c. 2006 Religion News Service
Evangelical Coalition Says Global Warming Worries Overblown
WASHINGTON (RNS) A coalition of evangelical religious leaders has launched an education campaign that will try to persuade pastors and churchgoers that dire predictions about global warming are overblown.
The Interfaith Stewardship Alliance, supported by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson and others, announced Wednesday (April 19) that its Cornwall Network of Churches campaign will provide information that can be distributed to parishioners or used to influence sermons.
It’s the latest salvo in an escalating political battle among evangelicals over the environment and global warming.
In February, a more moderate evangelical group, the Evangelical Climate Initiative, was launched. It advocates personal, religious and commercial action to combat global warming, which it says could result in the deaths of millions of people. That group has the backing of, among others, Rick Warren, megachurch pastor and author of the best-selling “The Purpose-Driven Life.”
The Dobson-backed Interfaith Stewardship Alliance bases its beliefs on the 2000 Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship. The document, signed by more than 1,500 people _ including clergy, theologians, scientists and economists _ states that concerns about global warming, overpopulation and rampant species loss are unfounded.
It further argues that efforts to solve global warming will hurt economic development and reduce attention to other issues such as disease, hazardous wastes and resource consumption.
Group founder E. Calvin Beisner said that while his group shares an evangelical Christian faith with the Evangelical Climate Initiative, the Warren-backed group “ignores biblical teaching about prudence.”
Beisner argues that if efforts to slow global warming succeed, energy prices will go up and residents of Third World countries facing environmental problems will suffer more.
Evangelical Climate Initiative spokesman Jim Ball dismissed that argument as a red herring.
“We’ve taken this very seriously, and prudence does require us to act now,” Ball said. “The science is telling us that there is going to be serious consequences, and those consequences will especially fall on the poor.”
_ Piet Levy
European Union to Discourage Verbal Linking of Islam With Terrorism
LONDON (RNS) The European Union, worried about offending Muslim sensibilities, is compiling a new lexicon to avoid such words as “Islamic terrorism,” “Islamist,” “fundamentalist” and “jihad” in describing acts of terrorism and murder.
Reuters news agency reports that diplomats in Brussels hope to have down on paper by June a set of guidelines for its officials and politicians aimed at making it clear that nowhere in the Islamic religion is there justification for outrages such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks or the more recent terrorist bombings in Madrid and London.
That being the case, certain terms should be avoided, the guidelines will say.
Reuters quoted an anonymous EU official as saying, `Certainly `Islamic terrorism’ is something we will not use.” The official said the preferred reference will be to “terrorists who abusively invoke religion.”
Omar Faruk, a Muslim lawyer who advises the British government on EU issues, told journalists the phrase “Islamic terrorism” is a contradiction in itself: “Those words cannot sit side by side. Islam is actually very much against any form of terrorism … Islam in itself means peace.”
“Jihad,” in the sense used by al-Qaida and other terrorist groups to mean warfare against infidels, will also be discouraged. “Jihad means something for you and me, it means something else for a Muslim” the EU official in Berlin told Reuters.
“Jihad is a perfectly positive concept of trying to fight evil within yourself,” he insisted.
The new lexicon, which EU headquarters in Brussels hopes to have ready by early summer, will not be legally binding _ a loophole that could weaken its impact across the 25-nation organization.
_ Al Webb
Murder Case Sparks German Debate About Islam, Immigration
BERLIN (RNS) Germans are debating whether 10 years imprisonment is a suitable punishment for a man who killed his sister because she refused to adhere to his concept of a traditional Muslim lifestyle.
Hatun Sueruecue, 23, was shot Feb. 7, 2005, by her brother Ayhan, then 18. Hatun had grown estranged from her traditional Turkish family as she became increasingly Westernized. Her family was outraged that she refused to participate in an arranged marriage, had a child out of wedlock and was studying to become an electrical technician. According to police, family members decided an “honor killing” was necessary to restore the family’s standing in their religious community.
Two brothers, aged 25 and 26, were accused of assisting Ayhan with the murder, but the court could not find enough evidence against them. During the case, there was much speculation that Ayhan was chosen as the triggerman specifically because he would not be tried as an adult.
Ayhan was sentenced April 13 to nine years and three months in prison.
Several women have been killed in Germany under similar circumstances in the last decade, causing some to question whether Germany has done enough to integrate immigrant families and make clear that concepts such as honor killings are unacceptable.
Cem Oezdemir, a German of Turkish descent in the European Parliament, called the sentence too mild.
“The ruling is in accordance with the law, but it is not the signal that we need to show that we have zero tolerance for honor killings,” he told the news magazine Spiegel.
But several Turkish and Muslim groups have argued that it would have been impossible to charge family members for a crime they did not commit.
“The judge almost gave the offender the maximum penalty. That means other people will be deterred from carrying out honor killings,” said Kenan Kolat, head of the Turkish Association in Berlin.
The Central Council of Muslims emphasized that murder is never acceptable.
Buelent Arslan, head of the Christian Democratic Party’s German-Turkish forum argued that nine years is a significant sentence. He said the real problem is that German officials do not reach out enough to Turkish leaders. “The state should reach out to all imams and set up contact, but that doesn’t happen.”
_ Niels Sorrells
Black Baptist Denominations to Help Hurricane-Ravaged Churches Rebuild
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Three of the nation’s largest black Baptist denominations have announced plans to help ruined churches and their church members across the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.
The National Baptist Convention USA, the National Baptist Convention of America and the Progressive Baptist Convention said on Monday (April 17) they would steer pastors and church-goers to such help at their big annual conventions this summer. The black Baptist denominations said they will fund redevelopment money and rebuilding expertise for churches, nursing homes or other church projects.
They said they were partnering with private companies like KBK Enterprises of Columbus, Ohio, to steer applicants to bankers, provide architects and aid with other assistance.
Under the plans, developers would help churches assemble loans and other sources of income and match them with developers for reconstruction projects, said Keith Key, of KBK.
The Rev. Harry Blake of Shreveport, La., head of the state chapter of the 5-million member National Baptist Convention, announced the program jointly with the Rev. Russell Odom, special projects director for the convention’s community development initiative, and the Rev. Steven Thurston, head of the 3.5 million-member National Baptist Convention of America.
_ Bruce Nolan
Quote of the Day: Outgoing White House Official Jim Towey
(RNS) “I would be shook up if I were part of a shakeup. But the reality is this has been in the works for months, and I’m leaving with President Bush’s blessing. I would not have left without it.”
_ Jim Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, speaking to reporters Tuesday (April 18) about his resignation to become president of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. He said his departure was not related to others at the White House.
MO/RB END RNS
