c. 2005 Religion News Service
Moore’s Wife Seeks Funds for `Spokesperson for Christian Conservatism’
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (RNS) The wife of Republican gubernatorial candidate Roy Moore _ “the Ten Commandments judge” _ is asking supporters for a Christmas campaign gift to help her husband become a “national spokesperson for Christian conservatism.”
Kayla Moore wrote in an e-mail that Christmas was an appropriate time to begin their campaign “to return morality to our country and God to our public square.” Her husband is opposed by people who want to promote gay marriage and “remove Christ from Christmas,” she wrote.
J. Holland, a spokesman for Moore’s campaign, said the fund-raising letter was e-mailed to supporters.
In the letter, Kayla Moore suggested the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State “will stop at nothing to keep Roy Moore out of the Governor’s office in Alabama!”
“In short, they want to continue to promote homosexual marriages, maintain abortion on demand and remove Christ from Christmas,” Kayla Moore wrote. “They FEAR nothing more than the emergence of a powerful national spokesperson for Christian conservatism.
“And make no mistake: If elected governor of Alabama, my husband will be that spokesman!” she wrote. “But again, he can’t get there alone which is why I am hoping you and thousands of other Christian conservatives will join with my husband in his campaign for governor.”
Roy Moore shot to national prominence as Alabama chief justice after placing a Ten Commandments monument in the lobby of the state judicial building. He was removed from office for refusing to obey a federal court order to remove the sculpture.
In his early campaign appearances, Moore seemed intent on showing there was more to him than just religious issues. He spoke out against special interests and government spending.
This fund-raising letter seems to be a return to his roots, said William Stewart, a political scientist at the University of Alabama.
“He needs money, and he’s going back to the bedrock issue he’s staked out,” Stewart said.
A Washington spokesman for Americans United said the organization is nonprofit and not permitted by federal tax law to intervene in partisan campaigns.
“In light of this, any claim that Americans United `will stop at nothing to keep Roy Moore out of the Governor’s office in Alabama’ is obviously specious,” said Rob Boston, director of communications for the organization.
_ Kim Chandler
Guidelines Presented to Retailers of Video Games
(RNS) Religious advocates of corporate responsibility have developed guidelines to help major retailers steer children away from video games containing violence, racist content and sexual themes.
Working with companies such as Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and Circuit City, the New York-based Christian Brothers Investment Services, which promotes socially responsible and ethical investing, condensed the most effective practices of each corporation into a set of guidelines.
The group released its guidelines Dec. 13 in conjunction with other members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. In an effort to keep minors away from video games rated “Mature” (M), the coalition is, among other things:
_ Urging retailers to post video game sales policies prominently in stores and online.
_ Training employees on the video games sales policy.
_ Asking retailers to separate M-rated from youth-oriented games.
“While we’ve seen improvement among retailers on this issue, much more work needs to be done,” said Cathy Rowan, co-chair of the ICCR Violence and Militarization of Society Working Group, in a statement.
The groups say that while parents play a key role in the process, retailers must recognize their unique responsibility to prevent minors from accessing violent products.
Julie Tanner, Christian Brothers Investment Services corporate advocacy coordinator, said the guidelines help retailers help themselves and “be better neighbors in the communities they serve.” The guidelines promote the retailers’ credibility; diminish legislative, legal and reputational risks; and in turn, boost shareholder value, Tanner said.
_ Jason Kane
Baptist Faculty Oppose Lecture by Intelligent Design Advocate
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) A planned lecture by a proponent of intelligent design has upset Samford University faculty who don’t want the Baptist-affiliated school to be perceived as endorsing alternatives to evolution.
A resolution introduced in the College of Arts and Sciences’ faculty senate describes intelligent design as a political movement, not science. The resolution, by Samford geography professor Max Baber, questions whether Samford should involve itself in a movement that seeks to inject religion into science education in the public schools.
“In accordance with the spirit and letter of Samford’s foundation statements,” Baber’s resolution reads, “we affirm that church and state should remain separate. We therefore protest the president’s decision to involve Samford in a political movement that stands in direct opposition to that principle.”
The senate has formed a committee to examine the issue.
The Feb. 23 speaker is John Lennox, a research fellow in mathematics at Green College, Oxford University in England. He is one of a comparatively small band of academics who question the theory of evolution and argue that the complexity of biological life suggests a designer guides the process.
Samford President Tom Corts cooperated with a local Christian ministry group, the Fixed Point Foundation, on plans to bring Lennox to the university.
Corts says he doesn’t understand the controversy surrounding the visit.
Intelligent design is an issue in the news, and while the school’s science department teaches evolution as a basic scientific fact, that doesn’t rule out the involvement of an intelligent designer, Corts said.
“This is a university,” said Corts, “and you are supposed to talk about ideas.”
_ Thomas Spencer
Hanukkah Gifts Sent to Jewish Soldiers in Iraq
(RNS) With Jewish American soldiers facing an isolated Hanukkah in Iraq, a family has launched an effort to send them packages filled with dreidels, yarmulkes and menorahs.
“You have young Jewish soldiers serving in Iraq who are kind of separated, and there’s not a lot there and they don’t feel connected to their Judaism,” said Adeena Bleich, a Jewish community activist in Los Angeles.
Bleich created Operation Far From Home last Passover with her parents, Linda and Phil Bleich. The family lives in New Haven, Conn., but the Hanukkah campaign has spread nationwide with Operation Far From Home receiving 500 Jewish music CDs from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and donations from around the country.
The Hanukkah packages sent to military bases have enough holiday items for 10 to 15 Jewish service members. Along with traditional religious items, volunteers send cheese puffs, cookies, kosher food, pens, writing paper and Hanukkah cards. The Bleich family got friends in California and Connecticut to wrap the items for Jews serving in Iraq as well as soldiers in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.
“Jewish solders need to know that we’re here and we’re thinking of them,” said Linda Bleich, 58, an Orthodox Jewish mother of three whose husband is a retired wholesaler.
A Jewish soldier in Iraq, Army Staff Sgt. David T. Silcox, wrote in an e-mail that he appreciated the Hanukkah items. “We have a hard time getting things here,” he wrote.
In Los Angeles, fliers about Operation Far From Home were placed in the city’s major Orthodox synagogues such as Young Israel of Century City. “It’s our responsibility to support our soldiers overseas who are defending democracy for us,” said Young Israel Rabbi Elazar Mushkin.
Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, begins Sunday (Dec. 25).
_ David Finnigan
Quote of the Day: Pope Benedict XVI
(RNS) “In today’s consumer society, this time of year unfortunately suffers from a sort of commercial pollution that threatens to alter its true spirit.”
_ Pope Benedict XVI, speaking Dec. 11 about the meaning of Christmas. To help remember the religious meaning of Christmas, families should set up Nativity scenes, he said.
MO/PH END RNS
