c. 2004 Religion News Service

Poll: Most Americans Support Public Displays of Religion

(RNS) The vast majority of Americans oppose the removal of the Ten Commandments from public buildings and “In God We Trust” from U.S. currency. But most also oppose the idea of making Christianity the country’s official religion, a survey shows.

Sixty-six percent of Americans oppose “a constitutional amendment to establish Christianity as the official religion of the United States” while 32 percent are in favor of the idea, according to a poll by the Barna Group, a Ventura, Calif., consulting firm.

In other findings, researchers learned that 79 percent reject the idea of “removing signs that list the Ten Commandments from government buildings” while 18 percent would approve of such a policy.

Thirteen percent of Americans think the phrase “In God We Trust” should be removed from currency but 84 percent oppose that idea.

Removal of the phrase “one nation, under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance also has little support. Eighty-four percent of adults surveyed dismiss such a change while 15 percent favor it.

Asked about the teaching of creationism in public schools, 59 percent of adults favor it and 38 percent reject it.

Opinion on permitting the “F-word” on broadcast television was less divided. Fifteen percent of adults surveyed said it was acceptable to allow that word on television while 83 percent said it was inappropriate.

The findings, released Monday (July 26), were based on a nationwide telephone survey of 1,618 randomly selected adults in the last week of May. The data had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

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Information suitable for a graphic follows:

Views on Religion and Culture

Removing 10 Commandments from Public Buildings

Favor: 18 percent

Oppose: 79 percent

Removing “In God We Trust” from Currency

Favor: 13 percent

Oppose: 84 percent

Removing “Under God” from Pledge of Allegiance

Favor: 15 percent

Oppose: 84 percent

Teach Creationism in Public Schools

Favor: 59 percent

Oppose: 38 percent

Permit “F-word” on Broadcast TV

Favor: 15 percent

Oppose: 83 percent

Make Christianity Official U.S. Religion

Favor: 32 percent

Oppose: 66 percent

Source: The Barna Group

_ Adelle M. Banks

Abortion Rights Group Files IRS Complaint Over Operation Rescue Ad

WASHINGTON (RNS) Catholics for a Free Choice, an abortion-rights group, has filed a complaint charging that Operation Rescue has violated its tax-exempt status by urging people to vote for President Bush.

The independent lay group complained to the Internal Revenue Service that an Operation Rescue ad in a conservative Catholic newspaper urged voters to “defeat (John Kerry) in November and enable President Bush to appoint a pro-life Supreme Court justice to finally overturn Roe v. Wade.”

The ad, titled “John Kerry is a `Catholic’ Baby-Killing Hypocrite,” urged tax-deductible donations to help “pull out all the stops to keep (Kerry) out of the White House.” The ad referred to Democrats as “Deathocrats.”

“Charitable status is a privilege, not a right,” Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice, said in a statement. “Organizations are free to educate their members and the public, but must do so within the legal limits of their charitable status.”

Nonprofit organizations are exempt from income taxes, but in exchange they may not participate in partisan politics toward the election or defeat of particular candidates. Potential violations are handled on a case-by-case basis.

The ad, in the July 15 edition of The Wanderer, is an “egregious violation of U.S. tax laws,” Kissling said, and is one more example of “antichoice” groups that have “violated, if not the letter, certainly the spirit” of tax-exempt law.

Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, said the anti-abortion group famous for its public and graphic protests is “equal opportunity when it comes to picketing pro-abortion politicians.”

“I don’t think we’re favoring one person over the other,” Newman said from Boston, where he was rallying outside the Democratic National Convention. “We call ’em as we see ’em. We believe our faith counts far more than politics.”

Newman said he could not recall the specifics of the ad, but said in an interview, “We need to defeat Kerry.” He also said he would file a suit against Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge for stopping and searching the group’s protest trucks that displayed aborted fetuses in Boston.

Earlier this year, Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed an IRS complaint against Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colo., after he told Catholics they could not vote for any politician who supported abortion rights. The group said that statement was designed to rally support against Democrats, which the bishop denied.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Leftist Rebels Kidnap Catholic Bishop in Colombia

(RNS) A Marxist rebel group in Colombia has abducted a Catholic bishop and carried him away to their mountain redoubt, according to news reports.

The National Liberation Army, or ELN, has said that they will dispatch Bishop Misael Vacca Ramirez unharmed with a message for the government, according to Colombian officials.

Vacca Ramirez had been working to pacify relations between rebel groups, right-wing paramilitary soldiers and the government, church leaders said. In the recent past, Vacca Ramirez has mediated for the ELN, according to the church leaders.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe pledged to initiate a rescue operation and hundreds of government soldiers are scouring the Casanare region for the bishop, according to the Associated Press.

Pope John Paul II said Tuesday (July 27) the kidnapping is a “criminal action, in no way justifiable.”

“It is extremely pitiful that a bishop who was going somewhere to preach a gospel of peace and hope to the faithful in his care, above all the poorest, is prevented in such an unqualified way from freely carrying out his pastoral ministry,” the pope added in a statement released at the Vatican.

Vacca Ramirez was traveling with two priests and a local mayor Saturday when he was seized by “men in uniform,” according to the mayor, Jose del Carmen Galvis.

“They told us to wait because they needed the bishop, and on Sunday morning, two others came and carried him up into the mountains,” Galvis told a Colombian radio program.

Since 1964, ELN has been trying to overthrow the government to establish a Marxist state. The group has about 5,000 troops, according to recent estimates.

For years, the group has attracted Catholic priests influenced by liberation theology, a movement that uses the tenets of Christianity to advocate for the social and economic rights of indigenous Latin Americans.

At one point ELN had been led by a priest who believed that the Bible mandated a violent struggle to enrich the poor. The priest, Manuel Perez, vehemently opposed the plumbing of Colombia’s rich hinterlands by multinational corporations looking for oil. Perez died in 1998.

Over the past 20 years, an archbishop, a bishop, at least 50 priests and three nuns have been murdered in violent clashes between rebel groups and the government.

Church of God Extension Fund Leaders Guilty of Fraud

ANDERSON, Ind. (RNS) In the wake of verdicts that found former leaders of a church-affiliated fund-raising group guilty of defrauding thousands of investors of $85 million, Church of God General Director Ronald V. Duncan has called for a reflection on biblical principles, “particularly those of love and compassion.”

Shearon L. Jackson and James P. Grubbs, former managers of a fund-raising arm of the Church of God called the Church Extension, were found responsible in federal court in Indianapolis July 19 for leading members of the church into believing that investments were financially sound, when in fact they were losing money.

The Church of God has nearly 250,000 members and more than 2,000 congregations nationwide.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Church Extension, founded in 1921 to provide a revenue pool for Church of God churches to be constructed, had been in financial straits since the early 1980s. Seeking to make up the losses, the SEC stated that Jackson and Grubbs led the fund-raising institution into risky waters, funneling investments into shaky real-estate deals that did not pan out.

SEC documents noted that despite the losses, the former Church Extension managers continued to woo investors from the nationwide Church of God, stating that the operation was in sound financial shape. The problems were first made public in 2000, when several church officials resigned in anticipation of disclosure of the financial losses.

“Church of God Ministries continues to be concerned for all persons involved with or affected by the board of Church Extension,” Duncan said. “In moving forward, each new chapter in the process will cause us to reflect, learn new lessons and reassess. … We are saddened by the findings, the chain of events which have led us to this point and the effects on all involved.”

The federal jury decision sets the stage for further actions against the pair and might mean that Jackson and Grubbs will have to pay restitution and damages. A hearing to determine punishment has yet to be scheduled in federal court.

“We continue to be concerned for these men and their families, as well as for all persons impacted by these matters,” Duncan said.

_ Dennis P. O’Connor

British Bishop Urges Aid, Political Solution to Sudan Crisis

LONDON (RNS) The need for a political solution to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, alongside “massive” humanitarian aid, has been emphasized by Bishop Patrick O’Donoghue of Lancaster, England, chairman of the office for refugee policy of the Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales.

In a statement issued Monday (July 26) from Lourdes, France, where he is leading his diocesan pilgrimage, O’Donoghue said that the continuing tragedy of Darfur was “all too similar” to other recent horrendous tragedies.

“The continuing militia attacks and human rights abuses have already led to hundreds of thousands of people being uprooted and displaced, with many fleeing to camps inside neighboring Chad,” he said. “These people are in urgent need of protection and aid to stem the threat of illnesses, hunger and death.”

But, he said, vital as humanitarian aid is, it would not suffice: The political situation also needed to be addressed.

“It is important that the Sudanese government and the international community work together to create a peaceful and secure environment so that the people of Darfur, if they choose to, can return to their homes in safety and dignity,” he said.

_ Robert Nowell

Quote of the Day: Councilman Hashmel C. Turner Jr. of Fredericksburg, Va.

(RNS) “I have no intention of compromising my prayer language. The way that things are in the world today, the one thing I believe is needed is prayer.”

_ Councilman Hashmel C. Turner Jr. of Fredericksburg, Va., talking about his plans to continue praying with references to Jesus at council meetings despite an appellate court ruling that the practice is unconstitutional. Turner, who also is an associate minister at First Baptist Church of Love, was quoted by The Washington Times.

DEA/MO END RNS