c. 2008 Religion News Service

Values Voters sponsors call `Obama Waffles’ offensive

WASHINGTON (RNS) Sponsors of the recent Values Voter Summit here issued a statement condemning the “offensive” content of “Obama Waffles” boxes that were initially sold by an exhibitor at the event.

The concept was considered a satire by its creators, writers Mark Whitlock and Bob DeMoss of Franklin, Tenn., the Associated Press reported. Sold at $10 a box, the product featured an image of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama that evoked the old Aunt Jemima character in a kerchief, whose face on pancake mix boxes was considered an offensive racial stereotype.

On the boxes’ top flap, Obama was portrayed wearing an Arab-like headdress, which recalled a false rumor that he is Muslim. On the back, he was drawn wearing a stereotypical Mexican sombrero with a recipe for “Open Border Fiesta Waffles.” ChristianityToday.com reported that his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was featured in a caricature as a missing person.

“We strongly condemn the tone and content of materials that were exhibited by one of the vendors at this weekend’s Values Voter Summit,” Family Research Council Action executive director David Nammo said in a statement issued Saturday (Sept. 13).

“The materials represent an attempt to parody that cross(es) the line into coarseness and bias.”

Nammo said the product was thought to deal with “political flip-flops” but was removed when the specific content was brought to the attention of senior officials.

“…(W)e are deeply dismayed that this vendor violated the spirit, message and tone of our event in such an offensive manner,” he said.

Asked if he thought the drawings of Obama on the box reflected racial stereotypes, Whitlock told the Associated Press: “We had some people mention that to us, but you think of Newman’s Own or Emeril’s _ there are tons and tons of personality-branded food products on the market. So we’ve taken that model and, using political satire, have highlighted his policies, his position changes.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Methodist bishop rejects challenge to Bush library

(RNS) President Bush’s proposed library at Southern Methodist University cleared another hurdle after an Oklahoma bishop refused to reject the plan, according to the United Methodist Church.

Oklahoma Bishop Robert E. Hayes said it was a matter of secular, not church, law at this point, the United Methodist News Service reported.

“I do not believe I have before me a proper request for a ruling on church law,” Hayes wrote in a Aug. 12 decision, according to UMNS.

The denomination’s South Central Jurisdictional Conference, which owns the Dallas-based University, approved the lease of campus land in July.

The George W. Bush Presidential Center will house a presidential library, museum and policy institute. The 36-acre center is expected to cost $500 million.

Progressive Methodists, including faculty members at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology, have fought the plans at every step. They argue that some Bush administration policies, such as the war in Iraq, contradict Methodist beliefs.

Bush and first lady Laura Bush are both United Methodists; Laura Bush graduated from SMU in 1968.

Hayes’s decision will now be reviewed by the denomination’s high court, the United Methodist Judicial Council.

_ Daniel Burke

Sixteenth Street Baptist marks 45th anniversary of bombing

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) Carolyn McKinstry, a lifelong member of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, remembers 1963 as a dark time, when a bomb planted under a stairway took the lives of four little girls, her friends, on Sept. 15 in the church basement.

On Sunday (Sept. 14), McKinstry joined other parishioners and community members to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the bombing, and to celebrate what she said has been a movement “from the darkness into the light.”

Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., spoke to the roughly 200 people gathered, saying the perpetrators of the 1963 attack were terrorists, seeking to instill fear and provoke further violence. Today, he said, “we are a nobler and better place.”

Davis read a letter to the church sent by Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, who Davis said visited the church four years ago.

“I imagine that in quiet moments, many of you have thought about who Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley might have become had they been allowed to grow up,” the letter said. “Maybe a doctor and a history teacher, a singer and a social worker _ their world would have been one of increasing possibility, symbolized in no small part by this magnificent church and the community that built and sustains it.”

Davis said people have come a long way in the 45 years since the bombing, and Obama’s “presence on the national stage today is a testament to that fact.”

The church also celebrated the completion of a $3.8 million renovation to repair a cracked foundation and other damage that remained from the bombing.

As they do most days, volunteers guided visitors around the church, pointing out the back corner behind the organ where the bomb went off, and a small room of the basement that houses photographs and memorabilia from the attack.

McKinstry said about 200,000 people from around the world visit the church each year, and they regularly ask where the bomb was placed. To answer the question, she said the church will place a marker at that spot within the next 60 days.

Visitors also ask her how the church survived and moved on. People survived, she said, by having faith. “We held to a vision of what we wanted to see.” “Our faith and our hope have brought us to this day,” McKinstry said.

_ Tiffany Ray

Quote of the Day: Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria

(RNS) “Whenever this bashing comes, this kicking comes, I rejoice. Believe me, I rejoice. I turn it to body lotion and I rub my body with it and I shine for Christ.”

_ Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, a leading conservative who has been criticized for his outspoken condemnation of homosexuality and refusal to disavow violence against Muslims. He was quoted by recently by “Third Way,” an English Christian magazine.

KRE/LF END RNS