 March 10, 1999
National Notes
___ Two named to freedom panel. Congressional Democrats have named the Roman Catholic archbishop of Newark, N.J., and a Washington-based Reform rabbi to the new U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, the international policy spokesman for the United States Catholic Conference, was named to the commission by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, was selected by House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt. Congressional Republicans already named four members to the commission, and the White House will name two more.
___ "Prince of Egypt" gets award. The animated Bible movie "The Prince of Egypt" won the top Gold Angel Award for best film of the year at the 22nd annual International Angel Awards Feb. 25. The awards honor entertainment promoting positive moral and social values and are given by the Hollywood entertainment group Excellence In Media. This year's honorees also included the animated film "Mulan" as Best Children's Movie and the Italian Holocaust film "Life Is Beautiful" as Best Foreign Film.
___ Presbyterians ponder gay issue. A Presbyterian Church (USA) judicial panel is pondering whether a Presbyterian congregation defied church law when it elected an openly gay Presbyterian elder to its governing board last spring. At issue is a controversial 1997 amendment to the denomination's constitution, or Book of Order, that says "fidelity in marriage or chastity in singleness" is the standard required of people ordained to leadership positions. First Presbyterian Church of Stamford, Conn., is accused of violating the amendment when it elected Wayne Osborne to its 30-member session, or governing body.
___ Man charged with church fires. An Indiana man has been charged with burning seven churches in the southern part of that state since 1994. Two other people also have been charged in one of the arsons. Jay Scott Ballinger, 36, of Yorktown, Ind., was charged Feb. 21 with setting the seven fires in several counties. The charges came as a result of continuing work of the National Church Arson Task Force, which includes local, state and federal authorities. According to an affidavit filed in the case, Ballinger confessed to setting between 30 and 50 church fires between 1994 and 1998.
___ Hate groups on rise on-line. The number of Internet sites promoting racial hatred rose by more than 55 percent in 1998, according to a report issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The agency counted 254 hate sites on the Internet in 1998 compared with 163 in 1997. It defines a hate site as one that uses "racist or anti-Semitic content or promotes a group known to be racist or anti-Semitic."
___ Krishna airport activity limited. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to review a ruling barring members of the Hare Krishna religious sect from soliciting funds or selling literature at Miami International Airport. The high court's Feb. 22 refusal leaves intact a ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That ruling upheld airport restrictions on the Florida arm of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness. The ban does not prohibit the distribution of free literature. The ruling applies to airports in Florida, Georgia and Alabama.
___ Most oppose denying life support. About eight in 10 Americans believe a doctor should not be able to withhold life support against the wishes of a patient or the patient's family, according to a February poll by Wirthlin Worldwide. The poll found 79 percent of adults think families should be able to choose life support for an unconscious patient even when a physician opposes it.
___ Faith-healing parents sentenced. The parents of a hemophiliac child who bled to death have been sentenced to 17 years of probation in a Philadelphia court. Dean and Susan Heilman pleaded no contest to charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment for letting their son bleed to death from a treatable cut. The couple refused to seek medical help due to their religious belief in faith healing.
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