News Briefs
Episcopal News Service. September 18, 2002 [2002-216-1]
Nashville coalition demonstrates against Iraq war
(ENS) A Nashville coalition against war with Iraq, organized by a retired Episcopal priest, demonstrated September 17 at the Nashville Convention Center at an appearance by President George W. Bush.
About 200 antiwar protestors marched with umbrellas and signs as Bush's motorcade pulled into the service entrance across from the Grand Ole Opry.
The Rev. Ed Landers, a retired Episcopal priest who formerly headed the 60-congregation Covenant Association for Metropolitan Community Relations in Nashville, said the group "is a broad representation of citizens, from all faith groups" and many local campuses.
"We put this together with e-mail and one-to-one communications," he said.
Landers said the purpose of the group is to remind the Bush administration that "war-making is not unilateral but the concern of the Congress and our allies...We need to sustain communications with the Islamic world."
Naomi Tutu of Fisk University's Race Relations Institute, daughter of South African archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu, addressed the crowd. "I am a citizen of this country and also a citizen of the world," she said. "It is our responsibility to pass on a better world to those who come after us."
A group who identified themselves as refugee Iraqis showed up with large signs reading "Iraqis Support President Bush To Extract Saddam" and "Saddam is a Virus, Bush is the Cure."
Episcopalian signs op-ed warning against war in Iraq
(ENS) The Rev. George Regas, rector emeritus of All Saints Church in Pasadena, California, has signed an op-ed piece in the September 16 Los Angeles Times warning against the high costs of a possible war against Iraq.
In the commentary, "Men of God, Warriors for Peace, Enemies of War," Regas joined Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders who were founding members of the Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace. It was formed in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks to "disavow the path that affirms that grief must lead to war."
The leaders said that their religious traditions "must not bless war," certainly not supporting what they termed the lie of a "just war" against Iraq. They warned that the costs of such a war for the American and Iraqi people, and the "tarnishing" of the U.S. reputation, would lead to "an intensification of hatred in the Middle East toward the U.S. and the West." They called religion's embrace of nationalism and sanctioning of war "heresy."
Instead, they said that their religious traditions called on them "to be peacemakers, to do good to those who hate us, to abide by the peace of God/the Ultimate." Their religions "all celebrate the sacredness of human life and charge us to build a just, peaceful and equitable world" and to "celebrate the power of love to vanquish hate and the power of mercy to overcome vengeance."
The commentary concluded, "We mourn the loss of life resulting from the attacks of September 11, but we do not ask that more blood be shed. Our mourning is a peaceful mourning and is not a podium to call for a war of vengeance against Iraqis."
New York Episcopalians help rebuild a mosque in Afghanistan bombed by U.S. troops
(National Catholic Reporter) Episcopalians from the Diocese of New York, many of them personally affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11, are helping to rebuild a mosque in Afghanistan that was bombed by U.S. troops last fall, raising more than half the funds needed for reconstruction.
The idea for rebuilding originated with New York bishop Mark S. Sisk when "he heard that a mosque had been bombed in the Kabul area," according to the Rev. Stephen Holton from Ossining. "It was on the news for about a day and he was interested in a ground zero to ground zero exchange." Sisk has made Christian-Muslim dialogue a central theme in his first year as diocesan bishop. "I believe that it is our duty as Christian leaders, witnesses to the promises of the living Lord, to take initiatives that can bind up the wounds of the human community," he said in his convention address last June.
Muslim leaders were surprised by the offer. Holton, a founding member of the Episcopal-Muslim Relations Committee, went to Afghanistan as part of an interfaith delegation that met with Muslim elders in the ruined mosque. By the end of the visit, they had settled on a contractor, come up with a building plan and chosen a local employee of an international relief agency to supervise the project. The people of the village believe that it is "kind of a miracle that a Christian, someone from another religion, came to their country and showed respect for their religion," said Imam Mohammad Sherzad, president of the Afghan Forum for Peace and Rehabilitation. He pointed to the paradox of a mosque destroyed by the Islamic Taliban and rebuilt by Christians.
Holton said that he told the Afghans that "as Christians we believe in unconditional love. And what love could be more unconditional than building a house of worship for another people that we as Christians could not possible use?"
Nigerian Christians and Muslims pray for peace on anniversary of riots
(ENI) On the anniversary of bloody religious conflicts between Christians and Muslims in the central Nigerian state of Plateau, a week-long program of prayer and fasting brought together people from both religions. The riots left more than 5,000 people dead, destroyed about 100 villages and forced 500,000 to flee their homes.
At Christ Church Cathedral, in the capital city of Jos, Governor Joshua Dariye assured residents that the government was doing everything possible to bring an end to the hardships resulting from the conflict. "We shall come out of this crisis stronger and more united," he said. He appealed for a return of those who had fled, asking them to "join us in rebuilding our state." He urged people to "remain prayerful, to rely on God for a solution to this conflict."
Christians account for about 80 percent of the state's population, with Muslims the other 20 percent. Violence was spurred when some state governments in northern Nigeria introduced strict Islamic law, calling for punishments such as stoning, amputations and floggings for some offenses. The religious legal code has been implemented in 12 states where many violent clashes have been reported. Religious leaders recently convened an inter-religious peace summit to discuss ways to promote peaceful coexistence.
Bells destroyed by communism return to holiest site in Russian Church
(ENI) In an emotional ceremony televised across Russia, two colossal bells were hoisted to the belfry of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Monastery outside of Moscow, the holiest site in the Russian Orthodox Church.
"In this we see historical justice," said Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia after a September 4 prayer service, minutes before a huge crane lifted the first bell into the place occupied by its predecessor 72 years ago. "We are recreating what was barbarically destroyed." Although originating in Western Christianity, bells have been a powerful symbol for Russian believers. The Bolshevik destruction of church bells has remained one of the most symbolic acts of Soviet atheism for many church members--and the raising of new bells has emerged as an equally powerful symbol of spiritual revival.
The two bells are the largest produced in Russia for 200 years--weighing 27 tons and 35.5 tons. They have been named Pervenets (Firstborn) and Blagovestnik (Evangelist). The challenge now is the raising of the third bell, the 64-ton Tsar, larger and more expensive. The church hopes to cast and raise the bell next year, if funds can be found.
Sergei Demidov, chief architect at the monastery, recalled searching through abandoned churches in rural Russia in the 1980s, looking for bells for Moscow's Danilovsky Monastery, the first church returned by the Soviet government. "At the time we never would have dreamed that bell-making would be reborn in Russia so fast," he said.
Evangelicals lead growth in America's church attendance
(ENS) A new study has revealed that evangelical and charismatic churches led church growth and attendance in the 1990s as mainline Protestant denominations struggled with continuing losses.
"Religious Congregations and Membership: 2000," compiled by a broad group of religious bodies, revealed that Catholics, Mormons and the Assemblies of God reported double-digit growth rates. For the first time, the study made an attempt to estimate the number of Muslims in the U.S., reporting a total of 1.6 million, a figure rejected by many Islamic groups that claim the actual number is four times larger. The American Muslim Council says that there are 7 million Muslims in the country, based on a study last year by a coalition of Islamic groups.
The Muslim count was the most controversial feature of the report. Mosques typically don't keep membership rolls, so the estimate was based on reports from about a third of the country's 1,209 mosques and the results were carefully compared with statistics on immigration and conversion rates to Islam. A study last year by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York said there were 1.1 million Muslims--not including children--and the American Jewish Committee has estimated 2.8 million.
While the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country, did not grow at the same rate as the population, mainline Protestant churches lost more members and watched the average age of their members rise. Very few of them benefited from immigration that helped Roman Catholics and Pentecostals.
"The churches that are demanding in some way--that expect you to come two or three times a week, or not wear lipstick, or dress in a certain way--but at the same time offer you great rewards--community, a salvation that is exclusive of other faiths--those are the churches that are growing," said Kenneth Sanchagrin, director of the Glenmary Center. That's why the Mormons were the fastest-growing church in the nation, he pointed out.
The study, conducted every decade, was compiled by 149 denominations and research groups and published by the Atlanta-based Glenmary Research Center. It is based on information provided by the denominations.