c. 2006 Religion News Service
President Vetoes Expansion of Stem Cell Research
(RNS) President Bush exercised the first veto of his presidency Wednesday (July 19) to reject a bill that would have expanded federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Speaking at a White House event that included young children from the embryo program of a Christian adoption agency, Bush said that “these boys and girls are not spare parts.”
The legislation Bush vetoed was passed by the Senate on Tuesday and by the House of Representatives in 2005. It would have lifted restrictions imposed by the president in 2001 on embryonic stem cell research.
While many medical groups argue that the research holds the promise of cures for a variety of illnesses, conservative Christians and the Roman Catholic Church lambaste it because it involves the destruction of human embryos.
“This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others,” the president said. “It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it.”
Neither the Senate nor the House appears to have the two-thirds majority needed to override the president’s veto.
Bush signed a different bill related to stem cells that outlaws research on so-called “fetal farms,” where human pregnancies are initiated solely for scientific purposes.
A third stem cell bill, which the Senate approved unanimously Tuesday, would encourage research into methods of obtaining stem cells with the same properties as embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos. That bill stalled in the House on Wednesday, but the president said he would approve it if it reached his desk.
Because embryonic stem cells can be made into any kind of cell, many scientists consider them to be important steps toward finding cures for a variety of ailments _ from Parkinson’s disease to diabetes.
But the human embryo is essentially destroyed in the process, leading conservative Christians and the Catholic Church to condemn the procedure as tantamount to abortion.
Despite the president’s veto, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said lawmakers will not stop pushing for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.
The president’s veto, Kennedy said, “may delay progress for a few months, maybe even a few years, but … we are coming back to fight this again and again and again and again until it’s achieved.”
_ J. Edward Mendez and Daniel Burke
Evangelical Christians Meet to Show Support for Israel
WASHINGTON (RNS) With rockets still roaring between Israel and southern Lebanon, 3,500 evangelical Christians met in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday (July 18-19) in support of the Jewish nation.
Backed by such prominent Christian conservatives as the Revs. Jerry Falwell and John Hagee, the 5-month-old Christians United for Israel was formed to repay a “debt to the Jewish people” by helping them maintain their foothold in the Middle East, Hagee said at a news conference Wednesday (July 19).
The conference was held amid escalating tensions in the Middle East. Journalists and conference attendees packed into a room in the Capitol across the hall from the Senate floor to hear the group’s message that the nation of Israel needs the support of Christians.
“We are commanded by Isaiah to speak out for Israel,” said Hagee, the minister of an 18,000-member evangelical church in San Antonio. In the context of the growing military conflict there, he added, “we want Israel to have the ability to respond in the fullest measure.”
Recent fighting between the Muslim militant group Hezbollah and Israel has claimed about 300 Lebanese and 30 Israeli lives, the Associated Press and Reuters both reported Wednesday.
Christians United for Israel’s goal is lobbying legislators to support pro-Israeli policies. Its leaders have said they have no plans to try to convert Jews, but rather are acting out of a biblical obligation to protect the state of Israel.
“If you take away the Jewish contribution to Christianity, there would be no Christianity,” Hagee said.
Though the organization was initially met with skepticism in the Jewish community, the Christian group now says that many of those concerns have been allayed. In recent years, evangelicals have shown sympathy for Israel in growing numbers, with this week’s conference one of the most visible and concentrated demonstrations of their support.
“Any group, be it Christian or Muslim or atheist for that matter, that undertakes a righteous effort to support a good cause … we would salute and be very appreciative of any such initiative that they are undertaking,” said Rabbi Basil Herring, executive vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America, during a telephone interview.
_ Peter Sachs
Burned Churches Will Split $368,000
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) Birmingham-Southern College has begun paying out $368,000 donated to help rebuild rural Alabama churches burned by arsonists earlier this year.
Teams of students, faculty and staff from the college have begun delivering checks from BSC’s Alabama Churches Rebuilding and Restoration Fund to 10 churches damaged or destroyed by fire in early February.
“There was a great outpouring from throughout the world,” said Lane Estes, executive assistant to Birmingham-Southern College President David Pollick. “We had donations from $5 to $150,000. We feel good about what was raised.”
The six churches that were completely destroyed by fire will get $53,000 each, a total of $318,000. The remaining $50,000 of the $368,000 fund was divided among four churches that had comparatively minor damage.
The college plans to invite representatives of the churches to attend a dinner on campus this fall.
“I see ongoing relationships coming out of this,” Estes said. “It has provided opportunities for us to reach out and for them to use us as a resource.”
The college announced its fund March 8 when officials learned that two of its students and one of its former students had been arrested for conspiracy and arson in the fires at nine of the churches.
The college also included in the fund a 10th church that was destroyed by fire Feb. 11. It was not linked to the other fires but may have been a copycat crime.
The fund received a $150,000 contribution from a Jackson Hole, Wyo., couple who wished to remain anonymous. “They came and delivered the check,” Estes said. “They didn’t want their name known.”
_ Greg Garrison
Pope Benedict XVI Writing New Book on Jesus
ROME (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI is using his vacation time in the Italian Alps to pen a new book on Jesus Christ, according to a newspaper report.
The report, published in La Repubblica of Rome on Tuesday (July 18) said the pontiff was composing a “theological narrative,” rather than a theoretical treatise, that aimed to recount the role of Christ to a mass audience.
The report said the book aimed to reinforce Roman Catholic belief in Christ as the savior of mankind. That principle was at the heart of the controversial Dominus Jesus, a theological document published by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith while Benedict was heading the office.
Dominus Jesus asserted that salvation was possible only through the mediation of Christ, prompting critics to call the document a major blow to interfaith and ecumenical efforts. Since assuming the papacy, Benedict has pushed a openness to dialogue between world religions.
The book would be the second major text of Benedict’s pontificate. His first work, Deus Caritas Est, was an encyclical that underlined the centrality of love in Christian life.
The pontiff has been on holiday in the northern Alpine village of Les Combes, Italy, since July 11. He returns to the Vatican on July 28.
_ Stacy Meichtry
Report: Church-State Lines Not Always Drawn With Faith-Based Groups
(RNS) An examination of the White House’s faith-based initiative has found that some organizations are not separating religious activities from federally funded services.
At the request of two members of Congress, the U.S. General Accountability Office spent more than a year conducting a review of federal and state agencies related to the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives. The GAO also investigated religious groups that have received government grants.
The report, released Tuesday (July 18), said officials at 26 faith-based organizations that were visited by investigators said they understood that government funds could not pay for religious activities.
But reviewers found “four of the 13 FBOS (faith-based organizations) that offered voluntary religious activities _ such as prayer and worship _ did not appear to understand the requirement to separate these activities in time or location from their program services funded with federal funds.”
One faith-based worker told investigators that she discusses religious matters while providing a service funded by the government if a participant asks and others don’t object. In a few cases, staffers at faith-based groups said they prayed with program beneficiaries if they requested it.
Alyssa J. McClenning, a spokeswoman for the White House faith-based office, said efforts are made to prevent such situations.
“The administration is engaged in continuous efforts to ensure that the regulations governing appropriate use of federal financial assistance are disseminated and understood by grantees,” she said.
But the congressmen who sought the review said the results show management of the fund is in question.
“The Bush administration has failed to develop standards to verify that faith-based organizations aren’t using federal funds to pay for inherently religious activity or to provide services on the basis of religion,” said Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who requested the report with Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.
George Washington University Law School professor Ira Lupu, said the overall report showed no widespread abuse of federal funds but pointed out the need for more monitoring on church-state matters.
“People don’t understand that you couldn’t do a prayer service in a government-funded program, that you had to do it separately,” he said. “People somehow think in those groups so long as it’s voluntary, it’s OK. … That’s not the constitutional law.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
House Approves Bill to `Protect’ Pledge of Allegiance
(RNS) The House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday (July 19) that would prohibit most federal courts _ including the Supreme Court _ from hearing constitutional challenges to the Pledge of Allegiance.
The measure, which was approved 260-167, is part of Republicans’ “American Values Agenda,” designed to galvanize conservative voters before elections in November.
Conservative lawmakers expressed particular concern that the phrase “one nation, under God” be kept in the pledge to reflect the country’s religious history.
“We should not and cannot rewrite history to ignore our spiritual heritage,” said Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., according to The Associated Press. “It surrounds us. It cries out for our country to honor God.”
Critics of the bill argued that it is a congressional overreach that defies the separation of powers between the three branches of government. Moreover, it denies the rights of those Americans who do not believe in monotheism, they say.
In 2002, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the “under God” part of the pledge, when recited in public schools, violates the Constitution by reflecting a governmental endorsement of religion.
The Supreme Court overruled that decision on a technicality, but the California atheist who brought the lawsuit has renewed his legal efforts. The case _ with new plaintiffs _ is again before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance in 1945 with a special provision that requires congressional approval of any changes. In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower asked Congress to amend the pledge to add the phrase “under God.”
It is unclear when the Senate will take up the bill.
_ Daniel Burke
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
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
European Union Approves Stem Cell Funding, Vatican Fumes
LONDON (RNS) The European Union agreed to continue funding embryonic stem cell research, but only after accepting a compromise forced by a coalition of mainly Roman Catholic countries to ban human cloning and projects that destroy human embryos.
The action Monday (July 24) at an EU ministers’ meeting in Brussels cleared the way for adoption of the 25-nation bloc’s $65 billion research and development programs from 2007 through 2013 _ but only with severe strictures in the field of stem cell science.
Germany led a coalition of mostly Roman Catholic EU members, including Italy, Poland, Austria, Lithuania, Slovakia, Luxembourg and Malta that hammered out a deal which forbids allocating European money for research that involves destroying human embryos. Italy, a predominantly Catholic nation, voted for the measure after initially opposing it.
Stem cells can develop into any human tissue and may have medicinal value in the treatment of a range of ailments from cancer and diabetes to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, according to medical scientists. Monday’s action allows the EU to fund research using embryos that would otherwise be discarded, such as those from fertilization clinics.
The European action puts the EU at odds with the United States, where President George W. Bush last Wednesday (July 19) vetoed a bill that would have allowed the expansion of federal funding for stem cell research.
The vote also placed the EU at odds with the Vatican, whose official newspaper blasted the decision.
In its headline, the Vatican daily L’Osservatore Roman referred to the decision as “the macabre product of a twisted sense of progress.”
The Vatican remains fiercely opposed to any stem cell research that results in the destruction of human embryos. Church teaching holds that life begins at the moment of conception.
_ Al Webb and Stacy Meichtry
Quote of the Week: Lebanese Catholic Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir
(RNS) “As Christians, we believe that war is not inevitable; people choose war and people can choose peace. … Blessed are peacemakers, Jesus said.
_ Lebanese Catholic Cardinal Nasrallah P. Sfeir at a special peace Mass at Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Church in Washington, D.C. A transcript of his remarks was provided by the diocese of Washington.
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