Associated Baptist Press
January 14, 2009 · (09-7)
David Wilkinson, Executive Director
Robert Marus, Managing Editor/Washington Bureau Chief
Bob Allen, Senior Writer
In this issue
Faith leaders urge Obama to ban torture on Inauguration Day (616 words)
Deadly Zimbabwe cholera outbreak crime against humanity, group says (606 words)
Dan Goodman, N.C. seminary professor, dies suddenly (389 words)
Opinion: Thoughts on protecting the sanctity of marriage (789 words)
Faith leaders urge Obama to ban torture on Inauguration Day
By Bob Allen (616 words)
WASHINGTON (ABP) -- A broad coalition of faith leaders has written a letter asking President-elect Barack Obama to make banning torture one of his first acts in office.
Thirty-three leaders from Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions asked Obama to "restore our nation's moral standing in the world" by signing an executive order rejecting the practice of torture by the United States. The National Religious Campaign Against Torture issued the letter to Obama's presidential transition team Jan. 9.
NRCAT recently launched a campaign titled Countdown to End Torture: 10 Days of Prayer aimed at unifying the religious community in a final push urging the president-elect to make ending torture one of his first priorities.
A clock on the NRCAT website started on Jan. 11, the seventh anniversary of the opening of the U.S. detention center for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It will tick backward until Jan. 20, in hopes that the new president will sign an executive order before it reaches 00:00:00.
If he doesn't, the clock will start ticking forward, counting the hours until Obama changes policies of the Bush administration regarding the use of techniques the Geneva Conventions consider torture in interrogating suspected terrorists.
The coalition is also asking houses of worship to pray in worship services between Jan. 11 and the inauguration for an end to U.S.-sponsored torture. A two-sided bulletin insert carries a prayer printed on one side and information about a Declaration of Principles for a Presidential Executive Order on Prisoner Treatment, Torture and Cruelty issued along with the letter.
The letter asked Obama to issue a torture ban order on Inauguration Day or as soon afterward as possible in order to "help the United States to regain the moral high ground and restore our credibility within the international community at this critical time."
"While we represent a wide diversity of America's faith traditions, we all believe in the inherent worth and dignity of all human life," the leaders wrote. "Respect for the dignity of every person must serve as the foundation for security, justice and peace. Torture is incompatible with the tenets of our faiths and is contrary to international and U.S. law."
The attached declaration of principles urges a "Golden Rule" standard for torture, meaning the United States will not authorize any methods of interrogation that it would deem unacceptable if used against Americans.
It also calls for establishing one national standard for treatment of prisoners. Currently the U.S. Army Field Manual sets one standard for interrogation techniques, while the CIA uses another.
Other proposed reforms include allowing detainees access to courts, videotaping interrogations and holding accountable any official who implements or fails to prevent the use of torture.
Signers of the letter included leaders from a variety of Christian denominations. Baptist signers were David Gushee, president of Evangelicals for Human Rights; Roy Medley, general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA; and Stan Hastey, minister for missions and ecumenism for the Alliance of Baptists.
Following a Jan. 14 telephone press conference announcing the initiative, an NRCAT delegation planned to meet with members of Obama's transition team to emphasize the message in the letter.
The meetings took place the same day the Washington Post published a front-page story noting that the Bush administration's top official in charge of determining whether Guantanamo Bay detainees should be brought to trial determined that at least one detainee had been tortured by U.S. officials. Susan Crawford, a lifelong Republican, said Mohammed al-Qatani -- whom federal officials claim intended to be the 20th highjacker in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks -- had undergone severe interrogation techniques that threatened his life.
Bush administration officials have repeatedly denied that the United States engages in torture.
Bob Allen is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.
Deadly Zimbabwe cholera outbreak crime against humanity, group says
By Robert Marus (606 words)
NEW YORK (ABP) -- The cholera outbreak that has killed thousands in Zimbabwe should be considered a crime against humanity and laid at the feet of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, an international doctors' group said in a new report.
Physicians for Human Rights released the report at Jan. 13 press conferences in New York and South Africa. In a preface to the 54-page document, the group "rightly calls into question the legitimacy of a regime that, in the report's words, has abrogated the most basic state functions in protecting the health of the population."
The preface was signed by former Irish premier and U.N. human-rights officer Mary Robinson, retired Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa and former U.N. chief prosecutor Richard Goldstone. It notes, "As the report documents, the Mugabe regime has used any means at its disposal, including politicizing the health sector, to maintain its hold on power. Instead of fulfilling its obligation to progressively realize the right to health for the people of Zimbabwe, the government has taken the country backwards, which has enabled the destruction of health, water, and sanitation -- all with fatal consequences."
The document is the product of a December trip to Zimbabwe by a group of four human-rights activists, including two public-health physicians. It details the gradual destruction of the nation's public-health system -- once considered one of the best in Africa -- to the point where virtually all hospitals are closed and the most basic public sanitation and health needs go unmet.
Zimbabwe has been in an economic free-fall since 2000, when Mugabe's regime began seizing the country's largely white-owned corporate farms. Food productivity in a nation once considered the breadbasket of southern Africa has plummeted along with average life expectancy, which is now the lowest in the world at 36 years of age. Meanwhile, malnutrition, inflation and unemployment have soared.
The breakdown of sanitation infrastructure following nationalization of municipal water systems has led to the cholera outbreak. There is virtually no clean drinking or bathing water in many areas of the country.
According to the World Health Organization, at least 40,000 Zimbabweans have contracted cholera from water-borne bacteria. On the day the report was released, the group confirmed that Zimbabwe's death toll from cholera has exceeded 2,000.
The report recommended that the U.N. take over Zimbabwe's public-health system, and that the Mugabe regime be investigated by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
"Heedless of concern for the population of Zimbabwe from world leaders and groups such as PHR [Physicians for Human Rights], the government has denied access to the country, detained journalists, tortured human-rights activists, and even refused visas to former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and [South African human-rights activist and wife of Nelson Mandela] Graça Machel," the report continued.
"PHR's team members legally entered the country and were transparent about the purpose of conducting a health assessment. Nevertheless, the government apparently planned and then falsely reported their arrest at the end of the investigation. Such actions are a desperate attempt by Robert Mugabe to conceal the appalling situation of his country's people and to prevent the world from knowing how his government's malignant policies have led to the destruction of infrastructure, widespread disease, torture, and death."
Mugabe has blamed Western sanctions against his regime for the food shortages that have contributed to Zimbabwe's public-health disaster. His government has been deadlocked since September on a power-sharing agreement with the chief opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.
"The Mugabe regime has used any means at its disposal, including the politicization of the health sector, to maintain its hold on power," the report said.
Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.
Dan Goodman, N.C. seminary professor, dies suddenly
By ABP staff (389 words)
BOILING SPRINGS, N.c. (ABP) -- A 40-year-old professor at a North Carolina Baptist divinity school died unexpectedly Jan. 13.
Gardner-Webb University officials released a statement saying Dan Goodman, the Bob D. Shepherd Chair of New Testament Interpretation at the college's M. Christopher White School of Divinity, had died suddenly. Details on the cause of death were incomplete as of press time for this story.
His funeral was scheduled for 11 a.m. Jan. 15th at Boiling Springs (N.C.) Baptist Church, where Goodman was a member.
"The Gardner-Webb University family has been profoundly saddened by the loss of Dr. Dan Goodman," said Frank Bonner, Gardner-Webb's president since 2005. "He was loved and admired by students, faculty, staff and all who knew him.
"Dr. Goodman was all that a university family could wish or hope for -- a great teacher, an outstanding scholar and a wonderful colleague."
Goodman is the fourth staff or faculty member at Gardner-Webb to die in the past 30 months, three of them unexpectedly.
Sid Haton, director athletic bands and instructor in music, died on campus Sept. 18, 2008. In June of 2006 the school's vice president for development, David Boan, was killed in a car accident and Bruce Rabon, assistant vice president for development, died from cancer.
Goodman joined the faculty of the divinity school in the fall of 2003 as associate professor of New Testament. Prior to coming to North Carolina, he was associate professor of New Testament Studies at Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida, where he was twice named professor of the year.
In 2004, Goodman was one of only ten seminary professors nationwide to be awarded the Theological Scholars Grant from the Association of Theological Schools and the Lilly Foundation. The award recognized his project on the history of Baptist-Jewish relations.
Goodman regularly contributed to book reviews and journals. His primary research interests included Christian origins, Jesus and the gospels, hermeneutics, and Jewish-Christian dialogue. He also served as an interim pastor in Baptist churches in New York, New Jersey, Florida and North Carolina.
Rabbi Irving Greenberg, former chairman of the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington and a national leader in Jewish-Christian dialogue, described Goodman as "an up-and-coming scholar" and "a leader in the new vision of interpretation and learning."
He is survived by a wife and two sons, ages 11 and 15.
Opinion: Thoughts on protecting the sanctity of marriage
By David Gushee (789 words)
(ABP) -- As I write this column, Jeanie and I are preparing to gather with a half-dozen young couples at church to begin a marriage class. For six weeks we will meet together to discuss ways that these nearly- and newlyweds can strengthen their marriages at their earliest stage.
Helping couples build lasting and happy Christian marriages is clearly an appropriate and significant task of the local church. There can be no controversy about this work as there is in so much else that the church says and does. Here the church pastors her sheep, guiding them in the way they should go. With the Spirit's help, and on the basis of sound biblical principles and empirical data, the church can make a concrete difference in the lives of couples -- and the children (and the churches, and the society) whose well-being depends on them.
Reviewing some of the literature about marriage over these last few weeks has offered a reminder of the paradoxical simplicity and complexity of marriage.
At one level, it seems relatively simple to find one person you love, to decide to make a life together, and then to do so until death comes. Certainly, most of us seek the formation of such a relationship at one time or another in our lives. But managing the human-relations challenge of sustaining such a bond happily over a lifetime appears beyond the abilities of a majority of people in our time. Trying to understand why that seems to be the case is one entry point into the complexity of marriage.
How the institution of marriage is understood is one of our best windows into the character of a community, a church or a society. Contemporary American marriage is an uneasy mosaic containing ancient, modern, and even postmodern fragments.
We are a half-religious society, so many Americans still see marriage as a religious institution and draw some (often attenuated) understanding of their marital obligations from religious values. We are a romantic society, much attracted to dreams of "happily ever after," so most couples enter marriage placing high value on romantic love. We are a sexualized society, so sexual satisfaction is at the forefront of our attention in marriage. We are an individualistic society, so marriage among us lacks the sturdiness created by earlier understandings of covenant obligations. We are an egalitarian society -- dependent for the most part on two wage earners in each household-- so marriage requires the juggling of the dreams and responsibilities of two busy-and-stressed strivers. We are a consumer society now facing economic crisis, so marriages are often shadowed by profound financial pressures.
The church often teaches marriage classes based on relationship books written by psychologists and counselors. These assume -- and often do not comment on -- the social and historical realities I just outlined. They seek to teach couples how to become adept at the communication, conflict-resolution, financial-management, sexual, romantic and parenting challenges that face every marriage. They usually warn spouses that failure to become skilled at handling these challenges can lead to marital dissatisfaction and often to divorce. They don't say that many of these kinds of expectations for marriage are relatively new, and that they test the relational and interpersonal abilities of many people beyond their capacities -- for we are all in various ways flawed, limited and damaged.
Jeanie and I will attempt to offer a blend of ancient and modern perspectives. We will call couples back to at least one version of a biblical theology of marriage, which I usually summarize in the categories of creation, covenant, community and kingdom. We were made by God as creatures needing to give and receive love. In covenant, we bind ourselves before God to live with one other person for the whole of our lives.
This forms a new community of two-become-one -- and eventually two-become-one-become-three, and often four, and five, as children flow from and into this community (the health and well-being of which affect the entire society). Christian families finally must come to understand that they do not exist for themselves, but for others and especially for God's reign. We are kingdom people, and our marriages must be oriented to God's kingdom and not just our own joy.
Maximizing such joy does require a growing skill in all kinds of practical areas outlined in marriage books. These skills must be taught in marriage classes -- but always under the horizon of a richly biblical understanding of God's intent for marriage, such as covenant permanence, so that our marriages are not constantly shadowed by the fear of failure and abandonment.
How do we protect what is often called the "sanctity of marriage?" One couple at a time, in the local church.
-- David Gushee is distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University.
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