c. 2003 Religion News Service
Lutherans Urge Both Sides to Adopt `Road Map’
(RNS) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America called on both Israelis and Palestinians to abide by the “road map” for peace that would allow both peoples to live in peace and security.
The 5.1 million-member denomination, meeting in Milwaukee for its Churchwide Assembly, voted 958-18 to approve a resolution that also endorsed the First Alexandria Declaration of the Religious Leaders of the Holy Land, which was signed in January 2002.
The resolution voiced support for the road map and the hope that it will “lead to an end to the (Israeli) occupation, terrorist attacks and all other violent forms of conflict, and both a viable, contiguous, independent Palestinian state and a secure Israel.”
The road map, coordinated by the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union, calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state in 2005 and demands concessions from both sides.
The Alexandria Declaration, which was signed by Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious leaders, says in part: “The violence in the Holy Land is an evil which must be opposed by all people of good faith. We seek to live together as neighbors respecting the integrity of each other’s historical and religious inheritance.”
The resolution has the support of the Rev. Munib Younan, bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan (and Palestine).
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Liberian Chaos Hampers Humanitarian Aid Efforts
(RNS) Days after Liberian President Charles Taylor ceded power, humanitarian efforts in the Liberian capital of Monrovia are still being impeded by fuel shortages and security problems, Christian aid organizations said.
As the city struggles to get back on its feet, new attacks by rebel groups have raised fears that insurgents may attempt to take power following Taylor’s exile even as Liberia’s main rebel group, Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy, signed a peace accord promising to pull back completely from the capital by noon Thursday, giving control to peacekeepers.
“Even as peacekeepers are being deployed, days and weeks of battle between rebel forces and government over control of Monrovia … has left tens of thousands of people destitute,” the Rev. Franklin Ishida, director of international communication for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Division for Global Mission, said in a statement.
Earlier this month, ELCA members contributed $50,000 of the church’s international relief fund to support relief efforts in Liberia.
Baptist World Aid has also renewed its appeal for aid in Liberia after sending $10,000 for food aid and ministry to people who sought shelter at the Baptist Seminary in Monrovia.
The struggle to distribute food and medical supplies to thousands of displaced Monrovians has been complicated by widespread looting and destruction. Several hospitals have been nearly destroyed, raising fears that the city’s primary source of care for people suffering from malnutrition and cholera will be rendered useless.
Inflation has made scarce food and fuel prohibitively expensive.
“Some food can be found in the more informal markets but at prices that have shot up over the last month,” Charles Pitchford, the Liberian representative of Lutheran World Federation, said in a statement. “Gas and fuel are in extremely short supply, with the price of fuel having tripled.”
Food aid has been cut off since roughly July 19, when Liberia’s main rebel group took control of Monrovia’s port. Warehouses have been ransacked, robbing the city’s civilians and refugees of 10,000 tons of aid from the U.N. World Food Program, the Associated Press reported.
– Alexandra Alter
Trial of Baptist Youth Pastor Accused of Smuggling Begins in Moscow
MOSCOW (RNS) An American Baptist youth pastor facing up to five years behind bars on smuggling charges went on trial here Wednesday (Aug. 13) as scores of supporters across North America simultaneously fasted and prayed for his release.
Andrew Okhotin, a student at Harvard Divinity School, is accused of trying to bring $48,000 in cash through Moscow’s main international airport without declaring it to customs officials. Okhotin says he duly filled out a customs declaration, which customs inspectors ignored, choosing instead to demand bribes of first $10,000 and then $5,000.
At Wednesday’s sedate four-hour proceeding in a northern Moscow court, two customs inspectors and an airport porter gave sometimes conflicting accounts of how Okhotin deliberately chose the green, “nothing-to-declare” corridor and what ensued in the 12 hours that Okhotin was held in the airport. At times with mild indignation, the soft-spoken Okhotin contradicted their account as his relatives and two Western human rights monitors looked on.
Although the Russian media and Russian Baptists _ for whom the money was intended _ have kept nearly silent on Okhotin’s case, evangelical Christians in the United States have organized letter-writing campaigns, prayer vigils and fasts, and have appealed to U.S. lawmakers and the White House for help.
“I was up all night praying,” said Sue Clark in a telephone interview Wednesday from her Chicago home. “My sister from Canada just sent an e-mail to say that she was praying at midnight her time when the trial started. Everyone is very concerned but I think we do trust the Lord. … I really feel that our help is in the Lord, not with man.”
Aside from the California-based Okhotin prayer network of which Clark is a member, she said about 60 Baptists at the Westfield, Mass., church where Okhotin is a youth pastor also fasted and prayed as the trial began in Moscow.
The case seems to resonate deeply and poignantly in evangelical Christian circles because Okhotin’s predicament brings back memories of Soviet-era religious repression, especially of Christians who were not members of state-approved denominations.
Okhotin’s father was a Soviet-era pastor in an underground Baptist church who was arrested for his faith. The family migrated to the United States in 1989. Okhotin’s mother, Nadezhda Okhotina, who was present Wednesday, said the last time she had been in a Russian courtroom was in 1984 when her husband was convicted of anti-Soviet agitation for his religious work and sentenced to 21/2 years in prison.
_ Frank Brown
Six Anglican Missionaries Killed in the Solomons
(RNS) Six Anglican missionaries who were taken hostage four months ago in the Solomon Islands by warlord Harold Keke have been killed, a senior member of their Anglican order said Monday (Aug. 11).
“Yesterday our worst fears were confirmed,” Richard Carter, chaplain to the Melanesian Brotherhood, said in an e-mail message to supporters.
The deaths are the first known since an Australian lead force of 2,225 police and troops arrived to try to restore order in July.
The six members of the brotherhood set off from Honiara, tha capital of the Solomon Islands, last April to look for another member of the order, Brother Nathaniel Sado, who is now thought to have been murdered.
Keke was thought to have seized the six men to use as human shields in case the peacekeepers attacked his forces. It is believed they were later killed by one of the warlord’s lieutenants.
“These were six innocent brothers who went out in faith and love in search of their brother,” Carter said. “It seems too much to bear that they should have been murdered in cold blood.”
The Melanesian Brotherhood is an order of evangelists founded by a Solomon Islander in 1925 that ministers mostly in Melanesia and Australia. Another two members and five novices of the order were taken hostage by Keke last June but later released, Carter said.
Australian officials said Wednesday (Aug. 12) that Keke surrendered to Australian-led peacekeepers trying to end a civil war in the South Pacific islands, according to the Associated Press.
Hundreds have been killed since rival militias from Guadalcanal and Malaita islands began fighting in 1998.
A full investigations of Keke’s crimes, including the murder of 50 people last year, is now under way, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Parliament, the Associated Press reported.
_ Alexandra Alter
Religious Orders Group Installs New President
(RNS) A Pennsylvania priest was installed Saturday (Aug. 9) as the new president of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, an umbrella group for Catholic male religious orders.
The Rev. Ronald Witherup, the U.S. leader for the Society of St. Sulpice, will serve a two-year term as president. He succeeds the Rev. Canice Connors, a member of the Conventual Franciscans order.
The Silver Spring, Md.-based group provides leadership for the 20,000 U.S. priests who belong to religious orders, such as the Franciscans, Jesuits and Dominicans.
Witherup was ordained as a priest in the Diocese of Erie in 1976 and joined the Society of St. Sulpice in 1981. The order, with about 350 members, runs seminaries in Baltimore, San Antonio, San Francisco, Washington and Zambia.
During the group’s four-day meeting in Louisville, Ky., the priests passed a resolution urging the United States to normalize relations with Cuba, as well as a statement urging dialogue on the impact on Latin Americans from the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement.
Delegates also heard from Illinois Appellate Justice Anne Burke, interim chairman of the church’s National Review Board on sex abuse policies, and Kathleen McChesney, who directs the bishops’ office on child protection. The orders, like priests who work for dioceses, are subject to new church policies on sex abuse.
The priests held a vigil with a Louisville-based victims group, The Linkup, which was called a “graced moment” by CMSM Executive Director Ted Keating.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Family Research Council Names New President
(RNS) Tony Perkins, a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, has been named the new president of the Family Research Council, the organization announced Wednesday (Aug. 13).
Perkins, 40, who is serving the final year of his second legislative term, will begin his work with the council on Sept. 1. He succeeds Ken Connor, who resigned from the conservative Christian organization on July 14 after three years of service.
Perkins was the author of the nation’s first covenant marriage law, which encourages premarital counseling and works to reduce divorce. He also authored legislation on the regulation of abortion clinics and on increasing the role of faith-based organizations with the Louisiana Department of Corrections.
“The very bedrock of our society and nation, the institution of marriage, is under attack,” said James Dobson, a board member of the council and chairman of the Colorado-based Focus on the Family ministry.
“I can’t think of anyone more prepared to lead FRC and to promote and defend the sanctity of marriage and the family at this time than Tony Perkins.”
Perkins, a former police officer and Marine Corps veteran, founded the Louisiana Family Forum in 1998. That group promotes abstinence education, affirms marriage, and takes stands against abortion and pornography.
In a statement, Perkins said he was honored to take the lead of the public policy organization.
“Rarely is there a piece of legislation passed or a court ruling handed down that doesn’t affect the family,” he said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: David Paine, president of One Day’s Pay
(RNS) “Americans want to pay special tribute on that day, and we cannot think of a better expression than to rekindle and sustain the spirit of generosity, humanity and concern that turned strangers into neighbors and unified our entire nation.”
_ David Paine, president of One Day’s Pay, a coalition of organizations that has proposed making Sept. 11 an annual national day of voluntary service. He was quoted by The Washington Post.
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