From: B Tilton 
Subject: [illusions] [BICNews] Clergy Draw Kosovo Parallels (AP) (fwd)
Date: 2 Apr 1999 17:45:40 -0500
To: illusions@beyond-the-illusion.com

-=> Illusions Mailing List



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 23:23:19 +0100
From: Newsroom 
To: BICNews 
Subject: [BICNews] Clergy Draw Kosovo Parallels (AP)


Please do not reply to BICNews unless submitting an Article!
Responses should be directed to the original sender: Newsroom 

Clergy Draw Kosovo Parallels
By Julia Lieblich
AP Religion Writer
Friday, April 2, 1999; 4:38 p.m. EST

NEW YORK (AP) -- Exodus. Resurrection. Hope.

Clergy will sound familiar Easter and Passover themes from their pulpits
this weekend, but this year there will be a different backdrop: Kosovo.

In churches, mosques and synagogues, many religious leaders are drawing
parallels between the traditional biblical lessons of the season and the
war raging in Yugoslavia.

Bishop Joseph A. Fiorenza said he'll raise the Easter theme of good
triumphing over evil this Sunday at his pulpit in Houston. After Christ's
resurrection, Fiorenza says, ``the very first words he spoke were words of
peace.''

``At this point, our prayers are the only thing that are going to move
these leaders to have a greater desire to seek peace than ... continue the
war,'' said Fiorenza, president of the National Council of Catholic Bishops.

Jews saw a connection between Kosovar refugees and those in the Exodus
story central to the celebration of Passover.

``Here is an Egypt. It's called Kosovo,'' said Rabbi A. James Rudin, whose
family discussed the war at their seders this week in New York.

``God heard their cries and we hear their cries,'' he said.

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, he said, could be seen as a
modern-day Pharaoh. ``Negotiations in ancient Egypt failed. We just hope
(the ethnic Albanians) don't wander for 40 years,'' said Rudin,
interreligious affairs director for the American Jewish Committee, which
supports the bombing.

``The Jews remember when hospitality was not given to us,'' Rudin said.
``The gates were closed. The ships were turned back. One of the greatest
evidence of God's presence in the world is hospitality.''

Imam Talal Eid, religious director of the Islamic Center of New England,
offered prayers at a mosque in Quincy, Mass., outside of Boston, Friday for
the people of Kosovo and asked for donations to a humanitarian fund.

``The memories of the Bosnian experience are still fresh on our minds,'' he
says. ``Now I see another genocide going on against innocent people, and
they happen to be Muslim.''

However, he said he wouldn't support a temporary cease-fire for religious
reasons -- be it on Easter or Ramadan. Military action, he said, is
regrettable but necessary.

At the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York, on the
other hand, the sermon will not mention Kosovo this Sunday, which is Palm
Sunday in the Orthodox calendar.

``Generally Orthodox priests do not politicize their sermons,'' said the
Rev. Mark Arey, spokesman for the archdiocese, which called for a
cease-fire during the holidays.

Some religious leaders hadn't made up their minds Friday whether to preach
about Kosovo.

The Rev. John Buchanan, of the 4th Presbyterian Church in Chicago, said he
will most likely talk about the war, but wanted to avoid what he called
simplistic pontifications.

On one hand, he said, he is convinced that violence seldom makes a
situation better. ``A dreadful situation has become even more dreadful,''
he says.

On the other, it would be wrong for President Clinton to let the atrocities
in Kosovo continue. ``I am moved by my sensibilities about the Holocaust...
and the weight of reasonability that comes with having power.''

 Copyright 1999 The Associated Press
_______________________________________________________________
Views expressed on BICNews do not necessarily represent those
of the editors, the Belfast Islamic Centre or any of our
associated staff. Further distribution of material featured in
this Newsletter may be restricted by copyright law.
Thank you to all our subscribers and readers.
-
Digest versions are also available -- this is recommended if you
do not want to handle too many mails -- see web site for details
To unsubscribe BICNews, e-mail: bicnews-request@MailingList.net
and type unsubscribe in the body of your e-mail message.
-
Article Submissions for BICNews:        
BICNews Editors:                        
Belfast Islamic Centre Main Site: http://ireland.iol.ie/~afifi
or http://www.ummah.net/bicnews  http://www.muslimsonline.com/bicnews



--
-=> Discuss the illusions of reality....
-=> Illusions Mailing List - Illusions@beyond-the-illusion.com
-=> http://www.beyond-the-illusion.com/mailman/listinfo/illusions/

Disclaimer: The file contained in the box above or displayed in a separate window from a link in the box above is NOT owned nor implied to be owned by BeYoND THe iLLuSioN. Most files at BeYoND THe iLLuSioN are originally from public Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) which were popular in the days before the Internet or from gopher, web, and FTP sites from the early days of the Internet which no longer exist today. Essentially, all files were acquired from the public domain in one for or another.

However, there have been occasions when copyright protected material has appeared on BeYoND THe iLLuSIoN without permission of the copyright holder. In these instances, we have and will continue to remove the copyright protected file as soon as it is brought to our attention. This can now be done using our Report Copyright Material form. Fill out the form, and the webmaster will be notified of the situation.

There are also times when files found on BeYoND THe iLLuSioN have a real home somewhere else on the Internet. In these instances, we will gladly replace the file with a link to its true home whenever it is brought to our attention. If you know of the true home of any of these files, you can use our Report Original URL form to bring it yo our attention.