BY CARLOS MEDLEY, Adventist Review News and Online Editor.

he Adventist Review has recently learned that at least 17 Seventh-day Adventist families have lost their homes and all their belongings in the southern California wildfires.

Kit Watts, assistant to the Southeastern California Conference president for communication, says the burned out families lived in the San Bernardino, Escondido, Crestline, Fontana, Valley Center, El Cajon, Scripps Ranch, and Temecula communities. So far there has been no loss of life or loss of church property. However, personnel from the Cedar Falls camp, a Southern California Conference camping facility, have been evacuated.

Gerry Chudleigh, Pacific Union Conference communication director, reported that several Adventist churches have set up shelters for their own members who have lost homes or have been evacuated. The Southeastern Calfifornia Conference has also set up a fund to help fire victims.

The Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center has formed an emergency relief response for its 17,000 students, faculty, and staff members. The university is offering housing clothing, food, and financial assistance. Augustus Cheatham, LLUAHSC vice president for public relations, says the university has provided assistance for 21 families and three students.

The university is also assisting the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency at their evacuation center setup at the San Bernardino International airport. Fifteen physicians and psychologists are helping evacuees. Other university personnel serving at the evacuation center include nurses, social workers, respiratory therapists, and pediatricians.

Students from the university are volunteering in the center's childcare program. The university has also dispensed medicines and hygiene item, and has set up a pharmacy to help those in need of prescription drugs, Cheatham says.

The Adventist Review will update this story as more information becomes available. Visit the website often for the latest developments.

Baghdad Bombing Shatters Adventist Church's Windows
BAGHDAD, IRAQ [ANR] – A powerful explosion outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross at the end of October blew out most of the windows of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, situated just 200 meters away.

"Our office staff were already at work in the building when the bomb went off around 8:30 on Monday morning," reported Basim Fargo, secretary-treasurer of the Adventist Church in Iraq. Speaking by mobile phone just a few hours after the explosion, Fargo said the blinds on some windows shielded staff from serious injuries as the glass shattered.

Doors and windows on the side of the building facing the Red Cross headquarters, as well as the front entrance of the church, sustained the heaviest damage. Some internal door frames were also dislodged from the walls by the force of the blast. Shattered glass covered the entire floor of the worship hall following the explosion.

According to Fargo, the ornate stained glass windows, which were a characteristic feature of the worship hall, sustained considerable damage and will be covered up with plywood to secure the building. Lead for these window frames had been imported from England when construction of what many regard as the most beautiful Adventist church in the Middle East was completed in 1962.

"Until today, our church had remained unscathed by the Iran-Iraq war and the two Gulf wars," lamented Fargo.

Michael Porter, president of the Adventist Church in the Middle East region, who was in regular communication with church members, said, "I sensed the dismay and at the same time thankfulness in the voice of Brother Fargo as he conveyed the utter shock felt by the seven people working inside the building at the time. We join the Iraqi community in mourning the needless loss of life at the Red Cross building close by."

Finances may well prove a challenge as members seek to restore this special church building to its former beauty since sanctions made insurance impossible to obtain. "The members will certainly need help from outside Iraq to repair the damage done in this blast," said Porter.

According to church sources in Baghdad, the office staff was to resume work on Tuesday, and some extra helpers have been drafted to ensure that the meeting rooms are ready for normal Saturday services to take place at the end of the week. About 200 people attend worship services at the church, one of four Adventist congregations in Iraq, each week.

The attack was not the first obstacle believers in Iraq have had to face as the nation works to rebuild from more than a decade of war and sanctions. Simply going to church on Sabbath is an ordeal for many members. Security check points, laborious searches, and road closures means that journey times to services have been increased by two hours or more.

Recently, two church members were caught in crossfire as they drove to weekly worship services. The two abandoned their car by climbing through the rear window after bullets smashed through the windshield.

Hillary Clinton Tapes Adventist Video
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-New York) expressed strong support of workplace religious freedom in a videotaped message for the General Conference Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department. Clinton's statement will appear in the promotional video for Liberty Magazine, an Adventist journal of religious freedom.

"One of the things I admire most about Seventh-day Adventists, in addition to your faith, is your commitment to preach, teach and heal," Clinton said. "Your emphasis on educating and nurturing your fellow man is a model for all people of faith. And your network of schools and health care facilities put into action the tenets of those beliefs. For that is the calling to all of us, not just to believe but to act."

Clinton made her remarks in a Senate conference room with a crew from the Adventist Television Network. She is among a number of co-sponsors of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (WRFA), a U.S. proposed law that would extend employment protection to those employees who wish to observe particular days of worship, overriding several court decisions that favor a more narrow interpretation of existing guarantees.

The Adventist Church alone receives more than 1,000 requests a year for help from members who have been fired or disciplined because their employers have refused to take the simple steps necessary to accommodate their faith. James Standish, director of legislative affairs for the Adventist world church, co-chairs the coalition of 44 religious groups and denominations who support the WRFA. The diverse coalition includes representatives from a broad spectrum of religious organizations and faiths.

It was this coalition that brought the issue to Clinton's attention. In turn, the New York Senator graciously accepted an invitation to record the videotaped message.

"I personally appreciate the work of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in promoting religious freedom not just here, but around the world," Clinton said in the message. "I am particularly proud to join you in supporting the Workplace Religious Freedom Act."

Clinton, who emphasized family needs in her role as first lady, commended Adventists for their particular emphasis on the family. "I know the Seventh-day Adventist Church has a strong commitment to family--a commitment that is represented in how you observe the Sabbath together," she said. "With faith and strong families, and the freedom to allow faith to prosper, our people and our nation will be ready to embrace the future."

According to Standish, Clinton's support is welcome. "It is particularly satisfying when we are able to communicate our message directly to national leaders," he said. "It is gratifying to hear national leaders recognize the contribution our church is making to advance the cause of religious freedom."                                    --Adventist News Network

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