#ww
Court p u zzfes over S ciento fo au
T h e o lo g ia n s and a ca d e m ics
clashed Friday in a French court over
whether the Church o f Scientology is
a sect or a religion as church mem­
bers went on trial on charges ranging
from fraud to manslaughter
“ Scientology may not be the big­
gest o f sects, but it’s the most danger­
ous because o f its national and inter­
national p ow er,” said Jacq u es
Troussard, a Roman Catholic priest
who has been campaigning against
cults for 15 years.
“Scientology is an intellectual
construction invented solely to avoid
the law,” the French priest told the
court in the central city of Lyon where
the trial began Monday.
Twenty-three Scientologists are
on trial on charges including man­
slaughter, embezzlement, fraud and
complicity in a trial prompted by the
1988 suicide o f a church follower in
Lyon and a later crackdown on cults
by the French government
The Church provided a string o f
academics to argue it was a religion.
By winning recognition as a religion,
the church would defuse some o f the
charges because it would have a legal
right to appeal to its members for
funds.
Massimo Introvigni, an Italian
sociologist from Turin University
arguing for the church, said “there
are no doubt more suicides in the
French
p o lice than am ong
Scientologists, or any other religious
movement.”
Bryan Wilson, a sociologist from
Oxford in Britain, also said that
“changes in society give rise to new
forms o f religious expression which
are ill accepted by leaders o f older
religions and are criticised, especial­
ly by the media.”
And American theologian Franck
Flynn, from Washington University,
said church practices resembled those
ofother religions. He said the church
had won previous court cases de­
fending itself as a religion.
». ' ••.
wSiK
■tfe
‘J felping d u a ffa it ft fam ilies cope
Prosecutors accuse the church o f
“exploiting the good faith and gull­
ibility o f its victims for commercial
profit, through pseudo-scientific and
paramedical means.
The trial was prompted by the
suicide o f industrial designer and
former Scientology follower Patrice
Vic, 30, who killed him self by throw­
ing h im self out o f a window in
1988
His widow N elly said the church
drove him to suicide by pressing him
to take costly church courses for
which he lacked the money.
The religion, founded in 1954 by
the late American science-fiction
novelistL. Ron Hubbard, claims more
than eight million adherents world­
wide, including 4,000 in France.
Members include Hollywood film
stars Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman,
John Travolta, Kirstie A lley and Lisa
Marie Presley.
The trial is expected to end Tues­
day.
With the surge in intermarriage
rates in recent years, members of
Jewish/Christian families, seeinga
growing need, are working hard to
create written resources to help
themselves and others like them.
The November 1, 1996 release
o fB ub be& G ram : My Tw o Grand­
mothers ( IS B N 0-9651284-2-3,
$12.95) marks the first full-color
picture book written specifically
for young children who have one
Jewish parent and one Christian
parent. Th is book describes how a
child loves and learns from her two
very different grandmothers.
“ I hope that Bubbe and Gram
w ill help children o f Jew ish/Chris­
tian heritage— and their extended
fam ilies— to realize the jo ys and
the opportunities that come from
having the richness o f two reli­
gious traditions in one family,” says
author Joan C . Hawxhurst, who
wrote the book to honor her own
two-year-old daughter's two reli­
giously different grandmothers.
Another helpful children's re­
source, Hanukkah and Christmas at
My House (IS B N 0-9630934-0-1,
$6.95). written and illustrated by
interfaith mother Susan Enid Gertz,
has been hailed by C h ild magazine
as “a sensitive account o f how to
observe both holidays while pre­
serving the integrity o f each.” Ha­
nukkah and Christmas shares the
message that families o fa ll religions
love their children and their tradi­
tions, and the jo y o f the holidays
conies from that love.
Adults in interfaith fam ilies w ill
appreciate the honest advice and gen­
tle humor o f Stanley and Mary
Rosenbaum, authors o f Celebrating
Our Differences: L iv in g Tw o Faiths
in One Marriage ( IS B N 0-942507-
69-9, $19.95). The Rosenbaums,
who have been intermarried for over
32 years, address topics from wed­
dings to funerals, from children and
sex to holidays and culture.
Interfaith WeddingCeremonies:
Samples and Sources provides prac-
tical advice and ceremony solu­
tions to engaged couples from dif­
ferent faiths— Jewish and C h ris­
tian. It gives couples a basis from
which to create a spiritually mean­
ingful cerem ony draw ing from
both faiths without disrespect to
either.
A ll o f these books are available
through Interfaith Fam ily Resourc­
es (IF R ), a consortium o f compa­
nies offering products and services
to interfaith couples, their families,
and their friends. IF R is an inde­
pendent group not affiliated with
any religious institution.
For more information or to or­
der, call 800-530-1596.
Evangelist Eitty Cjraham announces October 1997 crusade
Over 400 local clergy and lay lead­
ers met at the Santa Clara Marriott
Hotel to launch plans for Evangelist
B illy Graham to return to the Bay
Area for a major crusade, October
1997.
R e v . Jo h n B u trin , Pasto r,
Sequoyah Community Church, O ak­
land, presided over today’s gather­
ing. Rev. Karl Overbeek, San Jose;
Rev. Donald E. Green, San Fran­
cisco; and Rev. Frank Jackson, O ak­
land, introduced crusade leadership
to pastors and church leaders from
the B ay Area.
Dr. Sterling W Huston, Director
o f North American Ministries for the
B illy Graham Evangelistic A ssocia­
tion (B G E A ), responded to the in vi­
tation by reading the following state­
ment from the evangelist:
“ I am honored to accept the in vi­
tation o f the churches and communi­
ty leaders in the Bay Area to hold a
crusade in October o f 1997. Our
team w ill be coming with the singu­
lar desire to serve the churches by
proclaim ing the Gospel o f Jesus
Christ and calling people to a life o f
discipleship. We want to be your
partners in this great mission, and we
are deeply dependent upon your
prayers that God w ill bless every part
o f this witness to the San Francisco
Bay Area.”
The Rev. C lif f Barrows, Music
and Program Director for B illy Gra­
ham crusades and associate in minis­
try for more than 50 years, told those
present that San Francisco, Oakland
and San Jose have grown in many
ways since the last crusade. He said
that the greatest need today is to
renew the spiritual foundations upon
which this area was built. He also
noted that the message B illy Graham
and the crusade team w ill be bringing
has the power to change individual
lives, churches and communities; and
that Mr. Graham and the team will be
praying with them for a spiritual
awakening throughout Northern C a l­
ifornia and the Bay Area.
Other participants in the launch­
ing included Dr. P. T. Mammen,
Pastor, New L ife Church o f the
Nazarene, San Francisco; Mrs. Elaine
Rhodes, University Baptist Church,
SantaCruz; Rev. Paul Hoffman, Pas­
tor, Holy Cross Lutheran, South Bay;
and Rev. Ron Kenoly, Guest Soloist,
Jubilee Christian Center, San Jose.
For the las, several years, pastors
and church leaders in the Bay Area
have been urging B illy Graham to
return to conduct another crusade
here. Support for this return visit is
history o f bringing pastors, churches
and people together who perhaps
would never meet H is m inistry
breaks down denominational, cul­
tural and life sty le barriers. We wel­
“ / am excited that Dr. Billy Graham
is returning to the San Francisco
Bay Area. Dr. Graham has a
blessed history of bringing pastors,
churches and people together who
perhaps would never meet.”
-Dr. Donald Green, Pastor, San Francisco Christian Center.
widespread and broadly representa­
tive o f the Christian groups in the
area, includingevangelical and main­
line denominations. The evangelist’s
last crusade in the Bay Area, held in
San Jose, September 27-October 4,
1981, was attended by over 197,000
people.
“ I am excited that Dr. B illy G ra­
ham is returning to the San Francisco
Bay Area. Dr. Graham has a blessed
come this proven messenger o f God
to bring the life-changing Gospel o f
Jesus Christ," said Dr Donald Green,
Pastor, San Francisco Christian Cen­
ter.
“ The Bay Area is ripe for revival,”
said Rev. Frank Jackson, Pastor, Faith
Presbyterian Church, Oakland. “ The
B illy Graham crusade opens a rare
window o f opportunity for believers
in the Bay Area to unite, and under
Eracey tttarris: %e.ep On ‘B elievin’
Tracey Harris
Some dreams die hard, and Tracey
Harris was determined not to see her
moment pass her by. With one o f the
fines, voices in contemporary R & B
and Gospel, faith in the lord and
unyielding perseverance, Tracey
emerges on her debut album, Keep
On Believin, as one o f the brightest
new stars in the Gospel firmament.
Born and raised in Portland, Ore­
gon, headquarters o f her new label,
Pamplin Music, Tracey was intro­
duced to a Christian way o f life by a
girlfriend who was a pastor's daugh­
ter. Her mother, Shirley Nanette, is a
popular ja z z singer in Hortiand, and
all kinds o f music from pop to R & B ,
ja zz and Gospel were heard in her
family home.
Tracey had a natural talent to sing
which her mother nurtured, though
never pushing her daughter to follow
in her footsteps. Solos in high school
choir and a ja zz vocal group built the
young Tracey’s confidence as she
also began performing at weddings
and community functions.
“ Stevie and G lad ys especially
taught me about singing from the
heart,” says Tracey. “ As I
go, older, I began to pay
more attention to the techni­
cal aspects o f singers’ voic­
es, but intensity and emo­
tions are w hat’s alw ays
mean, the most to me.”
Tracey didn’t get serious
about music as a career until
her early 20’s, when she be­
gan getting work singing
commercial jingles and do­
ing occasional band work in
her hometown. She met the
man who would become her
husband and producer/song-
writer, Zachary Harris, when
he was attending college in
Portland. Zachary was a na­
tive o f Connecticut, where
he returned every summer to work in
his brother’s recording studio.
A visit to Connecticut one sum­
mer proved auspicious for Tracey, as
Za ch ’s brother was producing the
firs, album on star-to-be, Najee, and
Tracey was asked to sing some back­
up vocals.
“That’s when the music bug really
bit me,” Tracey recalls. “ I thought,
Boy this is fun...and you even get
paid for it!, there were a lot o f oppor­
tunities that presented themselves
after that, but nothing ever quite
worked out.”
I racey finally got a break when
she received an introduction from
her pastor to the executive producer
o f Motown Comes Home, a Grammy
nominated album then in the works
which was to feature Motown celeb­
rities perform ing Gospel music.
Tracey gave Motown a tape and was
subsequently offered a slot, billed as
Tracey Harris, singing, ironically,
“Jus, When Yo u Think It’s Over,"
written by members o f her produc­
tion team, the A P D A Group, during
the height o f the couple’s despair.
After a short lull had passed in the
wake o f Motown Com es Home,
which was nominated for a Grammy,
Tracey came to the attention o f
Pamplin Music and she soon had her
long-awaited record deal.
VANN & VANN
FUNERAL DIRECTORS
“Where Courtesy is a Tradition”
503/281-2836
Newly remodeled & landscaped
Privately owned & operated since 1954
Two licensed funeral directors and embalmers
Female Attendant
C leodis D. Vann Jr.,
Mortician
r-
— ——
5211 N. W illiam s Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97217
Abdul M. Hasan
3 8 5 5 S.W. Hall Blvd.
P.O. Box 5 67
Beavorivn, On 37075
• M.G. Insurance Services
• Group-Life
• Group-Medical and Health
• Group-Disability
• Annuities
excited B illy Graham has agreed to
come to our area for I believe this
crusade w ill be the fire that w ill
ignite us and unify us in the love o f
Jesus Christ for the betterment o f
our communities.”
R e v. K a rl O verbeek, Pastor,
Church o f the Chimes, San Jose,
said, “ I am convinced that Dr. B illy
Graham is the one person who can
help unite us as Christians and a
community. I am thrilled by his ac­
ceptance o f our invitation to bring
our hope to reality.”
In addition to coming to the Bay
Area, Mr Graham has announced
that he w ill be holding crusade meet­
ings in April 1997 in San Antonio,
Texas.
A B G E A Christmas Television
Project in December and January is
expected to reach people in 150 coun­
tries with the Gospel message.
Divorce Hurts!
Are you separated, divorced?
Dealing with pain and confusion from a broken relationship?
A Divorce Recovery Workshop
“ Picking Up The Pieces”
6 Tuesday evening sessions
7-9pm, Oct 8 - N ov 12
Cost: $35
Sunset Hw y at Sylvan Exit
Grief Recovery Workshop
New Beginnings
Coping with significant losses or
an accumulation o f losses?
G rie f Recovery may be just what you
need to help you heal & move on!
O c, 8 - N ov 12, 7-9pm
Cost: $15
Parenting Workshop
Holding - Keeping - Letting Go.
the dynamics o f parenting!
Presenter: Byron Kehler,
Counselor, Educator & Founder o f
Agape Youth & Fam ily Ministries
Oct 8 -N o v 12
7- 8:30pm
Cost: $35 couple/$20 single
Held at Portland First Nazarene Church
Sunset Hwy at Sylvan Exit
For registration & childcare costs phone 297-6100.
Cox Funeral Home
2736 N .E . Rodney, Portland, Oregon (503) 281-4891
_____________— —
Insurance-Funded
Prearranged-Funeral
Programs
the guidance of the Spirit, advance
G od ’s kingdom with a ‘two legged'
Gospel ... a ‘good news’ that comes
packaged in both word and deed.,
that speaks clearly to both body and
soul. B illy Graham is a uniquely qual­
ified and credible witness across
denominational lines todeclarethat
kind o f Gospel. He is relentless in
proclaiming the love o f God through
Christ that crosses racial, economic,
age and gender barriers... at the same
time the crusade ministry o f ‘Love In
Action', which targets specific mate­
rial needs o f a particular community,
is love in work clothes.”
“ My desire is to see Christian
unity across the Bay Area," said
Ledene Johnson, Chair. South Bay
General Crusade Committee. “Great
strides are already being made in the
areas o f prayer and reconciliation,
but there is much more to do. I am
“Before You Must Make a Decision”
Inspect the Beautiful C o x Funeral Chapel
Abdul M. Hasan
Advance Planning
Counsler
Res. (503) 286-8671
Pager (503) 818-7138
Toll Free (800) 526-9608
Fax (503) 646-5855
Planning your
funeral is our first
consideration.
Equipped to serve
all religions, races,
veterans and
fraternal
organizations.
Jerome Tanner
Funeral Director