c. 2005 Religion News Service
Groups Blast Voter Registration Provision in Housing Bill
WASHINGTON (RNS) A provision to deny affordable housing funds to churches and nonprofit groups that have engaged in voter registration efforts is coming under fire from Democratic members of Congress and religious groups.
A Republican-backed amendment to the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act would disqualify any nonprofit group for receiving money from a new Affordable Housing Fund if it had engaged in voter registration, voter identification, get-out-the-vote or other voter programs in the past 12 months.
The bill is scheduled to come up for a vote in the House on Wednesday (Oct. 26).
Democrats say that provision singles out primarily black and urban churches, which would be most involved in both low-income housing programs and voter registration programs.
“The right to vote is a hallmark of our country’s democracy,” said a statement from the Democratic Faith Working Group, a looseknit group of Democratic House members. “We should commend the efforts of those who attempt to foster that patriotism in others, not punish them and the populations they serve.”
The new language came out of the conservative Republican Study Committee, led by Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana. Some members are apparently concerned that the affordable housing money could be used to churn out voters for Democrats. Calls to Pence’s office were not returned on Friday.
The provision is also under fire by a coalition of some 60 religious groups and homeless and housing advocates, which called it “blantantly undemocratic.” There is “no other purpose than to reduce access to voting by low income people,” the groups said in a Wednesday (Oct. 19) letter to House Speaker Dennis Hastert. “People of color are overrepresented in the low income population, making this a civil rights issue.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops supports the overall housing bill, but not the voter-registration provisions. Additional rules that require fund recipients to list affordable housing as their “primary purpose” would also disqualify many churches, said the bishops’ domestic policy chairman, Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of Brooklyn, N.Y.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Religious Scholar Installed as President of Wake Forest University
(RNS) An acclaimed scholar of American religious history took the helm of a major university Thursday (Oct. 20) when Nathan O. Hatch was installed as the 13th president of Wake Forest University.
Hatch, 59, comes from the University of Notre Dame, where he climbed the ranks from junior faculty member to provost over 30 years. During that time, he made his mark as an expert in the evangelical piety of colonial America, particularly with his prize-winning 1991 book, “The Democratization of American Christianity” (Yale University Press).
Though scholars often become administrators, few religion specialists have in recent decades stepped into a major university’s top job. At Wake Forest, Hatch oversees a campus of about 4,000 undergraduates and 2,400 graduate students.
In his acceptance speech earlier this year, Hatch paid deference to the school’s Baptist heritage, which dates to its founding in 1834 by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
“I intend to be faithful to the powerful traditions that inspire this place and to do everything in my power to advance Wake Forest as a leading university, committed to nurturing mind and heart,” Hatch said.
When students at Wake Forest’s Divinity School convened in August, Hatch’s background as a student of piety came through in his address to them.
“Wisdom is a fragile flower that will be choked by a cluttered and hurried mind,” Hatch said. He urged students to “find occasions to think deeply and grapple at length with texts and issues in the disciplines we study. This takes time … time to relish and to savor the wonder of a scriptural text, a great theologian, a spiritual master, or a great preacher.”
Hatch established himself as a known scholar in the 1970s and 80s through his study of Jonathan Edwards, the preacher and theologian of the First Great Awakening in the 18th century. Since then, he has tackled such subjects as early Methodism and the “evangelical resurgence” in America between 1942 and 1992.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Archbishop Warns of Mass Starvation in Zimbabwe
(RNS) Archbishop Pius Ncube, the outspoken Roman Catholic leader of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and fierce opponent of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, has warned of mass starvation in the African country if emergency measures are not taken.
Ncube, speaking at a news conference on Wednesday (Oct. 19) in Johannesburg, South Africa, said a combination of the forced removal of some 700,000 people from their homes by the government, a critical food and fuel shortage and hyperinflation meant the hunger crisis was entering a new dangerous stage.
He said the economic meltdown, if not addressed, could result in as many as 200,000 deaths.
“Hunger is due to the Zimbabwean government refusing food aid,” the BBC quoted Ncube as saying. AllAfrica.com quoted Ncube as calling the government “hopelessly bankrupt” and unable to do anything about the food crisis.
But Michael Huggins, the United Nations’ World Food Program spokesman for southern Africa, said, “It’s difficult to predict at this early stage how many people may starve to death in Zimbabwe.”
The Zimbabwean government has downplayed the need for food aid, and earlier this fall kept an emergency relief convoy from the South African Council of Churches waiting for weeks at the border.
The aid was meant to help some of those evicted from their homes as a result of Mugabe’s “clean up” operation against urban slum dwellers and street vendors involved in Zimbabwe’s “informal” economy. Many Zimbabweans and human rights activists believe the “clean up” campaign was aimed at crushing the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which is centered in the cities.
Pastor Ray Motsi, chairman of the Combined Churches of Bulawayo, said of the estimated 700,000 people the United Nations says were left homeless by Mugabe’s campaign, “between 300,000 and 400,000 have been displaced to rural areas” and in many of them, non-governmental organizations are not allowed to distribute food.
“The tragedy is that many had no rural background,” Motsi said.
_ David E. Anderson
Anglican Archbishop Upset over Accusation of `Financial Inducements’
(RNS) An Anglican archbishop from Nigeria is vehemently denying an allegation that African church leaders have been offered money to distance themselves from more liberal churches in the United States and Canada.
Such “irresponsible accusations” are “outrageous, uncharitable and untrue,” said Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola in an open letter.
Akinola referred to remarks attributed to Irish Archbishop Robin Eames during a recent visit to the United States, where the issue of homosexuality has divided the Episcopal Church and caused a rift within the worldwide Anglican Communion.
According to a press release issued by the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, Eames said in an interview that he was “quite certain” many church leaders in the developing world had been offered financial inducements to distance themselves from U.S. and Canadian churches.
“I think it is happening,” he was quoted as saying. “I just don’t think it is moral.”
In his open letter to Eames, Akinola asked for proof.
“If you have any evidence of such financial inducements I challenge you, in the name of God, to reveal them or make a public apology to your brother primates in the Global South for this damaging and irresponsible smear,” wrote Akinola, who is primate, or highest ranking bishop, in Nigeria.
In a written clarification sent to Akinola Thursday (Oct. 20), Eames said he was “very disturbed” by any speculation about the role money might play among Anglican alliances.
“I in no way question the sincerity and integrity of the leaders of the Global South. As they are well aware, I have personally endeavored at all times to maintain and understand the integrity of their argument.
“I categorically state (that) I have never believed that any financial offer was accepted by any of those who represent the Global South on any other than terms of Christian outreach.”
Eames is a significant Anglican leader. He chaired the Lambeth Commission set up to work out how the Anglican Communion could stay united despite the deep divisions that have opened up over homosexuality.
_ Robert Nowell
Religious Groups Press for Immigration Reform
WASHINGTON (RNS) More than 100 religious organizations from across the political spectrum are joining forces to demand immigration reform from the U.S. government.
The coalition of organizations and faith leaders said it’s time to help illegal immigrants within the United States to “come out of the shadows” and become lawful permanent residents.
They also requested reforms to reduce waiting time for separated families, the creation of legal avenues for workers wishing to migrate to the United States, and border protection policies consistent with “humanitarian values.”
“We join together to call upon President Bush and our elected officials in Congress to enact comprehensive immigration reform legislation that establishes a safe and humane system consistent with our values,” said the statement,issued Oct. 14.
“We call for immigration reform because each day in our congregations, service programs, health-care facilities and schools we witness the human consequences of an outmoded system.”
The coalition is led by Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, World Relief and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, with the support of a wide array of Jewish, Catholic, mainline Protestant and Muslim groups.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has historically been a important voice in immigration policy, said in a statement that current U.S. policy is “broken and needs repair.”
“While we support the right of nations to control their own borders, we note that, for much of the last decade, Congress has enacted one harsh, overly punitive immigration control measure after another, yet the problems in our immigration system have grown during that period,” said Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino in California.
_ Jason Kane
Quote of the Day: Author and Pastor Rick Warren
(RNS) “You are not an accident. Your parents may not have planned you, but God did. He wanted you alive and created you for a purpose. … Only in God do we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny.”
_ Pastor Rick Warren, megachurch leader and best-selling author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” quoted on a Starbucks coffee cup. Warren was quoted in a USA Today story about how his words will be featured on cups in 2006 after he responded to the company’s solicitation for customer contributions.
KRE/LF END RNS
