wfn.org | Episcopalians: News Briefs

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

March 7, 2003

2003-052

Episcopalians: News Briefs

Episcopal bishops express concerns about impending war with Iraq

(ENS) Episcopal bishops across the country have, in a variety of 
ways, addressed the issue of an impending war with Iraq and the 
implications for people in the region.

Bishop William Persell of Chicago, for example, used his Ash 
Wednesday homily at St. James Cathedral to call for the nation 
to repent its sin of arrogance and put more effort into seeking 
peace and justice. At a time when the government pleads scarcity 
of funds for health care, education, and the environment, he 
said, there appear to be unlimited funds "for buying allies, for 
weapons and for deployment of an expensive missile system that 
has not been proven to even work." He noted that those who 
choose to question a war with Iraq are often belittled. "If we 
cannot convince other nations that we are right, we threaten 
them or seek to buy their support," he said.

"We may not be able to stop a war on Iraq," Persell said. "But 
we also cannot walk away, turn our attentions, try to ignore 
what is happening in our name" because by virtue of our baptism 
we are called and equipped "to work for peace, justice, 
integrity and truth."

Bishop Vincent Warner of Olympia said, in a pastoral letter read 
in the parishes, that he had encountered on a trip to San Diego 
groups of soldiers "carrying all their belongings as they headed 
out for plane rides to take them to Germany and then on to being 
deployed. They were leaving family and friends. They looked 
apprehensive and unsure. And I thought, some of these young 
people may die. I have sat with commanders and the enlisted at 
bases in our region and my heart goes out to all those who serve 
in our armed forces and to their loved ones."

Warner reminded the diocese that "all life is precious, even 
Saddam Hussein's. We must remember that the innocent children 
and citizens of Iraq are not our enemies and do need our 
prayers. No one should have to dieand yet we are called to make 
momentous decisions involving war and peace, the balancing of 
noble goals, including the protection of all we hold near and 
dear, against the possible human cost of war, the loss of 
thousands of innocent souls." He urged church members "to join 
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold in his call to President Bush to 
exhaust all diplomatic and multilateral initiatives as the 
alternative to waging war," arguing that "we must never give up 
the hope that peace will prevail.

Bishop Peter James Lee of Virginia told his diocese that 
"Christians have a bias for peace and peace-making. We continue 
to pray that the nations of the world may find a peaceful way to 
remove the threat of weapons of mass destruction from Iraq. We 
have many people in our diocese working for such an 
outcome--beginning with the Secretary of State, General Colin 
Powell, a faithful member of St. John's Church, McLean. We 
support them with our prayers."

While the church "upholds our leaders and our military in our 
prayers, in a fallen world we understand that one of the 
responsibilities of international leadership is to name the 
threats to peace and to participate in removing them by 
diplomacy if possible, by measured, necessary force as a last 
resort," Lee wrote.

Packard reminds staff that Episcopal chaplains involved in any 
war with Iraq

(ENS) Bishop George Packard, in charge of the Episcopal Church's 
chaplaincies, reminded a "community gathering" of staff at the 
Episcopal Church Center that the impending war with Iraq will 
involve not only Episcopal soldiers but a number of chaplains. 
He reported that there are seven Episcopal chaplains on regular 
assignment and 20 who have been activated, drawn into what he 
described as "the vulnerability of war."

On a recent visit to Camp Pendleton in California, he said that 
the parking lots were empty because of recent mobilizations. 
"The Episcopal Church will go to war" because of the chaplains 
who will accompany the troops. Inviting his colleagues to light 
a candle in the chapel at the church center for all those who 
are facing the uncertainty and anxiety of war, Packard said that 
"we are all bound together in this terrible moment of history" 
where no one knows what will happen.

Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold echoed Packard's remarks when 
he said that conversations he had with other Anglican primates 
at the recent enthronement of the new archbishop of Canterbury 
demonstrated a "very deep concern on the affect of war in their 
various parts of the world." 

A church leader from Pakistan told Griswold that the Christian 
churches in his country are called "Bush churches," underscoring 
the potential danger of viewing a war in Iraq as one between 
Muslims and the Christian West. "Seeing the siblings of 
Abraham--the Muslims, Christians and Jews--pitted against each 
other must deeply sadden God's heart," Griswold told the staff.

War in Middle East could have devastating consequences for 
Africa

(ENS) African advocacy groups have sent letters to the 
ambassadors of African nations on the United Nations Security 
Council, warning that a war in the Middle East could have 
devastating economic and political consequences for the 
countries of the continent. 

The letters to the ambassadors of Guinea, Cameroon and Angola 
urge the African states to stand firm against pressures from the 
United States and Britain and seek an alternative to war and a 
peaceful solution to the crisis. "As African-American leaders 
and activists we urgently call upon your governments to stand 
firm against the efforts by the United States, Britain and Spain 
to undermine the work of the United Nations' weapons inspectors 
now working in Iraq and to initiate a war against Iraq," the 
letters said. The letters were initiated by Africa Action and 
TransAfrica Forum.

The letters noted that "at least 81 percent of African-Americans 
oppose the planned war." They added that "Africa, in particular, 
would suffer significantly from the global economic consequences 
of war at a time when Africans are facing the truly greatest 
global threat to human security, namely the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 
This should be the scourge receiving the attention and resources 
that have been devoted instead to debating and designing 
interventions against Iraq."

Among those who signed the letter were Mary Frances Berry, Danny 
Glover, Jesse L. Jackson, Joseph Lowrey, Walter Mosley and an 
array of civic and religious leaders.

A separate letter from the Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA), a 
network of over 200 organizations, said that "not only will a 
war against Iraq bring humanitarian catastrophe of great 
magnitude, it will also create reactions that no one can predict 
or control. It has the potential to threaten to destabilize 
African countries politically and it will affect African 
economies negatively."	The letter was signed by the Rev. Leon 
Spencer, an Episcopal priest who is co-facilitator of ADNA.

WCC delegation expresses concern over treatment of Christians in 
Myanmar

(ENI) A delegation from the World Council of Churches met with 
leaders of the military government in Myanmar (formerly Burma) 
to express concern over the treatment of the Christian minority 
in the predominantly Buddhist nation.

General Khin Nyunt assured the delegation that Christians "will 
not be discriminated against." WCC General Secretary Konrad 
Raiser told the general and other government leaders that the 
country's Christian minority and other ethnic groups were facing 
"intentional or involuntary discrimination" in some parts of the 
country. The general acknowledged that they "may have been 
targets in action by the government to suppress rebel groups," 
but he contended that "such incidents should not be construed as 
deliberate discrimination."

Christians comprise only six percent of the country's 52 million 
people, and are often part of ethnic minority groups in remote 
areas. Some Christians have been engaged in armed struggle 
against the domination of the Burmese Buddhist majority and 
against attempts to force Christians to renounce their faith or 
surrender church property.

Raiser and the delegation were welcomed to the headquarters of 
the Myanmar Council of Churches by the Rev. Smith N Za Thawng, 
who described the visit as "historic" since Myanmar churches 
have been cut off from the outside world for decades. The 
country has been closed to outsiders since the military takeover 
in 1962. Massive protests for the restoration of democracy were 
crushed in 1988.

Earlier, the delegation visited Laos, where they were told that 
Christianity in the communist-controlled nation was growing 
"despite heavy odds." The Rev. Khamphone Kouthapanya, executive 
president of the Lao Evangelical Church, said that "this growth 
of believers has been happening since the mid-1990s without any 
assistance from overseas missionaries, and in the midst of lots 
of restrictions by local authorities of the Communist Party-led 
government." Only two percent of the five million people in the 
country are Christians, while 60 percent are Buddhists and 30 
percent animists.

Christianity was brought to Laos by Swiss missionaries in 1902, 
but banned after communists seized power in 1975. The membership 
of the Lao Evangelical Church fell to 10,000 in the aftermath of 
the war. Church leaders said that the membership has grown to 
100,000 in 400 congregations following easing of restrictions on 
religious freedom in the last decade. Noting the improvement in 
the relationship, Raiser said, "What we see now is a church that 
is thriving, striving and self-confident and a church that fully 
shares the aspirations of the country."

Episcopalians join in legal challenge to Texas sodomy law

(ENS) The Episcopal Church has joined 20 other religious groups 
in supporting a challenge to the constitutionality of the state 
of Texas's "homosexual conduct" or "sodomy" law, which 
criminalizes sexual acts between consenting adults of the same 
sex. The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to take up the case 
this spring. 

So-called "sodomy" laws are frequently invoked to deny 
employment or housing to gay men or lesbians and by courts in 
refusing custody or visitation for gay or lesbian parents.

"The Episcopal Church has long adhered to its conviction that 
homosexual persons are entitled to equal protection of the laws 
with all other citizens, and has articulated this position in a 
series of resolutions adopted by its General Convention," the 
brief stated.

The church joined an array of organizations, including 
conservative groups, civil rights organizations, and health 
professionals, in filing the amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) 
brief on behalf of the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, 
which represents John Lawrence and Tyron Garner. Lawrence and 
Garner were arrested in Lawrence's Houston home and jailed 
overnight after officers responding to a false report found the 
men engaged in private, consensual sex. Once convicted of 
violating the law, they were forced to pay fines and are now 
considered sex offenders in several states. 

"The religious traditions of some amici recognize the morality 
of consensual sexual intimacy between members of the same sex or 
hold that such conduct is not intrinsically immoral," the brief 
concluded. "The religious traditions of other amici teach that 
same-sex sexual conduct is to be discouraged by the family and 
faith community. Despite these differences, the amici are 
unanimous in the belief that criminalizing the private behavior 
of a particular minority, as Texas' Homosexual Conduct law does, 
intrudes upon individual liberty and violates the rights of gay, 
lesbian, and bisexual individuals."

In addition to Texas, three states--Kansas, Missouri and 
Oklahoma--still have consensual sodomy laws that apply only to 
gay people. Nine states--Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, 
Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and 
Utah--and Puerto Rico still have consensual sodomy laws that 
apply to straight and gay adults, but are invoked almost 
exclusively against lesbians and gay men. These laws typically 
carry penalties that range from fines to 10 years in prison. 

The court's decision, which may impact the nation's remaining 
sodomy laws, is expected by summer 2003. 

Christian group gives 'sinful' ice-cream product cold shoulder 

(ENI) A new range of ice-cream bars named after the seven deadly 
sins has drawn the ire of a Christian group in the Netherlands. 

Under the premium brand name Magnum, the ice-cream bars come in 
seven new flavors: vanity, jealousy, gluttony, lust, revenge, 
greed and sloth. Devil horns and a forked tail have been added 
to the M of the word Magnum on the wrapper. Lust offers creamy 
vanilla ice cream covered in pink strawberry chocolate while 
gluttony features rich chocolate ice cream smothered by a white 
chocolate coating. 

The protest comes from Christians for Truth, a South African 
organization with branches in a number of European countries. 
The group is calling on consumers to boycott outlets that sell 
ice cream produced by the Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever, the 
makers of Magnum. 

Jan de Bruin, chair of the group's Dutch branch, wrote in a 
letter to a Unilever subsidiary that the promotion was 
"blasphemous" because it "trivializes" sin. De Bruin said the 
ice cream advertising campaign was "very painful" for those who 
had "experienced the power of sin." He stressed that the problem 
was not with the product itself, which he described as 
"first-rate." 

The limited-edition bars have already gone on sale in South 
Africa and Australia, and the company is planning to launch the 
product in the Netherlands later this year. In Australia, the 
company's ice-cream sales have risen, with vanity already sold 
out and lust well on the way, B&T Marketing and Media analysts 
reported. And an Australian advertising campaign to promote the 
bars won a major award at the 2002 International Advertising 
Festival in Cannes, France. 

The advertising campaign was not intended to upset customers but 
to impress on them that there were seven new varieties, 
Robert-Hein Schermers, marketing manager of Ola, Unilever's 
ice-cream brand in the Netherlands, wrote in reply to De Bruin's 
letter. International research undertaken before the launch of 
the ice cream, said Schermers, had found "that the use of the 
seven sins is not seen as offensive."

------