Religious Educators’ Group Urges El Salvador Aid Cutoff

ANAHEIM —  In a rare political declaration, the American Academy of Religion meeting Monday night adopted a resolution urging the suspension of U.S. military aid to El Salvador while last week’s murder of six Jesuit priests is investigated.

The academy of collegiate and seminary professors, which will end its annual meeting at the Anaheim Hilton and Towers today, was asked to adopt the statement by the chairmen of theology and religious studies departments at Jesuit universities and by more than 100 others who signed a similar petition.

The joint conference with the Society of Biblical Literature is usually limited to reading and discussing hundreds of academic papers. About 5,000 people attended this year’s four-day meeting.

Academy President Robert L. Wilken of the University of Virginia said it was “very unusual” for the academy of nearly 6,000 U.S. and Canadian scholars to take a political stance. Board members, in fact, tabled a similar motion Friday, citing the membership’s diverse views.

But the business meeting of the academy adopted--with minimal opposition among the 40 members attending--a statement that U.S. arms shipments be suspended while “the brutal murders” of six fellow religious educators at the University of Central America and two co-workers are investigated. The resolution also lamented what sponsors said were 60,000 people who have died or disappeared during El Salvador’s turmoil.

The Society of Biblical Literature’s business meeting Sunday also adopted a resolution decrying last week’s murders, but the statement did not call for a response by the U.S. government.