c. 2007 Religion News Service

Survey Says Canadians Have Most Tolerant Attitudes Toward Muslims

TORONTO (RNS) Canadians have the most tolerant attitudes toward Muslims among citizens of 23 Western countries, according to a new international study that measured levels of Islamophobia in each nation.

More than 32,000 respondents from 19 European countries, plus Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, were asked the question: “Would you like to have a person from this group as your neighbour?”

Of the nearly 2,000 people surveyed in Canada, only 6.5 percent said they would not like to live beside a Muslim. Respondents in Greece (20.9 percent), Belgium (19.8), Norway (19.3) and Finland (18.9) were most likely to answer “No” to the question.

Results in the United States and Britain were 10.9 and 14.1 percent, respectively. The average percentage of negative responses in all Western countries was 14.5 percent.

The study, called “Love Thy Neighbor,” was co-authored by economists Vani Borooah of the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland and John Mangan of the University of Queensland in Australia.

“There can be little doubt that, in the past decade or so in Western countries, there is an increasing awareness of, and a hardening of attitudes towards, people who are `different,”’ the authors state.

Less than 5 percent of respondents from Canada said they wouldn’t want to have a neighbor who is Jewish, an immigrant or someone of a different race.

Gays were more likely than any other group to be shunned. Just over 17 percent of Canadians said they would not want a gay neighbor. The overall percentage for Western nations was 19.6 percent.

The poll stands in contrast to a survey conducted in Canada in January, which found that only 53 percent of respondents had favorable opinions of Arabs, the lowest total among all other ethnic groups listed.

_ Ron Csillag

Southern Baptists Defend Agency After Critical Book Published

(RNS) Former and current officials of a Southern Baptist missions agency have expressed “sadness” and defended its management policies after a former employee published a book alleging financial mismanagement.

Mary Kinney Branson, a former editing and marketing director at the North American Mission Board, wrote “Spending God’s Money: Extravagance and Misuse in the Name of Ministry,” which was published in January by Father’s Press.

Branson’s book claims there were management problems and misplaced priorities at the Alpharetta, Ga.-based missions agency. She cited expenditures such as $12,000 a month on outside public relations firms and a $3,700 trip to the London premiere of the “Chronicles of Narnia” movie by former agency president Robert “Bob” Reccord and his wife.

Questions of mismanagement were raised last February in a report in The Christian Index, a biweekly newspaper that covers Georgia Baptists. Trustees of the missionary board investigated the newspaper’s claims and recommended more stringent controls, which have been adopted for the agency.

Reccord, who resigned last April after the newspaper and trustees’ reports, responded to the book by saying, “I am deeply saddened and grieved by the accusing and attacking tone which I understand it carries.” He said the agency was “focused on doing strategic ministry as effectively and efficiently as possible” during his nine years as president.

The mission board issued a statement saying some of the claims in Branson’s book are based on “her personal opinion, or hearsay.” It notes that the agency models the “type of accountability” that Branson said was needed.

Mike Ebert, an agency spokesman, said a trustee board search committee is working to find Reccord’s successor.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Churches Join to Make Sure New Orleans Teens Can Be Confirmed

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Eight Catholic church parishes are banding together to ensure that public high school students complete the requirements for Confirmation after classes were disrupted by Hurricane Katrina.

Terry Manieri, a deacon at St. John Bosco Church in Harvey, La., and his wife, Dottie, are spearheading the effort.

“After Katrina, a lot of parishes lost facilities and teachers and catechists, so we started brainstorming last summer … and started the program in August,” Terry Manieri said. “We’ve been working together in pooling our resources and teachers.”

Manieri said there are about 60 ninth- and 10th-graders enrolled in the program, which coincides with the school year from August to May. Classes are held on the first Saturday of each month.

According to Sarah Comiskey, associate director of communications for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, the age requirement for Confirmation was changed in the 2003-04 school year from eighth grade to 11th grade in order to obtain uniformity across the archdiocese.

Manieri said the completion of the sacrament of Confirmation is a pivotal step in a Catholic teen’s life.

“Confirmation completes the sacraments of the initiation into the Catholic Church,” he said. “It’s a sign of their deepening faith and it’s the time when they make the choice.”

“At baptism their parents or godparents say they want the child to be a part of the church,” he said. “This is a time when they `confirm’ their desire to be a member of the Catholic Church.”

_ Kim Gritter

Quote of the Day: Evangelicals for Social Action Founder Ron Sider

(RNS) “If everyone from Jerry Falwell to Jim Wallis to Rick Warren wants to identify as evangelical, it tells you something about the attractiveness and good character of the term.”

_ Ron Sider, founder of Evangelicals for Social Action, discussing his decision to keep using the word “evangelical” to define himself. He was quoted by USA Today.

KRE/RB END RNS