c. 2007 Religion News Service

Major Faith Leaders Praised for Spreading the `Eco-Gospel’

(RNS) The Dalai Lama, Pope Benedict XVI and the spiritual leader of the world’s Eastern Orthodox Christians were among 15 “Green Religious Leaders” cited by a Seattle-based environmental group.

Grist, an environmental news and commentary Web site that also highlighted “green” actors, musicians and chefs, among others, said the 15 names on the list and five runners-up are dedicated to “spreading the eco-gospel.”

Names on the list, released on July 24, include:

_ Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, leader of the world’s 250 million Orthodox Christians, who has been dubbed the “Green Patriarch” for his environmental activism, including a 2003 cruise to discuss overfishing.

_ The Dalai Lama, who says it is “our responsibility toward others to ensure that the world we pass on is healthy, if not healthier, than we found it.”

_ The Rev. Sally Bingham, environmental minister at Grace (Episcopal) Cathedral in San Francisco, who has been a leader in Interfaith Power & Light, which encourages houses of worship to purchase green power and conserve energy.

_ Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who has encouraged Anglican clergy to use organic bread and wine for Communion.

_ Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who has been spreading the green gospel among historically skeptical evangelicals.

_ Pope Benedict XVI, who has installed solar panels at the Vatican and voiced concerns about effects of global warming on the world’s poor.

_ Fazlun Khalid, founder and director of the Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences in the United Kingdom.

_ Norman Habel, the editor and contributing author of the “Earth Bible.”

_ Rabbi Warren Stone of Kensington, Md., who chairs an environmental protection committee for America’s Reform rabbis.

_ Sister Miriam MacGillis, a Dominican nun who co-founded the Genesis Farm in New Jersey to teach people about the environment.

_ The Rev. Fred Small, a Unitarian minister from Littleton, Mass., who has engaged in peaceful civil disobedience as part of Religious Witness for the Earth.

_ The Rev. Joel Hunter, a megachurch pastor near Orlando, Fla., who was tapped to lead the Christian Coalition until his concern over the environment was deemed too controversial for the organization.

_ Karen Baker-Fletcher, a theologian at Perkins School of Theology in Dallas, who interprets the Bible from an environmental, black and feminine perspective.

_ Paul Gorman, co-founder and executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.

_ The Rev. Thomas Berry, a Catholic priest considered “the most important eco-theologian of our time,” according to Grist.

Runners-up included retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu; environmental studies professor Calvin DeWitt; theologian Sally McFague; “What Would Jesus Drive?” campaign creator Jim Ball; and Appalachian activist Allen Johnson.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Lutherans Re-Elect Hanson as Presiding Bishop

(RNS) The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination re-elected Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson by a wide margin Tuesday. (Aug. 7)

Hanson, 60, will lead the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, with its 4.8 million members for another six-year term. He garnered 888 of 1,029 votes cast on the second ballot.

“I accept this reaffirmation of your call with deep gratitude and truly expected hopefulness for the next six years,” Hanson told delegates to the ELCA’s biennial Churchwide Assembly, which is meeting in Chicago through Saturday.

The church is also expected to debate proposals on allowing noncelibate gay and lesbian clergy and blessing same-sex unions during the assembly.

Hanson is the 20-year-old ELCA’s third presiding bishop and the second to be re-elected. He is also president of the 67 million-member Lutheran World Federation, which represents 78 countries.

As church membership has waned in recent years. Hanson has emphasized evangelism, especially to racial and ethnic minorities.

_ Daniel Burke

Study: Most Young Adults Drop Out of Protestant Churches

(RNS) More than two-thirds of young adults stopped attending Protestant churches regularly for at least a year when they were between the ages of 18 and 22, a new study by LifeWay Research shows.

Seventy percent of 23- to 30-year-olds dropped out of the church scene, researchers found, while only about 35 percent of them eventually returned to the fold and are attending church two times a month.

The Internet survey was conducted by researchers connected with the Southern Baptist Convention’s LifeWay Christian Resources. Conducted in April and May, it involved a national sample of 1,023 adults between the ages of 18 and 30 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

The reasons for dropping out of church included changes in their life situations or concerns about their church or pastor:

_ 26 percent said church members seemed hypocritical or judgmental

_ 25 percent moved to college and stopped attending church

_ 22 percent moved too far away from the church to keep attending church

_ 20 percent didn’t feel connected to people in their church.

Researchers found that most of those who stopped attending church had no plans to do so. Twenty percent said they already planned to leave church during their high school years while 80 percent said they did not.

Asked why they returned to church, many attributed their change in plans to family or friends:

_ 39 percent said parents or family members encouraged their attendance

_ 28 percent said they felt that God was calling them to return

_ 24 percent said they had children and felt it was time for them to begin attending

_ 21 percent said friends or acquaintances encouraged them to attend.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney

(RNS) “My church says I can’t drink alcohol, right? OK, should I say as governor of Massachusetts, we are stopping alcohol sales? No. My religion is for me and how I live my life. So don’t confuse what I do, as a member of my faith, with what I think ought to be done by government.”

_ Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, in off-air remarks during a commercial break from an interview with talk radio host Jan Mickelson of WHO 1040 in Iowa. He was quoted by ABCNews.go.com

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