c. 2000 Religion News Service

Jewish Group Criticizes Panel’s Clearing of Ten Commandments Judge

(RNS) The American Jewish Congress criticized an Alabama state panel Wednesday (Feb. 2) for deciding not to charge Judge Roy Moore with official wrongdoing for refusing to take down the Ten Commandments in his courtroom.

The AJC learned Tuesday that the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission had determined that Moore did not need to be disciplined. AJC leaders asked the commission in 1997 to investigate Moore’s conduct because they believed he demonstrated bias against religious minorities in public statements.

“This is not a case in which the facts were unclear, the judge’s intent vague or the rules ambiguous,” said Marc Stern, assistant executive director of the AJC, in a statement.”A judge’s pledge to ignore controlling law in favor of his religious beliefs is inconsistent with a judge’s duty to advance respect for law.” Moore said he has no plans to change his ways, the Associated Press reported.

“The Ten Commandments will remain in my courtroom and a clergyman remains (to say a prayer) at the start of each organizational session and will continue to remain as long as I am a judge in this courtroom,”Moore said.”They do not like the truth and I cannot stand otherwise.” Although it did not press charges against Moore, the commission did say there was evidence that the judge had violated judicial standards. It warned him to follow ethical guidelines in the future. Moore, in response, accused commission members of ethical lapses.

DeKalb County Circuit Judge Randall L. Cole, chairman of the judicial commission, declined to comment on Moore’s charges.

Update: Oklahoma Official Drops `Controversial’ Evolution Disclaimer

(RNS) An Oklahoma state committee had no authority to mandate that biology textbooks describe evolution as a”controversial theory,”the state’s attorney general ruled Wednesday (Feb. 2).

Oklahoma’s State Textbook Committee is permitted by the state constitution to compile multiple textbook lists but cannot add statements, Attorney General Drew Edmondson wrote in a nine-page opinion.

In November 1999, the textbook committee unanimously approved the use of the disclaimer for all new biology books. The disclaimer, which came under fire from scientists, education groups and some religious groups, described evolution as a “controversial theory” that can refer “to the unproven belief that random, undirected forces produced a world of living things.”

The disclaimer was approved because biology books did not sufficiently cover alternate explanations of the origins of life, said committee member John Dickmann, who initiated the move to approve it.

The disclaimer mirrored one included in Alabama textbooks last year. Also last year in Kansas, the state board of education approved the removal of evolution from tests required by the state, a move that was met with a flood of criticism nationwide.

Disciples of Christ Officials Consider Anti-Racism Hiring Policy

(RNS) The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is developing a new hiring policy that officials hope will help reduce racism within the denomination.

The proposed policy was discussed at the denomination’s Administrative Committee meeting Jan. 28-Feb. 1 and will be revised before the General Board considers it at a July meeting, the church announced.

The draft proposal includes a statement explaining the purpose for considering a uniform procedure for hiring executives.”One of the areas that represents European American dominance is the small number of regional and general leaders who are racial ethnic persons,”the draft reads.”Part of the reason for this is that the structures that guide our search processes for executive leadership tend to perpetuate European American dominance.” In the past, the Rev. Richard Hamm, the denomination’s president, has said he wants his denomination to be transformed into a church body that is”anti-racist”and”pro-reconciling.” The draft proposal suggests that 50 percent of search committees for denominational executives should be comprised of racial or ethnic minorities. It also recommends that executive searches be open to individuals outside the particular area where there is a need for a new hire.

The largely white mainline denomination was embroiled in a race-relations controversy in 1998 following a decision by a Georgia regional body the previous year to reject an African-American candidate for its top post.

The church body has been taking steps to address racism through a”discernment process”that church leaders have said would include anti-racism training during a period of more than six years.

Study: American Homelessness on the Increase

(RNS) About one in 10 of the people living in poverty in the United States was homeless at least once during 1996, according to a new study by the Urban Institute.

The study found that among the general population as many as 3.5 million people were homeless, compared to 1.8 million in 1987. Among those living above the poverty line, at least 2.3 million people were homeless at least once in 1996.

The report also showed that the number of people who were homeless at any moment increased from an estimated high of 600,000 in 1987 to 842,000 in 1996.”The general trend is that they’ve gone up,”said Nan Roman of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.”That’s really a frightening finding.” The study, which analyzes the plight of the homeless in 1996 (the latest year for which figures are available), is the Urban Institute’s latest national analysis of homelessness since 1987, and is based on data culled from the Census Bureau and a national survey of homeless individuals and agencies.

Children made up 38 percent of the nation’s homeless in 1996 and comprised nearly 25 percent of those who benefited from services for the homeless, such as meals or shelter. The number of children getting those services increased roughly 10 percent from a decade before.

A lack of affordable housing is partly to blame for the rising numbers of homeless, according to the study. Yet services available to the homeless nationwide _ such as soup kitchens and shelters _ have increased, the Urban Institute said. In major cities the number of emergency meals provided daily for the homeless quadrupled to about 400,000.”The growth of the homeless assistance network can be considered a success story,”Martha Burt, the main author of the study, told USA Today.

Seattle, Sacramento, Calif., and Oklahoma City were among the cities that offered the most services for the poor on a per-person basis, the Urban Institute reported, while Houston, Miami and Birmingham, Ala., offered the least.

The study also found that though white people outnumbered black people among the homeless population in 1987 (46 percent to 41 percent), nine years later 46 percent of the homeless were black compared to 39 percent of whites. Roughly 39 percent of the homeless population in 1996 reported they had completed high school, up from 32 percent in 1987.

Quote of the Day: Mississippi Pastor Alan Kilgore

(RNS)”It was really interesting to see the soon-to-be governor of our state going around the church cutting off lights and locking doors, but that’s the kind of man he is.” _ Alan Kilgore, pastor of First Baptist Church, Batesville, Miss., about Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, Mississippi’s first Southern Baptist governor in 20 years. Musgrove had been serving as”deacon of the week”less than two weeks before his Jan. 11 inauguration and was charged with securing the church at the end of each service. Kilgore was quoted by Baptist Press, the Southern Baptist Convention’s news service.

AMB END RNS