c. 2000 Religion News Service

Survey: Mainline Pastors Support Washington Lobbyists

(RNS) Research released from a Princeton University study of mainline Protestants shows overwhelming support for denominational lobbying in Washington, even though most pastors have little or no contact with their church’s capital offices.

The survey, released earlier this year, is a sweeping look at all aspects of mainline churches. Laura Olson, a researcher at Clemson University, profiled the political role of Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal and American Baptist churches, among others.

According to Olson’s study, 84 percent of mainline pastors support their denominations’ Washington offices, while a small percentage _ 8 percent _ feared losing their voice in Washington.

“The fact is that these offices do fulfill a vital role for their denominations,” Olson said. “They undertake the national political work that many clergy cannot or will not do.”

Olson surveyed five Washington church officers, as well as 62 pastors around the country. Olson said many pastors feel their Washington lobbyists are an important alternative voice to the hefty, well-funded influence of conservative evangelical activists in the religious right.

Despite a lower profile than the religious right, Olson said mainline lobbyists are a much-needed voice on social justice issues such as poverty, human rights and the environment.

“There is much work to be done in the local public arena, and clergy find plenty of opportunity and incentive to do it,” Olson said. “But there is also a need for a national political voice since many political issues have strong national and international components.”

Religious activism, however, is not without its critics. Conservative and evangelical factions _ particularly within the United Methodist Church _ have accused the Washington offices of promoting progressive, liberal causes. Conservative Methodists repeatedly point to the church’s General Board of Church and Society in Washington, which earlier this year got into trouble when it sought to raise money to fund lawyers for Elian Gonzalez’s father.

Tom Hart, the director of the Episcopal Church’s Washington office, said his staff seeks to give a voice in a practical way to positions taken by the church at its triennial General Convention meetings.

“Our work in Washington brings actual work behind the positions and words that the church has taken,” Hart said. “Otherwise the statements would remain words on a page.”

World Vision See Long-Term Need for North Korea Economic Development

(RNS) North Korea needs long-term economic development just as much as food to rebound from famine, an official with the World Vision humanitarian agency said Thursday (Nov. 9).

“They need support in terms of technologies, know-how, equipment and infrastructure, not only food distribution,” said Wattanapong Santatiwat, vice president of the agency’s Asia Pacific regional office.

World Vision is one of many international groups North Korea relies on to feed its 22 million people, Reuters reported. The United Nations’ World Food Program, which feeds about one-third of the country’s population, has said that disappointing harvests in North Korea this year could increase the population’s food needs in the upcoming months. North Korean officials have also warned that a recent typhoon and months of dry weather could lead to a loss of about 1.4 million tons of grain.

“The country needs development, more sustainable, so they can help themselves and become self-sufficient,” said Santatiwat, whose organization is growing virus-free cucumbers, potatoes and tomatoes on hydroponic farms in North Korea. “So that is why we are trying to help them to help themselves in the long run.”

Iraq: Jews Cause American Election Problem

(RNS) Jewish leaders and organizations in the United States are behind the delay in resolving the outcome of the American presidential election, an editorial in an Iraqi newspaper alleges.

Jews in the United States hope a victory for Vice President Al Gore and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., an Orthodox Jew, will mean greater U.S. support for Israel instead of Palestinians, the editorial said, Reuters reported. The front-page editorial appeared in a newspaper owned by the eldest son of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

“If they (Jews) succeed in making Gore win the election, they will become the real leaders of America,” said the editorial, accusing Gore of favoring Jews in the United States and having a pro-Israel bias.

Bush, the newspaper claimed, was less concerned with cooperating “with Zionist forces.”

Whether Gore or Texas Gov. George W. Bush wins the election will have no effect on Iraq’s relationship with the United States, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz said Wednesday (Nov. 8).

The United States is a longtime supporter of sanctions the United Nations imposed on Iraq following Baghdad’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

“America allies itself with the Zionist entity (Israel) and it commits daily aggression against Iraq, imposes the (U.N.) embargo and kills the people of Iraq,” said Aziz, adding, “We never bet on the results of the American elections.”

Judge Known for Ten Commandments Stand Named Alabama Chief Justice

(RNS) Judge Roy Moore, the Alabama judge who gained prominence with his crusade to keep the Ten Commandments posted in his courtroom, was elected Tuesday (Nov. 7) as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Moore, a Republican, defeated Sharon Yates, a Democrat, to rise to the post of the state’s highest-ranking judge, the Associated Press reported.

He had pledged to take his handmade plaque of the Ten Commandments with him to the Supreme Court building in Montgomery if he was elected.

“I believe God is looking down on these efforts of those people who wish to acknowledge his sovereignty over the affairs of men,” Moore told his supporters. “I think it’s time in this state and nation that we did just that.”

Some voters worried that a Moore win would reduce church-state separation in the courts.

“I’m a Christian and I believe in the Ten Commandments, but I don’t believe they should be in a courtroom,” said Montgomery retiree Joy O’Brian. “I can’t see forcing that issue like that.”

But the majority of voters chose Moore, with some saying they liked the judge’s stance on his faith.

“I like somebody who stands up for what he believes,” said Michael Dillaber, an adviser to a Methodist student ministry at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, who voted for Moore.

Quote of the Day: The Rev. Barry Lynn

(RNS) “The religious right is not in the driver’s seat, but they are definitely in the car and will undoubtedly make frequent attempts to grab the steering wheel.”

_ The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, commenting on the mixed success of candidates and positions supported by religious conservatives in the Nov. 7 elections.

DEA END RNS