wfn.org | Episcopalians: News Briefs

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September 18, 2002

2002-216

Episcopalians: News Briefs

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 held 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 Holtan 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. 

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