Articles Index

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INTERFAITH

Clergy React to Clinton Scandal

U.S.: Clergy Wrestle with Clinton Scandal. By Sudarsan Raghavan. On the first Sunday since President Clinton's revelations about his "inappropriate" behavior with Monica Lewinsky, religious leaders preached from their pulpits about the nation's moral health. [Philadelphia Inquirer]

U.S.: Should Rabbis Use Clinton Scandal to Talk About Jewish Morality? By Lori Eppstein. With an average two opinions per capita and plenty of arguments to go around, the Jewish community has never been accused of being too quiet – until now. [Jewish Bulletin of Northern California]

U.S.: Religious Leaders Respond to Continuing Clinton Investigation. The Rev. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches (NCC), is one among a group of religious leaders who have issued "A Pastoral Letter To The Nation" calling for forgiveness, healing and leadership so there can be "a return to the real needs of people." [National Council of Churches News Service]

Anglican Relations with Other Religious Groups

U.K.: Cardinal Voices Concern About Obstacles to Unity with Anglicans. By Ted Malone. Vatican official Edward Cardinal Cassidy addressed the Lambeth Conference in a homily in which he praised the concept of Christian unity but voiced the concern of the Roman Church that deviations in theological practice among local churches present a grave obstacle to reunion. [Lambeth Conference Communications]

U.K.: Nuns' Death Casts Shadow on Christian-Muslim Discussion. By E. T. Malone. News of the murder of three Roman Catholic nuns in an Islamic nation, The Yemen, prompted an unexpected moment of silence at the beginning of the Lambeth Conference's plenary on Christian-Muslim relations held Monday, July 27. [Lambeth Conference Communications]

U.K.: Anglicans Committed to Ecumenical Unity. By Allan Reeder. In its first plenary session to debate resolutions, the bishops recommitted the international Anglican church to journey towards "the full, visible unity of the Church as the goal of the Ecumenical Movement," and voted to strengthen the role of its own major ecumenical agency. [Lambeth Conference Communications]

U.K.: Lambeth Calls for Cooperation and Dialogue in Interfaith Relations. By Allen Reeder. The Lambeth Conference has set up a check-list to guide Anglicans who are living and working alongside members of other faiths. [Lambeth Conference Communications]

Jefferson Letter Dispute

U.S.: FBI Analyzes "Separation of Church and State" Letter. The FBI's crime lab has turned up new evidence in a 200-year-old mystery. Analysis of a letter from Thomas Jefferson has uncovered some corrections and changes, illustrating that Jefferson's pledge to separate church and state was made for reasons of political expediency. [Evangelical Press News Service]

U.S.: First Amendment Scholars Challenge Library of Congress Claims on Jefferson Letter. The latest twist involves a joint declaration to the Library of Congress signed by two dozen of the country's leading First Amendment scholars, taking issue with claims made in late July of this year, suggesting that Jefferson's motives in penning the famous communique were "political" rather than a reflection of his honest views concerning state-church separation. [American Atheists]

Israel: New Archaeological Find Could Revolutionize Jerusalem History. By Elaine Ruth Fletcher. New archaeological discoveries in the City of David area reveal that Jerusalem, a city revered as holy by Jews, Christians and Muslims, was first a major Canaanite fortress with a highly sophisticated water system at least 800 years before the biblical King David made it the capital of ancient Israel. [Religion News Service]

U.S.: Senators Told New Religious-Protection Act is Needed and Constitutional. By Jeremy Leaming. The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee took its turn in June to showcase arguments that the recently introduced Religious Liberty Protection Act of 1998 is both necessary and constitutional. [free!]

U.S.: Religious Groups Release Global Principles for Business. For the religious coalitions, doing business means more than watching the bottom line. [United Methodist News Service]

U.S.: Cloning Creates Divide Among World's Religions. By Hanna Rosin. The prospect of human cloning raises many complicated questions – of law, politics, regulation, science – but none more daunting than those facing theologians. [The Washington Post]

U.S.: Film Producers Consult Clergy on Animated Version of Moses. By Tom Tugend. DreamWorks decided to canvass the opinions of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious and academic leaders at each stage of the musical film's progress. [Jewish Telegraphic Agency]

U.S.: For Religious Groups, Global Warming is a Threat to "God's Earth". By Brad Knickerbocker. While the debate over global warming may be hotter than Hades among scientists and politicians, the issue has become an important part of theological teaching and organizational activism for growing numbers of clergy members and congregations. [The Christian Science Monitor]

BAHA'I

Reports of Iranian Execution

Australia: Fears for Safety of 15 Jailed Baha'is. By Diane Stott. The execution of a follower of the Baha'i faith in Iran has prompted international condemnation and raised fears for the lives of another 15 Baha'i prisoners. [Sydney Morning Herald]

Iran: President Defends Religious Freedom. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has made a ringing call for freedom of the press and religion as core principles of the Islamic republic. [Reuters]

U.K.: Iran Attacked for Hanging Follower of Peaceful Sect. By Judith Whelan. Iran has been accused of mounting a persecution campaign against members of the Baha'i sect, a peaceful religion which espouses racial and sexual equality. [The Electronic Telegraph]

Links to Other News Reports on Execution. [The Baha'i Faith Index]

U.S.: Group Avoids Baha'i Event. By Scott Travis and Laura Kinsler. The Fayetteville Human Relations Commission, a group whose mission is to improve race relations, has decided not to endorse a Race Unity Day that is sponsored by the local Baha'i congregation. [Fayetteville Observer-Times]

BUDDHIST

Australia: Special Monastery Established for Buddhist Nuns. This is the first monastery of this size in the world set up purely for the female Sangha. [Buddhayana Quarterly]

South Korea: Vandalized Buddhist Temples Bring Charges of Religious Intolerance. By Tom Welsh. Most South Koreans appear shocked at the suggestion that there are problems between the country's Christian and Buddhist communities. This surface impression was punctured in July when leaders of the Chogye Order, the country's largest Buddhist sect, issued a strongly worded statement decrying religious discrimination in South Korea. [Korean Herald]

Sri Lanka: Eminent Buddhist Monk Dies. A first-hand account of the funeral of the Most Venerable Balangoda Ananda Maitreya. [Bhuddayana Quarterly]

U.S.: County Denies Buddhists' Request to Build Monastery in California Town. By Jeremy Leaming. County lawmakers and residents of Chino, California, have blocked efforts of an American Buddhist sect from building a large monastery and worship center in a small rural neighborhood. [free!]

U.S.: Catholic School Can Refuse Buddhist Admission Over Vaccination. A Catholic parochial school is not required to admit a 14-year-old Buddhist girl who cited religious beliefs in refusing required vaccinations, a New Jersey judge has ruled. [Catholic World News]

CHRISTIAN AND OTHER CHURCHES

Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration

U.S.: Lutheran World Federation Approves Agreement with Roman Catholics. The Joint Declaration ends 400 years of condemnations on the principal doctrinal dispute of the Reformation. [Evangelical Lutheran Church in America News]

U.S.: Lutherans and Catholics Mend a Half-Millenium Rift. By David Van Biema. In July – after 457 years, several disastrous religious wars and dozens of denominational splits – Edward Cardinal Cassidy announced Vatican approval, with some caveats, of a Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, toward which Catholic and Lutheran theologians have been toiling since 1967. [Time]

Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification [Lutheran World Federation]

Response of the Catholic Church to the Joint Declaration [The Nazareth Resource Library]

World: A House Divided: Gay and Ex-Gay Anglicans React to Resolutions on Homosexuality. By Heather Elizabeth Peterson. Last summer, the Episcopal Church nearly approved a resolution that would have have allowed the denomination to develop blessings for same-sex unions. This summer's Anglican discussion on homosexuality was very different. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

India: Delhi Churches Face Declassification Over Altar Wine. The government of the Delhi union territory, led by the Hindu fundamentalist party, the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), is considering removing Christian churches from the official list of places of worship. [Ecumenical News International]

Jordan: World Oldest Christian Church Found? A basilica recently unearthed in the Red Sea resort town of Aqaba may be the oldest church in the world, according to archaeologists. [Evangelical Press News Service]

U.K.: Irish Church Leaders Congratulated on "Integrity" During Ulster Troubles. By Edmund Doogue. Two of Europe's leading church organizations, the Conference of European Churches and the Council of European (Catholic) Bishops Conferences, have written to the leaders of Irish churches and ecumenical organizations congratulating them on their "integrity" during recent threats to the Northern Ireland peace process. [Ecumenical News International]

U.K.: Britain's Millenium Resolution Never Intended to Be a Christian Prayer. By E. T. Malone, Jr. The Millennium Resolution calls on the British public to make a new start in the year 2000, but it does not mention God because it is not a prayer, its ecumenical authors declare. [Lambeth Conference Communications]

U.K.: Salvation Army Prepares to March to a Different Tune. By Ruth Gledhill. The Salvation Army is considering far-reaching changes to its image and organisation because most people still think of it as a uniformed corps characterised by singing and brass bands. [The Times]

U.S.: Debate Between Gay and Ex-Gay Christians Intensifies. By Ron Goldwyn. The debate spattered into a new dimension in July with full-page ads in many newspapers calling homosexuality a "sexual sin" that could be changed by prayer. [Philadelphia Daily News]

U.S.: Methodist Prohibition Against Performing Homosexual Unions Ruled Enforceable. The United Methodist Church's highest judicial council has ruled that ministers who conduct "ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions" are liable to be brought to church trial. [United Methodist News Service]

U.S.: Eastern-rite Catholic Church Set to Ordain Married Men. The American leaders of the Byzantine-rite Ruthenian Catholic Church have announced their plans to resume ordaining married men to the priesthood. That decision, based on the traditions of the Byzantine Church, may cause a showdown between Eastern-rite Catholics and the Vatican. [Catholic World News]

U.S.: Moravians Vote for Full Communion with Evangelical Lutherans. The synod of the Northern Province of the Moravian Church voted August 9 to approve a proposal establishing full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the largest Lutheran group in the United States. [Evengelical Lutheran Church in America News]

U.S.: Index Traces Origins of Thousands of Hymns. By Tara Burghart. Religious reformer Martin Luther is often credited for hymns he didn't compose. That's the kind of mistake that upset Nicholas Temperley, a musicologist at the University of Illinois. So he spent 16 years documenting the origins of more than 150,000 British and American hymns. [Associated Press]

U.S.: Non-Political Amish Discover the Fruits of Lobbying. By Brett Lieberman. Faced with a threat to what they consider one of their most important principles, the Amish, who typically avoid political matters, are quietly – and somewhat successfully – lobbying Congress for the right to put their children to work in family-owned sawmills and other businesses the federal government deems too hazardous. [Religion News Service]

U.S.: Evangelical Universities Question Orthodox Conversions. By Scott A. Swanson. As Orthodoxy has gained a more visible presence within evangelical colleges and seminaries, new questions have surfaced on whether Orthodox teachings are in conflict with evangelical statements of faith.[Christianity Today]

Vatican: Pope Gets Tough on Dissenters. By Sebastien Berger. The Vatican has taken a tough stand in an effort to quell dissenters in the Roman Catholic Church. [The Electronic Telegraph]

Ad Tuendam Fidem [Catholic Information Network]

Explanatory Note on Motu Proprio Ad Tuendam Fidem [Vatican Information Service]

See also Vandalized Buddhist Temples Bring Charges of Religious Intolerance, Catholic School Can Refuse Buddhist Admission Over Vaccination, Mayor Appoints Atheist Chaplain, Ball Team Rejects Atheist's Complaint of "Church Bulletin" Night, Christians and Muslims Meet to Ease Tensions, Auschwitz Crosses Spark Crisis, Ecumenical Gathering Looks at Native American Spiritual Heritage, Ecumenical Organization Supports Protection of Native American Sacred Sites, Christian Fish Symbol Has Local Witches Feeling Hunted, Little Fish Makes Big Splash in Bible-Belt Town, Protestant Pastors Arrested After Illegal Protest at Vodou Ceremonial Site, Witches May Be Next for Catholic Apology

HINDU

India: Hindu Pilgrimage Site to be Rebuilt. A comprehensive plan to modernize Sabarimala has been announced. [Hinduism Today]

See also Delhi Churches Face Declassification Over Altar Wine, Taoists and Hindus Establish Co-Temple

HUMANIST–ATHEIST

U.K.: Mayor Appoints Atheist Chaplain. By Lucy Lawrence. A man who does not believe in God has been appointed chaplain to a London mayor. [This Is London]

U.S.: Ball Team Rejects Atheist's Complaint of "Church Bulletin" Night. A minor league baseball team affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays says that it will reject a state civil rights commission suggestion to stop promoting a discount to fans who bring church bulletins to Sunday home games. Carl Silverman, a state-church separation activist from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania had originally protested the so-called "Church Bulletin Day" promo in April. [American Atheists]

ISLAMIC

Canada: Muslim Community Prays for Victims of Bombings. By Nathan Vardi. In his first-ever sermon to the community, Ottawa's Imam said that humanity needs to learn to overcome grievances with common sense and not emotion. [The Ottawa Citizen]

Czech Republic: First Czech Mosque Opens. By Ray Furlong. The opening of the mosque comes after several years of campaigning by the city's Muslim community for a place of worship which met with considerable local opposition. [BBC News]

Pakistan: Christians and Muslims Meet to Ease Tensions. By Gerard O'Connell. Christians and Muslim religious leaders in Pakistan have taken steps to ease tensions between the two communities after Bishop John Joseph took his own life on 6 May in protest against the country's blasphemy laws. [The Tablet]

Turkey: Islamic Women Turn to Wigs to Avoid Ban. Sales of shoulder-length, synthetic wigs have shot up as Turkish Islamist female students try to cover their hair without breaching a university ban on Islamic-style headscarves. [Reuters]

Turkey: New Law Regulates Mosques. The Turkish news agency, Anatolia, has released details of a new law designed to give the state tighter control over Islamic practice. [BBC News]

U.K.: Liverpool Allows Muslim School. The Muslim-dominated area of Granby will have a community school that will allow Islamic prayers as well as prayers for all faiths. [Islamic Voice]

U.S.: Muslims Challenge Bias in Workplace. By Jan Ferris. When Mohammad Sajid lost his fast-food job for refusing to shave his beard – to him, a symbol of religious devotion – the Sacramento man decided to fight back, first through a Muslim advocacy group, then via state channels.The plight of the Pakistani-born Sajid is one of 284 incidents detailed in a new report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. [The Sacramento Bee]

JEWISH

World: Chief Rabbi Asks Lithuania to Transfer Torahs to Israel. By Lev Krichevsky. Israel's chief Ashkenazi rabbi has asked Lithuania to transfer dozens of Torah scrolls to the Jewish state. [Jewish Telegraphic Agency]

Poland: Auschwitz Crosses Spark Crisis. By Ruth E. Gruber. A growing forest of more than 130 crosses placed near the gates of Auschwitz has sparked a new crisis in the perpetually strained relations between Poles and Jews. [Jewish Telegraphic Agency]

U.S.: Reform Conference to Re-examine Jewish Descent. By Debra Nussbaum Cohen. Fifteen years after adopting one of its most controversial policies, the Reform movement is taking another look at "patrilineal descent." [Jewish Telegraphic Agency]

U.S.: Scientists Affirm Inheritance of Jewish Priesthood Designation. By Malcolm Ritter. Scientists have found fresh genetic evidence that Jews who consider themselves part of the priestly class known as Cohanim really are part of an unbroken line extending back thousands of years. [Associated Press]

U.S.: Orthodox "Yale Four" to Appeal Judge's Dismissal of Suit. By John Woods. A U.S. District Court judge in Hartford has determined that Yale University's policy requiring some students to live in coed dormitories does not violate federal housing and antitrust laws. Judge Alfred V. Covello ruled in favor of Yale's motion to dismiss the case – brought against Yale last year by four Orthodox Jewish students. [Connecticut Jewish Ledger]

NATIVE AMERICAN

U.S.: Ecumenical Gathering Looks at Native American Spiritual Heritage. By Robert Lear. About 50 persons from the United States and Canada joined May 28-30 in an ecumenical effort to "move beyond the edges" of organized religious structures. [United Methodist News Service]

U.S.: Ecumenical Organization Supports Protection of Native American Sacred Sites. A new resource published by the National Council of Churches details an emerging conflict – the rights of Indigenous Peoples in the United States to protect their sacred sites versus government and private intrusions on the land. [National Council of Churches News Service]

U.S.: Old Bones Open New Divisions. By Mike Lee. Northwest tribal leaders say Kennewick Man is an ancestor of theirs and should be reburied without study in accord with ancient tribal religious beliefs. The Asatru, a pre-Christian religious group, also claim the bones might be related to them. [Tri-City Herald]

NEW AGE

U.S.: Spiritualist Looks for Mainstream Acceptance. By Hunter T. George. For a decade, lost souls have paid to enter JZ Knight's palatial fortress to learn from Ramtha, the 35,000-year-old warrior she claims to "channel," to find God within themselves. Now, after years in seclusion from bad press and ridicule, Knight is emerging and seems to be searching for something herself: acceptance from the religious and academic worlds outside. [Associated Press]

PAGAN

Druids at Stonehenge

U.K.: Druids Coming Home to Stonehenge. Druid and pagan groups are to be allowed back in to Stonehenge for their first summer solstice ceremony in a decade, English Heritage announced in June. [BBC News]

U.K.: Sun Fails to Show for Stonehenge Solstice. By Sean O'Neill. Druidry's most triumphant moment for a decade, the return to Stonehenge on the summer solstice after years of exclusion, was blighted in June when the most important guest failed to show. [The Electronic Telegraph]

Protest Against Christian Fish Symbol

U.S.: Christian Fish Symbol Has Local Witches Feeling Hunted. By John Rogers. The harmless-looking little Christian fish symbol adorning Republic's city seal has brought hatred and harassment to the small southwestern Missouri town, a federal lawsuit claims. [Associated Press]

U.S.: Little Fish Makes Big Splash in Bible-Belt Town. By Laurie Goodstein. Someone complained about the fish to the American Civil Liberties Union, and in February the organization sent a letter asking the mayor to delete the fish from the logo because the fish was "unmistakably identified with Christianity." [The New York Times]

Australia: Practising Pagans Land in Hot Water. By David Murray. The depth of paganism in Australia was "grossly underestimated", the coordinator of a controversial pagan conference said in July. [Courier Mail]

Haiti: Protestant Pastors Arrested After Illegal Protest at Vodou Ceremonial Site. The spokesman of Haitian National Police has reported the arrest of three Protestant pastors accused of making disturbances at the historic site of Bois Caiman. [Agence Haitienne de Presse]

Lithuania: Pagans Appeal for Acceptance. A gathering of pagans has called for pagan unity around the world and appealed for greater tolerance of their beliefs. [Associated Press]

U.S.: Wiccans Give Presentation to Interfaith Council. By Star. A first-hand account of the presentation. [Pagan Life]

U.S.: ACLU Asks Judge to Allow Wiccan to Perform Marriages in Virginia. The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia has asked a Fairfax County Circuit Court judge to reconsider his decision not to permit Rosemary Kooiman to perform marriages because she is a Wiccan. [American Civil Liberties Union]

Vatican: Witches May Be Next for Catholic Apology. By Phillip Willan. The Pope might soon add witches and heretics to the list of groups against which the Roman Catholic Church has sinned. [The Age]

See also Old Bones Open New Divisions

SIKH

India: Sikh Leader Demands Relief for Delhi Riot Victims. Mr. Gurcharan Singh Tohra demanded compensation and damages to the victims of the November 1984 riots in Delhi in the wake of Indira Gandhi's assassination and also a series of measures relating to the wearing of turbans by the Sikhs. [The Hindu]

U.K.: Police Say Sorry over "Insult" to Sikh Leaders. Two Sikh Priests were forced to hand over to police officers their Kirpans – short, curved ceremonial daggers, worn as religious symbols – which were mistaken for offensive weapons. [Daily Mail]

TAOIST

Singapore: Taoists and Hindus Establish Co-Temple. Since the 1930s, devotees have worshiped together and preached that the "Gods are friends." [Hinduism Today]

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST

U.S.: Unitarians and Boy Scouts Come into Conflict Over Homosexuality. By Holly J. Lebowitz. The Boy Scouts of America has told the Unitarian Universalist Association, a progressive Protestant denomination with roots in colonial Puritanism, to stop giving its Religion in Life award to Unitarian scouts. [Religion News Service]

ZOROASTRIAN

U.S.: Zoroastrian Heritage Center Opens in Houston. By Aban Rustomji. Zarathushtis from Houston and many other places gathered at Houston's Zarathusti Heritage and Cultural Center on April 10 to celebrate its inauguration. [FEZANA Journal]

HOMETOWN NEWS

Greenbelt: Mishkan Torah Chooses New Rabbi; Greenbelt Baptist Pastor Resigns. News briefs. [Greenbelt Interfaith News]

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June 1998