News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. March 19, 2002 [2002-067]
U.S. church leaders welcome United Nations resolution on Palestine
(ENS) Church leaders have welcomed the March 13 resolution of the United Nations Security Council, sponsored by the United States, that supports the call for a Palestinian state--but some of them warned that the resolution must be followed by concrete steps to end the current cycle of violence and resume peace negotiations.
Commenting through Churches for Middle East Peace, a 16-member coalition of churches and church-related agencies including the Episcopal Church, the leaders said that the resolution should be a springboard to implement clear-cut initiatives to stop the violence, return both parties to negotiations, and end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
Dennis Frado, representative of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at the United Nations, said that the resolution "breaks new ground because it is the first time the Council has gone on record specifically endorsing the creation of a Palestinian state." And it comes, he added, "at a most critical time for all people of the region." It may also signal that the U.S. "will support Council discussions of various peace initiatives such as that of the Saudi Crown Prince," calling for normalization of relations between Israel and the Arab nations if Israel returns to pre-1967 borders.
"There is a desperate need to end the violence on all sides," said James Matlack, director of the Washington office for the American Friends Service Committee. "The quickest and surest way to do so--the path that can lead to peace and security for all parties--is for Israel to commit itself and move promptly to end its occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem."
Church leaders also welcomed the return of the American negotiator, General Anthony Zinni, to the area as a signal that the U.S. will no longer sit on the sidelines but become actively involved in seeking a solution through the United Nations.
Episcopal bishop in Jerusalem says 'peace is the only alternative left'
(ENS) Bishop Riah Abu El-Assal of the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem sent Lenten greetings to friends around the world, describing the deteriorating situation in the region, "bringing with it tragic loss of life, innumerable injustices and the damage and destruction of infrastructure, hospitals, schools and the homes of innocent people--among them our own people."
The bishop's letter called upon "all our partners and friends to do all that is in their power to bring an end to this pain and suffering in our homeland. The recent hostilities, as well as the reoccupation of liberated Palestinian towns and villages, has proved catastrophic and tragic for both parties. No one with common sense believes that a whole nation can be controlled with the power of the gun. Justice is the only possible way."
Riah said that he had just returned from the Palestinian city of Ramallah, shortly after Israeli tanks pulled out of the city. He quoted the Rev. George Al-Kopti of St. Andrew's Church who said that 150 Israeli tanks had entered the city, "occupying every corner and preventing movement, even movement of the injured to the hospitals and clinic in town. They occupied houses and apartment buildings, asking families to congregate in one house with no regard to their age or their health."
"Every one of our institutions and parishes has felt the crushing economic repercussions of the situation," Riah added. He said that the continued support of friends around the world "makes an immense difference in our lives and our ministries. He ended with a challenge for those friends "to speak out on behalf of the people of this land" and join the church in the region in prayers for "peace with justice, justice with truth, and truth with righteousness, as well as for the safety and protection of all people. Peace is the only alternative left."
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee organizing demonstrations
(ENS) The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is organizing demonstrations in Washington, DC and Los Angeles on March 30 as a national day of solidarity with the Palestinian people. "The escalating violence between Palestinians and Israelis is disastrous for both peoples. The occupation must end," ADC said in its announcement calling on "all people of good will" to join with the Arab-American community in calling for an end to violence and occupation and support for a just peace.
"The way to peace is clear, has long been recognized by an international consensus as embodied in international law and UN Security Council resolutions, and will be reflected in the themes of the demonstrations: end the occupation, land-for-peace, two people--two states, a shared Jerusalem, and the right of refugees to return," the ADC said.
Sudanese Ecumenical Forum examines recent developments
(ENS) The Sudan Ecumenical Forum meeting in London March 4-6 took a look at recent developments in the area and discussed changes in international political and economic relations as they affect the lives of the Sudanese people. The forum focused on the impact of these changes on the prospects for a just and sustainable peace in the Sudan, wracked by 18 years of civil war and the loss of some two million people.
Since 1999 the churches in the Sudan have documented bomb attacks on civilian settlements and food distribution centers, calling on the international community to take action to save innocent civilian lives. The documentation includes descriptions of recent attacks by helicopter gunships, which fly at low altitude, attacking villages and gunning down civilians as they run for cover. They charge that the Khartoum government is systematically terrorizing the population in the northern and western Upper Nile region. Delegates to the forum called for international pressure for an immediate end to the bombing.
Delegates to the forum, sponsored by the World Council of Churches, confirmed that the oil business has aggravated the suffering of the civilians, especially in the concession areas where exploration continues. Delegates also heard that the inhuman practice of slavery is still a problem in the Sudan.
Sudanese church leaders emphasized the deep desire for self-determination among the people in southern Sudan and other marginalized areas--still unrealized despite its inclusion in the constitution of 1998. They warned that any settlement of the civil war that does not include self-determination would not last. They also expressed serious doubts about a resumption of aid to Khartoum from the European Union in the absence of any tangible improvement in the area of human rights, democracy, peace and good relations with neighboring countries. They called on the Europeans not to deal with the symptoms of the conflict but to listen carefully to the voices of the civil society and the churches.
Ecumenical patriarch pays tribute to victims of terrorist attacks
(ENI) Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I, spiritual leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians, paid tribute to a tiny Greek Orthodox church in New York that was destroyed when the World Trade Center towers collapsed September 11.
At commemorations to mark the six-month anniversary of the terrorist attacks, the patriarch vowed that the small church would re-emerge as a visible symbol of recovery. "The damage will be repaired, the Holy Church of Saint Nicholas will be rebuilt," he said at the site where the church had once stood in the shadow of the towers. Rebuilding the church has become an international campaign for Orthodox Christians, and more than enough funds are already available.
The new church would represent the latest stage in the remarkable history of the parish that dates back to 1916. Developers of the Trade Center sought to buy the church in the 1960s but members "refused to sell the place that was dedicated to Saint Nicholas, despite the tempting monetary rewards that were offered, out of respect for the saint," Bartholomeos said. He talked about comforting the family members of victims at "this place of unbearable pain" and asked all nations to renounce acts of terrorism. "Terrorist acts multiply evil and perpetuate the immortal cycle of reciprocating evil with evil," he said in his sermon, accompanied by the sound of pneumatic drills and generators at the Ground Zero site.
Evangelist Billy Graham apologizes for anti-Semitic comments on Nixon tapes
(ENS) The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association issued an apology on March 15 after the National Archives released hundreds of hours of tapes, made by the Nixon White House 30 years ago, revealed that the evangelist made anti-Semitic remarks in a meeting with the president. He accused the Jews as "the ones putting out the pornographic stuff" and said that the Jewish "stranglehold" on the media "has got to be broken or the country's going down the drain."
In the statement Graham said that he and the president "discussed every conceivable subject" but that he repudiated his comments about a Jewish stranglehold on the media and offered his apology. "I don't ever recall having those feelings about any group, especially the Jews, and I certainly do not have them now. I humbly ask the Jewish community to reflect on my actions on behalf of Jews over the years that contradict my words in the Oval Office that day."
During his 83 years Graham said that he realizes his life "has been a pilgrimage, constantly learning, changing, growing and maturing. I have come to see in deeper ways some of the implications of my faith and message--not the least of which is in the area of human rights and racial and ethnic understanding. Racial prejudice, anti-Semitism or hatred of anyone with different beliefs has no place in the human mind or heart. I urge everyone to examine themselves and renew their own hearts before God."
Religion's influence in American life is growing, poll reveals
(ENS) In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, about 78 percent of Americans polled by the Pew Research Center are convinced that the influence of religion in American life is growing--and their favorable views of Islamic Americans has increased from 45 to 59 percent.
Church attendance has not increased since the tragedies, however, but remains at four out of 10 attending worship weekly and three in five Americans saying that religious faith plays an important role in their lives, about the same as before September 11. "What does seem to have changed is that Americans who were already highly religious are praying more and spending more time with their families," said David Young in his column for Scripps Howard News Service. "Overall, Americans express high respect for all the major faiths: 78 percent for Catholics, 77 percent for Protestants and 75 percent for Jews. Our regard for Muslims, although much greater than before, lags at 59 percent," Young noted.
He also pointed out that the Pew poll "discovered that, although one in eight Americans believes that war is never justified, more than half the pacifists (55 percent) support the current resistance to terrorism." He quoted Alexis de Tocqueville who said 170 years ago, "Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it must be regarded as the first of their political institutions.... I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion for who can search the human heart, but I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions."