c. 2007 Religion News Service
O’Brien Succeeds Keeler as Baltimore Archbishop
(RNS) Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, who oversaw Catholic military chaplains and pastoral care for members of the Armed Forces, was named Thursday (July 12) by Pope Benedict XVI as the new archbishop of Baltimore.
O’Brien, 68, will succeed Cardinal William H. Keeler, who has led the nation’s oldest archdiocese since 1989. Given the archdiocese’s historic status, the Baltimore archbishop is typically named a cardinal and given a vote in papal elections.
O’Brien was named in 1997 to lead the Washington-based Military Archdiocese, which serves about 1.5 million Catholics, including members of the U.S. armed forces and their families.
Ordained in 1965, O’Brien has served as a chaplain at West Point, as well as in Fort Bragg, N.C., and Vietnam. He also was the rector of two seminaries, St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., and the elite Pontifical North American College in Rome.
O’Brien oversaw the recent two-year Vatican review of U.S. seminaries that was ordered in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
Last year, Keeler turned 75, the age at which bishops are requested to submit their resignations to the pope.
Keeler served as the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. He also served in prominent ecumenical roles, most recently as one of five presidents of Christian Churches Together in the USA.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Poll Says Muslims, Evangelicals Closer Than Many Might Think
(RNS) Muslim Americans and white evangelicals find themselves on opposite sides of many issues, but have more in common than other religious groups when it comes to religious fervor, scriptural literalism and social morality, according to a new report.
The report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that U.S. Muslims and evangelical Christians consistently scored closer than other groups, including black Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics.
On the question of religious vs. national identity, 47 percent of Muslims saw themselves as Muslims first and Americans second, while 62 percent of evangelicals said they were Christians first and Americans second. Similar scores were 55 percent for black Protestants, 31 percent for Catholics and 22 percent for mainline Protestants.
While black Protestants rated the highest (87 percent) when saying religion is “very important” in their lives, evangelicals came in at 80 percent and Muslims at 72 percent. Findings were significantly lower for Catholics (49 percent) and mainline Protestants (36 percent).
There was similar agreement on whether the Quran (for Muslims) and the Bible (for Christians) were the literal word of God: Half of Muslims and two-thirds of evangelicals and black Protestants agreed, compared to one-quarter or less of both Catholics and mainline Protestants.
Muslims and evangelicals scored the closest _ and highest _ when asked whether homosexuality should be discouraged as a way of life. About six in 10 Muslims and evangelicals agreed, while less than half of other Christian groups did, with white Catholics the lowest, at 27 percent.
Politics was the one glaring difference between Muslims and evangelicals: about 60 percent of Muslims said they are Democrats or lean Democratic, while a similar number (57 percent) of evangelicals said they were Republicans.
“American Muslims, like many people of faith, seek improvements in family values and would like to see society encourage morality, not impose it,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C.
_ Omar Sacribey
Report Says Bangladesh Poses `Direst Threat’ to Hindus
WASHINGTON (RNS) Hindu minorities around the world face increasing risks of discrimination and harassment, according to a report released Wednesday (July 11) by the Washington-based Hindu American Foundation.
HAF Executive Director Ishani Chowdhury said the third annual report, based on documents from human rights groups, media reports and personal interviews, aims to draw attention to human rights violations in 10 countries and one state in India.
“Hindus in South Asia and many of the 20 million Hindus living outside of India are subject to discrimination, terror, murder and other forms of violence, forced conversions, ethnic cleansing, temple destruction, socio-political ostracization and disenfranchisement,” according to the 200-page report.
The report singles out Bangladesh as the country that poses the “direst threat for its Hindu minority,” noting that Hindus there “continue to be victims of ethnic cleansing waged by Islamic fundamentalists that include daily acts of murder, rape, kidnappings, temple destruction, and physical intimidation.”
While an exact number of human rights abuses in Bangladesh is difficult to come by, the report notes there were a total of 461 documented incidents during the nine-month period of review in 2006.
A woman who answered the phone at the Bangladeshi embassy in Washington Thursday said there would be no comment. A representative of the Bangladeshi mission at the United Nations was not immediately available for comment.
Washington lawmakers, who were given advance copies of the report, condemned its findings.
“Human rights abuses must be taken seriously, and this survey provides valuable information to keep my colleagues and I informed about unfortunate threats against Hindus around the world,” said Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Indian and Indian Americans.
_ Jennifer Koons
Assemblies of God Leader Thomas Trask To Resign
(RNS) The longtime leader of the Assemblies of God has decided to resign his position.
The Rev. Thomas E. Trask, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God since 1993, announced Tuesday (July 10) that he will leave his position 60 days after the Pentecostal denomination meets for its General Council Aug. 8-11 in Indianapolis.
“As a result of seeking the Lord as to his will for my continuing to serve out the remaining two years of the present term, I have reached a decision to step down as general superintendent of the Assemblies of God at this forthcoming General Council,” Trask said in a statement.
Trask, 71, has spent more than five decades in leadership positions in the denomination, which has grown to 2.8 million members, according to its 2005 statistics. The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches cites it as the 10th-largest U.S. denomination.
He served as a pastor and district leader before his 19 years at the national level of the Assemblies of God. Prior to his 14 years as general superintendent, he served five as general treasurer.
Trask has also been active in a range of other Christian networks. He is the current chairman of the World Assemblies of God Congress, past president of the Pentecostal World Fellowship, and board member of the National Association of Evangelicals and the National Religious Broadcasters.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Lady Bird Johnson
(RNS) “I do know that there is something hereafter, because all this has been too significant, too magnificant, for there not to be something after. Heaven, to me, is a mystery, a place I’ll know what all this _ the events of my life _ meant.”
_ Lady Bird Johnson, in a 1994 interview, asked whether she believed in heaven. The former first lady, who died July 11 at age 94, was quoted by The Washington Post.
KRE/LF END RNS
