Religious affiliations in the U.S. Congress.... Earlier this year, the May, 2000 issue of theSigns of the Times Magazine reported that 150 members of the current Congress say they are Roman Catholics. That is followed by 72 Baptists, 65 Methodists, 49 Presbyterians, 41 Episcopalians, 37 Jews, 29 nondenominational Protestant, 20 Lutherans, 15 Mormons, and 8 United Church of Christ.Catholics voting Republican...The past few decades have seen changes in voting patterns. Many are basing their party affiliation on their religious views rather than traditional political allegiances. The last Presidential election demonstrated this. Those Catholics who are religiously active are moving away from traditional voting patterns. The Bush campaign designated Catholics as a key target constituency in the last presidential election. The Republican National Committee made a deliberate effort to identify key Catholic voters and communicate with them regarding their views prior to the presidential election. As a result, of 42% of U.S. Catholics who say they attend Mass at least once a week, George W. Bush got 55 percent of the vote, in contrast to Al Gore's 42%.December 11, 2001 Washington Times--Reported that Christmas is getting too "religious" for many schools around the country. A Frederick County, Maryland school employee was told by an adminstrator that employees would be prohibited from handing out Christmas cards in the school because cards with a Christian message "may not be a legally protected right on a public school campus". A fourth grader in Ephrata, Pennsylvania was prohited from handing out religious Christmas cards to classmates. Two middle school students in Rochester, Minn., were disciplined for wearing red and green scarves in a Christmas skit and for ending the skit by saying, "We hope you all have a merry Christmas." Two ninth-graders in Plymouth, Mass., were told they could not create Christmas cards that say "Merry Christmas or depict a nativity scene. A teacher in Plymouth, Ill., was warned by her principal not to read a book about Christmas to her second-grade students. The book was in the school's library. The superintendent of the Silverton, Ore., school district had students remove all "religious" holiday decorations from their lockers but allowed secular decorations. In some areas, nativity scenes are not allowed but Muslim and Jewish decorations are allowed.National IDs: One way or the other...Although their plans differ, both Oracle's Ellison and
Sun's McNealy are championing an abuse-proof, forgery-proof
ID spec. Problem is, critics have twisted their message.
http:
//clickthru.online.com/Click?q=cb-CjcIQJscc7zA0qDxcSBRefPSA young man was not allowed to board a commercial airline flight because of a paperback book he was reading while trying to go through security and board the plane. Yes, it happened in Philadelphia, not some communist country, and it happened this year--October 10th to be exact. While nobody can deny that security factors need to be considered, where is the line between a person's right to free expression and freedom to travel, and the government's right to secure the public? See the story here.
In light of recent events, this article from last May will be interesting. Isn't this reminiscent of the treatment of Jews in pre-WWII Germany? ArcaMax Weird News for Wednesday May 23, 2001... Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia reportedly plans to impose a dress code that'll separate Muslim and non-Muslims living under its control. The Afghan Islamic Press quoted Moulvi Mohammad Wali, in charge of Taliban police, saying the militia was considering a separate dress code for the minorities. Hindus would be required to wear yellow clothing and hang 2-meter-long yellow cloth strips from their homes so they can be easily identified. Hindu men would also be required to wear turbans, while women will be required to wear yellow shawls in public. The planned decree also said that Hindus and Muslims cannot live in a house together. All Muslims living in the houses of Hindus and Hindus living in the houses of Muslims have been ordered to leave the houses within three days.
As recently as five years ago, there were about 50,000 Hindus and Sikhs in Afghanistan. But many moved to India and Pakistan after the Taliban came to power in the country.PEEM, Nov 14th, 2001
Ole Kendel, president of the Adventist Church's Pakistan Union Section, said "the government has offered police protection to all churches and the reports from our pastors in the various villages say that police guards are in place outside our church buildings during all meetings." All Seventh-day Adventist international personnel were withdrawn from Pakistan in September, following advice from Pakistani authorities who continue to maintain that any expatriate presence poses a danger to the local communities.
"Our community is under siege," said Nazir Michael, pastor of Quetta's
Adventist Church, quoted in the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
report. "We are citizens of Pakistan, but they say our Bible is tainted.
We have to lower our eyes and tolerate this, or we'll be in trouble." According to Kendel, who is in regular contact with Adventist church leaders in Pakistan, the intimidation and daily fear among all Christians in the country has increased, especially for the many who live in well-defined areas of villages called the "Christian Colony" or "Christian Town."
Russia'a First Christian Media Summit
Religious groups must provide the Russian public with better information about themselves and their activities, said Anatoly Krasikov, keynote speaker for Russia's first Christian mass media summit. Journalists, publishers and broadcasters representing Protestant and Russian Orthodox groups gathered in St. Petersburg last month. After three days of presentations and dialogue, participants decided to organize a Christian media network in order to increase awareness of religious concerns throughout Russia. The Association of Christian Churches in Russia (ACCR) sponsored the event, which was attended by professionals from Russia, Europe, and North America.
Keynote speaker Krasikov is a former associate director of TASS, the main
news agency of the former Soviet Union. Seventh-day Adventists
participating in the summit included a magazine editor, a television
broadcaster, and communication leaders from Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova.
BBC "Indian Christians form political party"
NOV 16, 2001: SDAs join other Christians in the north Indian state of
Punjab, where Sikhs form the majority, to create their own political party
to give the minority Christian population an independent voice through
political representation.
HIRONDELLE NEWS AGENCY "Pastor-Son Genocide Trial Adjourned to January"
NOV 5, 2001: The genocide trial of Seventh Day Adventist pastor Elizaphan
Ntakirutimana and his son Gerald Ntakirutimana at the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) adjourned until January 14th, 2001.
Full story link here.
BBC (Sydney AUS) "Schools ban Potter 'occult' books"
Nov. 28, 2001: Australian Seventh-Day Adventist schools have banned Harry
Potter books from their classrooms.
Full story link here.
RELIEF WEB "ADRA and UNICEF build classrooms in Peru"
Nov. 20, 2001: United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and
the Adventist Development and Relief Agency are joining forces to construct
60 classrooms in Peru. Link to full story at here.
HARRY POTTER CREATES CONTROVERSY
Melbourne, Australia .... [Bruce Manners/ANN] A Seventh-day Adventist school's stand on the well-known Harry Potter books has captured national and international media attention. The Nunawading Adventist Primary School and adjoining college, Melbourne, Australia, do not have Harry Potter books in their library, and children at the primary school are not permitted to bring them to school.
While they are not the only schools to have these restrictions, they were singled out after a parent contacted an Australian Broadcasting Corporation talk-back radio program to complain. He was reacting to a school newsletter he had received that reported on two information meetings with parents about Harry Potter. During the meetings, the schools' chaplain, Sue Beament, expressed concern about the interest in Harry Potter with the film coming out.
"Our aim was to make parents aware that there were two sides to the story," says Beament. "We wanted parents to think about what kids watch and read, and work out what they should do in their families." On talk-back radio, the school was accused of banning the books because they thought them satanic. Beament defended the schools' position on air. "Within five minutes of going off air, the ABC's Midday [radio] program called for an interview," says Beament. "The phones went mad. Other schools phoned and people rang to congratulate us for speaking out. Then the media circus began. "They grilled us," says Beament. "Had we banned Harry Potter? Weren't we depriving the children? Wasn't the decision archaic?"
Beament, who has read the Harry Potter books, says that J. K. Rowlings is a brilliant writer. But, she adds that, unlike C. S. Lewis in his Narnia series, Rowlings has no higher power to call on for good. Harry Potter decides what is right and wrong. "Take the Christian viewpoint away, and there are still other concerns," she says referring to the increasing darkness of the books and the issue of revenge.
John Hammond, education director for the church in Australia, says, "We haven't banned students from having the books, but we've asked that Harry Potter not be placed in our libraries. We have a literature code for library books and that covers the obscene and occult. Any practice that attracts children toward the occult will not have our support. We encourage creativity and the use of imagination, but if it's going to attract the use of witchcraft we can't support it in our system." He adds that the Nunawading school took an individual action and was courageous to hold meetings before the launch of the film "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."
While the response within the media has tended to be negative, both schools have been surprised by the positive public response they have received. "We've had overwhelming support and messages of support from parents and schools for taking a stand like this," reports Hammond. "This has not hurt the school system at all."
(For different perspectives on the Harry Potter series, see the Adventist
Review's special feature at http:www.adventistreview.org/2001-1547/story5.html.)
[Source: Adventist News Network]
Summarized from PONY EXPRESS E-MAIL MINISTRY INTERNATIONAL, December 5, 2001, Vol. 5, Issue 264
