20 October 2000 - London (Ecumenical News International). A leading animal rights theologian, Andrew Linzey, has spoken out against moves to include symbolic sacrifice of animals in Christian worship, describing it as "subversive of the Gospel". Some Christians in Africa have suggested that traditional local non-Christian rituals such as sacrificing sheep and cows should be included in services to give an authentic indigenous dimension to worship. Earlier this year, a Roman Catholic archbishop in South Africa suggested that blood libations to honour ancestors should be incorporated into the Mass.
20 October 2000 Geneva (ENI). A Palestinian church leader has accused Israel of practising "ethnic cleansing" against Palestinians, and has called for solidarity from Christians and churches around the world. Archimandrite Theodosios Hanna, of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, told a public briefing yesterday at the Geneva headquarters of the World Council of Churches that Palestinian Christians "are suffering because they are Palestinians and they want to stay in their homeland in Palestine".
O K L A H O M A C I T Y, Oct. 28 — An Oklahoma high school suspended a 15-year-old student after accusing her of casting a magic spell that caused a teacher to become sick, lawyers for the student said on Friday.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it had filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on behalf of student.. The suit also charged the Tulsa-area Union Public Schools with repeatedly violating Blackbear’s civil rights by seizing notebooks she used to write horror stories and barring her from drawing or wearing signs of the pagan religion Wicca.
“It’s hard for me to believe that in the year 2000 I am walking into court to defend my daughter against charges of witchcraft brought by her own school,” said Timothy Blackbear, Brandi’s father... “I, for one, would like to see the so-called evidence this school has that a 15-year-old girl made a grown man sick by casting a magic spell,” Bell said.
According to the lawsuit, Brandi Blackbear had read a library book about Wicca beliefs and, under aggressive interrogation by Bushyhead, said she might be a Wiccan. In fact, Blackbear is a Roman Catholic, according to the newspaper Tulsa World.
“The interview culminated with Defendant Bushyhead accusing Plaintiff, Brandi Blackbear, of casting spells causing (a teacher at the school)... to be sick and to be hospitalized,” the lawsuit said.
- The lawsuit stated that because of the “unknown cause” of the teacher’s illness, Bushyhead advised the 15-year-old girl “that she was an immediate threat to the school and summarily suspended her for what he arbitrarily determined to be a disruption of the education process.”
- [Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/studentmagic001028.html ]
September 1 2000 BRITAIN by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent: A VICAR in the Church of England is to hold a special "Harry Potter" family service this weekend, complete with wizards, pointy hats, broomsticks and a game of quidditch.
The Hogwarts liturgy, posted on an Internet discussion site, was welcomed by other clergy who wish to adapt it for their churches as well. The service has aroused horror among evangelicals, who condemned it as "importing evil symbols into the Church".
The Rev Brian Coleman, Vicar of All Saints, will don wizard's robes and hat to play the Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore to lead the special "service of the word".
Mike Truman, a lay member of the parish who is about to qualify as a reader and who has drawn up the new Harry Potter liturgy, a variation on an authorised Church of England, will play a teacher at Hogwarts. His 11-year-old son, Mark, will play Harry Potter. A "sorting hat" will be used to enact a drama in which four new teachers are sorted into houses. The service will feature "Muggle songs" (hymns), and will end with a game of quidditch, in which worshippers will compete to capture a "snitch", a yellow rubber ball.
This Sunday has been chosen because the New Testament reading in the liturgical calendar, James 1:17-27, is considered particularly appropriate to the themes of Harry Potter. A broomstick, an "invisibility cloak" and "ton-tongue toffees" will be used to illustrate verse 17, about generous gifts coming from God.
- He insisted that the Harry Potter books were highly moral. "They are about loyalty, standing up for friends, standing up for good against evil. That is exactly what the passage in James is about. Young folk are all very much into Harry Potter. We are using this interest."
- [ Source: http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/2000/09/01/timnwsnws01005.html ]
Monday, Aug. 7, 2000 AMSTERDAM, Netherlands Some 10,000 evangelists received their final instructions Sunday night, a message that will inspire and encourage them as they travel to various cities, towns and villages throughout the world. The words that carried them home came from Billy Graham. I am asking that you take from here the light that you found during these days, said Graham, who addressed 10,732 participants on videotape via satellite. Hold that light high as you return to your home, and with the light of the thousands of other participants from around the world we can make a fire that will shine brightly, and will never be put out. Mr. Graham did not attend the conference due to his health.
Sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the conference attracted evangelists from 209 countries and territories. It featured 900 plenary and teaching sessions conducted by some of the world's top Christian leaders including Chuck Colson, chairman of Prison Fellowship, and Graham's son, Franklin, who presides over the international relief organization Samaritan's Purse. Amsterdam 2000 united people of different cultures and backgrounds in one simple purpose, to prepare them to use new and more effective ways to present the Gospel. Seventy-five percent of the participants came from developing nations. On the final day of the conference, three special task groups presented their findings on the future of evangelism, in The Amsterdam Declaration.
The 5,000-word document addresses a variety of issues including social responsibility and evangelism. It reads: "We pledge ourselves to follow the way of justice in our family and social life, and to keep personal, social and environmental values in view as we evangelize. Participants signed a one-page Covenant for Evangelists to take home with them. They pledged to, among other things, practice a life of constant personal prayer, Bible study and devotion to God and serve the needy and oppressed, remembering the mercy and compassion of Jesus. [ Source: http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/8/6/184230 ]
Geneva (ENI). SEPTEMBER 22, 2000 - Switzerland's National Assembly will take a significant decision on 27 September when it votes on whether it should repeal a key article in the Swiss constitution which forbids the Roman Catholic Church from creating a bishopric - or diocese - without the federal government's approval.
Some of the key institutions in the Swiss Confederation believe that this right of veto, dating from 1874, is obsolete, discriminatory and contrary to international law. But there is intense debate about the clause in religious communities and also among politicians. And the debate is also likely to affect the general public, as the final decision about the clause will be taken by the Swiss people in a national referendum. [ENI-00-0353]
VATICAN CITY, Oct 1 (AFP) - Pope John Paul II defied fierce protests from Beijing Sunday, canonising 120 Chinese "martyrs" in a controversial ceremony that coincided with China's National Day celebrations. The ceremony here, which drew close to 50,000 faithful despite pouring rain, went ahead even as the head of the Catholic church in China joined the communist regime in calling the canonisation an "insult" to China. Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse
The Daily World Affairs Report - 5 Sep 2000 - Germany's growing anxiety about the sickly European single currency was highlighted at the weekend by a banner headline in Bild newspaper: "The Curse of the Euro." The 24 signatories of the 1992 Maastricht treaty, the tabloid newspaper said on its front page, were dropping like flies: four were already dead, while many others have withdrawn from public life. The logic of the article was dubious, but the fear that Germany was betrayed [!!!] by the architects of the euro hits a popular nerve.
German business couple, staying in Oxfordshire, England, who have been living on bread and tomatoes, and German students in London who seem to be growing thinner by the day. Even celebrities and the relatively wealthy are feeling the pinch of the pound worth DM3.20. The television presenter Cherno Jobatey, a committed London fan stays in 2-star hotels. A lifestyle magazine complains: "The pound has become so strong that tears come to the eyes." Count Patrick von Faber- Castell complains that for his cottage in Notting Hill he is shelling out "four times what I would be paying in Munich."
A European Commissioner is urging Germany to hold a referendum on the eastward enlargement of the EU, one of the most contentious issues in German politics. The initiative, launched by Guenter Verheugen, the commissioner in charge of preparing enlargement, has thrown the Government into confusion, since there is no constitutional provisions for holding a referendum on any topic.
Herr Verheugen, a Social Democrat, said that the German political class had mishandled the euro which "had been introduced behind the backs of voters". Enlargement was an equally serious issue and this time politicians should not repeat the mistakes of the euro. He conceded that a referendum was not yet legally feasible in Germany. "The constitution will have to be changed." (The London Times)
* German Foreign Minister Joseph Fischer rejects the demands of Günter Verheugen that the German government hold a referendum on eastward expansion of the union. "This is not the position of the German government,"
Speaking in Evian, Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner categorically ruled out any referendum on eastward enlargement in Austria. Mr. Fischer assured him that a referendum was out of the question in Germany for constitutional reasons, (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)
Vienna's argument that sanctions against it are unfair, but still attacks the far- right Freedom Party. The report says the EU partners' unprecedented isolation of Austria has "no legitimate foundation" in EU law, but does not urge the immediate lifting of the measures, the weekly magazine Format said.
The campaign may be called, simply, "no"; but its slogan "europe yes. euro no" makes it clear that there is nothing inconsistent about opposing the single currency, while remaining within the EU... those opposed to monetary union do not necessarily wish to withdraw from the EU. As Lord Owen points out: "Britain has the constitutional right and the economic and political clout to stay in the EU but say 'no' to the euro."
Memories of the ERM fiasco, when 100,000 businesses went under, unemployment doubled, and 1.75mn people were forced into negative equity, have made us more sceptical than other European nations, although there is also strong opposition in Denmark and Germany.
In February last year, Tony Blair airily maintained that the constitutional and political issues surrounding EMU had been "resolved". (The London Telegraph - Editorial)
NEW YORK, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- The U.N. Millennium Summit last week was probably Bill Clinton's last international gathering as president of the United States, but it may have opened the way for a future political activity, a European source suggested Sunday.
Between sessions at the United Nations and contacts with other heads of state and government, Clinton attended a meeting of the Third Way, the ongoing discussion among European and some Latin American leaders on how to create a new political philosophy -- a new way -- positioned somewhere between free-market capitalism and state socialism.
Clinton has been a regular participant in the discussions since British Prime Minister Tony Blair introduced him to the concept in 1998. Last week Clinton attended a Third Way meeting with other regulars including Blair and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Clinton said he much regretted that he would not be able to attend because he would no longer be president next year. "Then you must come as referee," said Italy's Prime Minister Giuliano Amato.
Third Way participants left the meeting with the impression that Clinton welcomed the idea of being "a permanent member of the group." The source said, "He was there from the beginning, and he's enormously intelligent and articulate, and he's made a valuable contribution to the debate."
The Third Way favors establishing a balance between the inescapable power of competitive markets and policies seeking to provide good social coverage -- job training, health benefits, and pensions -- all ideas Clinton favors. [Source: http://newscenter.about.com/news/2000/09/10/up/0000-1405-.dstfront_04.htm ]\
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is raised in reflection on the United Nations' role in this new millennium. Meetings, such as the one on Population held in Cairo in 1994, and on Woman in Beijing in 1995, have clearly revealed "a real and proper philosophy of the new man and new world," the cardinal explained.
"A philosophy of this kind no longer has the utopian burden that characterized the Marxist dream," he clarified. "On the contrary, it is very realistic, in as much as it sets limits to the means available for reaching it and recommends, for example, without by so doing attempting to justify itself, not being concerned with the care of those who are no longer productive or who can no longer hope for a determined quality of life."
The peculiarity of this new anthropology, which should be at the base of the New World Order, is evident especially in the image of woman, in the ideology of 'Women's Empowerment,' born from the Beijing Conference. "Woman must be liberated especially of what characterizes her, namely, her feminine specificity. This must be annulled before a 'Gender equity' and 'equality,' can be achieved.. "Today there is no longer a 'philosophy of love,' but only a 'philosophy of selfishness.' It is precisely here that people are deceived.." the Cardinal concluded. (Zenit)
[POLICITICIANS ARE WORRIED ABOUT VOTES]: The Queen should be stripped of her historic constitutional role as head of the Church of England, Lib Dems have decided. Members also voted overwhelmingly to back a move to allow the heir to the throne to marry a Roman Catholic... the policies were hugely popular among grassroots members.. in her role as head of the Church of England, she represent the millions of people from Muslim, Hindu or Jewish backgrounds in this country, let alone those who have a different Christian denomination or faith." Baroness Thomas, a Liberal Democrat, praised the Prince of Wales for saying in the past that "he wished to be the defender of all faiths. That is the attitude that we want from an heir to the throne and any holder of that throne." (The London Times)
Arutz Sheva - Spetember 17, 2000 - Ehud Barak's Secular Revolution appears to be becoming a reality, with the help of Justice Minister Yossi Beilin who has begun dismantling the Ministry of Religious Affairs, as outlined in a 4-month plan. The process begins with the closure of certain departments within a month and a half. Beilin, whole plan it is to "give other religions in Israel a greater sense of partnership," explains his strategy: "Our diplomatic relations with the Vatican are improving.. and the same is true regarding the appeasement process with the Arab world. This will require us in the coming years to increase budgetary allocations towards developing Islamic and Christian institutions.. [The Prophecy Post, October 2000, Sure Foundations Ministries, Inc. Box 100161 - Denver, CO 80250]
JERUSALEM POST - November 17, 2000 - On borrowed time: As violence contiued to rage in the territories and with his popularity ratings plunging to record lows, Ehud Barak gives peace another 'last' chance, by utilizing what little fuel a lame-duck Bill Clinton can still offer as a mediator. As the current crisis were not complicated enough, the prospects for effective American mediation in the near future were dealt a severe blow last week, as the US was unexpectedly faced with political uncertainty and constitutional mayhem. Faced with unabating Palestinian violence, signs of mutiny in his own party, and severe chaos abroad, Prime Ministrer Ehud Barak's personal future seems more precarious than ever, as he maneuvers Sisypheanly between political appeasment, diplomatic pessimism, and military activism.
JERUSALEM POST - November 17, 2000 - [Have you ever wondered what happened to Rabin's attacker. Rabin's smiling assassin speaks: After five years of solitary confinement, Yigal Amir can still cause controversy. The assassin of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin appeared at the Beersheba District Court last Monday with a petition for the 24-hour video monitering of his cell to be ended, claiming it was an intolerable invasion of his privacy. But before the session began, Amir was besieged in the defendant's booth by journalists hopeful of getting him on record. They were not disapointed. Asked whether he had any regrets about his drastic act against the nation's leader, Amir said: "Yes. Why didn't I do it earlier?" He added, however, that he did not kill the premior for personal reasons, "I have nothing against Rabin," he said.
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