c. 2007 Religion News Service

Toilet Company Turns the Other Cheek After Church Complains

(RNS) The toilet company that burned the backside of a New York City megachurch with plans to post a billboard with naked buttocks on a building where the church rents space has replaced the ad with a less cheeky version.

The non-denominational Times Square Church in Manhattan had obtained a restraining order from a New York judge in July, preventing plumbing-products maker Toto from displaying the offending ad at 1657 Broadway.

Times Square Church rents the first four floors of the building where the advertisement was to be placed on the fifth and sixth floors, according to Lane Paulsen, the church’s lawyer.

“I’m authorized to say that the advertiser voluntarily withdrew the original (ad) and that’s all,” Paulsen said.

In the court affidavit, Pastor Neil Rhodes said the original ad was “indecent for public display” and “antithetical to the values of our congregation and church.”

He also reportedly told journalists, “You walk into a church building, you have naked pictures before your eyes _ how are you going to close your eyes and seek God?”

The church claims a Sunday weekly worship attendance of 8,000 Christians.

Paulsen said the church has no comment on the new ad, in which the buttocks are covered by a white band that says, “Our bottom line. Clean is happy. No ifs, ands or …”

Toto spokeswoman Lenora Campos said, “Our thought-provoking `Clean is Happy’ billboard is not intended to offend.”

_ Daniel Burke

Beliefs in the Afterlife Grow With Age, Survey Shows

(RNS) As Americans get older, their confidence in an afterlife increases, according to a recent survey of people over 50 conducted by the AARP, the advocacy group for seniors.

Seventy-three percent of older people believe in life after death, and two-thirds of those believers say that confidence has grown with age, according to the survey.

But while 86 percent of respondents say there is a heaven (70 percent believe in hell), they were split on what it looks like and if humans go there. Forty percent of those who believe say heaven is a place, while 47 percent think heaven is a “state of being.”

“Americans see life after death as a very dynamic thing,” said Alan F. Segal, a professor of religion at Barnard College, in the AARP article. “You don’t really hear about angels and wings, sitting on clouds playing melodies. … They talk about humor in the afterlife, continuing education, unifying families _ like a retirement without financial needs.”

While most people believe that heaven exists, and about nine in 10 of them say they’ll end up there, they are less sure about others. People who believe in heaven say an average of 64 percent of others will get there, too.

Other findings in the survey:

_ Women are more likely to believe in an afterlife (80 percent) than men (64 percent).

_ Income matters: Of those who believe in an afterlife, 90 percent of those earning $25,000 or less believe in heaven, compared to just 78 percent of people with an income of $75,000 and above.

_ 29 percent of those who believe in a heaven think one must “believe in Jesus Christ” to enter. Twenty-five percent believe “good people” go to heaven, and 10 percent think everyone is admitted.

The survey was conducted by telephone between June 29 and July 10. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

_ Michelle C. Rindels

Quote of the Day: Rosemary Boitmann of New Orleans

(RNS) “I tell them, `We’ll be praying for you guys until we die, and if we go to the right place, we’ll go on praying for you.”’

_ Rosemary Boitmann of New Orleans, whose 9th Ward home has been repaired by Catholic college students after Hurricane Katrina. She was quoted by USA Today.

KRE/PH END RNS