c. 1999 Religion News Service
China, Sudan among seven nations cited for religious persecution
(RNS) China topped a list of seven nations the State Department said are of”particular concern”because of their poor treatment of religious believers.
The seven are potentially subject to a host of economic sanctions that the White House may apply under provisions of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. The president may, however, waive all sanctions for national security reasons.
The other nations named were Afghanistan, Burma, Iran, Iraq, Serbia and Sudan. The list was announced Wednesday (Oct. 6) as a follow-up to an IRFA-mandated State Department report released in early September that detailed limitations placed on religious freedom in more than 190 nations and territories.
The seven nations on the list were among the worst violators of religious freedom, according to the report.
Steve McFarland, executive director of the Commission on Religious Freedom, an independent body also created by IRFA, praised the State Department for”biting the bullet”on China.
In the past, China has angrily reacted to any U.S. accusation that Beijing persecutes religious believers, further complicating the delicate relationship between the two nations.
The September report accused China of”government intolerance”of all religious activity not officially approved by Beijing. Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Muslims and others were said to suffer religious persecution in China. The persecution includes long prison terms and the closing of religious sites, according to the report.
China dismissed those charges as false. A Chinese foreign ministry official said China persecutes only criminals.
McFarland said that merely putting China on the list was not enough.”It’s great that they made the correct diagnosis, but the proof of the pudding is the action taken,”he said in urging the president to apply some sanctions to China.
McFarland also said the list was incomplete. He said Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Vietnam,”maybe India,”and several other nations should have been named”using the State Department’s own criteria.” IRFA requires the president to act on the sanctions provision within 90 days of release of the list. The president may, however, request a 90-day extension to review a nation’s attempts to respond to the accusations.
IRFA’s list of possible sanctions includes cutting off all U.S. development and security assistance; stopping U.S. bank loans, trade credits and trade permits; and voting against international loans to an offending nation.
Farrakhan paper says Floyd’s devastation was `God’s judgment’
(RNS) The newspaper of Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam says the devastation of Hurricane Floyd was”God’s judgment”against the United States for the”past and present evil”done to blacks and American Indians.
More than 60 people died, thousands were forced to abandon their flooded homes and billions of dollars of damage resulted when Floyd hammered the eastern seaboard states from the Carolinas northward in late September.
The Oct. 5 issue of The Final Call, the Nation’s weekly newspaper, said in an editorial that unless the United States”repented for past and present evil done to black people and the indigenous people in North America,”additional hurricanes, earthquakes and snowstorms would bring the United States”to her knees.””God is angry with America and no federal funding can change that _ true repentance and justice are the only way out, if it’s not already too late,”said the newspaper.
The editorial was published along with past comments made by Farrakhan and the late Elijah Muhammad, who brought the Nation of Islam to prominence. Both men quoted the Koran and the Bible to bolster their claims of God’s anger at the United States.
Muhammad, in comments made in 1973, said the United States would be punished by God for its treatment of blacks”as Pharaoh suffered”for his treatment of the ancient Israelites. Farrakhan, in a reprinted 1996 speech, cited the Koran and the biblical Book of Revelation and said God’s”intention is the total destruction of America.” In March, Nation of Islam officials announced Farrakhan would take a four-month sabbatical to recover from complications resulting from treatment to contain the prostate cancer that the controversial African-American leader has battled since 1991.
Farrakhan was said at the time to be free of cancer but in need of much rest. He has yet to return to his public duties, and aides have declined to say when he might do so. They insist, however, his absence is connected to fatigue and not cancer.
J. Brent Walker new head of Baptist Joint Committee
(RNS) The Rev. J. Brent Walker has been chosen as the new executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs.
He was elected unanimously by a voice vote of the committee’s board on Monday (Oct. 4), and his position became effective immediately.
Walker, an attorney and a Baptist clergyman, has served as one of the committee’s lawyers since 1989. His most recent post was general counsel and associate executive director.”I’m really humbled to be tapped to lead the BJC into the 21st century,”he told Religion News Service.”Sobered by the vexing challenges ahead but excited about the opportunity to make a difference for religious liberty and the separation of church and state.” Walker succeeds the Rev. James M. Dunn, who retired from the position. Dunn now will work on fund raising for the committee as president of the Baptist Joint Committee Foundation. Dunn also is a visiting professor of Christianity and public policy at Wake Forest Divinity School in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Walker, 49, also is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and a member of a moderate Southern Baptist church in Falls Church, Va.
The committee represents a range of Baptist groups on religious liberty issues including the Alliance of Baptists; American Baptist Churches USA; Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; National Baptist Convention of America; National Baptist Convention, USA; National Missionary Baptist Convention; and Progressive National Baptist Convention. It also represents some Southern Baptist state conventions and local churches.
Stephen Solender named permanent head of new American Jewish charity
(RNS) United Jewish Communities, the new super-agency for coordinating American Jewish fund raising and community social services, has named Stephen Solender to be its first permanent president.
Solender, 61, had served as the group’s acting president since April, soon after the agency was created through the merger of the United Jewish Appeal, the United Israel Appeal and the Council of Jewish Federations.
He said at the time he was not interested in serving as UJC president over the long term. Solender continued to serve concurrently as executive vice president of UJA-Federation of New York, a position he has now relinquished.
UJC is one of the nation’s largest charitable organizations, raising some $250 million annually for social service and educational programs for the American Jewish community, Israel and Jewish communities worldwide.
Adventists reaffirm opposition to homosexuality, make outreach a priority
(RNS) The Annual Council of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, nearing the end of its yearly policy-making meeting, has reaffirmed its opposition to homosexuality and pledged to make evangelism a top priority of the denomination.”The Bible makes no accommodation for homosexual activity or relationships,”the denomination said in a statement adopted by its executive committee during the Annual Council meeting, which brings together the church’s top leaders from around the world.”Sexual acts outside the circle of a heterosexual marriage are forbidden.” The meeting of the 330-member council opened Sept. 28 and ends Oct. 7.”Adventists are opposed to homosexual practice and relationships,”the statement said, but added church members endeavor to”follow the instruction of and example of Jesus”who”affirmed the dignity of all human beings and reached out compassionately to persons and families suffering the consequences of sin.” Laurie Evans, president of the church’s South Pacific Division in Sydney, Australia, welcomed the new statement.”It is so easy to concentrate on the sinfulness of such a practice and forget there are people who struggle with such temptations, whom God loves dearly, and who need our support and encouragement,”he said.
In a second action, the Annual Council voted to set up an advisory council on evangelism and witness to coordinate its evangelism and outreach strategy.”We want to have a creative forum on evangelism and witness with a broad mandate and a sharp focus on the things we value highly,”said Jan Paulsen, president of the denomination, which claims some 10 million members worldwide.
Vatican mourns death of Buddhist who promoted interreligious dialogue
(RNS) The Vatican has expressed”deep sadness”over the death of Nikkyo Niwano, the founder of the Rissho Koseikai lay Buddhist organization and a major figure in interreligious dialogue.
Niwano, who died Monday (Oct. 4) in Tokyo at the age of 92, was the first non-Christian to participate in the Second Vatican Council.
In a letter dated Oct. 4 and made public Wednesday (Oct. 6), Cardinal Francis Arinze, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said,”It is with deep sadness our council received the news of the passing away of Ven. Nikkyo Niwano.”He offered”heartfelt condolences”to Niwano’s family.”His dedication to promoting interreligious dialogue is commendable. We appreciate his personal friendship and fraternal collaboration with our council and the Catholic Church over the years,”Arinze wrote.”With the passing away of Venerable Nikkyo Niwano, the religious world, in particular, has lost a great leader.” Arinze also recalled Niwano’s”great personality”and said he”is revered”by the more than 7 million members of Rissho Koseikai, which Niwano founded in 1938.
Invited by Pope Paul VI in 1965 to attend the Second Vatican Council as an observer, Niwano became committed to the cause of interreligious dialogue and worked through Rissho Koseikai to promote exchanges between faiths.
He also helped establish the World Conference on Religion and Peace, which met in 1994 at the Vatican, and a foundation in his own name that gives annual awards to religious personalities who have made significant contributions to religion and peace.
Those honored in recent years included two Brazilian prelates, Archbishop Helder Camara, who died Aug. 27, and Cardinal Evaristo Arns, retired archbishop of Sao Paulo. Camara had been archbishop of Olinda and Recife.
Quote of the day: Bishop Carlos Belo of East Timor
(RNS)”My priority is to be here with the people, to say Mass, and to pray with them, to visit them. This is the only priority I can have.” _ Roman Catholic Bishop Carlos Belo on returning Wednesday (Oct. 6) to East Timor a month after fleeing the rampage by pro-Indonesian militias that sacked his residence.
DEA END RNS
