Religion Writers Rank Apartheid Struggle as Top News Story of 1985

The worldwide religious struggle against apartheid in South Africa was among the top 1985 religion news stories, as ranked by religion writers and other church specialists.

The effort against the system of racial separation, which caused confrontations with church leaders in South Africa and provoked hundreds of arrests for demonstrating at U.S. consulates, was picked as the top story in a year-end poll of members of the Religion Newswriters Assn.

The poll drew responses from 63 of the association’s several hundred reporters, who cover religion for North American secular newspapers, magazines and wire services.

Sanctuary Movement

The Christian Century, the ecumenical weekly magazine, ranked “the troubles in South Africa” in second place, after news about the church-based sanctuary movement that has sought to shelter Central American refugees in the United States.

“Religion in Review,” the year-end editorial feature of the Evangelical Press News Service, said:

“It was the year of South Africa, a year when racial tensions and inequities that had been in place for decades were suddenly at the top of the news agenda. Like children with a new toy, U.S. journalists rushed to cover the unrest in South Africa.”

The National Council of Churches’ list of top 1985 religion stories placed the struggle against apartheid fourth, noting that the council’s general secretary, Arie Brouwer, and president, Bishop Philip Cousin, were arrested in January for demonstrating at the South African Embassy in Washington.

Opinion of Sanctions

But the Religion Newswriters’ poll observed that opinion differed on whether other nations should impose economic sanctions against South Africa, with television evangelists Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson opposing U.S. sanctions and supporting the white-ruled South African government.

By year’s end, several U.S. denominations were withdrawing their investments in South Africa, and violent confrontations had claimed the lives of more than 1,000 blacks.

The religion watchers gave high ratings to several other stories that involved religion at the intersection of current international events.

The Christian Century gave the sanctuary story the No. 1 position, using four criteria in judging its “Top 10”: the extent of media coverage and commentary; the impact on religious institutions and society; possible long-range implications and historical significance, and the moral and ethical issues involved.

Implications Noted

“Although only about 200 local churches have been directly involved in sheltering Central American refugees, the sanctuary movement . . . and the (Reagan) Administration’s assault on it have far-reaching implications, especially for church-state relations,” the Christian Century editors said.

Church members who had protested President Reagan’s Central American policies by offering refuge to the aliens were prosecuted for immigration violations, and 11 workers in the movement are on trial in Tucson, Ariz. A judge scolded the government for using informants to electronically eavesdrop on church services, but allowed the trials to continue.

Immigration officials and the judiciary maintain that the Central American refugees are not fleeing political persecution but are merely looking for better jobs. Church groups contend that transporting refugees into the United States is a religiously motivated effort based on a commitment to justice and human rights.

Third-Place Ranking

The government crackdown on the sanctuary movement was the third most significant religious development of 1985, according to the Religion Newswriters Assn. The National Council of Churches ranked it sixth.

The writers gave second place in their poll to the special synod of Roman Catholic bishops convened by Pope John Paul II to assess the reforms of the Second Vatican Council on its 20th anniversary. The prelates steered a middle course, praising the council but warning against “false interpretations” of the reforms.

The synod also called for greater church commitment to the poor, a new universal catechism of church teachings and further study of the authority of national bishops’ conferences. The Christian Century ranked the story in fourth place.

Supreme Court Story

The religion writers’ No. 4 story of the year involved the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices, upholding a stricter line on church-state separation, struck down an Alabama law mandating a period of silence for prayer or meditation in public schools. The high court also ruled out systems that allow public-school teachers to conduct remedial instruction on the premises of church-related schools.

The Christian Century ranked “encroachments on church-state separation” as its No. 8 story, and the Evangelical Press column “Religion in Review” noted that “all year long Christians were in and out of court with lawsuits as varied as the groups bringing them.”

Persistent infighting within the giant Southern Baptist Convention was noted on nearly everyone’s list as a major 1985 religion news event. The writers ranked it No. 5, observing that fundamentalists “took firm control” by re-electing the Rev. Charles Stanley of Atlanta as president. A group called Baptists Committed to Fairness has sued the denomination over alleged parliamentary irregularities by Stanley.

Seeking Public Office

Ranking 6th through 10th on the religion news writers’ poll:

6. Fundamentalist Christians began a drive to elect their adherents to public office and gain more influence within the Republican Party. Meanwhile, Pat Robertson, the TV evangelist who hosts the “700 Club” program, said he is “prayerfully considering” seeking the party’s 1988 presidential nomination.

7. Activities connected with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made headlines several times during 1985. Two bombing deaths spotlighted the controversy over documents related to origins of the Mormon Church, including a letter released during 1985 linking founder Joseph Smith to folk magic. Mormon President Spencer Kimball died at age 90 and was replaced by conservative Ezra Taft Benson. And in Israel, Orthodox Jews, fearing proselytizing from Mormons, opposed building plans of a church-affiliated university in Jerusalem.

8. A broad religious coalition opposed U.S. policies in Central America, mobilizing 40,000 people to engage in civil disobedience if the United States steps up its military role there.

Confusion Over Guru

9. Guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh fled to the Himalayas in his native India after pleading guilty to two of 35 counts of immigration fraud charges. His central Oregon commune--heavily in debt--was disbanded, his fleet of 93 Rolls Royces sold, and a tangle of criminal charges involving alleged poisoning plots and extensive wiretapping on the part of former high-ranking disciples remained to be tried in courts.

10. The Vatican condemned teachings of Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian exponent of liberation theology, and ordered him to maintain a “period of respectful silence.” In the United States, a committee of Catholic bishops asked the Rev. Richard McBrien, head of Notre Dame University’s theology department, to make further changes in his two-volume tome, “Catholicism.” (The Christian Century ranked the silencing of Boff as its No. 4 story.)

The National Council of Churches’ staff selected as its No. 1 story the response by Church World Service, the council’s relief arm, to famine in Africa, particularly Ethiopia; the Colombia, South America, volcano disaster, and earthquake victims in Mexico City. Help from religious groups to these areas was the religion writers’ No. 12 story, and it ranked sixth in the Christian Century summary.

Stories of Area Interest

High among top religion news stories in Southern California during 1985 was the appointment of Archbishop Roger M. Mahony, former Roman Catholic Bishop of Stockton, as the new spiritual head of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

Mahony, 49, was officially installed as the nation’s youngest Catholic archbishop, succeeding Cardinal Timothy Manning, who retired Sept. 5 as leader of nearly 3 million Catholics in the sprawling three-county archdiocese--the most populous in the United States.

In May, Glendale Superior Court Judge Joseph R. Kalin dismissed the nation’s first clergy malpractice suit. Pastor John MacArthur and others on the staff of Grace Community Church of Sun Valley had been accused of contributing to the suicide of Kenneth Nally by negligence and improper counseling. The case, and worries about the “chilling effect” it could have on church counseling, had disturbed religious practitioners nationwide. The story ranked 13th on the religion writers’ list.

Major religious gatherings in the Southland in 1985 included evangelist Billy Graham’s July crusade in Anaheim, setting new attendance records for the stadium.

The Episcopal Church’s triennial national convention in September was also held in Anaheim. Edmond Browning of Hawaii, a liberal churchman with extensive international experience and a strong advocate for the rights of women and gays, was elected the denomination’s presiding bishop.

The Church of the Nazarene and the Union of American Hebrew Congregations also held national conventions in 1985, the Nazarenes meeting in Anaheim in June, the Union in Century City in early November.