c. 1996 Religion News Service
(Following is a collection of international religion stories compiled by RNS staff, wire and denominational reports.)
Pope urges sacrifices to combat world hunger
(RNS)-Pope John Paul II said Thursday (Jan. 25) that hunger is a”great tragedy afflicting humanity”and he urged Roman Catholics to make sacrifices to combat the suffering.
The pope’s call was contained in his annual Lenten message marking the 40-day period between Ash Wednesday (Feb. 21) and Easter. Traditionally, the period is used as a time of fasting, prayer and penitence when many Christians adopt a discipline of sacrificing or giving up some pleasure as a means of spiritual discipline.
Hunger, John Paul wrote, is not just a problem in poor nations.”It is necessary to continue the fight against hunger both in less developed countries and in highly industrialized nations where, unfortunately, there is an ever-growing gap separating the rich from the poor.”Even in great modern cities, it is not uncommon to see people sorting through refuse bins once local markets have closed,”he wrote.
John Paul said the sacrifices necessary to combat hunger will involve”changing our exaggerated consumerist behavior, combatting hedonism, resisting attitudes of indifference and the tendency to disregard our personal responsibilities.” At the same time, John Paul also sought to rebut population experts who blame hunger on the growth of the world’s population and the inability of food production to keep pace with the growth.”The earth has the resources necessary to feed all humanity,”John Paul wrote.”We need to learn to use them intelligently, respecting the environment and the rhythms of nature, guaranteeing fairness and justice in business dealings and ensuring a distribution of wealth which takes into account the duty of solidarity.”
Baptists express concern to Bulgarian officials over construction delay
(RNS)-The Baptist World Alliance has told city officials in Sofia, Bulgaria, that it is concerned at delays in giving Bulgarian Baptists permission to build an orphanage and church building in the city.
Denton Lotz, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, the Washington-based international agency of Baptist groups, said that although the Sofia government gave the Union of Baptist Churches in Bulgaria permission for the construction project last September, it has not given the church the required permits to begin work.
Theodor Angelov, president of the Bulgarian Baptists and of the European Baptist Federation, said the Bulgarian Baptists have been trying to arrange a meeting with city officials for two months but without success.
Angelov said that despite the earlier permission, city officials continue to offer”all kinds of objections”as to why the Baptists should not proceed with the construction.
In a letter to Stephan Sofiansky, the new mayor of Sofia, Lotz appealed to the city official”to find a solution to the present impasse”so that the building project could begin.”This refusal to give permission to build is a religious freedom issue,”Lotz wrote in his letter.”We had thought with the fall of Communism and the new freedom that has come to Bulgaria that religious freedom would be guaranteed for all people.” About 80 percent of Bulgaria’s population of 4 million are Orthodox Christian. There are about 2,400 Baptists in the country.
Canada gets first all-Christian television station
(RNS)-Canada’s first all-Christian television station has begun broadcasting 18 hours a day in the province of Alberta, and its president hopes it will go national within the next five years.
The station, the Miracle Channel, based in Lethbridge, received its broadcasting license after an easing of government rules barring single-faith religious broadcasting. It went on the air Jan. 14.
The rules dated to the 1920s when some broadcasters combined religion and bigotry in their religious radio programs. The ban received new support in the 1980s when a series of financial and sexual scandals plagued religious broadcasters in the United States.
In 1993, however, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission eased its rules but warned it would carefully monitor the programming. It also required that overall broadcasting be 70 percent Canadian.”I’m determined to establish a clean reputation for televangelists,”said the Rev. Dick Dewert, senior pastor of the 1,000-member Victory Christian Fellowship in Lethbridge and president of the Miracle Channel.”There’s a tainted message out there and it’s not fair,”he said.”There are a lot of reputable broadcast ministries.”
Ecumenical observers mostly praise Palestinian elections
(RNS)-An international delegation of official observers from Protestant and Roman Catholic Church agencies has praised the way the Jan. 20 Palestinian election was carried out.
In the election, Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza elected an 88-member Palestinian Council and chose Yasser Arafat as president of the council.”Although we observed deficiencies in the election process, we recognize the results as an accurate expression of the voters,”the group said in a statement issued Tuesday (Jan. 23) in Jerusalem.”The high proportion of registered voters who cast ballots despite the difficulties and obstacles is a further indication of their (Palestinian) commitment to self-governance,”the statement said.”This election constituted a significant preparatory step toward the realization of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.” In listing problems, the group said that in some instances the secrecy of the balloting was difficult to maintain. The group also said that despite efforts by the Palestinian Authority, voter education and information was not distributed well enough in advance of the voting to prepare all voters.
It also said checkpoints on West Bank roads set by the Israeli Defense Forces delayed and hampered some voters from getting to the polls.
The ecumenical team included representatives from the World Council of Churches; the National Council of Churches in the United States; the Church of Sweden; and Maryknoll, the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America.
Anglican bishop warns Britain is in danger falling into `barbarism’
(RNS)-Anglican Bishop Richard Chartres, to be installed Friday (Jan. 26) as the new bishop of London, has warned that Britain is eroding its”moral capital”and is in danger of sliding into barbarism.
The bishop of London is the third-ranking prelate in the Anglican Church, behind the Archbishops of Canterbury and York.”It needs to be said again and again in words of a few syllables that market capitalism and democracy presuppose moral conditions,”Chartres said in an interview with The Guardian newspaper published on Thursday.
Without a society”where people trust each other and there are high standards of truth”there will be neither a democracy nor a working market system, he said.”The moral capital is running out and there is a danger of barbarism,”he added.”By that I mean a lack of care for the weak, the mentally handicapped, and the `stranger in our midst.'”
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