c. 2000 Religion News Service
Study: Lay Leaders Committed But Take Nonorthodox Biblical Views
(RNS) A study of church lay leaders finds they are more committed to religious activities than other churchgoers but are often at odds with orthodox biblical understandings.
The Barna Research Group study found that church leaders were more than twice as likely as others to attend church services and more than four times as likely to volunteer, attend Sunday school and take part in a faith-related small group during a typical week. These leaders also were more likely than other churchgoers to pray or have a personal devotional time during the week.
Researchers found that 96 percent of lay leaders donated money to their church in the past year, compared to 48 percent of other adults. Leaders also were much more likely than others to have evangelized others in the past year.
But the survey also found 58 percent of church leaders thought the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves,” a saying often attributed to Benjamin Franklin but dating to Aeschylus, a Greek writer of tragedies who lived more than 2,400 years ago.
It also found that 43 percent do not believe in the existence of the Holy Spirit and 39 percent do not believe Satan exists. Thirty-three percent of lay leaders surveyed said Jesus Christ never had a physical resurrection.
Nine out of 10 church leaders surveyed described themselves as “absolutely committed” to the Christian faith, more than double the percentage that affirmed such a commitment among those who weren’t leaders.
Fifty-three percent of church leaders believe there are absolute moral truths, compared to 36 percent of nonleaders.
“When only half of the leaders believe that moral truth is absolute, then that creates challenges within the body of believers,” said George Barna, president of the Ventura, Calif.-based marketing research company. “When leaders are indistinguishable from others in their beliefs about the resurrection, with one-third of the leaders denying Jesus’ physical resurrection, confusion and doubt will prevail.”
The survey was based on telephone interviews with a nationwide random sample of 1,002 adults in February. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
McGraw, Hill, Spears Among Artists on CD Reciting Papal Prayers
(RNS) Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, ‘N Sync, Vince Gill, Britney Spears, Celine Dion, Monica and 98 Degrees will combine efforts this summer for a new CD _ one that includes Pope John Paul II.
No, that’s not a typographical error. The CD titled “World Voice 2000” will include 25 to 30 of the personally authored prayers the pope has recited across the world. The prayers will be read by musical artists and movie stars including Brooke Shields, Jennifer Love Hewitt and James Earl Jones.
And just how did Rick Garson, founder of Maxx International Inc. in New York, come up with this idea?
“I think I hit my head on the wall,” Garson said. “Everybody thought I was crazy.”
Maxx International, a media management firm, recently purchased the licensing rights of the pope’s seven “Private Prayer Books.” From that, the idea of a spoken CD was born. “I went out and rounded up the biggest names to recite the prayers to original music,” Garson said.
R&B singer R. Kelly will produce the album and compose the background music; he also will have the only full-length song on the CD.
“The general response from artists has been so positive and everybody’s been so helpful and genuine,” Garson said.
The pope will read various selections of his prayers on the CD as well. “Millions of people now agree that just as music knows no borders, Pope John Paul II himself has overcome contemporary religious boundaries and become much more than a Christian figure. He is now a worldwide spiritual leader,” Garson said.
The CD will be available in four languages _ English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese _ and is slated to be released by Columbia Records in September. The cost of the CD has not been determined, but a portion of the profits will go to help the Vatican’s international orphanage program.
“It’s targeted to anyone from 8 years old to 80 years old,” Garson said. “It’s for everybody.”
All the celebrities _ minus one _ are expected to get together in September for the CD release party. Garson said he isn’t expecting the pontiff.
Praise, Concern Greet Human Genome Breakthrough
(RNS) One day after scientists announced the completion of a map of the human genetic code, the nation’s largest group of Christian doctors and a Southern Baptist Convention religious agency praised the project’s potential for good, but warned of its potential for harm as well.
“The potential here for scientific advancement is unparalleled, and we should aggressively pursue advances,” said Dr. David Stevens, executive director of the 14,000-member Christian Medical Association. “At the same time, we must remember that knowledge can be abused and that the power to do good can too easily become the power to harm.”
On Monday (June 26), scientists with Celera Genomics of Rockville, Md., and the publicly funded Human Genome Project announced they had completed a rough draft of more than 90 percent of the human genetic code. The announcement was hailed as a milestone in science. It’s expected to help revolutionize drug development for diseases such as cancer and revitalize the field of gene therapy.
Stevens acknowledged the new information could be used to diagnose, prevent and treat diseases such as diabetes, but said it could also “be wielded as a weapon for discrimination by employers, the government or insurers.” He deplored “the abuse of prenatal genetic screening when it is used by parents to strive for the `perfect baby’ and to abort any who don’t match their desires.”
Those concerns about genetic discrimination were echoed by the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, the ethics, religious liberty and public policy agency of the Southern Baptist Convention, which warned “this science is being conducted in a moral dark age.”
“Society is ill-equipped to handle the thorny ethical issues that are unavoidably intertwined with the future of biotechnology,” the group said.
Both groups called for ethical application of the new knowledge.
“With the rough draft of the human genome now complete, we can focus our attention even more diligently on the ethical application of this incredibly valuable information,” said Stevens. “As novice custodians of these immensely powerful keys to human life, we must constantly remind ourselves of the ethical boundaries that must guide our use of this knowledge.”
The commission agreed.
“Until public scrutiny of the biosciences is enhanced radically and ethical vigilance is applied rigorously, this moment of unprecedented potential for human good will be remembered by our descendants as the dawn of a new dark age of barbarism creating nightmares for humanity never before imagined,” the commission said.
Supreme Court Sets Aside Appellate Ruling in School-Prayer Case
(RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court has set aside a federal appeals court ruling in an Alabama school prayer case within days of making a major decision regarding a similar issue in Texas.
The justices told the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday (June 26) to reconsider its decision permitting DeKalb County students to lead prayers at school events in light of the high court’s ruling June 19 that a Texas school policy allowing student prayers before football games was unconstitutional.
Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor said he expected the review but thinks the Alabama decision “will stand intact,” the Associated Press reported.
Pamela Sumners, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, said she expects the Alabama school practice will end after the review. She said the 11th Circuit “really got a lot of law wrong.”
The case stems from a 1993 Alabama law that permitted student-initiated prayer at “compulsory or non-compulsory” school activities, including graduations, students assemblies and sporting events.
It was challenged in 1996 by the ACLU in a suit filed on behalf of a DeKalb County educator and his son, a student in the county system.
In a separate matter, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal of Illinois white supremacist Matthew Hale, who said a state committee violated his rights to free speech when it denied him a law license.
The court, acting without comment, turned away Hale’s arguments that the state has created “orthodox religious and political beliefs to which (an aspiring lawyer) must subscribe as a condition of admission.”
Hale, of East Peoria, is a leader of the segregationist World Church of the Creator.
Christian Cemetery in Southern India Vandalized
(RNS) In the latest in a series of vandal attacks on Christian property in India, four graves in a Christian cemetery in the southern part of the nation have been destroyed, police authorities announced Tuesday (June 27).
Crosses were destroyed on two graves in Vanasthalipuram Christian Graveyard in the state of Andhra Pradesh, while the cover of another grave was removed, according to a complaint filed Monday (June 26) by the graveyard’s committee. The destruction was first noticed by the committee secretary on Monday (June 26), but police officials suspect the vandalism took place about two weeks ago.
The report of the vandalism came three days after vandals damaged 40 graves in a Christian cemetery in another town in Andhra Pradesh. Earlier this month four churches in three states across India were bombed, just two days after a Roman Catholic priest was found beaten to death in northern India.
Leaders of India’s Christian population _ who comprise less than 2 percent of the nation’s 1 billion people _ say they suspect right-wing Hindu groups are responsible for the violence, but Hindu groups deny the charges.
The day the complaint was filed, Pope John Paul II called on Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to protect religious liberty in India, which is predominantly Hindu. One government official said authorities have asked for reports from the regions where Christians face persecution.
“This government is determined to ensure security for all, more particularly the minorities,” said Home (Interior) Minister Lal Krishna Advani.
Church of England Rector Revives Begging Custom
(RNS) A Church of England rector who needed to raise an extra $22,500 to repair the roof of his 12th century church raised nearly all of the sum needed by reviving a 12th century custom: sitting outside his church with a begging bowl one Saturday.
The Rev. John Ganjavi was told the roof of St Nicholas, Beaudesert, Henley-in-Arden, 15 miles south of Birmingham, would not last another winter. Repairing it would cost $97,500. English Heritage, the official body that looks after England’s artistic and architectural heritage, provided a grant of $49,500, while the parish raised another $25,500.
Ganjavi’s day with a begging bowl raised $18,750, while a further $1,650 came in subsequently thanks to the publicity aroused. In addition, so many of those giving made use of Gift Aid, the government program under which the government refunds to a charity the tax paid on donations made by taxpayers, that the parish has exceeded its target.
Quote of the Day: William Bennett, former U.S. secretary of education
(RNS) “Many adults are abdicating their responsibility to teach right and wrong. The young are looking to us for guidance. We cannot shrug our shoulders and say, `Good luck. We love you and we’ll buy you everything we can afford but when it comes to moral decisions you’re on your own.”
_ William Bennett, former U.S. secretary of education, addressing a meeting of the conservative special interest Presbyterian Lay Committee during the meeting of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
DEA END RNS
