c. 1998 Religion News Service
Fla. school district appeals decision on New Testament course
(RNS) The School District of Lee County, Fla., has appealed an injunction by a federal judge who blocked its plans to offer an elective course on the New Testament.
Wayne Perry, public information officer for the district, which is based in Fort Myers, said the appeal was filed Thursday (Feb. 19).”The appeal has been filed, but if they reach a settlement, they will withdraw the appeal,”he said.
District officials have been attempting to negotiate with a group of parents and other county residents who are concerned that the curriculum violates the separation of church and state.
About 150 students at seven of the district’s eight high schools are enrolled in the controversial Bible history classes.
U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich decided Jan. 20 to permit the first of two courses, which covers the Old Testament, to be taught.
But the judge questioned whether the second course, which includes the New Testament teachings on miracles and the Resurrection, can be taught as secular history.
The Old Testament classes, which started Jan. 22, are being videotaped so plaintiffs in the lawsuit can see how the instruction is being handled.
Perry said teachers are supposed to treat the Bible’s discussion of events as”one account of a historical fact but not a literal account.” He said teachers were concerned about the cameras, but are starting to adjust to their presence.”The first week or two, they were very conscious of the cameras and so were the students,”he said.”Now that they’ve been doing it for a while, it’s not quite a distraction.”
Southern Baptists, Baptist World Alliance retain ties
(RNS) Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention plan to continue relations with the Baptist World Alliance _ and increase the global group’s funding _ after meetings addressed concerns of SBC officials.
A special SBC committee appointed to study relations with the alliance held its most recent meeting with alliance officials on Feb. 10. The committee concluded that the alliance affirmed its commitment to historic Baptist theology and its desire to have Southern Baptist leaders more involved in the alliance, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent news service.”Without reservation, the committee affirms Southern Baptists need to relate to Baptists of the world and strongly desires that this may be facilitated in part through participation in the Baptist World Alliance,”the committee concluded.
On the recommendation of the ad hoc committee, the SBC Executive Committee approved proposed funding of the Baptist World Alliance of $425,000 for the 1998-99 fiscal year. The alliance currently receives $417,838, which amounts to about 35 percent of its total budget. The funding proposal still must be approved at the SBC annual meeting in June.
Some of the Southern Baptist concerns stemmed from anecdotes of liberal theology being affirmed at alliance meetings, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent news service.
Denton Lotz, general secretary of the alliance, based in McLean, Va., said he was pleased by the executive committee’s affirmation and increased financial support.”The SBC has played a significant part in the founding and leadership of the BWA over many years,”he said.”We look forward to continuing to make the Baptist World Alliance truly a home for every Baptist. We will continue to listen to the concerns of all our 191 member bodies and to work with them so that we may together evangelize the world in our generation.”
Jewish web sites plan worldwide virtual festival
(RNS) Starting Sunday (Feb. 22), the Internet will try to do what Jewish leaders have been unable to accomplish for decades: get the world’s diverse Jewish population to go along with the same program.
The occasion is Jewish Web/Net Week, billed as the first worldwide Jewish event in cyberspace. It will run until Friday (Feb. 27).
The virtual festival will bring together Jews from around the globe who will interact online. The event involves 613 Jewish Web sites from Japan to Uruguay, matching Judaism’s traditional number of mitzvot, or religious commandments.
The event will include educational activities and online galleries featuring Jewish artists, comedy and other entertainment, live chats with leading Jewish public figures and interviews with Israeli leaders. “It’s amazing! We’re getting everyone under the sun, from the far right to the far left in Jewish life,”said Yosef I. Abramowitz, one of the originators of Jewish Wed/Net Week.”And we’re doing it at a time when Jews can’t seem to agree about anything about Israel or who is a Jew.” The event’s goal is to have 600,000 users _ the same number of Jews who tradition says were with Moses at Mount Sinai _ access the Jewish Web/Net Week site (http://www.jww.org) during the week.
The site can also be accessed through Jewish Communication Network (http://www.jcn18.com), JewishNet (http://www.jewishnet.net), Jewish Family & Life (http://www.jewishfamily.com), Shamash (http://www.shamash.org) and Virtual Jerusalem (http://www.virtual.co.il). “We have sites that wouldn’t even sit together in the same room who are together participating in this online event, each of them showcasing and highlighting their own effort,” said Alisa Schwartz, of Boston, who is producing the event.
“It’s a catalyst for forming new relationships. The idea is for people to network and see the educational uses of the Internet and be able to make contacts on a personal level, educational level, organizational level and company level so that when the event comes down, these relationships continue to grow,” she said.
Schwartz said most of the participating sites are not new, but “each site has created something special and new for the event.”
One highlight of the week will be the first Web mural. The Center for Jewish Culture and Creativity and the Jewish Artists Network plan to invite children around the globe to help create the mural, which will honor Israel’s 50th anniversary this year.
Cuba says 299 prisoners have been freed in response to papal request
(RNS) Cuba says it has released 299 prisoners _ including 70 detained for political reasons _ in response to an appeal from Pope John Paul II.
A spokesman for the Cuban government said Thursday (Feb. 19) that the prisoners were freed last weekend”and sent to their homes.”There was no word on whether prominent political prisoners were among those released.
Cuban dissidents told Reuters that they have only been able to confirm the release of 136 prisoners, 64 of them political.
Government spokesman Alejandro Gonzalez said the 299 freed included 295 prisoners and”four additional people who were released through other legal procedures corresponding to such cases.”Gonzalez did not explain what he meant.
Gonzalez also said 75 of those released were among the list of 302 names given to Cuban authorities by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, during the pope’s January visit to Cuba. The pope asked that all 302 be released.
The spokesman said 106 of the 302 were released prior to the papal visit and that at least 25 other names were either repeated, unclear or inaccurate.
Update: Barnes & Noble to continue selling controversial photo books
(RNS) Barnes & Noble, the nation’s largest bookseller, says it will continue to sell two books containing photographs of nude children that Alabama and Tennessee have charged are obscene.
The two books in question are”The Age of Innocence”by David Hamilton and”Radiant Identities”by Jock Sturges. Officials in the two states have lodged charges of child pornography and distribution of obscene materials against the book store chain.
Alabama Attorey General Bill Pryor said the books were designed to”elicit a sexual response.”Twenty-two counts of child pornography were filed against Barnes & Noble in Alabama, with each count carrying a $10,000 fine.
However Barnes & Nobel, which has defended the books as art, said in a statement Thursday (Feb. 19):”Under no circumstances will we remove books from our shelves because one or more citizens object to their contents. To do so would deny the right of other citzens to buy these books if they choose.”The New York Times reported Friday (Feb. 20) that Randall Terry, the anti-abortion crusader who founded Operation Rescue, was behind the effort to get Barnes & Noble to stop selling the books.”I’m out to obliterate child pornography,”Terry told the newspaper. He said Barnes & Noble was targeted because of its size.”If Goliath falls, then the whole Earth trembles. They have been irresponsible,”he said.
In addition to Barnes & Noble, Borders, the second largest book store chain, has also been the target of some of the more than 40 demonstrations and similar incidents staged by Terry’s followers nationwide in recent months, according to the Times.
Heifer Project moving regional office
(RNS) The Heifer Project International _ an independent relief organization started more than a half century ago by a Church of the Brethren member _ is moving its southeastern regional office from its historic home in the Brethren’s Service Center in New Windsor, Md., to the Atlanta area.
The relief agency said the move, which will result in the lay off of five full- and part-time workers, will occur April 10.
The organization said it is moving the office to be closer to the agency’s primary donors, many of whom are in Florida. The move is part of an overall redeployment of regional offices that will occur as their directors retire or otherwise leave, according to Peg Perry, a Heifer Project spokeswoman.
The decision to move the New Windsor office was made earlier this year when regional director John Dieterly left to become a pastor.”We have appreciated the relationship with employees and management at the Brethren Service Center (in New Windsor), and our prayer is that we will continue the long and endearing friendship that has been enjoyed by the Church of the Brethren and Heifer Project.” Heifer Project was started by Dan West, a Brethren, as a cattle replacement project in war-ravaged Poland. In June 1942, the project became an official program of the Brethren Service Committee. The ministry ultimately evolved into Heifer Project International, and in April 1953, became an indepependent, non-profit organization.
Perry, a spokeswoman at the project’s Little Rock, Ark., headquarters, said Heifer Project will continue its relationships with 12 church groups, including the Brethren. She said,”We’ve had a long-time association with the Church of the Brethren. We will continue to work together and hope we always will.”
Quote of the day: Geeta Chandran, prominent Indian classical dancer
(RNS)”The eroticism of Khajuraho is part of the larger Hindu view of the cyclicality of life. The profile of the Spice Girls does not match that of the temples. … Eroticism sans spirituality will be reduced to pornography.” _ Geeta Chandran, a leading Indian classical dancer, who has asked the Indian government to ban a scheduled November performance by British pop icons the Spice Girls in Khajuraho, a sacred archaeological site known for its erotic sculptures.
END RNS
