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We also have a list of religious tolerance news
for this month. |
 | 2004-MAY-1: Orthodox church leader suspends relations with head of Greek Orthodox Church: A dispute arose in late April between Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of about 300 million Orthodox Christians, and the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos. The latter appointed three metropolitan bishops in Northern Greece and on Aegean Sea islands without the prior approval of Bartholomew. Patriarch Bartholomew directly controls several Greek Orthodox churches, including the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He is also considered the head of 14 autonomous Orthodox churches, including those of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Russia and Serbia. He announced that he had severed relations with the after a meeting of 41 international bishops, saying: "We have exhausted all our efforts for peace and unity. So today we have taken this unanimous decision with pain in our souls." Archbishop Christodoulos said: "Our actions have been in accordance with 75 years of peaceful practice -- nothing more, nothing less...Despite my personal bitterness...the Church of Greece will continue to support the Ecumenical Patriarchate just as it always has." | ||||||||
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| 2004-MAY-7: Muslim organization views prisoner abuse as motivated by religious hatred: The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) is a Muslim civil rights organization in the U.S. They conducted a joint press conference with the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). They linked the recently released information on the torture of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers to religious hatred. They noted: "that the head of military intelligence [in the U.S. Army], Gen. Boykin, is on record as casting the war on terror as a religious war, as saying that the enemy is 'a guy called Satan,' and that Muslims worship 'an idol'." They suggest that: "The President and the Congress should be more concerned with addressing root causes of this hideous behavior by our military rather than the largely [i]neffective damage control we have been witnessing. Only the American people can eradicate this strain of hate. It is time to hold accountable those who are instigating hatred against Arabs and Islam as they are undermining fundamental American values and increasing the threat to our national security. We can no longer allow voices of hate and fear to go unchallenged in our society." 12 | ||||||||
| Week of 2004-MAY-2: Nigeria: Christians slaughter up to 600 Muslims: A predominantly Christian group murdered as many as 600 Mulsims in Yelwa, a town in central Nigeria. Thousands of Muslims in Kano Nigeria organized a demonstration on MAY-12 to protest the slaughter. Later, some retaliated with machetes and clubs. Police confirmed that at least 30 were killed. Remi Oyo, spokesperson for President Olusegun Obasanjo said: "The Kano situation is an unfortunate development and just a reverberation of what happened in Yelwa." 13 | ||||||||
| 2004-MAY-11: UK: Woman dies after refusing medical treatment: 14 | ||||||||
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| Juan Domingo Silva, the public affairs chief at the Health Ministry's AIDS prevention office | ||||||||
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| 2004-MAY: TX: Unitarian Congregation denied tax exempt status:
Texas Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn has denied tax exempt status
to a Unitarian Universalist congregation in Denison, TX. The
Star-Telegram of Dallas states that the "...church
isn't really a religious organization -- at least for tax purposes. Its
reasoning: the organization 'does not have one system of belief'."
Jesse Ancira, the comptroller's chief lawyer, said that the government has
applied a consistent standard. For any organization to qualify as a
religion, members must have "simply a belief in God, or gods, or a
higher power. We have got to apply a test, and use some objective
standards. We're not using the test to deny the exemptions for a
particular group because we like them or don't like them."
Apparently, another reason for denying tax exempt status is the lack of
public meetings. The Comptroller denied certification for a
New Age group and a Wiccan group because their
services were closed to the public. It appears that the government is
refusing to recognize religious groups which differ from the traditional
pattern. They must have a single system of belief; they must teach that
one or more deities exist; they must hold public services. Thus, Pagan,
Atheist, Agnostic, Ethical Culture, Buddhist, Mormon, Unitarian
Universalist, and similar organizations are not considered religious
groups by the state. Church officials believe that this is the first case in the U.S. where a Unitarian Universalist church has been denied tax exempt status because of its religious philosophy. Dan Althoff, church board president said: "I was surprised -- surprised and shocked -- because the Unitarian church in the United States has a very long history." He noted that father-and-son presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams were both Unitarians. So was Thomas Jefferson. Other Unitarian Universalist congregations in the state are concerned that their tax exempt status may now be revoked at any time. 19 | ||||||||
| 2004-MAY-25:
Massachusetts: Boston Archdiocese to close parishes: Faced with
enormous costs as a result of clergy sex abuse scandals, shrinking
attendance by members at mass, and reduced donations from the public,
Archbishop Sean O'Malley released a list of 70 of its 357 parishes which
are to close. Closings will be distributed through the rest of 2004.
Five new parishes will be created by mergers, resulting in a net loss of
65 congregations. Another five churches will remain open as worship
sites. However, they will be maintained by neighboring parishes and
their membership will be merged with existing congregations. Parishes can appeal the decision to the Archbishop. If unsuccessful, the can appeal to the Vatican, but only on procedural grounds. 20 | ||||||||
| 2004-MAY-26: Group promotes creation of Christian state: ChristianExodus.org proposes that 50,000 or more Christians migrate to one U.S. state and promote the severance of its connection with the rest of the country. They are considering Alabama, Mississippi and South Carolina as possible destinations. They feel that they would enjoy religious freedom in a Christian theocracy. They suggest that they would be free of burdensome taxation, and federal meddling in local affairs. They suggest that "liberties we have lost to liberalism over the past century will be restored in one fell swoop." They list a number of "atrocities" that would be corrected, including: abortion access, school prayer, Biblical instruction in schools, public posting of the Ten Commandments, decriminalization of homosexual behavior, same-sex marriage, freedom to preach. 21 | ||||||||
| 2004-MAY-28: The movie Saved! is
released: This United Artists movie was released to 20
theatres; it will be shown at an expanded number at a later date. It is
a comedy involving two popular female students at a conservative
Christian High School in the U.S. Mary is played by Jena Malone;
Hillary by Mandy Moore. At the start of their senior year, Mary finds
out that she is pregnant. Her friend turns against her, as does the most
of the rest of the student body. The MPAA rating is "PG-13 - for
strong thematic issues involving teens - sexual content, pregnancy,
smoking and language." Reviewers:
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| 2004-MAY-30: Alberta: Ex-Mormon bishop runs web site: Bob McCue, (1958-) a tax lawyer in Calgary has Mormon ancestors who helped settle southern Alberta. He had a great-grandmother who was the fourth polygamous wife of a William Paxman, a high-ranking church leader in Utah. He served as bishop for a local ward for five years. He became distressed at what he learned after studying Mormon history. He grew frustrated by what he felt was the 'stifling' reaction of denominational leaders. He resigned as bishop in 2002-DEC, stating in his resignation letter: "I deeply regret that the church's position respecting freedom of speech and the suppression of intellectual inquiry has reached its current low ebb." More details |
References:
- DayWatch is a daily service of Maranatha Christian Journal. It provides "a daily summary of news headlines with a Christian perspective..." The newsletter is free on request. Their web site is at: http://www.mcjonline.com
- ReligionToday™ provides free newsletters to which you can subscribe at: http://www.ReligionToday.com. These summaries are part of GOSHEN.net, which also includes LiveIt.net, Devotionals.net, ChristianShareware.net, ChristianClassifieds.net, ChristianMessageBoards.net, BibleStudyTools.net, MediaManagement.net, WorldNewsToday.net, WebCastGuide.net, and ChristianCollegeGuide.net
- Reuters is "the world's leading financial information and news group. Their web page is at: http://www.reuters.com/
- Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR): E-mail: cair1@ix.netcom.com
URL: http://www.cair-net.org To join CAIR-NET, CAIR's read-only mailing list: Send subscribe cair-net in the body of a message to majordomo@cair-net.org - EWTN News carries Roman Catholic news from Catholic World News, Vatican Information Service, ZENIT, CWNews.com. See: http://www.ewtn.com/news/
- Ecumenical News International (ENI) in Geneva Switzerland distributes news free religious news highlights to subscribers. They can be contacted at PO Box 2100, CH - 1211, Geneva 2, Switzerland. Telephone: (41-22) 791 6087/6515. Fax: (41-22) 788 7244 Email: eni@eni.ch. Their web site is at http://www.eni.ch
- ZENIT.org is "an International News Agency based in Rome. Our mission is to provide objective and professional coverage of events, documents and issues emanating from or concerning the Catholic Church for a worldwide audience, especially the media." Their web site is at: http://www.zenit.org/english/
- Anglican Communion News Service provides information from an Anglican perspective. See: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/index.html A companion Episcopal News Service is at: http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/ens/
- AANEWS is distributed by American Atheists.
- CNSNews.com -- Cybercast News Service -- is a conservative news source. Their home page is at: http://www.cnsnews.com
- "Orthodox Church split with Greece," CNN.com, 2004-MAY-1, at: http://edition.cnn.com/
- "Iraqi Prisoner Abuse and the Culture of Hate: MPAC/ADC Press Conference," issued 2004-MAY-7. See: http://www.mpac.org
- "30 killed as Muslims retaliate for Christian massacre," Chicago Tribune, 2004-MAY-13, at: http://www.chicagotribune.com
- "Religious mother turned down life-saving treatment," Local London, 2004-MAY-11, at: http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/
- "After ACLU Intervention on Behalf of Christian Valedictorian, Michigan High School Agrees to Stop Censoring Religious Yearbook Entries," American Civil Liberties Union, 2004-MAY-11, at: http://www.aclu.org/
- A copy of the class of 2001's yearbook entries can be seen at: http://www.aclumich.org
- "Chilean fired over condom controversy," Associated Press. Online at: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2004-MAY-12, at: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com
- "U.S. voters warned by bishop," Los Angeles Times, reprinted in the Toronto Star, 2004-MAY-15, Page A16.
- R.A. Dyer, "Unitarian group denied tax status," Star-Telegram, Dallas, TX, 2004-MAY-18, at: http://www.dfw.com/
- "Boston Archdiocese to close 65 parishes," Associated Press, 2004-MAY-26, at: http://edition.cnn.com/
- "Christian Exodus," at: http://www.christianexodus.org
- "Overview," Movies.com at: http://movies.go.com/
- "Saved!," at: http://www.savedmovie.com/
- "Saved! Director Dannelly's film ridicules the Christian audience he now hopes will save Saved!," To the Source, at: http://www.tothesource.org
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Home page > Intolerance/conflict news > here |
Copyright © 2004 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2004-MAY-1
Latest update: 2004-JUN-07
Author: B.A. Robinson
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