c. 2006 Religion News Service
U.S. Church Leaders Decry `Idolatrous’ War of `Terror’ in Iraq
(RNS) U.S. church leaders attending a World Council of Churches Assembly have issued a written lament for not preventing a U.S war in Iraq that has brought “terror” to the vulnerable while enlisting God in a way that is “nothing short of idolatrous.”
The statement was issued Saturday (Feb. 18) by the assembly’s U.S. conference, representing 34 Protestant and Orthodox denominations that make up the National Council of Churches. Denominations include the Episcopal Church, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the Presbyterian Church (USA).
It was not approved by each of the 34 denominations, but was drafted by a board made up of leaders from those denominations. The statement came in the form of a letter to global church leaders attending the WCC’s ninth assembly, in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The letter, a critique of U.S. foreign and domestic policy that went beyond the war, said U.S. churches had “failed to raise a prophetic voice loud enough and persistent enough” to deter war. The letter said the United States spurned invitations after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to come “into a deeper solidarity with those who suffer daily from violence around the world.”
Instead, the statement said, the U.S. responded “by seeking to reclaim a privileged and secure place in the world, raining down terror on the truly vulnerable among our global neighbors.”
The letter went on to say “nations have been demonized and God has been enlisted in national agendas that are nothing short of idolatrous.”
The Rev. Sharon Watkins, president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), said the letter was not intended to “undermine American troops,” saying those fighting in Iraq “are brave men and women who are our sons and daughters and our neighbors.”
But, she told reporters, she and other U.S. church leaders attending the assembly have “come face to face with brothers and sisters who suffered because of choices our government made, and we are making the statement to acknowledge solidarity with the suffering.”
The Rev. John Thomas, president of United Church of Christ, said the U.S. is “perceived as a dangerous nation” by many attending the assembly. He added not all belonging to WCC-member churches will agree with the statement issued by the U.S. conference.
The assembly of the 348-member world body of predominantly Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican denominations has been meeting since Feb. 14. The meeting concludes Thursday (Feb. 23).
_ Chris Herlinger
Pope Says Violence Over Cartoons Unjustified
VATICAN CITY (RNS) In the aftermath of dozens of deaths over cartoons lampooning the Islamic prophet, Pope Benedict XVI has condemned the killings of Christians in the Muslim world while calling for more respect of religions and their symbols.
In a meeting Monday (Feb. 20) with Morocco’s new ambassador to the Holy See, Ali Achour, Benedict said, “Intolerance and violence are never justifiable responses to offenses because they are not responses that are compatible with the sacred principles of religion.”
In calling for increased respect of religion, the pope said believers should not be “the object of provocations” that offend religious sensibilities.
Muslim uprisings over the weekend left at least 45 people dead, including a Catholic priest. The outbursts followed a former Italian minister’s gesture the previous week of making T-shirts bearing cartoons showing the Prophet Muhammad.
The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano called the Rev. Michael Gajere, killed in Nigeria, “the latest victim of this climate of intolerance,” following the killing of the Rev. Andrea Santoro in Turkey two weeks ago (Feb. 5).
“If we tell our own that they do not have the freedom to offend then we also have to tell the others that they do not have the freedom to destroy us,” Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano told Italian government authorities Monday (Feb. 20).
Clashes between Muslims and police in front of the Italian consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Friday (Feb. 17), left 11 people dead.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi blamed the incident on the gestures of former reforms minister Roberto Calderoli, who also donned the anti-Islam T-shirt on Italian state television last Friday (Feb. 17).
Mr. Calderoli stepped down on Saturday (Feb. 18), bowing to governmental pressure, but defended the T-shirts as a gesture of solidarity to victims of religious fanaticism. He is under investigation by the Rome Tribunal for the vilification of religious confessions.
_ Kristine M. Crane
Israeli Newspaper Criticizes Dalai Lama for Comments on Hamas
JERUSALEM (RNS) A Tuesday (Feb. 21) editorial in Israel’s largest daily newspaper criticized the Dalai Lama for not forcefully urging Hamas to renounce violence and recognize Israel.
Instead, Yedioth Ahronoth said the exiled spiritual leader of the Tibetan people spent a recent visit to Israel urging the country to respect the Hamas victory in recent Palestinian elections. During his visit, the Dalai Lama spent five packed days meeting with religious leaders of various faiths and delivering well-attended seminars.
The Yedioth editorial said it was “a bit surprising” that the Dalai Lama “called on Israel to reconcile itself to Hamas … but failed to call on Hamas to abandon its holy war against Jews and to recognize Israel’s right to exist.”
During an interview with the newspaper, the Tibetan leader said Israel should “respect the fact that Hamas came to power as a result of democratic elections,” and called on Hamas to renounce violence.
However, the Dalai Lama did not specifically tackle Hamas’ mandate to destroy the state of Israel and to continue its campaign of terror against Israelis.
Other Israelis were far more impressed with the Dalai Lama and his message of peace and reconciliation.
On Sunday, Israeli Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yonah Metzger called for the creation of a “religious United Nations” that would be led by the Dalai Lama. The council would be comprised of religious leaders from all over the world.
The idea was broached during Metzger’s meeting with the Dalai Lama as well as key Jewish and Muslim religious leaders.
“Religious leaders will get the opportunity to meet one another and
discover that they have more in common than they may have realized,” Metzger told reporters.
The Dalai Lama urged the religious leaders not to lose heart during the long road ahead.
“Any noble work is bound to have obstacles. We need determination to pursue justice and truth,” the Dalai Lama said.
In recognition of the contribution that religious leaders make to world peace, the Niwano Peace Foundation, a body committed to the realization of peace and the enhancement of culture, announced Tuesday that it will award its 23rd Peace Prize to the organization Rabbis for Human Rights of Israel.
The prize, which is awarded annually to a living individual or an organization that is “making a significant contribution to world peace through promoting, inter-religious cooperation,” is worth nearly $170,000.
Rabbis for Human Rights has drawn criticism from many mainstream Jews, who believe that the organization places more of its emphasis on Palestinian’s rights and less on the rights of Israelis, including victims of Palestinian terror.
The group maintains that it fights injustice in both arenas.
_ Michele Chabin
Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Named National Landmark
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the site of a 1963 bombing that killed four girls, has become a national historic landmark.
U.S. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, speaking from the church’s pulpit, said the downtown church now serves as hope for churches destroyed recently in a string of arsons.
“This is one of the proudest moments in our nation’s history,” Norton said Monday (Feb. 20), after signing the proclamation that gives Sixteenth Street Baptist Church the nation’s highest historic distinction.
Norton was joined by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Donald Murphy, the National Park Service’s deputy director, and the Rev. Arthur Price, the church’s pastor, as she made the designation official.
Relatives of the four girls killed in the bombing attended the ceremony.
The church, founded in 1873 as the First Colored Baptist Church, moved into its current building in 1911 and served as a key gathering place for civil rights rallies in the 1960s. A bomb planted on Sept. 15, 1963, exploded at the church, killing Denise McNair, 11, and 14-year-olds Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins. The girls were in a basement ladies lounge preparing for a Sunday youth program.
School desegregation was in its early stages in 1963 and racial tensions were high. The bombing brought national attention and outrage, helping to bring the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Three former Klansmen were convicted in the bombing.
“We preserve landmarks because history provides insights that help us today,” Norton said.
Norton said the past seems even more closely connected to the present because churches in Alabama are once again in flames.
Arsonists have damaged or destroyed 10 Baptist churches in Bibb, Lamar, Greene, Pickens and Sumter counties since early February.
“Sixteenth Street Baptist Church stands as a symbol of hope for parishioners of the Alabama churches that have been torched in recent weeks,” she said. “Alabama is again witness to violence in its churches, but Alabama will see the day justice is served and congregations rebuild their churches for the glory of God.”
Carolyn McKinstry, a church member who survived the bombing, called the designation “long overdue.”
“We now have the validation of the United States,” McKinstry said.
National status protects the church from being destroyed for any federal project and could make it easier to raise money to maintain and restore the building. A church foundation has raised just under $3.3 million in a $3.8 million restoration campaign.
Fewer than 2,500 historic places have the distinction.
_ Val Walton
Quote of the Day: Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa
(RNS) “Jesus was quite serious when he said that God was our father, that we belonged all to one family, because in this family all, not some, are insiders. Bush, bin Laden, all belong, gay, lesbian, so-called straight _ all belong and are loved, are precious.”
_ Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, addressing the Ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on Monday (Feb. 20).
MO/RB END RNS
