c. 2005 Religion News Service
Poll: Fewer Americans Say Islam Encourages Violence
(RNS) More Americans hold favorable views of Muslims today than before 9-11, and fewer Americans say Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
The study, which was also sponsored by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, interviewed 2,000 American adults by telephone between July 7, the date of the first terrorist attacks on London, and July 17. The margin of error for the study was plus-or-minus 3.5 percentage points.
A majority, 55 percent, of those surveyed expressed a “favorable” view of Muslim Americans, a figure that has risen from 45 percent before the 9-11 attacks.
Fewer people, 39 percent of those surveyed, said they hold a “favorable” view of Islam in general.
The survey reported that the number of Americans who believe Islam encourages violence is falling, with 36 percent of respondents ascribing to that view, down from 44 percent in 2003.
Basic knowledge about Islam was found to correlate with favorable views of the world’s second-largest religion.
About half of those surveyed were able to identify the Quran as the Islamic holy book, and the same number correctly identified Allah as the Muslim name for God.
Among those with a basic knowledge of Islam, 61 percent of those surveyed expressed a positive view of Muslims, and 49 percent had a favorable opinion of Islam. Among those with the lowest knowledge of Islam, the favorability ratings are 47 percent and 24 percent, respectively.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
British Hindus Say Language Requirement Is Limiting Number of Priests
LONDON (RNS) Britain’s 140 Hindu temples say they are having trouble recruiting pujaris _ Indian priests trained in temple rituals _ because of a national law that mandates clergy be able to speak English.
In Birmingham, the Shri Venkateswara Balaji temple, now nearing completion, says it needs eight pujaris but has only five.
Since 2004, the British government has required foreign-born ministers of religion to have at least a basic grasp of English and, if they are to stay for more than two years, to be fluent in the language.
That often creates problems for pujaris in obtaining visas, since many cannot speak English. Pujaris are trained from an early age, often from 8 years old, in the intricate rituals of Hindu temple worship and in memorizing the chants, mantras and prayers needed. That leaves little time for learning a foreign language, even one widely used in India.
Britain’s Hindu community, however, argues that pujaris are not preachers, and so should not be subject to the same requirements as ministers of other faiths for whom preaching is an key part of their ministry.
The secretary of the National Council of Hindu Temples, Bimal Krishna Das, told RNS that, since he returned to this country from India five months ago, he knows of six cases of pujaris being refused visas.
“It is not just something that affects just the Birmingham temple,” he said. “The whole issue is of great concern to the Hindu community.”
The Hindu Council UK told BBC News that pujaris focus on “the essential acts of deity worship, which involves offering pure foodstuffs to the deity, bathing him, clothing him, and looking after him in the most pure and spiritual way.”
Government officials say they have been looking at the problem in consultation with faith communities but have not reached any conclusions.
_ Robert Nowell
Muslim Scholars Issue “Fatwa” Denouncing Terrorism
(RNS) A group of U.S. Muslim legal scholars issued a fatwa, or religious edict, Thursday (July 28) condemning violence and terrorism on the basis of Islamic law.
In the wake of the July terrorist bombing attacks on London, the Fiqh Council of North America, an 18-member group of Muslim legal scholars, issued the edict as an interpretation of Islamic law for the nation’s Muslim community, which some estimate to number as many as 6 million.
“All acts of terrorism targeting civilians are haram (forbidden) in Islam,” the fatwa said.
Further, it said, “It is haram for a Muslim to cooperate with any individual or group that is involved in any act of terrorism or violence.”
The edict went on to say that “it is the civic and religious duty of Muslims to cooperate with law enforcement authorities to protect the lives of all civilians.”
The fatwa was read at a Washington press conference, and has been endorsed by 120 Muslim organizations across America, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
“United, we can confront the terrorists and frustrate their goal of sparking an apocalyptic war between faiths and civilizations,” said CAIR’s executive director, Nihad Awad.
Since the attacks on London, two groups of British scholars have issued fatwas condemning the attacks and terrorist tactics. While one fatwa categorically disallowed all suicide bombings, the other allowed for suicide attacks in some instances, such as when a country is occupied by a foreign force.
The American fatwa did not specifically mention suicide bombings in the context of war, but it did say that those who attack innocent civilians “are criminals, not `martyrs.”’
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Vatican Suggests Israel Breaks Law in Responding to Terrorism
(RNS) The Vatican, in a sharp retort to Israeli criticism of Pope Benedict XVI, said it could not protest every act of Palestinian terrorism because Israel’s responses are “not always compatible with the norms of international law.”
The unusually pointed statement issued by the Vatican on Thursday (July 28) follows Israeli criticism that the pope ignored Israel when mentioning terrorist attacks in London, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey last Sunday (July 24).
Israel summoned the Holy See’s ambassador to Israel to lodge a formal complaint, but the Vatican statement called the complaints “groundless.” The church appeared particularly angry at suggestions that the late Pope John Paul II had been silent on the issue.
“Not every attack against Israel could be followed by an immediate public condemnation,” the church said.
“There are several reasons for this, among them the fact that attacks against Israel were sometimes followed by immediate Israeli reactions not always compatible with the norms of international law. It would, consequently, have been impossible to condemn the former and remain silent on the latter.”
The public war of words between the Vatican and Jerusalem has threatened to sour the new pope’s overtures to Jews, as well as John Paul’s long legacy of unprecedented good relations with Jews.
John Paul established formal diplomatic relations with Israel in 1994. The statement also warned Israel against trying to influence the Holy See’s international diplomacy.
“Just as the Israeli government understandably does not allow its pronouncements to be dictated by others, neither can the Holy See accept lessons and directives from any other authority concerning the orientation and contents of its own declarations,” it said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Baptist World Alliance Approves U.S. Members, Higher Budget
(RNS) The Baptist World Alliance, despite a substantial loss of funding from the Southern Baptist Convention, has received significant contributions from North America this year _ including a $25,000 check from best-selling author Rick Warren.
The development was announced by the alliance as its General Council met on Wednesday (July 27), the same day its Baptist World Centenary Congress opened in Birmingham, England.
Last year, the Southern Baptist Convention cut its ties with the global group, claiming it had a “leftward drift,” a charge alliance officials denied. The denomination had given the group $300,000 at the time, a reduction from a previous annual contribution of $425,000.
Warren, speaking at a press conference on Thursday, said he didn’t agree with the action taken by his denomination last year.
“I think that it was a mistake,” said the author of “The Purpose Driven Life. “When the Southern Baptists pulled out funding, my wife and I wrote a check for $25,000 to BWA. I see absolutely zero reason in separating my fellowship from anybody.”
Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz said North American churches have contributed $500,000 to his organization this year, according to a news release from the alliance. Those positive finances led the General Council to approve a 2006 budget of $2.34 million, which is larger than its 2005 budget of $1.97 million.
(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)
In a related matter, the global body also has approved the membership of two moderate Baptist state conventions with ties to that denomination.
The Baptist General Convention of Texas and the Baptist General Association of Virginia were officially accepted as members of the alliance. The two groups each participate in the central funding program of the Southern Baptist Convention but have more moderate leadership than conservative-led conventions in their states.
“It is important for Texas Baptists to really understand how big our Baptist family is,” said Charles Wade, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, in a statement from his organization. “We are not alone. We have many partners. We are not responsible for the world alone.”
The alliance now has 213 members.
_ Adelle M. Banks
House Lawmakers Propose Bill on Prayer at Military Academies
WASHINGTON (RNS) House lawmakers have introduced legislation to guarantee military service academies the right to include voluntary, nondenominational prayer at school events.
The “Military Academy First Amendment Protection Act” was introduced by Reps. Walter Jones, R-NC, and Madeleine Bordallo, D-GU, on Tuesday (July 26). Jones said in a news release that challenges to the practice of prayer at military schools prompted him to propose the legislation.
“We cannot allow this kind of attack on the traditions of our nation’s military institutions to continue,” he said.
In 2003, an appeals court ruled the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va. violated the constitutional separation of church and state by holding organized prayers before mandatory meals.
More recently, Abraham Foxman, director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League, urged the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis to end formal prayer before meals at the school.
In a letter dated June 17, Foxman cited the practice of requiring midshipmen to stand in formation before lunch while the chaplain recites a prayer.
“VMI’s regular mealtime prayer put a forbidden `stamp of approval’ on religious observance. So does the Naval Academy’s traditional ritual, and it should stop now,” Foxman said in the letter.
If passed, the bill would affect prayer at the U.S. military schools.
_ Nancy Glass
Cal Guy, Influential Missions Professor, Dead at 88
(RNS) Cal Guy, an influential missions professor who taught for more than 35 years at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, died Monday (July 25).
He was 88 and died of natural causes, the Fort Worth, Texas-based school announced.
Guy was known for challenging mid-20th-century mission techniques and said that missionaries were too “westernized, institutionalized, building-ized, and subsidized” in the way they approached missions. He differed with those who thought missionaries should remove converts from their cultural influences and build church buildings that resembled those in the West.
His approach, instead, was to encourage missionaries to learn the culture of the people they wanted to convert and find ways to present the gospel so that new converts could share it with their communities and foster indigenous church growth. For example, starting in the 1970s, he spent three decades cultivating a relationship with Bangladesh Baptists that included the use of a gospel booklet translated into the native language that local Baptists were able to introduce in villages in that South Asian country.
Jerry Rankin, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, recently said of his former professor: “Cal Guy became my mentor. He planted within me the heart of a mission strategy that has shaped my ministry and leadership ever since.”
Guy, born Robert Calvin Guy, was a Jackson, Tenn., native who served as a pastor in Tennessee and Texas during his years in college and seminary. He was a member of the faculty of Southwestern Seminary _ one of six seminaries affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention _ from 1946 to 1982. In 1980, when the seminary launched what is now called its World Mission Center, Guy was the founding director.
“Cal Guy … was a champion of innovative methodology without watering down the content of the gospel message,” said Southwestern Seminar President Paige Patterson, in a statement. “While his shoes will be filled by those upon whom Dr. Guy left his mark, it is nonetheless the case that his unique style, ready sense of humor, insight into missions theory and strategy simply cannot be replaced.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Dozens Flock to `Blinking’ Jesus Statue in New Jersey
HOBOKEN, N.J. (RNS) While dozens of people continue to flock to Hoboken to see a statue of Jesus that many believe blinked its right eye, church officials aren’t claiming a miracle just yet.
Since Thursday (July 28), many witnesses say a Sacred Heart of Jesus statue _ the centerpiece of a Catholic shrine of cherubs, crucifixes and Madonnas created by neighborhood preacher Julio Dones _ opened one of its normally half-closed eyes. They believe it’s a miracle.
Dones said he was among the first to notice the occurrence, while he was cleaning the shrine. Visibly worn and peeling, the statue’s chipping paint falls away in a way that forms a cross on Christ’s forehead, which Dones also believes is a miracle.
Word got back to the Rev. Michael Guglielmelli of St. Francis Roman Catholic Church, where Dones is a parishioner. Guglielmelli is not dismissing what everyone believes they saw, but advises them to wait and see what happens next.
“As a priest, I’m always open to everything. Whatever lets a person pray is good,” Guglielmelli said. “If this is from God, one way or another he will let us know. If not, it will fade away.”
Whenever there is a case like this, it’s up to the local church how it wants to handle the matter initially, said James Goodness, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Newark.
The diocese doesn’t have a set policy for such events, nor is it taking any specific action at this time, Goodness said.
“Checking into these situations depends on what impression or sense the priest gets from the person,” Goodness said. “We don’t want to curtail people’s sense of faith. We are interested in hearing more about it.”
The tiny statue has drawn dozens of visitors. Some brought camcorders. Others, dressed neatly as if coming from church service, prayed intently at it.
Next to the spectacle was Dones. A 52-year-old man with a slight frame, Dones has preached intermittently to visitors, some of whom shook his hand.
“To me this is a miracle,” Dones said. “You don’t see a Sacred Heart of Jesus with one eye closed, then one eye opened.”
Guglielmelli said a miracle, in the view of the church, is something different.
“It would have to take an extraordinary event,” he said, like a statue crying blood or sweating. “Something where there’s no natural explanation for it.”
_ Lisa Vernon-Sparks
`Left Behind’ Authors Make Amazon.com’s Anniversary Hall of Fame List
(RNS) “Left Behind” series co-authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins are among the top 10 best-selling authors cited in Amazon.com’s 10th Anniversary Hall of Fame.
The Web site unveiled the hall of fame in honor of its opening on July 16, 1995.
“The hugely successful `Left Behind’ books, with their apocalyptic evangelical Christian vision, are the all-time best-selling Christian fiction series,” the listing notes. “More than 62 million copies have been sold.”
LaHaye and Jenkins were No. 9 on the list that was topped by J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books.
The other authors who placed before LaHaye and Jenkins are, in order, Spencer Johnson, Nora Roberts, Dan Brown, Dr. Seuss, John Grisham, Stephen King and J.R.R. Tolkien. The 10th author listed was Jim Collins.
The entire list of 25 authors included C.S. Lewis, author of the Christian classic “Chronicles of Narnia,” at No. 13 and John C. Maxwell, former pastor and author of leadership books, at No. 21.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Georgia Priest Causes Stir With Apology for Nagasaki
(RNS) A Roman Catholic priest in Augusta, Ga., is causing controversy in his hometown with a planned visit to Nagasaki, Japan, to deliver a letter of apology for the United States’ use of nuclear force at the end of World War II.
The Rev. Bob Cushing plans to visit Nagasaki on Aug. 9, the 60th anniversary of the nuclear bombing that killed at least 35,000 people and effectively ended the war. He says that his inspiration for the visit is to reunite with a Nagasaki survivor he met 20 years ago in Georgia.
In addition to delivering a letter of apology, Cushing will present the people of Nagasaki with 1,000 white paper cranes, a Japanese peace symbol. Cushing is the local coordinator for Pax Christi, a Catholic peace group.
A debate over Cushing’s trip has played out in the pages of his local paper, the Augusta Chronicle.
Cushing’s bishop, J. Kevin Boland, told the newspaper that Cushing would not lose his job over the visit, though he was not representing the parish or diocese while in Japan.
But letters to the editor and an editorial by the newspaper’s staff criticized Cushing’s assessment of World War II as an “unjust” conflict.
James A. Wilde wrote to the paper that parishioners have walked out of church during some recent sermons by Cushing because of “the blatantly political subject matter.”
Cushing “does not speak for our congregation when he states that U.S. participation in World War II was unjust, or that we owe an apology to the citizens of Nagasaki,” Wilde wrote.
Another letter writer, the Rev. Miguel Grave de Peralta, wrote an apology to World War II veterans who are “insulted or confused” by his fellow Catholic priest Cushing.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Quote of the Week: Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.
(RNS) “The question you didn’t ask was about Mormonism, whether it would hurt him (Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney) in a national campaign. The answer is no. We’ve moved on. That died with my brother Jack.”
_ U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy, quoted in an Atlantic Monthly story about the Mormon faith of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is widely thought to be considering a run for the White House.
KRE/PH END RNS
