To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - 'Multi-faith Coronation' for Charles
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 11:56:09 -0500

Monday 10 April 2000

'Multi-faith Coronation' for Charles
By Rachel Sylvester

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

THE Prince of Wales could be crowned King in a multi-faith
inauguration ceremony rather than the 1,000-year-old
Coronation service, under proposals to tackle "religious
discrimination" being considered by the Government.

A report commissioned by Jack Straw claims that the
establishment of the Church of England causes "religious
disadvantage" to other faiths and Christian denominations.
The coronation ceremony, conducted by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, in which the monarch swears to uphold the
Protestant faith, may no longer be appropriate in modern,
multi-cultural Britain, it says.

The sovereign's role as Supreme Governor of the Church of
England and "Defender of the Faith" should also be
reviewed. The paper, an interim report on religious
discrimination, puts disestablishment of the Church of
England firmly on the Government's agenda for the first
time since Labour came to power.

Maintaining the exclusive link between Church and state
may not be "the best or the most appropriate way forward in
terms of the need to embody the principles of equity,
inclusivity and participation in the contemporary plural
society of the United Kingdom", it says.

Tony Blair has always shied away from the issue, insisting
that he would not support disestablishment. However, he has
become increasingly interested in the relationship between
Christianity and other faiths. The Government would almost
certainly resist severing the link altogether but senior
figures think other religions should have a greater role in
national life, just as representatives of other faiths are
to be given seats in the Lords along with Anglican bishops.

The Church of England is itself considering ways to be
more "inclusive". The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George
Carey, is reported to have told an audience in his diocese
that he expects the Church one day to be disestablished.

The Home Office report, by Prof Paul Weller and a team at
Derby university, says the next coronation will be the next
focus of controversy which the Government should tackle as
a matter of urgency. It says: "Coronations are state events
which, historically, have expressed the close symbolic
relationship between established religion and the state.

"The religious composition of society has changed
significantly since the last coronation and the next
coronation will therefore highlight a series of very
important issues and complexities, which it would be best
to begin giving consideration to as soon as possible."

Some Anglican bishops, including Dr David Hope, the
Archbishop of York, have already been considering changes
to the ritual, which has been a Christian ceremony since
973, when Edgar was crowned by Archbishop Dunstan at Bath.
Proposals, which include involving other religious leaders,
rewriting the oath and abandoning the eucharist, have been
discussed.

Senior clergymen believe the next coronation cannot take
the same form as the last ceremony, in 1953, when the Queen
pledged to "preserve inviolably the settlement of the
Church of England". The Prince of Wales has made clear that
he wants to be the "defender of faith" rather than the
"defender of the faith", in order to reflect the number of
religions practised in Britain.

The Home Office paper criticises the "historically rooted
religious disadvantage" to other faiths and Christian
denominations caused by the establishment of the Church of
England. This includes the fact that Roman Catholics are
not allowed to succeed to the Throne and that the monarch
has to swear an oath of allegiance to the Protestant
church, it says.

The ban on the monarch marrying a Roman Catholic - which
has been the subject of debate in the Scottish Parliament
and at Westminster - and on Roman Catholic priests sitting
in the Commons are also highlighted.

Although the report acknowledges that establishment is
supported by many other religious leaders because it raises
the profile of religion generally, it says that the Church
of England's "special position" also makes other faiths
feel excluded from society and should be subjected to
"rigorous questioning".

Christianity has had a "privileged presence, sometimes as
of right and sometimes as a consequence of tradition" which
Judaism, Islam or Hinduism have not had, it concludes. Mr
Straw commissioned the report following calls from Muslims
for the law to be changed to ban religious discrimination.
At the moment, Sikhs and Jews are protected because they
are classified as a "race" but Muslims, Christians and
Buddhists are not.

The researchers point out that the Human Rights Act, which
takes effect in October, specifically protects people from
discrimination on the grounds of religion and could lead to
legal challenges if nothing is done. A Home Office
spokesman said the report "is being looked at very
thoroughly by the Home Office but nothing has been taken on
board yet".

Philip Mawer, secretary general of the Archbishop's
Council, said: "Coronations are primarily a statement of
the sovereign's accountability; they emphasise the duty and
service of the sovereign to the nation under God."

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The Goat Doctor
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 12:02:26 -0500

The Goat Doctor

Gary Davis thinks God gave him the secret
formula to cure this little girl of AIDS. Now the
government is giving him the chance to prove it.

By Lisa Frazier
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 9, 2000; Page F01

Gary Davis had a dream.

In the dream, he saw a goat.

It was December 1992, and his longtime friend had just
died of AIDS. The doctor tallied 20 patients he had lost to
the dreadful disease--a dozen in one month. He says he was
angry at God, so angry he looked toward the heavens before
falling asleep one night and issuing this challenge:

"If you're God, then act like God," Davis recalls shouting
into the air.

That night, he says, he dreamed he saw himself sticking a
goat with a needle, drawing its blood.

"I woke up the next morning, and I knew all this stuff
about the AIDS virus that I didn't know before," Davis, a
48-year-old family physician in Tulsa, claims. "I told my
wife and children, 'Did you know a goat can't contract
HIV?' They thought I was crazy. I told them, no, I saw it
in a dream."

-- more --

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-04/09/095l-040900-idx
html

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Dutch Weigh Legalized Euthanasia For Children
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 21:52:56 -0400

 April 10, 2000 -- 9:48 pm

   Dutch Weigh Legalized Euthanasia For Children

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (BP -- Pro-life activists in the Netherlands are
facing an uphill struggle as they mobilize opposition to a government
proposal to legalize euthanasia and "assisted suicide" -- even for
children as young as 12.

Arrayed against them are the ruling coalition with its parliamentary
majority, a powerful pro-euthanasia lobby and even the Royal Dutch Medical
Association, said Bert Dorenbos, head of the pro-life organization Cry for
Life, in an April 6 report on the CNSNews.com Internet site.

Euthanasia and assisted suicide -- where the patient takes his or her life
while a doctor stands by to help if needed -- have been technically
illegal in the Netherlands, although widely practiced. Physicians have
generally not been prosecuted if they follow prescribed guidelines.

About 4,000 Dutch patients die each year from active euthanasia in the
form of a lethal injection, and more than half of the country's doctors
have carried out the practice.

Now, a bill pending before the parliament would make the Netherlands the
first country in the world to legalize these practices, and it may be
passed as soon as this summer, Dorenbos said.

The bill also includes guidelines, including the requirement that doctors
obtain a second opinion, report each case and that patients be suffering
incurable and unbearable pain.

But opponents point out that some Dutch doctors have been flouting the
existing guidelines for years, and research shows that many cases already
are not being reported.

The bill's proposal that children as young as 12 should be eligible has
been particularly shocking.

Dorenbos explained that the reasoning arose from previous legal decisions
involving teenagers.

An earlier law involving pornography and abuse had set a precedent that
victims between 12 and 16 had to report cases of sexual abuse to the
police in person, rather than via a parent or guardian.

A 1995 bill allows girls of that age to have abortions without parental
consent.

Because of the earlier laws, Dorenbos told CNSNews.com, supporters of the
euthanasia bill argue that the same principle has to be applied with
children who are terminally ill, that they should have the right to ask to
kill themselves, even against the wishes of one or both parents.

Even though doctors working at large Dutch children's hospitals had
indicated that such cases were practically unheard of, Dorenbos said it
would only be a matter of time before this changed, should the bill be
passed.

"If you make the law, you create a market," he said.

Cry for Life and an alliance of other pro-life groups plan to march to
parliament in The Hague on April 22, where they hope to cover the square
in front of the building with a blanket bearing the names of half a
million people "missing" because of euthanasia and abortion.

Dorenbos said a petition would then be handed to the queen and lawmakers
urging them to throw out the euthanasia bill.

One of the issues of greatest concern to Dutch pro-lifers is the fact that
patients are being allowed to take their lives -- or doctors are doing it
for them -- even where the criteria of "unbearable suffering" is not met.

Court decisions have found that the pain being experienced can be
emotional or psychological, and not just physical.

In one celebrated case, Dorenbos recounted, a woman in her 50s whose
husband had died asked her doctor to help her to die, saying she was
deeply depressed. The doctor did so, and was subsequently prosecuted --
but only for not obtaining a second opinion.

"The killing itself was approved, and this set a [legal precedent],"
Dorenbos said.

"The real issue is not euthanasia [to relieve suffering], the issue is
that they'd like to legalize to right ... to allow anybody to kill himself
at the moment he wants to die."

A recent report in the British Medical Journal said guidelines in place in
the Netherlands were failing. In 1995, almost two-thirds of cases of
euthanasia and assisted suicide went unreported, the BMJ report noted.

One in five cases of euthanasia occurred without the patient's request,
and in 17 percent of such cases alternative treatment was available --
even though going ahead when alternative options exist contravened the
guidelines.

The BMJ said that more than half of the doctors surveyed said patients'
main justification for requesting death was "loss of dignity," rather than
the release of suffering required by the guidelines.

 (© 2000, Baptist Press)

http://www.mcjonline.com/news/00/20000410e.htm

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Portsmouth one of 3 sites in nation for mock attack
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2000 22:15:12 -0400

Monday, April 10, 2000

Portsmouth one of 3 sites in nation for mock attack

By JAMES BAKER
Democrat Staff Writer

PORTSMOUTH — If terrorists were to attack the Port City,
would authorities be adequately prepared to respond to the
emergency?

Local, state and federal agencies will be able to answer
that question next month when the U.S. Department of
Justice oversees a mock rehearsal for the real thing.

For security reasons, the exact date has not been
announced publicly, other than it will take place some time
between May 7 and May 29.

Dubbed Topoff, the series of attacks by a staged, foreign-
terrorist group will enable officials to test their
response time if faced by real weapons of mass destruction.

Portsmouth, Denver and an area outside Washington, D.C.,
will simultaneously participate in the $6 million exercise,
which will last at least five or six days, according to Jim
Van Dongen, public information officer for the New
Hampshire Office of Emergency Management.

The FBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agency will
be involved in the exercise, as well as a number of state
agencies including the Office of Emergency Management, the
Department of Environmental Services, the Department of
Transportation, State Police, and the New Hampshire
National Guard.

Local police and fire departments will also participate in
the drill, which will include more than 200 people.

As part of the staged attacks, actors will release mock
biological agents, chemical weapons and radiation and hack
into computers, said Ted Macklin, director of exercises and
evaluations at the Justice Department´s Office of State and
Local Domestic Preparedness Support.

"This will give us the chance to assess in the context of
a full-scale exercise how far we have come in the training
process of our first responders and whether we need to make
any midcourse corrections," Macklin said.

"This exercise is very important in allowing us to assess
our national capacity and refine our approach to the threat
of terrorism," he said, adding that the exercise will be
unprecedented in terms of its scope.

Van Dongen said Portsmouth was included in the exercise at
the request of Office of Emergency Management Director
Woodbury Fogg and from a provision inserted in a 1998
appropriations bill by Sen. Judd Gregg, R-NH, calling for
practice operations for a terrorist attack.

Van Dongen said the drill will include a fake explosion
that will simulate the release of toxic chemicals into the
air. Officials involved in the exercise won´t be warned
until it actually begins, he said.

"There´s no way to know where, but it won´t be in a
populated area like Market Square, because an exercise like
this can´t be done in a downtown area.

"The goal is to make the drill as realistic as possible,
but to have minimal disruption while its going on. We´re
not looking to create a ‘War of the Worlds´ scenario," Van
Dongen said.

Mock victims will also participate in the drill, which
will require Portsmouth Regional Hospital, Wentworth-
Douglass Hospital in Dover and Exeter Hospital to be on
alert as well.

"We don´t know the specifics of how many ‘patients´ we´ll
be receiving or under what conditions, but this exercise
will evaluate our own preparedness under real conditions,"
said Portsmouth Regional Hospital Marketing Director Nancy
Notis.

Van Dongen said the exercise will also feature a mock
television news operation that will be at the scene
reporting on the events as they take place.

"Realistically, a situation like this would draw a great
deal of media attention, and we have to be prepared to
handle that situation as well," he said.

http://www.fosters.com/news2000b/april/10/po0410f.htm

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