The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 39, Ed. 1, Wednesday, February 9, 1994 Page: 3 of 8
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Religion
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Court to review church-state separation
jJimCastell!
Religious Nows Service 1994
W
'ASHINGTON The Supreme
Court's decision to review a hotly
contested Inwcr rnurl rnlinn
involving a scnooi in New York will mean
'.flfrcvisitation of the court's 20-year-old
guidelines on church-state separation.
v At the same time the decision to review
lite case or Board of Education of Kiryas
Joel v. Grttmct creates a slim possibility
j that the court might reverse its 1985 ruling
barring the provision of government-funded
vtf emedial education programs on parochial
I school grounds.
I The Kiryas Joel case involves cstablish-
ment by the New York state legislature of a
J special public school district In Kiryas Joel
'which is n tightly knit community of
Jfasidic Jews in Orange County. Once the
TTJistrict was established 200 learning-disabled
Hasidic children were allowed to
; receive government-funded aid as public
school students prompting claims by critics
of a church-state violation.
But the New York Court of Appeals ruled
that the special school district advances reli-
gion creating the impression that the gov-
ernment endorses the Sntmnrcr Hnsidim
religious beliefs.
In deciding to consider the Kiryas Joel
case the court indicated it also would revis-
it the so-called lemon test it has used since
a 1971 ruling to determine whether a law
violates the constitutional ban on the state
establishment of religion.
In the 1971 ruling Lemon v. Kurzman
the court struck down state aid to parochial
schools and established a three-part test that
a law must pass to be constitutional; The
law must have a secular purpose must not
have the primary effect of cither advancing
or inhibiting religion and must not create an
excessive entanglement between church and
state.
The lemon test has been controversial
partly because of its vagueness and the
court has been criticized for its inconsisten-
cy in church-state issues.
A 1985 case Agullar v. Fclton created
the situation the court now faces in Kiryas
Joel.
Before the Aguilar decision learning-disabled
students from Kiryas Joel received
help under Title I of the federal Elementary
and Secondary Education Act on parochial
school grounds
The 1985 decision however ruled it
unconstitutional for tax-funded teachers to
work in parochial schools.
After the decision Kiryas Joel leaders
objected to sending their children to public
schools with non-Hasidic students.
In a compromise the New York Legisla-
ture created a new public school district and
school for Kiryas Joel. Only the learning-
disabled Hasidic children along with some
non-Hasidic students from outside the dis-
trict attend the school.
Other Hasidic children in the village
attend parochial schools.
The director and president of the state
School Board Association acting as private
citizens challenged the creation of the new
district on constitutional grounds.
The New York Court of Appeals agreed
saying the district is unconstitutional
because it provides aid to a religion. The
High Court will review that ruling.
The dramatic turnover in Supreme Court
membership since the 1985 Aguilar ruling
could be a critical factor in the court's deci-
sion. Only four justices now on the court
participated in the Aguilar decision.
Justices Harry Blackmun and John Paul
Stevens voted in the majority and Chief
Justice William Rchnquist and Justice San-
dra Day O'Connor voted in the minority in
the 5-4 decision.
The Rchnquist-O'Connor pairing is sig-
nificant because the two arc often at odds
on church-state issues.
In recent years when they voted together
they usually won frequently in a unani-
mous ruling.
If the court ruled on Aguilar now conser-
vative Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence
Thomas likely would join Rehnquist in vot-
ing to uphold the program. Justice David
Soutcr generally votes with O'Connor on
church-state issues and Could do so in this
case too. j
Justice Anthony Kennedy has been the
most unpredictable vote on church-state
issues in recent years. He votes with Rchn-
quist most of the time but has broken with
him to vote with O'Connor in several key
cases. He too is a likely candidate to join
Rchnquist ond O'Connor if the court ruled
on Aguilar now. j
That would give a 6-3 approval to allowr
ing Title I programs on parochial schooj
grounds even if Justice Ruth Bader Gins
berg a Clinton appointee voted against a
and it is premature to say with certainty
that she would. j
Critics of the Aguilar decision argue that
the constitutionality of remedial programs
should be based on the programs themj-
selves not whether they are provided on
public or church property t
The court generally shies away from
directly overturning its own decisions but
has done so on several occasions. !
f
Homosexuality endangers
Zimbabwe conference ..
By Patricia Lefevere
.O Religious Nows Service 1994
j;
OHANNESBURG. South
Africa The World Council
of Churches has settled on
a Harare Zimbabwe as the site of
lia juiii uimiYbiaui jr uaawuuijr ill
1998 but a swirling controversy
about homosexuality may under-
mine the site's potential as a venue
for reconciliation.
Thi rnntrnvirv hennn tnct
fWi hours after the Zimbabwe capital
was selected 1 nursday during the
council's Central Committee
meeting in Johannesburg.
Debate was sparked by reports
of harassment of gays and lesbians
by Zimbabwe police and respond-
ing comments by Zimbabwe
cnurcn ouiciais supporting sucn u
crackdown.
A Jan. 24 article in the Daily
Gazelle a Harare independent
newspaper reported police had
moved to suppress homosexuality
and the country's interior minister
Dumiso Dabcngwa considered
homosexuality a punishable crime.
The report quoted a woman
from the Association of Gays and
Lesbians in Zimbabwe as saying
that police had broken into the
homes of several association
members and confiscated safe
scxAIDS prevention videos.
Police the report said found the
videotapes pornographic. The
report also said police would arrest
anyone attending the association's
Jan. 30 meeting.
Journalists covering the World
Council's Central Committee
meeting in Johannesburg asked
officials how the local church felt
about the reported repression of
gays and lesbians.
The Rev. Johath Siyachitcma
president of the Zimbabwe Coun-
cil of Churches responded "The
church in Zimbabwe is very clear
on this. Homosexuality is a sin
and the government is acting in
accord with the law."
He said "The church won't
change its mind on this. We don't
think homosexuality is a right way
of life."
Some Central Committee mem-
bers from Europe and the United
States expressed concern about the
reports as did observers from a
U.S. -based gay and lesbian con-
gregation attending a World Coun-
cil of Churches meeting for the
first time.
Those observers included the
Rev. Nancy Wilson of the ecu-
menical office of the Los Angeles-
based Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Church-
es and the Rev. Kit Cherry who is
the denomination's press officer.
Wilson said she hoped the
World Council of Churches .would
continue its focus on human rights
and AIDS education in the years
leading up to the 1998 assembly.
Quoting the Rev. Konrad Raiser
who is also the council general
secretary she said "no boundaries
for the church's compassion"
exist.
52
53
54
55
57
58
60
61
62
Bishop calls for moral vision
V Religious New Service 1994
Churches should offer young
people a moral vision in
keeping with Christian tradi-
tion instead of suonortinc the use
I of condoms in the fight against
AIDS an Anglican Disiiop toiu a
World Council of Churches meet-
ing Sunday.
Bishop Drexel Gomez of the
Anglican Province of the West
Indies said at a forum on Aisa and
youth conducted at the council's
Central Committee meeting in
Johannesburg South Africa that
church leaders should not withhold
judgment on sexual issues of
AIDS and HIV.
TUn Utrttnn ciitt mnml vlclnn Se
W;riceded particularly in the Third
worm which hc tumcuueu
dominated by North American cul-
ture to the detriment of Third
World young people
! "In all of these American soap
nnirin. immoral conduct is the
thread" Gomez told members of
the Jan. 23 gathering.
Cristinu Boesenbcrg of the
Evangelical Church of the River
Plate in Argentina disagreed with
Gomez telling the Central Com-
mittee the church will receive
more positive results by prevent-
ing problems instead of facing
tragic consequences.
AIDS was also a topic at an ear-
lier committee session conducted
Saturday. At that meeting Dr.
Sigrun Mogcdal a Norwegian
physician said "no quick fix for
AIDS" exists given its dose cor-
relation with human sexuality and
human behavior elements that
are determined by moral cultural
social and economic factors.
She urged the church not to turn
away from the problem.
"We are all part of it and the
church must be in the middle of
it" she said at the session.
Simon Moglia of Australia a
council youth adviser said the
church must talk about sex. "It is
an issue that leaves us vulnerable
but we must face it."
One challenge presented to the
churches by the AIDSHIV pan-
demic Moglia said is to open up a
dialogue about sex "to do our the-
ology together with youth with
gay and lesbian people with per-
sons whose cultures practice
polygamy with those who visit
prostitutes."
The central committee is the
major policy-making body of the
council which claims more than
300 Protestant and Orthodox
member denominations around the
world between meetings of the
council's church-wide assembly.
The committee began meeting Jan.
20 and was scheduled to end delib-
erations Jan. 28.
According to World Health
Organization statistics seen at the
meeting the AIDSHIV pandemic
affects some 13 million globally.
That number is expected to grow
by 7 million in the next two years
and reach 38 million by the year
2000.
1 Uvalde-born Evans
5 secondhand
6 pitchers & rodeo
riders use rosin
7 odd TX creek name:
Yo DJgo Creek
8 TXIsrrc'boughta
pig poke
10 TXIsm: 'does
have lips?' (nope)
18 TXIsm: "
you sweat
21 JFK was shot on
this Dallas street
22 TX Brown shot putter
who won '60 bronze (Inlt.)
23 Texan Don of
Eagles band (Inlt.)
25 onhwy. 183 In
Lampasas Co.
31 wildcatters take a
with each well
33 TXIsm: 'that'll
your butter (oxcltlng)
35 'Bum' Phillips book:
Ain't No Burn
36 Texan Davis who
holpod '92 women's
BB team win bronze
38 Sprlngtown news-
paper: graph
40 Bush's old offlco
42 Too Tall Jones
43 cattle hair loss
disease
45 CAP has a
Messerschmltt plane
47 King Ranch Dorby
wlnnor. Venture
48 TCU lost to Clomson
lnflrstono(2wds.) 14
51 UT's Guadalupe 15
street: The 16
counterpart of els
Washington wasn't Texan
cause he couldn't tell
Bush's party (abbr.)
IhlsTX George was
Rascals' 'Spanky" (Inlt.)
a In the storm
where Texans sit at to 'put
on the feed bag' (2 wds.)
Dallas' suchRoad"
TXIsm: a lick ot sense
this Sinclair wrote 'Eyes
ofToxas' In 1003 (Inlt.)
TfkOiyjinaC TEXAS
CROSSWORD
5y Charley & Guy Orbtson
m 2 3 T
Ml I
I
p JMMMjk r 1 1 luiir ii i run ntii 1
Is HlOU 12 13 14 15 18 ItHL
fj JHi
lis ig "" ' BB
n- 22 HiHl"ft
HB" 2 2 29 MMi"" PBw- MB3S M.
BBh BHl Ht
JJS '"' 3 U 4f BV
40
si MB- HflHr kHLLH
HHs9 ttHsr HPI
V fffffffVPBP'
TBPT lF
BBI BBBr
r iw
w3
Mr. Sam'
burn
down mr
Toxas town or
Ireland city
TXIsm: "busy
rarmed
paper hanger
TXIsm: 'crooked as
a dog's hind
Too Tall" & White
Nolan Ryan stat:
'earned run
meaning of 'Brazos'
Clorl3 of Tho Last
Picture Show' Inlt.)
TXIsm: ' can
strut sitting down'
how some Texans
handle deductions
to give up
Junction AM radio
Cowboy Emmltt (Init.)
direction to Wichita
Falls from Abilene
TX actor Wallach
role of TX Freeman
on 'One Life to Live'
Texans Bonnie and
Clyde up banks
this model Chiles from
Alice TX was In
"Moonraker" (Inlt.)
bullfight choer
TXIsm: 'hoppin' '
(upset)
TXIsm: 'Let rip"
quality of sound
TXIsm: "tame
dog'
32 Cowboy linebacker
(son of boxer)
34 TXism: "hot enough
mercury"
37 TXism: " as
a bug In a rug
39 Weatherford'3 Mary
was 'Peter '
41 consonant's omlgo
44 Baylor library has
largest collection of
this Browning (Inlt.)
46 TXIsm: 'I'm gonna;
shuck " (get
rid of everything) I
49 Dallas' Moyorson J
has huge pipe
50 this color In the TX
flag means "loyalty
51 Pepper or Red Duo
56 college in Carthagp
59 Davy Crockotfs j
trusty gun
See solution p. 5
U.S. Bishops admonish Mexican church
rebuke rebelling peasants Mexican army
By David Anderson
Rotlglous Nows Service 1994
WASHINGTON U.S.
Roman Catholic bishops
have expressed their soli-
darity with the church and people of
Mexico including embattled Dish-
op Samuel Ruiz of Son Cristobal de
las Casas.
"We share your anguish over the
loss of life brought about by the
insurrection especially the killings
of innocent noncombatants" Bish-
op Daniel Rcilly of Norwick
Conn. said in a letter to Archbishop
Adolfo Suarcz Rivera president of
the Mexican Episcopal Conference.
Rcilly is chairman of the U.S.
Catholic Conference Committee on
international policy.
The Jan. 14 letter made public
recently was written in response to
the Mexican bishop's statement just
two days earlier "for peace and jus-
tice in Chiapas."
That statement was prompted by
the peasant uprising in the Mexican
state of Chiapas and efforts by the
Mexican army amid accusations
of human rights abuses to put
down the rebellion.
Some government officials also
accused church leaders singling out
Ruiz of aiding the uprising.
Rcilly said the violent events in
Chiapas "have deeply touched us"
and noted that the U.S. bishops
were "impressed by the role that the
church has played and continues to
play in denouncing the violence in
calling for dialogue and a political
settlement of the conflict and in
defending human rights especially
the rights of the poorest and mpst
vulnerable."
In their statement Mexican bish-
ops blamed "the situation of misery
I
and helplessness and scom in whicii
the peasants and indigenous people
of Chiapas as in other parts of
Mexico" as the root of the violence
along with "the misuses of wcalt 1
by some."
Mexican bishops also criticize!
"the recourse to armed insurrcctio 1
as a way of solving the real prob -Icms
of misery and injustice" an 1
said it would "be equally con-
dcmnable for the Mexican Army t )
overstep its bounds in the fulfilrj-
ment of its duty."
In their statement the bishops
also noted the accusations that the
church in San Cristobal Ruiz's
diocese encouraged the peasant
uprising.
"We cannot accept any such sus-
picions concerning priests or reli-
gion or about the bishop himself"
the bishops said. "We have always
condemned violence."
First-ever Ethiopian Christian art exhibit tours U.S. cities
. . .... . ... . . . .
Religious News Service 1994
NEW YORK A leading
center of African and
African-American culture is
opening a major exhibit in New
7Vork of Ethiopian Christian art the
; second stop in a multi-city tour that
will continue through January 1996.
Sponsors of the exhibit "African
: Zibn: The Sacred Art of Ethiopia"
arc billing it as the first comprehen-
sive U.S. tour of Ethiopian Chris-
tian art in the United States.
"Many African-Americans are
Christians but do not know about
this part of their history" said
Howard Dodson chief of Harlem's
Schomburg Center for Research in
fcUlack Culture. "With this exhibit
we hope to fill in that gap."
The exhibit is at the Schomburg
Feb. 2-March 29 followed by stops
in the Midwest South and West.
Included in the exhibit arc more
than 100 works of art dating
from the 4th to 18th centuries
from Ethiopia where the Christian
presence is older than in any other
location in Africa
Most works on display originate
from collections of the Institute of
Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa
the nation's capital These works
include icons illuminated man-
uscripts and metalwork in gold and
silver.
According to the great national
epic of Ethiopia "Kebra Nagast"
'The Glory of Kings" Makeda
the biblical Queen of Sheba was an
Ethiopian queen who traveled to
Jerusalem to learn about the One
True God from King Solomon
renowned tor his wisdom.
A sort Menelik I was bom from
the encounter of Solomon and
Makeda. Menelik I founded the
royal dynasty then known as the
Kingdom of Axum which ruled
Ethiopia until modern times.
Ancient Ethiopians were primari-
ly adherents to Judaism prior to the
growth of Christianity. The New
Testament book of Acts records the
conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch.
In the fourth century Christianity
became the official religion of
Ethiopia which is symbolized on
one of the coins displayed that
shows a cross Imprinted above the
king's head.
Viewers of the exhibition also
will see photographs of the Rock
Churches of Lalibela from the 10th
Century which were cut from the
rocks of the mountainous Ethiopian
highlands. According to legend the
complex churches and chapels were
completed in only 20 years
because King Lalibela had angels
who worked on the building even
while hc slept.
Late in the 13th century the
Solomonic succession of kings
overthrew the Zagwes who had
ruled for four centuries. During that
time monasteries became important
for the spread and consolidation of
Ethiopian sovereignty.
During the same period venera-
tion of the Virgin Mary became a
prominent aspect of Ethiopian tradi-
tion and one king decreed that all
33 festivals of Mary be observed.
The exhibit concludes with items
discovered from the Empire of
Gondar who reigned in Ethiopia
from the early 1 7th century until the
late 18th century.
The display includes a triptych
from the early 18th century of Mary
of Dabra Metmaq who is said to
have appeared at the Monastery of
Dabra Metmaq.
Each year believers return in
honor of her.
In the triptych the crowned Mary
is surrounded by a host of martyrs
angels priests and virgins some
playing liturgical drums and noise-
makers objects that still arc part
of Ethiopian Orothdox worship
In one hand Mary holds an
embroidered handkerchief. Legend
contends that when Mary appeared
to the people gathered at Dabra
Metmaq they threw their handker-
chiefs into the air one of which
she caught.
The exhibition was organized by
InterCuItura a Texas-based arts and
education organization and the Baltimore-based
Walters Art Gallery
in conjunction with the Institute of
Ethiopian Studies.
New York is the second stop of
the African Zion's tour which orig-
inated in Baltimore.
From New York the exhibit will
travel to Houston April 21 to Dal-
las Sept. 28 and then to Chicago
Dec 23.
Other stops before the tour con-
cludes arc Norfolk! Va.; Los Ange-
icsr and Cleveland.
&(
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 82, No. 39, Ed. 1, Wednesday, February 9, 1994, newspaper, February 9, 1994; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth92223/m1/3/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.