c. 2007 Religion News Service

Humanist Loses Case Over Voting in Churches

(RNS) A judge ruled Tuesday (July 31) against a Humanist who said his constitutional rights were violated when he had to vote in a Catholic church adorned with religious icons and anti-abortion posters.

Jerry Rabinowitz claimed he felt uncomfortable when he entered a polling place decorated with various crucifixes, a sign that read “Each of us matters to God” and a pro-life banner.

In the November 2006 suit, filed against the county supervisor of elections in Palm Beach County, Florida, he testified that the religious displays amounted to the government’s unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

A district court judge disagreed, citing the plaintiff’s own claim that he “did not equate the religious icons and messages at his polling place with the defendant’s endorsement of the Catholic faith.”

In the court decision, the judge noted that the elections supervisor did not personally place the banners or crucifixes and thus was not guilty of excessive government entanglement with religion.

Because the judge ruled before the case ever went to trial, the decision marks the end of the case.

Had the suit succeeded, it would have challenged the use of any churches as polling places. Currently, churches are the most common polling sites in the country, the AHA maintained.

The American Humanist Association (AHA) said it was “saddened” by Tuesday’s decision, saying it contradicted “overwhelming evidence” in a recent Stanford University study that suggests “environmental cues” in a polling place have a measurable effect on the voting decision.

“Such a religiously-charged environment can serve to intimidate or unduly influence a person’s vote,” said AHA President Mel Lipman.

Humanists, who believe that humans have the ability and responsibility to live ethical lives without believing in the supernatural, said the fight is not over.

“We the people value our religious and voting freedoms and will remain vigilant so these freedoms are respected,” Lipman said.

_ Michelle C. Rindels

`Postcard Pastor’ on a Mission for Peace

TUALATIN, Ore. _ Some days the Rev. Wesley Taylor sends out just one postcard. Other days he sends out five. But the cards Taylor sends out add up: in July, he hit a total of 3,000 postcards.

Taylor _ who has been nicknamed “The Postcard Pastor” _ decided to pepper the world with the cards around Christmas 2004, when he was hit with a giant wave of grief about the Iraq war. He found a postcard with part of a favorite prayer on it _ the World Peace Prayer _ and sent it off to President Bush and a few political leaders.

Doing that felt so good that he kept on sending cards to social leaders and farmers, to friends, family and community members. Soon, the pastor of Tualatin United Methodist Church had stuffed his local post office branch with the call for peace. (One postal worker liked the cards so much that she bought him two rolls of stamps with her own money).

As he mailed the cards, he invited the recipients to join his campaign by calling the White House or writing their feelings down and faxing them to Washington.

Taylor may have slowed his postcarding a little, but he has no plans to stop. Instead, he says he will continue, and will rejoice when he notices others inspired by him who take up their own kind of work for peace.

“There are people out there doing something like this, and there are lots of people who are sacrificing a whole lot more, risking their life and reputation,” he said. “For me, I see this as part of my call to be faithful to Jesus Christ. After all, he’s the Prince of Peace, right?”

_ Kate Taylor

Pentecostal Denomination Reborn in Cleveland

CLEVELAND (RNS) Fifteen bishops and several hundred members are meeting here this week (July 31-Aug. 3) to witness the rebirth of a denomination, three years after its leader thought he was losing a battle with leukemia.

The Pentecostal Churches of Christ is holding its first Holy Convocation at the Pentecostal Church of Christ, where Bishop J. Delano Ellis II is pastor.

“What’s really exciting to me … is the fact we have witnessed the miracle in his (Ellis’) health,” said Bishop Matthew Odum of Temple of Glory Community Church in Savannah, Ga. “It’s almost like seeing a phoenix rising from the ashes. … I just believe there’s a tremendous spiritual symbolism in that.”

The new denomination restores an earlier movement _ the United Pentecostal Churches of Christ _ founded in 1989 by Ellis, now 63.

He was among a group of pastors that wanted to create a reformation in the Pentecostal Church, bringing bishops and liturgical order to a movement that has historically been fiercely independent. Fostering unity among Pentecostals and ecumenical relationships with other churches also would give the movement a greater voice in public policy, church officials said.

The denomination grew by 2004 to reach more than 300 churches in the United States, Africa and India, they said.

That year, as cancer spread through his body, Ellis turned leadership of the denomination over to Bishop Larry Darnell Trotter, pastor of an 8,000-member congregation in Chicago. Ellis, who was preparing for his death, said he wanted to ensure an orderly transition for the denomination.

Trotter moved the church headquarters to Chicago. Only days after Trotter was installed as presiding bishop in December 2004, Ellis said his doctors told him his chemotherapy was working, and the cancer cells were dying.

As his health returned, Ellis and several other bishops found themselves parting ways with Trotter. Ellis said the bishops were particularly upset that Trotter renamed the organization the United Covenant Churches of Christ, removing “Pentecostal” to try to be more inclusive.

“Change for the sake of change, and the discarding of convention, is reckless,” Ellis said.

Ellis left the denomination in January 2006, and other bishops followed. Ellis said the bishops approached him earlier this year, saying it was “the will of God” that the original denomination be restored with Ellis as chief prelate. After Ellis accepted, the bishops adopted the original constitution and took the name Pentecostal Churches of Christ.

Trotter, who now leads 400 United Covenant churches, said he and Ellis had different visions for the denomination. “My vision was to be more ecumenical and not just brand it as Pentecostal,” he said. “Bishop Ellis has a vision of keeping it like it always was.”

For his part, Ellis marvels at the convocation three years after he was preparing for death.

“It was not a lack of faith in God’s ability to heal. It wasn’t that,” Ellis said. “It was more of a belief that maybe God was finished with me.”

_ David Briggs

Quote of the Day: Homer Simpson

(RNS) “Every time I see my sweet girl Lisa, I believe in God. Every time I see Bart, I believe in the devil.”

_ Homer Simpson, of “The Simpsons,” when asked about his religious beliefs during an “interview” with USA Today on July 26.

KRE/CM END RNS