c. 2006 Religion News Service

American Muslims and Arab-Americans Rip Rice and Rumsfeld

(RNS) The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee filed a federal lawsuit Monday (July 24) against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, claiming that the two officials failed to protect American citizens in Lebanon.

According to an ADC press release, the lawsuit alleges that Rice and Rumsfeld “placed U.S. citizens in peril by not taking all possible steps to secure the safety and well-being of U.S. citizens in Lebanon.”

Several Americans who recently escaped from Lebanon added their name to the suit, which also asks the federal court to order Rice and Rumsfeld to request a cease-fire and stop shipments of military equipment to Israel while the remaining U.S citizens are evacuated. The White House has thus far avoided calls from the Lebanese government, several European governments and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for a cease-fire.

According to the State Department, as many as 25,000 American citizens were in Lebanon when Israel launched jet and artillery assaults that have killed more than 300 Lebanese civilians and destroyed much of the country’s infrastructure, according to news reports. On Monday, the State Department’s Web site reported that approximately 12,400 Americans have been moved out of Lebanon since July 16.

“We believe that we’ve managed to do a very good job of organizing an effort to get people out of the country under some very difficult circumstances, in cooperation with the Department of Defense,” State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Monday at a press briefing.

Israel attacked Lebanon’s south after Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others during a July 12 cross-border raid.

A Pentagon spokesman declined to comment on the suit, which was filed in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council, a national advocacy group, is also upset at the secretary of state for not including a Muslim in her delegation now in the Middle East discussing the crisis.

“An American Muslim participating in the delegation is critical to articulating to all players in the conflict that the administration recognizes the importance and contributions of the American Muslim Community in developing solutions to this crisis,” said Salam Al-Marayati, MPAC’s executive director. “It’s disappointing to see that the administration did not make it a priority to include such a voice.”

_ Omar Sacirbey

Methodists Join Roman Catholics, Lutherans in Ecumenical Leap

ROME (RNS) Methodist churches took a key step toward mending relations with the Vatican, adding their approval to an interfaith accord that aims to repair divisions dating back to the 16th century Protestant Reformation.

On Sunday (July 23), the World Council of Methodists, a body representing more than 65 million faithful, met in Seoul, South Korea, and signed the “Joint Declaration on Justification.” That document, signed by the Vatican and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999, aimed to settle disagreements over “justification” _ the issue of whether salvation is God-given or earned through good works.

That question was at the center of a 16th-century debate that eventually sparked the Protestant Reformation. The joint declaration attempted to heal the rift by stating that salvation was a gift from God that reflected good works. A statement from World Methodist Council on Sunday said the group welcomed the agreement with “great joy.”

“It is our deep hope that in the near future, we shall also be able to enter into closer relationships with Lutherans and the Roman Catholic Church,” the statement said.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, the Vatican’s head of ecumenical relations, said Sunday’s agreement was “one of the most significant dates in the history of our churches.”

_ Stacy Meichtry

Former Disciples Moderator Chosen for New York City Congregation

(RNS) A Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) pastor who stepped down from leadership positions after charges of plagiarism has been chosen as the new minister of a New York City congregation.

The Rev. Alvin O. Jackson, former pastor of National City Christian Church in Washington and a former denominational moderator, will begin his role as senior minister of Park Avenue Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) on Sept. 17, the church announced Sunday (July 23).

In his written statement to the New York congregation, Jackson discussed his past and his hopes for the future.

“At a period in my life when I was overextended, overcommitted, fatigued, burned-out, struggling with depression and a lowering of my self-esteem and self-worth, I used some materials without attribution over a period of several weeks from a colleague here in New York,” he said. Jackson said that the plagiarized material came from Thomas K. Tewell, former pastor of Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church.

After a period of reflection that followed his 2004 resignation from the Washington church, Jackson said, “I think that I am a better person, a better preacher, certainly a healthier person because of that experience.”

In the fall of 2003, after The Washington Post wrote of Jackson’s use of others’ sermons without crediting them, Jackson took a leave of absence as moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) days before he was to lead sessions at his denomination’s General Assembly.

The leaders of the New York church hope Jackson’s range of experiences, including his leadership of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tenn., prior to his Washington pastorate, will benefit their congregation.

“We have appreciated Dr. Jackson’s candor about the challenges he has faced in his ministry, not simply in the past few years, but even earlier in his ministry when he managed the explosive growth at Mississippi Boulevard,” said Melissa Little, chairwoman of Park Avenue’s search committee.

Under Jackson’s leadership the Memphis church grew to more than 7,800 making it the fastest-growing church in its denomination in North America.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Bankruptcy Judge Says Catholic Portland Archdiocese Can Protect Fund

(RNS) A federal bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday (July 20) that the Portland Archdiocese cannot be forced to liquidate a $36 million endowment fund to pay priest accusers.

Judge Elizabeth Perris agreed with church lawyers that the fund is off-limits because it is a trust set up for charitable purposes.

The decision is a victory for the archdiocese, which two years ago became the first Catholic diocese in the United States to seek bankruptcy protection from priest abuse lawsuits. Dioceses in Spokane, Wash., and Tucson, Ariz., followed.

Although attorneys for priest accusers claim the archdiocese has hundreds of millions in real estate and cash, church lawyers have said that most of the assets are held in trust and cannot be used to pay claims.

“The Archdiocese of Portland is pleased the bankruptcy court recognized that the Perpetual Endowment Fund is a charitable trust that can only be used in accordance with the provisions establishing the trust,” said a statement released by the archdiocese.

Late last year, Perris ruled that a test group of nine churches and one school could be sold, a major victory for priest accusers. The archdiocese appealed, and a federal judge is expected to review that ruling in the fall.

A federal judge in Spokane, Wash., last month ruled that churches were off-limits in that bankruptcy case because the diocese held them in trust for the parishes.

The Portland archdiocese has proposed that about $40 million would be enough to settle about 125 pending priest-abuse claims.

Lawyers for priest accusers have not said how much it will cost, but they oppose any cap on payments, saying the church has more than enough money to pay all claims.

_ Ashbel S. Green

Islamic Charity Will Get Literature Back

(RNS) Federal officials on Friday (July 21) agreed to return 155 cartons of religious literature seized two years ago from an Islamic charity based in Ashland, Ore., according to the charity’s attorney.

“They are turning all the materials over to me. No strings attached,” said Thomas Nelson, a Portland attorney representing the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation.

A Treasury spokesman declined to comment.

Nelson filed suit earlier this year on behalf of Al-Haramain, claiming that the government’s refusal to release the materials and allow their dissemination violated the charity’s First Amendment rights.

In February 2004, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control seized the assets of Al-Haramain while investigating whether the charity was involved in terrorism. In September 2004, Treasury officials designated Al-Haramain a global terrorist organization, accusing it of sending money to Islamic fighters in Chechnya.

Al-Haramain officials have denied any wrongdoing and say the charity operated a prayer house and distributed Islamic literature to prison inmates.

As part of the asset seizure, treasury officials removed thousands of volumes of religious literature from the group’s Ashland office.

A separate lawsuit filed earlier this year accuses the government of illegally eavesdropping on phone calls between U.S. Al-Haramain lawyers and a director in Saudi Arabia in 2004.

Nelson, who represents Al-Haramain in both cases, said he plans to give away the literature just as his client did.

“My goal is to do what was intended and give it to anyone who is interested,” Nelson said. “Friend or foe.”

_ Ashbel S. Green

Company Calls on Catholic Faith Through Ringtones

(RNS) A Denver-based company is making use of cell phones to communicate the Catholic faith. Subscribers to Catholic Mobile can receive text messages with the Gospel reading of the day, a daily prayer and the saint of the day.

Users can decorate their screen with wallpaper of Jesus and Catholic luminaries such as Mother Teresa and John Paul II.

Subscribers can download their favorite church songs as ringtones, such as “Gloria Hallelujah” or “Ave Maria.”

“Cell phones have become more than just a means of communication, but a daily life device,” said Alejandro Bermudez, spokesperson for Catholic Mobile.

The company plans to extend its Spanish-language service, Movil Catolico, to users of all cell phone providers in the U.S., Canada, Argentina and Mexico on July 29.

Catholic Mobile is the joint effort of the San Diego-based Missionaries of Faith Foundation, which seeks innovative ways to express the Catholic faith and Denver-based JP2 Media, which specializes in creating Catholic media.

“The Catholic community looks for new ways to remain centered on God and our Catholic faith as well as to bring the message of peace and hope to as many people as possible,” said Alan Napleton, president of Missionaries of Faith Foundation, in a statement.

Catholic Mobile doesn’t expect its subscribers to be exclusively Catholic, since songs that cross denominational lines like “Amazing Grace” are included in the ringtone collection. Bermudez hopes that non-Catholics will use the saint of the day feature. “It’s a great resource to hear about the heroes of the Catholic Church, which are pretty much universal,” he said.

_ J. Edward Mendez

Clergyman Mentioned in King Letter Dies at 87

(RNS) The Rev. George M. Murray, a former Episcopal bishop of the Alabama Diocese and one of the clergymen whose 1963 appeal for civil rights activists to refrain from demonstrating led to Martin Luther King’s response, “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” died July 14 at his home in Fairhope, Ala. He was 87.

Murray and seven other Birmingham, Ala., clergymen, in a statement dated April 12,1963, asked black residents of Birmingham to withdraw support from demonstrations, which King led, and work through the courts and government for change. The leaders said the demonstrations were unwise and untimely.

“When rights are consistently denied, a cause should be pressed in the courts and in negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets,” the statement said. “We appeal to both our white and Negro citizenry to observe the principles of law and order and good sense.”

King responded four days later with “Letter from Birmingham Jail,” defending civil disobedience.

As the bishop of the Diocese of Alabama, Murray was criticized by both sides of the civil rights movement. The Rev. S. Albert Kennington, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Mobile, Ala., said some thought Murray was too involved and others thought he needed to do more.

Murray’s wife, Margaret MacQueen Murray, fought for civil rights and integration and drew death threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

“It was a very painful time for him,” she said recently. “My husband was a very strong, quiet, wonderful man who worked quietly for integration here and helped to integrate many things in Alabama.”

Murray was elected bishop coadjutor of Alabama in 1959. He became bishop of Alabama in 1969, and in 1971, became bishop of the Central Gulf Coast Diocese. He was elected vice president of the House of Bishops in 1978 and retired in 1981.

_ Toraine Norris

Quote of the Day: Gene Herr, pharmacist who was fired in Denton, Texas

(RNS) “This was the worst-case scenario. This was the hardest decision I ever made. The heinousness of a rape is a horrible thing. But I don’t think you should punish a child for the sins of the father.”

_ Pharmacist Gene Herr, who was fired by a Denton, Texas, drugstore in 2004 after he refused to fill a rape victim’s morning-after pill prescription. He was quoted in a recent interview with The Washington Post.

DSB/JL END RNS