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Date:         Wed, 6 Jan 1993 14:50:50 CST
              USENET." <VIETNET@USCVM.BITNET>
From:         tran@NEEP.ENGR.WISC.EDU
Subject:      [NEWS] Good News, Bad News, Ugly News

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

1. GOOD NEWS:

CATHOLIC CHURCH CASTS AN EYE TO SPACE CONVERTS
By Steve Yozwiak, Arizona Republic.

TUCSON, Ariz. - The Catholic Church could have a new missionary frontier on its
hands.  That's assuming the new telescope in southeastern Arizona that is run
by the church's Vatican Observatory locates planets orbiting other stars- and
that those planets have intelligent inhabitants.
   "The church would be obliged to address the question of whether
extraterrrestrials might be bought within the fold and baptized," the Rev.
George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory, said in a story published
recently in London's Daily Telegraph.
   "One would need to put some questions to him (an alien), such as: "Have you
ever experienced something similar to Adam and Eve, in other words, original
sin? Do you people also know a Jesus who has redeemed you#?""
   Coyne, who is in Rome, was unavailable for comment.
   But the Rev. Chris Corbally, a staff astronomer and project scientist in
Tucson, said the possibility of encountering alien life raises profound
theological questions.
   "Surely, it would be fascinating to have a real encounter with another
intelligence," Corbally said, "I think we'd have to consider whether we should
baptize him."
   Corbally denied that the Vatican Observatory is teaming up with the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration to "spread the Gospel to
extraterrestrials."

My comment:  This is very good news because the church has only mediocre
scientists (good scientists don't believe in creationism), and now they shift
their objectives to outer spaces, therefore save us here on earth a lot of
troubles.

2. BAD NEWS:

ELECTION ROLE TOPS 1992 RELIGION NEWS.
By Michael Hirsley, Chicago Tribune

   Religion's role in the national elections was the top religion story of the
last year, followed by the Church of England's vote to ordain women priests,
the U#.S. Roman Catholic bishops' inability to agree on a teaching document on
women's issues and the outpouring of allegations of clergy sexual abuse#.
   Those were rated the top 4 stories of 1992 in a survey of religion writers.
   In an era when moderate Southern Baptists can't win the presidency of their
own conservative-heavy denomination, the election of moderate Southern Baptist
Bill Clinton and Al Gore Jr. as president and vice president of the country was
a major story in religion as well as politics.
   When combined with the unabashed and unsuccessful political involvement of
religious conservatives to re-elect President Bush and Vice President Quayle,
and their much more successful efforts to elect state and local politicians,
Election '92 was last year's top story in the Rerligion Newswriters Association
poll.
   Second place went to the Church of England's vote, after heated debate, to
ordain female priests.  The outcome brought threats of schism in this, the
"mother church" of the 70-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion.  But
though the mother church sets an example for many Anglicans, half of the
Communion's member churches, including the U#.S. Episcopal Church, have ordained
women for years.
   Third-ranked in the poll was the U#.S. Catholic bishops' decision to reject
the fourth and final draft of a pastoral letter on women's concerns.  By
shelving the issue, the bishops punctuated the nine-year writing effort of a
committee of peers with a question mark.
   Included in this entry was notation that the bishops adopt statements urging
evangelization and stewardship and condemning spouse abuse#.  In the latter,
they felt obliged to inform women that the Bible does not require wives to
submit to abusive husbands.
   Sexual misconduct by clergy of various denominations, an issue that raised
scandals, lawsuits and litigation across the country, was rated as the fourth-
biggest religious story of 1992.
   Bill Thorkelson, the Minneapolis journalist who conducted the poll, noted in
the sex abuse entry that former Catholic priest James Porter "figures in what
may be the largest priestly pedophilia case" and that charges of "sexual
misconduct with young males led Wallace Frey, vice president of Episcopal House
of Deputies, to resign from ministry#."
(It's worth noting that Ted Kopel reported on NBC that, since 1984, the
churches in the U#.S. have spent 40 millions dollars to settle complaints in
various sexual abuses cases)
   In the order they were ranked in the poll, the remainder of the top 10
religion stories of 1992 were:
  *Warfare in the former Yugoslavia had religion at the core, as hostilities
among Eastern Orthodox, Catholics and Muslims were entwined in nationalist
issues such as "ethnic cleansing."
  *Prayers at public school graduations were ruled unconstitutional in a 5-4
vote of U#.S. Supreme Court justices.
  *The long-awaited 500th anniversary of Chritopher Columbus' coming to America
became a celebration marked by contrition.  In reviewing history, some
religious leaders apologized for wrongdoings suffered by American Indians at
the hands of the Europeans newcomers.
  *In the bright spot among the top 10, religious groups sent an outpouring of
relief, from supplies to workers, to victims of famine in Africa, hurricanes in
Florida and Louisiana, race riots in Los Angeles and warfare in the former
Yugoslavia#.
  *The United Methodist Church, wrestling with an issue that has dominated
other Protestant denominations' national meetings in recent years, upheld its
20-year stance that homosexuality is "incompatible with Christian teaching" and
homosexuals should not be ordained.  But denomination leaders authorized
continued churchwide study on the subject.
  *Southern Baptists continued their internal strife and fracture#.  Although
conservatives have controlled the presidency for more than a decade, a splinter
group of moderates began gaining financial strength, particularly for their own
foreign mission agency#.

3. UGLY NEWS:

CREATIONISM NOT FACT; EVOLUTION NOT THEORY#.
(From "Opinion page", Wisconsin State Journal, December 12, 1992)

   I'm writing in response to the 2 Dec. 6 letters regarding creationism in the
Dec.6 opinion page#.
   Both letters are so filled with inaccuracies, unsupported assertions and
prevarications it made me feel as a Jewish person might feel upon hearing from
a Nazi that the Holocaust never happened.
   First, the premise of each letter is false#. "Creationism" is not a science;
it is a religious dogma#. "Creationists" are not scientists; they are
religionists.  I would not be so presumptuous to suggest that the "ideal"
Sunday school should teach evolution along with study of the book of Genesis
and the reverse suggestion in both letters is equally ridiculous.
   Second, neither letter bothered to support even one of their outlandish
assertion as fact.  I know how foolish I would look trying to argue religious
tenets with a minister. Similarly, scientifically illiterate people shouldn't
argue evolution with a scientist of Professor Van R. Potter's stature#.
..And as far as scientific creditbility goes, it was the church that branded
Galileo a heretic.
   There was a time when religion ruled the world and creationist dogma would
have been taught as scientific facts.  We now call that time the "Dark Ages".
Let' not return to it.
                                              Jeff Hinds, Madison.

   Letter writers George Cooper and Steve Tadevich (State Journal Dec.6) are
guilty of the sin of the Big Lie by decreeing that evolution is only a theory,
and that creationism is science#.  Creationists always try to confuse the public
by saying that reasonable, legitimate scientists disagree about evolution.
They don't.
   Evolution is a fact, not a theory, just like the fact that the Earth
revolves about the sun, and that the sun will rise in the east.  I cannot prove
either, but the overwhelming weight of scientific evidence leads me to conclude
that the sun will rise tomorrow morning.  I may be wrong, but until more
overwhelming evidence is presented to me, I bet I'm not.
   The second argument about evolution says, "If we are reasonable people, and
creationism is a reasonable theory of the origin of life, shouldn't creationism
be taught next to evolution?"  Let me be very specific: Creationism is not
science#.  It never has been and never will be#.  Science looks at the physical
world, gathers information, suggests answers, and if presented with new
information, is willing to change its beliefs.  None of these principles can be
attributed to creationism.  The dogmas of creationism can never vary and can
never be questioned.  It is clearly religion.
   Yes, religion can be taught in private schools.  That is their right and I
would support them without question.  Tax dollars, though, should not support
the teaching og dogmatic religious beliefs in public schools.  That is the
public's right.
                                          William J. Checovich, Ph.D.,
                                          Department of Medicine,
                                          UW-Madison

FYI only,
Chu'c Tro.ng Nga^n
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