c. 2006 Religion News Service
Report: Overall Anti-Semitic Incidents Down, But Up on College Campuses
(RNS) The number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2005 dropped slightly compared with the previous year, but the number reported on college campuses rose by almost a third, according to a new report from the Anti-Defamation League.
Overall, there were 1,757 anti-Semitic incidents last year, a 3 percent drop compared with 2004, when the 1,821 total marked a nine-year high. The incidents ranged from harassment, including physical assaults and threats, to vandalism including anti-Semitic graffiti.
Acts of vandalism decreased by 4 percent, and harassment decreased by 3 percent.
“While any decline is encouraging, we remain concerned because too many people continue to act out their Jewish hatred,” Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement.
“The numbers remain sobering because we know from painful experience that it only takes one incident of anti-Semitism to affect an entire community.”
On college campuses, 98 incidents were reported in 2005, compared with 74 in 2004. These figures were lower than the high of 106 reported in 2002.
Many of the college cases involved vandalism, including a report from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where swastikas were carved into a bulletin board, and a case at Atlantic Cape Community College in New Jersey where swastikas and other extremist symbols were carved into freshly poured concrete.
Other concentrations of incidents were attributed to public activities by neo-Nazi and other hate groups and anti-Jewish harassment in high schools and middle schools.
In the eight states with the highest number of harassment reports, 13 percent were due to extremist group activity, including distribution of fliers.
The annual Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents includes data collected from 42 states and the District of Columbia. It’s based on crime statistics and information collected from the organization’s 30 regional offices.
_ Ansley Roan
Singer Chris Tomlin Wins Three Dove Awards
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) Singer Chris Tomlin was named artist of the year and won two other Dove trophies at the 37th annual Gospel Music Association Music Awards.
“Worship is not a trend,” said Tomlin.“It’s for all of life. Trends come and go, but God is saying, `Here are these songs I’ve trusted you with for the church.”’
Male vocalist honors went to Tomlin, who said in his acceptance that he “tried out for a singing group in college, and the leader told me `You’ll do anything in life but sing,’ so this is pretty cool.”
“American Idol” Carrie Underwood won for country song of the year for her hit “Jesus, Take the Wheel” and Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell won for inspirational song of the year for his cover of “In Christ Alone.” Littrell said that though he had the option of making a mainstream solo record, his faith drew him to the Christian market.
Best female vocalist went to Natalie Grant, who spoke about bringing attention to human trafficking.
The Blind Boys of Alabama won the traditional gospel album award for “Atom Bomb,” the latest of their six-decade career. Urban sister duo Mary Mary won for their self-titled album, punk-pop band Relient Kwon for rock album, and Amy Grant and MercyMe singer Bart Millard tied in the inspirational album category for their hymns collections. Bluegrass artist Allison Krauss and collaborator Ron Block won in that category for their song “Living Prayer.”
Winners in Major Categories:
_ Artist of the Year: Chris Tomlin
_ Best New Artist: The Afters
_ Group of the Year: Casting Crowns
_ Female Vocalist of the Year: Natalie Grant
_ Male Vocalist of the Year: Chris Tomlin
_ Song of the Year: “How Great Is Our God”
_ Songwriter of the Year: Christa Wells _ “Held”
_ Beau Black
Catholic Charities Plans to Develop 4,000 Homes in Hurricane-Hit Area
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Catholic Charities plans to build 4,000 rental homes and apartments in an attempt to address the area’s shortage of affordable housing, according to Jim Kelly, the charity’s executive director in New Orleans.
The new units, when combined with the housing Catholic Charities already operates in the city, would make the social outreach arm of the Archdiocese of New Orleans one of the larger landlords in the city limits. Catholic Charities has 2,700 rental units already in place in the metro area, although 2,000 of those require Katrina-related repairs. It plans to do business _ nonprofit business _ as Providence Community Housing.
The new units will take shape in several different projects:
_ The creation of 2,000 units in mixed-income communities, setting aside about 500 units for the disabled or elderly.
_ The construction of 1,000 modular homes.
_ The construction of 1,000 apartment units.
Kelly would not reveal the locations of the projects. He did say that church property, in many instances, would be used to accommodate the new housing.
To develop the 2,000-unit mixed-income projects, Catholic Charities may seek Department of Housing and Urban Development HOPE VI funds.
To help pay for the rest of the projects, Kelly said, his agency hopes to snag a portion of the $65 million in low-income housing tax credits for 2006 to be made available in Louisiana. This year’s Gulf Opportunity Zone Act increased the volume of tax credits available in the state from $8.5 million a year ago. The program also sets aside $65 million in tax credits for the state in 2007 and 2008.
Applications for the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program must be turned in by April 17 to the Louisiana Housing Finance Authority. Each project will be graded by board members on a point scale, with the projects with the highest points winning the credits.
Before Katrina hit, Christopher Homes, the arm of the archdiocese that concentrates on providing low-income housing, ran about 2,700 units, most in complexes and some in scattered sites, according to Executive Director Dennis Adams.
About 1,200 of those units were damaged in the storm and are not in use.
_ Greg Thomas
Presbyterian Minister Frederick Buechner Honored
WASHINGTON (RNS) A lifetime’s worth of inspirational sermons, and the man who wrote and delivered them, were honored at a special ceremony at the Washington National Cathedral Wednesday (April 5).
Frederick Buechner, a 79-year-old Presbyterian minister, acclaimed author of more than 30 books and an inspiring figure for generations of Christian ministers, was the star of the event.
“`Tell the truth,’ he would say to us budding preachers. `Tell the truth of our lives as candidly and overtly as we can,”’ said the Rev. Samuel T. Lloyd III, dean of the Washington National Cathedral.
Like most of the speakers, Lloyd said that reading Buechner’s guide to sermons, “Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy and Fairy Tale,” changed his life.
“We are grounded, more honest, more aware preachers because of Fred,” Lloyd said.
The Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, author and religion teacher at Piedmont College in Demorest, Ga., shared lessons learned from Buechner.
“You have remained one of my best angels, and not just mine, but all of ours,” she said, spreading her arms out to the crowd. “From you I’ve learned it’s only when I give my full attention to what it means to be human that I am granted a glimpse of what it means to be divine.”
The Rev. Thomas G. Long, author and professor of preaching at Emory University in Atlanta, said Buechner’s words gave him the courage to preach, and that sermonizing itself changed because of Buechner.
“We began to see American preaching, instead of talking about the big picture and bold topics, to describe the everyday,” he said.
Buechner shared excerpts of two sermons featured in his new book, “Secrets in the Dark,” about the innkeeper who turned away Mary and Joseph the night Jesus Christ was born, and about Jairus’ daughter, who was resurrected by Jesus, according to the Bible’s Book of Mark. Both offer comparisons of the lives and moral struggles of people today and those of biblical characters.
Buechner ended the evening by asking for silence, to celebrate “the preciousness of this moment.” He closed his eyes and arched his neck so he faced the sky as silence enveloped the room, broken only by the dropping of a pen and a honking car in the distance.
Buechner then broke the stillness with parting words taken from his novel about the 12th century saint, Godric.
“What’s lost,” Buechner said, taking a long pause, “is nothing to what’s found.”
_ Piet Levy
Quote of the Day: Oceanography Professor Doron Nof
(RNS) “I don’t know whether the story is based on someone seeing Jesus walk on ice. All I know is that during that time, a freeze could have happened _ and it could have looked like someone was walking on water, particularly if it rained after the ice formed.”
_ Doron Nof, a professor of oceanography at Florida State University, commenting on work by U.S. and Israeli scientists offering an explanation of how Jesus could have walked on water. He was quoted by The Washington Post.
MO/RB END RNS
