c. 2004 Religion News Service
Third Day to Perform at Republican National Convention
(RNS) The Christian rock band Third Day will be among the performers at the Republican National Convention.
Third Day, which has won Grammy and Dove Awards, will share a prime-time slot with Vice President Dick Cheney on Sept. 1 at New York’s Madison Square Garden.
The band, which previously partnered with the Republican National Committee on encouraging young people to vote, reiterated its support for President Bush in an announcement of its plans.
“George W. Bush has responded in a significant way to an issue that is very important to us personally, the pandemic of AIDS in Africa,” said Tai Anderson, the band’s bass player, in a statement. “We are honored to stand up for the president who is standing up for those that are suffering around the world.”
Mac Powell, the group’s lead vocalist, said the band would continue its work with the political committee in the months before the November election.
RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie expressed appreciation for the group’s support.
“In addition to being great artists, they should also be commended for being great citizens by making sure that Americans of all ages get out and exercise their right to vote,” he said in a statement.
Third Day joins other Christian artists participating in the convention. Jaci Velasquez, Donnie McClurkin and Michael W. Smith also are slated to perform.
_ Adelle M. Banks
True Love Waits Marks 10th Anniversary in Shadow of Olympics
(RNS) True Love Waits, the sexual abstinence campaign spearheaded by Southern Baptists, celebrated its 10th anniversary at an event held in an Athens theater in the shadow of the Olympics.
More than 460,000 cards from youth across the globe who’ve committed to abstinence before marriage, were received in time for the Aug. 22 rally, announced LifeWay Christian Resources, an agency of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“I believe the diversity of countries from where we’ve received either cards or word of commitments made shows the global scope of True Love Waits,” said Jimmy Hester, a co-founder of the movement.
“True Love Waits is based on God’s biblical design for human sexuality. He intended for sex to be between a man and a woman and within the boundaries of marriage.”
The ministry reported that the cards were sent from more than 20 countries, with in excess of 200,000 coming from AIDS-stricken South Africa.
The keynote speaker at the rally attended by a few hundred people was Olympian Carl Lewis, who encouraged students to “set yourself apart in your group by being a leader and not giving in to what others are doing.”
Organizers chose to hold the event in Athens during the Olympics to draw attention to their campaign for abstinence.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Hudson Resigns as Bush Adviser After Harassment Charges Resurface
WASHINGTON (RNS) A conservative publisher who has attacked John Kerry’s Catholic credentials has stepped down as an adviser to the Bush campaign after a decade-old sexual misconduct charge against him resurfaced.
Deal Hudson, publisher of Crisis magazine, said he does not want “lowbrow tactics to distract from the critically important issues in this election” after a Catholic newspaper questioned him about an incident with a female college student.
“No one regrets my past mistakes more than I do,” he said in a column posted Wednesday (Aug. 18) on the Web site of National Review Online.
For the past four years, Hudson has been an adviser to the Bush White House and a close associate of White House political adviser Karl Rove. He was a regular participant in a weekly conference call between Catholic leaders and Republican Party officials.
Hudson said he was questioned about sexual harassment charges filed against him by a female student while he was an assistant professor of philosophy at Fordham University. Hudson left Fordham in 1995.
“At the time, I dealt with this in an upright manner and the matter was satisfactorily resolved long ago,” he wrote. “It was now being dug up, I believe, for political reasons _ in an attempt to undermine the causes I have fought for.”
A Fordham spokeswoman told The New York Times that Hudson left in 1995 after “something inappropriate was done.” The Times reported that Hudson allegedly made sexual advances toward an undergraduate student in a bar.
“Like many people, I have done things in my life that I regret,” he said.
Hudson said he was questioned by a “liberal Catholic publication” about the incident, along with whether he sought annulments for at least two of his previous marriages. The Times identified the paper as the National Catholic Reporter.
Hudson is a former Southern Baptist who converted to Catholicism 20 years ago. He said he and his current wife of 17 years _ he has been married at least twice before _ “are happily married” with two children.
He has also been a vocal critic of Sen. John Kerry in his race for the White House, lambasting him for his support of abortion rights. In his column, he said a Kerry presidency “would be a disaster for the church” and vowed to remain “fervently committed to supporting President Bush’s re-election.”
Supreme Court Declines to Reopen Pledge of Allegiance Case
WASHINGTON (RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court will not reconsider the Pledge of Allegiance case, the court announced Monday (Aug. 23).
The high court declined, without comment, to reopen a case that challenged the constitutionality of the pledge and its use of “under God” in public schools, the Associated Press reported.
California atheist Michael Newdow had requested that the justices consider overturning their June ruling. At that time, the court decided that he could not legally represent his 10-year-old daughter in the case because he does not have full custody of her.
In a filing in July, Newdow told the court that he had spent six years keeping his daughter from being told at school “that her father’s religious beliefs are wrong, unworthy and inferior.” He did not think his custody battle with the girl’s mother should influence his right to pursue the case.
The high court settled Newdow’s case without addressing broader concerns about separation of church and state. Thus, Newdow could renew his suit if he is given full custody or other parents could pursue similar litigation.
Justice Antonin Scalia, who had removed himself from the case earlier, did not take part in the court action announced Monday.
Study: A Third of U.S. Teens Have Religious Mission, Service Experience
WASHINGTON _ Nearly three in 10 U.S. teens have gone on at least one religious mission or participated in a religious service project, a new study says.
In a random telephone survey of 3,290 teens age 13 to 17 conducted by The National Study of Youth and Religion, 29 percent said they have participated in an organized religious service project or mission.
Among teens who participated in such an activity, the survey found that 43 percent attend church once a week or more, 25 percent once or twice a month, and 21 percent less than once a month. Only 9 percent of teens who said they participated in religious service projects “never” attend church.
Seventy percent of Church of the Latter-day Saints teens reported religious service involvement, the most among all denominations. Even though they have not yet embarked on their traditional two-year mission by the age of 17, Mormons are taught the importance of service early on, said Latter-Day Saints spokesman Dale Bills.
“We involve our youth in service opportunities of many kinds to give them firsthand experience in the joy of helping others,” Bills said. “We teach them that God will often meet the needs of others through us; that when we are in the service of others, we are in the service of God.”
Among other denominations, 43 percent of mainline Protestant teens said they participated in service projects and missions, while Catholic and Jewish teens reported the least involvement, 23 percent each.
The study also found that mothers with college degrees are more likely to have teenagers involved in religious service projects. One-fifth of teens whose mothers have less than a high school education said they participated in service projects, compared with 37 percent of the children of women with master’s degrees.
The percentages drop, however, among children of women with doctorates or professional degrees. Only 13 percent of those teens said they participated in religious projects. The study did not mention a correlation between fathers’ education and religious service.
“In terms of the effect of religion on service, education can boost the effect up to a point, and then among your most highly educated you tend to have less investment in religion,” said Melinda Denton, project manager for the study. “There’s some relationship between increased religion and decreased religiosity at those higher levels of education.”
_ Jonah D. King
Bishops Advise Catholic Voters on Political Choices
WASHINGTON (RNS) The nation’s Catholic bishops have distributed 10 questions that voters should ask political candidates, but cautioned they “should not isolate a particular element of Catholic doctrine” and ignore other issues.
On Friday (Aug. 20), the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops distributed the two-page statement “The Challenge of Faithful Citizenship” as an optional insert for weekly bulletins distributed in America’s 19,000 Catholic parishes.
“The question should not be, `Are you better off than you were four years ago?’ It should be, `How can we _ all of us, especially the weak and vulnerable _ be better off in the years ahead?”’ the insert said.
The insert comes during an election year in which both parties are fighting hard for the votes of Catholics, while Catholic politicians who support abortion rights _ especially Democratic candidate John Kerry _ have come under immense scrutiny from church bishops.
Although abortion is mentioned several times, the document calls voters’ attention to other issues, including hunger, support for marriage, health care, immigration, war and peace, and religious freedom. It echoed a Vatican statement that prohibits voting for any policy that “contradicts fundamental principles of our faith.”
“It also reminds us that we should not isolate a particular element of Catholic doctrine. A political commitment to a single isolated aspect of the church’s social doctrine does not exhaust our responsibility towards the common good,” the insert said.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the bishops, said the flier was not referring to a singular emphasis on abortion by some Catholics. “I think you find that the issues go from A to Z, and they have for several years,” she said.
The insert is a digested version of the bishops’ “Faithful Citizenship” document on political participation, which is revised every four years. The insert was prepared by the bishops’ Office of Social Development and World Peace.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Sudan Crisis Is Worst Disaster on Planet, a Top Bishop Says
(RNS) The refugee and military crisis in Sudan is without question the most dire humanitarian situation anywhere in the world, according to a top Catholic bishop who recently returned from a visit to the war-torn country.
Bishop John Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ international policy committee, said the international community must not wait for formal declarations of ethnic cleansing or genocide before acting.
“I don’t think it matters very much to the people who are affected what name we give this,” Ricard told reporters on a conference call. “What’s clear is this is a massive, very serious, very dangerous situation that needs the attention of the international community.”
The United Nations estimates that almost 1.4 million Sudanese have been displaced _ including 180,000 who have fled to neighboring Chad _ in ongoing violence committed by government-backed Arab militias against black African tribes.
Ricard traveled to the western Darfur region, a Texas-size area that has seen the most intense violence with at least 30,000 killed. He said humanitarian efforts have been hampered by the government in Khartoum, which refuses to recall the militias or provide security for outsiders.
“It’s very clear that this government is controlled by a small elite that labors under the ideology that the country of Sudan should be Islamic and Arabized,” he said. “It does not tolerate the presence of others.”
The United States’ top bishop, Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., has asked other bishops to offer prayers for Sudan this Sunday (Aug. 22) and take up special collections to aid in the relief efforts.
“There is very limited knowledge about how bad this is and how long it’s going to remain bad,” said Ken Hackett, president of Catholic Relief Services, who traveled with Ricard Aug. 1-6.
Catholic Relief Services is working on the ground with Caritas Internationalis, an umbrella group of global Catholic aid agencies, and Action by Churches Together (ACT), the humanitarian arm of the World Council of Churches.
At the same time, the Mennonite Central Committee is preparing to spend $4.6 million on 100,000 blankets, 4,500 metric tons of sorghum, 1,000 durable shelters and 6,830 school kits for refugees in Darfur.
Willie Reimer, director of food, disaster and material resources for the MCC, said the school kits with four notebooks, four pencils, colored pencils, a ruler and an eraser are important in camp schools for traumatized children.
“Having at least a place where they can meet together and (do) some learning and have a teacher looking after them is quite crucial in a situation like that,” he said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom and Rich Preheim
ELCA Membership Dips Below 5 Million
(RNS) A 1 percent drop in membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has caused the church to dip below 5 million members for the first time in its history.
The ELCA lost 53,081 baptized members last year for a total of 4.98 million members. The number of Lutherans who were actively involved as “communing and contributing” members fell slightly to 2.34 million.
The Rev. Lowell Almen, secretary of the Chicago-based denomination, attributed the losses to “roll cleaning” in many churches, the disbanding of 36 churches, and the withdrawal of eight congregations (with a combined membership of 11,000) from the denomination.
“The statistical back door is far too large in our congregations,” he said. “Back-door losses muffle front-door gains. Too many members slip out the back door and disappear from membership in ELCA congregations each year.”
The loss could bump the ELCA out of the No. 6 spot on the list of the country’s 10 largest churches compiled by the National Council of Churches. Under the most recent ranking, the ELCA would switch spots with No. 7, the National Baptist Convention USA, with 5 million members.
Since 1990, the ELCA has lost about 250,000 members _ almost half of them in the last two years. The last reported membership gain was in 1991. Membership in most mainline Protestant churches has fallen steadily since the 1960s.
Almen said less than one-third _ 1.5 million _ of Lutherans are in church on an average Sunday, and the average number of baptized members in a typical ELCA congregation was 472, while the average “communing and contributing” membership stood at 223.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Historic Synagogue Honors Federal Religious Freedom Panel
(RNS) The nation’s oldest synagogue has given its annual Religious Tolerance and Freedom award to a federal religious freedom watchdog panel.
Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., presented its Judge George Alexander Teitz Award on Sunday (Aug. 22) to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom during its annual festival that honors a letter sent to the congregation by President George Washington in 1790.
The annual award honors an “individual or program that best exemplifies the ideals of religious, ethnic, and racial tolerance and freedom.” In 1790, Washington assured the small band of Newport Jews that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”
The commission, an independent agency that advises the State Department, Congress and the White House on religious freedom issues, was chartered in 1998 by an act of Congress.
The synagogue cited the commission for its work to assure religious freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its attention to harsh conditions in Saudi Arabia and China.
The award was accepted by commission Chair Preeta Bansal and Vice Chair Felice Gaer.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Falwell Opens Law School at Liberty University
(RNS) The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University will open its new law school to students Monday (Aug. 23).
Falwell said he hopes to train lawyers at the Lynchburg, Va., school to fight for the conservative perspective on such issues as abortion rights and gay marriage.
“We want to infiltrate the culture with men and women of God who are skilled in the legal profession,” he told the Associated Press. “We’ll be as far to the right as Harvard is to the left.”
He said the school will be similar to Regent University in Virginia Beach, which was founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson and has had a law school since 1986.
Classroom discussions will combine biblical teachings with the U.S. Constitution and focus on the connections between law, faith and morality, said Bruce Green, the law school dean.
Joe Conn, a spokesman for Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, questioned Falwell’s plans.
“When Falwell talks about using the legal system to advance his personal religious beliefs, I get a whiff of the Taliban,” he said.
Quote of the Day: The Rev. Dennis E. Postell of Punta Gorda, Fla.
(RNS) “It’s only bricks. It’s only mortar. It’s only steel. You see, that’s not the church. This is the church. The people are the church. You are the church.”
_ The Rev. Dennis E. Postell, pastor of Abundant Life Assembly of God church, which was ruined by Hurricane Charley. Quoted by The New York Times, Postell spoke Sunday (Aug. 22) to about 200 congregants gathered under a tent outside the damaged sanctuary.
DEA END RNS
