c. 2000 Religion News Service

FCC Chairman Responds to Concerns About Religious Programming

(RNS) Federal Communications Commission Chairman William E. Kennard has written a letter to concerned members of Congress stating that a recent FCC decision concerning religious programming on noncommercial television does not apply to the majority of religious broadcasters.

Rep. Michael Oxley, R-Ohio, however, has announced plans to introduce legislation to reverse the ruling.

The FCC issued expanded guidelines in a December order concerning the transfer of licenses among stations in the Pittsburgh area, including Cornerstone TeleVision, a prominent Pennsylvania-based Christian network.

The guidelines state,”Not all programming, including programming about religious matters, qualifies as `general educational’ programming.” The National Religious Broadcasters and several members of Congress have voiced alarm that the new guidelines could limit religious programming.

In response, Kennard wrote:”The standards used by the commission to determine whether a broadcaster qualifies for a reserved noncommercial educational (`NCE’) television channel do not apply to the large majority of television broadcasters offering religious programming because they use channels that are not reserved for NCE stations, i.e., commercial channels.” Kennard said in the Jan. 12 letter that there are a”small number of cases”where religious broadcasters would be subject to the standards of noncommercial educational stations.”These standards, however, never operate to prohibit the airing of any particular noncommercial programming, religious or otherwise,”he wrote.

He also noted that Cornerstone was given the license to air programming on the noncommercial station because the FCC”denied the petitions of those who sought to block the deal based on the religious nature of some of Cornerstone’s programming.” On Tuesday (Jan. 11), Oxley announced that he had drafted new legislation to reverse the guidelines concerning religious programming. He plans to introduce the proposed legislation when Congress reconvenes on Jan. 24.”In our free society, the FCC has no business suppressing the expression of religious belief,”said Oxley, who with three other Republican congressmen had sent a letter of complaint to Kennard about the guidelines.

Karl Stoll, communications director for the National Religious Broadcasters, told Religion News Service that he rejected Kennard’s characterization of the guidelines.”So what?”said Stoll.”Does that mean that it’s OK to restrict religious speech if it only affects a small number of stations or people?” Stoll said there are at least 15 religious broadcasters on noncommercial educational channels. He said the guidelines could potentially affect as many as 93 religious stations that consider themselves to be either noncommercial or educational.

The guidelines call for half of the programming on noncommercial educational stations to serve”an educational, instructional or cultural purpose.”They also state that, on such stations, most church services and programming focusing on”religious exhortation, proselytizing or statements of personally held religious views and beliefs”would not fit into the category of”general educational”programming.

Kathie Lee Gifford to Host Dove Awards

(RNS) Television personality Kathie Lee Gifford will host this year’s Dove Awards, the Gospel Music Association announced Wednesday (Jan. 12).

Gifford, co-host of”Live with Regis & Kathie Lee,”will host the awards program at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, Tenn., on April 20.”Kathie Lee Gifford is a remarkable entertainer and humanitarian,”said Frank Breeden, president of the Gospel Music Association.”Her professionalism day-to-day on `Live with Regis & Kathie Lee’ along with her continued perseverance in the face of challenges, makes her the perfect candidate to host this year’s show.” Nominees for the annual awards will be announced at a Nashville press conference on Jan. 26.

The show will be broadcast through syndication on major network affiliates and independent stations across the country. Many stations plan to air the show as a television special during the weekend of Easter, which is April 23.

Pope Reportedly Plans Second Holy Land Trip: Mount Sinai in February

(RNS) Pope John Paul II hopes to travel to Mount Sinai in Egypt in late February before he makes his scheduled Holy Year pilgrimage to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority in March, according to Vatican sources.

As the Vatican was formally announcing the March trip on Wednesday (Jan. 12), the Rev. Robert Tucci, the Jesuit priest in charge of organizing papal trips, was in Egypt to discuss plans for John Paul to visit the Sinai and Cairo.

Well-informed Vatican sources said the trip to Egypt probably would be scheduled for Feb. 25-26, the only possible opening on the pope’s crowded calendar of Holy Year events.

The 79-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff said in June he hoped to celebrate the Jubilee Holy Year 2000 and the start of the third millennium of Christianity by making a pilgrimage through”the history of salvation,”visiting Old and New Testament sites in Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Syria and Greece.

Describing the pilgrimage he envisioned, the pope said he wanted first to visit Ur of the Chaldees in Iraq where the Bible says that the Patriarch Abraham”heard the word of the Lord”and Mount Sinai where tradition says Moses received the Ten Commandments.

The original plan was for John Paul to combine visits to Ur and Mount Sinai in one trip, but the Iraqi government said last month it could not organize a papal visit at present because of the United Nations embargo and the no-fly zone imposed by the United States and Britain after the 1990 Gulf War.

The Vatican sources noted that organizing security for the pope’s visit to Egypt also will be complicated because of recent clashes between the majority Muslims and the Coptic Christian minority and terrorist attacks in the past.

John Paul has a third pilgrimage in view, which would take him to Damascus and Athens to recall the conversion of St. Paul and Paul’s speech in the Areopagus, but arranging that trip has also proved difficult.

Syrian Orthodox Patriarch Ignatius Zakka II of Antioch has said the pope would be welcome in Damascus, but Greek Orthodox leaders have rejected a papal visit.

Sikh boxer wins right to keep his beard when fighting

(RNS) A Sikh boxer who wears a beard for religious reasons won his fight to compete in Canada after a court ruled the Canadian Amateur Boxing Association’s rules prohibiting boxers from wearing beards violated Canadian human rights laws.

In its decision Wednesday (Jan. 12), the Ontario Supreme Court said a person who wears a beard for religious reasons is”entitled to participate in and compete in all (the association’s) sanctioned events in Canada provided that the beard is contained within reasonably appropriate netting.” The Canadian association has agreed to let Pardeep Singh Nagra cover his beard with a net during boxing matches. “This is a long time coming for me,”said Nagra, the amateur light-flyweight champion of Ontario.”This is a step in the right direction.” But Nagra, who hopes to qualify this year for the 2000 Olympic Games, added that”the battle is not really over”since the International Amateur Boxing Association also prohibits boxers from wearing beards in international competitions, such as the 2000 Olympic Games. Nagra said even if he does not qualify for the Olympic Games, he still will fight to change the international rules.

International association officials maintain that boxers who compete internationally must abide by the association’s rules.”They must understand that if they advance this person (to the Olympic qualifying rounds) they will be disqualified,”said Loring Baker, secretary general of the international association.”There’s nothing discriminatory about it. This is a safety rule. We’ve had case histories of boxers having corneal abrasions from their opponents having a beard and scrubbing it in their eyes.”

Pope to critics:”But I’m not old” (RNS) Pope John Paul II has had the last word in a debate that blew up this week over whether he should retire because of his age and infirmities.”But I’m not old,”the 79-year-old pontiff declared.

The pope spoke in the half-joking, half-ironic tone he often uses to respond to compliments from admirers, but his timing could hardly have been better.

John Paul’s remark followed a report that the powerful head of the German bishops conference, Bishop Karl Lehmann of Mainz, had suggested in an interview on German radio Sunday it was time for the pope to retire so that a younger man could take on the leadership of the world’s 1 billion Roman Catholics.

Lehmann denied the report, saying he was speaking in the conditional tense and his words had been misinterpreted.

John Paul had his own say at his weekly general audience when Ernesto Olivero, founder of a Milan-based Catholic youth movement, presented him with 200 meters of a kilometer-long petition signed by some 1 million young people calling for the celebration of a World Youth Day in 30 Italian cities.

Olivero described his exchange with the pope in an interview with Vatican Radio.”Holy Father, you are a friend of the future, enemy of fear, friend of God. Holy Father, thank you for your age,”Olivero said he told the pope.”At this point, the Holy Father interrupted and said to me, ‘But I am not old.” The Vatican has not entered the controversy over whether the pope should or even could take the almost unprecedented step of resigning.

But it issued the text of the interview, in which Lehmann said he was impressed by John Paul’s alert and attentive presence throughout the month-long synod of European bishops in October.”He gave us an incredible example for the work of the synod,”the bishop said.”Personally,”he said,”I believe the Holy Father is capable of confessing with courage: ‘I can not longer carry out my duty in a manner adequate to what is necessary.’ I believe that the pope would be capable of it if he had the impression of not being any longer able to guide the church authoritatively.” But Lehmann said the pope remains”congruent and creditable,”and his ability to lead the church despite the ravages of a neurological disorder believed to be Parkinson’s Disease”constitutes a positive lesson”for the church and possibly for society as a whole.

The head of the Surgery Department of Rome’s Sapienza University Medical School gave the pope his vote of confidence. Dr. Giorgio Di Matteo said he saw no reason why the pope could not continue to carry out his duties and withstand the rigors of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land March 20-26.”Certainly, the pope is almost 80 and is full of ailments, but there are no particular contra-indications except the recommendation that he does not tire himself too much,”Di Matteo told the Italian news agency Adnkronos.”Actually,”he said,”in certain subjects in which the force of will is pre-eminent, Parkinson’s can even improve the possibility of the subject’s resistance.” Di Matteo said that, given the pope’s determination to travel to the Holy Land and his stable condition, he probably will show good physical resistance to”conditions that could appear to be prohibitive.

Quote of the Day: Beliefnet.com Co-founder Steve Waldman

(RNS)”God is right up there with sex.” _ Steve Waldman, co-founder of Beliefnet.com, a new Web site that hopes to be an online spiritual community for people of all religious backgrounds, speaking about the most popular topics on the Internet. He was quoted in the Jan. 13 edition of USA Today.

DEA END RNS