c. 2003 Religion News Service
Religious Groups Included on NRA `Blacklist’
WASHINGTON (RNS) Two prominent gun control groups say the National Rifle Association has compiled an extensive “blacklist” of its opponents that includes more than 20 religious groups.
The 19-page roll lists gun control supporters ranging from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to pop star Britney Spears and former President Jimmy Carter.
“The following organizations have lent monetary, grass-roots or some other type of direct support to anti-gun organizations,” said the list, posted on the NRA Web site http://www.nraila.com.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Million Mom March have published the list at http://www.nrablacklist.com.
Religious groups on the list include the American Jewish Committee, the United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Mennonite Central Committee, the Congress of National Black Churches, the National Council of Churches, the Unitarian Universalist Association and others.
At least four religious leaders are singled out by name, including the Most Rev. Edmond Browning, the former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, and three prominent Reform rabbis.
Rabbi David Saperstein, chief Washington lobbyist for the Reform movement, said it was a “badge of honor” to be seen as an “opponent of gun violence and the alarming spread of guns,” but said the creation of an “enemies list” is always “problematic.”
NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told a New York Times columnist on Oct. 13, “We put the list together in response to many requests by our members wanting to know which organizations support the rights of law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms, and which organizations didn’t.”
The list has prompted a counter-move by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Million Mom March. The two groups bought newspaper ads encouraging gun opponents to add their names to the list.
“How NRA leaders intend to punish doctors, children, Methodists, seniors, mayors and others is not explained,” the two groups said in a New York Times ad.
A statement by the NRA’s Institution for Legislative Action called the counter-campaign “full of fallacious drivel, emotional sensationalism and outright falsehoods.”
Most groups appearing on the list don’t seem to mind. “We’re proud to be in good company,” said the Rev. Meg Riley, Washington office director for the Unitarian Universalist Association. Myrna Shinbaum, spokeswoman for the Anti-Defamation League, said there does not appear to be anything “malicious” about the list.
“Having looked at the list, there are a number of organizations that certainly share our common belief that our society should be free from violence,” said John Johnson, a domestic policy analyst for the Episcopal Church.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Wyoming Town Votes to Move Commandments Monument
(RNS) The Casper, Wyo., City Council has voted to move a Ten Commandments monument from a public park after an anti-gay preacher proposed his own monument stating that college student Matthew Shepard entered hell when he was murdered.
The Rev. Fred Phelps said the city’s display of the Ten Commandments monument would force it to permit his public display and others, the Associated Press reported.
The council rejected his proposal unanimously and then voted 5-4 to move the Ten Commandments monument to a plaza that will honor a range of historic documents.
Phelps, of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., said he picked Casper as the site for his proposed 6-foot-tall granite monument because it is where the University of Wyoming student learned it is “OK to be gay.”
He picketed the funeral of Shepard, whose 1998 murder prompted a national call for hate-crimes legislation.
In a separate move from Phelps’ action, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation had threatened to sue the town if the Ten Commandments monument was not moved from City Park, where it has been located for almost four decades.
Casper Mayor Barb Peryam said she thinks the city can win any court battle.
“If you think that we are going to put our monument someplace in cold storage, I’ve got another thought for you,” she said to the “outsiders” involved.
Afghan Court Says Beauty Contestant Violates Islamic Law
(RNS) The Afghan Supreme Court has condemned the Afghan contestant in the Miss Earth beauty pageant, saying the display of her body is contrary to Islamic law.
Vida Samadzai, 23, is the first Afghan to compete in the annual contest, which will be held Nov. 9 in Manila, Philippines, the Associated Press reported.
Judges of the court harshly criticized her appearance when their Wednesday (Oct. 29) meeting was shown on state TV.
“Women who show their bodies without clothes in front of people are completely against Shariah (Islamic) law and against the culture of the Afghan people,” the court said.
In the week before the court’s decision, she wore a red bikini during a public appearance by contestants.
Samadzai reportedly left her home country for the United States in the mid-1990s and has said she is taking part in the pageant to show the world a different image of Afghan women. Many women in Afghanistan continue to wear head-to-toe burqa robes despite the fall of the hard-line Taliban regime almost two years ago.
Bush Adds Personal Perspective to Faith-Based Talk
WASHINGTON (RNS) President Bush put a personal touch on his usual discussion of his support for faith-based organizations in an address at a Dallas church youth center Wednesday (Oct. 29).
“You’ve got to understand that sometimes, and a lot of times, the best way to help the addict, a person who is stuck on drugs and alcohol, is to change their heart,” Bush told the audience gathered for the dedication of the Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Youth Education Center.
“See, if you change their heart, then they change their behavior. I know.”
The president is known to have given up drinking on his 40th birthday after focusing on his Christian faith.
Usually, his remarks relate more to his belief that there should be “a level playing field when religious groups apply for federal money,” which he said again Wednesday.
Bush also spoke of his friendship with Tony Evans, pastor of the Dallas church.
He credited Evans with helping him “formulate policy” by speaking in 1996 about how “the best welfare programs are on every corner in America” and are “guided by an ancient guidebook.”
Bush also mentioned Jack Graham, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church, who is working with Evans on a suburban-urban partnership addressing racial reconciliation.
“Social entrepreneurs think about ways to make societies a better place,” the president said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Europe Urged to Write Charter on Interreligious Dialogue
ROME (RNS) Opening a European Union meeting on interreligious dialogue, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu urged the E.U. Thursday (Oct. 30) to write a charter on “interreligious dialogue and social cohesion” as a means of averting terrorism.
“We cannot allow the social alienation of immigrants and extremist preaching in our countries to push the desperate down the road of terrorism,” Pisanu told fellow interior ministers from the 15 E.U. countries and speakers representing Europe’s Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities.
Pisanu also warned that it would be counterproductive for Europe to send “enormous resources to fight international terrorism” while skimping on development aid.
“We can no less risk that the economic and demographical collapse of many African countries right on Europe’s doorsteps will make the anger of the poorest explode into violence,” he said.
Dalil Boubakeur, rector of the Paris Mosque, referred to controversy in France over bans on the wearing of head scarves to school by Muslim girls and a judge’s order in Italy that a crucifix be removed from a schoolroom where Muslim children were among the students.
“The recent events,” Boubakeur said, “demonstrate how all this could assume dimensions of passion.” He said that the “Islam-phobia” present in France and throughout Europe is a cause of concern.
“Today,” Boubakeur said, “Europe, in turn, is afraid of Islam, but there exists now more than ever a liberal current in Europe’s Islam that seeks to integrate itself and to which Europe must give credibility because Islam is tolerance and peace.”
Charlotte Knobloch, vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said it would be “fatal” for the preamble of the new E.U. constitution not to recognize Europe’s “Judeo-Christian” roots.
Pope John Paul II has repeatedly urged recognition of Europe’s Christian roots, and received backing from the governments of Italy, Spain, Poland and Ireland. It was believed that the Vatican would have no objection to widening the reference to include the Jewish heritage.
German Interior Minister Otto Schily told reporters that he would support a reference in the E.U. constitution to Europe’s Judeo-Christian heritage. But, he said, “I think that it would be necessary to also include the Islamic tradition because of the influence that it had on European civilization.”
_ Peggy Polk
Quote of the Day: Singer Britney Spears
(RNS) “What’s that? Is it like Kabbalah?”
_ Singer Britney Spears, responding to a question about whether Hinduism is one of the Indian religions that have influenced her music. She was quoted by Newsweek magazine.
KRE END RNS
