c. 2004 Religion News Service
Dobson Says Prospects for Marriage Amendment `Not Good’
WASHINGTON (RNS) Focus on the Family founder James Dobson told journalists Friday (June 25) that he doesn’t think a proposed amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman has a good chance of passing on Capitol Hill.
“The prospects for the Federal Marriage Amendment right now are not very good,” Dobson said, answering a question following his first address to the National Press Club.
The Senate is scheduled the week of July 12 to consider the proposed amendment that would ban gay marriage.
Dobson, host of the Focus on the Family evangelical Christian radio program, said members of Congress who say they don’t want to tamper with the Constitution are just making excuses.
“It’s all a sham,” he said. “They don’t want to put it on the line. … Many of them care more about getting re-elected than they do about doing what’s right.”
Dobson was asked how two homosexuals wanting to live together in a committed relationship, calling it marriage, would affect the institution of marriage.
“It affects the institution of the family directly,” he responded, saying children are best raised in a traditional family. “You don’t make your national policies on the basis of Bill and Joe down the street. … Your policies ought to be made on the basis of what is good for the largest number.”
Dobson, whose ministry is based in Colorado Springs, Colo., said such decisions should not be in the hands of “unelected, unaccountable, imperious judges” but should be made by the general public.
“This is a major social decision,” he said. “Should it not be made by the people? … Should we not decide this democratically?”
Dobson deflected a question about whether or not he thought Jesus would push for a law outlawing same-sex marriage if he were on Earth today.
“I certainly would not try to involve Jesus in any kind of political debate,” he said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Top Catholic Bishop Endorses Gay Marriage Amendment
WASHINGTON (RNS) The nation’s top Roman Catholic bishop on Friday (June 25) officially endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and urged other bishops to work for its passage.
Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, called on bishops to lobby for the amendment in the weeks leading up to a scheduled Senate vote in mid-July.
“Though it is regulated by civil laws and church laws, it (marriage) did not originate from either the church or state, but from God,” he said. “Therefore neither church nor state can alter the basic meaning and structure of marriage.”
Although the bishops’ 47-member administrative committee voiced generic support for an amendment last September, this is the first time the U.S. hierarchy has endorsed a specific marriage amendment pending before Congress.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., has scheduled a vote on the amendment during the week of July 12, but supporters acknowledge they probably do not have the 67 votes needed for passage. Opponents have vowed a filibuster.
At their annual meeting last November, the bishops approved a statement that said, “Giving same-sex unions the legal status of marriage would grant official public approval to homosexual activity and would treat it as if it were morally neutral.”
Last July, the Vatican said there are “absolutely no grounds” to support gay marriage, and warned Catholic politicians that a vote in support of gay unions would be “gravely immoral.”
Both statements were adopted before gay marriage became legal last month (May) in Massachusetts, where bishops have urged Catholics to express “profound disappointment” to state legislators who opposed a state amendment against gay marriage.
Matthew Gallagher, executive director of the independent gay Catholic group Dignity/USA, said he was “shocked and appalled” that the bishops would “try to build discrimination into this Constitution of ours.”
“It’s a sad event that the hierarchy of the church would support making certain American citizens second-class citizens,” he said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Cardinal Says Bishops Oppose Communion Denial by 3-1 Margin
(RNS) A leading American cardinal said the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops oppose the practice of denying Communion to pro-choice politicians by a three-to-one margin.
Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore said many bishops feel denying Communion to politicians “would cause more problems then they solve and might make it more difficult, if not impossible” for Catholics to serve in public life.
Keeler made his remarks at a closed-door retreat of U.S. bishops meeting June 14-18 outside Denver. His comments and those of other bishops were released Wednesday (June 23).
Keeler serves on a seven-member task force of bishops that is studying the best ways for the church to respond to Catholic politicians who dissent from church teaching, most notably on abortion.
A handful of vocal bishops have said politicians who support abortion rights _ especially Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry _ will be denied Communion or should abstain from the sacrament.
A statement adopted at the end of the bishops’ retreat said such politicians risk being “cooperators in evil,” but recommended persuasion over sanctions. The statement said bishops could “legitimately make different judgments” on how to respond.
Keeler said denying Communion as a matter of policy would be “counterproductive.” Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, who chairs the task force, said he feared it could “push many people farther away from the church … rather than bringing them closer.”
“The battles for human life and for the weak and vulnerable should be fought not at the Communion rail but in the public square, in hearts and minds, in our pulpits and public advocacy, in our consciences and communities,” he said.
McCarrick’s panel is expected to make its final recommendations in November, after the presidential elections.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Charitable Giving Rose Slightly Last Year
(RNS) Charitable giving grew slightly in 2003, with religious organizations receiving more money than any other group, according to a national survey released Monday (June 21).
The Giving USA report said that donations by individuals, foundations, corporations and estates increased 3 percent in 2003 to nearly $241 billion, up from $234 billion in 2002. The survey was done by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and was based on voluntary reports by 1,369 organizations that responded.
“People are motivated to give because they value the cause,” said Henry Goldstein, chairman of the Giving USA Foundation, in a statement.
The foundation said it was “surprised” at the increase because of concerns that changes in the estate tax law would dampen charitable giving. Giving USA attributed last year’s increase to higher household income, a stronger stock market and better corporate profits.
Religious organizations were the largest recipients of charitable donations last year, receiving more than $86 billion _ a 2 percent increase from the previous year.
Gifts to religious groups make up 36 percent of all charitable giving. The next highest groups were education organizations, foundations and health-related groups.
_ Juliana Finucane
Catholic Group Accuses China of `Schizophrenia’ on Religion
ROME (RNS) China’s new Communist Party leadership has a schizophrenic policy toward religions, undecided whether to control them or crush them, a member of a Catholic religious rights organization said Friday (June 25).
The Rev. Bernardo Cervellera, editor of the missionary news agency AsiaNews, made the assessment at a news conference on the 2004 Report on Religious Freedom in the World, issued by the international organization Aid to the Church in Need.
The report followed a protest on Wednesday by Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls over the detention of three bishops belonging to the underground Catholic Church, which is recognized by the Vatican but not the state-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
Cervellera, one of the authors of the annual report on religious freedom, said that China’s “fourth generation” party leaders installed in March 2003 have forced underground Catholic bishops to undergo “a real brainwashing.” But at the same time, he said, Internet cafes where people meet to explore religion are flourishing.
“The leadership of the Communist Party of Beijing has an unresolved schizophrenia with respect to religions: It has not yet decided whether to control them or destroy them,” he said.
Navarro-Valls said there had been no news of Bishop Zhao Zhengdong, 84, of Xuanhua, since he was taken into custody by police on May 27. He said police also held Bishop Coadjutor Leo Vaoliang of Xiwanz June 2-12 and Bishop Jia Zhiguo of Zhengding June 13-18.
“The Holy See is deeply pained over these measures for which no reason has been communicated,” the spokesman said. “They are inconceivable in a state of law and contravene those rights of the person, in particular that of religious freedom, which are sanctioned in numerous international documents underwritten also by the Popular Republic of China.”
AsiaNews reported Friday that an official of the Chinese Office for Religious Affairs, Liu Yongquing, denied that Zhao Zhengdong had been arrested and said he was “voluntarily” attending a course on the government religious policy.
_ Peggy Polk
Bipartisan Caucus on Faith-Based Groups Launched on Capitol Hill
WASHINGTON (RNS) Several members of the House of Representatives announced Wednesday (June 23) a new bipartisan caucus that aims to improve relations between government and faith-based and community groups.
“We’re a bipartisan group dedicated to helping the House play a role in raising the awareness of these projects and looking for appropriate ways to assist them in their work,” said Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis.
“We do not believe that government should or could be replaced by such organizations and projects, but we do believe that government has an important role to play and that these organizations have an important role to play in lifting lives and healing neighborhoods.”
The House Community Solutions and Initiatives Coalition will be a “bridge between government and community-based groups,” and reduce “unnecessary illegal barriers that might actually hold their work back,” he said.
Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., gave Green credit for making the effort a bipartisan one and said he hopes it will encourage representatives to “tone down some of their rhetoric” and focus on examples of “best practices” by organizations that are improving people’s lives.
“I’m a firm believer that … government does not have all of the answers,” he said. “Government has and must play, however, a massive role in helping to solve many of the problems facing communities in Tennessee and, for that matter, across the nation.”
Asked if the coalition would address controversial matters that have stalled legislation on Capitol Hill _ such as the debate over hiring religious staff using government money _ Green said, “I think individuals can get involved in legislation in ways that hold us together and don’t break us apart.”
As of Wednesday, 16 House members had joined the new coalition.
Longtime supporters of improved relations between government and faith-based groups welcomed the coalition.
“We are hopeful that through efforts of Mark Green and Harold Ford we will be able to re-create the bipartisan spirit and renew the effort to have government and grass-roots groups work in partnership in the service of Americans in need,” said Nathan Diament, director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, in a statement.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: The Rev. Robert Silva, President of the National Federation of Priests’ Councils
(RNS) “If there is anything that we should have learned by this time, it is that coercion, intimidation … and motivating people to conform by the use of fear is absolutely foreign to evangelization and the maintenance of order in the faith community.”
_ The Rev. Robert Silva, president of the National Federation of Priests’ Councils, on the practice of some bishops of denying Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.
KRE/PH END RNS
