RNS Daily Digest: Also transmitting in `c’ category

c. 2006 Religion News Service Haggard Warns Against Decline of U.S. Religious Freedom SALT LAKE CITY _ National Association of Evangelicals President Ted Haggard warned Friday (Sept. 8) that religious freedom is in danger of being greatly reduced in this country. “I think right now we’re in the beginning stages of the erosion of freedom […]

c. 2006 Religion News Service

Haggard Warns Against Decline of U.S. Religious Freedom


SALT LAKE CITY _ National Association of Evangelicals President Ted Haggard warned Friday (Sept. 8) that religious freedom is in danger of being greatly reduced in this country.

“I think right now we’re in the beginning stages of the erosion of freedom of religion in the United States,” he told more than 200 people gathered for the annual conference of the Religion Newswriters Association. “The challenges are building for more and more limitation of religious speech.”

Haggard, 50, the senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., cited personal examples in which he had spoken out on public issues and had been criticized for doing so as a member of the clergy. He also cited his organization’s intervention in a lawsuit filed by Air Force veteran Mikey Weinstein, who wants to halt what he calls unconstitutional evangelistic practices within the Air Force.

“If this lawsuit prevails, we’ll have increased government supervision of religious speech,” Haggard said.

Weinstein said Haggard has mischaracterized his suit, which he says aims to protect men and women in uniform and on duty from being pressured to change their faith.

“I think Ted Haggard is the Prince of Darkness when it comes to religious freedom,” said Weinstein, reached by phone in Albuquerque, N.M. “He’s the one who’s really trying to suppress religious freedom by ensuring that one particular biblical worldview becomes the official biblical worldview of the U.S. government, and particularly the Department of Defense.”

Haggard warned that if Weinstein’s suit prevails, government officials will have the power to censor or monitor religious speech by chaplains or between service members _ a change that would result in America’s first “established church.”

As leader of the umbrella organization of evangelicals, Haggard said the group’s membership is broader than most people think. He said four recent presidents may best exemplify evangelical diversity _ Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, who are Democrats and have had affiliations with the Southern Baptist Convention, and Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, Republicans with links to mainline Protestant denominations.

Asked about evangelicals’ reputation for a “my way or the highway” view about their beliefs, Haggard said evangelicals can be strong in their beliefs but yet protect the beliefs of others.

“We feel comfortable in a guaranteed right to heaven,” he said. “The test of every person that believes anything for sure is how they treat people who don’t feel the same way.”


_ Adelle M. Banks

Prominent Pastor in Egypt Dies Suddenly

(RNS) The Rev. David Petrescue, the senior pastor of a prominent church in Cairo, Egypt, and a well-known writer for a Christian and Missionary Alliance magazine, died suddenly Tuesday (Sept. 5), church leaders said.

Petrescue, 53, who was affiliated with the Canadian branch of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, began serving the Maadi Community Church in Cairo in 1992. The congregation, which is home to a number of expatriates, grew from 120 to 1,400 members and started other churches, including one for Sudanese Christians living in the city.

Petrescue reportedly fell from the rooftop patio of his nine-story apartment building, said Barrie Doyle, a spokesman for the Toronto-based branch of the Alliance.

He said denominational officials in Canada have been in touch with the Canadian Embassy in Cairo and Maadi Community Church officials about Petrescue’s death.

“The embassy’s working with us to get the full details, but it sounds like he was doing something with the antenna for the television or satellite and then fell over,” Doyle said.

The Cairo church’s Web site said that “there are many rumors in the community about the circumstances and cause of Pastor Dave’s death,” but added that it has been “officially confirmed as accidental.”


Asked about those rumors, Doyle said, “The Canadian Embassy in Cairo and the church officials at the Maadi Church have said that they’re satisfied and so, I guess if they’re satisfied, we are.”

Prior to his work in Cairo, Petrescue served as senior pastor of Unionville Alliance Church in Toronto from 1978 to 1991.

“He was a very prolific writer and wrote a lot of very thoughtful, insightful articles, a very gentle man,” said Doyle.

Petrescue’s articles appeared in Alliance Life magazine, a North American publication of the evangelical denomination. The Christian and Missionary Alliance has more than 3 million members worldwide in about 80 countries.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Milwaukee Archdiocese to Pay $16 Million Abuse Settlement

(RNS) The Archdiocese of Milwaukee will pay $16.65 million to the 10 victims of sexual abuse by two priests who were transferred to California from Milwaukee.

The priests’ records of sexual abuse were covered up when the Archdiocese of Milwaukee transferred them from Wisconsin to California, according to The Associated Press.


A law passed by the California Legislature in 2002 suspended the one-year statute of limitations on clergy sexual abuse cases, allowing the suit to go through.

Nine of the cases were committed by Siegfried Widera, who died in 2003 after jumping from a hotel balcony. The other claim was against Franklyn Becker, who has since left the priesthood.

Countering earlier fears that the settlement would cause bankruptcy, the archdiocese will pay $8.25 million, with insurance covering the rest.

Funding will come from the liquidation of some short- and long-term investments, along with the sale of Archbishop Cousins Catholic Center in Milwaukee and other archdiocese property, according to a release from the archdiocese.

_ Kat Glass

EPA Says New Rules Not Needed on Ritual Use of Mercury

WASHINGTON (RNS) Mercury used in folk and religious rituals is dangerous but increased regulation is not needed, according to a recent report by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Aug. 31 report was prompted by a request in February 2005 from the Mercury Poisoning Project, a private watchdog group based in Brooklyn, N.Y. An unnamed representative from the organization approached the EPA’s Office of Inspector General with concerns about ritualistic use of mercury and allegations that the agency had falsified earlier studies on the substance for a 1993 report.


The EPA denied the charges in the most recent report.

Members of certain Latino and Afro-Caribbean traditions, including Santeria, Palo, Voodoo and Espiritismo, wear mercury in its liquid form in amulets, sprinkle it on the floor at home, put it in candle or oil lamps and add it to detergent or cosmetics, the report said.

Mercury is believed to attract love, luck or wealth; ward off evil; or initiate spells. Uncontained mercury can evaporate at room temperature and become an invisible, odorless toxic gas, potentially causing severe lung, gastrointestinal and nervous system damage if inhaled.

The report did not suggest any new recommendations, but instead said the EPA’s current education outreach and environmental monitoring are sufficient. These programs were started following the 1993 EPA report on ritualistic mercury use.

Increased regulation could drive the practice underground and violate the First Amendment’s provision of religious freedom because the mercury is used in religious and folk rituals, the report argued.

_ Kat Glass

Quote of the Day: Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas

(RNS) “I’m not the Christ. I’m just a donkey the Christ rides on.”

_ Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dallas megachurch pastor, quoted in Texas Monthly.

KRE/PH END RNS

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