c. 1998 Religion News Service

D.C. court nixes proposed school-prayer ballot initiative

(RNS) A District of Columbia appellate court has ruled unconstitutional a proposed ballot amendment that would have required all Washington public schools to authorize”student-initiated”prayer at school events.

The D.C. Court of Appeals, in a ruling issued Tuesday (Dec. 30), was a defeat for the Coalition for Voluntary Prayer, which has tried to get the initiative on the ballot in 1995, The Washington Post reported.

The group’s efforts were blocked when it was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union, People for the American Way and 22 district residents.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Geoffrey M. Alprin previously ruled that the initiative was”patently, obviously and unquestionably unconstitutional.”The coalition appealed that ruling, which was upheld by the appellate court.

The three judges of the appellate court said that”it would be an exercise in futility”to allow a vote on an unconstitutional measure.

If the initiative had become law, it would have required that prayer be permitted at any school activity, as long as it was initiated by a student and was nonsectarian and voluntary.”We are very pleased with this ruling,”said Carole Shields, president of People for the American Way, a Washington-based monitor of conservative Christian groups.”The D.C. Court of Appeals has sounded a victory for religious freedom in our nation’s capital and for school children throughout the city. Once again, the courts have rejected the religious right’s continued efforts to diminish religious liberty and freedom of conscience in the nation’s public schools.” Judith E. Schaeffer, deputy legal director of People for the American Way, said”students already have the constitutional right to engage in truly voluntary prayer in school. No new law is needed to establish that right. This initiative, however, would have placed students in the position of being involuntary, captive audiences to prayer.” Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder dies

(RNS) John Howard Yoder, a prominent Mennonite theologian, died Tuesday (Dec. 30).

Yoder, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., died after suffering a heart attack in his Notre Dame office. He was 70, the South Bend Tribune reported.

Yoder was well-known for”The Politics of Jesus,”an influential book published in 1972 that focused on the political implications of Jesus’ proclamation of the kingdom of God.

A prolific writer, he also authored”The Priestly Kingdom”and”What Would You Do?” Yoder believed that Jesus’ pacifism was relevant to the modern world, fitting squarely with his membership in the Mennonite Church. In his ecumenical work, he met with people from a variety of faiths, but held firmly to his rigorous Anabaptist skepticism about the church’s assimilation into secular society.”I think his central contribution was to show the Mennonite Church and the wider Christian church how the life and teachings of Jesus are relevant in a broken and violent world,”said J. Nelson Kraybill, president of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Ind.

Yoder taught theology at the seminary, known then as Goshen Biblical Seminary, from 1965 to 1984. He was the school’s president from 1970-73.

Kraybill described Yoder as a theologian who emphasized that peace-making was not merely a passive withdrawal from conflict but an active response to it.”His passing will leave a great gap in the theological creativity of the whole Christian church,”Kraybill said.

Born Dec. 29, 1927, in Smithville, Ohio, Yoder joined the Notre Dame theology department in the late 1970s.

John Cavadini, theology department chairman at Notre Dame, said Yoder was a brilliant man who epitomized peace-making.”I think of him as having a prophetic presence,”Cadavani said.”He had an ability to speak the truth in a way that it could be heard.” Yoder’s influential reputation was sullied by accusations of sexual impropriety. He acknowledged the allegations, which involved events in the 1970s and ’80s, and was stripped of his ministerial credentials in 1992.

Yoder was ordered by church authorities to undergo counseling and was eventually accepted back into the church. He returned to the Mennonite seminary in the fall of 1997 to teach part-time.

Muslims, Hindus clash in India over order to pray to symbols

(RNS) Muslims and Hindus in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh are at odds over an order requiring school children to pray to paintings, sculptures and other embodiments of”Mother India.” Muslims say that amounts to idolatry, while Hindu officials say they only want to strengthen patriotic feelings.

Ravindra Shukla, a minister of education in Uttar Pradesh, said his recent order requiring prayer to nationalist symbols was designed to”inculcate patriotism,”the Associated Press reported.

But a group representing Muslims was considering whether to mount a court challenge.”We don’t need a certificate for our patriotism from any political party or person,”said Zafaryab Jilani of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

Critics of the order claim the Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu nationalist group that controls the Uttar Pradesh state government, is fanning religious tensions in India. India is 84 percent Hindu and 10 percent Muslim.

Temple University plans demolition of historic Baptist church

(RNS) Temple University in Philadelphia plans to demolish most of a 106-year-old Baptist church built by the school’s founder, even though the church is a historic landmark and was once the largest Protestant church in the United States.

School officials gave details of their plans Tuesday (Dec. 30) before the Architectural Committee of the Philadelphia Historical Commission, which has approval authority.

Their plans also include demolishing a former Methodist church and six 19th-century townhouses to provide space for a new dormitory and a new quadrangle.

The Baptist Temple is a certified city historic landmark that lies, along with the rest of the campus, within a historic district. When Temple’s founder, Russell Conwell, opened the church in 1891, the Romanesque Revival structure had the largest capacity of any Protestant church in the country, the Associated Press reported.

School officials would like to tear down all of the Baptist Temple with the exception of its stone facade that faces Broad Street and portions of two side walls. The space would be used for an outdoor”performance garden.” Thomas Hall, a former Methodist church, would be replaced by a 500-bed dormitory.

Martin S. Dorph, Temple’s vice president, said the changes are necessary to make the school more attractive to students. The school has seen its enrollment decline over the last decade by 20 percent to about 18,000.

The congregation that worshipped at Baptist Temple moved to Blue Bell, Pa., in 1974 and sold the building to Temple for $550,000. The building was used for a time as an auditorium but was closed more than 10 years ago because it failed to meet city fire code and needed repairs.

The city’s historical commission resisted Temple’s proposals in 1986 to demolish the Baptist church. Now, Temple planner Marvin J. Gerstein estimates that upgrading it would cost close to $4 million.

The Rev. Albert Nevins, former Catholic Press Association head, dies

(RNS) The Rev. Albert J. Nevins, former president of the Catholic Press Association and co-founder of the Catholic Institute of the Press, died Dec. 15.

Nevins, 82, had lung cancer. Born in Yonkers, N.Y., he had lived in Tampa, Fla., the past 16 years and was a Maryknoll priest for more than 55 years.

Nevins wrote hundreds of articles for Catholic and secular publications and authored 45 books. He also produced television and movie scripts. He wrote a weekly question and answer column in the Catholic weekly newspaper Our Sunday Visitor under the byline”Father Sheedy.” Owen McGovern, executive director of the Catholic Press Association, called Nevins”a legend in the Catholic press. In fact, during the 1950s and 1960s he was the Catholic press.”

Quote of the Day: Pope John Paul II

(RNS)”Justice and peace aren’t abstract concepts or distant ideals. They are intrinsic values, a common patrimony, in the heart of every person. Individuals, families, communities, nations _ all are called to live in justice and work for peace.” _ Pope John Paul II, greeting 1998 at a New Year’s Day Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican.

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