c. 2005 Religion News Service
`Black Contract’ On Moral Values Aims At Wide Swath of Christians
WASHINGTON (RNS) An African-American pastor who recently unveiled the “Black Contract With America on Moral Values” said Friday (Feb. 18) that he hopes to collect a million signatures of Christians from a variety of backgrounds by the end of the year.
Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Lanham, Md., expanded upon the plans of his new High Impact Leadership Coalition at a news conference at a Washington hotel. The coalition was first introduced at a Los Angeles summit on Feb. 1.
“We’re not saying you have to be black to sign this contract,” he said. “Really what needs to happen is the black community and the Christian community _ black, white, Hispanic and Asian _ need to sign up. These goals are consistent with the Bible so I’m expecting to see Christians sign up.”
In an interview, Jackson said he hopes the majority of signatures will be from African-Americans but he’s reaching out to other Christians to support the contract, which affirms traditional marriage, opposes abortion and aims to improve economic development, African relief and reforms in education, prison and health care.
Jackson told reporters that African-Americans have tended to concentrate on issues of justice while white evangelical Christians have tended to focus on matters of righteousness _ opposing abortion and same-sex marriage.
“We’re saying `time out,”’ he said. “We need to begin to bring these two things together.”
The Maryland pastor said he hopes to eventually deliver the contract and its signatures to President Bush and members of Congress.
Jackson’s agenda conflicts in some ways with more liberal African-American religious leaders and some of the more mainline black denominations, but he said he is not concerned about that.
“We’d love to have them, but we don’t need ’em,” he said. “If we get black Christians and white Christians, Hispanic Christians, agreeing on an agenda that will transform America based on the teachings of Jesus … we’re going to make a difference right away.”
Jackson said he is, likewise, open to discussions with people of different political parties. Since early February, he has heard from the Republican National Committee but hopes to hear from the Democratic National Committee as well, he said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Saudi Charity With Alleged Links to al-Qaida Indicted in Oregon
(RNS) A federal grand jury has indicted the Oregon-based branch of a Saudi Arabian charity and two of its directors on charges of conspiring to defraud the government by filing a false tax return to conceal the funneling of $150,000 to Muslims in Chechnya.
The U.S. branch of Al Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc., based in Ashland, Ore. was shut down in September by the Treasury Department and declared a global terrorist organization. Its assets had been frozen since last February. The Treasury Department said the foundation had direct links to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and had supported Chechen mujahedeen with ties to al-Qaida.
The charity had adamantly denied any links to bin Laden.
A federal grand jury in Eugene, Ore., on Wednesday (Feb. 16) indicted the foundation’s two directors, Pirouz Sedaghaty, also known as Pete Seda and Abu Yunus, and Soliman Al-Buthe. Both are thought to be overseas.
Seda’s Portland attorney, Larry Matasar, said Seda intends to return to the United States to respond to the charges. Matasar declined to say where Seda is living or when he plans to return to Oregon.
“Pete Seda is a man of peace,” Matasar said. “His whole life, he’s consistently and actively opposed terrorism. He believes such conduct is contrary to Islamic principles.”
The federal indictment alleges that in February 2000, an Egyptian contacted the similarly named Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, wanting to donate $150,000 to support “our muslim brothers in Chychnia. … ” The Egyptian then allegedly wire-transferred the funds to the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation Inc. bank account in Ashland.
Al-Buthe flew from Saudi Arabia to Oregon and went to a bank with Seda to retrieve the funds, according to the indictment. At the bank, the two men allegedly obtained $130,000 worth of American Express Travelers Cheques and a $21,000 cashier’s check made out to Al-Buthe.
Al-Buthe immediately left the United States, the indictment alleges, and intentionally failed to file a required report acknowledging he was transporting more than $10,000 in travelers checks outside the country.
Seda and Al Haramain in Ashland allegedly filed a false tax return in 2000 by reporting that the Egyptian donor’s funds were used to purchase a building in Missouri rather than being taken outside the United States, according to the indictment.
“The system of charitable donations in the United States is built on trust, honesty and integrity,” U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut said in a statement. “The Department of Justice has a duty to investigate and prosecute any cases where that trust is abused criminally, and where a charity violates the law in order to hide its activities from the government.”
_ Boaz Herzog
Catholic Archbishop Rebukes Staging of “The Vagina Monologues”
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Loyola University students, whose plan to stage “The Vagina Monologues” last year was blocked by the school’s interim president, staged the feminist play this week with his successor’s blessing _ drawing a public rebuke of the school administration from Catholic Archbishop Alfred Hughes.
In an e-mail to the university community Monday (Feb. 14) , the Rev. Kevin Wildes, Loyola president, acknowledged the controversy surrounding the popular 9-year-old work to be performed that night. Though he noted that its frank language might make some people uncomfortable and said the university was not endorsing everything in the play, he commended the work for raising important issues, “particularly about sexual violence toward women.”
In a written statement Wednesday (Feb. 16), Hughes said he thought it his duty as the chief teacher in the archdiocese to declare that the play is “contrary to sound Catholic teaching and does not advance the important questions about women, human sexuality, violence against women and the common good, which it proposes to address.”
“The Vagina Monologues” is based on interviews with more than 200 women about their memories and experiences of sexuality.
An archdiocesan spokesman said Wildes as a courtesy told Hughes in advance of Loyola’s plan. Hughes expressed his views to Wildes. “It is disappointing that constructive conversation … did not yield a different decision,” the archdiocesan statement said.
The one-night performance played to a nearly full house, Loyola spokeswoman Kristine Lelong said.
Although designed as a one-woman show, about 10 students in the Loyola production took turns performing graphic soliloquies about universal female physical experiences, sexual encounters and sometimes harrowing accounts of sexual violence.
The play was produced by the university’s Women’s Resource Center, along with the Women’s Issues Organization and the Drama Honor Society, Lelong said.
Performances of the play in the month of February have become part of a nationwide movement to raise awareness of violence against women.
Author Eve Ensler waives royalty fees for schools and other institutions that sponsor “The Vagina Monologues” in local “V-Day” events scheduled near Valentine’s Day, so long as the organizations donate proceeds to local agencies working on behalf of women.
The Loyola production raised $2,500 for the Crescent City Shelter, a facility for battered women, Lelong said.
A “V-Day” Web site reports more than 2,300 events in 1,100 cities worldwide this year.
Lelong said 12 of 28 Jesuit universities in the United States have staged or will stage the play this month. Another 16 Catholic universities plan to offer the play this year, according to the Cardinal Newman Society, a conservative Catholic group that has sought to stir opposition on those campuses.
_ Bruce Nolan
Numbers Up in World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation
(RNS) Membership in the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation inched up slightly in 2004 despite declines among American member churches in both Geneva-based bodies.
The WCC, which represents Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican churches, added eight member churches for a total of 347 in 120 countries. The new member churches came from Africa, Indonesia and Haiti, with new associate members in Burkina Faso, Colombia and Puerto Rico.
Two churches _ the Evangelical Methodist Church of Costa Rica and the International Evangelical Church _ have asked to leave the WCC.
The WCC bases its membership figures on member denominations, not the combined membership counts of all Christians in those churches.
The LWF added 3.6 million members (a 5.8 percent increase) for a total of 65.9 million Lutherans in 77 countries. The LWF includes 138 Lutheran denominations, 11 parishes and one council.
All together, the LWF claims to represent 65.9 million of the world’s 69.5 million Lutherans. Its president, Mark Hanson, is the presiding bishop of the Chicago-based Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The LWF reported 1.1 million new members in Africa, an increase of 8.2 percent, for a total of 14.1 million. In addition, Lutheran churches in Europe grew by 2.6 million for a total of 38.6 million. The growth in Europe reversed several years of decline, but was fueled by a merger of Dutch Protestant churches that boosted the figures.
In North America, the ELCA reported a 2 percent decline to 4.9 million members. The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod do not belong to the LWF but both reported losses of 2 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Three Singers, Gospel Family to Be Inducted Into Gospel Hall of Fame
WASHINGTON (RNS) Three soulful singers and one gospel family will be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame on Feb. 22.
Singer and songwriter Walter Hawkins, singer and preacher Mylon Le Fevre, Norwegian singer Evie Tornquist and bluegrass gospel music singers, The Lewis Family, will be inducted at the annual awards show in Hendersonville, Tenn., which will be taped as a television special for Trinity Broadcast Network.
Song arranger Ronn Huff, record producer Don Light and booking agent Lou Hildreth will be inducted as nonperforming members.
The Hall of Fame, sponsored by the Gospel Music Association Foundation, has inducted 125 members in 34 years, including Elvis Presley, Amy Grant, Billy Graham and The Oak Ridge Boys.
_ Andrea James
Quote of the Day: Sexual Abuse Victim Dontee Stokes of Baltimore
(RNS) “It is a sad situation because someone who had the potential to do so much good is so sick.”
_ Dontee Stokes, a former altar boy who accused defrocked Roman Catholic priest Maurice Blackwell of abusing him, reacting to a Baltimore jury’s finding Thursday (Feb. 17) that Blackwell was guilty of three counts of sexual child abuse. Stokes, 29, of Baltimore, was quoted by The Washington Post.
MO/JL RNS END
