c. 2006 Religion News Service
Denmark Newspaper Apologizes for Cartoons of Prophet Muhammad
(RNS) Under intense international pressure, Denmark’s biggest newspaper has apologized to Muslims for the “unintentional humiliation” caused by cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Jyllands-Posten Editor Casten Juste, who had earlier dismissed calls to apologize _ maintaining that the cartoons were never intended to humiliate Muslims _ yielded under pressure late Monday (Jan. 30).
In a statement posted on his paper’s Web site, Juste said the apology was made to Muslims who felt humiliated by the drawings but not for the publication of the 12 cartoons, because “no law was broken.”
The paper had previously said it published the cartoons in September to test whether the fear of Islamic radicals has limited press freedom.
One of the drawings depicted Muhammad wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse. But the reaction was about more than just the message on terrorism. Islam strictly forbids any images of its prophet, arguing they could lead to idolatry.
Leaders in Saudi Arabia called for a boycott of Danish products after they criticized the Danish government’s inaction regarding the drawings.
Grundfos, the world’s biggest manufacturer of pumps, and Arla Foods, a Swedish-Danish dairy concern, were among major businesses that clamored for an apology to end the boycott.
According to the Swedish daily Dagen Nyheter, Arla Foods was losing money after its products were taken off shelves in Saudi Arabia and had to postpone plans to open a new factory in the Islamic country.
“It took us 40 years to build up our operations in the Middle East and this is disappearing in just five days,” the company’s foreign operations chief, Finn Hansen, told Dagen Nyheter.
With the boycott spreading to other Muslim countries, including Iraq, Arla brought ads in Saudi papers on Monday to explain its side of the story.
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Ramussen has issued a statement trying to distance himself from the drawings while contending freedom of the press must be upheld. “I cannot make a call and decide what should be published in the Danish media,” he told Jyllands-Posten.
_ Simon Reeves
Mormon Church President, 95, Treated for Cancer in Intestine
(RNS) Gordon B. Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is said to be resting comfortably, after undergoing treatment for a cancerous condition, a church spokeswoman announced Wednesday (Jan. 25).
Hinckley, 95, had a routine medical screening, during which doctors found a “cancerous growth in his large intestine,” the church announced in a statement issued Tuesday (Jan. 24).
“The diseased portion of the intestine was successfully removed through a laparoscopic procedure.”
Church officials said they hoped Hinckley would be back to work soon.
“President Hinckley is resting comfortably,” church spokeswoman Kim Farah added in Wednesday’s statement. “As announced last evening, we expect that he will recover rapidly and resume his normal duties soon.”
She declined to disclose further details about his medical condition.
Hinckley, who was named president of the church in 1995, took part in festivities marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith, the founder of the 12-million-member faith group, in December. In 2004, he was named by President Bush as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
_ Adelle M. Banks
UCC, Conservative Minority Disagree on Impact of Gay Marriage Vote
(RNS) Nearly six months after the United Church of Christ voted to support same-sex civil marriages, the negative fallout predicted by the denomination’s conservative minority may not be as pronounced as originally feared.
According to statistics released by the U.C.C., only 49 churches have voted to disaffiliate since the vote last July _ less than 1 percent of the UCC’s 5,725 registered churches.
The statistics also cite a “resurgence of interest” in the U.C.C., with 23 new congregations joining the denomination, and 42 more expressing what the UCC called “a firm interest” in joining.
At the same time, however, conservative groups cited different numbers, claiming the official UCC numbers are low due to the bureaucratic process involved in leaving the denomination.
“Churches are not known for their organizational efficiency,” said the Rev. Robert Thompson, president of the board of directors of Faithful and Welcoming Churches of the UCC, which dissented with the “marriage equality” resolution.
Thompson said he has spoken with leaders of congregations who have voted to disaffiliate, but who have not yet completed this process. Thompson cited at least 75 “lost churches,” which he tallied through direct correspondence with pastors and congregants across the country. He added that he feels that number is probably low.
The Rev. David Runnion-Bareford of the independent and conservative minority Biblical Witness Fellowship, agreed. By the time the paperwork has been filed in two to three years, he believes the number will have grown to somewhere between 200-500 disaffiliated congregations.
The UCC has long supported gay parishioners and gay rights; in 1972, it was the first U.S. church to ordain an openly gay man as pastor. The resolution passed by the UCC’s General Synod supported civil marriage rights for gay couples, and many UCC churches bless same-sex unions.
Since the 1960s, the total number of UCC churches nationwide has dropped from about 7,000 to just under 5,700. “We grieve the loss of any and every congregation that decides to leave,” said the Rev. John H. Thomas, the U.C.C.’s general minister president. “Not only because of the loss of members, but also for the loss of shared history, ministry and fellowship.”
_ Nate Herpich
Episcopal Parish Proposes Sainthood for Thurgood Marshall
WASHINGTON (RNS) Fellow parishioners of the late Supreme Court Justice and civil rights activist Thurgood Marshall are asking that Marshall be considered a saint in the Episcopal Church.
His candidacy is being advanced by, among others, Cissy Marshall, Thurgood Marshall’s wife, and the Rev. William Pregnall of St. Augustine’s Church in Washington.
If the grass-roots proposal is approved _ a process that takes years _ Marshall will be added to the church’s “Book of Lesser Feasts and Fasts,” one of three primary worship texts of the Episcopal Church.
“I personally know of no other American of the 20th century so deserving to be honored by the church,” said the Rev. Thomas Smith, retired rector of St. Augustine’s. “His life was a splendid witness to what the Holy Spirit can summon in one human life.”
Marshall began attending St. Augustine’s in 1965, when he came to Washington to serve as the first black U.S. solicitor general, under President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson nominated Marshall as the first black Supreme Court Justice in 1967.
Once approved by a diocese, the resolution must then be passed by two consecutive meetings of the national church’s General Convention, held every three years. The next convention is June 18.
If approved, Marshall’s feast day would be celebrated on May 17, commemorating his 1954 victory against school segregation in Brown vs. Board of Education, a case he argued as an attorney before the Supreme Court. If the process is completed successfully, his feast day will be celebrated in May 2010, following the national convention in June 2009.
The “Book of Lesser Feasts and Fasts” contains information about commemorations on the official church calendar. Additions to the book are usually the result of grass-roots advocacy rather than decisions from church leadership.
“Our process honors the fact that saintliness is probably best discerned by the people who were closest” to the person in question rather than by the performance of posthumous miracles, said Jim Naughton, a spokesman for the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. “If you ask me, Brown vs. Board of Education is pretty miraculous.”
“I personally know of no other American of the 20th century so deserving to be honored by the church,” Smith said. “His life was a splendid witness to what the Holy Spirit can summon in one human life.”
_ Anne Pessala
Conservative Christians in Canada Heartened by Election
TORONTO (RNS) Conservative Christians in Canada are expressing cautious optimism about the Monday (Jan. 23) federal election of political leaders that could be receptive to their issues.
Led by Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper, the Conservative Party won a minority government with 124 seats in the 308-seat House of Commons, the lower house of Canada’s parliament.
The Liberals, who have governed since 1993, tallied 103 seats, the separatist Bloc Quebecois 51 and the left-leaning New Democratic Party 29. There is one independent.
Because the Conservatives fell short of the 155 seats required for a majority, Harper, 46, will need the help of the other parties to pass legislation.
Conservative Christians clashed often with the Liberals, who have been led by Paul Martin since 2003. Under his leadership, the government legalized same-sex marriage and considered other social measures that upset evangelicals.
“We now have a government that will be more sympathetic to a number of the issues of concern to evangelicals,” Bruce Clemenger, president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, told Baptist Press. “But for Canadians, this was a cautious vote for change.”
In a statement, the fellowship said it “will continue to work across party lines and make a positive contribution to public policy with this new parliament … (and) will continue to promote principles that we believe will strengthen the social fabric of Canada and promote shalom.”
Evangelicals are “optimistic that we’re not going to see more of the same,” said Glenn Penner of Voice of the Martyrs Canada.
But because of the minority government, neither are they going to see dramatic moves on same-sex marriage or abortion, Penner added.
On the other hand, some Christians were buoyed by Harper’s election-night departure from the country’s long-held status quo when he said “God bless Canada” in his victory speech.
Roman Catholic Bishop Fred Henry of the Calgary diocese, known for his conservative views, said he was “greatly encouraged by (Harper’s) brief statement of prayer.”
In a statement published widely before the election, Harper said government “must respect (religious) convictions and not attempt to interfere in the free public expression of religious belief.”
_ Ron Csillag
Orthodox Jews Allowed Symbolic Boundary to Do More Sabbath Tasks
TENAFLY, N.J. (RNS) A six-year legal dispute over a symbolic religious zone has ended, allowing a group of Orthodox Jews to maintain and expand its eruv, a boundary that increases the number of tasks one can do on the Sabbath.
In a 5-0 vote Tuesday (Jan. 24), with one member abstaining, the Tenafly borough council also agreed to pay $325,000 in legal fees to the Tenafly Eruv Association, which sued the borough in 2000 for banning the symbolic area.
The eruv, an area bounded by telephone wires and utility poles marked with plastic strips called “lechis,” allows observant Orthodox Jews to do physical tasks otherwise banned outside the home on the Sabbath, such as pushing a baby stroller and carrying objects such as keys.
“It’s a resolution to a long drawn-out affair, and everyone is happy,” said Rabbi Jeffrey Fox of the Kesher Synagogue of Englewood, which draws congregants from Tenafly, including a founding member of the Eruv Association, Chaim Book.
The settlement requires the eruv association to advise the borough if it wants to expand the zone, which currently encompasses about one-third of the 4.4-square-mile borough. The borough’s insurance will cover about one-third of the settlement costs, officials said.
In 2000, the council voted to ban the eruv, citing an ordinance against signs or objects on telephone poles. The vote came amid residents’ complaints that the government would be favoring one religious group if it allowed the symbolic enclosure.
The group of Orthodox Jews had obtained permission for the eruv from Bergen County and two utility companies.
A federal judge agreed with the borough but the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia overturned that decision, saying that the eruv, which remained intact pending the legal proceedings, is a religious accommodation under the First Amendment.
Tenafly Mayor Peter Rustin said Tuesday’s vote closed an ugly chapter for the town.
“This was something that had a life of its own and never should have happened. I’m happy to put this behind us,” the mayor said.
_ Ana M. Alaya
Giuliani Praises Evangelical Pastors for `Saving People’
(RNS) In the category of politics creating strange bedfellows, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told evangelical pastors that he appreciates their efforts at “saving people … and bringing them to Jesus.”
Giuliani, a Roman Catholic who supports gay rights and abortion rights, was a surprise keynote speaker Wednesday (Jan. 25) at a gathering of nearly 2,000 evangelical pastors and ministry leaders in Orlando, Fla.
The “Billion Soul” Pastors’ Conference was sponsored by the Global Pastors’ Network, which has a campaign under way “to win 1 billion people to Christ worldwide over the next 10 years.”
Giuliani spoke about the lessons of leadership he learned as New York’s mayor during the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
According to a report by the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,” Giuliani told the pastors: “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you are doing, and if any of these lessons help at all in saving people and helping people and bringing them to Jesus and bringing them to God, you’ve done me a great favor.”
Giuliani is considered a strong possible contender for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, but many religious conservatives are concerned about his moderate political views, particularly on issues such as abortion.
Giuliani used several religious references throughout his address. He said his belief in God and in freedom helped get him through the Sept. 11 crisis. “That is the story of the Old Testament,” he said. “Strong beliefs guide countries _ and churches.”
“As a Christian, you have more from which to draw,” he said, adding, that he knew many of the people who died on Sept. 11 “came from religious homes where they were taught there is no greater principle than to lay down your life for another.”
The evangelicals gave Giuliani a standing ovation and promised to pray for him. When asked whether he intends to run for president, Giuliani replied, “Only God knows.”
The “Billion Soul” conference brought together pastors and ministry executives from across the U.S. and 20 countries around the world. Other speakers included S. Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, and international evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, who generated controversy in 2002 for claiming that a man in Nigeria was miraculously raised from the dead during one of his crusades.
_ Kim Lawton, Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly
Poll: Americans Worried About Threat of Poverty
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Nearly two-thirds of Americans fear that poverty will increase, while almost the same proportion worry they will find themselves among the lowest economic class, according to a new poll by Catholic bishops.
Almost five months after the abject poverty of New Orleans was televised across the world in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Washington-based Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) released a poll tracking people’s perception of the poor.
“The numbers are staggering,” said Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., the bishops’ CCHD chairman. “Right now, 37 million men, women and children are living below the poverty line. That’s one out of every eight Americans.”
Before Katrina, New Orleans had a child poverty rate at more than 38 percent, one of the highest in the country.
Hubbard released the survey in New Orleans on Jan. 19 as part of announcing an additional $500,000 in grants awarded to groups helping poor victims of hurricanes Katrina and Rita rebuild their lives.
Before Katrina hit, the committee had given $9 million to 315 projects across the nation working to help the poor. After Katrina, the committee gave out $150,000 to groups in the hardest-hit areas.
The 20 post-hurricane grants range from $10,000 to $30,000 each, and collectively cover three states and 11 Catholic dioceses. The Archdiocese of New Orleans will receive $30,000 for its community centers in the most devastated parishes.
The same survey found that 75 percent of Americans think the disaster should become a tool for educating the public about poverty, while 23 percent said too much attention already has been paid to the situation.
The poll was conducted among 1,131 members of the general adult population in December and is the sixth “Poverty Pulse” survey taken since 2000.
While Hubbard said his group was not surprised at the vast poverty encapsulated in New Orleans, the poll showed that 41 percent of Americans were taken aback at the stories depicting poverty here. Fifty-nine percent said they were not surprised.
The lack of jobs that pay “a living wage” and a lack of education were the top reasons for poverty, the poll found. Twelve percent attributed poverty to “laziness.”
_ Gwen Filosa
John Paul II’s Road to Sainthood Reaches Marker With `Miracle’ Healing
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The leading advocate for John Paul II’s sainthood has identified the mysterious recovery of a French nun from Parkinson’s disease as the potential miracle that could advance the late pope’s candidacy.
In an interview with Italian state radio on Sunday (Jan. 29), Monsignor Slawomir Oder, the “postulator” or lead advocate of John Paul’s cause, said he has focused his investigation on the case of a French nun who “had been cured of a sickness, a sickness that became very visible in the final phase of John Paul’s life.”
In his final years, John Paul struggled publicly with a debilitating case of Parkinson’s that caused him to lose muscular control and slur his speech.
Oder declined to name the nun, but identified her as a health care worker in a maternity ward at a French hospital.
Oder described the nun as someone “who had dedicated her life to the care of newborns” and prayed to John Paul to intercede “in a situation that had rendered her unable to perform” her job.
“She was healed from the illness,” he said.
John Paul has been on the fast track to sainthood ever since May when Pope Benedict XVI lifted the five-year waiting period that traditionally must pass before the Vatican reviews a candidate.
John Paul needs one miracle to reach beatification, the last step before sainthood, and a second miracle to reach canonization _ the process by which the Vatican “declares” someone a saint. Inexplicable medical healings are the most common form of modern miracles accepted by the Vatican.
Oder, who has been officially guiding the sainthood campaign since it formally began in late June, indicated that the French nun’s case was chosen from a wide field of testimony that the Vatican has received by e-mail.
The Diocese of Rome has launched a Web site where faithful can deposit testimony and prayer for John Paul’s sainthood at http://www.vicariatusurbis.org/Beatificazione.
_ Stacy Meichtry
German Lawyer Denied Passport to Iran Conference Questioning Holocaust
(RNS) German officials have suspended a lawyer’s passport to prevent him from traveling to Iran to attend a proposed conference questioning whether the Holocaust ever happened.
Horst Mahler is a former attorney for the National Democratic Party of Germany, a fringe party that political analysts accuse of having neo-Nazi tendencies. He surrendered his passport Saturday (Jan. 28), according to Radio Berlin-Brandenburg.
The decision was made by the German state of Brandenburg. Interior Minister Eike Lancelle told the Berliner Zeitung that Mahler was “a fanatic anti-Semite.”
German passport laws allow passports to be revoked if an individual’s travel could damage national security or hurt the nation’s vital interests. In this case, Brandenburg authorities say they hope to keep Mahler from damaging Germany’s reputation abroad.
No date has been set for the conference in Tehran, but German authorities say it would strengthen an international network of Holocaust revisionists and that, given recent remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacking Israel, Mahler’s presence would have been especially explosive.
A Berlin court has already sentenced Mahler to nine months incarceration for making inciting statements. The sentence, rendered in a verdict last year, has yet to start. An earlier court decision stripped Mahler of his license to practice law, also for making inciting statements. Mahler was also blocked in July from traveling to Poland to lecture about the “Lies of Auschwitz.”
The latest decision appeared to have general public support in Germany.
_ Niels Sorrells
Coach’s Wife and Daughter Choose Medical Relief to Africa Over Super Bowl
(RNS) The wife and daughter of Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Mike Holmgren have decided to skip Super Bowl XL in Detroit for something they consider more important _ a faith-based humanitarian trip to Africa.
Kathy Holmgren and daughter Calla are scheduled to leave Thursday (Feb. 2) on a 17-day medical training mission with Northwest Medical Teams _ a relief group based in Portland, Ore. _ to the northwest region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. A nurse and obstetrician, respectively, the two will join six other physicians with experience as missionaries.
During the three days it takes to reach the region, the team will travel over marginal roads that narrow to near non-existence, wade through streams and cross rough-hewn and often improvised bridges.
While much of the world tunes into the Super Bowl, the team will begin training the staff of a hospital operated by the Evangelical Covenant Church, the denomination to which the Holmgrens belong.
The hospital is the only facility for 300,000 people in the region, and the staff often must use rudimentary equipment to treat 2,500 patients a month. More than 3.9 million Congolese have died since 1998, most from preventable disease, according to the British medical journal The Lancet.
Kathy Holmgren spent 10 months in the region during 1970 but gave up her dream of being a Covenant medical missionary to marry. Last October, Mike Holmgren’s birthday present to his wife was the trip back to the country she loves.
The family did not consider the two women might miss the Super Bowl.
“I don’t think we paid much attention to the date,” Kathy said. “We are so superstitious that we don’t think or plan for it ahead of time.
“As the possibility of our being in the game became a reality, we decided to continue with our plans. The actual game makes me so nervous, so I don’t watch anyway, and we feel like this trip is important.”
Still, Kathy Holmgren will be waiting for a phone call on Sunday. The group will carry a satellite phone so they can learn who wins the game.
Kathy Holmgren and all four of her daughters graduated from North Park University in Chicago, which is operated by the denomination. The family largely funded the school’s $4 million Holmgren Athletic Complex, where teams play football, soccer, baseball and softball.
_ Stan Friedman
Quote of the Week: Monsignor Isidore Rozycki, Catholic priest
(RNS)“I look it as a very fun place. … You forget about the tensions and stress of daily life and get an opportunity to laugh with friends. And it’s great food.”
_ Monsignor Isidore Rozycki, a Catholic priest, explaining why he blessed a new Hooters restaurant in Waco, Texas, despite concerns by 60 local ministers about waitresses who wear tight tops and short skirts. He was quoted in The Waco Herald-Tribune.
MO/JL END RNS
