c. 2005 Religion News Service

Supreme Court Denies Atheist’s Request to Ban Inaugural Prayer

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday (Jan. 19) rejected atheist Michael Newdow’s plea to prohibit clergy-led prayer at President Bush’s inauguration Thursday.

Nonetheless, Newdow said he hasn’t given up his fight to block prayer at the swearing-in ceremony.

After Chief Justice William Rehnquist denied Newdow’s request, Newdow used an obscure Supreme Court rule to submit an appeal to Justice John Paul Stevens, hoping that he would be more sympathetic to the case.

The case was rejected in two lower courts before Newdow appealed to the Supreme Court.

Newdow, best known for trying to have the words “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, challenged the constitutionality of offering prayer at the inauguration, arguing that it violated the First Amendment’s principle of separation of church and state.

He said he was not surprised by Wednesday’s decision but wished the justices had ruled differently.

“This is a man who is supposed to be representing all Americans,” he said in reference to Bush.

In lower court arguments, attorneys for the Department of Justice said that inaugural prayer was a long-standing American tradition and that Newdow did not have standing to bring the case before the court.

Lawyers for the Presidential Inaugural Committee argued that the inauguration was the president’s personal party and that Bush is allowed to choose its content.

In supporting the government’s position, U.S. District Judge John Bates reasoned that the “public interest does not weigh strongly in favor of the injunctive relief Newdow requests, which would require the unprecedented step of an injunction against the president.”

_ Lauren Etter

Relief Agency Says Rebuilding After Tsunami Could Take Five Years

MONROVIA, Calif. (RNS) The president of the Christian relief organization World Vision estimated Wednesday (Jan. 19) that it would take at least three to five years to rebuild the areas of south Asia devastated by the recent tsunami.

The United Nations estimates as many as 165,000 people died in the Dec. 26 disaster, and 5 million were without basic services. The number of dead is expected to climb, with some groups already saying it’s more than 220,000.

Dean Hirsch, president of World Vision, returned from a trip to India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka on Tuesday and said that many people have lost their livelihoods. He said the region’s infrastructure has been destroyed in areas where the tsunami hit.

The aid effort will be more of a marathon than a sprint, he said.

Hirsch said that the amount of ruination and death is still unknown. Just last week in India, a coastal village of 10,000 was discovered where about 6,000 perished, he said.

World Vision International, located in Monrovia, has about 3,700 indigenous staff in the countries where the tsunami hit. The organization has raised more than $200 million internationally for the relief effort, the most ever donated for a single cause since its inception in 1950.

Hirsch said he had never seen such destruction in his 30 years with World Vision. One World Vision official said the region looked like Hiroshima, Japan, after it was struck by the atomic bomb. Debris was everywhere, crushed and splintered, as far as four miles inland.

“The important thing right now is to help the living and to help them bring their livelihood back,” Hirsch said.

_ Marshall Allen

Pope Urges Prayer for the Restoration of Christian Unity

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II reaffirmed the commitment of the Catholic Church to ecumenism Wednesday (Jan. 19), calling on Christians to pray “tirelessly with humility and truth” for unity.

In an address to his weekly general audience that marked the start of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, the Roman Catholic pontiff called the quest for “the re-establishment of the full unity” an obligation for all Christians.

“The pain of separation is felt with ever sharper intensity before the challenge of a world that awaits a clear and unanimous evangelical testimony from all the believers in Christ,” the pope said.

John Paul noted that this year is the 40th anniversary of the decree on ecumenism, “Unitatis Redintegratio (Unity Restored),” issued by the Second Vatican Council on Nov. 21, 1964.

This “key text,” he said, “put the Catholic Church firmly and irrevocably on the track of the ecumenical movement.”

“Unity is a gift of God, a gift to implore tirelessly with humility and truth,” the pope said. “The desire for unity must be extended and deepened, touching new environments and contexts, arousing a fervor of work, initiatives and reflections.”

John Paul said that recently there had been “important contacts of dialogue and collaboration.” He apparently referred to two visits of Bartholomew I, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, to the Vatican last year and his own return to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexey II of an icon of the Madonna of Kazan.

In another ecumenical gesture, the pope on his way to the audience in the Paul VI Hall stopped to bless a statue of St. Gregory the Illuminator, the fourth century apostle of the Armenian Apostolic Church, newly installed in a niche on the left side of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Armenian Church separated from Byzantine Christianity before the Great Schism of 1054 divided the Eastern and Western churches. It is independent of both the Orthodox and Catholic churches but is on friendly terms with the Vatican.

The Armenian College in Rome commissioned the 20-ton statue of white Carrara marble by Armenian sculptor Kazan Khatechik. Nerses Bedros XIX, patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenians, led a delegation of Armenian bishops to Rome for its installation.

_ Peggy Polk

Evangelicals Ask Bush to Focus on Poverty, Hunger in Second Term

(RNS) Evangelical leaders have written a letter to President Bush asking him to augment efforts to overcome hunger and poverty in his second term.

“A dramatic reduction in poverty, both here and abroad, would honor our Lord who called us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked,” wrote dozens of leaders from evangelical Christian denominations, colleges, relief organizations and other ministries.

“It would also be a wonderful legacy for you to leave with the American people and indeed the world. Such an outcome is clearly within the reach of the richest nation in history. The moral values you share with us demand no less.”

The letter, dated Monday (Jan. 17) and timed to the holiday honoring the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., called on Bush to announce proposed policy changes related to poverty and health insurance in his inaugural or State of the Union address.

The signatories congratulated the president on his faith-based initiative and his efforts to address AIDS and human trafficking but said more needs to be done.

“Tragically, however, both at home and abroad, the number of people in poverty remains unacceptably high,” they wrote. “Poverty in our own nation has increased in the last several years and millions more working poor lack health insurance.”

Signatories included Robert Andringa, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities; Commissioner Todd Bassett, national commander of the Salvation Army; the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president of governmental affairs, National Association of Evangelicals; Ronald Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action; Richard E. Stearns, president of World Vision; and Thomas Trask, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God.

“Clearly, precisely the community that voted most heavily for President Bush’s re-election is demanding a greater emphasis on overcoming poverty,” Sider said in a statement about the letter.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Over Faculty Objections, President Named for Southern Baptist College

PINEVILLE, La. (RNS) The trustees of embattled Louisiana College have elected Joseph Aguillard president over the objections of most of his faculty colleagues and scores of student and alumni opponents.

It will fall to Aguillard to reunite the divided Southern Baptist school and get it off academic probation. He will lead a college that has become a battleground in conservative Baptists’ national campaign to remake Baptist institutions in the image of the religious and cultural conservatism that marks the denomination.

Moments after his election, Aguillard promised to approach the faculty to “work together in peace and harmony.”

The school’s trustees elected Aguillard by a vote of 17-13 Tuesday (Jan. 18) in a grueling special meeting that lasted until 1:30 a.m., according to a source who knew the vote.

The trustees convened their meeting Monday at 6 p.m. as hundreds of spectators squeezed into their meeting room carrying slogans divided between supporting and opposing Aguillard, an associate professor of education who is known for his conservative views.

In the days leading up to the meeting, a faculty straw poll on Aguillard’s suitability rejected him 53-12.

His election was the most recent chapter in months of conflict and instability at the four-year Christian liberal arts college with 1,000 students.

In December the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools placed the college on probation. It said the Baptist school was unduly influenced by a powerful conservative faction inside the Louisiana Baptist Convention. It said the trustees sought to micro-manage the school’s affairs, leading to a general “climate of fear” at the college.

Moreover, since April the college has had three trustee board chairmen and three presidents _ four, counting Malcolm Yarnell, a theologian and educator from Fort Worth, Texas.

It’s a matter of dispute at Louisiana College whether Yarnell ever became president. Although he was elected in November and accepted the job, Yarnell withdrew before signing a contract, citing a dispute with trustees over governance issues.

_ Bruce Nolan

Honors Given to Those Promoting Religious Freedom

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Council for America’s First Freedom, a Richmond, Va.-based nonprofit organization, honored three people with medallions Wednesday (Jan. 19) for contributions to advancing religious freedom.

They were the 11th annual awards from the council, which promotes religious freedom worldwide.

The International First Freedom Award was given to Father Elias Chacour, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize three times, who has dedicated his career to trying to end hostilities between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

Robert Seiple, founder of the Institute for Global Engagement, a Washington-based think tank that focuses on religious freedom, received the National First Freedom Award.

William Lee Miller, author of “The First Liberty: America’s Foundation in Religious Freedom,” won the Virginia First Freedom Award.

_ Andrea James

Gospel Musician Tonex Named Artist of the Year

(RNS) Gospel artist Tonex was honored six times during the 20th Annual Stellar Gospel Music Awards, held Saturday (Jan. 15) in Houston.

His work on the “Out the Box” CD gave him wins in the artist of the year category as well as honors for song of the year, contemporary male vocalist, contemporary CD, urban/inspirational CD and rap/hip hop gospel CD.

He was followed by Bishop Paul S. Morton and gospel veterans the Williams Brothers, who each received three of the golden-flamed statues. CeCe Winans and Israel Houghton each received two awards.

In addition to winners in the traditional categories, the ceremony honored Donnie McClurkin with its Trailblazer Award and Richard Smallwood with the James Cleveland Award for their contributions to the gospel music industry. Black Entertainment Television gospel host Bobby Jones was awarded the Stellar Legends Award for his work in bringing together members of the gospel music community.

The show will air in national syndication on broadcast and cable networks from Jan. 22 through Feb. 20.

Some of the winners are:

Artist of the Year: Tonex & the Peculiar People for “Out the Box.”

Song of the Year: “Make Me Over” by A.C. Williams (from Tonex’s “Out the Box.”)

Male Vocalist of the Year: Israel Houghton for “Live From Another Level.”

Female Vocalist of the Year: CeCe Winans for “Throne Room.”

Group/Duo of the Year: The Williams Brothers for “Still Here.”

New Artist of the Year: Martha Munizzi for “The Best Is Yet to Come.”

CD of the Year: “Life From Another Level.”

Choir of the Year: New Direction for “Rain.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Retired Kenyan Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo

(RNS) “I feel that God really chose to use me in these negotiations; I feel very humbled. … Actually I remember two occasions when I prayed through the night.”

_ Retired Kenyan Gen. Lazaro Sumbeiywo, who for two years served as chief mediator between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army before they signed a peace agreement Jan. 9. He was interviewed on the BBC’s Network Africa program.

MO/PH RNS END