c. 2004 Religion News Service
Islamic Leaders in Trouble Over Comments
TORONTO (RNS) Pressure is building on a Canadian Muslim leader to resign after comments he made about killing Israeli civilians, and at the same time police are probing a Vancouver Islamic cleric for calling Jews “the brothers of monkeys and swine.”
Mohamed Elmasry, the high-profile president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, is under fire for saying all Israelis above the age of 18 are legitimate targets of attack.
He made the comments Oct. 19 on a Toronto-area television call-in show.
Asked whether “anyone over the age of 18 in Israel is a valid target,” Elmasry replied, “Anybody above 18 is part of the (Israeli) army.”
The show’s moderator, Michael Coren, then asked, “Anyone in Israel, irrespective of gender, over the age of 18 is a valid target?”
“Yes, I would say,” Elmasry responded.
Following public outrage and denunciation of his remarks by other Muslims, as well as Arab and Jewish groups, Elmasry issued a statement saying his comments were “regrettable and misunderstood.”
The statement said Elmasry “did not, does not and will not condone the widely held Palestinian view that any form of armed resistance against civilians that includes suicide bombing constitutes a legitimate military operation against the Israeli occupation, and not a terrorist activity.”
His explanation has been rejected for failing to apologize for the remark, and the Globe and Mail newspaper, among others, has called on Elmasry to resign. Police say they are considering filing hate crimes charges against him.
Meantime, a joint force of Vancouver Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are weighing hate crimes charges against the leader of an east Vancouver mosque who has laced his sermons and lectures with anti-Semitic slurs and has called on Muslims to spread the faith through violence.
When confronted, Sheik Younus Kathrada defended his actions, telling reporters, “I guess it’s no rougher than what is used against us,” adding, “It’s in our Quran.”
Did Ottawa Threaten Church, Bishop Wonders
CALGARY, Alberta (RNS) The Catholic bishop of Calgary said a federal revenue agent implied the church’s charitable status in the city was in peril because of a letter the bishop wrote to his flock saying Prime Minister Paul Martin was not a good Catholic.
Bishop Fred Henry told the Globe and Mail newspaper Oct. 22 that a Canadian Revenue Agency official called him in June during the federal election campaign and asked him to remove his pastoral letter from the Calgary diocesan Web site.
“I said, `Of course not,”’ Henry told the newspaper.
The letter slammed Martin’s “moral incoherence” for saying he was a “devout Catholic” while at the same time not opposing same-sex marriage and abortion.
Henry quoted the official as stating that the letter left the perception that the outspoken bishop was telling Calgary Catholics how to vote. “I said, `I can’t control that perception.”’
Henry said the official told him a report would be filed.
Charitable organizations, including churches, are prohibited from partisan political activity and strictly regulated as to the amount of time they can devote to political lobbying.
Canadian Revenue Agency spokeswoman Colette Gentes-Hawn said no church organization has had its charitable status revoked because of improper political activity.
She would neither confirm nor deny that a call to Bishop Henry was made. But she said: “We speak to charities on an ongoing basis, and sometimes we speak to charities whenever we see there is something that can use correction. We also act on complaints.”
Nova Scotia Pastor Defies Same-Sex Marriage Law
WOLFVILLE, Nova Scotia (RNS) A pastor in Nova Scotia has turned in his provincial license to register marriages in a strongly worded protest against the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia’s acceptance of same-sex marriage, reports ChristianWeek.
Lewis How, rector of the parish of St. George in New Minas, in a letter to the Deputy Registrar General of Vital Statistics, declared: “I will not be a party to this violation of God’s first Institution (marriage); from this court decision forward I do hereby cease to act as the Government’s agent for registration of any marriages I may hereafter solemnize in this Province.”
Justice Heather Robertson of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruled Sept. 24 that the definition of marriage in the province for civil purposes will now be “the lawful union of two persons to the exclusion of all others.”
How called on Christians to defy the new law. “The church must assert itself and reclaim its God-given right to marriage. We must defy the state and its tyranny or we will lose our nation.”
He said he’s been inundated with support for his action from across Canada and United States. He says other clergy will follow his lead.
Courts in six Canadian provinces or territories have ruled to allow same-sex marriages.
Shaolin Monks Scout New Home in Ontario
TORONTO (RNS) China’s famed Shaolin monks are looking to build their first North American temple in the bucolic hills northwest of Toronto.
Six monks from Shaolin monastery, the 1,500-year-old birthplace of kung fu, have begun a seven-week pilot project with Toronto Montessori Schools, teaching mind and body well-being, meditation and martial arts on the Montessori group’s 274-acre forest property in Caledon, Ontario.
The monks and the Montessori board of trustees will decide jointly at the end of the period whether they want the partnership to continue. If they do, the monks will begin planning a temple and training facility on the site.
The Globe and Mail newspaper reports that the monks were led to Ontario from their ancient home at the foot of Song Mountain in China’s central Henan province by reports of the serenity of the region.
The Shaolin Monastery is overrun annually by between 2 million to 3 million tourists, mainly from the West, and is surrounded by tacky souvenir stands.
When the Shaolins’ 20-monk traveling performance troupe performed in Toronto last January, they were introduced to officials of the Montessori school, and were said to be impressed by the peace and beauty of the surroundings as well as by the alignment of Montessori and Buddhist philosophies.
Ontario Man Claims Digital Photos Are `Work of the Devil’
TORONTO (RNS) An Ontario farmer who’s convinced digital photo databases are the work of the devil was in court here this month to challenge a law that denies him a driver’s license without a digitized picture on it.
George Bothwell, a fundamentalist Christian, said his long battle to avoid having his digital picture taken has been worth it, even though it has hurt his organic farming business.
“If this is a requirement to drive, I guess I won’t drive,” Bothwell told reporters outside an Ontario courthouse.
The 58-year-old Bothwell said he believes digital technology will allow central control over people’s behavior, which the Bible warns against.
He believes that biometrics _ the use of physical identifiers such as fingerprints, retina scans and face recognition _ are specifically cited in the book of Revelation as the work of agents of the devil.
Anyone who allows his or her image to be archived by an outside agency bears “the mark of the beast” and will “drink the wine of the wrath of God” as a result, Bothwell contends.
He doesn’t want his picture added to the Ministry of Transportation’s digital database, but the ministry has denied his application.
Ministry lawyers don’t dispute that Bothwell is a sincere Christian. But they do call into question whether his objection is a religious one or based instead on his concerns about privacy issues.
New `Christian’ Movement Open to All
TORONTO (RNS) Describing itself as “Christian in focus,” a new religious community for those “who want spirituality without religion” has begun weekly meetings in downtown Toronto, reports ChristianWeek.
The Community of Inner Spirituality held its first meeting last month in a rented meeting room blocks from the University of Toronto.
The group is promoting itself as open “to all faiths, all denominations, all sexual orientations.” Its Web site states it is not out to convert others to Christianity, but to “facilitate the growth and development of one’s own unique spirituality.”
Led by 63-year-old Larry Marshall, a former United Church minister and for several years pastor of a Toronto area nondenominational, evangelical church, the congregation urges followers to recognize “the Christ” within, while saying it is not important whether Jesus actually existed.
“I am a Christian,” said Marshall. “The historicity of Jesus is an open question. … I don’t discount the historicity (of Jesus); it’s just not a question I’m particularly interested in.”
He said he’s not looking to start a new church. “Who knows? I may move towards that, but I’m not really interested in that sort of thing,” he said, adding that what he is creating is “a community of seekers.”
New Kit Tests for Eight `Jewish’ Diseases
TORONTO (RNS) Tm Bioscience Corp., which manufactures genetic testing kits, this month unveiled a new device that can test for eight diseases found among Ashkenazi Jews.
In a statement, the company said its disease mutation detection test will allow commercial laboratories to consolidate eight different tests, “greatly reducing costs and labor.”
The Tag-It Mutation Detection Kit _ Ashkenazi Jewish Panel (AJP) provides simultaneous detection of 30 different mutations associated with eight diseases: Tay-Sachs, Canavan Disease, Familial Dysautonomia, Gaucher Disease, Bloom Syndrome, Fanconi Anemia, Neimann-Pick and Mucolipidosis Type IV.
The company notes that the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends carrier screening for Tay-Sachs Disease, Canavan Disease and Familial Dysautonomia in the Ashkenazi Jewish population, which finds its roots in Eastern European Jewry.
It says Tay-Sachs mutations are also found in higher frequencies among populations of Irish descent (an estimated 35 million persons in the United States), who can also be tested by the same kit.
Canadian Launch of Global Anti-Poverty Drive
OTTAWA (RNS) The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) has partnered with other Canadian ministries to launch the Canadian effort in the Micah Challenge, a global Christian campaign that has committed to reducing poverty in the world by half by 2015.
At the Oct. 15 launch of the Global Micah Challenge in New York, South African Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said the initiative “represents a significant new movement in global civil society to address the evils of poverty. It is God’s challenge to us, to be his agents of hope in this hurting world.”
The Canadian launch was Oct. 18 in Ottawa.
“This is a unique moment for the Canadian church to step up to the plate and join with our global community in demonstrating God’s love to the world’s most vulnerable and impoverished people,” remarked Geoff Tunnicliffe, the EFC’s director of Global Initiatives.
MO/PH END RNS
