c. 1996 Religion News Service
(Following is a collection of domestic religion stories compiled from RNS staff, wire and denominational reports.)
Metzenbaum quits Reform board over stricter school policy
(RNS)-Former Sen. Howard Metzenbaum has resigned from the board of Reform Judaism’s main governing body over its recommendation that children who also receive formal training in another faith be denied entrance to the movement’s religious schools.
Metzenbaum, a Democrat from Ohio who now directs the Consumer Federation of America, submitted his resignation in a recent letter to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations’ board of trustees. In it, he said he was”aghast”that Reform Judaism-known for its historic outreach to interfaith couples-is now”saying: Do it our way or Judaism rejects you.” Metzenbaum, whose eldest daughter is married to a non-Jew, said that given the high percentage of Jews marrying non-Jews, the UAHC’s”high and mighty position”could have”horrendous”consequences. Surveys have shown that more than 50 percent of Jews marrying today are choosing non-Jewish mates.
The policy to which Metzenbaum objected was approved late last year by delegates at the UAHC’s biennial convention meeting in Atlanta. Its passage was regarded as a milestone for a movement often seen as unwilling to place religious demands on its 1.5 million members.
UAHC leaders stressed that the new policy did not signal a retreat from their attempts to encourage intermarried families to remain connected to Judaism. They said it was necessary because children raised in two faiths become confused over their religious identity. The new policy is non-binding on individual religious schools.
While Metzenbaum is the only member of the UAHC’s 220-person board to quit over the issue, UAHC officials acknowledged this week that the new policy has some members upset.
On Monday (Feb. 5), the UAHC’s executive board discussed ways”to equip trustees with adequate responses”when questioned by Reform educators and others concerned about the new policy, according to UAHC spokeswoman Emily Grotta.”The feedback has generally been positive, but this is still very much an issue,”Grotta said.
`Cooperative Baptist-Secular Humanist Declaration’ issued
(RNS)-Secular humanist scholars and Baptist intellectuals and seminarians have issued a”Cooperative Baptist-Secular Humanist Declaration”that supports academic freedom and church-state separation.
Noting that”many Baptist schools and seminaries have undergone a major assault on the academic freedom of their faculties,”the three-page document calls for academic settings to be”free of intimidation and repression.” The declaration stems from a dialogue convened in October 1995 between secular humanists and Baptists at the University of Richmond, a Baptist-affiliated school in Virginia. It was recently published in the Winter 1995/1996 edition of Free Inquiry, a magazine published by the Council for Democratic and Secular Humanism in Amherst, N.Y.
Some of the Baptists involved in the dialogue had been fired or censured by conservative Baptist trustee boards.
Humanists and Baptists have long been at odds, but those who signed the declaration said they were determined to search for common goals. Humanists believe that people should look to human experience for spiritual and moral guidance rather than to a divine power.
The declaration was endorsed by such individuals as Robert Alley, professor emeritus of humanities at the University of Richmond; Stan Hastey, executive director of the Alliance of Baptists, a moderate Baptist group; and Paul Kurtz, editor of Free Inquiry and professor emeritus of philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo.
The document calls for the encouragement of”objective biblical scholarship”and the maintenance of freedom of conscience, including the right of unbelief and religious liberty.
It concludes with a call for mutual respect for differing religions and philosophies.”Americans of different faiths and none may believe in and practice the common moral decencies and basic virtues, respect human rights, and share common values,”the document states.
Progressive National Baptists, NationsBank form partnership
(RNS)-The Progressive National Baptist Convention, a 2.5 million-member predominantly black denomination, has formed a partnership with NationsBank to help achieve a church goal of enhancing economic development.
The partnership will provide financial and technical assistance for the creation of affordable housing and community development projects in localities where the bank operates. NationsBank has branches in nine Eastern and Southern states and the District of Columbia.
Shedrick Barber, senior vice president of NationsBank and leader of the bank’s efforts to work with African-American professionals, said the bank will finance a convention-sponsored senior housing project in Washington, D.C. The project will serve as a model for member churches to follow, Barber said.
Barber said many of the churches are in neighborhoods in need of revitalization.”Churches are in a unique situation. Churches know the community.” NationsBank plans to begin offering a special credit card to church members this June. Part of the interest from the credit card will be donated to the denomination.”Our partnership with NationsBank will also provide workshops to our members on cash management, personal investments, retirement planning and overall financial planning to ensure the effective stewardship of the resources of our churches and members,”said William H. Bennett II, chairman of the convention’s Economic Development Committee.
NationsBank, based in Charlotte, N.C., has branches in Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas and the District of Columbia.
Rastafarians’ religious use of marijuana can be defense in criminal cases
(RNS)-Rastafarians may use their belief that marijuana is a sacrament as a defense against drug-possession charges, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, in a Feb. 3 ruling, overturned the marijuana possession convictions of three Montana residents because the lower court trial judge improperly barred evidence of their religious views.
The court’s ruling, however, does not affect the jail sentences of the three because they were also convicted of conspiracy to import and distribute thousands of pounds of marijuana from Mexico to Billings, Mont.
The Associated Press reported that the ruling is considered significant because attorneys said it may have been the first overturning of a drug conviction based on the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
That law was also prompted by a religion-and-drugs issue-the use of peyote by members of the Native American Church. In 1990, the Supreme Court upheld the denial of unemployment benefits to two members of the church who had been fired for using peyote as part of the church’s religious rites.
The ruling set off a storm of negative reactions among religious groups that feared it would open the way to large-scale government regulation of religious practices. The concerns led to the passage of RFRA and its requirement that government show a compelling justification for any interference in religion.
Rastafarianism, which originated in Jamaica in 1930, worships Hailie Selassie, the late emperor of Ethiopia, as a living god who is believed by many to be a savior for blacks around the world. Marijuana, or ganja, is used as a ritual aid to meditation.
Heritage Foundation: Religious practices make for a better nation
(RNS)-A review of a host of social science studies demonstrates that involvement in religion leads to stronger families and less poverty and innoculates individuals against a host of social problems, including suicide, drug abuse, crime and divorce, according to a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation.”When policymakers consider America’s grave social problems, including violent crime and rising illegitimacy, substance abuse, and welfare dependency, they should heed the findings in the professional literature of the social sciences on the positive consequences that flow from the practice of religion,”said Patrick F. Fagan, the William H.G. FitzGerald Senior Fellow in Family and Cultural Issues at the conservative, Washington-based think tank.
In a 29-page paper,”Why Religion Matters: The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability,”Fagan said his review of research published in academic social science journals found 81 percent of the studies showed positive benefits of religious practice, 15 percent showed neutral effects, and only 4 percent showed harm.
He said Congress should”begin a new national debate to help renew the role of religion in American life.”Fagan also suggested religious leaders should”be much more assertive in emphasizing the contribution of religion to the health of the nation and in resisting efforts to minimize religion in public discourse.”
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