c. 2007 Religion News Service

Calif. rehabs inmates by fighting wildfires

EL CAJON, Calif. (RNS) Former drug addict Christopher Williams is one of about 2,600 California felony prisoners currently battling the state’s monstrous wildfires.

In years past, Williams said he could go long stretches without sleep while high on methamphetamine. On the fire line, trying to protect homes and lives, Williams has pulled 18-hour shifts on the fireline, this time fueled by positive energy and genuine hope.

“I’m not proud that I’m busted, but I’m doing something positive with myself,” said Williams, 33, of Bellflower, Calif. “When I was using, I could be up for two or three days getting high. Now, I’m working on adrenaline. I wake up every morning now and I go to work every day.”

There are about 1,200 firefighters and support staff on the massive Harris Fire in eastern San Diego County, including 327 inmate firefighters from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

State officials run 42 permanent inmate “fire camps” up and down California, including one for juvenile offenders. The 62-year-old Conservation Camp Program allows non-violent prisoners to learn firefighting skills and, when away from fires, clean up state parks or build municipal baseball fields. To become an inmate firefighter, a prisoner cannot be a “validated” gang member, a rapist, child molester or a “high-violence” criminal.

Or a convicted arsonist. “Obviously!” said corrections department spokesman Lt. Mark Ahlin.

Inmate firefighters all have felony convictions such as domestic violence, drunken driving, drug abuse and other crimes usually related to their methamphetamine addictions, Ahlin said.

They are paid $1 per hour when on a fire line, their orange prison uniforms setting them apart from their yellow-clad civilian colleagues from the California Department of Foresty and Fire Protection, known as Cal Fire. Female inmate firefighters have been in the base camp’s kitchen serving hundreds of daily meals.

Cal Fire captain Bryan Lee, 37, is a strike team leader of a 13-man inmate firefighter patrol about eight miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. “They’re required to work hard,” he said.

_ David Finnigan

Evangelical leaders meet with Rice on Middle East

(RNS) A small group of evangelical leaders met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday (Oct. 26) to support a two-state solution to achieve peace in the Middle East.

The meeting follows a July 27 letter that a larger coalition of evangelical leaders sent to President Bush to “correct a serious misperception” that all evangelicals oppose creating a Palestinian state.

“We assured her that large numbers of people in the evangelical community … support a two-state solution and that we were committed to trying to raise the visibility of those people in support of such a solution,” said Ron Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action and one of the meeting attendees.

David Neff, editor in chief of Christianity Today magazine and another attendee, said three out of the six evangelicals who met with Rice were megachurch leaders, indicating that the types of ministries concerned about the Middle East is expanding.

“In a sense, this echoes the way (megachurch pastor and author) Rick Warren stepped forward on the AIDS issue,” he said.

Other participants were Pastor Bob Roberts of NorthWood Church in Keller, Texas; Pastor John Jenkins of First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Landover, Md.; the Rev. Joel Hunter of Northland Church in Longwood, Fla.; and Chris Seiple, president of the Institute for Global Engagement.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Court says stem cell question OK for N.J. ballot

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) A state appeals court has ruled that a Nov. 6 ballot question on a $450 million stem cell research program may not be perfectly worded, but it adequately and fairly tells voters about the plan.

With the ruling, the three-judge panel turned back abortion foes’ efforts to kill the measure, which they argued doesn’t mention cloning or describe the plan’s fiscal impact.

The court said it is unnecessary and indeed impossible to fairly summarize all views in a brief statement. Instead, such statements are meant to summarize questions in simple language.

“The religious and moral wisdom of the act cannot be encapsulated in an interpreted statement that would be both fair and balanced and still fit within the four corners of the ballot. … It does not matter that a better, more informative statement could possibly be crafted,” Judge Clarkson Fisher wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel.

It was unclear if the state’s highest court will be asked to decide the fate of Public Question No. 2 on the Stem Cell Research Bond Issue. Abortion foes said they would not decide until next week whether to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Marie Tasy, executive director of New Jersey Right to Life, said she was disappointed with the ruling. Her group asked the court to stop votes from being counted on the measure.

“We obviously disagree with the decision and the statement,” she said. “Basically, what is that (decision) saying? `Let’s not confuse the voters with the facts.”’

Gov. Jon Corzine said he was pleased voters would be heard on the measure, which he believes supports research that holds promise for confronting serious diseases.

“My sense of where the broad New Jersey community is, is they’re overwhelming in support of moving forward on stem cell research,” Corzine said. “I think it’s immoral for us not to progress in our treatments of these devastating impingements on human life.”

_ Kate Coscarelli and Susan K. Livio

Quote of the Day: Kentucky pastor John Weece

“Take a few minutes and write a note to Britney Spears. No preaching. No criticizing. Just love. As a church, let’s love Britney the way Jesus loves her.”

_ John Weece, pastor of Southland Christian Church in Lexington, Ky., in an entry on the church’s blog (http://voice.southlandchristian.org).

KRE/RB END RNS