c. 2008 Religion News Service
Religion writers name election top news story
(RNS) Religion reporters chose the 2008 elections and the controversy surrounding President-elect Barack Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, as the top story of the year.
Democrats’ outreach to faith communities, and the selection of GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, were chosen as the No. 2 and No. 3 top religion stories by members of the Religion Newswriters Association.
Obama was also named as the RNA’s top Religion Newsmaker of 2008.
The Top 10 list, in order, included:
1. Wright’s controversial sermons lead to the withdrawal of Obama as a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Meanwhile, GOP nominee John McCain rejects the endorsements of outspoken evangelists John Hagee and Rod Parsley.
2. Democrats increase outreach efforts to woo faith-based voters and pay more attention to evangelicals at the Democratic National Convention. Obama and McCain take part in a faith-based forum moderated by California megachurch pastor Rick Warren.
3. Sarah Palin’s GOP vice presidential nomination renews some evangelical interest in the Republican ticket but also causes a dilemma for some religious conservatives who oppose women’s leadership roles.
4. The California Supreme Court’s legalization of same-sex marriage in May is overturned in November when voters approve a constitutional amendment. Gay marriage is defeated in Arizona and Florida polls as well.
5. Pope Benedict XVI brings a message of hope during his first U.S. visit, during which he meets with victims of clergy misconduct.
6. Conservative Episcopalians ask Anglican Communion officials to permit a new Anglican Church in North America that would permit unhappy conservatives to operate under the authority of a North American bishop.
7. Terrorism, believed to be motivated at least partly by religious fervor, results in the deaths of almost 200 people in Mumbai, India, in a three-day siege that attacked a Jewish center and resulted in the death of an American rabbi and his wife. Meanwhile, attacks on Christians continued in the eastern Indian state of Orissa and elsewhere.
8. China cracks down on Buddhists hoping for Tibetan independence in a prelude to a peaceful Olympics.
9. The crumbling economy and a related drop in contributions prompts many faith-based organizations to cut back on expenses, even as there is an increased need for social services.
10. Violence continues in Iraq, with Sunnis and Shiites attacking each other and Christians also being targeted. Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Rahho is kidnapped and murdered in Mosul.
The list was determined through a poll conducted among RNA members from Monday through Wednesday. About 38 percent of the nearly 300 active members of the organization participated.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Campaign launched to save crumbling British churches
LONDON (RNS) The British government will spend 1.5 million pounds ($2.25 million) for teams of conservationists who will devise ways to keep historic churches _ some built before Columbus discovered America _ from crumbling into dust.
The money will come from taxpayer-funded English Heritage agency, whose chief executive, Simon Thurley, described the task as “really a big challenge” for congregations, many of whose numbers are steadily dwindling.
“We have churches which perhaps were built in 1300 or 1400 (A.D.), (and) they’ve got a lot of medieval stonework, they’ve got very complicated roofs with very complicated gutters,” Thurley said.
The government’s culture secretary, Andy Burnham, said the project will involve a team of 30 conservationists. The aim is to save “the finest of the country’s built heritage … our magnificent places of worship.”
Many of the churches that will be surveyed barely survive on either tourist or historical interest, or both.
One, the Anglican All Saints church in the tiny village of Croughton, in England’s Midlands, has fought for years for funds to restore a crumbling 14th-century panorama of paintings devoted to the life of the Virgin Mary and the infancy of Jesus Christ.
Another major candidate for conservation help is Canterbury Cathedral, founded more than 1,400 years ago but in need of 41 million pounds ($612 million) for vital conservation work over the coming years.
The Save Canterbury Cathedral Appeal, launched two years ago, already has collected 9 million pounds ($13.5 million), but the storied cathedral still needs more than 14,500 pounds (nearly $22,000) a day just to keep running.
In all, the Church of England alone has some 12,000 church buildings that are listed as architecturally important _ and most of those, like the one in Croughton, date from the Middle Ages. Some are in advanced states of decay, and efforts to preserve them have proven expensive.
The conservationists will report to the commission with its recommendations about which churches are in most need of repairs, with the aim of preventing more costly deterioration.
_ Al Webb
Parents in faith-healing case seek to dismiss case
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) Lawyers for two Oregon City parents charged in the faith-healing death of their young daughter will ask a judge next month to dismiss the case.
Lawyers for Raylene and Carl Worthington cite several reasons for requesting a dismissal, including the Oregon Constitution, which they claim protects the Worthington’s right to religious freedom.
The Clackamas County District Attorney’s Office may still file a response. Chief Deputy District Attorney Greg Horner declined to comment on the Worthington’s motion.
Medical examiners say the couple’s 15-month-old daughter, Ava Worthington, died last March of treatable pneumonia. Her parents never sought medical treatment because they belong to a church that relies on faith healing instead of doctors and hospitals.
In June, the little girl’s uncle, 16-year-old Neil Jeffrey Beagley, died of complications from a urinary-tract blockage. A deputy state medical examiner said the boy apparently suffered for years from the intensely painful but medically treatable condition.
The teen’s parents, Jeffrey Dean Beagley and Marci Rae Beagley (who are also the parents of Raylene Worthington), are facing charges of criminally negligent homicide.
A hearing on the Worthingtons’ motion is scheduled for Jan. 7.
Quote of the Day: Southern Baptist leader Richard Land
(RNS) “I was stunned when I heard it. I was momentarily speechless, and for me, that’s quite a feat.”
_ Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, describing his reaction to comments made by the Rev. Richard Cizik, the top Washington lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, who said he supported same-sex civil unions. Cizik resigned on Thursday.
KRE/DAS END RNS
