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15 March 2000 * PROPOSED EUTHANASIA LEGISLATION CONCERN - The euthanasia legislation, which was proposed by the SA Law Commission, was examined with great concern by the 11th Kwasizabantu Ministers' Conference held from 6 to 9 March 2000. Over a thousand church ministers and representatives of approximately 100 churches and Christian organisations noted with dismay that the proposed legislation includes a number of dangerous and unethical clauses. For example, Options 2 and 3, which would effectively legalize active euthanasia, are simply euphemisms for murder by medical means. These options, which form part of the proposed bill, have many similarities with the Nazi Germany T4 programme, which was condemned as a crime against humanity at the Nürnberg trials. The rest of the proposed bill pertaining to passive euthanasia contains numerous loopholes and vague definitions that are open for abuse and exploitation. The Conference called for the ban on active euthanasia to be retained as protection of the innocent, weak, lonely, elderly, etc. The Conference also expressed great concern about those sections of the Promotion of Equality Act that could be interpreted to infringe on religious freedom. After learning with shock about the latest Aids statistics, the Conference agreed that the value system contained in the Bible is the ultimate solution to the prevention of Aids, and called upon churches to become involved in compassionate care of HIV/Aids sufferers. (KSB, 10 March) * DEBATE OVER ANIMAL SACRIFICES IN AFRICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH - Deputy Minister of Education Smangaliso Mkhatshwa has come out in support of calls by some black priests for the incorporation of animal sacrifices into the Roman Catholic Church. The controversial proposal to include sacrifices to ancestors had divided the Catholic church in SA, with some arguing that ritual slaughter is nothing more than a pagan practice that has no place in Christianity. Approached for comment, Father Mkhatshwa said he backed calls by some priests - including the Archbishop of Bloemfontein - for the African tradition of blood-letting to form part of Holy Mass. On a practical note, Fr Mkhatshwa said he believed the traditional Western architecture of churches would have to be "revisited" to accommodate animal sacrifices. Meanwhile the Nation Council of Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) reacted with "disbelief" to the proposal yesterday and has written to the church seeking clarification. (Pretoria News, 4 March) * ANGLICANS DIVIDED OVER GAY PRIESTS - According to SA Anglican Archbishop Ndungane the question on homosexuality and the church would be discussed on 30 May at a special meeting of the Cape diocese. He was speaking at a press conference on the problems in the St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town, where some church members called for Rev Rowan Smith to resign after he had appeared in an advert shown at a Gay and Lesbian Film festival. In the advert a devil's tail was hanging out from underneath his cassock. Archbishop Ndungane says the Anglican Church in Southern Africa already decided in 1989 that homosexual people should receive just as much love and support as heterosexual members of the church. Homosexual people can also be ordained as Anglican priests, as long as they remain celibate. He also said that there is presently division in the wider Anglican community worldwide, about 17 million, on the issue of homosexuality. At the previous conference of Lambeth in England, which is held every 10 years, the more than six hundred archbishops and bishops of the Anglican community decided that practicing homosexual persons may not be ordained as priests and priests may not marry homosexual couples in church. After Lambeth quite a number of bishops worldwide signed a petition in which they expressed their support of homosexual marriages. In a conversation with Ndungane, Dean Rowan Smith has expressed regret over his advert appearance and Ndungane intends to continue supporting Smith "I stand behind everybody in the church. We are all together in the battle to achieve unity". (Die Kerkbode, 3 March) * ‘AIDS’ EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS - Education Minister Kader Asmal says his department has finally made schools the vanguard of education against Aids. Speaking at the plenary meeting of the Gauteng Education and Training Council in Johannesburg Asmal said the epidemic was not only affecting education but also the future of the country. "With clearer and more accessible policy guidelines, which better equip our teachers to be more practically capacitated to handle HIV and Aids related challenges, we have finally made our schools the vanguard of education against this pandemic," he said. The department had challenged the disease by making sex education an important part of life skills learning, he said. He also said his department was committed to improving schools and restoring teachers' morale. (Sowetan, 13 March) HEALTH DEPARTMENT FAILS TO SPEND 40% OF AIDS FUNDS - Parliament's health committee was told in an annexure to a report from the HIV/AIDS directorate that 40% of the money allocated to the directorate and to the Government Aids Action Programme remained unspent in 1999/2000, while R44,2m of the R109,7m HIV/AIDS allocation was unspent most of it was "committed". The report also says the health department distributed almost 200m condoms last year at a cost of more than R30m as part of its campaign against HIV/AIDS, but does not have a policy on barrier methods to contain the epidemic. (Business Day, 8 March) Dr. Simela, head of the Health Department's HIV/AIDS initiative, said in a parliamentary Health Committee meeting on 7 March that there are funds available to churches and organisations that wish to provide care to AIDS victims. The health department is also planning to train religious organisations in home-based AIDS care and counseling. (ACDP, 7 March) In the meantime the rate of HIV infection has soared among South African teenage girls. A health department survey showed the rate of increase in HIV infection among teenage girls had jumped by nearly two-thirds from 1997 to 1998. (Star, 8 March) * SUDAN HOSPITAL BOMBED - On 2 March the Government of Sudan Air Force bombed a mission hospital in Lui, Moruland, in Southern Sudan. More than 100 patients were being treated or housed at the hospital at the time of the attack. Four American doctors from Samaritan's Purse were operating at the hospital when Sudanese aircraft dropped 12 bombs on or near the hospital killing numerous people, critically wounding many others. The Children's and Tuberculosis wards were damaged and many patients fled into the bush. This hospital, which Frontline Fellowship helped to establish, has been run by Samaritan's Purse since August 1997. It is the largest hospital in Southern Sudan and it is the only hospital in Moruland (an area inhabited by over 350,000 people). Over 100,000 patients have been treated at the hospital in Lui in the last 2½ years. Scottish missionary pioneer Dr. Kenneth Frazer originally established this hospital in 1921. It has been destroyed by the Muslim government forces twice before. But like the church and school established by Rev. Frazer - the hospital at Lui has repeatedly been repaired, rebuilt and restored. (FF, 7 March) * CALIFORNIANS VOTE OVERWHELMINGLY TO BAN GAY MARRIAGE - Proposition 22, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, passed 61%-39% March 7, The Associated Press said. The measure prevailed in all parts of the state except portions of San Francisco Bay, and among voters of all ages, despite opposition from President Clinton and Gov. Gray Davis, the Los Angeles Times said. ...About 30 states have passed laws similar to Proposition 22 in an effort to prevent gay couples who have been "married" in other states from receiving legal recognition if they move into their states. Same-sex couples have sued for legal recognition in several states. ...In a nonbinding straw poll, Vermonters voted March 7 not to let homosexuals marry in civil ceremonies. The Vermont Supreme Court has ruled that homosexuals must be allowed to marry or have the same legal recognition as heterosexual couples. (Religion Today, 9 March) * THOUSANDS OF INMATES TO BE FREED AFTER BEING ELECTRONICALLY TAGGED - About 30 000 South African prisoners tagged with electronic-monitoring ankle bracelets will be released back into the community under correctional supervision over the next few years. The Department of Correctional Services plans to place "non-dangerous" prisoners under electronic monitoring after a pilot scheme run in Pretoria found it to be cost effective and manageable, according to Andrew Daphne, spokesperson for Correctional Services Minister Ben Skosana. The scheme could help to alleviate the chronic overcrowding of SA's prisons, which are bursting at the seams. The 236 prisons around the country have the capacity to hold 98 000 prisoners, yet there are now 166 423 unsentenced and convicted prisoners being held behind bars. The Department of Correctional Services has said it would like to see the scheme implemented by the first half of next year. (Saturday Star, 4 March) * ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING OF ABORTED BABY BODY PARTS - (Washington, DC) Members of a House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment called on the Justice Department to conduct an investigation into the illegal trafficking of aborted baby body parts and tissue for profit. Representative Fred Upton (R-MI) during the hearing cited a broadcast on the Wednesday night ABC's 20-20 program that showed allegations saying that Opening Lines, Inc., a company that provides aborted baby tissue to researchers, was illegally profiting from the sale by charging researchers a fee that includes more than the company's cost of providing the tissue. (Newswatch, 10 March) The FBI is investigating the possible marketing of tissue from aborted babies in Kansas City...Under federal law, tissue and organs can be donated but not sold; reasonable fees are allowed for removal services and transportation. Pathologist Miles Jones, who told an undercover reporter for ABC News that organs are in high demand and researchers "will pay whatever you ask," has not returned numerous telephone calls for comment, the Star said. (Religion Today, 14 March) * `EVANGELIST' JOHAN SEBASTIAN BACH IN JAPAN - Christianity has never had a very strong presence in Japan. In fact, with industrialization, Japan has become one of the most secular nations on earth. But right now the German composer, Johan Sebastian Bach, who died 250 years ago, is bringing Christianity to Japan through his music. There are reports of thousands of Japanese, inspired by his cantatas, converting to Christianity. It's a testament to the power of art steeped in a biblical worldview. Christianity has never been widely embraced by Japanese culture. Bach's popularity is so great that the classes at the Felix Mendelssohn Academy in Bach's hometown of Leipzig, Germany, are filled with Japanese students. These students are learning about more than the music of the great composer - they learn about the spirit that moved him to write, that is, Bach's love of God. At the end of every one of his works, Bach inscribed the initials "SDG" - shorthand for Soli Deo Gloria, "to God alone be the glory." Little could he have imagined what purposes God would have for his work, even hundreds of years after his death. (Breakpoint, 10 March) * POPE MAKES SWEEPING APOLOGY - In one of the most significant acts of his papacy, Pope John Paul asked forgiveness for the many past sins of his Church, including its treatment of Jews, heretics, women and native people. It was the first time that any pope has sought such a sweeping pardon. The Pope listed the many past sins of the Church, grouped into seven categories: sins in the service of truth; sins against Christian unity, against Jews, against respect for love, peace and cultures, against the dignity of women and minorities and against human rights. The Pope also said Christians were ready to forgive others for the abuse suffered by Christians over the centuries. The prayer for forgiveness for sins against Jews said in part: "Let us pray that, in recalling the sufferings endured by the people of Israel throughout history, Christians will acknowledge the sins committed by not a few of their number against the people of the Covenant". (The Mercury, 13 March) As part of this Jubilee 2000 campaign of the church to ask forgiveness, Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony expressed remorse in a statement on March 7 for his actions and those of other leaders in the church who have hurt people, the Los Angeles Times said. He listed victims of sexual abuse by priests, homosexuals, divorced and remarried Catholics, members of other religions, and women as those who have been harmed. ...Mahony admitted "pride and lack of charity" in his dealings with others, and said he has made harsh remarks to priests and issued angry letters to opponents, the Times said. He promised "to be more humble, generous, kind, considerate, and supportive to all within the archdiocese." (Religion Today, 9 March) * SUPER GLUE TO THE RESCUE - (Missouri) Some eighth-grade students managed to get out of a sticky situation after their classroom's pet tarantula took a fall and cracked its abdomen. The students decided to use a popsicle stick to stuff its organs back inside, used Super Glue to seal it up and apparently saved its life. Felicia Daniels, who applied the glue, said, "At first I thought it was going to make me sick. But then it looked kind of cool." (CNN) |
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