RELIGIOUS NEWS - END OF 1995:

• Radio: Ottawa, CA Canadian Broadcasting Corp., 1995-DEC-28
  "Witch Burning in South Africa"
  The CBC reported that there have been vigilante attacks on many persons suspected of "Witchcraft" in which over 100 individuals have been burned, stoned or hacked to death in an northern province of South Africa. A government "Witchcraft Commission" is attempting to eliminate the practice. (The "Witchcraft" referred to in this radio news item is believed to be evil black magic and has no relation to what is often referred to as "White Witchcraft" in the West, known as Wicca).
• Newspaper: Paris, Reuters News Agency, 1995-DEC-26
  "Deaths bring call for ban on cults"
  

  "The deaths of 16 members of the Order of the Solar Temple in a macabre cult ritual have spurred new calls in France for laws to restrict cults or ban them". "A special parliamentary commission which has been studying cults for the past six months is to issue recommendations Jan 10 on whether new laws are needed to help deal with the problem". Mr. [Jacques] Girard [committee chairperson] said there are more than 1300 cults in France with a total membership of about 150,000 people. This was later reported as 130 to 150 sects and 300,000 people. Numbers about cults are traditionally highly variable. This is largely because there is no generally accepted definition of the word "cult".

  Newspaper: Toronto, The Globe and Mail, 1995-DEC-23
  "Native Christmas Blends Customs"
  Native communities in Northern Canada appear to be in a state of religious flux. Religious beliefs are becoming polarized. Some Natives remain members of the Roman Catholic, Anglican and those other churches which had converted the First Nations to Christianity in past generations; other Natives are shifting to fundamentalist Christian denominations; still others are returning to traditional spiritual beliefs. Some of the communities enjoy a combination of a Winter Solstice celebration, Christmas, a Native midwinter feast and New Year celebrations.

  Newspaper: Vatican City, Reuters News Agency, 1995-DEC-22
  "Vatican Publishes Sex Guide"
  The Pontifical Council for the Family published a 60 page handbook for parents. It discussed "the indissolubility of marriage, the relationship between love and procreation as well as the immorality of sex before marriage, abortion, contraception and masturbation". Masturbation is singled out as a particular sin, a "grave disorder", characteristic of immaturity. It restated the Church position on homosexual sexual activity, calling it "against the laws of nature".

  Newspaper: Montreal, Quebec, The Canadian Press, 1995-DEC-13
  "Judge Apologizes Halfway"
  Justice Jean Bienvenue made some controversial statements while sentencing a woman who had been found guilty of slitting her husband's throat. He compared her actions with those of the Nazi Holocaust, saying "The Nazis did not eliminate millions of Jews in a painful and bloody manner: they died in gas chambers without suffering". He also said that women were generally nobler than men, but when one "decides to sink, she unfortunately does so to a depth that the vilest of men would be unable to attain." He has apologized to a group of Jewish leaders for the former comment, but has yet to deal with his insult to women. The Canadian Judicial Council is initiating a rare public inquiry into the Judge's remarks.

  Magazine: Newsweek, 1995-DEC-18
  "Apocalypse Later"
  Newsweek Magazine describes a shift in the beliefs of the Jehovah's Witnesses. They had historically specified a variety of dates for the second coming of Jesus Christ, only to have their expectations dashed. The Watchtower for 1995-NOV now states that these dates "were speculation, rather than settled doctrine". The year 1914 is still regarded as the beginning of the last days; they feel the end is still close, but they will no longer be predicting the year in which it will happen.

  Newspaper: Ottawa, CA, The Canadian Press, 1995-DEC-6
  "PM Urges Spirituality
  

  "Prime Minister Jean Chretien says Canadian society is missing its spirituality and native leaders and elders can help get it back"

  
  The Prime Minister of Canada stood, with head bowed, as First Native Elder Robin Greene smoked a peace pipe at the opening ceremony of the First Nations' Sacred Assembly in Hull, Quebec. Chretien said "We will need to listen to those who often speak with quiet voices,"

  Radio "USA Radio News"' 1995-DEC-03, Equal Rights for Homosexuals
  The Treasury Board of the Canadian Federal Government announced that gay and lesbians Federal civil servants who are in long term committed relationships will now be given bereavement leave. That is, when a near relative of dies, their homosexual partner will given time off to attend the funeral, etc. Bereavement leave has been a right for heterosexuals for many years.

  Television "CBS News"' 1995-DEC-01 (approx.), Child Dies From Ritual Abuse
  The newscaster reported that a child had died from ritual abuse in New York NY. Although most listeners would assume that a Satanic group had killed the child, this is not what happened. 6-year-old Elisa Izquierdo was fatally beaten to death by her mother who believed that Elisa was possessed by the devil. Apparently, the situation was known to Child Protective Services, but they decided to leave Elisa with her drug-addicted mother.

  Radio "Unshackled"' 1995-NOV-27, Gay Straightens Out
  For many decades, this program has been broadcasting dramatic stories of people who became "unshackled" after being "saved". In this episode, a gay male accepted Jesus, repented of the "sin" of his homosexual behaviour, and became straight. He is now an ordained pastor, active in a ministry to gays.

  There were two unusual features of this episode which are major deviations from traditional Fundamentalist/Evangelical beliefs about homosexuality:

  1. he claimed to have felt "different" from early childhood. Many conservative Christians believe that sexual orientation is a decision made later in life.
  2. he claimed at the end of the program to be "straight". Most conservative Christian sources maintain that, through God's grace, gays can be converted to a heterosexual orientation. To imply otherwise is to limit God's power or to God's willingness to answer prayer. We found it remarkable that the program did not claim this type of conversion. Unshackled left open the possibility that he still retains his sexual orientation, but has decided to remain celibate. This is typically the only option open to homosexuals and heterosexuals.

  Television Radio Bible Class' Day of Discovery, 1995-NOV-19, Family Violence
  A breakthrough program! This episode dealt courageously with the hot topic of family violence in an open, frank, yet sensitive manner.

  • On the one hand, they took the risk of alienating many of their viewers by stating that Christianity had often compounded the problem of wife battering. Many Churches have offered only one option to an abused wife: to stay with her husband and submit. This episode recommended that the wife develop an escape plan and implement it if she is in danger.
  • On the other hand, they were not politically correct, because they (correctly) implied that the husband is victimized by the wife in some family violence situations.

  They offered a group of three books on family violence, available from Day of Discovery, Grand Rapids MI, 49555 or from 1-918-251-3400.

  Newspaper: Tel Aviv, The Associated Press, 1995-NOV-18
  "[Yitzhak Rabin] Assassination Suspect in Jail"
  

  "In New York, the congregation of the Shaare Zion synagogue in Brooklyn asked its rabbi, Abraham Heckt, to say away until they decided whether to oust him for declaring it permissible for Jews to kill leaders who endanger the Jewish people".

  Newspaper: Dublin, Southam News, 1995-NOV-18, and subsequent news items
  Aileen McCabe, "Debate on Divorce Heats Up"
  A referendum was held on NOV-24 in Ireland to decide whether the 1937 constitution of Ireland should be changed to legalize divorce. In 1986, a similar referendum turned down divorce by a 2:1 margin. Ireland was the only country in the West to have no legal provision for divorce.

  Public opinion this time appeared to be evenly split. Mother Theresa recommended voting NO because divorce is "a 'killer' of family life". Bishop Thomas Flynn, a church spokesman in Dublin promised that a divorced and remarried Catholic "would be refused the sacraments". Mary Harney (leader of the Progressive Democrats in Parliament) pointed out that "no one had ever suggested refusing the sacraments to terrorists who killed in Northern Ireland or 'drug godfathers, rapists or child abusers'".

  There are about 80,000 separated people in Ireland who might wish to divorce. About 92% of the population of Ireland are Roman Catholics. The final count was 50.2% in favor of permitting divorce. As in many clashes between religious institutions and secular elements of society, the battle was not between those in favor of divorce and those opposed. It was between those who are in favor of choice, and those who were opposed to choice.

  News Service: Geneva, Ecumenical News International, 1995-OCT-31
  "Catholic Theologians Disagree on Sinfulness of Extraterrestrials"
  Astronomers in Geneva discovered a Jupiter sized planet orbiting a star some 40 light years from the earth. Oueri Coda, a Roman Catholic professor of theology in Rome expressed the opinion that the sin of Adam and Eve would have also contaminated that remote planet; thus intelligent beings there would require a saviour. An anonymous professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University questioned this conclusion, stating: "We know that earthmen sinned, but we know nothing of beings in other worlds."

  News Service: Edinburgh, Ecumenical News International, 1995-SEP-18
  "Refusal to Ordain Women is 'Heretical'"
  The General Secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), warned that member churches which still confine ordination to men were adopting "a kind of heretical position." About 50 of the 198 member churches did not ordain women as of 1992. Opocensky asked whether "we can have full communion with churches which exclude women from ministry and other functions."

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