c. 2006 Religion News Service
Jefferts Schori Meets Archbishop of Canterbury
(RNS) Just a week before Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold hands over leadership of the Episcopal Church to Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, the two bishops traveled to England to meet with the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion.
In a 90-minute meeting Friday (Oct.27) with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the American bishops “affirmed the Episcopal Church’s commitment to the shared ministries of the Anglican Communion,” according to the Episcopal News Service.
When she is formally installed on Nov. 4, Jefferts Schori will become the first woman in Anglicanism’s nearly 520-year history to lead a national church. Her election, however, has sparked controversy among the world’s 77 million Anglicans, both because of her gender and because she supports gay rights within the Episcopal Church, which is the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion.
Jefferts Schori said she appreciated the “frank conversation about challenges in the Communion” and “the opportunity to meet together face to face and begin a relationship that we hope will be fruitful and collegial,” according to ENS.
Williams will not attend Jefferts Schori’s installation at the Washington National Cathedral. The Right Rev. John Saxbee, the Anglican bishop of Lincoln, will represent the archbishop.
_ Daniel Burke
Opera Canceled Over Muhammad’s Head Is Back On in Berlin
BERLIN (RNS) The show will go on, even if it includes Mohammad’s severed head.
Scarred by worldwide riots earlier this year over Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad and a global backlash over perceived anti-Muslim statements by the pope in September, the Berlin Opera didn’t hesitate to shut down a potentially controversial opera when police warned them of a potential threat.
The production of Mozart’s “Idomeneo” includes a scene with the severed heads of Jesus, Buddha, Poseidon and Muhammad as an indictment of organized religion.
But Berlin police gave the all-clear on Thursday (Oct. 26), meaning two performances are set to go, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel.
The decision to call off the performances had been met by cries of self-censorship from German officials as high up as Chancellor Angela Merkel. Thomas Flierl, Berlin’s senator for culture, greeted the decision to perform as a chance for Berlin to show its commitment to artistic freedom.
Reaction was mixed from Berlin’s Muslim community. Kenan Kolat, head of the German Turkish Association, greeted the opera’s opening, saying art cannot be influenced by politics or religion. He said he saw no potential for violence.
But in September, when the show was originally cancelled, Ali Kizilkaya, head of the Islamic Council, was quoted in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Southern German Newsaper) as saying “It would be intolerable for me to watch a scene where the prophet’s head was knocked off.”
Still, German police said they thought it was “highly unlikely” that anyone would attack the opera and noted that they could see no “concrete danger.”
_ Niels Sorrells
Archbishop of Canterbury Says No to Restricting Religious Symbols
LONDON (RNS) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has stepped into the furor over religious symbols, saying he opposes any government interference with the rights of a Muslim to wear a veil, a Christian to wear a cross or a Sikh to wear a turban.
In a letter to The Times newspaper in London on Friday (Oct. 27), Williams put himself at odds with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Premier Romano Prodi, both of whom have criticized the wearing of veils by Muslim women as socially divisive.
The archbishop, who heads the world’s 77 million Anglicans, warned that “the ideal of a society where no visible signs of religion would be seen _ no crosses around necks, no sidelocks, turbans or veils _ is a politically dangerous one.”
“It assumes that what comes first in society is the central political `licensing authority,’ which has all the resources it needs to create a workable public morality,” he added.
Jack Straw, a former ranking minister in Tony Blair’s government, triggered the debate in Britain when he said he wanted Muslim women to remove their veils on visits to his office.
Blair backed his one-time foreign secretary, describing the veil as a “mark of separation.” He and Prodi said Muslim women’s wearing the face-covering garment made it difficult for Muslim communities and immigrants to integrate into western society.
But Williams said “the proverbial visitor from Mars might have imagined that the greatest immediate threat to British society was religious war, formented by `faith schools’ and cheered on by thousands of veiled women and the bishops’ benches in the House of Lords.”
A British employment tribunal has ruled against a Muslim teaching assistant who claimed she had been discriminated against when the school where she was employed ordered her to remove her full-face veil, the “niqab,” which covers all but the eyes.
In a separate case, British Airways suspended a Christian employee for openly wearing a small cross on a chain around her neck, saying it violated the company’s dress code, although it conceded Muslim and Sikh workers are allowed to wear headscarves and turbans.
_ Al Webb
Anti-Defamation Director Calls Muslim Dialogue a `Pipe Dream’
ATLANTA (RNS) The national director of the Anti-Defamation League said Friday (Oct. 27) that dialogue with moderate Muslims is a “pipe dream” because “there’s nobody to talk to.”
The comment by the ADL’s Abraham Foxman came after a challenge to Foxman’s keynote address at the ADL’s annual meeting in Atlanta. Foxman spoke about the dangers of Islamic extremism and, in particular, a nuclear Iran _ threats that he said the world has appeased as it did with Nazi Germany.
After the speech, Seymour Reich, president of the Israel Policy Forum, a think tank that urges U.S. involvement in brokering Arab-Israeli peace, pressed Foxman to focus more on finding moderate Muslims with whom to dialogue.
“There’s nobody to talk to yet,” Foxman replied.
The ADL conditions dialogue with Muslim groups on their rejection of terrorism in all cases. But Foxman said he has yet to find one group to accept those terms.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, called the charge “nonsense.”
CAIR has condemned terrorism “every which way from Sunday,” Hooper said in a phone interview, pointing to the group’s condemnation of attacks in Tel Aviv and its special anti-terrorism campaign, “Not in the Name of Islam.”
Hooper said the ADL defines moderation by a pro-Israel litmus test that requires “turning a blind eye toward the brutality of the Israeli occupation” that no mainstream Muslim group can pass.
“To us, that’s not moderation. That’s selling out the cause of human rights and justice in order to be accepted.”
_ Rachel Pomerance
Church Arson Suspect Found Insane in ’89 Slaying
SALEM, Ore. (RNS) A man who allegedly set a Salem church and two parishioners on fire Wednesday (Oct. 25) night was found criminally insane 16 years ago after he murdered his 5-year-old daughter, kidnapped a neighbor and robbed a grocery store.
Sent to the Oregon State Hospital in 1990, Kam Shing Chan, also known as Daniel Chan, 53, was released into the custody of a halfway house in 1995. He was released into a shared apartment in 1996, according to the executive director of the state Psychiatric Security Review Board.
Until Wednesday’s attack at the Peoples Church, he had not violated the conditions of his release or caused any trouble, said Mary Claire Buckley.
“In that period of time Mr. Chan has never returned to the hospital, never been revoked,” Buckley said. “Based on his history (since his release), there was no reason to expect he would engage in this behavior.”
In a 1989 case in Southeast Portland, Chan used a knife to kidnap a woman, the same type of weapon he pulled Wednesday on the cab driver who drove him to the Peoples Church.
That same year, when Chan was 36, Portland police officers found the lifeless body of his 5-year-old daughter in a bathtub at his apartment. He was convicted of murder and found criminally insane in 1990. Mental health experts testified that Chan suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. According to facts submitted in the hearing, Chan believed he was acting on God’s orders when he killed his daughter.
Chan took a cab to the People Church at about 7 p.m. Before paying the $6.60 fare, Chan pulled a 12-inch butcher knife with a white plastic handle from his bag.
“I stopped the car and hadn’t even gotten the car in park yet, and he attacked,” said the cab driver, William E. Smith Jr. “I jerked it away from him … and jumped out of the cab.”
Chan allegedly ran into the church, pouring a liquid from a one-gallon can that was igniting as it hit the pews and floor. A wall of flame 5 feet high erupted, catching two women’s clothing on fire, said Senior Pastor Scott Erickson.
One woman declined treatment. A second woman was treated and released at Salem Hospital for second- and third-degree burns. Smith said he suffered minor cuts to his hands and neck.
Parishioners tackled Chan and held him for police.
Erickson said police continued their investigation at his church, a member of the Assemblies of God. Erickson said he had never seen Chan in the church before, although he said someone told him that Chan had visited a time or two.
Chan was being held Thursday in the Marion County Jail. He was arrested on charges of attempted aggravated murder, attempted assault in the first degree, arson in the first degree and reckless burning, a spokesman for the Marion County district attorney said.
_ Peter Sleeth
Quote of the Day: Rev. Paige Blair, Episcopal Priest and U2 Fan
(RNS) “Bach and Handel were the popular music of their day, and they had trouble getting played in church. The Methodist hymn writers once wrote contemporary music. Are we worshipping Bono? Absolutely not. No more than we worship Martin Luther when we sing `A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”’
_ The Rev. Paige Blair, an Episcopal priest in York Harbor, Maine, who has developed the “U2 Eucharist” that involves using the music of the Irish rock band led by Bono as the hymns during a traditional Episcopal liturgy. She was quoted by USA Today.
KRE/JL END RNSEditors: To obtain a photo of Griswold, Williams and Jefferts Schori to accompany the first item, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.
