c. 1999 Religion News Service
Study: Americans trust institutions more than individuals
(RNS) Americans’ trust in people has declined steadily for at least 20 years, but general trust in institutions, including religious ones, did not decrease in the same period, a new study shows.
A researcher at Ohio State University found that trust in individuals declined about 10 percent between 1976 and 1994.
The study, published recently in the American Journal of Sociology, was based on data from a nationwide survey that posed questions about trust. Respondents were asked, for example, if they thought people usually”would try to take advantage of you if they got a chance.” Despite the lack of trust of people, the study found that trust in institutions, such as religion and government, did not decline. It also found that people maintained their associations with friends and neighbors and their involvement in clubs and organizations.
Pamela Paxton, author of the study and assistant professor of sociology at Ohio State, found that scandals within organizations had only a short-term effect on trust levels.
For instance, she discovered that trust in organized religion dropped significantly in 1988 _ the year after the well-publicized scandal involving former television evangelist Jim Bakker and other related religious scandals. But in subsequent years, trust in organized religion returned.”Scandals may hurt the reputation of institutions for a year or two, but I found that levels of trust come back from these problems,”Paxton said.”Once you control for these scandals, Americans’ trust in major institutions doesn’t appear to decline.” She said the overall results about trusting individuals are cause for concern but not alarm.”I don’t think there’s a crisis,”Paxton said.”People still talk to their neighbors, they still participate in associations and they generally trust the major institutions of society. But the decline in personal trust is troubling.”
Southern Baptist state conventions wrestle with controversies
(RNS) Southern Baptist state conventions grappled with controversial issues such as the roles of women and homosexuals when they gathered for their annual meetings this fall.
State groups took different stances on the article on family that was added to the”Baptist Faith and Message”at the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in 1998. The new article had drawn strong reaction from supporters and opponents because it affirmed wives submitting to their husbands.
The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Baptist General Association of Virginia affirmed the previous version of the confession of faith, which dates to 1963, rather than supporting the one with the new article.
Other groups, including the breakaway Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, affirmed the revised statement. Baptists in New Mexico voted to begin a process to make adherence to the revised statement a requirement for membership of churches in the state convention.
The issue of homosexuality figured prominently in other meetings, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent news service.
The Georgia Baptist Convention ousted two Atlanta-area churches for welcoming openly gay members. North Carolina Baptists took steps toward severing a fraternal relationship with Wake Forest University after school officials recently gave permission for a same-sex union ceremony to be performed in the campus chapel.
The Baptist General Association of Virginia altered its ties with the University of Richmond after the school decided to add sexual orientation to its anti-discrimination policy. The Virginia Baptists opted to phase out annual contributions and end their nomination of the school’s trustees, but will support a Baptist heritage center to be located on campus.
Other highlights of state Baptist meetings included:
_ Delegates to the moderate-led Baptist General Convention of Texas also set into motion a proposed constitutional change that would open membership in the convention to churches outside the state that are not comfortable with conservative-led state groups.
_ A shared-leadership plan that aimed to reduce fights between moderate and conservative Baptists in North Carolina fell short of a two-thirds majority needed for passage.
_ Delegates to the California Southern Baptist Convention defeated a proposal to remove”Southern”from its name.
_ Arizona Southern Baptists took up an offering for individuals who lost savings they had invested with the Arizona Baptist Foundation, which has filed a reorganization plan in bankruptcy court after state authorities determined it violated state securities law.
Two Catholic priests among those pardoned in Sudan
(RNS) Two Roman Catholic priests were among 20 people accused of planting bombs who have been pardoned by Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir.
Sudan’s official Radio Omdurman gave few details Monday (Dec. 6). However, the Associated Press quoted an unidentified official as saying that el-Bashir ordered the pardon as part of government efforts to reconcile with Sudan’s opposition.
The priests, Hilary Boma and Lino Sebit, and 18 other civilians were arrested in June 1998. They were charged with planting bombs intended to explode in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, on the ninth anniversary of the African nation’s June 30, 1989 military coup.
Officials accused them of working with the National Democratic Alliance, the umbrella organization for exiled dissident groups trying to topple the Islamic government in Khartoum.
The suspects were brought to trial last year before a military tribunal but won a plea to appear instead before a civilian court. No date had been set for the new trial. They faced the death penalty if convicted.
The accused had previously rejected an amnesty, insisting on a fair trial to prove their innocence. It is unknown if all have accepted the pardon.
The Vatican’s missionary news service had reported that the two priests were tortured by police. The news service quoted Boma as saying he signed a confession to stop police from torturing Sebit before his eyes.
Boma oversaw the church’s work with southerners displaced in Sudan’s 16-year-old civil war. He has been a priest for more than 25 years and is an outspoken human rights activist. Sebit was just beginning his pastoral work. Their arrests were viewed by some Christians as a warning to a too-vocal Catholic Church.
Sudan’s Islamic government has been accused by religious and human rights activists of harassing priests and nuns, demolishing churches, hassling Christians and forcing them to convert to Islam. The government repeatedly has denied the accusations.
Doomsday sect members return to U.S. after second expulsion
(RNS) Members of a doomsday sect expelled from Israel earlier this year returned to the United States after being expelled again, this time by Greek authorities.
Eighteen members of Concerned Christians were rounded up in Greece and arrived at Kennedy International Airport Sunday (Dec. 5), The New York Times reported.
Greek officials said they were worried the group might be planning a mass suicide or other violence timed to the millennium. The sect members were deported after they overstayed their residence permits, the officials added.
At a brief, impromptu news conference and meeting with relatives, the sect members denounced America as”the great Babylon.”They left the airport in taxis for an unknown destination.
In January, Israel arrested and deported 14 members of the apocalyptic sect. The Denver-based group is led by Monte Kim Miller, a former marketing executive who has claimed that he can speak in God’s voice. Miller’s whereabouts are uncertain.
Saudi Arabia to deport non-Muslims who violate Ramadan fast
(RNS) Saudi Arabia plans to deport non-Muslims who eat, drink or smoke in public during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which begins Thursday (Dec. 9).
“Non-Muslims should not eat, drink or smoke in shops, streets or offices and those who do not abide by the rules will face the consequences, which include termination of services and deportation,” an Interior Ministry statement said.
Of the 6 million expatriates living in Saudi Arabia, 600,000 are non-Muslims.
Ramadan begins with the sighting of the new moon, expected Thursday. It is the month, Muslims believe, when the Koran, Islam’s holy book, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad some 1,400 years ago.
During the holy month, Muslims abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex during daylight hours as an act of sacrifice and purification. Following evening prayer, the fast is broken until the following sunrise.
L.A. Muslims, Jews sign code of ethics to strengthen dialogue
(RNS) Prominent Los Angeles-area Muslims and Jews have signed a code of ethics intended to facilitate ongoing dialogue between the two religious groups, which are often at odds over Middle East issues.
Some 20 representatives of the two communities signed the code at Los Angeles City Hall Monday (Dec. 6) at an event hosted by the city’s Human Relations Commission. More than three dozen more have agreed to abide by the code but did not attend the signing ceremony.”This event will hopefully catalyze a constructive era for Jewish-Muslim relations and for interfaith relations in general,”said Dr. Maher Hathout, a representative of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
Los Angeles is home to two of the largest Muslim and Jewish communities in the nation. Relations between the two groups have generally been among the more advanced in the United States.
However, those relations were strained earlier this year when some in the Jewish community objected to the nomination of MPAC executive director Salam Al-Marayati to a national terrorism commission, from which he was ultimately dropped. The critics said al-Marayati was soft on Arab terrorism directed against Israel, a charge he denied.
At the signing ceremony, Rabbi Alice Dubinsky, regional head of Reform Judaism’s Union of American Hebrew Congregations, said it was time for the two communities to move beyond their fears.”Here in L.A., Muslims and Jews are neighbors,”she said.
Quote of the Day: Buddhist writer Rob Nairn
(RNS)”The average human mind is in a state of constant distraction. The distracted mind cannot experience reality because it is scattered and confused.” _ Rob Nairn, from his book”Diamond Mind: A Psychology of Meditation”(Shambala).
IR END RNS
