Religion makes the case for health officials

NAIROBI, Kenya—Trying to stop a bloody ritual undergone by millions of Muslim women in sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab world, health activists are trying a new appeal —they’re citing the Quran.

“The guiding factor is always Islam,” says 34-year-old Maryam Sheikh Abdi.

He grew up in a region of northeast Kenya where 98 percent of girls are believed to undergo the procedure, a genital mutilation sometimes called female circumcision.

“Women believe “the pain, the problems, the bleeding—they are all God’s will.”

Health activists, finding that focusing on women’s rights isn’t working to persuade Muslims to stop performing the ritual, are increasingly using theology to make the case that “the cut” has nothing to do with religion.

Abdi, who speaks about female genital mutilation on behalf of the U.S.-based Population Council, said invoking Islam penetrates years of cultural indoctrination.

“Women don’t have to torture themselves. Islam does not require them to do it,” said Abdi.

She underwent the procedure when she was 6 and was a college student by the time she realized it was not necessary from a religious viewpoint.

With age-old cultural roots, female genital mutilation is practiced today in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and Egypt and other parts of the Arab world such as Yemen and Oman.

In the rest of the Islamic world—the Middle East, North Africa, southeast Asia—it’s nearly nonexistent.

In the most extreme form, the clitoris and parts of the labia are removed and the labia that remain are stitched together.

Those who practice it believe it tames a girl’s sexual desires and increases her marriageability.

Knives, razors or even sharp stones are used during ceremonies usually performed by elder women in the bush with no medical supervision.

The tools are frequently not sterilized, and often, many girls are cut at the same ceremony, creating the chance for serious infections.

“In Islam, circumcision is for men only,” Mohammed Sayed Tantawi said.

“From a religious point of view, I don’t find anything that says that circumcision is a must” for women.

Southern Baptist agency softens prayer policy
KANSAS CITY, Mo.—The Southern Baptist International Mission Board has taken a small step back from its controversial ban on appointing missionaries who use a “private prayer language,” or speak in tongues in private.

Mission board trustees, meeting May 7-9 in Kansas City, Mo., voted overwhelmingly to turn the policies into guidelines instead.

The board is still discouraging the use of private prayer language, but an attorney for the agency, Matt Bristol, said adopting the term “guideline” means that the provisions “will be applied with a degree of flexibility” considering the circumstances of each candidate.

The trustees had adopted the policy in November 2005 out of concern about the growing popularity of Pentecostal practices, including glossolalia, by Christians overseas and at home.

Baptists and other Christians disagree over whether “baptism in the Holy Spirit,” accompanied by speaking in tongues, ended with the apostolic period or continues today.

Still, some Southern Baptist leaders had protested the mission board’s policy, saying the use of private prayer language should not be a test for potential missionaries.

Previously, missionaries had been barred from speaking in tongues publicly, but their private prayer was not monitored.

Survey: Catholic awareness low of child protection plan
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Most U.S. Roman Catholics are not aware of the child protection policies enacted in their dioceses in response to the clergy sex abuse crisis, a new survey has found.

About 45 percent of respondents knew that dioceses were expected to report abuse claims to civil authorities and knew that dioceses were supposed to bar credibly accused priests from any church work, according to the poll conducted for the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate.

But only one-third of respondents knew that their dioceses were required to provide counseling and other support to victims, and only 15 percent knew that dioceses were reporting annually to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on their adherence to the policies.

American bishops adopted the reforms five years ago in Dallas under enormous public pressure.

The abuse crisis erupted in 2002 over the case of one predatory priest in the Archdiocese of Boston and spread to every U.S. diocese and beyond.

In the CARA poll, about 60 percent of respondents said they were now “somewhat” or “very” satisfied with the leadership of the U.S. church in general.

The survey of 1,048 self-identified adult Catholics was conducted Feb. 21 to March 5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

National Council of Churches leader joins Common Cause
NEW YORK—The outgoing leader of the National Council of Churches, the Rev. Bob Edgar, has been named head of Common Cause, a national advocacy group based in Washington.

Edgar, 63, had said in October that he would not seek a third term as general secretary of the ecumenical and humanitarian group, which represents mainline Protestants, Orthodox and Anglican churches with millions of members.

The national governing board of Common Cause announced Tuesday it had elected Edgar president and chief executive officer.

He will succeed Chellie Pingree, who stepped down in February.

Edgar is a former Democratic congressman who represented the 7th Congressional District of Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1987.

He served for 10 years as president of the Claremont School of Theology in Southern California before taking the top post at the National Council of Churches in 2000, where he led a successful effort to resolve a financial crisis at the organization.

Edgar has served on Common Cause’s national governing board since 2005.

As CEO of the group, he will oversee advocacy for campaign finance and election reform, among other activities.

Edgar is working with both groups to plan the transition to this new job.

The church council’s governing board has appointed a search committee to name Edgar’s successor as general secretary.