the use of “secret evidence” in immigration hearings when Texas Gov. George W. Bush and a leading rabbi spoke out against the controversial government policy.
The use of secret evidence was approved under the 1996 immigration reforms. Under the law, government officials can detain terrorist suspects indefinitely, and are not required to tell suspects or their lawyers what evidence has been compiled against them, or who their accusers are.
Muslims say the practice is un-American and unfairly targets Muslims and other foreigners. A Florida professor, Mazen al-Najjar, has been held for three years on secret evidence charges and has not been able to see his lawyer or his family.
In Wednesday’s (Oct. 11) debate with Vice President Al Gore, Bush said the use of secret evidence is unfair. “There is other forms of racial profiling that goes on in America,” Bush said. “Arab Americans are racially profiled on what’s called secret evidence. People are stopped. And we got to do something about that.”
In an undated Bush statement provided by the American Muslim Council, Bush said secret evidence is “not the American way … All people _ citizens, future citizens, aspiring citizens _ deserve to be treated with respect and dignity.” Bush spokesman Ray Sullivan told Religion News Service the statement attributed to Bush a “fair characterization” of Bush’s positions.
Phone calls to Vice President Al Gore’s campaign seeking his position on secret evidence were not returned.
And in a Sept. 26 letter to members of Congress, Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and Judge David Davidson, chair of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, urged support of a bill that would give alien suspects more rights in criminal cases.
“That we work today to guarantee all those in our courts … the basic right to know the charges against them and to see the evidence provided to support those charges is well within the strictures of our traditional view of fairness,” Saperstein and Davidson wrote.
Aly Abuzaakouk, executive director of the American Muslim Council, applauded Bush’s support but said he wished Bush would take a stronger position and support an outright ban on secret evidence.
“While we appreciate and thank Gov. Bush for recognizing the injustices behind the use of secret evidence, his statement falls short of our expectations,” Abuzaakouk said in a statement.
Mennonite Church General Secretary to Leave in December
(RNS) The chief executive of the new Mennonite Church USA will step down six months earlier than his term is scheduled to end as the country’s two largest Mennonite branches prepare to merge.
George Stoltzfus was named general secretary of the new Menonnite Church USA in July 1999. Prior to that, Stoltzfus had served three years as general secretary of the Mennonite Church General Board.
The Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church are scheduled to merge next summer to create the Mennonite Church USA, which would be the country’s largest Mennonite body with about 100,000 members.
Stoltzfus, a trained physician, will end his tenure at the end of December instead of next July as planned. He will be succeeded by Jim Schrag, who was scheduled to become executive director of the new church next July and has been overseeing the merger of the two churches.
“During these five years, there have been times of ambiguity which seemed to become more pronounced when Jim Schrag was named executive director-elect,” Stoltzfus said in a press release. “It seemed better for both Jim and myself to resolve that ambiguity by my stepping down at this time.”
Lee Snyder, the moderator of the new MC USA, said Stoltzfus has served as a true “servant leader.”
“George’s devotion to the work of the church, his commitment to transformation and his gift of encouragement have been enormous contributions to the denomination coming into being,” Snyder said.
Walter Hawkins, Love Center Choir Among Gospel Honorees
(RNS) Walter Hawkins and the Love Center Choir have been named among the 10 inductees to be honored Oct. 21 by the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Detroit.
The fourth annual event honors African-American contributors to the gospel music industry.
Hawkins, pastor of Love Center Church in Oakland, Calif., recorded “Love Alive V” in 1998 in honor of his 25th anniversary in the gospel music business.
Other group inductees include the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, a gospel quartet that originated in Piney Wood, Miss., in 1944; the Original Soul Stirrers, which began in Trinity, Texas, in 1929; and the Pilgrim Travelers, which started in Houston in the early 1940s and later moved to Los Angeles.
Other individual inductees include the Rev. Clay Evans, pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Chicago and founder of the African American Religious Connection, an interdenominational network that has promoted the gospel industry among African-American businesses; the late Rev. Ralph Goodpasteur of Chicago, who wrote thousands of songs, including “It’s So Wonderful”; the late Major James Hollis of Gainesville, Fla., who promoted gospel groups across the country; and the late “Brother Joe” May of Macon, Miss., whose famous 1964 recordings included “Willing to Run,” “I’m Gonna Live the Life I Sing About,” and “What Is This?”
Houston-based songwriter V. Michael McKay, who has written for gospel singer Yolanda Adams, and John and Vermya Phillips, gospel radio announcers in Los Angeles, also are being honored.
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Sees Membership Dip, Giving Increase
(RNS) The 1999 membership of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod totaled more than 2.5 million in 1999, a drop of almost 12,000 members from the previous year.
The denomination announced that statistics reported by congregations show a total baptized membership of 2,582,440 in 1999, down 11,964 from the total for 1998.
Congregations also reported a slight decline in average weekly attendance at worship services. The 1999 figure was 155.1, down by 1.5 from 1998.
Financial giving by congregations surpassed the $1 billion mark for the second year in a row. Congregational giving totaled $1,109,927,685, an increase from the $1.05 billion figure from 1998.
The average combined amount of giving per confirmed member in 1999 was $570.41, an increase of $8.61.
John O’Hara, research analyst for the church’s planning and research department, said the higher contributions combined with lower membership was not unusual.
“If you have an aging membership, as in the Missouri Synod, and a smaller membership total, what you have remaining is people who are relatively more committed to the church and are giving more,” O’Hara said.
Northern Nigerian State Rejects Statewide Islamic Law
(RNS) The governor of a state in north Nigeria has decided against statewide implementation of Sharia law, the strict Islamic penal code.
In his announcement Wednesday (Oct. 11), Kaduna state Gov. Mohammed Ahmed Makarfi said he wanted to respect the plurality of faiths within his state.
He told the Agence France Press, “What we want is peace in Kaduna State.”
More than 1,000 people were killed in Kaduna in February when Christians there staged a protest against Muslim demands for Sharia law in the state. Hundreds more have died in fighting since then.
“The state shall not profess any particular religion,” Makarfi said, according to Reuters news agency. “Agreed that Islam is supreme to a Muslim as Christianity is supreme to a Christian, the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is supreme.”
Makarfi said he has submitted proposals to the state assembly that would still retain customary courts but would also allow local authorities in predominantly Muslim parts of the state to use Islamic courts.
In certain Christian enclaves, such as Wusasa and Sabon Gari districts, local authorities could not adopt Sharia law, he said.
Only in predominantly Muslim areas of the state could local governments restrict alcohol sales, Makarfi said, but such restrictions would not be applicable to federal establishments.
“These safeguards … are necessary and expedient in preserving our complexity and accommodating our plurality and differences,” he said, stressing that only police would have the authority to impose laws.
“Let me emphasize here that the government would not condone or allow any individual or organization to impose or implement any law in the state,” Makarfi said. “This is the exclusive preserve of the police.”
Eight states in northern Nigeria (which is mainly Muslim) have adopted Sharia law or have said they plan to do so.
Christians, who comprise some 10 percent of the northern states’ population, and other non-Muslims say they fear some aspects of Islamic law are harsher than the Nigerian penal code.
Penalties under Sharia law include flogging for alcohol consumption and hand amputation for theft. Some states that follow Sharia law have also designated gender-segregated schools and public transportation, and have adopted dress codes that ban women from wearing pants and short skirts.
Sudan President Says Reports of Slavery Untrue
(RNS) In a meeting with Martin Luther King III and other African-American representatives from the United States, the president of Sudan denied slavery existed in his country.
According to a report published Wednesday (Oct. 11) in the privately held newspaper al Rai al-Aam, “President Omar Bashir reaffirmed the commitment of Sudan to laws and rules respecting human rights and he denied the existence of any form of slavery in the land.”
Those who say slavery exists in Sudan are trying to mar the country’s international image, the president said, according to Reuters news agency.
Sudan’s human rights record has come under scrutiny from critics who charge the country’s government with (among other things) slavery and indiscriminate bombing of civilians during the country’s 17-year-old civil war between the Islamic government in the north and rebels in the predominantly African, animist and Christian south.
Pointing out the country’s human rights record and alleged terrorist activities, the United States on Tuesday (Oct. 10) successfully thwarted Sudan’s bid to gain entry into the U.N. Security Council.
Sudan received just 55 votes from U.N. General Assembly members, losing out to Mauritius, which garnered 113 votes.
Quote of the Day: Con artist-turned evangelist Bill Keller
(RNS) “During those train-wreck times is when people are most needy. They need somewhere to turn, someone to pray with. Church isn’t open at 2 o’clock in the morning. We are.”
Con artist-turned-evangelist Bill Keller who has founded Liveprayer.com, a Web site that features about 30 prayer intercessors and a continuous prayer meeting on the Internet. He was quoted in the Thursday (Oct. 12) edition of USA Today.
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