RELIGIOUS NEWS - 1996-FEB:

• News Service: The Associated Press 1996-FEB-29
  Woman plays role of God
  A mystery play, written about 600 years ago, is presented every four years in England. This time, a woman (Ruth Ford [63]) will play the role of God. She is a former divinity student. She said: "I've no qualms about taking the role from a religious point of view. God is a presence, not a specific gender, I believe".
• Internet Mailing List: New Hampshire Pagan Mailing List 1996-FEB-29
  Christians intolerant of Wiccan clergy
  The Titusville FL city council invited Rev. Jacque Zaleski from the Church of Iron Oak, to give the opening invocation. She represents a group a local Wiccans ("white witches"). Members of a local Christian church were offended by a non-Christian giving the invocation. Some were "rebuffed for their boisterousness" and turned their back to the podium when Ms. Zaleski spoke. In the lobby. a group of Christians "broke into a very loud boisterous version of The Lord's Prayer" to drown out the invocation. One of the demonstrators "rudely broke into an interview being conducted outside by Channel 6 News from Orlando to spout his own, unasked for, viewpoints".
• News Service: Associated Press 1996-FEB-28
  Bishop who organized gay faces trial for heresy
  A 9 bishop court of the Episcopal Church is expected to decide shortly whether Bishop Walter Righter (76) will be tried for heresy in May. If so, then he would be the second bishop to face a trial for heresy in the 206 year history of the church. His alleged heresy was to ordain a priest who is involved in a committed homosexual relationship.
• News Service: Southam Newspaper, Vancouver BC, 1996-FEB-26
  High cost of helping premature babies survive is questioned
  Vancouver medical geneticist, Dr. Patricia Baird, reports that a British audit commission computed the lifetime cost of saving a tiny premature baby is about 1 million pounds (about 1.4 million US dollars). Another physician, Dr. Duncan Farquharson believes that it is better to save premature babies and to withdraw money from older people. He wonders whether a 75 year old man should be given coronary bypass surgery or if an alcoholic should receive a liver transplant. Researchers found that only 16% of premature babies born at a gestational age of 23 weeks survive until they are 18 months old. Only 5% are without major disabilities (blindness, deafness, cerebral palsy and/or mental retardation).
• News Service: Associated Press, 1996-FEB-26
  Exposing their faith and skin
  Forty people from across the United States attended the first Christian Nudist Conference at the Whispering Pines Resort in Longwood NC. The editor of Fig Leaf Forum, a newsletter for Christian nudists said: "The Bible does say God created man in his image, and I think his image reflects the physical aspect of life".
• Newspaper: Southam Newspapers (Waterloo ON) 1996-FEB-24
  Ex-nun abandons Christian Faith
  Mary Malone (57) is one of Canada's most esteemed church historians. She joined an order of teaching nuns at age 17, but left the sisterhood because "I was no longer developing or growing as a believer...as a person." As a feminist, she has now rejected Christianity because "the only tolerable symbolism, imagery and language that is allowed in the Christian religion is male...". She said: "I don't know how it will work out. That's part of the journey of discovery.'
• Letter to the Editor: The Desert News (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1996-FEB-22
  Unitarians Proud to Include Gays by officials of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Ogden
  "This letter is in response to the Utah Senate's recent discussion (or lack of discussion) regarding homosexuality in the school systems. As a religious community, we are saddened to hear such hateful statements emanating from those who have accepted the responsibility of governing. If these Utah leaders really think that homosexuals are simply destructive people who are ''akin to animals,'' it is as a result of their own limited view of the world, not as a result of being actually aware of the lives of gay and lesbian people.

  Our church is proud to include gay and lesbian individuals as active, contributing members of our congregation. We invite all people of Utah, including the Senate leadership, to open their hearts and minds and to join with us in realizing that families come in many forms....."

• News release: The California Council of Churches 1996-FEB-22
  Council supports homosexual marriages
  The California Council of Churches is composed of 18 mainstream Protestant Christian denominations. They are opposing California bill AB1982 which would have the state refuse to recognize homosexual marriages. Religious conservatives and others are concerned that committed gay and lesbian couples may be able to marry in Hawaii in the near future, return to their home in California and ask that their marriages be recognized. In the past, Reform Judaism has spoken in favor of equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians.
• Newspaper: The Globe and Mail (Toronto ON) 1996-FEB-21
  Religion today and Millenium watch
  
  • Feb. 18 was the 450th anniversary of Martin Luther's death
  • A US study showed that about 1000 clergy leave the ministry weekly and that ministers are now divorcing at the same rate as lay people. If both spouses are ministers, the divorce rate is higher than for lay people.
  • An British study of bishops of the Church of England (Episcopal church) showed that they tend to vote for the Labour party (Socialist) or the Liberal Democrat party. They believe that the important issues of the day are the environment (19%) and the third world (17%). Abortion and adultery were considered low in importance at 3%.
  • Judith Kaplan Eisenstein died in Maryland at the age of 86. She was the first Jewish girl to have a Bat Mitzvah.
  • Nostradamus predicted the end of humanity in the year 2000; Martin Luther predicted the world will end in 2000 CE. Buddhism teaches that the end of the world will occur about 2500 years after Buddha's death, circa 2016 CE.
  • Millenium fever is catching on: there is a Millennium car, Millennium non-stick cookware and a Fidelity Millennium fund mutual fund.
• Newspaper: The Globe and Mail (Toronto ON) 1996-FEB-15
  Ruling set on RCMP turban issue
  The regulations concerning Royal Canadian Mounted Police uniforms were relaxed in 1990 to allow Sikh officers to wear religious symbols, including turbans. An "Alberta group led by three retired Mounties" challenged this ruling, saying that it was "unconstitional because it violated the RCMP's obligation to be non-religious and neutral." They lost at the Federal Court of Appeal in 1995-Spring. The Supreme Court of Canada decided to not hear the case, thus letting the lower court's ruling stand.
• Magazine Globe, 1996-FEB-13
  Cybill's a Witch
  The Globe reported that Cybill Shepherd used Wiccan phrases and body language when she accepted a Golden Globe Award. The phrases were "great Goddess in all her guises" and "blessed be". Brigette Nielsen, ex-wife of Sly Stallone, is also alleged to be a Witch. A Wiccan who was interviewed said: "...Wicca is...a religion of joy....We don't worship or believe in Satan or the devil." [Actually, the terms that Cybill used are shared by both Wiccans and Goddess Worshipers.]
• Newspaper: The Cape Times (Cape Town, South Africa) 1996-FEB-10 (approx.)
  Tutu Supports Gay Priests
  The Most Rev Desmond Tutu, the Anglican Church's Archbishop of Cape Town, said that it was "a matter of justice, compassion and consistency" that the church accept homosexual clergy. "If we say that in relationships where there is fidelity between one couple is acceptable, why should we not extend the same condition to same-sex relationships?"....."I am opposed to injustice, and I know where my Lord would stand."
• Wire Service: The Canadian Press 1996-FEB-10
  Same-sex court decision hailed as precedent by Tom Blackwell
  Ontario court judge Madame Justice Gloria Epstein has effectively changed the Province of Ontario divorce laws so that "same-sex couples can claim alimony when they split up....She agreed that homosexual couples had a similar relationship as heterosexual ones.". This puts them on the same footing as common-law heterosexual couples as far as alimony is concerned. (Same-sex couples had been earlier given equal status in areas of life insurance, extended medical coverage, dental insurance and bereavement leave.)
• Newspaper: The Kingston Whig Standard, Kingston ON 1996-FEB-9
  Movie Review: "Dead Man Walking"
  Susan Sarandon plays the role of a Roman Catholic nun who gives spiritual support to a convicted murderer, played by Sean Penn. The movie focuses on the morality of the death penalty. "As a child, Sarandon actually dreamed of becoming a nun....'I always had a problem with organized religion...When I was in the third grade, I was told I had an over-abundance of original sin'" She is concerned about organized religion which she thinks is "becomng even more of a menace because of the emergence of 'an enormous new conservative branch of the Catholic church'" She referred to the Church as "misogynist".
• Newspaper: The New York Times 1996-FEB-8
  Baptist, Lutherans Expel California Congregations that Embrace Homosexuals by Gustav Niebuhr.
  The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America expelled two of its San Francisco congregations: First United and St. Francis. In 1990, both groups had hired gay ministers, thus violating the Lutheran Church's ban on the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals. They were given until the end of last year to replace the pastors. The deadline passed and the ministers were still on staff.
• Newspaper: The Globe and Mail, Toronto ON 1996-FEB-7
  Buddha's birthplace
  Archeologists discovered the birthplace of Prince Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism, who was born in 623 BCE. It was found 5 meters under the Mayadevi temple in Lumbini, Nepal (350 km west of Kathmandu). It is expected to become a major tourist attraction and pilgrimage site.
• Newspaper: The Globe and Mail, Toronto ON, 1996-FEB-6
  Abortion film shows painful divisions by Christopher Harris
  The column reviews an episode Murder on 'Abortion Row', a Frontline PBS program broadcast on Feb. 7. "This two hour film goes to the heart of the unending and increasingly violent debate over abortion." The program focuses on two people: John Salvi whose trial for the killing of two abortion clinic receptionists begins this week, and Shannon Lowney, one of his victims. ""No one could possibly do more for the credibility of the pro-choice movement than Rev. Donald Spitz, a hard-line evangelical 'pro-lifer' who proudly hails Salvi as a hero for murdering two young women. The obscenity of such a thought from the mouth of a clergyman lingers a long, long time in the mind".
• Newspaper: The Globe and Mail, Toronto ON 1996-FEB-6
  Germany urged to void SS rulings
  Decisions by the Nazi "peoples courts" during the 1930's and 40's have been voided by the German parliament, but the decisions by SS courts have been allowed to stand. This includes the trial of Deitrich Bonhoeffer, an outspoken Christian who opposed Hitler and a person who has "become a symbol of Christian resistance to injustice". He was hanged on 1945-APR-9, at the age of 39, one month before the war ended.
• Newspaper: National Examiner 1996-FEB-6
  Does Your Neighbor Worship the Devil?
  In an article that is totally divorced from reality, the magazine quotes "cult expert" Clifford Linedecker as estimating that there are more than 200,000 practicing Satanists in the US. (10,000 would be more accurate). "Occult researcher" Carl Raschke states that Satanists ritually murder both runaways and children born of their own members. (Satanists do not murder anyone). The magazine lists telltale signs of a Satanist which are a mixture of reality and propaganda which is primarily derived from Middle Age beliefs:
  • Satanists are private people who do not socialize (sometimes true)
  • Satanists chant (sometimes true)
  • They scoff at religion; says that God is dead (sometimes true)
  • neighborhood pets disappear or are found mutilated (untrue)
  • their children run away or suffer frequent accidents (untrue)
  • they are disturbed by crucifixes, etc (untrue)
  • they do not observe conventional religious holidays (true)
  • their homes are decorated with disturbing paintings, weapons (perhaps)
  • they have tattoos (perhaps)
• Newspaper: Globe and Mail, Toronto ON 1996-FEB-5
  Croats Accused of Strong-Arm Tactics
  "The greatest danger to security and peace in Mostar....is rabid extremism. Many international organizations say such extremism is sanctioned at the highest levels in Zagreb. Vilification of Islamic culture is common also within local Catholic institutions. Some senior Catholic leaders...rule out reunification with their Muslim brethren."

Return to the OCRT home page; return to the News page.