c. 2005 Religion News Service
Pope Says Mental Illness Caused by Erosion of Moral Values
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI on Friday (Dec. 16) described mental illness as a worldwide “emergency” caused by global instability and a general erosion of moral values in industrialized countries.
In a message prepared for World Day of the Sick, which will be held in Adelaide, Australia, in February, the pope called mental illness a “real and true social and medical emergency” that he said affected one-fifth of the world’s population.
“At the root of new forms of mental sickness in highly developed countries, experts also recognize the negative influence of the crisis of moral values,” Benedict said.
Moral decline, he said, “gives rise to a sense of isolation, undermining and even eroding the traditional forms of social cohesion.” The breakdown of the family values, in turn, leads to the alienation of mentally unstable people who often become “a burden to the family and to the community.”
Benedict also expressed concern that a year marked by numerous natural disasters and continuing violence had taken a toll on the world’s mental health.
“Aside from causing a remarkable number of deaths, these (events) have generated physiological trauma that is at times hard for many victims to recover from,” he said.
_ Stacy Meichtry
Catholics Decry `South Park’ Episode on Virgin Mary
(RNS) The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has joined mounting criticism of an episode of Comedy Central’s “South Park” that he said “gratuitously” ridiculed the Virgin Mary.
Bishop William Skylstad wrote to Tom Freston, co-president of Comedy Central’s parent company, Viacom, to condemn the program for depicting a statue of the mother of Jesus in a “tasteless and ugly fashion.”
“I hope you will appreciate the gravity of the hurt this program has caused and that you will not permit your networks to be used to give similar offense in the future,” wrote Skylstad, the bishop of Spokane, Wash.
The cartoon depicted a statue of Mary spurting blood in areas of the body generally considered private. The episode goes on to portray an investigation by Pope Benedict XVI, who is sprayed by the statue and makes a crude statement about the bleeding.
The Catholic League, a conservative watchdog group, posted a graphic description of the episode on its Web site and called for public outcry aimed at top Viacom officials.
Catholic League President Bill Donohue demanded an apology, saying the offense was multiplied because the episode was broadcast on the eve and day of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8), a Catholic holy day celebrating the belief that Mary was conceived without original sin.
Donohue insisted the network apologize to Roman Catholics and pledge that the episode be permanently retired and not be distributed on DVD. Tony Fox, a Comedy Central spokesman, defended the show and declined to apologize.
“We stand behind the creators of `South Park’ and their right to satirize anything and anybody they choose to satirize,” Fox said Friday (Dec. 16), adding that the series often pokes fun at religion, including around the holidays.
_ Jason Kane
Jewish Groups Push for Sanctions Over Iranian Holocaust Comments
(RNS) U.S. Jewish groups, irate over comments by Iran’s president that the Nazi Holocaust was a “myth,” are stepping up pressure on the international community to punish Iran for the controversial remarks.
Several Jewish groups have launched a public relations campaign to censure Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who on Wednesday (Dec. 14) called the Holocaust a myth and said Palestinians were suffering because of European guilt over the Holocaust.
“If you committed the crime, then give a part of your own land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to them so that the Jews can establish their country,” Ahmadinejad said, according to The New York Times.
Ahmadinejad was echoing comments he made at an Islamic summit in Mecca earlier this month; in October, he called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” at an Iranian conference titled “The World Without Zionism.”
In response, Jewish groups are mounting public pressure, including a rare move by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that criticized the Bush administration for not referring Iran’s noncompliance on nuclear activities to the U.N. Security Council.
“As the United States and its allies ponder their next move, a radical Iranian regime is steadily marching toward an atomic bomb,” wrote AIPAC President Howard Kohr in the group’s newsletter. AIPAC is also supporting a bill in Congress that condemns Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric.
Both the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee are calling for sanctions against Iran after the U.N. Security Council condemned the remarks.
“The council has not, however, made the leap from such criticism to any actionable measures to address and stymie the threats posed by Iran,” stated Felice Gaer, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Blaustein Institute for Human Rights. “It is essential for the international community to be more active, and soon.”
In a telephone interview from Rome, ADL national director Abraham Foxman said politicians took the initiative to blast Ahmadinejad’s remarks. When Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammed claimed two years ago that Jews control the world, Foxman said, “We had to plead, beg and cajole world leaders” to condemn him. Now, “there is a uniform, clear denunciation and repulsion.”
_ Rachel Pomerance
Polls Show Public Is Ambivalent Over `Merry Christmas’
WASHINGTON (RNS) While the “war on Christmas” rages in the public square, on cable news and even in Congress, most Americans say they privately support the holiday but remain apathetic about the debate, according to new polls.
A national survey released Thursday (Dec. 15) by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that six in 10 Americans prefer to be greeted with “Merry Christmas” in businesses such as Wal-Mart. About a quarter prefer to hear “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings,” while 17 percent had no preference.
But 45 percent of Americans say the greeting “doesn’t matter” when given that specific option, and another 12 percent opt for less religious rhetoric in the public marketplace.
A similar Gallup Poll revealed that 95 percent of Americans celebrate the Christian holiday in some way and 62 percent say the trend toward “Happy Holidays” is a change for the worse.
Conservative groups have pushed hard this year to force retailers and the government to make more explicit references to Christmas and say secular holiday greetings threaten the religious integrity of Christmas.
On Capitol Hill, congressional advocates of Christmas pushed through a resolution on Wednesday urging House support for the use of Christmas symbols and traditions.
“This is political correctness run amok. Santa Claus, Christmas trees, candy canes, Christmas carols, and even the colors red and green _ they have all been placed on the endangered list,” said Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-Va., the sponsor of the resolution.
Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-N.Y., opposed the House resolution, imploring Congress and the American public to be more concerned with substantive issues and stop bickering over symbolism.
“Did something happen when I wasn’t looking? Did somebody mug Santa Claus? Is somebody engaging in elf tossing? What silliness we engage in, protecting symbols,” said Ackerman. “My (Jewish) symbols are not protected here, and I am not asking them to be.”
While most Americans have a preference, the public has less interest in the battle than this season’s media attention would indicate, said John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
“I would say that among the culture conflicts we have in the United States, this has been a relatively minor one,” he said. “The poll shows clearly a lot of people really don’t care one way or the other.”
_ Jason Kane
Quote of the Day: Roman Catholic Spokesman Howard Lincoln
“What this is not is a Galileo trial of 1633. This is based on revised canon law of 1983. No one’s going to be burned at the stake.”
_ The Rev. Howard Lincoln, spokesman for the Diocese of San Bernardino, Calif., on the church’s charges of heresy and schism against the Rev. Ned Reidy, a former priest. Reidy formed his own parish that rejects the authority of the pope, mandatory priestly celibacy and prohibitions against the ordination of women and the blessing of same-sex unions. Lincoln was quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
KRE/PH END RNS
