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RELIGIONAE^e Charlotte
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Tutu in disagreement with
chureh’s stand on gays
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JOHANNESBUBG, South
Africa — Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, in the first
authorized biography of the
Nobel peace laureate, said he
was ashamed of his Andean
Church’s conservative posi
tion that rejected gay priests.
In the book, “Rabble-rouser
for Peace” by his former press
secretary John Allen, Thtu
also criticized the last
apartheid president, F.W. de
Klerk, for not accepting
accoxmtability for apartheid
atrocities. He said the failiJre
caused him to regret having
nominated de Klerk, alor^
with Nelson Mandela, for
their 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
Excerpts from the book
were scheduled to be appear
in South Afiica on Friday and
the biography was scheduled
for release in time for Tutu’s
75th birthday on Oct. 7.
The retired archbishop was
critical of Archbishop of Can-
terbiuy Rowan Williams for
bowing on the gay priest
issue to conservative ele
ments, particularly Afiican
bishops, in the 77-million
member Anglican Church
that includes Episcopalians
in the United States.
In a 1998 letter to Williams
predecessor, Archbishop
George Carey Tiitu wrote he
was “ashamed to be Angli
can.” It came after the Lam
beth Conference of Bishops
rejected the ordination of
practicing homosexuals say
ing their sexual relations
were “incompatible with
scripture.”
Tutu also said he was
deeply saddened at the furor
caused by the appointment of
openly gay V Gene Robinson
as bishop of New Hampshire
in 2003.
‘He found it little short of
outrageous that church lead
ers should be obsessed with
issues of sexuality in the face
of the challenges of AIDS and
global poverty” wrote AUen.
As archbishop, T\itu criti
cized but could not change a
policy in South Africa that
said gay priests would be tol
erated as long as they
remained celibate. He did
approve chiorch blessings for
gay and lesbian relation
ships, without calling them
marriage- He also pushed for
the ordination of women, and
when it was approved quickly
appointed The Rev Wilma
Jakobsen as his chaplain.
Tiitu’s criticism of de Klerk
steins fi:x)m when Tutu was
chairman of South Africa’s
Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, which offered
perpetrators of apartheid
crimes amnesty if they told
the truth about their activi
ties. During the hearings,
TVitu sometimes wept along
with the victims of human
rights abuses.
Allen wrote that the process
left Tatu disappointed with
some political leaders, partic
ularly de Klerk, who he
beheved had not accepted
accoimtabUity for apariheid
atrocities.
De Klerk was not directly
implicated in state-sponsored
violence, AUen wrote, but had
been aware of''majfiiem” as a
result of activity by the secu
rity forces. In an interview
with the author, de Klerk
acknowledged he failed to fol
low up suspicions security
forces were committing
human rights abuses.
Car dealership draws fire
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBUS, Ohio —A car dealership’s
tor^ue-in-cheek radio advertisement declarir^
“a jihad on the automotive market,” will not be
charged, the company said, despite drawing
sharp criticism that the ad’s content is offen
sive.
Several stations rejected the spot fix)m Den
nis Mitsubishi, which boasts that sales repre
sentatives wearing ‘burqas” —head-to-toe tra
ditional dress for Islamic women—will sell
vehicles ihat can “comfortably seat 12 jihadists
in the back.”
The Columbus chapter of the Coimcil on
American-Islamic Relations decayed the ad as
disrespectful.
‘Using that as a promotional pitch when so
many are dying finm the criminal activity of
suicide bombers, that’s not funny” chapter
president Asma Mobin-Uddin said. “I don’t
think it’s appropriate when it causes real pain.
It exploits or promotes misunderstanding in
terms already misunderstood or misused.”
In the ad, Keith Dennis of Dennis Mitsubishi
talks about a ‘laimching a jihad on the auto
motive market.”
The ads wiU begin airing next week, dealer
ship general manager Aaron Masterson said,
although it was vmclear whether any radio sta
tions had accepted the spot. Amessage was left
seeking additional comment at Dennis Mit
subishi on Saturday
Ministry provides pom escape
Continued from page 6B
McDandel said New
Dawn/New Day is not just a
Grand Strand stand-alone
ministry
Throughout the country
theie is a network of such
ministries and individuals,
who have come out of the
industry, supporting each
other in the efforts of offering
help to those in need.
Some include: New
Friends/New Life in Tfexas;
Beauty fiom Ashes Ministries
Inc. in Florida; WeUspring of
Living Water in Geoigia; and
the Maiy Magdalene Project
in California.
New Dawn/New Day wants
to continue to enhance its pro
gram so that it can meet the
needs of its participants and
their children, McDandel
said-
“This ministry is for women
who truly want to live life dif
ferently” she said. ‘Tt has to
be their choice to want to
come in the program. No one
can call for them.”
Hired to cleanse properties
Continued from page 5B
A farmer in Louisa called
her because he couldn’t get
any crops to grow in a field.
She said she saw a Civil War
battle being replayed over
aird over. “Always in a war,
the first thing they want to
know is. Who won?”’
Wall said she can hardly
breathe when she goes to the
17th Street Farmei's’ Market
in Shockoe Bottom, where
slaves were once sold. “The
enei^ there is oppressive.”
Wall chaiges $150 to clear a
house. She moves from room
to room with a white candle,
making the sign of the cixiss
and thi’ee clockwise circles,
and a bnjsh of smoking sage.
Spirits don’t like the smeU of
sage, she said.
“It’s like when you clean
your house of dust bunnies—
only I clean the energy” she
said. ‘T try to make it normal
and not spooky”
Pe^y Binford, a Richmond
agent for 28 years, says she
uses Wall’s clearing services if
she feels something isn’t ri^t
in a house.
“Sometimes chents know,
sometimes they don’t,
depending on how they would
take it,” she said.
In one situation, Binford
sold a propeity to a couple
who spent two horn’s in an
imcleared house dm’ing a
home inspection. The woman
got so agitated sitting in the
house that she couldn’t go
fhrough with the deal, Bin
ford said.
Binford called Wall for a
clearing, then sold the house
to someone else.
A Richmond art and music
promoter who didn’t want to
be named said he called Wall
to do a clearing after he and
his wife moved into a house.
He said he sensed a pres
ence. His wife didn’t. Their cat
clawed and meowed at a clos
et door.
Wall did the clearing.
‘Tt felt like a wdght had
been lifted,” he said. And the
cat stopped fixating on the
door.
Houses that were crime
scenes can be heavy as well.
Wall has not been to the south
Richmond homes where musi
cian Bi’yan Harvey, his wife
and their two daughters were
killed on Jan. 1 and whei-e
thi’ee people in another family
wei’e slain on Jan. 6. But she
takes readings of the homes to
sense their spiiits and to
determine what it would take
to get them to move on.
Wes Atiyeh, president of the
Richmond Association of Real-
tore, said he doesn’t beheve
houses are marred by unfor
tunate incidents.
“They can be overeome,” he
said.
Neither sellers nor agents in
\Tiginia are required to dis
close facts or occurrences,
including crimes or suicides,
that have no effect on the
physical property
The law says nothing about
the spiritual side. Many
would argue if there were
such a thing-
“People react one of two
ways when they find out what
I do,” Wall said. “They say
‘OK,’ and change the subject
—or they want to know
more.”
Americans generally hesi
tate to talk about spirits for
fear of being labeled quacks.
People from other cultures
seem more open to the possi
bility
Paul Vu, who is Vietnamese,
said people fi’om his culture
would put death— whether
natural or not—at the top of
the list as a reason not to buy
a house.
“We do not take death light
ly,” said Vu, a Richmond real
estate agent. “People are
scared by the spirit. You can’t
touch it, see it or smell it, but
something is there.”
If the death occurred in the
family and the house is
passed on through genera
tions, that is different, Vu
said.
“If it’s a family member, you
have sympathy You’re not
afraid of your own family”
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