c. 2006 Religion News Service
Survey Finds Catholics Not Leaving Church Over Scandals
WASHINGTON (RNS) A report by a Catholic research group shows that Catholics do not appear to be leaving the church in large numbers in response to accusations of sexual abuse among clergy.
The working paper by the Center for Applied Research on the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University compared responses to surveys conducted by CARA between January 2001 and October 2005, as well as studies by other groups.
CARA researchers identified early 2002 as the beginning of “widespread media coverage of abuse allegations.” They concluded the percentage of adult Americans who identify as Catholic remained constant at 23 percent before and after this point.
The study also examined changes in Mass attendance, financial donations, confidence in church leaders and awareness of abuse scandals.
Researchers found that the percentage of Catholics who attended Mass every week remained relatively constant at about 33 percent throughout the study.
The portion of people who contributed to a Catholic parish or organization in the past year dropped from 78 percent in 2001 to 70 percent in 2005. Of the people who stopped giving to their dioceses, 55 percent said sex abuse scandals had played a role in their decision.
Less than half of respondents were aware of the number of cases of sex abuse or the extent of the financial repercussions.
“I think it creates an accurate picture,” said John Moynihan, spokesman for Voice of the Faithful, a Boston-based group that advocates for greater transparency and lay involvement in church leadership. “I think that’s just the state of things and I think the state of things is that people are for the most part unaware of the extent of the problem.”
The study concludes that “although most Catholics have expressed dissatisfaction with some aspects of the church’s handling of the issue of sex abuse, most are loyal to their faith in that they have not changed their patterns of Mass attendance or parish giving.”
_ Anne Pessala
Muslim Scholar, Banned from U.S., Says He Has No Desire to Visit
PARIS (RNS) Two years after being barred from traveling to the United States, controversial Swiss scholar Tariq Ramadan said he would not contemplate moving across the Atlantic anytime soon, citing a worrying climate of intolerance.
“In the States today I think there is a real problem of freedom of expression and of being critical of the government _ especially if you are Muslim,” Ramadan said during a dinner-debate on free speech in Paris Tuesday (May 9).
“I will never confuse the current state of affairs in the States with Americans and with American traditions,” he added, “but maybe I need to wait for some better time to go there.”
A prominent European theologian, Ramadan has been barred from traveling to the U.S. since July 2004, for reasons that remain unclear. The State Department revoked his visa after he was interviewed by U.S. consular officials in Geneva.
The Bush administration initially appeared to have revoked a visa for Ramadan to teach at the University of Notre Dame on a U.S. Patriot Act clause, which bans foreigners endorsing or espousing terrorist activity.
But government papers presented at a U.S. District Court hearing in Manhattan last month suggest Ramadan’s visa was revoked for reasons other than the Patriot Act clause.
The hearing responds to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and academics who claim their First Amendment rights have been violated because they cannot invite Ramadan to the U.S. to lecture.
In Paris, Ramadan continued to defend views he ostensibly aired during his Geneva interview _ namely that the war in Iraq had been wrong, and that resistance to the U.S.-led intervention was justified, although not through violent means.
“I’ve always said this in public,” Ramadan said. “So there is nothing hidden about this.”
_ Elizabeth Bryant
Parents Angry After Muslim Girls Get Private Swim Class
MONTREAL (RNS) The decision to close a high school pool so three Muslim girls could take a private swimming class has reignited debate over the place of faith in Quebec’s public institutions.
According to The Toronto Star, the school board argued it was simply respecting the principles of a recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling that approved the wearing of Sikh kirpans (ceremonial daggers) in classrooms.
But parents said the decision by the Commission Scolaire Marie-Victorin school board, with more that 40,000 students in 80 schools, risks encouraging “segregation in the name of religion.”
At issue is the principle known as “reasonable accommodation” for religious views, one that’s increasingly common in a city that’s home to most of Quebec’s immigrants.
The most recent chapter centers on a request from three Muslim students at Antoine-Brossard High School in the suburb of Brossard, who asked to be excused from swimming class because their religion forbids sharing a pool with men.
The board declined, but said the students could take the test, needed to pass the physical education class, under special circumstances.
The pool was closed to all other students on May 5 and tables were placed in front of the windows so the three girls would be shielded from view. A female teacher administered the test, aided by another female school employee.
Despite complaints from parents, some of them Muslim, school board Executive Director Francois Houde told La Presse, a Montreal daily, “This issue is closed,” noting the board is constrained by Canada’s Charter of Rights and court rulings that oblige public institutions to find “a reasonable accommodation” of religious views.
This is the latest incident illustrating Quebec’s recent struggles to reconcile constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms _ especially for minorities _ with the increasing secularization of the province’s once dominant Roman Catholic society.
_ Ron Csillag
Panel Suggests Norway Cut Ties to Lutheran Church
(RNS) A commission appointed by the Norwegian government in 2003 to study the country’s state support of the Lutheran Church system has recommended that the centuries-old bond be broken.
Eighteen of the body’s 20 members supported cutting the ties, created in 1537, between the Church of Norway and the government, according to a report submitted earlier this year to Norway’s minister of culture and church affairs.
Two members opted to keep the status quo with the reigning king and the government having the last word in church affairs, the local paper Vart Land reported.
The commission was comprised of representatives from major political parties, the church and various denominations and religions.
However, 14 of those favoring abolition do not want the tie to be completely broken, instead calling for it to be loosened. A Muslim member of the commission is one of those favoring relaxation.
“I hope that our report will be of help when politicians shall discuss the matter,” commission chairman Kare Gjonnes said at a press conference in the Norwegian capital of Oslo.
The commission noted that the (Evangelical Lutheran) Church of Norway, which counts 86 percent of the country’s 4.5 million inhabitants as members, should no longer be based on the constitution of the country. Instead, the commission said it should be based on a parliamentary act.
The commission also proposed that the church’s general synod should hold the power to appoint bishops and clergy. Currently, that power is held by the king and the government.
Recent polls have indicated that a majority of Norwegians wants to break the tie between church and state. Many believe that the increase in the number of faiths in recent years encourages the call to do away with the structure.
Once a report is submitted to parliament next year, no formal change would occur until at least 2013. Neighboring Sweden broke its state-church tie in 2000.
_ Simon Reeves
House Allows Military Chaplains to Pray According to Their `Conscience’
WASHINGTON (RNS) The House approved language on Thursday (May 11) that allows military chaplains to pray “according to the dictates of the chaplain’s own conscience” as part of a defense spending bill.
The vote comes as religious groups, church-state separationists and military officials have debated the appropriateness of sectarian prayers in settings outside worship services.
“Each chaplain shall have the prerogative to pray according to the dictates of the chaplain’s own conscience, except as must be limited by military necessity, with any such limitation being imposed in the least restrictive manner feasible,” reads a short section within the massive legislation.
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative advocacy group, said Friday on his radio program that he was “very encouraged” and expects “major movement” on the bill later this summer.
A Navy policy issued in February urges chaplains to use inclusive prayers outside worship settings. Beyond chapel services, “religious elements for a command function, absent extraordinary circumstances, should be nonsectarian in nature,” the naval rules read.
Guidelines from the U.S. Air Force, released that same month, said chaplains “will not be required to participate in religious activities, including public prayer, inconsistent with their faiths” but also state that “nondenominational, inclusive prayer or a moment of silence may be appropriate for military ceremonies … when its primary purpose is not the advancement of religious beliefs.”
Critics have said the policies prevent chaplains from praying “in Jesus’ name” wherever they wish, while supporters say nonsectarian prayers are appropriate in a pluralistic setting.
Mikey Weinstein, president of the newly founded Military Religious Freedom Foundation, harshly criticized the House action.
“There is an inescapable irony here, that this bill, which purports to be a `defense authorization,’ not only flagrantly disregards military rules, but also strikes a serious blow to the constitutional oath that every soldier, airman, sailor and marine has sworn to uphold with their lives,” said Weinstein, an Air Force veteran based in Albuquerque, N.M.
_ Adelle M. Banks
AP Religion Writer Richard Ostling Wins Lifetime Achievement Award
(RNS) Richard N. Ostling, a religion reporter for the Associated Press, has been named the 2006 recipient of the Religion Newswriters Association’s lifetime achievement award.
Ostling, who will retire in July, was the unanimous choice of the association’s board of directors, the association announced Wednesday (May 10).
He will continue to write his weekly Bible column after his retirement.
Ostling played trombone in the National Guard band and wrote for Christianity Today magazine before joining the staff of Time magazine in 1969. He wrote 20 cover pieces for the news magazine and did some pioneering work in broadcast journalism by covering religion for CBS radio and working on PBS’ “MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour.” In 1998, he began working at AP, where he helped shape the wire service’s religion coverage.
A former president of the Religion Newswriters Association from 1974-76, Ostling has written or co-written three books, including “Mormon America.” He has been honored with religion newswriting prizes, including the association’s Supple Religion Writer of the Year and Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year awards.
He will receive the William A. Reed/Religion News Service lifetime Achievement Award from the association at its annual convention Sept. 7-10 in Salt Lake City. The prize is funded by Religion News Service and named for William A. Reed, a religion writer for the Tennessean in Nashville, Tenn., who was the association’s first black president.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Court Allows Licenses for Hutterites Without Photos
CALGARY, Alberta (RNS) The Canadian province of Alberta will appeal a recent court ruling that granted members of a religious community the right to be issued driver’s licenses without photographs.
On May 8, the Court of Queen’s Bench ruled that the provincial law requiring photographs on driver’s licenses violated the religious freedoms of a small Hutterite community in Wilson, about 150 miles southeast of Calgary.
Members of the colony believe the Bible prohibits them from being willingly photographed. They cite the second commandment, which forbids graven images of God.
The Hutterites, spiritual cousins of Mennonites and the Amish, believe that since humans were created in God’s image, photographs of people constitute a graven image.
The Hutterites are an Anabaptist Christian sect that fled from Russia to the United States in the late 1800s and finally to Canada in 1918. Today, they number about 26,000 in Canada.
In 2003, Alberta amended its regulations to require that all driver’s licenses require a digital picture.
As a result, the number of Wilson colony residents with valid driver’s licenses dropped from 37 to 15 as old licenses _ which didn’t require a photo _ expired.
Colony members are farmers who use modern, motorized equipment. The government says photos are necessary to prevent fraud or identity theft.
“The Alberta driver’s license that we have in place is known throughout the nation as being the most secure license,” said Government Services Minister George VanderBurg. “The photo is a part of that license.”
Greg Senda, lawyer for the colony, told the Calgary Sun his clients were pleased with the court ruling because had they been forced to comply, the number of drivers would have been reduced to zero, which would have destroyed their way of life.
_ Ron Csillag
Survey Finds Interfaith Cooperation Up Since 9/11
(RNS) Differing faith communities are coming together with more frequency to pray together and serve together than before the Sept. 11 2001 terrorist attacks, a new survey reports.
The survey, sponsored by the Cooperative Congregational Studies Partnership, shows that approximately 22 percent of polled congregations reported participating in an interfaith religious service within the last year. About 37 percent of congregations polled said they had conducted community service with congregations of different faiths.
It’s a sharp rise from the organization’s last survey, conducted in 2000, when 7 percent of congregations reported interfaith worship and 8 percent reported interfaith community service.
David A. Roozen, director of the 20-plus member coalition for interfaith cooperation, credits a post-9/11 world for the change.
“The increased attention being given by communities of faith to interfaith engagements continues to be dramatic,” Roozen said in a statement. “The Sept. 11 upturn in interfaith awareness has been accompanied by a fundamental change in the United States’ perception of the American religious mosaic.”
The partnership represents primarily Christian congregations, but also includes representatives of the Muslim, Jewish and Baha’i faiths. Interfaith participation has been particularly public in the last few months, as leaders of diverse religious bodies have rallied together on issues such as gay marriage, immigration and the genocide in Sudan.
The survey showed that interfaith participation was greatest among “other-than-Christian” bodies. Forty percent of non-Christian congregations had engaged in interfaith worship, and 64 percent had participated in community service, the survey showed.
Among Christian congregations, mainline Protestant churches lead the pack in interfaith worship with 30 percent, followed by Catholic and Orthodox with 28 percent and other Protestant congregations (including evangelical and historically black bodies) with 17 percent.
Fifty-six percent of Catholic and Orthodox congregations polled participated in interfaith community service, followed by 46 percent of mainline Protestant churches and 30 percent of other Protestant churches.
The survey, titled Faith Communities Today 2005, randomly polled 884 congregations in 2005 representing all faith traditions in the United States, the partnership said. A complete report of the group’s survey is slated to be released this August.
_ Piet Levy
Jaroslav Pelikan, Historian of Christianity, Dies at 82
(RNS) Jaroslav Pelikan, whose wide-ranging histories of the treatment of Jesus, Mary and the Bible through the ages won both critical acclaim and a popular readership, died Saturday (May 13) at his home in Hamden, Conn. He was 82.
Pelikan was born on Dec. 17, 1923, in Akron, Ohio, the son of a Lutheran pastor.
His father came from what is now Slovakia and his mother was Serbian. His personal spiritual journey brought him from his Lutheran upbringing _ he graduated from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s Concordia Theological Seminary in 1946 and later taught at Valparaiso University in Indiana _ to the Orthodox Church in America, which he joined in 1998.
In 1962, Pelikan joined the faculty of Yale University. Over a long and prolific career he wrote nearly 40 books, most recently “Interpreting the Bible and the Constitution” in 2004 and “Whose Bible Is It?” in 2005.
“Interpreting the Bible and the Constitution” compares the way the church has interpreted the Bible and the Supreme Court the Constitution. “Whose Bible Is It?” examines the evolution of the Bible from oral tradition to the multitude of translations in the contemporary world.
Among scholars, Pelikan is perhaps best known for his “The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine,” a five-volume series. He has also written on such pivotal figures as Soren Kierkegaard, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Friedrich Nietzsche and Johann Sebastian Bach.
His books “Jesus Through the Centuries” and “Mary Through the Centuries” were best-sellers that won Pelikan a popular following among religious readers.
Pelikan was awarded a number of prizes and honorary doctorates and was appointed to the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities by President Clinton. He also served as president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was the founding chairman of the Council of Scholars at the Library of Congress.
In 2004, the Library chose him to be the co-recipient, along with French philosopher Paul Ricoeur, of the $1 million Kluge Prize in the Human Sciences.
_ David E. Anderson
Quote of the Week: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
(RNS) “By all means, let us argue. But let us remember we are not enemies. … I have not always heeded this injunction myself, and I regret it very much.”
_ Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., addressing graduates of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., on Saturday (May 13). McCain has patched up his relationship with the Rev. Jerry Falwell, chancellor of the university, whom he labeled among “agents of intolerance” during the 2000 presidential campaign season. He was quoted by The Washington Times.
END RNS
