c. 2008 Religion News Service

Head of White House faith-based office resigns

(RNS) The director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives, Jay Hein, has resigned to care for his ill father.

Hein, the White House office’s third director, will leave Aug. 29 and return to Indianapolis to support his father, who is battling cancer, said spokeswoman Rebecca Neale.

Hein alerted his staff and state liaisons to religious and secular nonprofits during the week of Aug. 11, and met with President Bush earlier to tell him of his plans.

Asked if Hein would be replaced, Neale said, “I think that that’s something the White House senior staff is working through right now.”

Hein, 43, had led the office for two years. The office, which Bush began soon after becoming president, was previously led by University of Pennsylvania political science professor John DiIulio and Saint Vincent College president Jim Towey.

“I think Jay was instrumental in expanding the president’s vision for the initiative outside of Washington,” said Neale. “He helped demonstrate how the initiative is alive in all 50 states.”

Hein hosted monthly roundtable discussions that brought together government, religious and business leaders and philanthropists in Washington and led national and international conferences aimed at highlighting partnerships between nonprofits and the government.

Hein was named in the Hein v. Freedom from Religion Foundation case, which the Supreme Court decided in the White House’s favor in June 2007. That ruling, which insulated the faith-based initiative from taxpayer legal challenges, has played a role in a series of subsequent court decisions.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Most Americans believe God can save lives, even if doctors can’t

(RNS) A majority of Americans believe that divine intervention can trump doctors’ advice in end-of-life cases, according to a new report published in Archives of Surgery.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Connecticut, found that 57 percent of adults believe in the possibility of a miracle even after doctors have told them a family member’s life can’t be saved.

Just 20 percent of trauma professionals felt divine intervention could save a patient.

“Regarding medical futility, the results indicate that physicians can be reasonably sure they are trusted to make those decisions. However, they need to be prepared to deal with families who are waiting for a miracle,” the report concluded.

The study was conducted in the summer and fall of 2005, just a few months after the public debate over whether to remove the feeding tube of Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman whom doctors concluded was in a persistent vegetative state.

Although 61 percent of respondents said that “a person in a persistent vegetative state could be saved by a miracle,” only 11 percent said that they would prefer to be kept alive if given the choice.

Researchers surveyed 1,006 adults, and 774 trauma care specialists. Race, age, gender, and education level were weighted to reflect census data, but researchers did not report the religious affiliation of participants.

_ Tim Murphy

British court convicts teenage would-be terrorist

LONDON (RNS) A 16-year-old Muslim schoolboy has been tried and convicted as Britain’s youngest terrorist for his involvement in what was described as a worldwide holy war to “wipe out non-believers.”

Prosecutors at London’s Blackfriars Crown Court said Hammaad Munshi was part of a clandestine cell of “cyber-groomers” who downloaded details on napalm, grenades and detonators to be used against Queen Elizabeth II and other members of Britain’s royal family.

Munshi and fellow cell members Aabid Khan and Sultan Muhammad were convicted on a string of eight counts of possessing material connected with terrorism and of gathering information likely to be useful in terrorist activities.

Khan was sentenced to 12 years in prison and Muhammad was ordered jailed for 10 years. Munshi is scheduled for sentencing in September.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith described the trio as a “very real threat.”

Judge Timothy Pontius told the three defendants that they had a “warped view of Islam” and had “brought incomparable shame upon yourselves, your families and your religion.”

During the trial, authorities said Munshi was 15 years old when Khan recruited him and gave him the task of brainwashing other young Muslims with his preaching of “violent jihad” against “kuffar” (non-Muslims).

In addition to going after the British royals, the trio compiled a guide to killing non-Muslims and conducted discussions about setting up a secret Islamic state in a remote area of Scotland, prosecutors said.

Munshi’s lawyers argued that he was guilty only of “curiosity.”

_ Al Webb

Quote of the Day: U.S. Olympic archery coach Kisik Lee

(RNS) “I would love to be fair for everyone. But sooner or later, if they can see through me God, that’s what I want to try to do. I’m not God, and I can’t drive them to God, but I can pray for them.”

U.S. Olympic archery coach Kisik Lee responding to charges that he tried to impose his faith on his team. He was quoted by The New York Times (Aug. 19).

DSB/RB END RNS