wfn.org | Episcopalians: News Briefs

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

August 9, 2002

2002-190

Episcopalians: News Briefs

Peace agreement offers fragile hope for peace in the Sudan

(ENS) On July 20 the government of the Sudan and the main 
opposition party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, signed 
an agreement that offers the first glimpse of peace after 
several decades of a devastating civil war that has claimed the 
lives of an estimated two million people and forced another four 
million to abandon their homes.

"The Machakos Protocol represents a significant step toward 
peace in Sudan," said the Rev. Harum Ruun of the New Sudan 
Council of Churches. "We encourage the parties to involve their 
people in understanding and feeling ownership of the protocol 
and future agreements."

The protocol tackles such thorny issues as the separation of 
religion and the state (the north is Islamic and the south is a 
mixture of Christians and animists) and includes the right to 
self-determination by the people in the south. But there was no 
agreement on how to share income from the oil fields, many of 
them in the south. A second round of talks in Kenya will address 
continuing issues. A key component in the agreement calls for a 
referendum within six years.

Since the protocol is not a comprehensive cease-fire, the 
fighting continues and some reports claimed that the government 
was still attacking villages in the south. "We are optimistic 
that, in the long term, can bring a halt to the tragedy of the 
civil war and make a real difference to the lives of the 
Sudanese people," said Dan Silvey, senior policy officer for 
Christian Aid. 

Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey said that he was 
"pleased and encouraged by the recent progress that has been 
made towards peace in Sudan. Any durable resolution of the 
conflict will need to deal honestly with such issues as 
religious freedom for all and self-determination, and I am 
heartened that this reality has been embraced by those involved 
in the negotiations." Carey has made several high-profile visits 
to Sudan to express his support for the suffering Christian 
community in the south.

Attacks on Christians in Pakistan continue

(ENS) Recent attacks on a Christian school and a missionary 
hospital in predominantly Muslim Pakistan are being interpreted 
by some as part of an intentional campaign against Christianity.

Minister of Information Nisar Memon called the latest 
killings "a sinister attempt to drive a wedge between the Muslim 
and Christian communities of Pakistan." Some observers said that 
the attacks stem from the support of President Pervez Musharraf 
for the international war against terrorism led by the United 
States.

During one attack five unidentified gunmen stormed the gates 
of a school for the children of missionaries in the Himalayan 
foothills north of Islamabad. That attack killed at least six 
people, most of them on the staff.

Three Pakistani nurses were killed by grenades tossed into a 
crowd of women leaving a missionary hospital chapel in Taxila. 
Police were investigating possible connections between the two 
attacks, only 38 miles apart.

The Taxila Christian Hospital has been affiliated with the 
Presbyterian churches of Pakistan and the United States, 
receiving occasional funding from the Americans, Swedes and 
Germans. Hospital officials said that the hospital was probably 
regarded as a foreign target, one that is linked to the 
Christian west. "I think this is a matter of sadness for our 
country," said administrator Joseph Lall. "It will cause 
fear--especially among the Christians. We feel trapped."

Anglican bishop of Lahore in the Church of Pakistan, 
Alexander John Malik, said that security was being reviewed at 
other Christian sites and institutions as a result of the 
attacks. He said that if the Islamic militants "think that by 
targeting us they might change the policies of America and 
England they are mistaken."

The militants are likely connected with the armed groups 
fighting the guerilla war against India over the disputed 
territory of Kashmir. 

Church leaders in Angola call for help in rebuilding after 
civil war

(ENI) Prominent church leaders in Angola are calling for help in 
rebuilding the southern African nation after a disastrous 
27-year civil war. "The great superpowers acknowledge that our 
country has been destroyed but they don't want to acknowledge 
their role in destroying it," said the Rev. Daniel Ntoni-Nzinga, 
a Baptist pastor who serves as executive secretary of the 
Inter-Church Committee for Peace in Angola.

While the war began among factions fighting for control after 
independence from Portugal in 1975, it soon became a proxy 
contest of the Cold War with Cuba and the Soviet Union backing 
the government and the United States and South Africa backing 
the rebels.  The war stopped abruptly when rebel leader Jonas 
Savimbi was killed last February and the rebels were integrated 
into Angolan society after a cease-fire was signed in April.

The United Nations considers Angola the worst humanitarian 
crisis in the world with serious food shortages and four million 
people displaced, almost a third of the total population. Many 
donor nations have been slow to respond to appeals for emergency 
assistance because of lingering concerns about corruption. The 
government has refused to release information on its oil income 
to the International Monetary Fund while it continues to request 
loans from the IMF. 

"If we don't manage this humanitarian crisis well, we'll just 
be planting seeds for the next conflict," Ntoni-Nzinga said. "We 
need the world's help." He said that foreign companies 
contributing to the corruption "should be punished both in 
Angola and in their own country."

Survey finds many Church of England clergy doubt Resurrection 
and Virgin Birth

(Telegraph) A new survey reveals that a third of clergy in the 
Church of England express doubts about the Resurrection and only 
about half believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus. The poll of 
2,000 of the church's 10,000 clergy also found that about half 
believe that faith in Christ is the only route to salvation.

The survey, conducted by Christian Research, did reveal more 
orthodox beliefs on some of the other core doctrines of the 
church. More than 75 percent, for example, accept the doctrine 
of the Trinity and a similar percentage believe that Christ died 
to take away the sins of the world. More than 80 percent 
subscribed to the belief that God the Father created the world.

Cost of Conscience, the conservative organization that 
commissioned the survey, was quick to interpret the results. 
"There are clearly two churches operating in the Church of 
England--the believing church and the disbelieving church, and 
that is a scandal," said the Rev. Robbie Low. "Increasingly, 
positions of authority are being placed in the hands of people 
who believe less and less. It is an intolerable situation where 
the faithful are increasingly being led by the unfaithful."

In other findings, the survey showed that a quarter of the 
clergy still described themselves as "implacably opposed" to 
women bishops.

The Rev. Nicholas Henderson, general secretary of the liberal 
Modern Churchpeople's Union, said that he was not surprised by 
the results. He said that clergy, faced with intelligent and 
educated congregations, increasingly had to think "very 
carefully" about how to present complex doctrine in a credible 
way.

Bishop of Pennsylvania suspends conservative rector

(ENS) Bishop Charles Bennison, Jr. of Pennsylvania has 
"inhibited" or suspended the Rev. David Moyer, rector of Church 
of the Good Shepherd in suburban Philadelphia and a prominent 
"traditionalist" leader at the national level.

In a five-page letter the bishop asked to be read in the 
congregations, Bennison said that some have erroneously depicted 
the suspension "as prejudicial with regard to those of a 
conservative theology. Nothing could be further from the truth." 
The letter explained that Moyer would be defrocked September 4 
unless he submits to the authority of the bishop and allows him 
to visit the parish. Moyer expressed anger and defiance and said 
that he expects to be defrocked and predicted that the diocese 
would pursue legal efforts to seize the property. 

Moyer is president of Forward in Faith and his name has been 
proposed as a possible candidate for election to the episcopate 
by that organization which is opposed to what it perceives as 
liberal trends in the church, including the ordination of women 
and homosexuals.

"Our goal is to keep the conversation within the community," 
said the Rev. Meg Cave, speaking for the diocese, "The bishop's 
job is to build bridges within the community."

Liberia's Cuttington University College appoints new 
president

(ENS) The board of trustees for Cutting University College in 
Liberia has appointed Dr. Henrique F. Topka as president, 
succeeding Dr. Melvin Mason who has retired. Topka is the former 
vice president for administration. The appointment was announced 
by Bishop Edward Neufville, bishop of the Episcopal Church of 
Liberia and president of the board, at ceremonies in the capital 
city of Monrovia marking the 41st commencement convocation.

The college was forced to abandon its campus last May in the 
face of renewed fighting in the country's civil war. Although no 
one was killed or injured, the rebel forces looted the campus 
and heavily damaged many of the buildings. The college set up 
temporary facilities in Monrovia and finished the academic year 
with graduation ceremonies for about 86 students on July 28. It 
was the first graduating class since the campus reopened in 
October 1998. 

The college was forced to close in 1990 when it had 900 
students on campus. The rebels stripped the campus clean and the 
school was just beginning to recover when the latest round of 
fighting forced the students and faculty to flee for their 
lives. 

Mason served as fifth president of Cuttington, beginning in 
February of 1988 until his retirement at the end of July. The 
college is the second oldest institution of higher learning in 
the nation and its graduates have assumed positions of high 
leadership during a turbulent era. Because of its location near 
the center of the country, it has been deeply affected by the 
civil war. 

------