c. 2005 Religion News Service Franklin Graham Says Remark on Hillary Clinton Was Not an Endorsement (RNS) Evangelist Franklin Graham has responded to concerns about brief remarks his father made about former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., during his recent New York crusade. On the second night of his three-day crusade, the Rev. Billy Graham said of the former president: “I told him before an audience that when he left the presidency, he should be an evangelist, because he has all those gifts, and he could leave his wife to run the country.” Those comments on Saturday (June 25) prompted more than 100 inquiries to the North Carolina offices of Samaritan’s Purse, Franklin Graham’s relief organization, and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said Mark DeMoss, a spokesman for Franklin Graham. Franklin Graham sent an e-mail clarifying those comments. “Recently at my father’s New York Crusade, he made comments in jest concerning the Clintons, which may have been misunderstood,” the younger Graham said in the e-mail. “My father, of course, was joking. President Clinton has the charisma, personality, and communication skills, but an evangelist has to have the call of God, which President Clinton obviously does not have, and my father understands that. For a long time, my father has refrained from endorsing political candidates and he certainly did not intend for his comments to be an endorsement for Senator Hillary Clinton.” A. Larry Ross, Billy Graham’s spokesman, said Graham had made similar comments about the former president when the two men addressed a memorial service for victims of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. The New York crusade continued a tradition of having political officials welcome Graham to the community. “Prior to the Clintons’ arrival, we had Republican Mayor (Michael) Bloomberg welcome Mr. Graham as well,” Ross said in an interview. “Even though it was nonpartisan and nonpolitical, I think there was that equal representation of officials welcoming the crusade to New York.” DeMoss said he thinks the part of the elder Graham’s remarks about Hillary Clinton “was unique to the New York audience” but he said the comments about both Clintons prompted the response. “I think it’s one of those things that could be taken one way if you heard it live and taken another way if you just read it somewhere,” DeMoss said in an interview. “I would say virtually everybody present in the park in New York would have taken it largely in jest.” _ Adelle M. Banks and Jason Anthony Canada’s House of Commons Approves Bill Allowing Gay Marriage OTTAWA (RNS) After two years of acrimonious debate, Canada’s House of Commons on Tuesday (June 28) passed a controversial same-sex marriage bill, making the country only the third in the world to recognize homosexual marriage, splitting its churches in the process. If approved as expected by Canada’s Liberal-dominated Senate next month, Bill C-38 will allow same-sex couples to marry throughout the land. For many, passage of the legislation was merely a formality, as courts in eight provinces and two northern territories had already struck down prohibitions against same-sex marriage over the past two years. Under the bill, the unions of couples who have already married in other jurisdictions will be recognized everywhere in Canada. The legislation split the Liberal party, with 158 voting to pass the bill and 133 voting against. The law will change the definition of marriage as “between a man and a woman” to read “between two persons, to the exclusion of all others.” With the bill’s passage, “Canadians take another unfortunate step toward eliminating civil and social recognition and appreciation for the unique importance of the committed relationship of a man and a woman in marriage,” said Canada’s top Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, in a statement. Government officials in favor of the bill stressed that no religious denominations will be forced to offer same-sex wedding ceremonies. MPs also agreed to an amendment that would protect the charitable status of any religious institution that refuses to perform same-sex marriages. That has not placated some religious groups, which fear lawsuits and human rights complaints should their clergy or officials refuse to conduct homosexual marriage. Charles McVety, a spokesman for Defend Marriage Canada and the president of Canada Christian College, called the vote an “onerous breach of trust and the deconstruction of so much that is dear to our hearts.” Conservative strategists have already begun targeting voters in immigrant and particularly Muslim communities in southern Ontario in an effort to oust the minority Liberal government in the coming election, expected for next spring. _ Ron Csillag Update: Supreme Court Lets Stand Ruling Forbidding Christian Prayers
(RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court decided Tuesday (June 28) that it would let stand a lower court ruling that a South Carolina town council violated the Constitution by opening meetings with Christian prayers.
The case was originally brought by Darla Wynne, a follower of the Wiccan faith, who argued that when the town of Great Falls, S.C., opened its council meetings with prayers invoking the name of Jesus Christ, it excluded non-Christians like herself.
The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July 2004 that the practice of saying prayers specifically related to the Christian faith violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. A lower court agreed with Wynne the year before and ordered the council to halt the mention of the name of Jesus Christ in its prayers.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Congressman Introduces `Religious Freedom Amendment’ to Constitution
WASHINGTON (RNS) Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Okla., introduced a constitutional amendment in the House of Representatives Thursday intended to reverse a recent (June 27) Supreme Court ruling that bars the display of the Ten Commandments in courthouses.
The Religious Freedom Amendment would “preserve the original balance of the First Amendment, protecting religious expression by Americans while preventing the establishment of any official religion,” Istook said.
The Religious Freedom Amendment, which has 107 co-sponsors, would need the support of two-thirds of the House and Senate in order to pass as well as ratification by three-fourths of the states in order to become a part of the Constitution. Istook introduced the same amendment in 1998, when it failed to win the required two-thirds majority in the House.
“Intolerant people have been attacking the Ten Commandments, the Pledge of Allegiance, voluntary prayers at school and other religious expression, but this amendment will halt those attacks,” Istook said. “The courts are using the First Amendment to attack religion when they should be using it to protect religion. Unfortunately, only a constitutional amendment can fix this problem.”
The text of the Religious Freedom Amendment says: “To secure the people’s right to acknowledge God according to the dictates of conscience: The people retain the right to pray and to recognize their religious beliefs, heritage and traditions on public property, including schools. The United States and the States shall not establish any official religion nor require any person to join in prayer or religious activity.”
The Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, argued that Istook’s proposed amendment would in fact threaten Americans’ religious liberties.
“Istook’s scheme is a direct attack on individual freedom,” Lynn said. “It would allow government officials to meddle in religion, and it would take away church-state safeguards that have given Americans more religious freedom than any people in history.”
Lynn said that public school students already are allowed to pray in school and that Istook’s proposed amendment would give politicians free reign to “decorate our public buildings like churches.”
_ Hugh S. Moore
Chabad Officials Oppose Planned Withdrawal of Israeli Troops from Gaza
JERUSALEM (RNS) Officials from Chabad, an Orthodox Jewish religious movement with hundreds of thousands of members around the world, have met with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to express their disapproval of Israel’s planned withdrawal of troops and settlers from Gaza and northern Israel in mid-August.
During the Tuesday (June 28) meeting, which took place in the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem, Chabad representatives told Sharon that the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, the longtime spiritual leader of Chabad, “opposed any concession over any part of the Land of Israel.”
Religious Jews view both Gaza and the West Bank as parts of the bibilical Land of Israel, and the thought of relinquishing even a small piece of sacred territory is inconceivable to them on religious grounds.
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Groner, who served as the Lubavitcher Rebbe’s secretary, told Sharon that “it is forbidden to make concessions over even the tiniest speck” of land, but added that “it is also important to uphold the (civil) law.”
Chabad spokesman Menachem Brod told Sharon that “while we do not have your experience and knowledge, we do have the Rebbe, and we are certain that he is right. Therefore our public is in so much pain and is so upset. It is difficult for us to control the storm within Chabad but we say that we are against violence and incitement.”
Since Sharon announced his intention to enact the disengagement plans, some prominent rabbis have urged religious soldiers to disobey orders to forcibly remove settlers from their homes. A small but vocal number of religious activists _ including some Chabad members _ have vowed to fight any soldier who tries to uproot the settlers.
The issue of land is particularly sensitive in Israel, where, in the 1990s, an Orthodox Jew murdered Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin for fear that he would relinquish parts of the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinian.
According to the prime minister’s office, Sharon told the Chabad delegation that Sharon had “no intention to try to persuade them” to back the disengagement.
Instead, he said, “it is important for me to explain to you that incitement and developing hatred and the threats are leading towards a great danger.”
Rabbi Shimon Elitov, a regional council rabbi in Israel, assured Sharon that Chabad officials are “against” the “harsh remarks” of some of its members, who have vowed to use violence.
_ Michele Chabin
ABC Drops Reality Show After Allegations of Religious Discrimination
(RNS) After accusations the show violates the Fair Housing Act, ABC has shelved a reality series that had white Christians picking the winner of a new house in their neighborhood from a pool of ethnically and religiously diverse families.
“Welcome to the Neighborhood” had seven families _ including an African-American family, an Asian family, a family that practices Wicca and a gay couple with an adopted infant _ compete against each other for the approval of three judging families. At stake was a 3,300-square foot, four-bedroom house in a pricey and homogeneous neighborhood outside of Austin, Texas.
The show was slated to run in six episodes on Sunday evenings beginning July 10. But that was before fair housing and civil rights advocates raised concerns after watching future episodes made available when the network sent them to TV writers for review.
In a statement praising the decision to drop the show, the alliance, a civil rights group, said, “If race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability or family status is even a part of the decision in choosing the neighbor, it violates the law.”
ABC released a statement Wednesday (June 29) that explained its goal was to show how the judging families faced their stereotypes during the process of deciding which family would make the best neighbor.
The network said it believed the series fulfilled the intended purpose, but added, “The fact the true change only happens over time made the episodic nature of the this series challenging.”
_Yogita Patel
`Hotel Rwanda’ Captures Humanitas Prize
LOS ANGELES (RNS) The script of “Hotel Rwanda” has been honored with a Humanitas prize for being a spiritually driven Hollywood screenplay. A Humanitas also went to a script about the Middle East written for NBC-TV’s “The West Wing.”
“Hotel Rwanda” screenwriter Keir Pearson and director Terry George shared the $25,000 prize during the Wednesday (June 29) awards luncheon at the Universal Hilton Hotel. They competed against scripts from 2004 films “Millions” and “Finding Neverland.”
The Pearson/George script portrayed Rwandan hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, who saved lives during the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which 800,000 people were slaughtered in about 100 days, most of them ethnic Tutsis killed by rival ethnic Hutus.
Televison producer John Wells won a $15,000 script prize for his “West Wing” script about the importance of applying U.S. diplomacy to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Wells did not attend the awards but sent one of his scriptwriters to accept the honor and read a speech in which Wells said the U.S. has applied “untested geopolitical theory” in the Iraq war and elsewhere.
Founded in 1974 by the late TV producer and Catholic priest Father Ellwood “Bud” Kieser, the Humanitas awards distribute about $125,000 in prize money each year to scripts thought to have uplifted the human spirit with dignified film and TV characters. Prior Humanitas winners include such films as “Whale Rider” and “October Sky” and TV comedies such as “Frasier” and “The Bernie Mac Show.”
This year, the interfaith, Pacific Palisades, Calif.,-based organization decided not to award $10,000 prizes in the 30-minute TV script category because no recent TV comedies were deemed to be both funny and humane.
“Sitcoms are suffering,” said the Humanitas president, the Rev. Frank Desiderio, a Paulist priest. “Nothing came up to the value that we have (expected) … really trying to find humor in the human condition.”
Other scripts receiving $10,000 or $25,000 Humanitas prizes included pages written for HBO’s “Lackawanna Blues” film plus the independent film “The Motel” and the ABC Family film “Searching for David’s Heart.”
_ David Finnigan
Religious Groups Make Pleas for Choice of Supreme Court Nominee
(RNS) Gearing up for a showdown over President Bush’s nomination to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the Rev. Jerry Falwell is circulating a petition to nominate an anti-abortion conservative while an interfaith coalition is asking Bush for bipartisan consultation.
In an e-mail dated July 4, Falwell asked his supporters to sign a petition calling on Bush to nominate a “true conservative” who opposes abortion rights and gay marriage.
“I need you to respond as a modern-day `Minuteman’ today,” he said, comparing his supporters to militiamen who fought during the Revolutionary War. “The stage is now set for a brutal fight. Every wacko group in America knows that the Supreme Court is their last and best hope to enact their radical anti-family agenda.”
Falwell said in his letter that he hoped a million people would sign the petition.
Meanwhile, the Washington-based Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism circulated a letter dated July 1 that encouraged Bush to consult with the Senate when making nominations for the next Supreme Court justice.
Twenty-nine religious groups signed the letter, which also warned against the use of religious rhetoric.
“The confirmation process must also be free of the divisive and dangerous practice of using senators’ and nominees’ faiths as a wedge,” the letter said.
_ Nancy Glass
In a First for Canada, Woman Leads Islamic Friday Prayers
TORONTO (RNS) An American convert to Islam made history when she became the first woman to lead Friday prayers in a Canadian mosque.
About 100 people attended the service at the United Muslim Association mosque here Friday (July 1) _ Canada Day _ as Pamela Taylor, co-chair of the New York-based Progressive Muslim Union, led the mixed-gender congregation in prayers. She also delivered a khutba (sermon) on the importance of equality between races, genders, sexual orientations and persons with disabilities.
“Canada is the Islamic ideal,” said Taylor, 40, who has been a Muslim for 19 years. “We’re trying to live up to that ideal, that women are fully participant in Muslim society, and that includes leading prayers for men and women.”
Protesters had threatened to disrupt the service but never showed.
“It’s about equality, it’s about harmony, and it’s about dignity on behalf of the Muslim nations,” a female worshipper told CBC News.
But Mohamed Elmasry, national president of the Canadian Islamic Congress, told the Globe and Mail newspaper that while the UMA is free to have whomever it chooses to lead its prayers, it is a fringe group.
“This is a non-issue for Canadian Muslims and must be ignored by the community,” he said. “It usually becomes a media circus and an opportunity to label Muslims.”
Last November, a York University student delivered part of the sermon marking the end of Ramadan at the liberal UMA mosque. She did not, however, lead prayers.
In April, a Canadian woman was the first to lead a mixed-gender congregation in prayer. But the event was moved to a private back yard after the mosque was hounded by opponents.
The same thing happened last March in New York, where Amina Wadud, professor of Islamic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, led mixed-gender Friday prayers. The event had to be moved to an Anglican church building after mosques refused to host it.
_ Ron Csillag
Seventh-day Adventists Elect First Woman Vice President
(RNS) For the first time, Seventh-day Adventists have elected a woman as one of the top 10 leaders of their worldwide church.
Ella Simmons, a well-known educator among Seventh-day Adventists, was elected Sunday (July 3) as one of the nine vice presidents who will work with re-elected President Jan Paulsen to lead the international church, whose headquarters are in Silver Spring, Md.
“This is an incredible development in the structure of our church, which traditionally has not dealt with women’s leadership issues in an adequate way,” said John Banks, church spokesman, in an interview. “But this miracle has now taken place.”
Simmons, who is African-American, most recently served as provost and vice president for academic administration at La Sierra University in Riverside, Calif., and previously as vice president for academic affairs at Oakwood College in Huntsville, Ala. Both institutions are affiliated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Week: Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin
(RNS) “In no church, no synagogue, no mosque, no temple, no religious house will those who disagree with same-sex unions be compelled to perform them. Period. This legislation is about civil marriage, not religious marriage.”
_ Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, seeking to calm fears over legislation passed Tuesday (June 28) that allows gay marriage across Canada. He was quoted by The New York Times.
MO/PH END RNS
