c. 2000 Religion News Service

Pro-Creationism Candidates Lose in Kansas School Board Primary

(RNS) Kansas voters on Tuesday (Aug. 1) rejected three Board of Education candidates who support removing evolution from the state’s science curriculum and replacing it with an emphasis on creationism.

In the GOP primary elections, two incumbent board members and one other candidate lost their races to opponents who favor removing the voluntary evolution standards passed by the board last year.

The standards, which won praise from religious conservatives and scorn from church-state watchdog groups, omit the big-bang theory of the creation of the universe and downplay the role of evolution.

Two board incumbents _ Linda Holloway and Mary Douglass Brown _ who supported the standards were defeated by two opponents who oppose them. Bruce Wyatt, an opponent of the standards, beat conservative Brad Angell in a contest for an open seat.

Five seats on the 10-member board will be up for grabs in November. Board member Bill Wagnon, a Democrat who opposed the standards, will face a challenge by conservative Republican candidate Patrick Hill.

The Republican candidates who unseated Holloway and Brown will face Democrats in November who also oppose the standards.

Wagnon told the Associated Press that Tuesday’s vote shows Kansans do not want teaching standards dominated by creationism.

“I think it’s a forgone conclusion that we get a new set of science standards in January,” Wagnon said.

A leading church-state separation group said Tuesday’s elections will put Kansas back in step with the rest of the country.

“Kansas voters have made it clear they don’t want a bunch of religious extremists monkeying around with the science curriculum,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “It’s impossible to interpret these results as anything but a rejection of the narrow-mindedness and arrogance of the religious right.”

Faith Leaders Denounce Gun Industry Television Ads

(RNS) An interfaith group of religious leaders joined Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo in a New York City news conference Tuesday (Aug. 1) to condemn gun manufacturers’ television ads that attack legislators who support lawsuits against gunmakers.

“Rather than spending money on distorted attack ads, (gun manufacturers) should be investing in the future of our children and the safety of our communities,” said Cuomo. “The religious community has led movements to feed the hungry and house the homeless. It is now time to join their moral call to denounce the inaction of gun manufacturers who refuse to accept responsibility for lives lost to gun violence.”

Cuomo was joined by the Rev. Robert Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Sister Mary Rose McGeady, president of Covenant House; the Rev. Herbert Daughtry of the House of the Lord Pentecostal Church; and Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

Gun control “is not only a political matter, it is a solemn religious obligation,” maintained Yoffie.

“Our gun-flooded society has turned weapons into idols, and the worship of idols must be recognized for what it is _ blasphemy. And the only appropriate religious response to blasphemy is sustained moral outrage,” he said.

The group applauded the efforts of faith-based organizations in states that have enacted gun safety legislation (including Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut and California), and praised the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s national gun “buy back” initiative, which the agency says has retrieved and destroyed an estimated 17,000 guns.

The group issued a letter _ also signed by Roman Catholic Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston _ urging gun manufacturers to adopt safety measures and pushing for gun safety legislation and national action to combat gun-related violence and deaths.

“This is a new day,” said Edgar. “It is not too late for us to stand up and say, `No more guns, no more violence.”’

Progress Made in Retirement Crisis Faced by Religious Orders

(RNS) Roman Catholic religious orders have made significant progress toward addressing a growing retirement crisis, with more orders raising their own funds and selling unused property to make money.

A report by the National Religious Retirement Office is expected to be issued during the meetings of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious this month.

According to the report’s findings, 61 percent of religious orders are planning for retirement needs, which is up from just 40 percent in 1994. Additionally, the number of orders that have sold unused property to make money has doubled.

Faced with lower numbers of recruits and an aging population in need of expensive medical care, religious orders are struggling to pay for the retirements of their members. Four years ago, religious orders had $7.9 billion in unfunded costs, and that number has shrunk to $6.4 billion.

Religious orders are becoming more business-savvy and are bringing in outside help to deal with the problem. The number of orders using outside financial advisers has jumped 17 percent, and smaller orders have increased the use of advisers by 40 percent.

The retirement crisis has gotten the attention of church leaders, who have asked for help from church members. In its annual collection for retirement costs, the church last year collected $31.4 million. To date, the appeal has collected more than $318 million.

“The problem of financing the retirement of U.S. religious (orders) has not gone away, but it is becoming more manageable thanks to the work of the religious themselves, the generosity of those who contribute … and through a multitude of collaborative efforts,” said Brother John Patzwell, associate director of the retirement office.

Panel: Add Four Nations to List of Religious Oppressors

(RNS) One month ahead of the State Department’s release of a list of countries suspected of religious freedom violations, a federal commission on religious freedom abroad has recommended the list be expanded to include Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.

Muslims, Protestants, Baha’is, Catholics and Hare Krishnas are among a number of faiths whose members face detention, prison terms, deportation and other forms of persecution in those countries, the 10-member International Commission on Religious Freedom said in a July 28 statement.

The commission based its report on information culled from the State Department’s 1999 country reports on human rights and its 1999 annual report on international religious freedom.

Turkmenistan’s government is “reminiscent of Stalin’s,” the commission concluded, and it found the Saudi Arabian government “brazenly denies religious freedom and vigorously enforces its prohibition against all forms of public religious expression other than that of Wahabi Muslims.”

In the past, the State Department has been cautious of making any critical remarks about Saudi Arabia, the United States’ closest Arab ally.

In North Korea religious freedom “is nonexistent,” the commission said, and its government “has imprisoned religious believers and suppresses all organized religious activity except that which serves the interests of the state.”

The governments of India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam were also singled out for “grave violations of religious freedom,” though the commission noted, “The actions of these governments of these countries may not meet the statutory threshold necessary for designation as (countries of particular concern).”

“Nevertheless, the commission notes that under (the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998) the president must take action (or issue a waiver of the requirement to take such action) with regard to all countries the government of which engages in or tolerates violations of religious freedom,” the panel said. “Because of the seriousness of the violations in these four countries, the commission urges the (State Department) to closely monitor religious freedom in these countries during the upcoming year, and to respond vigorously to further violations.”

The commission recommended the seven governments designated as countries of particular concern last year _ Burma, China, Iran, Iraq, Serbia, Sudan and Afghanistan’s Taliban regime _ remain on the list because they “continue to engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

Under terms of the 1998 religious freedom law, the U.S. government can choose to limit diplomatic relations with nations designated countries of particular concern. The government can also choose to impose sanctions on such countries through restrictions on international financial aid.

Update: Indiana Appeals Judge’s Order Halting Commandments Monument

(RNS) Indiana has appealed a federal judge’s order halting the installation of a Ten Commandments monument on the Statehouse lawn in Indianapolis.

The state filed its appeal on Tuesday (Aug. 1) on orders from Gov. Frank O’Bannon to seek a lifting of the preliminary injunction that was issued July 28.

“It’s a matter of importance to Hoosiers and the governor felt it would be helpful to clarify the issue,” said Phil Bremen, spokesman for O’Bannon, the Associated Press reported.

Ken Falk, legal director of the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, predicted the appeal will delay for months a ruling on the constitutionality of placing the monument on public property.

The ICLU sued the state earlier this year, claiming the monument is unconstitutional.

On July 1, a state law permitting schools and other government entities to post the Ten Commandments with other historical documents went into effect.

In a separate but related matter, a federal judge in Kentucky issued a ruling July 25 that barred the placement of a monument of the Ten Commandments on the grounds of that state’s Capitol in Frankfort.

German Protestants to Compensate Forced Laborers

(RNS) The German Protestant church has agreed to contribute $4.7 million to a compensation fund for people used as forced labor during the Nazi era.

The fund, set up by the German government July 20, will pay close to 1.5 million victims of forced labor between 5,000 and 15,000 deutsche marks ($2,360 and $7,000). Their dependents and the families of deceased laborers will not be compensated.

The Roman Catholic Church in Germany has refused to contribute to the fund, saying there is no proof forced laborers were used in Catholic institutions between 1939 and 1945.

According to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency, about 10 million foreigners were sent to Germany to be used as forced labor in camps, factories and farms. Many of the laborers came from Nazi-occupied countries, such as Poland, Ukraine and much of Western Europe.

In a statement, the Evangelical Church in Germany _ which is dominated by Lutherans _ admitted that some of the laborers were used in church-run facilities, such as hospitals.

In one case, 26 Protestant and two Catholic parishes in Berlin constructed a work camp in 1943, according to ENI. The church recently acknowledged that workers lived in substandard conditions, and the church has the names of at least 47 workers.

“It is sad that parishes systematically used forced laborers to deal with the need for workers caused by the war,” said the Most Rev. Wolfgang Huber, bishop of the Evangelical Church in Berlin-Brandenburg. “The church became entangled with the Nazi regime.”

Former Church Youth Worker Pleads Innocent to Child Molestation

(RNS) A former church youth worker accused of child molestation pleaded innocent Monday (July 31) to a 122-count indictment.

Christopher Reardon, 28, stood quietly as his attorney entered the plea in Salem Superior Court in Massachusetts. The charges ranged from posing a child nude to rape of a child.

Judge Nancy Merrick ordered that he be held without bail, the Associated Press reported.

Prosecutors say Reardon abused the community’s trust, bringing some of his victims into the rectory of St. Agnes Roman Catholic Church in his hometown of Middleton. There, they say, he videotaped sexual acts with children through a hole in a ceiling of his office.

Reardon had led youth activities at St. Agnes and served as a part-time youth minister at St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Topsfield. He also was a camp coordinator at a YMCA day camp in nearby Danvers and a volunteer with the Boy Scouts.

The indictment listed 29 victims, 14 of whom Reardon is accused of sexually assaulting.

He was arrested after police questioned him June 10 while preparations were under way for a church cookout.

Later, during a search of Reardon’s home and car, police recovered pornographic materials, semen samples he’d saved in cups, sex dolls and a list with the names of more than 200 children and descriptions of their genitals.

On June 26, he was ordered held without bail and ruled a danger to the community.

Quote of the Day: Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dallas-based Evangelist

(RNS) “The virtuous woman in the Bible wasn’t an Aunt Bee who baked biscuits and waited for Andy to come home. She was an entrepreneur and a landowner.” _ Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dallas-based evangelist, speaking July 27 at his “Woman, Thou Art Loosed!” conference in Atlanta and referring to characters in “The Andy Griffith Show.” He was quoted by The Atlanta Constitution.

DEA END RNS