c. 2004 Religion News Service
CAIR Report Finds Steep Increase in Anti-Muslim Incidents
WASHINGTON (RNS) Complaints of harassment, violence and discrimination against Muslims in the United States rose 70 percent last year while reported instances of profiling Muslims in airports fell 10 percent, according to a report released Monday (May 3).
The report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations was based on more than 1,000 complaints the organization received from Muslims across the nation during 2003.
“The findings of the report are alarming and disturbing because we live in a civil society (where) hate and discrimination are still a reality,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR.
The report asserted the large increase in discrimination complaints resulted from lingering fear in a post-Sept. 11 climate, rhetoric surrounding the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act and increased numbers of Muslims reporting discrimination.
“By reporting incidents, you are encouraging more members of our community to come forward,” said Omar Ahmad, CAIR’S board chairman.
According to Preetmohan Singh of the Sikh Mediawatch Resource Task Force, the number of hate crimes that are reported account for only a fraction of the total number of such crimes.
The report said cases of physical violence against Muslims and their property more than doubled last year. Arizona, New York and California had the highest increases in such cases.
Discrimination occurred mostly in government agencies, the workplace and at school, according to the report. It said the majority of perpetrators targeted Muslims because of their ethnicity, religion or national origin. Other acts of discrimination were triggered by prejudice against women wearing head scarves, the report said.
Mohamed Nimer, CAIR’s director of research and the report’s author, said profiling in airports declined because much of the panic that followed the Sept. 11 attacks has subsided.
“The new security measures work better,” he said. “There is more confidence among (security) personnel.” Nimer added that Muslims continue to say they experience profiling while traveling.
The report was critical of the Patriot Act. CAIR, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, has filed a legal challenge to a section of the law that expands the FBI’s ability to secretly obtain personal belongings and records of individuals.
“Americans can’t allow Sept. 11 to become a rallying cry for discrimination,” said Greg Nojeim of the ACLU. “Many of the government’s … policies went too far too fast. It’s troubling that innocent activity engaged in by one person is considered suspicious if engaged in by a Muslim.”
_ Mandy Morgan
Mennonite Evangelists Imprisoned in Vietnam
(RNS) More than two months after their arrest, three evangelists and a staff member of the Mennonite Church in Vietnam remain imprisoned and their status unknown.
The four were arrested in Ho Chi Minh City on March 2. An April 1 letter signed by 13 church leaders and sent to the prime minister and ministry of public security decried the “evil actions” of the police “in beating, imprisoning and refusing to allow the church to visit (the prisoners).”
The letter also cites “many other brothers and sisters who have disappeared whose whereabouts we do not know.”
Vietnamese Mennonites have been targeted by authorities for months. In January, a church building was demolished and the property confiscated, and church members have had their property confiscated.
Other church leaders and members have been beaten and intimidated; one 80-year-old “elder” was arrested for viewing the film “Jesus” and ordered not to have any contact with the local pastor. Church members claim they are being falsely accused of being reactionaries, American lackeys and opponents of the government.
In the most recent reported incident, at an April 25 worship service, police recorded participants’ license numbers, and two were heavily fined for traffic violations, including “blowing the horn loudly.”
“Though our Mennonite groups have not violated the law … everywhere the Mennonite believers are terrorized and pursued, creating an unprecedented tense and sad situation,” the church’s executive committee wrote in another letter, dated March 31, to government officials.
“We strongly protest these actions of the security police and local authorities against us. We request that you exercise your responsibilities to stop these above actions against our Church.”
Mennonite World Conference, the global Mennonite fellowship, has sent a letter of concern to Vietnamese officials and requested a meeting with them to discuss the situation.
The Mennonite Church in Vietnam has more than 1,000 members in 26 congregations.
_ Rich Preheim
Methodists Join Boycott of Taco Bell
PITTSBURGH (RNS) The United Methodist Church became the largest U.S. church body to join a boycott against Taco Bell, urging the fast-food giant to improve working conditions for migrant tomato-pickers in Immokalee, Fla.
Delegates to the church’s General Conference legislative meeting voted to approve the measure, without debate, on Saturday (May 1).
The Methodists join the National Council of Churches, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the American Friends Service Committee (Quaker) in the boycott.
A resolution passed by delegates said the boycott would remain in effect until Taco Bell “convenes serious three-way talks between the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, representatives of Taco Bell and their tomato suppliers to address exploitation and slavery in the fields.”
The resolution said the migrant tomato workers earn just 40 cents for a 32-pound bucket of tomatoes, which has “not changed in more than 20 years.” The statement said some farmworkers have been held “in debt-bondage slavery.”
With 10 million members worldwide, the Methodists are the largest church to join the boycott. In the past, Taco Bell has said it does not have the ability to negotiate directly with workers, who work for producers.
The last time Methodists engaged in a churchwide boycott was in 1988, when they joined an anti-apartheid protest against Royal Dutch/Shell Oil. In 1977, the church supported a boycott against the Nestle Company for its marketing of infant formula to developing countries.
The Rev. Bob Edgar, a Methodist who serves as general secretary of the National Council of Churches, said the Methodists add needed fuel to the campaign for workers’ rights.
“It gives those of us at the National Council of Churches hope that we’ll move beyond resolutions to actions, and that the leadership at Taco Bell will get the message that this is a boycott that is not going away,” he said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Bishop at Odds With N.J. Governor Over Communion
CAMDEN, N.J. (RNS) The Most Rev. Joseph Galante accepted his crosier as Roman Catholic bishop of Camden on Friday (April 30), one day after thrusting himself into a growing national debate by saying he would deny Holy Communion to Gov. James E. McGreevey because of the governor’s divorce and remarriage and his position on abortion and other issues.
Catholic prelates across the country are taking a more aggressive role in commenting on the delicate relationship between politicians’ faith and their positions on issues of importance to the church.
Galante said Thursday that McGreevey should not receive Holy Communion because the divorced governor, a Catholic, remarried without receiving a church annulment. Receiving Holy Communion is the Catholic sacrament of the Eucharist, in which Catholics believe bread and wine are consecrated into the body and blood of Christ.
Asked Thursday if he would give Holy Communion to the governor, Galante said, “I’d give him a blessing. In his case, he can’t go to communion.”
McGreevey did not attend Friday’s two-hour installation.
The Diocese of Camden serves 445,000 Catholics in Atlantic, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties.
The governor, a former altar boy who attended Catholic schools and regularly attends Mass at the Aquinas Institute in Princeton, has refused to comment on Galante’s decision.
_ Mary Ann Spoto and Jeff Diamant
Lakewood Church of Houston Cited as Largest, Fastest Growing Congregation
(RNS) Lakewood Church of Houston has topped the lists of the largest and fastest-growing non-Catholic churches in the country, according to a study published by Outreach magazine, a church leadership publication.
The Houston church was founded in a feed store in 1959 by the late John Osteen. His son, Joel Osteen, now leads the congregation of 25,060, and it is renovating the former home of the Houston Rockets basketball team for future services.
The study by Church Growth Today, a Bolivar, Mo.-based research center, is based on self-reported data from the churches cited.
“We don’t look to these churches as `the best,’ `the most spiritual,’ or any other qualifier,” states the magazine in a report titled “The Exponential Church.” “They are simply the largest and _ because of their size _ command our interest and attention.”
The Vista, Calif.-based magazine listed the churches, compiled by John N. Vaughan, founder and director of Church Growth Today, in its May/June issue. The list of the largest churches is based on self-reported data from churches from the first quarter of 2004. The list of fastest-growing congregations is based on self-reported data between 1999 and early 2004, Vaughan said.
10 Largest Non-Catholic Churches in America
1. Lakewood Church, Houston (25,060 attendees)
2. World Changers, College Park, Ga. (23,093)
3. Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif. (20,100)
4. The Potter’s House, Dallas (18,500)
5. Fellowship Church, Grapevine, Texas (18,129)
6. Second Baptist Church, Houston (18,000)
7. Southeast Christian Church, Louisville, Ky. (17,863)
8. First Assembly of God, Phoenix (17,532)
9. New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, Decatur, Ga. (17,370)
10. Without Walls International Church, Tampa, Fla. (17,370)
10 Fastest-Growing Non-Catholic U.S. Churches of the 21st Century
1. Lakewood Church, Houston (growth: 14,060)
2. Without Walls International Church, Tampa, Fla. (growth: 12,570)
3. The Potter’s House, Dallas (growth: 11,300)
4. North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, Ga. (growth: 10,200)
5. Fellowship Church, Grapevine Texas (growth: 9,950)
6. Mars Hill Bible Church, Grandview, Mich. (growth: 9,400)
7. Second Baptist Church, Houston (growth: 8,797)
8. Life Church, Edmond, Okla. (growth: 8,687)
9. World Changers, College Park, Ga. (growth: 7,593)
10. The Church of the Resurrection, Leawood, Kan. (growth: 7,567)
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan
(RNS) “The whole Muslim world is seeing this. And the whole Muslim world is rising in an anger and a hatred that has never been. And soon it will be that no American will be able to travel because they will kill Americans in the Arab and Muslim world.”
_ Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, speaking at the National Press Club in Washington on Monday (May 3) about the impact of allegations of abuse by the U.S. military of Iraqi prisoners.
DEA/PH END RNS
