c. 2004 Religion News Service

National Council of Churches Appeals for Post-Election Unity

(RNS) The National Council of Churches appealed for post-election national unity, bemoaning the “painful spectacle of Christians demonizing one another.”

The NCC, which represents 36 mainline Protestant and Orthodox churches, said both conservatives and liberals need to abandon “caricatures” of each other after an election in which religion played an unprecedented and often controversial role.

“We do not view the Christian community in our country as being divided into red and blue,” said a statement adopted during the NCC’s General Assembly meeting in St. Louis. “Our view is that we are a mosaic of God’s grace and presence.”

But the NCC, which tried to mobilize progressive people of faith in the election, stressed that the “values” that were decisive for one in five voters should include “the work of eliminating poverty, preserving the environment, and promoting peace.”

In other business, the Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the NCC, said the council and its humanitarian arm, Church World Service, are both “robustly healthy” after teetering on the brink of bankruptcy four years ago.

Delegates also approved a “message of pastoral concern” on the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. “As we continue our deep concern for peace between Palestinians and Israelis, we express our grief for all the children _ Christian, Muslim and Jewish _ who prematurely die daily in the context of continuing grief,” delegates said.

Delegates also approved a comprehensive statement on children, promising to work for safe schools, quality affordable health care, arts education in schools and anti-poverty programs that combat hunger.

“Fear and uncertainty permeate many of these young lives,” the statement said. “Violence, sex and disillusionment can confront them each time they turn on the TV, read a newspaper, walk down the street or go to school. For many, poverty, neglect, inadequate health care, lack of quality child care and education are an all too cruel reality.”

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Pope Warns Against Using Painkillers to End Life

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Reiterating the Catholic Church’s rejection of euthanasia, Pope John Paul II warned medical practitioners Friday (Nov.12) against administering large doses of painkillers in order to hasten death.

The pope addressed participants in an International Conference on Palliative Care, organized by the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers. In attendance were medical experts, theologians and speakers on the views of Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and New Age thought.

John Paul endorsed palliative care, which “aims at soothing, especially in terminal patients, a vast range of physical, psychic and mental symptoms of suffering.”

But, he said, “while a patient who has need must not be made to lack relief from analgesics, their administration must be effectively proportionate to the intensity and the care of pain, avoiding every form of euthanasia, which would come from administrating large does of analgesics with the aim of provoking death.”

The line between administering pain relief and ending life can often be a fine one. Doctors at Catholic hospitals have long debated whether giving large doses of morphine to a terminally ill patient is morally acceptable if the doctor realizes the morphine may prematurely end the patient’s life. According to the pope’s analysis, the ethical equation would hinge on intent, whether a doctor’s aim was to relieve pain or end life.

John Paul, who is 84 years old and increasingly debilitated by Parkinson’s disease, asserted that “suffering, age, unconsciousness and the imminence of death do not diminish the intrinsic dignity of the person.”

Euthanasia is unacceptable, he said, but it is “ethically correct” not to undertake or to suspend treatment that would be “ineffective or clearly disproportionate to the ends of sustaining life or the recovery of health.”

The pope said that refusing “persistent therapy” that will not help the patient “is an expression of respect that is owed the patient at every moment.”

_ Peggy Polk

Bob Jones Calls Bush Electoral Victory A Divine Reprieve From Paganism

(RNS) The president of Bob Jones University, a conservative Christian school in South Carolina, has written President Bush to say his re-election shows God has given the nation “a reprieve from the agenda of paganism.”

Bob Jones III read his Nov. 3 letter to students at a chapel service on the Greenville, S.C., campus and it was posted on the school’s Web site.

“In your re-election, God has graciously granted America _ though she doesn’t deserve it _ a reprieve from the agenda of paganism,” he said.

Jones encouraged the president to move on with his conservative agenda, suggesting Bush should remove staffers who don’t agree with his biblical values.

“You owe the liberals nothing,” he said. “They despise you because they despise your Christ.”

Jones added that he expects those values to contribute to policy decisions made in the coming four years on matters such as sexuality, sanctity of life and freedom of speech.

“You have four years _ a brief time only _ to leave an imprint for righteousness upon this nation that brings with it the blessings of Almighty God,” he said.

President Bush was criticized for visiting the school during his campaign for president in 2000. At the time, the school had a ban on interracial dating, which it has since dropped, and was known for its belief that the pope is the Antichrist.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Conservative Diocese Distances Itself From Episcopal Church

(RNS) The Episcopal diocese of Pittsburgh has moved to “distance” itself from its liberal national denomination by approving a measure that asserts local control over certain theological controversies.

The measure, which came in the form of an amendment to the diocesan constitution, will allow the conservative diocese to navigate between the concerns of parishioners and loyalty to the Episcopal Church, diocesan leaders said.

The amendment states “local determination will prevail” when diocesan leaders determine the national church has made decisions it deems “contrary to the historic faith and order of the Anglican Communion.”

The amendment, passed at a Nov. 5 convention, was first proposed in 2003, when some clergy and lay people in Pittsburgh were angered by national leaders’ consecration of a gay bishop and refusal to outlaw blessings for same-sex unions.

“This amendment gives legal force to what we said we’d do,” said the Rev. Robert W. Duncan Jr., bishop of the diocese.

The action allows the diocese to placate local parishes, several of which said that they were considering a split from the Episcopal Church, while maintaining diocesan ties to the national body, said Mary Maggard Hays, canon missioner for the diocese.

_ Daniel Burke

Quote of the Day: Former President Bill Clinton

(RNS) “I think the current divisions are partly the fault of the people in my party for not engaging the Christian evangelical community in a serious discussion of what it would take to promote a real culture of life.”

_ Former President Bill Clinton, speaking Tuesday (Nov. 9) at Hamilton College in upstate New York about the turnout of evangelical Christians who helped President Bush win re-election. He was quoted by the Associated Press.

MO/JL END