c. 2008 Religion News Service
Danish court rejects suit over Mohammed cartoons
(RNS) An appeals court in Denmark has voided a lawsuit against the newspaper that was the first to print controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed in 2005.
The Western High Court in Aarhus said Thursday (June 19) that critics did not prove that the Jyllands-Posten newspaper was trying to depict Muslims as terrorists or criminals when it printed the cartoons, the Associated Press reported.
One of the drawings that most fueled controversy showed the Prophet Mohammed wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. Islamic law prohibits any depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.
The court, 125 miles northwest of Copenhagen, upheld a lower court ruling from last year that rejected claims by Danish Muslims that the caricatures were intended to mock Islam and insult the prophet.
The daily newspaper has apologized and said it did not intend to offend Muslims, but stands by its decision to print the cartoons.
Mohammed Nehme, a spokesman for Islamic Faith Community, which was one of several groups that appealed the lower court ruling, said his organization had not decided whether to appeal the new court decision, the AP reported.
“We are very disappointed and sad about the outcome,” he said. “We had hoped it would be in our favor but now we have the court’s word that what they did was in order.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Report says Judaism faces gender imbalance `crisis’
NEW YORK (RNS) Non-Orthodox Jewish men are becoming alienated from their faith, a “crisis” that foreshadows a rise in interfaith marriages and secular generations, according to a new study from Brandeis University.
The findings, based on 300 interviews, report the rise of female leadership and participation in Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative Judaism has prompted men to opt out of religious activities, in contrast to Orthodox Judaism, which still requires men for traditional worship and family life.
“The past four decades have contradicted thousands of years where men were the primary (leaders) in terms of religious roles,” said Lindsey Fieldman, spokeswoman for the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, which released the study this week.
With women currently outnumbering men in weekly non-Orthodox worship services, adult education classes, volunteer leadership positions and cultural events, the study concludes that non-Orthodox groups should create programs aimed specifically at engaging boys. The earlier the better, the study reports, because alienated Jewish men are more likely to marry non-Jewish women, taking them and their children farther away from the synagogue.
“The Jewish community must intervene well before the marriage years if it hopes to have an impact,” the study reports. “Not only does the presence of a Jewish mother in the home dramatically increases the likelihood that the children will be raised as Jews, her absence increases the likelihood that they will not.”
The Reform movement has struggled with its growing gender gap for years, stunned by a two-to-one ratio of women to men entering the rabbinical class in its Hebrew Union College in 2005. Last year, the movement launched a three-year campaign to address the problem, called “Where Have all the Young Men Gone?”
Some of the imbalance can be blamed on American culture, which places higher values on women’s participation in religious and educational activities, and has caused similar struggles in churches across the country, said Jonathan Sarna, American Jewish history professor at Brandeis University.
“I don’t think we need a fancy Jewish explanation for what’s going on,” he said. “Non-Orthodox Judaism is becoming more like American religion as a whole, which has been largely female.”
_ Nicole Neroulias
Lawmakers to re-examine faith-healing law after teen’s death
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) As authorities start sorting out whether two parents committed a crime by allowing their gravely ill son to choose faith-healing over medical treatment, lawmakers vowed to revisit the issues raised by his death.
“We’re going to have to look at it again,” said state Senate President Peter Courtney, a Democrat, who helped write the 1997 and 1999 state laws that address religious defenses in faith-healing death cases.
“I know that devotion to parents and devotion to religion can be a powerful influence on a child,” Courtney said. “And in these cases, you have religious freedom, parental rights, the health of a child and medical science. Mix all of that together and you have a tough, tough issue.”
Neil Jeffrey Beagley, 16, died Tuesday (June 17) from complications from a urinary-tract blockage at his grandmother’s home in Gladstone, Ore. He was surrounded by his family and other members of the Followers of Christ Church, a nondenominational congregation that shuns medical treatment in favor of spiritual healing.
Those in attendance told police that despite his painful and prolonged suffering, Beagley chose to be treated solely with prayer.
Prosecutors said that it will take time to research how current Oregon laws on religious defense, parental responsibility and medical consent apply to this case.
“We’re doing a complete analysis,” said Gregory D. Horner, the chief deputy district attorney for Clackamas County. “We probably won’t have all of that worked out until next week.”
The case is complicated by a 1971 law that gave children 15 and older the right to seek medical care independent of their parents. The law was intended, in part, to give girls access to birth-control information, contraceptives and abortions.
Beagley’s blockage easily could have been treated by inserting a catheter tube past the obstruction, a deputy state medical examiner said after conducting an autopsy.
Instead, after complaining of stomach pains and shortness of breath for a week, Beagley was taken to the home of his grandmother, Norma Louise Beagley, where more than 60 church members held a faith-healing session.
Beagley’s death came less than four months after his 15-month-old niece, Ava Worthington, died in similar circumstances. Her parents, Carl and Raylene Worthington, are facing charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment.
_ Rick Bella
Bishop fumes over wedding of two gay priests
LONDON (RNS) The Anglican bishop of London has sharply rebuked a priest who conducted a church wedding for two gay priests, saying he was astonished to learn of the ceremony from newspaper and television reports.
In a letter sent Thursday (June 19) to churches in London, Bishop Richard Chartres also suggested that the priest, the Rev. Martin Dudley, was treating his parish of St. Bartholomew the Great in London as a “personal fiefdom.”
Dudley triggered a storm of protest by blessing the civil partnership of the Revs. Peter Cowell and David Lord in a May 31 service that included the wedding-style phrase, “With this ring I thee bind, with my body I thee worship.”
In a letter that signaled the start of a formal investigation into the case, Chartres told Dudley that “the real issue is whether you wilfully defied the discipline of the Church and broke your oath of canonical obedience to your bishop.”
The bishop also warned him that “St. Bartholomew’s is not a personal fiefdom,” and said the investigation into Dudley’s actions will be conducted by senior Anglican authorities, including Archdeacon of London Peter Delaney.
It was not immediately clear how long the inquiry might take, but if Dudley is found guilty of serious misconduct, he could lose his job.
Chartres said he was furious when he learned that the ceremony had been planned as long ago as Nov. 1. “I find it astonishing that you did not take the opportunity to consult your bishop,” he wrote in his letter to Dudley.
The Church of England’s top two officials, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Archbishop of York John Sentamu, said in a joint statement that they viewed the St. Bartholomew’s service “with very great concern.”
They said that while clergy who disagree with church teachings “are at liberty to seek to persuade others within the Church” why the rules should be changed, “they are not at liberty simply to disregard it.”
_ Al Webb
Catholic boy won’t pledge loyalty to Protestant monarch
LONDON (RNS) An 8-year-old Scottish boy has lost his bid to become a Cub Scout because Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II isn’t a Roman Catholic and he is.
In Britain, would-be Scouts are required to pledge allegiance to the monarch, but young Matthew McVeigh _ whose family is staunchly Roman Catholic _ refused to do so, citing religious grounds.
The child’s mother, Tracy Anne McVeigh, of Neilston, Scotland, told journalists that her son’s refusal to recite the Cub Scout Promise “to do my duty to the queen” was a matter of principle.
Since under British law only Protestants can sit on the throne, she said, “why should we make an oath to the monarchy?“
But Scout Association spokesman Chris Foster insisted that in accordance with British scouting rules, “British subjects must promise to do their duty to the queen” because “she is the head of state.”
Matthew himself was quoted in interviews as saying, “It’s not fair. I don’t want to say a promise that I don’t believe in.”
His mother added that “we don’t think (such an oath) is necessary in today’s world. We are supposed to live in a multicultural age, but this just flies in the face of that.”
To a suggestion that she was exercising influence on her son, the mother replied, “I stand up for what I believe in, and we are giving Matthew morals in life and teaching him to stand up for what he believes in.”
Restricting the monarchy to Protestants has existed in British law since the Act of Settlement was passed in 1701, but it has come under attack in recent years for discriminating against Catholics.
_ Al Webb
San Francisco pastor elected Presbyterian moderator
(RNS) The nation’s largest Presbyterian denomination has elected a young pastor from San Francisco as moderator of its General Assembly, taking place through June 28 in San Jose, Calif.
The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, 39, who is active in the “emergent church” movement, will lead the Presbyterian Church (USA) through its weeklong assembly and serve as a key denominational ambassador through the rest of his two-year term.
Reyes-Chow, the grandson of Chinese and Filipino immigrants, pastors Mission Bay Community Church in San Francisco, and is known for his energy and commitment to new church development, according to the PCUSA’s news service.
He was elected on the second ballot, garnering 55 percent of General Assembly delegates’ votes.
Like most mainline Protestant denominations, ongoing debate over homosexuality and Scripture has wracked the 2.3 million-member PCUSA for years.
The Louisville, Ky.-based church reported this week that it lost more than 57,000 members last year, a 2.5 percent drop and the denomination’s largest decline since 1981. As many as 130 churches, including several large congregations, have threatened to leave, or left the PCUSA for a more conservative Presbyterian denomination.
Delegates at this week’s assembly are again expected to debate church strictures that limit ministry to those who are celibate or in a heterosexual marriage.
Reyes-Chow addressed tensions within the church after his election.
“If the church steps out in faith rather than clinging to survival, to be more intent on being faithful than on being right, to be together based on our common covenant in Jesus Christ rather than by property or pensions, then we will be able to live into a future in which we are a vital and vibrant presence in the world,” he said, according Presbyterian News Service.
_ Daniel Burke
Catholic leaders in G8 countries stress poverty, climate change
(RNS) Leaders of the G8 nations who will meet next month in Japan should commit to reducing global poverty and addressing worldwide climate change, say the presidents of each nation’s Catholic bishops conferences.
“Our religious and moral commitment to protect human life and promote human dignity moves us to be particularly concerned for the poorest and most vulnerable members of the human family, especially those in developing countries,” the prelates wrote in a joint letter on June 17.
Scheduled for July 7-9 in Toyako, the G8 Summit gathers international heads of state each year to discuss issues of shared concern, including trade, health, energy policy and the environment.
The letter was addressed to President Bush and the secular leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and Britain. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was among the letter’s eight signatories.
Catholic prelates urged the political leaders to remember Pope Benedict XVI’s warning that many people are “at risk of experiencing only the negative effects of globalization.”
Likewise the effects of climate change fall disproportionately on poor nations, the bishops said, while calling on the nations to honor the pledges of aid made at previous G8 summits.
“We ask you to consider concrete proposals that mitigate the impact of the world food crisis on poor communities, increase health and education spending and move towards just world trade policies that respect the dignity of the human person,” the bishops wrote.
_ Daniel Burke
Dobson: Obama has `fruitcake’ take on Constitution
WASHINGTON (RNS) Focus on the Family founder James Dobson harshly critiqued a two-year-old speech by Sen. Barack Obama on religion and politics, calling his views “a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution.”
In a Tuesday (June 24) program funded by the Colorado ministry’s political arm, Dobson played clips of Obama’s speech at a Call to Renewal conference of religious progressives in June 2006.
Citing the example of abortion, Obama said: “If I seek to pass a law banning the practice, I can’t simply point to the teachings of my church or evoke God’s will. I have to explain why abortion violates some principle that is accessible to people of all faiths, including those with no faith.”
Dobson disagreed, saying, “That is a fruitcake interpretation of the Constitution. This is why we have elections, to support what we believe to be wise and moral. We don’t have to go to the lowest common denominator of morality.”
Joshua DuBois, national director of religious affairs for Obama’s campaign, said the senator’s entire speech should be considered.
“Barack Obama is committed to reaching out to people of faith and standing up for American families, and a full reading of his 2006 Call to Renewal speech shows just that,” DuBois said.
“Obama is proud to have the support of millions of Americans of faith and looks forward to working across religious lines to bring our country together.”
Dobson also charged Obama with “equating” him with the Rev. Al Sharpton, a civil rights activist, when he is a psychologist and Sharpton is a minister.
“Even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?” Obama asked in his speech. “Would it be James Dobson’s or Al Sharpton’s?”
Dobson also criticized Obama for speaking of pastors who “deliver more screed than sermons” after the senator recently resigned from the Chicago church that had been led by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright after the former pastor made racially charged comments.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Sierra Club highlights going green for God
(RNS) From Christians in Hawaii to Buddhists in Connecticut, and from Jews in New York to Muslims in Wisconsin, people of all walks of faith are finding a myriad of ways to care for the environment, according to a first-of-it-kind report from the Sierra Club.
According to the report, “Faith in Action: Communities of Faith Bring Hope for the Planet” 67 percent of Americans said they care about the environment because it is God’s creation.
Highlighting faith-based environmental initiatives in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, the report praises the “breadth, depth and diversity of spiritually motivated grassroots efforts to protect the planet.”
The 36-page report highlights different programs, from Episcopalians working to restrict oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to a large-scale recycling program at a Southern Baptist megachurch near Orlando, Fla.
The report said faith communities are leading a new eco-conscious wave that is rolling across the nation, “greening” all areas of religious and secular life. Reducing their carbon emissions, protecting endangered species and launching energy awareness campaigns are just some of the efforts being made.
The report is the latest indicator of a fledgling alliance between environmental groups and religious institutions, even as some conservative religious groups remain skeptical about the causes and concerns over climate change.
“Lasting social change rarely takes place without the active engagement of communities of faith,” the report said.
_ Ashly McGlone
Quote of the Week: Susan Pace Hamill of the University of Alabama
(RNS) “Unless you are also willing to bring your faith-based moral principles into the high-sacrifice realm of tax policy, your opposition to abortion is just another low-sacrifice proposition being driven by something other than genuine faith-based principle and has no credibility as a moral position.”
_ Susan Pace Hamill, professor at University of Alabama School of Law, speaking Thursday (June 19) at a Baptist Center for Ethics luncheon in Memphis, Tenn. The Methodist advocate for Bible-based tax reform was quoted by EthicsDaily.com.
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