c. 1996 Religion News Service

Eds: note sexual content in 2nd item)

Parents want a content-based television rating system

(RNS) Parents want a TV rating system to tell them the content of a program _ its sex, violence and language _ rather than advice on whether the program is suitable for specific age groups, according to a survey released by the National PTA.”Parents’ opinions on this issue are remarkably strong and clear-cut,”said Joanne Cantor, a professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The school along with the Institute for Mental Health Initiative collaborated with the 5.6 million-member PTA in the survey.”No matter how many ways we divided up the respondents, or how many ways we looked at the data, the same overwhelming preferences always emerged,”Cantor said.

The survey was undertaken to let a special panel of the television industry currently trying to devise a rating system know what parents wanted from them. Earlier this year, under pressure from Congress and President Clinton, the television industry agreed to set up a ratings system that would be in place by the beginning of the year. The industry panel is headed by Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America.

According to the survey, 80 percent of the randomly selected sample of 679 parents from every state in the country wanted a content-based rating system rather than an age-group suitability system as is currently used for rating movies.

In addition, 80 percent said they also wanted separate ratings for sex, violence and language content, not a single summary rating system.

Joan Dykstra, National PTA president said the survey results will be shared with Valenti’s panel.”Parents have sent a message that is loud and clear,”she said.”They want objective information about television content so they can make informed choices about what their children watch. We urge the industry leaders to create a rating system responsive to the needs of parents.” Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a leading television reformer in Congress, called the survey results welcome but not surprising.”In an era of 100 TV channels, the Internet, shock radio, and Gansta rap, parents are desperate for family-friendly filters for restoring order in the home,”he said.”The more they know about what is about to come around the corner, the better job they can do to keep their children safe.”

Mormons ask stations to return programs of sexual abuser

(RNS) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Friday (Nov. 22) it has asked radio stations to return public service radio programs done by Lloyd Gerald Pond, arrested last week for investigation into allegations of sodomy of a 14-year-old girl.”Unhappily, we learned very recently that … Pond, the narrator on some of these programs, has now become the subject of serious allegations,”Bruce L. Olsen, managing director of the public affairs department of the Salt Lake City-headquartered Mormon church said in a letter to radio station managers.”Mr. Pond has resigned from Church employment,”Olsen’s letter said.”In light of this development, we have recalled these particular programs, and we request that you discontinue using them.” As the letter was being sent to radio stations, Pond appeared in court in Salt Lake City and pleaded guilty to one count of forcible abuse. He tearfully apologized to both his victim and the church, the AP reported.

On Friday Nov. 15, it was revealed that Pond, 51, host of the church’s”Times and Seasons”radio program, had been arrested and jailed the previous week while authorities investigated the sodomy allegations.

Pond’s weekly program, distributed to 600 radio stations across the country, often decried the decay of the family and the evils of child and sexual abuse.

According to a police report, Pond was helping the unidentified young girl become a model. According to the report, on Nov. 6, the girl was taken to a parking lot behind behind a radio station, shown pornography, photographed in her underwear, and asked to perform oral sex.”The Church is not a party to the case involving Lloyd Gerald Pond,”Olsen said in a separate statement.”We expect that the court decisions reached in this matter will be consistent with the requirements of justice and due process.”Meanwhile, we are concerned and have compassion for the individuals and families involved,”Olsen said.

Mother Teresa hospitalized, reported in stable condition

(RNS) Mother Teresa, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning nun, was hospitalized early Friday morning (Nov. 22) with an irregular heartbeat. Hours later, doctors said her condition is improving and she is out of immediate danger.”Mother Teresa’s condition is stable and improving and she is feeling comfortable,”Dr. Asim Bardham said, the AP reported from Calcutta.”But her irregular pulse rate is still persisting.” According to the report, the 86-year-old Roman Catholic nun was admitted to the hospital at 2:30 a.m. with acute left ventricular heart failure, said a statement from her hospital, the Woodlands Nursing Home.

Mother Teresa, who has won worldwide acclaim for her work with the desperately poor and dying in Calcutta and around the world, has been in declining health the past year. She has suffered two heart attacks, has a pacemaker and was hospitalized four times this year.

She was hospitalized twice this with malaria, an irregular heartbeat and respiratory problems and twice more for injuries resulting from falls. In April she fractured a collarbone after a fall from her bed and in September, she fell from a chair and banged her head on the floor.

Dr. Sudipto Kumar Sen, medical director at Woodlands, said doctors have given Mother Teresa antibiotics and other medicine to control the irregular heartbeat.”Mother’s condition at the moment is better than it was when she was admitted early in the morning,”Sen said.”Mother was very ill at that time. She has made considerable improvement.”

Most homeless spending first Thanksgiving on the streets

(RNS) A survey of 14,000 homeless men and women conducted by the International Union of Gospel Missions, shows that for 60 percent of the homeless who will be fed at shelters and soup kitchens across the nation on Thanksgiving, it will be their first Thanksgiving on the streets.”Most people think of the homeless as 55-year-old alcoholic drifters,”said the Rev. Steve Burger, executive director of the IGUM, an association of some 250 rescue missions.”The stark reality is that a majority of the men and women eating Thanksgiving dinner at our missions next week are new to the street and are in their 20s and 30s, often with children,”Burger added.

According to the survey of clients at the rescue missions, 80 percent of the homeless are under are under 45 years old and one in four is under 25 years old. It also found that 79 percent of the homeless are males and 21 percent females, a ratio that has held steady over the past five years, when the first of the group’s”snapshot”surveys was taken.

The survey did not indicate whether there was a surge in the number of homeless people, but the fact that such a large percentage are new to the streets suggests as much.”Most of these people will have come to the streets since last Thanksgiving _ and all of this is happening before welfare reforms begins to kick in,”Burger said.

Additionally, 60 percent of the mission clients surveyed said they had received government assistance during the past two years _ assistance that could be reduced or eliminated as welfare reform begins to take hold.”Obviously, a government check alone does not meet the needs of many on the verge of becoming homeless,”he said.”Otherwise we wouldn’t have such large numbers of recipients in need of the services our missions provide.”

Mission agencies urge boycott of Nigerian oiL

(RNS) The joint overseas mission board of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) called Friday for a worldwide boycott of oil produced in Nigeria to protest that country’s military dictatorship.

The resolution asks major oil companies not to purchase or ship oil from Nigeria but stops short of calling for a consumer boycott at the gas pumps.

Nigeria has been a target of religious and human rights groups since 1993 when strongman Gen. Sani Abacha arrested Moshood Abiola, the apparent winner of a democratically held election for president.

That pressure increased after the November 1995 execution of human rights activist and writer Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other activists. In March, the State Department labeled Abacha’s regime a major human rights violator and the Clinton administration weighed imposing sanctions on NIgeria.

The Rev. Dan Hoffman, mission executive for Africa of the UCC-Disciples Common Global Ministries Board, said Abacha’s military regime”must move without further delay to relinquish its undemocratic hold on power and all the country to return to civilian rule.” The boycott call targets oil because petroleum products account for more than 90 percent of Nigeria’s exports and 80 percent of its public revenues, Hoffman said.

The resolution also calls for a freezing of the bank accounts and assets in the United States of Nigerian government officials, a sports boycott of the country and the suspension of all but humanitarian aid.

The joint mission board of the two mainline Protestant denominations with a combined membership of 2.5 million people has programs in 90 countries, including 175 missionaries in 40 countries.

Adventists report increase in giving

(RNS) Giving to organizations of the Seventh-day Adventist church reached $1.6 billion in 1995, an increase of almost $119 million over 1994, the church has reported.

But the 8.1 percent increase, the officials said, did not keep pace with the increase in giving to charitable causes as a whole, which was 11.2 percent over the same period.

According to the report,”Giving SDA,”the majority of funds given to the church _ $886.3 million _ represents tithes from Seventh-day Adventist church members for the general operation of the church. Other giving supported such Adventist causes as the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, the denomination’s overseas relief arm, its global mission initiative and Adventist World Radio, the denomination’s broadcasting service.

Quote of the day: Astronaut Edwin”Buzz”Aldrin on humans in space

(RNS) Apollo 11 astronaut Edwin”Buzz”Aldrin spoke recently at the Freedom Forum World Center in Arlington, Va., on the possibility of humans eventually living on other planets. Summing up his belief that humans are destined to dwell elsewhere in the universe, Aldrin said:”As Mecca is to the Muslim, and Jerusalem is to many Christians and Jews, so the Earth may become to future generations of humanity _ the place from which they sprang, the holiest of holy origins, the genesis.” END ANDERSON-RIFKIN