c. 2005 Religion News Service
Religious Liberals Say Health Care Is a Life-and-Death Moral Issue
WASHINGTON (RNS) Insisting that health care is a moral issue, religious liberals are demanding that Capitol Hill make it a priority when Congress takes up the president’s budget proposal, to be released Feb. 7.
A letter to Congress signed by more than 75 nationally known religious leaders and scholars says they will evaluate the government budget to make sure it provides health care, education and housing for the neediest Americans.
“The federal budget is a moral document,” Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold said Tuesday during a panel discussion sponsored by a left-leaning think tank, the Center for American Progress. “I notice how glibly we use phrases _ `One nation under God,’ and then I find myself saying, `So what does God think?”
The panel, which included Griswold, Center for American Progress President John Podesta, Northwestern University ethics professor Laurie Zoloth and Georgetown researcher Ann Neale, faced audience questions about the absence of liberal religious leadership for the Clinton health plan proposed in the early 1990s. Panel members also addressed a failure to mobilize the way religious conservatives have.
The “progressive” religious voice, which Podesta credits for the civil rights and labor movements, has been silenced, he said, as “people began to equate being religious with being conservative.”
That can change, panel members said. Health care can become a moral rallying cry the same way abortion and gay marriage issues have mobilized Republicans, said Zoloth, an Orthodox Jew and self-described “optimistic Democrat.”
“There is a link between economy and a moral life,” she said. “Our problem in this budget is how to make the future fair for all Americans. There are ways for health care to move to the front of the agenda.”
About 45 million Americans, or 15 percent of the population, don’t have health insurance, according to the Washington-based Kaiser Family Foundation.
A budget that neglects their needs and those of Medicare dependants “is more than wrong,” Podesta said. “It’s immoral.”
Other signatories to the letter included:
The Rev. James Forbes, senior minister of The Riverside Church in New York City; the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Washington-based Interfaith Alliance; the Rev. Derrick Harkins, pastor of Nineteenth Street Baptist Church in Washington; Rabbi Steven Jacobs, of the Temple Kol Tikvah in Los Angeles; Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun Magazine, San Francisco; Sister Catherine Pinkerton of Network: A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby and Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners, Washington.
_ Andrea James
In Reversal, Rolling Stone Magazine Accepts Bible Ad
CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (RNS) An ad for a newly translated version of the Scriptures will appear in Rolling Stone Magazine, after magazine publishers reversed their decision to reject it.
The revelation was good news for Zondervan, the Cascade Township publisher trying to spread the word about its “Today’s New International Version Bible,” which is being marketed to young, hip readers.
Zondervan was surprised earlier this month to learn Rolling Stone rejected its ad, which shows a young man with tousled hair, a two-day growth of beard and a beaded necklace. In a dark space next to him are the words: “Today it makes sense more than ever.”
The ad, which does not mention Jesus, is an important piece in Zondervan’s $1 million ad blitz.
“We’re ecstatic they’ve decided to accept our ad,” Doug Lockhart, Zondervan executive vice president for marketing, said today.
Zondervan on Monday (Jan. 24) learned of the reversal, which did not come with an apology _ not unexpected, Lockhart said.
“We’re just pleased they’ve changed their minds and they’ve accepted the ad,” he said.
The ad will appear in mid-February.
Rolling Stone, which has 1.2 million readers, refused to comment on its original decision to reject the ad, other than to say it did not accept advertisements for religious messages. Rolling Stone is part of Werner Media Inc., which also publishes Men’s Journal and US Weekly.
The decision led to widespread criticism from conservative and religious commentators. For Zondervan, the controversy meant free advertising _ so much so that it moved up its release date of the new Bible by two weeks, to Feb. 1.
“There’s been broad interest in the discussion, and we’re pleased about that,” Lockhart said.
Magazine officials told USA Today “internal miscommunications” led to the rejection, and they apologized for any confusion.
Zondervan is trying to reach out to the huge market of 18- to 34-year-olds _ 8 million strong by its research. Its ads also are scheduled to run in the Onion, an edgy satire newspaper, in Modern Bride, and on MTV and America Online Web sites.
_ Ken Kolker
Editors: Check the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for photos of the Holocaust exhibit to accompany the following story.
First-Ever Holocaust Exhibit Opens at United Nations
(RNS) The United Nations General Assembly is marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Holocaust’s death camps with its first-ever exhibit on the atrocities of the Holocaust.
“Auschwitz: The Depth of the Abyss”’ will be displayed in the General Assembly Visitors’ Lobby for six weeks. The exhibit is part of a global commemoration of the anniversary, meant to mark some of the most painful lessons learned in modern history.
The exhibit features more than 60 panels including photos from “The Auschwitz Album,” which documents the arrival and processing of an entire transport of Jews from the Carpatho-Ruthenia region of Hungary to the concentration camp. The exhibit also contains sketches by Zinovii Tolkatchev, who as a private in the Soviet Army made drawings of what he saw when entering Auschwitz in 1945.
In a special session of the General Assembly, Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel spoke Monday (Jan. 24) of the importance of remembering the Holocaust and also of preventing future genocides.
“We know that for the dead it is too late. For them, abandoned by God and betrayed by humanity, victory did come much too late,” he said. “But it is not too late for today’s children, ours and yours. It is for their sake alone that we bear witness.”
Ambassador Denis Dangue Rewaka, who represents the African nation of Gabon and who was the chair of the special session, said that the exhibit and the session symbolized a global awareness of the atrocities of the Holocaust and a desire to never repeat that horror.
“No one can ignore now the suffering of a people,” he told Religion News Service. “The United Nations was created after the second world war to fight against such crimes.”
Jewish leaders said that the events are important not only as a remembrance of past atrocities, but as reminders of the preciousness of religious freedom today.
“This recognition by the United Nations should inspire people to know that we can live a full life without compromising our identity as Jews,” said Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who attended the session and is the director of the Washington office of American Friends of Lubavitch.
More than 40,000 Lubavitch Jews were among the 6 million killed by the Nazis.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Editors: Check the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for a photo of Thomas and SpongeBob to accompany this story.
UCC Says SpongeBob SquarePants Is Welcome Anytime
(RNS) He’s absorbent, yellow and porous, and soon SpongeBob SquarePants could be a member of the United Church of Christ.
The cartoon sponge, under fire from Focus on the Family for his role in an “insidious” video that promotes tolerance, now has an official invitation to join the UCC _ a church whose own messages of inclusion have been deemed “too controversial” by some television networks.
“Absolutely, the UCC extends an unequivocal welcome to SpongeBob,” said the Rev. John Thomas, the UCC’s general minister and president said after a pastoral visit with a SpongeBob doll in his Cleveland office.
“Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.”
Thomas said the offer to welcome SpongeBob also applies to “Barney, Big Bird, Tinky-Winky, Clifford the Big Red Dog or … any who have experienced the Christian message as a harsh word of judgment rather than Jesus’ offering of grace.”
James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, blasted SpongeBob’s appearance in a video called “We Are Family.” The video’s Web site urged children to sign a tolerance pledge that advocated acceptance of differences of culture, belief and sexual identity.
The idea that SpongeBob might be gay, or is an advocate for gay families, is “silly,” Thomas said. The charges by Focus on the Family are “one more concrete example of how religion is misused over and over to promote intolerance over inclusion.”
The UCC is no stranger to controversy. Last year, a UCC television ad was nixed by CBS and NBC as “too controversial” because of its welcome to gays and lesbians.
UCC leaders also said they are exploring the creation of a new church in SpongeBob’s hometown of Bikini Bottom, although it is unclear if SpongeBob, Patrick the Starfish or the cranky Squirdward are interested.
“While we haven’t heard from the residents of Bikini Bottom at this time, that is definitely something we’d help them with if they wanted to start a UCC congregation,” church spokeswoman Barb Powell told RNS.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Sloan to Become Chancellor of World’s Largest Baptist University
(RNS) Baylor University President Robert B. Sloan Jr. will move from the role of president to become chancellor of the Baptist school in Waco, Texas.
Sloan and Will Davis, chairman of the university’s board of regents, jointly announced the transition on Jan. 21. Sloan’s new position is scheduled to begin June 1.
“Baylor has been through a challenging period over the past 18 months and the board of regents and the administration have been actively engaged in discussions over this time period about how best to address these challenges and do what is best for the university,” Davis said in a statement.
Sloan’s development of “2012 Vision,” which aimed to make the school one of the top universities in the country while maintaining its Christian identity, created controversy.
“… the natural side effect of change is conflict,” he said in his remarks at the transition announcement. “We moved quickly and boldly to implement the vision and found that Baylor is not immune to the discomfort and insecurity generated by change. My leadership has often been a lightning rod for that discomfort.”
He added that his role in the school’s presidency “has become a distraction from the main goal of fulfilling the vision” and said it is time for “someone new to navigate these sometimes choppy waters.”
Sloan will concentrate on fund raising, student recruitment and enhancing the school’s relationships with Baptist and other Christian leaders. Baylor, the largest Baptist university in the world with about 14,000 students, is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Ratification of his transition will be discussed at the board of regents meeting in early February.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Bob Jones III to Retire from Bob Jones University
(RNS) Bob Jones University President Bob Jones III will retire in May, the conservative Christian school in Greeenville, S.C., has announced.
Jones has been president for 34 years and expanded the university’s academic programs and campus facilities over that period. The school now includes students from the country’s 50 states and 46 countries.
When his presidency ends on May 7, he will be succeeded by his son, the Rev. Stephen Jones, who currently serves as vice president for administration and chief administrative oversight officer.
“The opportunity to step into the role occupied by my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather is overwhelming,” the younger Jones said in a statement. “I am eager for the days that lie ahead for Bob Jones University and believe that the Lord has wonderful things in store for us as we remain faithful to his word.”
The school announced other changes that will be effective in May. Executive Vice President Bob Wood will retire as chief operations officer after 29 years and Chief Academic Officer Philip Smith will retire after almost five decades at the university.
“All three of these administrative changes have been in the planning stage for the past 18 months,” the school said in its announcement, adding that the new officers will work with the current ones for the remainder of the academic year.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y.
(RNS) “I’ve always been a praying person.”
_ Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., speaking at a fund-raising dinner for a Boston faith-based organization on Jan. 19. She was quoted by The Boston Globe.
MO/JL RNS END
