c. 2000 Religion News Service
Poll Finds Surprising Support for Medicinal Marijuana Among Pastors
(RNS) Forty-four percent of Protestant pastors support the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes, while only about 20 percent support decriminalizing the non-medicinal use of marijuana, according to a new survey.
The study of 518 Protestant ministers, commissioned by Phoenix-based Ellison Research, found surprisingly strong support for the use of marijuana to relieve pain for patients with cancer and other medical ailments.
Similar to a recent Ellison survey on the death penalty, the study found stronger support for medicinal marijuana use from pastors affiliated with the National Council of Churches as opposed to the more conservative National Association of Evangelicals.
Among NCC-affiliated pastors, 66 percent supported medicinal marijuana use while 33 percent opposed it. The numbers were almost exactly opposite for NAE-affiliated pastors, with only 31 percent supporting it and 69 percent opposed.
Ron Sellers, the firm’s president, said the most interesting findings lie in the difference between pastors who either “strongly” or “somewhat” oppose or support the policy. The number of pastors who have lukewarm feelings on the subject _ 58 percent _ is larger than the number who feel “strongly” either way, about 42 percent.
“Many ministers may be trying to balance a strong anti-drug position with compassion for people who have medical problems,” Sellers said.
Sellers also noted that when asked about decriminalizing marijuana, older pastors were surprisingly more supportive. Just 4 percent of pastors under the age of 45 supported legalizing marijuana, while 12 percent of pastors over the age of 60 supported it.
The survey of 508 pastors had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points.
Report: Religious Orders Show Some Improvement in Retirement Savings
(RNS) A new study shows that America’s Roman Catholic religious orders have made progress in saving for retirement costs, but a $6.4 billion debt continues to loom ahead.
The recent study for the National Religious Retirement Office, conducted by the accounting firm Arthur Andersen LLP, shows religious orders have decreased their “unfunded liability” by $1.5 billion, down to $6.4 billion from a high of $7.9 billion in 1996.
The soaring costs of health care and low numbers of new recruits have created a dire fiscal forecast for the nation’s religious orders. Many orders have been forced to sell property or cut programs in order to save for the retirement needs of their members.
Some orders have become business-savvy and found unusual ways to make money; others have hired business managers and investment consultants to build their savings.
Catholic parishioners also have helped with an annual Christmas offering that to date has collected $318.4 million for the retirement needs of religious orders.
Last year religious orders spent $650 million in retirement costs for the 41,315 members over the age of 70, according to the study.
The study found some encouraging signs, with more orders taking steps to fund their retirements; 133 of the 696 religious orders had retirement plans in place, compared with only 38 in 1985.
In addition, the report noted that investments had increased and exceeded projections, and many religious orders had withdrawn less from their investment accounts than they had planned.
But there were other troubling signs from the study, such as a 5 percent increase in the costs of caring for retired male members, and a 12 percent increase for retired female members.
House Approves Adding Gays, Disabled to Hate Crimes List
(RNS) The House of Representatives approved Wednesday (Sept. 13) a nonbinding measure to expand hate crime legislation to include attacks against gays and people living with disabilities.
“Today with this bill, we as a society say that we will not rest until Americans are free from all violence,” said House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., according to the Associated Press.
The bipartisan 232-192 vote called for the addition of crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation, disability or gender to existing federal hate crimes laws, which afford protection for crimes motivated by a victim’s race, color, national origin and religion. The House, which supported adding the amendment to a pending defense bill, followed in the footsteps of the Senate, which approved the same amendment in June.
Republicans have vowed to scrap the measure during House-Senate negotiations before the final bill goes to President Clinton. Opponents argued the amendment _ originally sponsored by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and Gordon H. Smith, R-Ore. _ is unnecessary because such crimes are already handled adequately in state courts.
The House decision was greeted with praise from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
“No longer can the pernicious voices of hate in our nation profit from the silence of our Congress, because for the first time ever, both the House and the Senate have affirmed the need for a strong federal hate crimes statute protecting a broad range of Americans,” read a statement issued by the group’s associate director, Mark J. Pelavin. “Hate crimes diminish all of us.”
But Robert Knight, senior director of cultural studies for the Family Research Council, denounced the move.
“So-called hate crimes are based on the faulty premise that one crime victim is worthy of more protection than another,” he said in a statement.
Massachusetts Court Rejects Appeal on Behalf of Pregnant Sect Member
(RNS) The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday (Sept. 13) rejected a woman’s claim that her own rights and the rights of all women were threatened by a judge’s order to place a pregnant member of a fundamentalist religious group into state custody in order to protect her unborn child.
In its three-page opinion, the court decided that “Barbara F.” (the name used in court records) had no direct involvement in the case of Rebecca Corneau, who was ordered into state custody last month until the birth of her child, the Associated Press reported.
Authorities suspect that Corneau, who has refused medical examinations on religious grounds, may have caused the death of a previous child by refusing to seek medical treatment. The fundamentalist group to which Corneau and her husband belong regards medicine and science as blasphemy.
Barbara F., who is six months pregnant herself, claimed the judge’s order had a “chilling effect” on her own constitutional rights, and sought to join the case on behalf of all women.
But the court decided that no strong connection existed between the judge’s decision and possible harm to Barbara F.
Nuns Convert Nursing Home Into Bed and Breakfast Venture
(RNS) A convent of Augustinian Sisters in Liverpool, England, has switched from running a nursing home to providing bed and breakfast _ at the very competitive rate of 20 pounds ($30) a head per night.
The decline in vocations has meant over the years that the sisters increasingly had to employ nursing staff instead of relying on their own resources.
In addition, the order was having to keep up with rising standards. While nursing homes could previously accommodate two, three or four people in a room, now the trend is for each patient to have a single room.
Last October the sisters closed their nursing home because the rising costs were more than they could cope with. They soon realized that the only solution was for them to reopen as a bed and breakfast hotel _ with the option of an evening meal for five pounds ($7.50) a day extra and full board at 30 pounds ($45) per day.
The community of 22 sisters, 12 of whom are “quite elderly,” says members are able to do most of the work in their new venture themselves, although if they get much busier they will probably need to employ extra staff.
Quote of the Day: Bishop Bartolomeu Anania of the Romanian Orthodox Church:
(RNS) “We want to enter Europe, not Sodom.”
_ Bishop Bartolomeu Anania of the Romanian Orthodox Church, quoted by the Associated Press, speaking out against a proposal to decriminalize homosexuality in Romania.
KRE END RNS
