c. 2007 Religion News Service
D. James Kennedy Shutters Two Political Centers
WASHINGTON (RNS) Two conservative political centers founded by the ailing religious broadcaster D. James Kennedy have been closed, but one has reopened under new ownership.
Kennedy’s Florida-based Coral Ridge Ministries closed the Center for Reclaiming America and the Washington-based Center for Christian Statesmanship last month, spokesman John Aman said. He said the ministry’s board reached the April 26 decision in an attempt to “refocus ourselves as a media ministry.”
Two weeks after it closed, the Center for Christian Statesmanship reopened under the auspices of Kennedy’s Evangelism Explosion International, George Roller, the center’s executive director, said Thursday (May 10).
From its headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Kennedy’s Coral Ridge Ministries has aired sermons from his Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church on “The Coral Ridge Hour” television program and the “Truths That Transform” radio program.
Both programs have been broadcasting recycled sermons ever since Kennedy, 76, suffered a cardiac arrest on Dec. 28. He returned home for the first time on Saturday (May 5).
“It’s not a consequence of Dr. Kennedy’s ill health,” Aman said of the board’s decision. “It was just a decision made in order to drive the ministry forward as effectively as possible.”
The two centers had different focuses. The Center for Reclaiming America fostered grass-roots action among conservative Christians, sponsoring an annual conference that served as a “boot camp” for social involvement. Aman declined to disclose how many employees of that center had been terminated. He said no decision has been made about whether there will be a conference next year.
The Center for Christian Statesmanship has worked to evangelize and nurture the faith of Capitol Hill employees, in part by hosting monthly “Politics & Principle” luncheons. Roller said his work will now include linking with Washington-area churches to increase their outreach to members of Congress and their staffs.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Jehovah’s Witnesses Settle Sexual Abuse Cases
(RNS) Sixteen current or former Jehovah’s Witnesses have settled nine lawsuits in which they said they were sexually abused as children by Jehovah’s Witnesses members or leaders.
The settlements between the alleged victims and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York _ details of which have been kept secret _ were announced Thursday (May 10) by a watchdog group that has worked for five years on lawsuits that accuse the religious group of not adequately protecting children.
“For once, we have the church stepping up to the plate and having to settle with these victims,” said William H. Bowen, founder of SilentLambs.org, a support group that focuses on victims who claim to have been molested by Jehovah’s Witnesses. “To me, it’s a vindication for the abuse survivors.”
Bowen, who tracks abuse cases, discovered that one case had been settled and continued researching until he discovered several others had as well, mostly in mid-February. Most of the cases were in California, but one in Texas and one in Oregon also were settled.
Mario Moreno, the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ associate general counsel, confirmed Friday that nine lawsuits involving a total of 16 plaintiffs had been settled.
When asked the total amount of the settlements, he said, “I’m not able to comment on any of the specifics,” citing “a confidentiality agreement.”
Bowen, of Paducah, Ky., called that agreement a “bittersweet” outcome.
“Even though they’re vindicated and they’re going to be compensated … they can’t tell anybody about it,” he said.
Even so, Bowen considered this a significant legal victory for the plaintiffs. “It’s the largest group of people that they have settled with _ as far as child abuse is concerned _ at one time,” he said.
Moreno would only say that “it certainly is unusual for us to have a number of cases.”
In a brief statement, the religious body said: “We are pleased to see this matter resolved.” The statement “regarding January-February 2007 settlement of child abuse cases” cites the New Testament book of Romans about hating “what is wicked” and says child abuse falls in that category.
“As an organization, we will continually strive to educate families and congregations with sound Scriptural teachings that they can use to protect their children from child molesters,” the statement said. “And we will continue to do our utmost to protect children from this horrible crime and sin.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Methodist Bishops Table Policy Change on Homosexuality
(RNS) United Methodist bishops have tabled a proposal that would have loosened restrictions in the church’s mostly conservative policies on homosexuality.
The bishops, meeting outside Myrtle Beach, S.C., April 29-May 4, decided to keep the church’s current policy _ adopted in 1972 _ intact. It calls homosexual activity “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
A bishops’ subcommittee had proposed language saying the church does not condone sexual activity “outside the bonds of a faithful, loving and committed relationship between two persons; marriage, where legally possible.”
The bishops’ administrative committee tabled the measure because it “would not have been for the betterment of the church at this time,” said Oklahoma Bishop Robert Hayes, the committee’s chairman, according to United Methodist News Service.
Because the issue was tabled, it never received a full vote by the assembled bishops, and it will not be presented to the church’s General Conference meeting, set for summer 2008 in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Methodists, like most other mainline denominations, have been divided by the issue of homosexuality, but have turned down several efforts in recent years to overturn the current policy.
The proposed resolution said current policy “is based on highly questionable theology and biblical understanding and causes profound hurt to thousands of loyal United Methodist members and potential members.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Wartime Pope Moves Closer to Sainthood
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Pius XII, the controversial pontiff during World War II, was given the green light for beatification by a Vatican committee on Tuesday (May 8), taking him a step closer to sainthood.
Dogged by criticism that he did not do enough to combat the Holocaust, Pius has been the subject of debate since his candidacy for sainthood was launched in 1967.
But on Tuesday, a committee of 15 cardinals and 15 bishops voted to recognize his “heroic virtues,” a crucial requirement for beatification, which is a prerequisite for sainthood. The decree now awaits the signature of Pope Benedict XVI and the approval of a miracle attributed to Pius before he is formerly beatified.
The pope rarely turns down an opinion forwarded by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and Italian media reported Wednesday that more than one miracle attributed to Pius’ intercession had already been recorded.
Defenders of Pius, who served as pope from 1939 to 1958, have claimed he kept quiet to avoid provoking the Nazis to greater crimes against Jews.
Pius has not been fast-tracked to sainthood like John Paul II, although Monsignor Rino Fisichella, a member of the committee, spoke Wednesday of “the life of faith, charity, hope, prudence and great courage that Pius XII had and demonstrated.”
Benedict, meanwhile, threw his support behind another candidate for sainthood on May 9 while flying to Brazil. Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was gunned down in 1980 in El Salvador, “deserved” beatification, the pope said.
_ Tom Kington
Tammy Faye Messner Bids Her Fans Goodbye
WASHINGTON (RNS) Down to 65 pounds and unable to continue treatment for cancer, Tammy Faye Messner, one of the most colorful figures in religious broadcasting, has posted a goodbye letter to fans on her Web site.
“The doctors have stopped trying to treat the cancer and so now it’s up to God and my faith,” Messner wrote Tuesday (May 8) on http://www.tammyfaye.com. “And that’s enough!”
She asked supporters to continue praying for her. Messner’s daughter, Tammy Sue, and her friends are staying with her while husband Roe Messner builds churches.
Messner, the former wife of disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker, was first diagnosed with colon cancer in 1996. In 2004, she announced that the disease had spread to her lungs.
“To those of you who are suffering as I … “don’t give up”!! Make up your mind you’re going to live!!” wrote Messner.
Messner and Bakker were household names in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s. Bakker built the Praise The Lord (PTL) club into a multimillion dollar cable television empire. Messner co-hosted the flagship show, on which she would sing and emotionally ask viewers to open up their hearts to Jesus. She was well known for her heavy makeup, fake eyelashes and tearful pleas.
Financial scandals landed her ex-husband in prison for five years and brought down the television network that raked in an estimated $130 million annually at its peak in the 1980s. Messner divorced Bakker and married Roe Messner, a religious writer and church contractor.
Messner has been open throughout her illness, trying to inspire others to stay faithful during their own tough times.
_ Philip Turner
Churches Launch `New Sanctuary’ Movement for Immigrants
CHICAGO (RNS) A coalition of faith-based groups on Wednesday (May 9) launched a “New Sanctuary Movement” to provide shelter for illegal immigrants and boost support for immigration reform.
By connecting immigrants who are facing deportation orders with host sanctuaries, the movement aims to provide a broad range of support for these families. Unlike their counterparts in the original 1980s Sanctuary Movement, many of today’s immigrants have a physical shelter but still need financial, legal and spiritual support.
Immigration activists and faith leaders celebrated the launch with events in Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, San Diego and Seattle.
The movement is uniting Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and Muslim traditions. Rabbi Laurie Coskey, an organizer and executive director of the Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice in San Diego, said that immigration reform has a key appeal with faith-based groups. “Every tradition has the message about how we treat human beings because the spark of God lives in every person,” Coskey said in an interview.
She added that the cause especially resonates with Jews, explaining that the Judaism “really clearly states the command for Jews to interact with the world in an activist way because of our experience of being strangers.”
The movement currently includes two families in New York City, two in Los Angeles and one in San Diego that have been connected with “sanctuary churches.” Churches in 28 cities nationwide are in the process of being linked with illegal immigrant families, Coskey said.
Coskey said that it would be up to individual churches whether to bar the door if immigration officials came to deport immigrants harbored within a sanctuary.
_ Kat Glass
Survey Detects Hostility Toward Evangelicals Among Professors
(RNS) About half of nonevangelical university faculty acknowledge that they have cool or unfavorable feelings about evangelical Christians, a new survey shows.
A survey released Monday (May 7) by the San Francisco-based Institute for Jewish & Community Research found that 53 percent said they have “cool/unfavorable feelings” toward evangelical Christians. In comparison, 30 percent said they had favorable feelings toward them, 9 percent were neutral, 4 percent said they didn’t know and 4 percent refused to answer.
Researchers found this portion of the findings to be the “most troubling” result of the survey.
“Faculty do not feel positively about evangelicals at all,” concluded Gary A. Tobin and Aryeh K. Weinberg, co-authors of “Religious Beliefs & Behavior of College Faculty.”
“In fact, they feel less positively about evangelicals than about any other religious group. The combination of responses … raises serious concerns about how evangelical Christian faculty and students are treated or feel they are treated on campus. The levels of faculty disapproval are high enough to raise questions about the overall climate on campus.”
One-third of non-Mormon faculty reported unfavorable views of Mormons. Views about other religious groups were more positive, with Muslims getting a 22 percent unfavorable rating, followed by atheists (18 percent), Catholics (13 percent), persons not practicing any religion (10 percent), nonevangelical Christians (9 percent), Buddhists (4 percent) and Jews (3 percent).
Faculty from any particular group were excluded from rating other members of their faith.
Results of the online survey were based on a sample of 1,269 faculty members at 712 four-year colleges and universities. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Anglican Leaders Fuming Over `No Smoking’ Signs
LONDON (RNS) Senior Anglican clerics have blasted government plans to force churches and cathedrals in Britain to post “no smoking” signs at their entrances starting July 1.
The move is part of a nationwide ban on smoking in public places _ including places of worship _ imposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government.
Anglican reaction has been swift and furious. The Very Rev. Colin Slee, dean of Southwark Cathedral in London, described the government’s action as “nonsense.”
“We get all sorts of things,” the dean told journalists, including “the modern custom of men wearing hats indoors, people wanting to bring their pets in, or even wanting to eat their ice cream cones (or) their hamburgers,” all of which church stewards are well trained to handle.
But, Slee said, “one is bound to ask, when did you last hear of somebody smoking in church?”
Bishop of Fulham John Broadhurst, also in London, fumed that “the whole thing is stark raving mad,” and described it as “another example of the aggressive nanny state” that Britain has become.
The Department of Health, which is supervising imposition of the new ban, has insisted that religious institutions abide by the new law. It said providing any exemption, as the clerics have requested, “would have created a dangerous precedent.”
But Slee suggested that churches could be in for a rough time. He said he knew of one fellow dean who had already been warned by his local government authority that “we’ll close you down if you don’t put up the sign.”
“All (church) deans have received a very formal letter and been instructed that it’s mandatory to put up these signs,” he told BBC radio.
Slee told the BBC the new law will target “not just churches, but also synagogues, temples and mosques as well.”
_ Al Webb
Mosque Where Four Suspects Prayed Rejects Extremism
PAYMYRA, N.J. (RNS) The suspects in an alleged plot to attack Fort Dix have been described by federal authorities as “radical Islamists,” but the leader of the mosque where four of the men worshipped said Islam has no room for violent extremists.
During his Friday (May 11) prayer service sermon, which he entitled “Islam: The Middle and Moderate Path,” Islamic Center of South Jersey trustee Ismail Badat told about 150 worshippers that their religion “denounces terrorism.”
“Islam teaches gentleness and softness in everything,” Badat said from the lectern next to a large white-and-blue tile mosaic and between two minarets. “There are some Muslims who do not know Islam.”
With reporters in the back of the room and police cars outside in case of reprisal, Badat acknowledged that brothers Dritan, Shain and Eljvir Duka, as well as Serdar Tatar, worshipped at the center, but said their alleged actions do not represent the mosque or its worshippers.
“We are all American _ Muslims are Americans,” he said. “We don’t distinguish from others. We are part of the same society that we live in. We condemn terrorism, there is no doubt about it. We don’t condone violence. We have been here 15 years in this mosque and we haven’t had any problems.”
The Dukas, Tatar and Mohamad Shnewer were denied bail Friday by a U.S. District Court magistrate in Camden, N.J., on charges that they conspired to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix. A sixth man, Agron Abdullahu, was also ordered held on weapons charges.
_ Rick Hepp
Catholic Democrats Protest Pope’s Comments on Abortion
WASHINGTON (RNS) A group of 18 Catholic House Democrats publicly disputed Pope Benedict XVI’s recent condemnation of politicians who support abortion rights, saying that “such notions offend the very nature of the American experiment.”
On his flight to Brazil last Wednesday (May 9), Benedict said Catholic politicians in Mexico City who recently voted to legalize abortion could consider themselves excommunicated from the church. The Vatican later said the pope was merely restating church policy, which calls for Catholics who participate in abortions to exclude themselves from taking Holy Communion.
On Monday (May 14), Catholic House Democrats said Benedict’s comments “do a great disservice to the centuries of good work the church has done.”
“The fact is that religious sanction in the political arena directly conflicts with our fundamental beliefs about the role and responsibility of democratic representatives in a pluralistic America _ it also clashes with freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution,” a statement from the 18 lawmakers said.
Included in the group are members who last year signed a “statement of principles” that sought to stake out territory for Catholic lawmakers who disagree with the church on abortion and embryonic stem cell research, among other controversial issues.
Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., and Joe Baca, D-Calif., are among the lawmakers who expressed concern over the pope’s recent statements.
Catholics make up the largest religious group in the current Congress, with more than 150 members in the House and Senate.
_ Daniel Burke
Quote of the Week: New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera
(RNS) “I feel I’m being tested right now, my character, my faith, how I conduct myself. It’s different. But I love it. If God allows this test to be on me, hey, I’m willing to carry it.”
_ New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera, who has begun the baseball season with a 1-3 record through May 9, on his early trials. He was quoted Wednesday (May 9) by the New York Daily News.
END RNS
