c. 1998 Religion News Service

Vatican not yet ready for consensus with Lutherans on justification

(RNS) The Vatican said it welcomed last week’s action by world Lutherans that the 16th-century condemnations of Roman Catholicism by Protestant reformers no longer applies.

But the Vatican’s top official for Christian unity efforts rebuffed a Lutheran affirmation that a consensus on the key doctrine of justification existed between Catholics and Lutherans.”The Catholic Church is … of the opinion that we cannot yet speak of a consensus such as would eliminate every difference between Catholics and Lutherans in the understanding of justification,”the Vatican said in a statement Thursday (June 25).

It said divergences remain”that constitute still an obstacle to agreement between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation on all the fundamental truths concerning justification.” Justification is the doctrine of how people are saved and the notion of justification by faith alone was a key element of the 16th-century Reformation that challenged Catholic teachings on salvation through works.

But Cardinal Edward Cassidy, head of the Vatican’s Council for Christian Unity, said Catholics, too, could agree the condemnations leveled by Rome against the reformers no longer applies.”We haven’t reached the end of all our study but insofar as we have reached consensus, those condemnations … no longer apply,”Cassidy told a news conference.

The Vatican and the Geneva-based Lutheran World Federation have been studying a proposed”Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification”since 1997. Last week, the Council of the LWF, an international body of 224 Lutheran churches, overwhelmingly endorsed the declaration, which included an affirmation consensus on justification and a lifting of the condemnations.

In a statement issued after the Vatican statement Thursday, the LWF said it remained committed to adoption of the Joint Declaration.”The necessary time must now be taken to clarify and assess the implications of the Roman Catholic reply,”said the Rev. Ishmael Noko, general secretary of the LWF.

Conservatives cheer decision denying funds for indecent art

(RNS) Conservative religious groups are cheering a Supreme Court ruling that the government can deny cash grants to artists if their work is considered indecent.

In the 8-1 decision issued Thursday (June 25), the justices said the policy allowing the National Endowment for the Arts to consider decency when it distributes public money does not violate the free-speech rights of artists.

The law”neither inherently interferes with First Amendment rights nor violates constitutional vagueness principles,”wrote Justice Sandra Day O’Connor for the High Court.

She said the law represents”advisory language”_ rather than a categorical requirement _ that”admonishes the NEA merely to take `decency and respect’ into consideration.” The decision was welcomed by conservative groups who were particularly disturbed by certain works of art, such as Andres Serrano’s photograph of a crucifix immersed in urine and Robert Mapplethorpe’s homoerotic images.”The winners here are the American people who are not going to have their tax dollars used to fund offensive projects under the guise of art,”said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice in Virginia Beach, Va.

David Cole, a law professor at Georgetown University in Washington representing artists challenging the 1990 law, said the justices were”woefully wrong in closing their eyes to the real-world chilling effect that this kind of language has to the arts,”the Associated Press reported.

But Cole said he was encouraged O’Connor’s majority opinion stressed the law does not mandate denial of funding on the basis of”viewpoint discriminatory criteria.” The Family Research Council, which generally argues for defunding of the NEA, called the ruling”a step in the right direction.””The Supreme Court decision issued today sends a strong message to individuals who pour urine on a crucifix or paint homoerotic images in the name of art, and then ask taxpayers to foot the bill,”said Robert Knight, the cultural director of the Washington-based group.”If government’s in the art business, it has every right to call the tune.” The law was challenged by a group of artists, including performance artist Karen Finley. “The Karen Finleys of this world who are bent on making a spectacle of themselves have every right to find private sources of funding for their depravity, but they have no constitutional lien on the public purse,”said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights in New York.

Clinton urges Congress to aid prosecution of hate crimes

(RNS) President Clinton wants Congress to pass legislation making it easier for the federal government to prosecute hate crimes.

Citing the recent dragging death of a black man in Texas, the president Wednesday (June 24) sent a letter to House and Senate officials urging passage of the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The bill would remove some jurisdictional limits that prevent Justice Department prosecutors from pursuing hate crimes, the Associated Press reported.

For instance, federal prosecutors currently can only pursue hate crime cases if they happen on federal property or while the victim was voting or doing some other federally protected activity.

The bill also would make hate crimes based on disability, gender or sexual orientation federal offenses. Current regulations limit coverage of federal hate crimes to incidents based on religion, race, color or national origin.

Congress did not act on the legislation after it was introduced last year.

Clinton referred to the recent case of James Byrd Jr., who was allegedly dragged to death behind a truck driven by three white men in Jasper, Texas.”I know you were as troubled as I was by the vicious murder in Jasper, Texas, just two weeks ago,”the president wrote.”This shocking event focused America’s attention on the problem of hate crimes.” The president said decisive action is needed.”Whether it is a gay American murdered as he walks home from work, or a Jewish American whose synagogue is desecrated by swastikas, such acts are not only examples of bias and bigotry,”he said.”They are crimes.”

House approves ban on government use of taxes for abortion drugs

(RNS) The U.S. government would be prohibited from using taxpayer funds to test, develop or approve abortion-inducing drugs, including the French abortion pill RU-486, under a bill passed Wednesday (June 24) by the House of Representatives.

The proposed ban, applauded by abortion opponents and condemned by abortion rights supporters, is unlikely to receive approval in the Senate.”The federal government has no right to use taxpayer dollars to develop abortion drugs,”said Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who sponsored the amendment that barred such spending by the Food and Drug Administration.”The business of the FDA is to protect lives, not facilitate death.” The amendment, adopted on a 223-202 vote, was part of a $55.9 billion spending bill for nutrition and agriculture programs in fiscal 1999.

Coburn acknowledged the ban faces tough going in the Senate, the Associated Press reported.”It’ll be a hard uphill battle,”said Coburn, a medical doctor and an abortion opponent. President Clinton, known for his support of abortion rights, is likely to veto the measure.

Several women members of the House denounced the proposal.”I’m sick and tired of debating abortion on this floor in the House of Representatives, restriction after restriction, ban after ban, amendment after amendment,”said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.”We need to make abortions less necessary, not more dangerous.” RU-486 blocks progesterone, a hormone needed to sustain a pregnancy. In 1996, the FDA declared the drug effective and safe, but said it wanted more information on its labeling and manufacture before giving final approval.

PBS religion newsweekly continues with $6.6 million grant

(RNS)”Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,”a news program that premiered on the Public Broadcasting Service last fall, has received a $6.6 million grant for its second season.

The national program is exclusively funded by the Lilly Endowment, an Indianapolis-based foundation that is one of the nation’s largest benefactors of religion research and scholarship. The foundation gave the program $5 million in grants for its first season.”All of us working on `Religion & Ethics Newsweekly’ are delighted by Lilly Endowment’s extraordinary generosity and confidence,”said Bob Abernethy, host and executive editor of the program.

The series, which now has funding for programs through August 1999, is produced by WNET, the public television affiliate in New York. It features live and taped reports by a corps of correspondents and interviews with newsmakers on topics relating to religion and ethics. It airs on close to 200 PBS stations nationwide.

Quote of the day: Activist Jane Fonda

(RNS)”Now, to start to really understand the problem of adolescent pregnancy, we have to recognize it as an adult problem. The causes that lead to teen pregnancy are adult-driven, and it is adults who are going to have to solve the problem. … Two-thirds of the mothers who have babies out of wedlock are adult women _ not teens. … And two-thirds of the fathers … of babies born to teen mothers are adult men.” _ Activist Jane Fonda, chairman of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, in a speech June 24 at the National Press Club supporting what she calls”abstinence plus”as a means of preventing teen pregnancies.

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