c. 2008 Religion News Service
Conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr. dies at 82
(RNS) Conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr. died Wednesday (Feb. 27), following a life in which the Catholic writer, magazine editor and TV host simultaneously angered and charmed liberals while also displeasing both Jewish and Catholic groups with his signature killer wit.
Buckley, 82, was found dead by his housekeeper at his home in Stamford, Conn. He had been reportedly suffering from emphysema and diabetes.
Buckley, the founder of National Review magazine, was a Catholic in the public square for more than five decades. Peace activists could nod at his doubts about the Iraq war, while anti-communists cheered his Cold War of words against the Soviet Union _ prose that inspired Ronald Reagan.
Laid-back libertarians, meanwhile, could embrace Buckley’s support for legalized marijuana while lay Catholics saw one of their own as a uniquely articulate and prominent persona.
Buckley attended St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Stamford, and the Stamford Advocate newspaper reported that Buckley’s erudition extended to him reading Scripture at Sunday Mass. His dozens of books included his 1997 religious memoir titled, “Nearer My God: An Autobiography of Faith.”
In 2005, he drew a rebuke from the New York-based Catholic League for what it called his “vile” column in which Buckley wrote that he would not pray for the then-dying Pope John Paul II’s recovery _ partly out of concern that extending his life would delay electing his successor.
A year earlier, another Buckley column was scolded by the Anti-Defamation League because Buckley was skeptical of Jewish leaders’ concerns that Mel Gibson’s film, “The Passion of the Christ,” would validate anti-Semitism.
As the founder of modern conservatism, Buckley’s death was noted by evangelicals, including presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who said Buckley believed that in a society of principled people, less government is needed because public behavior was, “based on one’s own moral case.”
The conservative Family Research Council called the anti-abortion Buckley “a tireless stalwart for the cause of human life and what he termed `the organic moral order.”’
_ David Finnigan
Obama tries to soothe Jewish concerns over Israel
BEACHWOOD, Ohio _ In the wake of a wave of negative e-mails, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is trying to send a positive message on Israel.
As he did in Iowa and Maryland, U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler, an Obama adviser, addressed the Jewish community here Sunday (Feb. 24) at Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple ahead of the critical March 4 Democratic primary.
“Look at his record,” the Florida congressman told a crowd of about 500, a handful of whom wore yarmulkes stamped with “Obama ’08.” “If you gave it a grade, it would be an A-plus.”
The e-mails accuse Obama of employing anti-Israel advisers and of being sworn into office using the Quran instead of a Bible. The rumors prompted questions about Obama’s position on Israel, his foreign policy team and how he would handle Iran.
Earlier, Obama tried to reassure Jewish community leaders in a private meeting. “I will strengthen Israel’s security and strengthen Palestinian partners who support that vision and personally work for two states that can live side by side in peace and security with Israel’s status as a Jewish state ensured so that Israelis and Palestinians can pursue their dream,” he said, according to a transcript from his campaign.
Other rumors have called Obama a closet Muslim who attended militant Islamic schools in Indonesia. Obama is a longtime member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Critics say his positions on Israel have been vague or unclear.
“This is an important issue,” said Matt Lehman of Shaker Heights. “For me, this was an opportunity to get it as straight from the horse’s mouth as you’re going to get.”
One e-mail noted that a magazine launched by Obama’s church gave an award to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, known for anti-Semitic rhetoric. Farrakhan on Sunday voiced his support for Obama.
In a Cleveland debate on Tuesday, Obama distanced himself from Farrakhan, saying he did not solicit the endorsement, and said, “I have been very clear in my denunciation of Minister Farrakhan’s anti-Semitic comments.”
Anita Gray, president of Ishmael & Isaac, a Palestinian-Jewish co-existence group, said the e-mails originally worried people. So even before she decided to vote for Obama, she collected 10 documents refuting the e-mails and sent them out over the Internet.
“I was frustrated,” Gray said. “You had some well-intentioned people distributing this stuff, wondering what was going on.”
_ Laura Johnston
United Methodists join anti-torture campaign
WASHINGTON _ The United Methodist Church’s social policy office is circulating a petition that tells President Bush, a fellow church member, that torture is immoral and ineffective.
The petition cites the Methodists’ Book of Discipline, which says, “The mistreatment or torture of persons by governments for any purpose violates Christian teaching and must be condemned and/or opposed by Christians and churches wherever and whenever it occurs.”
The Methodists’ General Board of Church and Society was one of 10 groups that sent a letter to Bush urging him to sign the Intelligence Authorization bill, which would effectively ban the CIA from using waterboarding or other interrogation techniques that many consider torture.
President Bush has threatened to veto the bill, but more than 1,600 signers of the petition are urging him to sign it. Bush has frequently butted heads with Methodist leaders, especially over their opposition to the war in Iraq.
Meanwhile, leaders of four other groups have asked to meet with Bush as he decides whether to veto the bill. A joint letter brought together the National Council of Churches, the Islamic Society of North America, the Union for Reform Judaism and the president of evangelical Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.
“Our Scriptures couldn’t be clearer in their condemnation of cruelty and abuse,” said the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, head of the NCC. “The letter we have sent sums it up very succinctly: Torture is an intrinsic evil.”
_ Brittani Hamm
Prominent Muslim seminary condemns terrorism
CHENNAI, India (RNS) An influential group of Muslim theologians at a prominent Islamic seminary in northern India have denounced terrorism, saying it is goes against the teachings of Islam.
The denouncement came during the All India Anti-Terrorism Conference in the state of Uttar Pradesh, home to the 150-year-old Darul Uloom Deoband Islamic seminary.
Opening the conference, the seminary’s vice chancellor, Maulana Margoobur Rahman, called terrorism a thoughtless act that is “un-Islamic” and prohibited by the Quran.
“Islam preaches the tenets of peace, justice and brotherhood. There is no place for terror and violence in Islam,” Rahamn said in his address, which was read by a deputy. “Allah will never have mercy on those elements who think they are serving the faith by perpetrating violence.”
Rahman also objected to the term “Islamic terrorism,” saying Muslims have “blindly accepted this term thrust upon us by the Americans.”
Seminary officials, who have issued more than 700,000 fatwas (religious edicts) over the years, cautioned that the latest declaration was not a fatwa. The seminary, however, is recognized as a renowned religious and academic center with influence over the Islamic world, especially in South and Southeast Asia.
The seminary’s general secretary, Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, convened the conference and said top clerics arrived at a common definition of terrorism: “Any action that targets innocents, whether by an individual or by any government and its agencies, or by a private organization anywhere in the world, constitutes, according to Islam, an act of terrorism.”
_ Achal Narayanan
Quote of the Day: Anti-war activist the Rev. Frederick Boyle
(RNS) “I naively believed that speaking for peace as a pastor would make sense.”
_ The Rev. Frederick Boyle, a United Methodist pastor who is facing fines and jail times for violating government restrictions by traveling to Iraq in 2003 to protest the pending U.S. invasion. He was quoted by The Times of Trenton.
KRE DS END RNS
