c. 2004 Religion News Service
Diverse Religious Groups Unite Behind Aid for Sudan
WASHINGTON (RNS) An unusually broad coalition of Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and evangelical groups has come together to urge intervention by the United States and the United Nations in war-torn Sudan.
The Save Darfur Coalition is comprised of more than 70 religious and humanitarian organizations, a sign that the growing crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan has united groups across religious and ideological lines.
“We must not wait for a legal determination of `genocide’ to ensure a massive worldwide humanitarian response and call to end the violence and investigate crimes against humanity,” the coalition said in a “unity statement” released Tuesday (Aug. 3).
The coalition was brought together July 14 by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and American Jewish World Service. It has received the support of Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel.
Relief groups say 2 million people have been killed and millions more displaced in government-backed attacks by Arab militias against ethnic Africans in the western part of the country. The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution July 30 that threatens sanctions if the Sudanese government does not move to end the violence within 30 days.
The Rev. John McCullough, director of Church World Service, the humanitarian arm of the National Council of Churches, said the world cannot wait for the United Nations to act while 500 refugees die each day.
“With so many lives at risk, 30 days is far too long,” McCullough said.
The coalition is calling for “massive worldwide governmental humanitarian” support, increased financial aid to relief groups, a return of refugees and a U.N. Commission of Inquiry “to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.”
Supporters include the four major streams of American Judaism, the Armenian Church in America, the National Council of Churches, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, men’s and women’s Catholic religious orders, the National Association of Evangelicals, Lutheran World Relief and Soka Gakkai International USA Buddhist Association, among others.
At the same time, top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) wrote to parishioners urging them to lobby government leaders to intervene in Sudan. “This is a time of incredible suffering among our sisters and brothers in Sudan, and it needs to be a time of incredible prayer and solidarity by those of us in the Presbyterian Church (USA),” the letter said.
International Orthodox Christian Charities, the relief arm of America’s Eastern Orthodox churches, has joined a $17.5 million fund-raising appeal by Action by Churches Together, which is coordinating relief efforts in Sudan with longtime partner Norwegian Church Aid.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Episcopalians Say Church Is Intact One Year After Gay Bishop’s Election
(RNS) A year after the confirmation of an openly gay Episcopal bishop, church leaders say the denomination has not broken apart or fallen victim to a fatal drop in finances.
The election of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire was approved by bishops and lay and clergy delegates on Aug. 5, 2003, during the church’s General Convention in Minneapolis. He was formally consecrated Nov. 2.
Robinson’s election was denounced by sister churches in the Anglican Communion as an unbiblical act that threatened to tear the group of 38 autonomous churches apart. Nine U.S. dioceses later formed a separate network as a refuge for conservatives opposed to Robinson’s election.
In a memo distributed by church leaders in New York, officials said only nine of the 38 provinces in the Anglican Communion had declared themselves in “impaired communion” with the U.S. church.
The nine churches _ Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Southeast Asia, Southern Cone (Latin America), Tanzania, Uganda and West Indies _ represent about half of the Communion’s 77 million members.
Three of the 10 provinces in Africa that receive financial aid from the American church have said they will not continue to accept the money, officials said.
Other Christian churches also expressed concern about the election, but Bishop Christopher Epting, the church’s ecumenical director, said only the Russian Orthodox Church had called off dialogue. Epting said there were “pauses” in global meetings with Roman Catholics, but talks between Catholics and Episcopalians in the United States have “not missed a beat.”
Two American dioceses _ Dallas and Pittsburgh _ have said they will send no money to the national church, while three other conservative dioceses have not indicated what, if any, amount they will send.
Church officials were forced to make a 5 percent reduction in spending in February to make up for $2 million in decreased contributions, but said recently that revenue was running almost $400,000 more than expected.
Officials said it would be impossible to measure if Robinson’s election had negatively affected membership _ those figures won’t be available until the fall of 2005 _ but reported growth in the South, Southeast and Southwest.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Survey: Blacks Practice Religion More Than Other Groups
(RNS) Black Americans are the most likely to participate in religious activities like prayer, Bible reading and worship attendance, compared to other racial and ethnic groups, a survey shows.
The Barna Group, a Ventura, Calif.-based consulting firm, found that 91 percent of blacks said they prayed to God in the previous week, compared to 86 percent of Hispanics, 81 percent of whites and 46 percent of Asians.
The results of the research, based on surveys of 2,632 adults in January and May, were released Tuesday (Aug. 10).
Fifty-nine percent of blacks said they had read the Bible in the previous week, compared to 39 percent of Hispanics, 36 percent of whites and 20 percent of Asians.
As for religious service attendance, 48 percent of blacks said they had attended a worship service in the previous week, compared to 41 percent of whites, 38 percent of Hispanics, and 23 percent of Asians.
African-Americans also were the mostly likely to strongly agree that the Bible is totally accurate (57 percent) and to strongly disagree that Jesus sinned while on Earth (49 percent).
Asians were most likely to be in the atheist/agnostic category (20 percent) and aligned with a non-Christian faith group (45 percent).
White adults did not stand out as either the highest or lowest group in any of the religious behaviors that were tested. In general, Hispanics’ religious views were similar to those of whites. But Hispanics were more likely than either blacks or whites to reject the idea that the Holy Spirit is a living presence.
Researcher George Barna, founder of the Barna Group, said the findings are consistent with a research project he recently completed on the relations between black churches and the lives of African-Americans.
“Upon dissecting the role of faith in the lives of black Americans, we discovered that their faith in Christ has empowered millions of blacks to overcome challenges that might otherwise have been debilitating,” he said in a statement. “The local church has been a major source of strength and directive leadership for the black community.”
The research has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points for the overall sample. The margin of error related to the subgroups is plus or minus 2.4 percentage for whites; 5.6 percentage points for blacks; 5.4 percentage points for Hispanics; and 11.2 percentage points for Asians.
Pope Blesses Olympics, Calls on Virgin Mary to Protect Games
(RNS) Pope John Paul II has given his blessing to the Athens Olympics, saying he hopes that the games will “promote understanding and peace among peoples.”
The 84-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff, an enthusiastic skier and hiker in his younger days, spoke of the games to pilgrims gathered for the (Aug. 8) Sunday Angelus prayer at his country residence in Castelgandolfo, south of Rome.
John Paul said he sent his “cordial greetings” to everyone taking part in the Olympics, to the city of Athens, which he visited three years ago, and to the Greek people. The Olympics open Friday (Aug. 13) in the Greek capital.
“I hope from my heart, that in a world that is troubled and sometimes rocked by so many forms of hatred and violence today, (that) the important sports events of the games may constitute an occasion of calm encounter that can promote understanding and peace among peoples,” the pope said.
John Paul said that he invoked “the maternal protection of the Most Holy Virgin on the Olympics and the entire world of sports.”
The Vatican announced last week that the Pontifical Council for the Laity has established a “Church and Sports” section to promote ethical values in sports.
Messianic Pastor Sides With Jews in Blasting Presbyterian Divestment
(RNS) A controversial messianic Jewish congregation in the Presbyterian Church (USA) has joined Jewish groups in denouncing the church’s plans to explore divesting in companies doing business in Israel.
Avodat Yisrael, a small, church-sponsored congregation in suburban Philadelphia that looks and feels like a synagogue, said recent church statements on Israel did not put equal pressure on Palestinians.
“Punitive measures such as selected divestment can only serve to weaken the Israeli economy, threatening the well-being of Israelis and Palestinians alike,” said the church’s spiritual leader, Andrew Sparks, in a statement released Monday (Aug. 9).
In some ways, Sparks is an unlikely ally for Jewish groups who have denounced his church and the $260,000 in start-up funds it received from church agencies. Critics say the congregation is a covert and offensive attempt to convert Jews to Christianity.
Delegates to the church’s General Assembly in Richmond, Va., voted last month to continue national funding for similar projects _ a move that has prompted some Jews to break off dialogue with the church.
Sparks did not address the furor surrounding his congregation in his statement. He said likening the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to apartheid in South Africa is unhelpful.
“The implication of apartheid, intended or not, obscures the complexity of the conflict and hinders the possibility for creative ethical and socially engaged responses to this multifaceted situation,” he said.
Some Presbyterians have likened the Israeli occupation to South African apartheid, but church leaders say that is not the official position of the denomination.
Sparks called for the church to “halt” its exploration of divestment, which was approved by the General Assembly delegates. A final decision on divestment is scheduled for next March.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
New Catholic Priests Are Slightly Older, More International
WASHINGTON (RNS) The 2004 class of new Catholic priests is older and increasingly foreign-born, according to statistics released Friday (Aug. 6) by Catholic bishops.
The average age of new priests inched up slightly to 37, up from 36.8 last year and 34.8 in 1998, when data on new priests were first collected. Seventy-one percent of new priests are younger than 35, while 3 percent are over 60.
Nearly one-third of new priests _ 31 percent _ are foreign-born, which is up from 28 percent last year and 24 percent in 1998. The four main countries that supply foreign priests are Vietnam, Mexico, the Philippines and Poland.
Dean Hoge, a sociologist at Catholic University who compiled the figures, also noted that the portion of new priests with post-graduate education reached 28 percent, up from 13 percent six years ago. “This is a notable change in only six years,” he said.
There were 472 men ordained to the priesthood this year, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, a research center associated with Georgetown University.
Hoge’s survey profiled 336 new priests based on responses provided by 126 dioceses and 32 religious orders. Sixty-eight dioceses and 27 orders did not respond to the annual survey.
Most new priests are white, but 12 percent are Hispanic and 12 percent are Asian or Pacific Islander. The portion of new Asian-born priests has grown steadily in recent years _ up from 7 percent just three years ago. One percent of new priests are African-American.
The Archdiocese of Chicago continues to lead the nation with the largest ordination class of 14 men, along with Newark, N.J. The Archdiocese of New York ordained 13 new priests.
Hoge said Newark represents the international trend among new priests. Eleven of the 14 men were foreign-born _ three Poles, two Africans and one each from Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Singapore.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Readers Rank `Passion of the Christ’ as Most `Pro-Catholic’ Film
(RNS) Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” was ranked the most “pro-Catholic” film by readers of a conservative Catholic newspaper, while judges rated last year’s “The Order” as the most “anti-Catholic” film.
The unscientific poll by the National Catholic Register surveyed readers’ opinions about which films “most celebrate Catholic life.” A panel of eight judges then listed 10 films that painted the church in a negative light.
Gibson’s film, which was condemned by Jewish groups for its portrayal of Jewish leaders during the Crucifixion, received more votes than the next three finalists combined. It has earned $370 million at the box office.
“Look at the list of pro-Catholic movies and you’ll see some of the top-grossing movies of all times,” said an editorial by the Denver-based newspaper. “Look at the list of anti-Catholic movies, and you’ll see films moviegoers largely rejected.”
Readers nominated more than 100 films in May, which were then voted on by 1,000 people on the newspaper’s Web site. Their picks:
Most Pro-Catholic Movies
1. The Passion of the Christ (2004)
2. The Sound of Music (1965)
3. A Man for All Seasons (1966)
4. The Song of Bernadette (1943)
5. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
6. The Ten Commandments (1956)
7. The Scarlet and the Black (1983)
8. Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
9. Schindler’s List (1993)
10. The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
The newspaper also convened a panel of judges to rate films that portrayed the church harshly or unfairly.
“Hollywood is generally hostile to religion,” radio host and culture critic Michael Medved told the newspaper. “The church is a particularly juicy target because it is the world’s most visible religious institution and … gets much more than its share of flak.”
The judges included Medved, Catholic League President William Donohue and David DiCerto, a film reviewer for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and others. Their picks, starting with the most recent release:
Most Anti-Catholic Movies:
1. The Order (2003)
2. The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
3. Sister Mary Explains it All (2001)
4. Chocolat (2000)
5. Stigmata (1999)
6. Dogma (1999)
7. Elizabeth (1998)
8. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
9. Priest (1994)
10. Agnes of God (1985)
_ Kevin Eckstrom
GOP Taps Former Christian Music Leader for Convention Entertainment
(RNS) The Republican National Committee has hired the former head of the Gospel Music Association to oversee entertainment during the party’s upcoming convention in New York City, the New York Times reported.
Frank Breeden, who headed the GMA from 1997 to 2003, was widely credited for helping advance Christian music during his tenure. He told The Times he hopes to bring country, gospel and Broadway music to the GOP convention.
“Entertainment plays more of a prominent role in marketing messages today than ever before,” he said. “Just like Cadillac uses Led Zeppelin to market its ideas.”
Breeden admitted most entertainers who engage in politics tend to support Democratic nominee John Kerry. Some actors and singers have told him they support President Bush, he said, but are reluctant to do so publicly out of fear that it may damage their careers.
“For whatever reason, on the Democratic side of things, the celebrities who have an affinity with that party tend to be more activist and tend to get more headlines,” he said.
Quote of the Day: Quadriplegic Advocate Joni Eareckson Tada
(RNS) “I think suffering is God’s way of sometimes waking us up out of our spiritual slumber with an ice-cold splash in the face and getting us seriously to consider his claims, who he is and where we’re going.”
_ Joni Eareckson Tada, a quadriplegic advocate who serves as president of Joni and Friends, a ministry to the disabled. She made her comment during an interview Aug. 3 on CNN’s “Larry King Live.”
DEA/ MO END
