|
RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL Bulletin # 47 (9 September 2000)
IN THIS ISSUE:
VATICAN: SCIENCE a la POPE
T he Pontifex is trying his hand on yet another bridge over the abyss that divides church and science: Pope John Paul II invited scientists from around the world to celebrate the Holy Year of the Roman Catholic church with conferences in Rome and Bologna. Scientific progress created wonderful possibilities, the Pope said in his address to the delegates yesterday, but had a terrible potential. Only last month he had strongly condemned human cloning as morally unacceptable.
Organizer of the jubilee conferences was the Catholic University in Rome. Considering the Catholic church€ â’ ’¹s tradition of censorship, oppression and persecution of scientists throughout history, the name "Catholic University" sounds like a bad joke, a bitter sarcasm. It evokes the spine chilling image of an iron cage, in which Freedom of Research is languishing with badly burned wings and Spirit of Inquiry lies in chains and with a Spanish Collar around its neck. But there were no thumb-screws used in the Pope€ â’ ’¹s blessed conferences. Times have changed. If you cannot kill them, embrace them!, is the policy of the Inquisition out of power. And as one sees, it yields quite fine results.
In Rome, a conference with the title "Architectures of the mind, architectures of the brain" presented latest developments in the field of brain research. Among the key speakers were Prof. Richard Frackowiak of the Institute of Neurology, London, and Prof. Steven Pinker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Soul searchers had a fine time using solid scientific platforms as playground for theological somersaults and many a delegate may have gone home with the impression that neuro science was slowly but surely moving towards unveiling the holy mystery of the immortal soul. In Bologna, a conference with the title "Science and Knowledge: Towards what rationality?" was looking for Little Jesus in outer space. And Prof. Duccio Macchetto, director of the Space Telescope Institute in Baltimore, really spotted him: with a sufficiently potent telescope, put up 2000 light years away from earth, he told the stunned audience, we would be able to record the birth of Christ. "I am afraid though you would need a lens as large as the solar system to get a good image of the child Jesus". Hallelujah, finally we got him! One will, however, still have to work on some details of the experimental arrangement. VATICAN: THE POPE IS THE POPE IS THE POPE Declaration against religious pluralism and relativistic theories C ardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly Holy Inquisition) has set the records straight: All religions are not equal! In fact, the only "church in a proper sense" is the Roman Catholic one and the Pope is the Pope is the Pope! In the document Declaration dominus iesus on the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the Church, which is endorsed by the Pope and sent to bishops worldwide, the Vatican strongly rejects the concept of equality of religions. "There exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic church, governed by the successor of Peter and by the bishops in communion with him." "The Catholic church possesses and has been entrusted with the fullness of grace and truth." Non-Christian religions are in a "gravely deficient situation" regarding salvation. Other Christian churches "suffer defects" since they do not accept the Catholic doctrine of the absolute primacy of the Pope. While some remain united with the Catholic church and are therefore not completely deprived of salvation, others cannot be called "churches in a proper sense". This implicates a hard blow as against Protestantism. The Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Church of England, criticized the document and claimed to know the reason behind the branding of his church as one of the "improper" ones: professional competition. The Anglican church, he claimed, has done too well in the recent past. Though the document claims that despite the truth of faith the Catholic church has sincere respect for the religions in the world, it could mark the beginning of a new ice-age of inter-religious dialogue. Its release coincides with the highly provocative beatification of the antisemitic and ultra-conservative last Pope-king Pius IX last Sunday that sparked worldwide protest by Jews and liberal Catholics.
In a press conference, Ratzinger strongly criticized theologians who are "manipulating and going beyond the limits of tolerance when they put religions on the same plane". Among the castigated must have been the members of the Roman Catholic delegation in the recent World Peace Summit of religious and spiritual leaders in New York. They forgot to veto when the delegates in sentimental flower-power mood passed unanimously a declaration about the equality of all religions, which was enthusiastically celebrated in editorials around the world. Francis Cardinal Arinze, the president of the Pontifical Council on Inter-religious dialogue, headed the delegation. It seems the inner fronts in Vatican are getting ready for the succession war. KASHMIR: WOMEN WITHOUT PURDAH UNDER THREAT OF FUNDAMENTALIST GUN-SQUADS
T he command council of the Pakistan-based Islamic fundamentalist Lakshar-e-Toiba (LeT) has issued a press statement to local papers in Kashmir, in which they threaten to shoot women without warning in their legs, if they leave their house without wearing purdah (veil). Cable operators are warned to stop with immediate effect to forward BBC, the Pakistan TV channel PTV and the National Geographic Channel. The 22,000 government employees, who have been recruited by the government for a census operation in Kashmir, are threatened with execution if they try to do their duty. To put weight behind their threats, a gun-squad of the LeT attacked a beauty parlor in Srinagar one day after issuing the statement. The owner and two young employees of the parlor suffered bullet wounds.
USA: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT AS A POLITICAL WEAPON
T he government of the USA has taken it upon itself to watch the state of religious freedom in the world. It was even prudent enough to create in its Religious Freedom Bill a legal base for intervention wherever it finds it necessary. Up to now it was not necessary, but one is equipped for all cases.
Mandated by the US Congress to appear every September, the second annual report on religious freedom was released by Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, in New York, just before the opening of the UN Millennium Summit. Among the worst offenders in restricting religious freedom under the 194 watched countries, it enlists Pakistan (for its blasphemy laws), India (for ineffective investigation and prosecution of attacks on religious minorities), China (for its curbs on the Falun Gong sect and for harassment of Tibetan Buddhists) as well as Myanmar, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Cuba and North Korea. What about Saudi Arabia? It seems that in some cases political considerations have put their weight on this or that side of Justitia€ â’ ’¹s scales. India€ â’ ’¹s position among the worst offenders, for example, could be due to the influence of a strong Christian lobby in the USA. According to the report, there seems to be mainly one discriminated minority in India: the Christian missionaries. The report is an elaborate dossier on attacks against Christian priests and missionaries in different parts of the country, citing examples that are partly long exposed as highly exaggerated or even faked cases. Among the numerous examples for discrimination is the case of the US missionary Father Antony Raymond Ceresko, who had been "working" in Bangalore since 1991. The Indian authorities did not extend his visa and he was asked to leave the country after his missionary zeal had caused some tension among the local population. Some missionaries were quoted for facing difficulties with their local post offices, some complain bitterly that the Indian government did not allocate land to them for the building of a church, some did not like the scrutiny with which the reception of foreign funds is watched. Undoubtedly, the Religious Freedom Report is a political weapon against "inconvenient" regimes.
The recipients of Rationalist International Bulletin # 47 may publish, post, forward or reproduce articles and reports from this bulletin, acknowledging the source, "Rationalist International Bulletin # 47". If you wish to invite your rationalist friends to receive Rationalist International Bulletin (it's free), please ask them to send a blank message from their address to rationalist-subscribe@egroups.com or you may send their email addresses to HQ@rationalistinternational.net
How to contact Rationalist International? Postal Address: Rationalist International, P O Box 9110, New Delhi 110091, India. Phone: +91-11-2253255, Fax: +91-11-84456201 (please note the change in fax number), Email: info@rationalistinternational.net
Sanal Edamaruku, President of Rationalist International, can be contacted at: Edamaruku@rationalistinternational.net |