c. 2004 Religion News Service
Third Federal Judge Strikes Down `Partial-Birth’ Abortion Ban
(RNS) A third federal judge ruled Wednesday (Sept. 8) that a law against “partial-birth” abortions is unconstitutional because it ignores parameters set by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000.
U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln, Neb., agreed with two other federal judges in New York and San Francisco that the law must include a provision that allows the procedure to protect the mother’s health.
“According to responsible medical opinion, there are times when the banned procedure is medically necessary to preserve the health of a woman and a respectful reading of the congressional record proves that point,” Kopf said, according to the Associated Press. “No reasonable and unbiased person could come to a different conclusion.”
Four years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court mandated such a provision when it struck down a similar Nebraska law. The new law _ signed by President Bush last year _ allows the procedure if the mother’s life is threatened, but does not include a broader exception if a doctor feels the procedure might improve a patient’s health.
Critics of the rarely used procedure condemn it as infanticide because it involves partially removing the fetus from the womb in the second or third trimester, at which point surgical scissors are used to collapse the baby’s skull. Critics say the babies feel pain from the procedure.
“The stage is now set for a lengthy and critical legal battle that ultimately will end up at the Supreme Court of the United States,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, which supported the law.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
St. Louis Archbishop Moderates Stance on Abortion, Voting
(RNS) Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis, who angered some Catholics by saying it would be sinful to vote for pro-choice politicians, now says such votes could be cast without committing a “grave sin.”
Burke told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Catholics would be able to vote for such politicians as long as they don’t base their votes solely on a candidate’s support of abortion.
Burke said voters may consider “proportionate reasons” to support a candidate while considering the candidate’s other positions. In church language, such a position would be “remote material cooperation” in an evil act (abortion), but not “formal” cooperation.
“The sticking point is this _ and this is the hard part,” Burke said. “What is a proportionate reason to justify favoring the taking of an innocent, defenseless human life? And I just leave that to you as a question. That’s the question that has to be answered in your conscience. What is the proportionate reason?”
Burke said Catholics were confused by his earlier pronouncements and he chose to speak out again “to articulate the matter as fully as possible,” the newspaper reported.
Burke’s position echoed that of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who said in a memo to U.S. bishops in June that voters could choose abortion-rights politicians “for other reasons.”
Burke gained prominence in his former Diocese of La Crosse, Wis., for denying Communion to abortion-rights politicians. Earlier this year, he said he would not serve Communion to Democratic nominee John Kerry, a Catholic, because of his support of abortion rights.
Last June, Burke said Catholics who are aware of church teaching against abortion but “willingly” vote for abortion-rights politicians must go to confession before receiving Communion.
Watchdog Group Seeks IRS Probe of Democratic Rally Held at Miami Church
(RNS) A watchdog group that advocates church-state separation has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a Miami church that hosted a Democratic rally in late August.
The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said the rally seemed to violate federal tax law concerning participation in political campaigns by tax-exempt houses of worship.
Press reports about the Aug. 29 event at New Birth Baptist Church said it included speeches by Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe and former Democratic presidential candidate Al Sharpton.
“Bush has misled us for four years and will not mislead us the next four years,” McAuliffe said, according to The Miami Herald. “Get out to vote and we’ll send Bush back to Texas.”
Lynn said in a letter to the IRS that the activities at the event seemed to go far beyond engaging in nonpartisan activities such as voter registration and education.
“Americans do not want to see houses of worship turned into partisan political conventions,” Lynn said in a statement. “It violates tax law, and it undercuts the integrity and purpose of religious organizations. I urge the IRS to open an investigation of this church’s activities.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Christian Teacher Advocates Hail Appellate Court Ruling
(RNS) Supporters of Christian teachers are hailing an appellate court decision as a mandate to permit faculty to participate in religious activities in public school buildings during their off hours.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that a Sioux Falls, S.D., elementary teacher has the right to attend an after-school Bible club meeting in her school building.
“Sometimes Christian teachers become weary of perceived discrimination against us in school systems and courts,” said Finn Laursen, executive director of Christian Educators Association International, a Pasadena, Calif., organization.
“But now there’s clear court-mandated fair treatment.”
The appellate court, in an opinion filed Sept. 3, upheld a lower court’s ruling that Barbara Wigg could participate in the Good News Club at other schools and reversed a lower court ruling preventing her from doing so at her own school, Laura B. Anderson Elementary School.
“In an effort to avoid an establishment of religion, (the Sioux Falls School District) unnecessarily limits the ability of its employees to engage in private religious speech on their own time,” the court ruled.
Mathew D. Staver, president of Liberty Counsel, an Orlando, Fla.-based legal organization that represented Wiggs, said it was the first time such a ruling had been made in this country.
“Teachers who desire to take off their official teaching hat and put on a private one, step down the hall after the last bell, and participate in religious clubs have been finally liberated by this court’s decision,” he said in a statement.
Tom Hutton, a staff attorney with the National School Boards Association, said his Alexandria, Va.-based organization filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the school district, asking the court to maintain the “widely understood rule of thumb” that school employees should pursue their religious expression outside the school setting.
“The line between just switching a hat from a school employee to a private citizen is problematic,” he told Religion News Service. “I think this opinion definitely causes us some concern.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Catholic Bishops Withdraw Candidate Policy Survey
WASHINGTON (RNS) A policy questionnaire sent by Roman Catholic bishops to the Bush and Kerry campaigns has been withdrawn because both campaigns failed to return it in a timely manner, a church spokeswoman said.
The questionnaire had been criticized by some conservative groups for seeming to give equal weight to the 41 different policy questions posed to the candidates, and not enough attention to abortion.
Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the survey was not pulled because of conservative criticism.
“It was pulled because neither campaign sent it back in time,” she said. “Otherwise it’d be hanging out there for months.”
Austin Ruse, president of the anti-abortion Culture of Life Foundation, criticized the questionnaire for not highlighting abortion policy as the most fundamental question facing voters this fall.
“We also welcome the fact that candidate Kerry will not be able to use the questionnaire to claim he is a faithful Catholic when we know he actively opposes church teaching on fundamental issues,” he said in a statement.
Conservatives, who charge the bishops’ staff leans Democratic, have urged “serious” Catholics to use a voters guide produced by Catholic Answers, an apologetics group. That guide lists five “non-negotiable” positions on abortion, embryonic stem cell research, gay marriage, euthanasia and cloning.
An opposing guide produced by the fledgling Catholic Voting Project urges voters to consider a “wide range of moral, social and economic issues.” Walsh said the bishops hope Catholics will refer to “Faithful Citizenship,” a voters guide that is updated every four years.
“The bishops have been very clear all along in every election that people should not be one-issue voters,” she said. “You have to look at the wide spectrum of the issues, and your own moral position.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Pope Urges Responsibility-Sharing Among Bishops, Priests and Laity
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II has urged American bishops suffering from the effects of scandals over sexually abusive clergy to seek greater “participation, consultation and shared responsibility” with priests and the laity.
But in an address to bishops from the ecclesiastical region of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, John Paul cautioned against any attempt to create “a secular democracy” within the Catholic Church.
The pope received the 33 bishops at an audience in his country residence at Castelgandolfo in the Alban Hills south of Rome on Saturday (Sept. 11), the third anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
“I assure you of my closeness to the American people, and I join you in praying for an end to the scourge of terrorism and the growth of the civilization of life,” the pope said.
John Paul noted that in his separate meetings with the bishops, they expressed concern about “the crisis of confidence in the church’s leadership provoked by the recent sexual abuse scandals, the general call for accountability in the church’s governance on every level and the relations between bishop, clergy and the lay faithful.”
Urging the bishops to meet the crisis by undertaking an “authentic self-renewal,” the pontiff warned that although “concern for good administration and responsible oversight” is legitimate, it must not distance them from their flock and obscure their image as “father and brother in Christ.”
“Within a sound ecclesiology of communion, a commitment to creating better structures of participation, consultation and shared responsibility should not be misunderstood as a concession to a secular democratic model of governance but as an intrinsic requirement of the exercise of episcopal authority and a necessary means of strengthening that authority,” he said.
The bishops were in Rome for visits that the entire U.S. church hierarchy will make by the end of this year. All diocesan bishops are required to report directly to the pope and Vatican officials and hear their counsel every five years.
The visits follow widespread scandals over sexually abusive priests that erupted in the Boston Archdiocese in 2002, and in July forced the Archdiocese of Portland (Ore.) to declare bankruptcy.
A study carried out for the church reported Feb. 27 that 4,392 priests abused 10,667 minors during the past half-century, and many victims are now suing for damages.
“The painful period of self-examination provoked by the events of the past two years will bear spiritual fruit only if it leads the whole Catholic community in America to a deeper understanding of the church’s authentic nature and mission and a more intense commitment to making the church in your country reflect in every aspect of her life the light of Christ’s grace and truth,” John Paul said.
_ Peggy Polk
Defamation League Objects to Targeting Palestinian Civilians
JERUSALEM (RNS) The Israel office of the Anti-Defamation League has taken issue with rabbis calling on the Israeli army to increase military force against the Palestinians even when this force could endanger innocent Palestinian civilians.
“The citizens of Israel have for too long experienced cruel terrorist atrocities and daily threats that indeed must be dealt with forcefully,” said the Anti-Defamation League in a prepared statement.
“However, we mourn along with the majority of Israelis the injury and loss of any and all innocent civilians during the course of battle, regardless of national identity or religion.
“As in the past when similar statements were made by some rabbis and religious leaders, we remind ourselves and take pride in the fact that the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) takes great pains to minimize civilian loss of life, often at its own peril and many times with tragic results.”
An editorial in the left-wing newspaper Ha’aretz also condemned the rabbis’ letter, made public last week.
“Murder and terror cannot be justified, and the Palestinians have missed more than a few opportunities to exploit periods of negotiations for political gain,” the newspaper said. “Nevertheless, the complete disregard of the broader aspects of the conflict makes the rabbis’ declaration both hollow and fanatic.”
Prominent rabbis wield a great deal of influence in right-wing circles. Israeli society is severely divided over how to combat terrorism, which has claimed almost 1,000 Israeli lives since the start of the Palestinian uprising four years ago.
The letter was sent to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz from rabbinic heads of West Bank seminaries and members of the Rabbinical Council of the Yesha Council of Jewish settlements. It stated that “there is no war in the world in which it is possible to delineate entirely between the (civilian) population and the (enemy) army.”
The rabbis said they based their opinion on Talmudic sources stating it is permissible to take another life in self-defense.
_ Michele Chabin
Religion News Service Editor Honored With Values Award
WASHINGTON (RNS) David E. Anderson, the departing editor of Religion News Service, was honored Monday (Sept. 13) by the Religion Communicators Council with the first-ever Winston Taylor Religious Communicator of Values award.
Anderson, 63, is moving to Montana with his family and will continue as senior editor with RNS. He joined the staff in 1992 and has served as editor since 1997.
Also honored was the Rev. Jim Wallis, founder of Call to Renewal and editor of Sojourners magazine, who received the Winston Taylor Religious Communicator of Faith award in the religious media.
The twin awards were presented by the Washington chapter of the Religion Communicators Council, founded in 1929 as an interfaith network of communicators in print and electronic communications, marketing and public relations.
Both awards honor “individuals or organizations that excel in communicating spiritual, religious or ethical values to the public through leadership, innovation or service,” according to the RCC.
The awards were part of the annual Faith Communicators Forum, a three-day convention co-sponsored by the RCC, National Council of Churches Communications Commission, Faith and Values Media and the United Church of Christ.
On Saturday (Sept. 11), Anderson received the William A. Reed Lifetime Achievement Award from the Religion Newswriters Association during the RNA’s annual conference in Washington.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Orthodox Leaders Mourn Death of African Patriarch
(RNS) Global Orthodox leaders mourned the death of Patriarch Petros VII of Alexandria, Egypt, the spiritual leader of Africa who was killed with 16 others in a helicopter crash in the Aegean Sea on Saturday (Sept. 11).
Petros, 55, headed one of the oldest seats of Christianity since 1997. He was considered second in rank behind the leader of world Orthodoxy, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Istanbul.
A Greek Army helicopter crashed as it was carrying Petros to Mount Athos, a center of Orthodox spirituality in northern Greece. Rescuers recovered Petros’ body and took it to the Greek Orthodox cathedral in Athens, where a funeral will be held Wednesday before he is buried in Cairo, Egypt, the Associated Press reported.
The church lost “a tireless witness of the gospel, a true servant of the people committed into his care by God, an advocate of fraternity and peace among peoples, an enthusiastic animator and renovator, a builder of the ecumenical movement,” said Georges Lemopoulos, acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches.
As patriarch of Alexandria, Petros led a church that tradition says was founded by St. Mark in A.D. 42. He was the spiritual leader of an estimated 300,000 Orthodox Christians throughout Africa and promoted peaceful co-existence with Muslims in Arab countries.
“The world is tired of religious conflicts,” he once said, according to The New York Times. “Christians and Muslims are duty-bound to respect absolutely each other’s religious beliefs and overcome antagonistic feelings.”
Petros, a native of Cyprus, entered a monastery at age 12 and was ordained in 1978. He held posts throughout Africa, including Johannesburg, South Africa; Accra, Ghana; Kenya; Uganda; Tanzania; and Cameroon.
“Due to his work, Orthodoxy made great strides in the African continent and drew ever-increasing numbers of African people into the Orthodox family,” said Archbishop Demetrios, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in North America.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Quote of the Week: Comedian Bill Cosby
(RNS) “I know a victim when I see one. And so did Christ. And so does God know victims. And so we all recognize victims. But some victims you can look at and say, `Get up.”’
_ Comedian Bill Cosby, speaking at a Washington forum sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and referring to those who have criticized him for blaming the victim by advocating personal responsibility. He was quoted by The Washington Post.
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