Doctors alleged to have experimented on detainees. The National Religious Campaign Against Torture wants the government to investigate claims that doctors and medical professionals performed unethical experiments on detainees in CIA custody during the Bush administration. The group voiced their concerns over a report from the Physicians for Human Rights, “Experiments in Torture: Evidence of Human Subject Research and Experimentation in the Enhanced Interrogation Program.” According to the report, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, doctors were asked to analyze and improve enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding, forced nudity, sleep deprivation and prolonged isolation.
Pope calls for peace in Middle East. Pope Benedict XVI called for an “urgent international effort” to bring peace to the Middle East, especially for the region’s dwindling Christian population, in a Mass at the end of a three-day visit to Cyprus. Quoting from a working paper prepared for a summit of Middle East bishops in Rome in October, he predicted the continued Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the rise of “political Islam” would lead to greater violence. The 46-page document details threats posed by fundamentalist Christians who use biblical texts “to justify Israel’s occupation of Palestine, making the position of Christian Arabs an even more sensitive issue.” It also said the rise of “political Islam” in Arab, Turkish and Iranian societies and its extremist rhetoric are “clearly a threat to everyone, Christians and Muslims alike,” adding “the key to harmonious living between Christians and Muslims is to recognize religious freedom and human rights.”
Foursquare Church picks next president. Glenn Burris Jr. has been chosen as the next president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel after serving as interim president since last year. Burris, who previously served in the vice presidential post of general supervisor, was elected during the recent annual meeting of the Pentecostal denomination in Atlanta. He officially begins his new position Oct. 1. He succeeds Jack Hayford, a former megachurch pastor and longtime hymn composer, who decided in 2009 not to seek a second five-year term as president. The Foursquare Church includes about 8.7 million members and 66,000 churches worldwide.
Episcopalians lose posts on Anglican committees. The Episcopal Church has been removed from Anglican committees that engage in dialogue with other Christians and consider doctrinal issues the latest fallout from the church’s consecration of a lesbian bishop. Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion, outlined the demotions in a recently published letter. Mary Douglas Glasspool is the second openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, after Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who was consecrated in 2003. After Robinson’s consecration, member churches in the international Anglican Communion were asked to abide by three moratoria—no more gay bishops, no official blessings for same-sex unions and no interfering in each other’s provinces.
–Compiled from Religion News Service
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