c. 2006 Religion News Service
Evangelicals Urge More Aggressive Action on Darfur
WASHINGTON (RNS) President Bush should adopt an aggressive policy _ guided by faith, not politics _ to end the violence in Sudan’s western Darfur region, prominent evangelical leaders said Wednesday (Oct. 17).
International and domestic politics have deterred Bush and other world leaders from ending the killings in Darfur, said the Rev. Jim Wallis, head of Sojourners/Call to Renewal, a Washington-based progressive Christian network.
When government fails to stop slaughter, “people need to step in and say we must be dictated by our conscience,” Wallis said.
The group asked that Bush push for a United Nations peacekeeping force in Darfur, even if Sudan’s government continues to object to an international peacekeeping force.
Wallis was joined by four other prominent evangelicals, including Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptists’ Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals; the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez Jr., head of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; and the Rev. Geoff Tunnicliffe, international director of the World Evangelical Alliance.
An estimated 200,000 people have been killed, and 2.5 million displaced, in the Sudanese government’s bloody campaign against civilians suspected of affiliation with Darfur rebels. Fighting has recently spread to nearby Chad, where 100 people were killed and 300,000 people displaced.
In August, Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir rejected the U.S. and British-backed plan to bring a U.N. force of about 20,000 armed personnel into Darfur. Al-Bashir said earlier this month that he would consider any country’s move to supply troops for such a U.N. mission a “hostile act.”
But Wallis said the situation in Darfur has reached the point where Bush and other Americans must be willing to override Sudanese authority for the sake of ending the killings. Allowing the violence to continue would serve to give the green light for dictators in other countries to engage in genocide, he said.
_ Rebecca U. Cho
Southwestern Seminary Trustees Won’t Hire Charismatic Professors
(RNS) Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have voted not to hire professors or administrators who promote charismatic Christian practices, such as speaking in tongues.
The trustees overwhelmingly adopted a statement Tuesday (Oct. 17), two months after a fellow trustee noted his personal use of tongues during a sermon in the chapel of the Fort Worth, Texas, seminary.
The trustee board statement was proposed by Southwestern Seminary President Paige Patterson. The school is one of six seminaries associated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Southern Baptists have traditionally opposed Pentecostal practices, but some pastors have embraced a more charismatic worship style.
“Southwestern will not knowingly endorse in any way, advertise or commend the conclusions of the contemporary charismatic movement including `private prayer language,”’ reads the statement. “Neither will Southwestern knowingly employ professors or administrators who promote such practices.”
The Rev. Dwight McKissic, the Arlington, Texas, pastor and trustee who preached in late August, issued a statement to the board prior to its vote.
“I do not understand the agenda of those who wish to drive into the shadows those of us who are open to this area of the Spirit’s work, as clearly attested in Scripture,” he wrote.
_ Adelle M. Banks
`Me and the Mosque’ Prompts Debate Over Women in Mosques
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (RNS) An acclaimed Canadian-made documentary, “Me and the Mosque,” is making a splash as it becomes the focus of Muslim debate over whether women should be physically separated from men in mosques.
The documentary’s Saskatchewan-based filmmaker, Zarqa Nawaz, has been invited to show her film and speak to Muslim communities and campus organizations in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto and other cities.
The film notes that in recent years two-thirds of North America’s 1,000-plus mosques have been physically separating men and women worshippers, compared with only half that did so in 1994. Nawaz says the trend was due to a sharp rise in Muslim immigration.
She says she believes that partly because of her film, which has been shown at several film festivals, the “tide is turning” and mosques, including her own in Regina, now are removing partitions between the genders.
The National Film Board documentary often uses humor in exploring the serious debate between North America’s Muslim conservatives and moderates.
The film opens with reactions in a Muslim audience to a male Muslim stand-up comic who lampoons leaders who segregate the sexes. The camera first focuses on how women in the audience, many wearing headscarves, giggle with liberating delight; then it turns to the males, who look amused but rattled and uncertain.
Nawaz’s Web site (http://www.fundamentalistfilms.com) jokes about putting “the fun back into fundamentalism.” Despite her self-deprecating humor, the devout, married, 39-year-old mother of four considers herself a “mainstream” Muslim on a mission of justice.
In an interview, Nawaz said North American Muslims have many things in common, including opposition to the war in Iraq.
But her film’s narrator pushes Muslims with this challenge: “Muslims always seem to be talking about the injustices done to them by the outside world. But they rarely talk about the injustices in their own community.”
The documentary includes a look at conflicts in several Muslim communities, including a suburban Vancouver mosque where women are confined to a largely enclosed balcony, unable to see the imam. “Men may think they know what women need, but they don’t,” said one worshipper, Raqiya Mohammad.
In January, Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC TV, is planning to launch a pilot of Nawaz’s new series, “Little Mosque on the Prairies.”
_ Douglas Todd
Muslim Says He Was Fired for Not Giving to Catholic Charity
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the nation’s largest community development corporation, alleging that it fired a Muslim employee after he refused to donate money to a Catholic charity.
The lawsuit, filed in late September but announced Tuesday (Oct. 17), alleges that New Community Corp. fired Newark Police Lt. Anthony Kerr from his part-time job as a security guard after he refused to donate to a Catholic charity because of his religious beliefs.
“It comes down to a matter of principle,” Kerr said. “People should not be forced to contribute to a charity. How do you penalize a man who stands up for his religious convictions?”
As a practicing Muslim, Kerr said he would prefer to give to a Muslim charity that conforms with his religious beliefs. Kerr said he was asked to donate to St. Rose of Lima School in Newark starting in the spring of 2005. The founder of New Community, Monsignor William Linder, is the pastor at St. Rose of Lima.
New Community also allegedly retaliated against Kerr by filing a complaint against him with the Newark Police Department’s internal affairs division after Kerr pursued federal charges, said Michael Ranis, a trial attorney for the commission.
“New Community went far beyond refusing to accommodate Mr. Kerr. They fired him and tried to make his life difficult,” said Ranis.
New Community Corp. said Kerr’s allegations are false and vowed to defend the lawsuit.
“The idea that anyone was mistreated because of their religion is an affront to our pledge to the community,” said general counsel Anthony Higgins.
New Community Corp. is the largest community development corporation in the country, with assets of $50 million. The nonprofit affects the lives of more than 50,000 people by providing housing, job training and medical care and employs 1,600 people in Newark.
_ Jeffery C. Mays
Nuns’ Voter Guide Challenges Church on Abortion
WASHINGTON (RNS) Weeks before the November elections, a progressive coalition of Catholic nuns has issued an “open letter to Catholic voters” that challenges the church’s teachings on abortion and gay marriage.
The letter from the 500-member National Coalition of American Nuns is both a rebuke to conservative Catholic bishops and an encouragement to liberal lay Catholics, said co-executive director Sister Jeannine Gramick.
“We insist that legislators and voters alike cast their votes in accordance with their consciences and deeply-held values without incurring sacramental penalties based on their voting records,” the letter reads.
The open letter lists seven items Catholics should consider before voting. The first two items concern war and immigration.
The third item is: “We encourage respect for the moral adulthood of women and will chose legislators who will recognize the right of women to make reproductive decisions.”
“That would probably not be in line with what the bishops are currently saying,” said Gramick, who was ordered by the Vatican to quit her work with gay and lesbian Catholics in 1999.
NCAN board member Sister Donna Quinn said that “until the church recognizes women as fully functioning moral human beings, then they have no right to talk” about abortion.
“Because the church _ the institutional church _ is all male, they should stay out of these issues,” said Quinn, 68, a Dominican nun from the Chicago area.
The open letter also says that “all citizens in committed relationships _ whether marriages or civil unions _ should retain all rights … including … adoption of children, ownership of property, inheritance, health and end-of-life decisions.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops opposes gay marriage as well as efforts to accord gay couples all the rights pertaining to heterosexual marriages.
Joseph Cella, president of Fidelis, a conservative Catholic group, said the nuns’ letter “bulldozes the core teachings of the Roman Catholic Church: the sanctity of the unborn child and traditional marriage.”
“They’re about as far outside the Catholic moral framework as any organization can possibly be,” Cella said.
_ Daniel Burke
Bishop Asks for Friendlier Halloween Masks
LONDON (RNS) A Church of England bishop has launched a campaign to try to stop supermarkets from selling scary masks and other traditional paraphernalia that he says emphasize the “dark, negative side” of Halloween.
Bishop David Gillett of Bolton claims the big stores are promoting a “climate of fear” around the pagan festival and says they should instead push the sale of bright balloons, hair braids and colorful costumes that do not tempt children to dabble in the occult.
In a letter to Britain’s supermarket bosses, Gillett said Halloween, with its Frankenstein and “scream” masks, witch’s black garb and devil’s horns and tails, “has the potential to trivialize the evils of the world.”
He added that “occult practices should not be condoned, even if they are only presented in a caricatured, light-hearted form.”
The bishop urged the giant stores to favor festive products such as party games and balloons to encourage the themes of “light, laughter and the triumph of good over evil”.
Gillett said he had won support from some of the big stores. Justin King, chief executive of the huge Sainsbury’s chain, told him there was “a case” for giving customers choice and promised it would introduce “alternatives,” although not until next year.
Tesco, the biggest chain in the country, said it was thinking about it, and Trevor Bish Jones, chief executive officer of Woolworth’s, was giving the idea “full consideration.”
But the nationwide Asda supermarket chain, owned by U.S. retail giant Wal-Mart, said simply that “we are in the business to sell the things our customers want to buy.”
_ Al Webb
Greenebaum Named U.S. Interfaith Director for American Jewish Committee
(RNS) Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, the director of the American Jewish Committee’s Los Angeles chapter since 1990, has been appointed as the organization’s U.S. director of interreligious affairs.
“AJC is fortunate to have Rabbi Gary Greenebaum at the helm of our interreligious activity in the U.S.,” AJC executive director David A. Harris said in a statement. “He will make valuable contributions to furthering our goal of strengthening the ties we share with other faith communities.”
Greenebaum helped direct Project Interchange, an AJC initiative that promotes understanding of Israeli history, culture and politics. As part of that program, Greenebaum led several delegations of U.S. Protestant and Catholic leaders to Israel.
“I cannot think of a more important time in the history of the U.S. for this kind of work,” Greenebaum said in a statement. “I look forward to following in the footsteps of Rabbis Marc Tanenbaum and James Rudin, who pioneered AJC’s landmark efforts in interreligious affairs.”
Greenebaum succeeds Rabbi David Elcott, who left the post last March to join the Israel Policy Forum. Greenebaum will work with Rabbi David Rosen, who is based in Jerusalem and oversees the AJC’s international interfaith program.
_ Chansin Bird
Poll Finds Muslims Lean Democratic, See War on Terror as War on Islam
WASHINGTON (RNS) A new survey by an Islamic advocacy group suggests that America’s Muslim voters lean Democratic, and just over half fear that the war on terror has become a war on Islam.
Pollsters asked 1,000 Muslims about their political views, religion and levels of social integration in the survey. The results were published Tuesday (Oct. 24) by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
According to the survey, 89 percent of Muslims claim they vote regularly, and 42 percent identify themselves as Democrats. Seventeen percent said they were Republicans and 28 percent consider themselves independent.
The survey also focused on interfaith and political issues. For example, 84 percent of American Muslims believe they should more strongly emphasize the values they share with Christians and Jews; 55 percent said they fear the war on terror has become a war on Islam; 66 percent support working toward normalizing U.S. relations with Iran; and 12 percent believe the U.S. intervention in Iraq was worthwhile.
Nearly half of those polled avoided making a distinction between religious sects and said they consider themselves “just Muslims.”
“The results are very important because they come at a critical time for the American Muslim community,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the group. “It shows that the Muslim community’s vote should not be taken for granted.”
The telephone survey was conducted Aug. 3-31 by Genesis Research Associates, and sampled 1,000 registered Muslim voters. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
_ Keith Roshangar
Colson Resigns As Prison Fellowship Chairman
WASHINGTON (RNS) Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson has announced his resignation as chairman of the board of the ministry he started 30 years ago.
Colson, who turned 75 on Oct. 16, said Monday (Oct. 23) that the board of Prison Fellowship USA has chosen business executive Michael Timmis as his successor. Timmis is the co-owner and vice chairman of Talon L.L.C., a Detroit-based private investment holding company. Since 1997, he has served as chairman of the board of Prison Fellowship International.
Colson will remain a member of the Prison Fellowship board and plans to pursue writing, teaching and speaking work with the ministry, which is based in Lansdowne, Va.
Colson is a former Nixon aide who served seven months in prison on obstruction of justice charges related to the Watergate scandal. His time behind bars led to his founding of the ministry that seeks to aid prisoners and their families.
Colson chose former Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley as Prison Fellowship’s president and CEO in 2002.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Staying in Bed Outranks Sitting in Pews, Survey Shows
(RNS) A good night’s sleep ranks far above attending church as a favorite activity, a nationwide poll shows.
The Barna Group asked more than 1,000 adults to say how much they looked forward to any of 17 activities, ranging from sleeping to completing tax forms.
Seven out of 10 _ 71 percent _ of respondents said they relished the thought of getting enough sleep. That contrasted with 40 percent who said they looked forward “a lot” to attending church services, which was the fourth most appealing activity.
Tucked between sleep and church attendance _ two activities that have sometimes been known to be combined _ were spending time with friends (55 percent) and listening to music (54 percent).
Although sleep outranked church attendance, researchers found that reading the Bible scored higher than reading a novel for pleasure. Nearly one-third (31 percent) of those surveyed said they really looked forward to Bible reading, compared to 25 percent who cited reading novels.
Among the activities people seemed to find least appealing were shopping for clothing (16 percent), having a doctor’s examination (14 percent) and filling out tax forms (11 percent).
David Kinnaman, vice president of the Barna Group, said the data reveal how busy Americans are.
“The pace of life, the acceleration of all of the things that we have to do as Americans, is just incredible,” he said.
“So sleep becomes one of those few areas that provides kind of a mini-sanctuary for people.”
The telephone survey by the Ventura, Calif.-based marketing firm, included 1,005 adults nationwide and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Week: Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
(RNS) “We rightly criticize that in most Islamic states, the role of religion for society and the character of the rule of law are not clearly separated. But we fail to recognize that in the U.S.A., the Christian fundamentalists and their interpretation of the Bible have similar tendencies.”
_ Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, writing in a new book, “Decisions: My Life in Politics.” He was quoted by the Associated Press.
KRE END RNS
