Protestants going Dutch?

Amsterdam, December 16th, 2004 (ACPress.net). 
The expression ‘going Dutch’ has taken on a new significance as three Protestant denominations have joined into one in the face of shrinking congregations, youngsters turning their backs on the faith and increasing divisions within the ranks over issues such as homosexuality.

There are currently at least six initiatives worldwide seeking to unite Protestant denominations including a more flexible association of nine member churches in the USA with influential participation from Episcopal, Methodist and Presbyterian leaders. 450 years on from the Reformation, historic differences are being set aside but worries continue to grow. The so-called ‘megachurches’, especially in the USA, are taking members from the older, mainstream denominations, and leaders of these more traditional groups wonder whether their own fragmentation prevents them from being relevant and active in the modern world.

Jan-Gerd Heetderks, Chairman of the Synod of the Dutch Protestant Church, says “Competition for popular attention has never been greater. It’s a question of attracting people to Church so that they hear the Gospel. If we do not unite and if the churches keep bickering, then we will fail in our mission.” The Dutch Protestant Church has been formed from the uniting of the Reformed Church of Holland, the Calvinistic Reformed Church and the small Lutheran Church in Holland. The union came after four decades of effort and negotiation. Dialogue was slow and cautious but has eventually borne fruit in this fusion.

“Holland is only an example of what could happen in many other places”, says Herman de Vireos, a lecturer in Dutch studies in Michigan, USA. Similar attempts in countries like Denmark or Germany could run into legal problems due to connections with the state. Yet elsewhere ecumenical ventures of this nature are gaining ground. In 1999, two churches combined in South Africa, one multi-racial and the other predominantly black, to form the Unified Presbyterian Church of South Africa, as part of post-apartheid reconciliation.

Yet union comes at a price, and it is one not everyone is prepared to pay. The three Dutch denominations have aligned themselves more liberally in recent years in an attempt to keep up with the rhythm of society. The new ‘Protestant Church’ will bless same-sex unions and allow women pastors, though it will not force local congregations to accept them. Such moves have not pleased the more conservative sectors of these denominations. At least 15,000 members have left to form their own group.

The worldwide Anglican Communion faces a split down the middle over the very same issues, whilst the Southern Baptist Convention in the USA, with 16.3 million members, walked out of the more liberal World Baptist Alliance in rejection of that organisation’s tendencies.

Paris, December 16th, 2004 (ACPress.net). 
There is a certain inevitability regarding the movement of the various current ethical debates around Europe. It is now the turn of the French Parliament to debate a Bill which, while not actually legalising euthanasia, opens the back door to the practice by defining the right (sic) to “let someone die”. The proposal is backed by all the major political parties, and rejected by all leading religious groups.

The immediate background to the debate has been dominated by the case of a French doctor, currently charged with helping a young man to die, who had been left paralysed, dumb and almost blind after a car accident. For once, politician on all sides have worked together on the proposal, yet the representatives of France’s ‘big four’ religions ­ Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim ­ have supported the statement of the Chairman of the French Protestant Federation, Jean-Arnold de Clermont, who said: “palliative care is the best response to those who face suffering and death.” The four groups emphasise that life is ‘sacred’ and they condemn active euthanasia.

The concept of ‘leaving someone to die’ is enshrined in the legislation currently being debated, which also says that treatment should not be stopped or limited in such a way as to put the patient’s life in danger, without taking into account certain processes. It all sounds rather vague, which is perhaps what it is meant to sound like.

London, December 16th, 2004 (ACPress.net). 
The campaign against the British government’s proposal to introduce new legislation covering religious hatred is growing in momentum. A recent meeting brought together such unlikely allies as the Barnabas Fund, a group well-known to ACPress readers as leaders in the fight to defend Christians from persecution all over the world, and the comedian Rowan Atkinson, better known in his TV role as ‘Mr Bean’.

Campaigners from across the political and religious spectrum and from the worlds of entertainment, writing and journalism met in the House of Commons tonight on December 6th to set out their opposition to the Government's proposed news laws on incitement to religious hatred, which are being included in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill which had its Second Reading last week. MPs and peers from all three main parties addressed the meeting, along with actor Rowan Atkinson, journalist and writer Joan Smith, Human Rights Lawyer Anthony Lester QC and speakers from Christian groups like the Barnabas Fund and the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship, as well as the National Secular Society.

Dr Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat MP chairing the meeting, said, "There is a great deal of concern about these proposals across politicalparties. There are already enough laws to deal with incitement to violence and to deal with disorderly behaviour based on religious grounds, but it is essential that we maintain free speech in discussing and criticising religious ideas, doctrines and practices." Dominic Grieve, a Conservative MP, said, "Although I am sure well-intentioned, the Government's religious hatred proposal risks being completely counter-productive. I believe it is unworkable and will lead to constant arguments that robustly expressed views on other people's religious beliefs are criminal. It also threatens a long tradition in this country of freedom to debunk religious beliefs."

Alice Mahon, a Labour MP, said, "In the eyes of some in the minority communities and their leaders this law should be able to curb criticism of both religious practices and of religious leaders. We dare not allow any law to permit this." Wilfred Wong, Researcher and Parliamentary Officer for the Jubilee Campaign, a human rights pressure group, lobbying to protect children's rights and the persecuted Church said, "Passing laws against the incitement of religious hatred is simply unworkable and appears to be an attempt by the current government to salvage from the Muslim community votes which they lost over the Iraq war. Although no reasonable person wants religious hatred to be incited, there is no way that the incitement of religious hatred can be defined in law so clearly and narrowly that such legislation is not grossly misused as a means of censoring fair comments and criticisms of religion and certain religious practice."

Rowan Atkinson, an actor who spoke out three years ago when the Government first tried - unsuccessfully - to introduce the same measure, said, "Freedom of expression must be protected for artists and entertainers and we must not accept a bar on the lampooning of religion and religious leaders. There is an obvious difference between the behaviour of racist agitators who can be prosecuted under existing laws, and the activities of satirists and writers who may choose to make comedy or criticism of religious belief, practices or leaders just as they do with politics. It is one of the reasons why we have free speech."

Dr Don Horrocks, Head of Public Affairs at the Evangelical Alliance, said, "We are deeply concerned that the rights and freedoms we have hitherto enjoyed could be dangerously eroded in the future as a result of the interpretation of this law. Even though the Government may insist that they will set a high tolerance threshold, there is still serious concern that over time a succession of determined martyrs will cause the Courts increasingly to interfere with free religious expression and erode tolerance." 

Paul Cook, Advocacy Manager of Barnabas Fund, a Christian organisation which works for persecuted Christian minorities, said, "There is a real danger that this law could be used by extremists to silence organizations like ourselves from highlighting the persecution of Christians and other human rights abuses which occur within some religious communities." Joan Smith, a journalist and writer, said, "People need protection, ideas do not - they have to stand or fall by their merits. The proposed law is an invitation to people with extreme religious views to avoid debate by claiming that they, rather than their beliefs, have been attacked. It is censorship by the back door."

Mark Mullins, a barrister speaking on behalf of the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship said, "We are concerned that this proposed law will unintentionally prevent the legitimate preaching of the Christian Gospel and risks reducing the parameters of debate about religion  generally."

Pastor dies in bomb attack in Bogotá

Bogotá, December 16th, 2004 (ACPress.net). 
Javier Segura, the pastor of the Mennonite Church in the Victoria district of the Colombian capital, died when a bomb exploded near him as he walked home. He had been to visit his fiancée, Sandra Figueroa, and apparently was the victim of an attack against a public building past which he was walking at the time.

Initially the authorities alleged Segura was responsible for the attack but they later withdrew this allegation. Segura had been pastor of the Church since January, and his fiancée described him as “a person who was completely devoted to his work as pastor, which took up all his time.” He was born in El Peñón in 1973, the fourth child of Ana Isabel González and Miguel Antonio Segura, who also attended the Mennonite Church in Bogotá.

Ricardo Vivas, a fellow-worker of Segura’s in the Church said Javier was a happy, enthusiastic person who shared his joy with many youngsters and who was soon due to complete his theological studies at the Mennonite Seminary. The Mennonite Church and the Evangelical Council of Colombia expressed their regret at the pastor’s death, as well as an attack on another Evangelical Church by hooded men recently. The Chairman of the Council, Roosevelt Muriel, said “They are deplorable. The Church has nothing to do with the conflict in this country.”

Buenos Aires, December 16th, 2004 (ACPress.net). 
The Argentinian Council for Religious Liberty (CALIR), chaired by Angel Centeno, has appointed nine new members to its ranks: three Catholics, five evangelicals and one Jew.

CALIR is a group dedicated to the promotion of religious liberty, and helps people to live in peace, encourages churches to work together along with other groups and public institutions. CALIR also has branches in the cities of Córdoba and Bahía Blanca, where it has a university and an academic centre. Among its plans for 2005 is the group’s participation in the International Religious Liberty Association Conference, which is being held in Buenos Aires.

The five new evangelical members of CALIR are: Hans Blomier, Lutheran  and Chairman of the local branch of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation;  Gustavo Grancharoff, a lawyer and a Baptist; Arturo Hotton Risler, a diplomat  with particular knowledge of Eastern Europe, who is a member of the Free  Church; Arnaldo Canclini, Baptist pastor and member of the National History Academy; and Waldo Villalpando, a specialist in international relations and law, who worked for the United Nations for almost 20 years. He is a Methodist. 

Lima, December 16th, 2004 (ACPress.net). 
An evangelical radio station, ‘Amauta’, has won the Eloy Arribas Alfaro Prize which is awarded annually by the National Radio Coordinator (CNR), for its defence of human rights at a particularly violent period in the country’s history, as well as for its contribution to local and regional development.

‘Amauta’ broadcasts from the city of Huanta, in the Department of Ayacucho, 300 miles south-east of Lima. It was one of the worst-affected areas with regard to terrorist activity and military reprisals by the Army in the 1980s and 1990s. The prize was handed over at a ceremony organised by the Latin American branch of the World Association of Christian Communicators (WACC).

Demetria Montes, Amauta’s Director, said the station had, perhaps anonymously, been characterised by seeing communication as a way to serve the people. “We learnt to live with the listeners in the midst of adversity.”

Similar prizes were won by the influential newspaper, ‘El Comercio’, for its contribution to the transition to democracy, and to a lecturer, María Teresa Quiroz, Chairman of the Latin American Federation of Social Communication Faculties (FELAFACS), for the group’s work in the training of communicators and research into communication in Peru.

Lima, December 16th, 2004 (ACPress.net). 
A television programme and health report from a Christian association, ‘Peace and Hope’, alerted authorities to the serious pollution in the Peruvian town, Segunda Jerusalén, most of whose 6,000 inhabitants are evangelical Christians.

There is an unusually high rate of bronchial and lung problems, and registered cases of silicosis. A thick pall of smoke rises all day from the chimneys of a local cement plant, noticeably affecting the air and reducing visibility. Segunda Jerusalén is located in the Peruvian jungle, about 900 miles north-east of Lima. The population of 6,000 works mainly in the cultivation of rice and coffee. Their average monthly income is around 50 euros, and there is a little income from tourism due to the nearby lagoon of Tioyacu.

The TV programme drew attention to the continuing rise in the number of respiratory problems among the inhabitants, at a rate much higher than the surrounding districts. ‘Peace and Hope’ indicated that it could be due to particles of silica emanating from the Selva Cement factory. Silicosis is an illness which develops when silica particles enter the lungs and prevent the passage of oxygen to the blood. The disease is irreversible and medical advice is for sufferers to be removed from the area in which they caught the disease.

It appears that most of the town’s inhabitants may be suffering from the disease but the cement firm denies that it is harming the environment in any way. ‘Peace and Hope’, among others, are calling for an independent survey of the area.