c. 2006 Religion News Service
Editors: Care Net is cq in 6th graf
Study: `Pregnancy Resource Centers’ Link Abortion With Breast Cancer
(RNS) A study of two dozen federally funded “pregnancy resource centers” that was requested by a Democratic congressman has concluded that the majority of them provide questionable information about the consequences of abortion.
The study, sought by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., involved female investigators who telephoned 25 centers that have received funding from the Compassion Capital Fund, a program of the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives. Twenty-three centers were successfully contacted by investigators who posed as pregnant 17-year-olds trying to determine if they should have an abortion.
Investigators said 20 of the 23 centers gave “false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion.” They were told about links between abortion and breast cancer, infertility and mental illness.
Conservatives and liberals have debated whether abortion has a connection with breast cancer and other medical ailments.
The 14-page report noted that studies such as one published in 1997 in the New England Journal of Medicine found no link between induced abortion and an increased risk of breast cancer. But groups such as Concerned Women for America cite publications that critique the methodology behind such studies.
Kristen Hansen, vice president of communications for Care Net, a network of 975 evangelical pregnancy centers in North America, considered Waxman’s efforts to be “attacks” on those who wish to discourage women from choosing abortion.
“Because abortion has become so grossly politicized, it is easy for proponents like Rep. Waxman to cite one or two studies on the risks of abortion and call it a day,” she said. “But women’s physical and emotional health hangs in the balance.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Court Rejects Episcopal Diocese’s Request for Restraining Order
(RNS) A New York State Supreme Court justice on Thursday (July 20) denied a request for a restraining order against an Episcopal parish whose leaders reject the denomination’s policy on homosexuality, saying the disagreement boils down to a question of ownership.
“What the court’s interested in is, `Hey, who owns this building?”’ State Supreme Court Justice Edward Carni said.
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York says the vestry of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Syracuse violated state law and the rules of the Episcopal Church by changing the church’s certificate of incorporation.
“That was an illegal act. It is not in the power of the vestry to secede from the Protestant Episcopal Church,” said Jonathan Fellows, a lawyer representing the diocese.
The suit seeks financial accounting from the church and recognition that the law grants the diocese title to all its property. The diocese also seeks to oust the church’s leader.
Some members of the parish have publicly disagreed with the 2003 denominational approval to consecrate V. Gene Robinson, of New Hampshire, as the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop.
Six of the diocese’s 94 parishes have withheld assessments to protest the church’s policies on homosexuality. No one from those parishes has said their congregation intends to leave the diocese, said Bishop Gladstone “Skip” Adams.
In court Thursday, Raymond Dague, a member of St. Andrew’s and the lawyer representing the church, defended the church’s action and accused the diocese and the denomination’s national leaders of betraying traditional church values.
“This is not a church that has just wandered off,” Dague said. “It would be our contention that the diocese has changed to a new religion.”
State Supreme Court Justice James Murphy will hear legal arguments on the lawsuit Sept. 1.
_ Renee K. Gadoua and Jim O’Hara
Pope Wades Carefully Into Middle East Conflict
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI is wading carefully into the worldwide debate over the deepening conflict between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
A statement from the Holy See’s press office, issued Thursday (July 20), called for a cease-fire in the conflict that began July 12 when Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, setting off an Israeli bombing campaign. Hezbollah has responded with a steady steam of cross-border rocket assaults.
The Vatican statement said Israelis had the right to “live in peace in their state,” while calling on Israel to respect Lebanon’s sovereignty.
“The Lebanese have the right to see the integrity and the sovereignty of their country respected,” the statement said.
The Vatican’s appeal comes after Saad Hariri, the majority leader of Lebanon’s parliament, met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano on Wednesday (July 19).
Benedict is on holiday in the northern Italian town of Les Combes until the end of the month. But the statement said he was following the conflict with “great concern.”
_ Stacy Meichtry
Religious and Human Rights Groups Push Plan for North Korea
WASHINGTON (RNS) A broad coalition of religious and human rights groups urged Congress and the Bush administration Thursday (July 20) to pursue a humanitarian approach toward North Korea.
The coalition came together in the wake of North Korea’s missile tests several weeks ago. At a news conference, representatives from the National Association of Evangelicals, the Korean Church Coalition and the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission offered an 18-point plan to resolve the diplomatic stalemate between North Korea and most other nations.
Central to their plan is an approach that protects refugees and forces North Korea to improve its human rights standing _ in addition to addressing arms proliferation and nuclear weapon capabilities.
The religious coalition wants Congress to consider legislation that would restrict exports from China to the United States until the Asian nation agrees to treat North Korean refugees with compassion. A similar regulation known as the Jackson-Vanik Amendment has been in force since the 1970s, though China is now exempt from complying with it.
“I have great confidence that we (Americans) are going to insist that this situation change,” prominent Southern Baptist Richard Land said at a news conference here.
Though there is some disagreement within the coalition over how quickly such changes could be enacted, members agreed that North Korea’s dictatorship under Kim Jong Il is less powerful than most people assume.
When asked whether evangelical congregations would be able to rouse the energy to support North Korea’s citizens amid other humanitarian priorities like Sudan, the crisis in the Middle East and “creation care,” evangelical leader Richard Cizik was very optimistic.
“What you see happening is in fact a rising to the challenge,” Cizik said. “We seemingly have the capacity to do the agenda.”
_ Peter Sachs
House Approves Bill to `Protect’ Pledge of Allegiance
(RNS) The House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday (July 19) that would prohibit most federal courts _ including the Supreme Court _ from hearing constitutional challenges to the Pledge of Allegiance.
The measure, which was approved 260-167, is part of Republicans’ “American Values Agenda,” designed to galvanize conservative voters before elections in November.
Conservative lawmakers expressed particular concern that the phrase “one nation, under God” be kept in the pledge to reflect the country’s religious history.
“We should not and cannot rewrite history to ignore our spiritual heritage,” said Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., according to The Associated Press. “It surrounds us. It cries out for our country to honor God.”
Critics of the bill argued that it is a congressional overreach that defies the separation of powers between the three branches of government. Moreover, it denies the rights of those Americans who do not believe in monotheism, they say.
In 2002, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the “under God” part of the pledge, when recited in public schools, violates the Constitution by reflecting a governmental endorsement of religion.
The Supreme Court overruled that decision on a technicality, but the California atheist who brought the lawsuit has renewed his legal efforts. The case _ with new plaintiffs _ is again before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance in 1945 with a special provision that requires congressional approval of any changes. In 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower asked Congress to amend the pledge to add the phrase “under God.”
It is unclear when the Senate will take up the bill.
_ Daniel Burke
Quote of the Day: Therese Khairallah, a resident of Tyre, Lebanon
(RNS) “God knows what’s ahead.”
_ Therese Khairallah of Tyre, Lebanon, a city whose residents were warned Thursday (July 20) by Israel that an attack is imminent.
DSB/PH END RNS
