Articles Index

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INTERFAITH

World: Faith Communities Face Issue of Human Cloning

Israel: Rabbi Says Judaism Does Not Forbid Human Cloning. An Israeli rabbi has told the country's parliament that Jewish law does not forbid human cloning, unlike most Christian denominations. [Catholic World News]

U.S.: Physicist Richard Seed Ignites Methodist Debate on Cloning. Sparking debate on human cloning early in the new year was Richard Seed, a physicist who is a member of First United Methodist Church in Oak Park, Illinois. In an interview on National Public Radio in early January, Seed proposed putting together a team of scientists to work on human cloning. [United Methodist News Service]

U.S.: Southern Baptists Oppose Human Cloning While U.S. Government Explores Options. By Tom Strode. The head of the Food and Drug Administration has said his agency holds the power to regulate human cloning, but the White House, a Michigan congressman and a Southern Baptist ethicist say legislation is still needed to prevent the experimental practice. [Baptist Press]

U.S.: United Church of Christ Committee Issues Statement on Cloning. An ad-hoc committee on genetics appointed by a national agency of the United Church of Christ has said "'enough' to technologies that are privileges of the rich in the Western world" and called for laws "to ban cloning for reproductive purposes, at least for the foreseeable future." [UCC One]

Russia: New Rules Fail to Soften Russia's Religion Law. By Lawrence A. Uzzell. Draft regulations to implement Russia's new law on church-state relations, now under discussion in Moscow, fall short of the reassuring statements made by Russian officials to western journalists and diplomats. [Keston News Service]

U.S.: Support for Unrestricted Abortion Declines on 25th Anniversary of Supreme Court Ruling. By Tom Strode. Polls taken in the days before the January 22 commemoration showed support decreasing for the unrestricted right to abortion instituted by the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton companion opinions of 1973. [Baptist Press]

U.S.: Both Sides Declare Victory in Court's Bible Course Ruling. By Daniel Kurtzman. Both sides in a church-state standoff are declaring victory in the wake of a split ruling in a case involving a controversial school Bible course in Florida.[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]

U.S.: Alabama Judge's Ten Commandment Still Up After Court Ruling. The Alabama Supreme Court has dismissed a Ten Commandments case in the national spotlight. The state's high court, in a Jan. 23 ruling, said Gov. Fob James and Attorney General Bill Pryor lacked legal grounds in a religious-freedom lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment on behalf of Judge Roy Moore, who displays the Ten Commandments on his Etowah County courtroom wall in Gadsden. [Baptist Press]

Washington: InterFaith Conference Takes a Look at New Beginnings. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. In 1977, Islamic extremists broke into the B'nai B'rith Building and the Islamic Center, holding hostages at both locations for nearly eighteen hours. Out of that tragedy was born the InterFaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington (IFC), one of the United States's most prominent interreligious organization. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

ECUMENICAL

U.K.: Evangelical Alliance Apologizes to Gay Community. Rev Joel Edwards, leader of the Evangelical Alliance, has apologised to the gay community for the treatment which it has received from Christians in the past. [Church Net UK]

U.S.: Ecumenical Group Hopes to Convince U.S. Senate to Back Kyoto Protocol. By Tracy Early. The eco-justice working group of the National Council of Churches (NCC) is planning a public education campaign to win U.S. Senate ratification for an international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. [Ecumenical News International]

See also Catholic Bishops Join Criticism of Millennium Dome, Hindu Group To Block Christian Conversions

ANGLICAN

Australia: Surprise Anglican Ruling on Power of the Laity. By Chris McGillion. There is nothing in the constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia to prevent lay people and deacons leading the Holy Communion, the Church's senior legal body has decided on a question potentially far more controversial than even women's ordination. [Sydney Morning Herald]

Australia: Large Australian Group Joins Traditional Anglican Communion. Citing pastoral and other problems within the Anglican Church of Australia (ACA), some 5,000 orthodox Anglicans have left the ACA for the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), an international association of Continuing Churches. [The Christian Challenge]

U.S.: Lawsuit Brought Against Conservative Episcopal Group. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. Pre-empting possible action by the Episcopal Church, two New Jersey bishops have entered a lawsuit against a conservative group that has been incorporating under the historic name of the denomination. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

Washington Feature: Frank Griswold Begins a Long Conversation: The Episcopal Church's New Presiding Bishop Explores the Meaning of Leadership. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. As Bishop Frank Griswold began the preparations for his investiture, he was asked by the press: Where do you expect to lead the church? The new head of the Episcopal Church, though, is struggling with a more difficult question: What does it mean to be the presiding bishop? [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

Remarks at the Presiding Bishop's Press Conference. By the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold, III [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

Sermon at the Service of Investiture of the XXVth Presiding Bishop. By the Most Rev. Frank Tracy Griswold, III [Anglican Communion News Service]

Washington: Episcopalians Hold Different Views of Church's Future. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. Two weeks after Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold stood in the pulpit of Washington National Cathedral and urged Episcopalians to join in conversation with each other, the Diocese of Washington's annual convention revealed continued differences of opinion between Episcopal progressives and traditionalists over the state of the denomination. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

See also Greenbelt Anglican News, Pan African Anglican-Lutheran Commission Planned, Lutherans and Episcopalians Take a Second Look at Proposal for Full Communion

BAHA'I

Washington: Bahá'í Youth are Urged to Awaken from Their Slumber. By Nasseem A. Rouhani. The 14th Annual Washington, D.C. Thanksgiving Bahá'í Youth Conference was held from November 27th through the 30th at the Marriott Hotel in Falls Church, Virginia. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

BAPTIST

U.S.: Eisner Won't "Censor" Disney; Baptist Boycott Among Key '97 Stories. By Dwayne Hastings. Michael Eisner, chairman of the Disney Company, has told the conglomerate's stockholders that he "will always defend the right" of the company to produce entertainment on certain "subject matter" that some may not like. [Baptist Press]

See also Southern Baptists Oppose Human Cloning While U.S. Government Explores Options

BUDDHIST

India: After Eight Centuries, Buddhist Nuns Return to India. The February 15 ceremony, which will take place in Bodhgaya, India, is especially significant because it is a joint effort by Buddhist leaders to re-establish the order of nuns in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tibet, and India, where no women have been ordained as nuns for over eight centuries. [Xpress Press News Service]

Sri Lanka: Buddhist Temple Damaged by Bomb. By Rahul Sharma. A Tamil Tigers suicide squad crashed through roadblocks and set off a truck bomb outside a fabled Buddhist temple in central Kandy on January 25, killing 13 people and wounding 23. [Reuters]

CATHOLIC

Cuba: Pope's Visit to Cuba Brings Hope of Reforms. Pope John Paul II left Cuba on January 25 after a visit that many commentators proclaimed to be as significant as his early trips to Poland. [The Tablet]

Germany: German Catholics Accept Papal Abortion Decree. By Imre Karacs. German bishops have agreed to stop issuing certificates licensing abortion. [The Independent]

Sri Lanka: Vatican Lifts Excommunication of Theologian. The Holy See has lifted the excommunication of Fr Tissa Balasuriya, the Sri Lankan theologian whose book Mary and Human Liberation was denounced as heretical. [The Tablet]

U.K.: Catholic Bishops Join Criticism of Millennium Dome. By Victoria Combe. Roman Catholic bishops have joined the growing opposition to the Millennium Dome, saying the Government was wrong to spend millions on "a big white elephant". [Daily Telegraph]

Vatican: Vatican Slams Large Landowners. The Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace has issued a 50-page document on land reform. The paper is entitled "Towards a better distribution of land: the challenge of agrarian reform". [The Tablet]

Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Bishops Speak Out on Land Reform. The bishops of Zimbabwe have urged their country's Government to implement "just and fair land reforms" during the expropriation of twelve and a half million acres of mostly white-owned land. [The Tablet]

See also Eisner Won't "Censor" Disney; Baptist Boycott Among Key '97 Stories, Vatican Fails to Mend Fences with Russian Orthodoxy, Egyptian Muslim Leader Condemns Terrorism

EASTERN CHRISTIAN

Russia: Vatican Fails to Mend Fences with Russian Orthodoxy. A new round of talks aimed at soothing tensions between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church ended in Moscow January 15 without agreement on a historic meeting between the Russian Patriarch and the Pope. [Reuters]

U.S.: Facing Modern Crisis, Greeks Mend Old Calendar Rift. By Norimitsu Onishi. The rivals, united by culture, are separated by 13 days – the difference between the Gregorian calendar, the one used throughout the Western world and accepted by the Greek Orthodox Church, and the old Julian calendar, to which a smaller movement of Orthodox traditionalists has clung. [The New York Times]

Episcopal – see Anglican

GENERAL

World Feature: The Second Reformation: North American Cell Churches Join New Worldwide Network. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. The missionaries are arriving, and they are eager to convert the natives to their tradition. Their tradition, though, is the cell church, and their mission field is North America. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

HINDU

India: Hindu Group To Block Christian Conversions. A powerful Hindu group has said that it will use its resources to stop the conversion to Christianity of native groups in northeastern India. [Catholic World News]

India: Forum Expresses Concern Over "Total Neglect" of Hindu Temples in Indian State. The Temple Worshippers' Forum, meeting in Tamil Nadu, expressed grave concern over the "total neglect'' of temples in the State and called for withdrawal of Government control over the affairs of the temples and other Hindu religious institutions. [The Hindu]

Malaysia: Hindu Legal Threat Forces Aerosmith CD Change. First the American Hindu Anti-defamation Coalition of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America lambasted Sony for the Aerosmith band's CD cover based on the traditional image of Lord Krishna dancing upon and subduing the multi-headed serpent Kaliya. Now Malaysian Hindus have entered into the dispute. [Hinduism Today]

See also Sonia Ghandi Apologizes for Indian Army's Attack Against Sikh Temple

ISLAMIC

India: Muslims Protest School Prayers to Images. India's Muslims protested in December against an order requiring that schoolchildren in Uttar Pradesh state pray to paintings, sculptures, and other depictions of "Mother India" because it violates their religious beliefs. [Catholic World News]

Turkey: Pro-Islamist Party Banned. By Chris Morris. The constitutional court in Turkey has decided to shut down the largest party in parliament – the Pro-Islamist Welfare Party. [BBC News]

Vatican: Egyptian Muslim Leader Condemns Terrorism. The grand Iman of Cairo has condemned "every form of terrorism" in a broadcast aired by Vatican Radio. [Catholic World News]

JEWISH

Israel: Identity Card Compromise Could Stem Jewish Conversion Crisis. By Naomi Segal. Israel's Orthodox Chief Rabbinate was slated to convene January 26 for what some Israeli legislators viewed as "make-or-break" deliberations on a recommended solution to the crisis over conversions performed in the Jewish state. [Jewish Telegraphic Agency]

See also Rabbi Says Judaism Does Not Forbid Human Cloning

LUTHERAN

South Africa: Pan African Anglican-Lutheran Commission Planned. By David Hamid. The establishment of a Pan African Anglican-Lutheran commission to work toward a relationship of full communion as a stage along the way to full visible unity was discussed in a consultation held in Johannesburg, South Africa in December. [Anglican Communion News Service]

U.S.: Lutherans and Episcopalians Take a Second Look at Proposal for Full Communion. Church leaders stressed clarity and candor in their advice to the teams charged with drafting a revised proposal for full communion between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and The Episcopal Church. [ELCA News]

U.S.: Lutheran Panel Says No to Black District Proposal. Echoing responses from Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod congregations in black ministry, a feasibility-study committee has recommended that the Synod's Board for Black Ministry Services "not pursue" creation of a non-geographical black-ministry district at this time. [LCMS News]

METHODIST

U.S.: Methodist Pastor Who Conducted Same-Sex Union Faces Church Trial. The Rev. Jimmy Creech of Omaha, Nebraska, who conducted a same-sex union ceremony last September, should face a church trial, an investigative committee has decided. [United Methodist News Service]

See also Physicist Richard Seed Ignites Methodist Debate on Cloning

Muslim – see Islamic

Orthodox Christian – see Eastern Christian

PAGAN

Benin: Voodoo Celebrations Held in Benin. The annual celebration of traditional religions attracted voodoo priests from around the world to Ouidah, Benin. [Religion Today]

U.K.: Pagans Look Forward to Green Burials in Milton Keynes. An environmental-friendly woodland burial could be offered to Milton Keynes residents as the city's cemeteries reach bursting point. [Pagan Central]

U.K.: Spiritualists Fight to Pardon Wartime Witch. By Clare Garner. British spiritualist mediums have launched a campaign to pardon a woman convicted of witchcraft in the Second World War. [The Independent]

See also Maes Howe – 300 Years Older Than We'd Thought

PENTECOSTAL–CHARISMATIC

Russia: Regional Officials Try to Improve Relations with Pentecostals. By Vadim Akentiev. Translated by Paul D. Steeves. At the end of December in the offices of the administration of Kemerovo region there was a meeting with pastors of several of the largest Kuzbass churches of Christians of the Evangelical Faith. [Radiotserkov]

REFORMED

U.S.: Reformed Classis and Seceded Church Agree on Settlement of Lawsuit. By Darrell Todd Maurina. After two years of church wrangling, a civil lawsuit, a heresy trial, defrocking of Rev. Richard Rhem on sexual misconduct charges, and massive media attention not only from local media but also the New York Times and ABC News, the Muskegon Classis of the Reformed Church in America and Christ Community Church of Spring Lake announced December 18 that they "have agreed to a settlement of all the issues in the dispute between them. [United Reformed News Service]

See also United Church of Christ Committee Issues Statement on Cloning

Roman Catholic – see Catholic

SIKH

India: Sonia Ghandi Apologizes for Indian Army's Attack Against Sikh Temple. By Harish Khare. Addressing an election rally at Chandigarh, Sonia Ghandi referred to the "June 6, 1984, events'' and observed that she "understood'' the hurt to the Sikh psyche; but, in the same breath added that her family was also "hurt''. [The Hindu]

United Church of Christ – see Reformed

ZOROASTRIAN

World: North American Zoroastrians Vote Down New World Council. The 22 associations constituting the Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America have voted down the motion that "FEZANA join the World Council of Zarathushti Federations as a founding member." [Zoroastrian News]

MAGAZINE MATTERS

Letters: Maes Howe – 300 Years Older Than We'd Thought [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

Editor's Note: Pangs of Rebirth [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

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January 1998