c. 2005 Religion News Service

Churches Mark Atomic Bombing With Calls for Nuclear Weapons Ban

(RNS) Protestant and Roman Catholic religious are marking the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with calls to ban nuclear weapons and “unequivocal condemnation” of “total war” exemplified by terrorist attacks.

The United States, the only nation to use nuclear weapons against another country, bombed the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, and three days later, Nagasaki. More than 200,000 died in the bombings that ended World War II.

“Hiroshima and Nagasaki are permanent reminders to the entire human family of the grave consequences of total war,” said Bishop William S. Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., in a letter to Bishop Augustinus Jun-ichhi Nomura, president of the Catholic Bishops conference of Japan.

Skylstad is president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

“No matter how noble the ends of a war may be, they cannot justify employing means or weapons that fail to discriminate between noncombatants and combatants,” he said.

“In our day, the threat of global nuclear war may have receded, only to be replaced by the prospect of nuclear terrorism,” the bishop told his Japanese counterpart. “Terrorist attacks on innocent civilians are against God and humanity and merit the same unequivocal condemnation of all acts that fail to discriminate between combatants and noncombatants.”

While Skylstad saw the threat of nuclear war receding, the World Council of Churches _ the Geneva-based ecumenical organization of 347 churches in 120 countries _ said that today “nine states _ not one _ possess nuclear arms” and remedies against their use are being eroded.

“While most anniversaries lose importance over time, the anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki only becomes more important with every passing year,” the WCC said in a statement. “The reason is that the unfinished business of banning nuclear weapons has been derailed and urgently needs to be put back on track.”

The Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Bishops also marked the atomic anniversary, urging governments to begin immediate negotiations for a complete ban on nuclear weapons.

“We believe that the spirit of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty is to reduce and eventually eliminate the possibility of a nuclear disaster,” the Methodist leaders said, “It means not only to stop the nations that do not currently have nuclear weapons from developing such weapons of mass destruction in the future, but also to reduce and eventually to eliminate all nuclear weapons, including the 10,000 possessed by the United States.”

_ David E. Anderson

Habitat for Humanity Names New Chief Executive Officer

(RNS) Habitat for Humanity International, the global house-building ministry, has named an executive pastor from Minnesota as its new chief executive officer.

Jonathan T.M. Reckford, 42, has served as executive pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church, a 4,300-member congregation in Edina, Minn., for two years and previously worked in the business world.

“While sad about the prospect of leaving my church community in Minnesota, I feel as if God has been preparing me for the last 20 years for a time such as this,” Reckford said in a statement in a Thursday (Aug. 4) announcement by the ministry based in Americus, Ga. “I believe passionately in Habitat’s mission and can’t think of a movement I would rather join.”

Reckford, who previously worked in executive positions with Best Buy and Circuit City, succeeds Paul Leonard, who served as interim CEO.

Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity, was fired in January over alleged inappropriate contact with a female employee. Fuller, who denied any wrongdoing and has said he had philosophical differences with board members, has started his own organization, the Fuller Center for Housing. He changed the name from Building Habitat, which had prompted legal action from the ministry he founded.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who served as honorary chair of the succession planning task force that chose Reckford, called the new CEO “a wonderful choice” for the organization.

“His background in business will help Habitat navigate the economy and business climate, and his pastoral experiences will help him shepherd Habitat’s ministry and assure it continues to share and demonstrate Jesus’ teachings worldwide,” Carter said in a statement.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Survey Finds More Hindu, Jewish Doctors Than in General Population

(RNS) Physicians are often every bit as religious as their patients, but what they believe is apt to be quite different, according to a new survey.

That’s because a disproportionate percentage of physicians come from religious minority groups, according to University of Chicago research published in the July issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine. Data came from responses to a 12-page questionnaire, which researchers had mailed to a random sample of 2,000 physicians practicing in the United States.

Among the findings, physicians proved to be 26 times more likely to be Hindu than the overall U.S. population (5.3 percent of doctors vs. 0.2 percent of non-physicians), the survey found. They are seven times more likely to be Jewish, six times more likely to be Buddhist and five times more likely to be Muslim.

Across the board, 55 percent of doctors said their religious beliefs influence how they practice medicine, but researchers are still asking questions about how that happens.

“We have paid a good deal of attention to the religious beliefs of patients and how their faith influences medical decisions,” said the study author, Dr. Farr Curlin. “But until now, no one has looked in the same way at physicians, the other half of every doctor-patient relationship.”

“These findings lead us to further wonder how doctors’ faiths shape their clinical encounters.”

In terms of faith, doctors as a group appear more devout thant other scientists. In this survey, 76 percent of respondents said they believe in God. By contrast, only 39 percent of all scientists believe in God, according to surveys published in 1997 and 1998 in the journal Nature.

Among those who answered the Chicago survey, Christian, Mormon and Buddhist doctors were the most likely to affirm the statement, “my religious beliefs influence my practice of medicine.” Jews and Hindus were the least likely.

_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Minister Who Was Tapped to Lead Christian Reformed Church Ousted

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The newly named top executive of the Christian Reformed Church has been forced to resign just three weeks before he was to take office.

The Rev. Calvin Bremer was asked to step down by CRC officials who felt he showed bad judgment in seeking to promote a female colleague to a prominent CRC post.

Bremer resigned on July 29 both as executive director of the CRC and director of the Back to God Hour, the denomination’s worldwide broadcast ministry. He was to assume the CRC’s top administrative post Aug. 22.

Officials said the executive committees of both the CRC and the Back to God Hour found Bremer had acted inappropriately in recommending an employee of a closely related fund-raising organization to be director of development for the CRC.

Bremer’s endorsement of the employee was inappropriate because his relationship with her “crossed professional boundaries,” said the Rev. Peter Borgdorff, executive director of ministries for the Grand Rapids-based CRC.

“This really was a lapse in good judgment that became known and therefore had to be dealt with,” Borgdorff said. “The information we dealt with caused an erosion of confidence in Cal’s leadership ability, to the point where we felt he could not function as the executive director.”

The woman worked for RACOM Associates, a nonprofit that raises money for Back to God Hour, and resigned her position the same day as Bremer. With offices in Holland, Grand Rapids and Chicago, RACOM is separate from the CRC but takes its directives from Back to God Hour, said the Rev. Robert Heerspink, president of the Back to God Hour board.

The woman, 56 and a married resident of Grand Rapids Township, worked at RACOM about three years. She is a former employee of Calvin College, International Aid and Worldwide Christian Schools, Borgdorff said.

Bremer, who has been a minister for 33 years, said he had not done anything morally wrong but admitted to poor judgment.

“If your employer says you lack good judgment, by definition you lack good judgment,” said Bremer, 57, a Holland native and graduate of Calvin College and Seminary who lives in Dyer, Ind. “There are things I would choose to do differently if I had the opportunity to do it over.”

In his resignation letter, Bremer wrote, “I regret that my lack of good judgment to maintain appropriate boundaries with a colleague in ministry has caused pain to the church of our Lord Jesus Christ and to many of you. Please forgive me for the pain and injury that my actions have caused to you and to the witness of the church.”

_ Charles Honey

Boston Archdiocese Accused on Underfunding Cemeteries

(RNS) State officials have accused the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston of violating state law requiring enough money to maintain its cemeteries, two months after the church was criticized for not keeping enough money to pay the retirement costs of its priests.

Massachusettes Secretary of State William F. Galvin accused the archdiocese of misrepresenting its activities to parishioners, who are assured when they buy a plot that 10 percent of the cost will go to maintenance.

The archdiocese is accused of diverting some of that money to its general fund, according to the Boston Globe.

“People are being deceived into believing that there is a perpetual care fund, when there isn’t,” Galvin told the Globe. “It’s a financial shell game being played on the deceased and their families.”

Chancellor David W. Smith, the archdiocese’s chief financial officer, said the archdiocese is exempt from the law requiring it to maintain the cemetery fund because the church’s cemeteries predate the law.

Galvin’s securities division delivered a complaint to the archdiocese Wednesday accusing it of violating the law.

“The archdiocese has failed to keep its commitment, not only to the families, but to the deceased,” Galvin told the Globe.

_ Hugh S. Moore

Quote of the Day: Assemblies of God General Superintendent Thomas Trask

(RNS) “Stirring worship won’t attract them because worship isn’t even on their radar screen. More comfortable pews cannot compete with the easy chair or the bed that already serve the unchurched person. Church events cannot effectively compete with what the world has to offer.”

_ The Rev. Thomas E. Trask, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, who was re-elected to his position during his denomination’s General Council meeting Aug. 2-5 in Denver. He made his comments about the challenges of reaching unchurched people during a keynote address on Aug. 2.

KRE/JL END RNS