c. 2006 Religion News Service
Christian Democrats Launch New Online Community
WASHINGTON (RNS) A new organization of Christian Democrats launched an Internet-based community Tuesday (Sept. 5) that they hope will help counter the influence of religious conservatives.
The Web site, http://www.FaithfulDemocrats.com, will feature online essays by Democratic leaders, provide a forum for liberal Christians to debate, and channel donations and volunteers to Democratic candidates, according to Jesse Lava, the site’s co-founder and executive director.
Conceived after the 2004 elections, in which exit polls suggested “moral values” played a large role in voters’ choices, the Web site will move the “values” debate beyond wedge issues such as abortion and gay marriage that divide religious Democrats, said Lava.
The Web community is the brainchild of Lava and David Wilhelm, a former chairman of the Democratic Party. The site will be co-chaired by Tennessee state Sen. Roy Herron, a former Methodist minister, and the Rev. Romal Tune, founder and president of Clergy Strategic Alliances.
Among political candidates the Web community plans to aid this fall are Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey, who is running for the U.S. Senate, and Ted Strickland, a candidate for governor of Ohio. FaithfulDemocrats, which will be “explicitly Christian,” has no plans to support Democratic candidates of other faiths, Lava said.
Herron said he was skeptical about blending faith and politics and reluctant to speak out until he perceived “the church as a hostage and a whore to a single political party.”
“I’ve been hesitant to be explicit about the faith base of my own politics,” said Herron, who has been a state legislator for 19 years. “I have felt like there is a danger of people in politics seeking to use God rather than be used by God.”
Many of his 185,000 constituents have financial troubles, according to Herron. Helping them succeed is a “faith” issue, he said.
Recent polls suggest that religious Democrats have some work ahead of them. Only 26 percent of Americans believe the Democratic Party is “friendly” to religion, down from 29 percent in 2005, according to a Pew poll released in August. Meanwhile, 47 percent believe the Republican Party is friendly to religion, a drop of 8 percent from last year.
_ Daniel Burke
Christian Musician Driscoll Facing Jail Time for Tax Evasion
(RNS) One of Christian music’s most acclaimed artists could face jail time for failing to report more than $1 million in income to the Internal Revenue Service.
Phil Driscoll, 58, founder of MightyHorn Ministries and recipient of Grammy and Dove awards, denies any intent to “defraud” the government. He blames an error in bookkeeping, Christian Retailing magazine reported.
“I am still trusting the Lord to vindicate me,” he said in a statement to the magazine. “I know in my heart I can stand before God knowing I am innocent of any intent to do wrong.”
A jury convicted Driscoll June 8, and sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 26, according to the Associated Press. Driscoll faces a maximum of five years on each of three counts; jurors acquitted Driscoll on one count.
Federal authorities uncovered the missing funds while investigating an unrelated case. Driscoll’s wife, Lynne, was indicted under the same charge, as was his mother-in-law, Christine Blankenship.
Blankenship, the ministry’s former bookkeeper, died before the trial began.
Will Mackie, assistant U.S. attorney for the eastern district of Tennessee, told Christian Retailing that the Driscolls owe more than $250,000 in back taxes on unreported income between 1996 and 1999.
Driscoll, a trumpeter, toured with Joe Cocker and worked with groups such as Blood, Sweat & Tears and .38 Special before converting to the Christian music scene in 1981.
_ Jason Kane
Indian Muslim Leaders Issue Fatwa Against Life Insurance
CHENNAI, India (RNS) An influential Islamic seminary in India has issued a religious edict telling Muslims not to take out life insurance policies because they violate Islamic law as a “sort of gambling.”
The fatwa has evoked mixed reactions from the Shiite and Sunni sects in the country.
Clerics at the Darul Uloom seminary _ a Sunni institution _ in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh said Muslims should not invest in life insurance because “life is given by Allah, and to insure it or assure it is a crime in the eyes of Allah.”
Maulana Shahid Rehan, a senior cleric at the seminary, told the media Aug. 30 that “a true Muslim should never, ever go for life insurance policies. This is against the wishes of Allah.”
The edict from the seminary said: “Insurance is not permissible because it is a sort of gambling. Moreover, it also involves interest money, which is illegal under Shariah,” or Islamic law.
The edict was issued in early August by Darul Ifta, the supreme body in the town of Deoband, following a query from Saleem Chisti, a Muslim resident of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state. Chisti said he had been approached by a private company to become an insurance agent and to buy insurance policies for himself and his wife. “I thought it prudent to ask Deoband before agreeing to the proposal,” said Chisti, a Sunni Muslim.
While a majority of the Sunni Muslims in the state have generally welcomed the edict, Hafeez Nomani, a devout Sunni and the son of a co-founder of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, called the fatwa “unwarranted and a most regressive step by the (clerics), who seem to have no understanding of the rapid changes taking place around the globe.”
Nomani added that the fatwa was “nothing but a veiled attack on the secular order of India that only underlines the obstinate attitude of the clergy.”
Shiite Muslims in Uttar Pradesh have rejected the fatwa, calling it a “non-issue” for their community. They say the decree is not binding on them because Darul Uloom is a Sunni institution. Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, a Shiite cleric, said insurance is not illegal for Shiite Muslims because there is no edict against it.
_ Achal Narayanan
Elderly Americans Honored for Continuing Social Work
(RNS) Seven Americans who are eschewing the notion that retirement is only for golf games and early-bird specials have been awarded prizes for their efforts.
The first-ever Purpose Prize, created by the San Francisco-based think tank Civic Ventures, is giving $600,000 in awards to people 60 and over who are committed to social advocacy.
“Today’s boomers and older Americans are an extraordinary pool of social and human capital that _ with the right investment _ could yield unprecedented returns for society,” said Marc Freedman, founder and president of Civic Ventures, in a statement. “Instead of being a lifetime achievement award, the Purpose Prize is an investment in what these amazing individuals will do next to solve important problems.”
The Atlantic Philanthropies and the John Templeton Foundation funded the prizes, which were announced Tuesday (Sept. 5). Ten $10,000 grants were also given to 10 finalists for the Purpose Prize.
Seven Americans were awarded Purpose Prizes. Two groups of two people will split the $100,000 award:
_ Conchy Bretos, 61, of Miami runs a consulting company that has helped 40 public-housing projects nationwide bring assisted living to their residents. Bretos was previously Florida’s assistant secretary for Aging and Adult Services.
_ Lyme, Conn. resident Charles Dey, 75, founded Start on Success, a program within the National Organization on Disability that provides internships and mentors to predominantly minority high school students who have physical and mental disabilities.
_ Former assistant surgeon general Marilyn Gaston, 67, and Gayle Porter, 60, a former child psychologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, founded Prime Time Sister Circles, a support group and health class for black women. Both women live in Bethesda, Md.
_ Former Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr., 67, is the director of Amachi, a nonprofit group supporting children who have one or both parents in jail, on parole or under supervision.
_ Los Angeles resident Judea Pearl, 70, a UCLA computer science professor and the father of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, has joined with Akbar Ahmed, 63, a professor of Islamic studies at American University in Washington, D.C., to speak nationwide about religious tolerance.
_ Kat Glass
Quote of the Day: Conservative commentator Pat Buchanan
(RNS) “Those of us on the right have been losing ground since the 1970s and ’80s. Can we ultimately win? I think you would need a reconversion of the country to a traditionalist, Christian point of view _ and I don’t see that coming.”
_ Conservative Pat Buchanan, author of the new book “State of Emergency,” discussing with Time magazine his belief that conservatives will lose the culture wars.
KRE/PH END RNS
