c. 2006 Religion News Service

Sept. 11 Conspiracy Book From Presbyterian Publisher Raises Eyebrows

(RNS) A book published by the denominational press of the Presbyterian Church (USA) poses provocative questions about Sept. 11 and has raised the hackles of church conservatives.

Westminster John Knox Press, a division of Presbyterian Publishing Corp., is printing 7,500 copies of “Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11,” according to Davis Perkins, the corporation’s president and publisher. It was officially released during the second week of July, Perkins said.

The book is written by David Ray Griffin, a former professor of theology who has written two other books that posit a conspiratorial link between the U.S. government and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

In the book Griffin argues that “the Bush administration planned the events of Sept. 11 so they could provide justification for going to war in Afghanistan and Iraq,” according to an article on Christianity Today’s Web site.

While the Louisville, Ky.-based Presbyterian Publishing Corp. has strong ties to the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is separately incorporated and receives no funding from the church, Perkins said. The publisher’s nine-member board of directors is appointed by the church’s General Assembly, but editors have wide latitude in the books they choose, Perkins said.

Under the John Knox Press imprint, “we have historically published thousands of books on a variety of topics and on popular culture and no one ever identifies those books as the official position of PCUSA,” Perkins said.

PPC said Wednesday (Aug. 2) that it would post a lengthy explanation titled “Why We Published This Book” on its Web site.

Still, negative reaction to the book among Presbyterians like Toby Brown, a pastor in Cuero, Texas, is heating up cyberspace.

“Why, out of all the things they could be publishing, would the church choose this?” Brown asked in an interview. “What business does the church have getting involved in theories about 9/11?”

Brown predicted “this is going to be a big deal” and said many Presbyterians gathered at blogs and chatrooms are planning a boycott of the publisher. “It makes it look like our church might be endorsing the book’s ideas, or at least close to that kind of notion, and that would be false,” he said. Brown said he has not read the book.

Perkins said the book is a “serious-minded treatment of the issues,” and of “how Christians may incorporate (the 9/11 attacks) into their faith lives.”

_ Daniel Burke

ELCA Membership Continues Downward Slide

(RNS) Continuing a 14-year slide, membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America dropped in 2005 to just over 4.85 million baptized members, according to a church news release.

The ELCA’s baptized membership declined by 79,663 in 2005, or 1.62 percent, the largest such drop in at least 15 years, according to a report issued Tuesday (Aug. 1) by the Rev. Lowell Almen, the church’s secretary.

Since 1990, the number of baptized members in the ELCA has declined by about 390,000, the report said. The last time the church reported an increase in baptized members was 1991, according to the church news release.

The church also lost about 48,000 “communing and contributing” members _ a category that indicates regular active participation in the church _ falling to approximately 2.26 million in 2005.

Church income, however, continued to grow, according to a separate ELCA news release. Total receipts grew by almost $76 million to $2.7 billion in 2005, the church reported.

Of the total 2005 congregational income, about $1.85 billion was received through offerings, a 2.6 percent jump from 2004. In 2005, ELCA congregations held about $1.88 billion in savings, investments, endowments and memorial funds, according to the church.

“Mission support” _ money passed from congregations to the ELCA’s 65 synods and to church headquarters to support national and international ministries _ decreased slightly in 2005 to about $132 million.

The decline in church membership was due to a decrease in the number of new members, the disbanding of 31 congregations and a “roll cleaning” in many congregations, the church reported. “Roll cleaning,” or removing inactive members, resulted in a drop of 208,436 members in 2005.

Twenty-two congregations withdrew from the church in 2005 and one congregation was removed. Average Sunday worship attendance also decreased in 2005, to about 1.43 million, the church reported.

_ Daniel Burke

Congress Approves Transfer of San Diego Cross to Federal Control

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Senate passed legislation Tuesday (Aug. 1) to transfer ownership of Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego to the federal government, the latest twist in an escalating battle over the legality of a publicly displayed cross.

The House previously passed the bill; the measure now awaits a signature from President Bush, whose administration has supported it.

“The people of San Diego have clearly expressed their desire to keep the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in its present form. Judicial activism should not stand in the way of the people,” said a statement from the White House.

The 29-foot cross currently sits on city property as part of a veterans memorial. The bill passed by Congress would transfer control of the property to the federal government.

The battle over the towering cross has lasted more than 15 years after an atheist Vietnam War veteran, Philip Paulson, filed a lawsuit that said the cross’s placement violated the separation of church and state.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a stay in the case, which suspended a lower court decision that would have forced the city to remove the cross from public land or risk a $5,000-per-day fine.

The American Center for Law and Justice hopes future legislation would protect the 29-foot cross from being torn down.

“The Senate action clears the way for a legislative solution to keep the Mt. Soledad cross in place,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the ACLJ, in a statement.

_ J. Edward Mendez

Quote of the Day: White House Press Secretary Tony Snow

(RNS) “The president believes in the forgiveness of sins for all who seek forgiveness.”

_ White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, answering a reporter’s question Tuesday (Aug. 1) on whether President Bush thinks actor/director Mel Gibson should be forgiven for his anti-Semitic remarks during a traffic stop.

KRE/PH END RNS