c. 2006 Religion News Service
Humanists File Suit to Stop Voting in Churches
WASHINGTON (RNS) The civil rights of a Florida humanist were violated when he was forced to pass an anti-abortion banner on his way to vote at a Florida church in the midterm elections, leaders of the American Humanist Association said Wednesday (Nov. 29).
The humanists filed suit to stop voting at the church in Delray Beach, Fla., and ultimately hope to use similar cases to halt voting at all houses of worship.
The lawsuit on behalf of the Florida man, Jerry Rabinowitz, also launched the American Humanist Association’s new legal center in Washington, the first nontheist legal center in the nation’s capital.
The AHA defines humanism as a progressive philosophy of life that, without supernaturalism, affirms humans’ ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
Twenty-seven humanist lawyers from around the country, including Michael Newdow, who tried to remove the words “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, will step up efforts to defend the constitutional rights of religious and secular minorities through legal action and public outreach, said Heidi Bruggink, legal coordinator for the new legal center.
The center’s goal is to represent humanist values in the legal arena and stand up against the efforts of the “Bush administration to damage Jefferson’s wall of church-state separation.”
“George W. Bush has been busy appointing conservative Christian judges who don’t support the separation of church and state,” said AHA executive director Roy Speckhardt. “And year after year we’re seeing government intruding further and further into the religious sphere.”
The AHA said churches are the most common polling locations in America, and cited a Stanford University study that found “environmental cues” inside polling locations can influence how voters vote.
James Hurley, a lawyer working with the AHA, cited two examples of “blatant religiosity” at polling places: An Illinois member voted in a church that displayed a 4-foot wooden crucifix, and a New York member voted in a room featuring large religious slogans on the wall behind the voting machines.
“I believe all use of churches as polls for precinct voting is unconstitutional,” Hurley said. “This case is the first direct challenge to using religious buildings such as churches under the Establishment Clause, and we hope that it will set precedent that will eventually enable all Floridians _ and all Americans _ to vote in a neutral location.”
_ Chansin Bird
Warren Under Fire for Hosting Obama at Upcoming AIDS Conference
(RNS) Anti-abortion activists have sharply criticized Friday’s (Dec. 1) scheduled appearance by Sen. Barack Obama at megachurch pastor Rick Warren’s AIDS summit, but the Illinois Democrat said he hopes people can “come together” to combat the pandemic.
“In the strongest possible terms, we oppose Rick Warren’s decision to ignore Senator Obama’s clear pro-death stance and invite him to Saddleback Church anyway,” reads the activists’ statement, issued Tuesday.
“If Senator Obama cannot defend the most helpless citizens in our country, he has nothing to say to the AIDS crisis. You cannot fight one evil while justifying another.”
The signatories urged Warren to rescind the invitation, but Warren’s church responded with a statement that declared “the HIV/AIDS pandemic cannot be fought by evangelicals alone.”
Obama, widely considered to be a potential presidential candidate, issued a statement calling for joint progress on the disease.
“I understand that many people of faith have strong views about abortion, and I deeply respect their beliefs,” said Obama. “While we will never see eye-to-eye on all issues, surely we can come together with one voice to honor the entirety of Christ’s teachings by working to eradicate the scourge of AIDS, poverty and other challenges we all can agree must be met.”
The church, reacting to what it called the “strong opposition” to Obama’s participation, defended the invitation.
“Obama was invited to share his views on AIDS, not abortion or any other issue,” reads the statement from Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. “Let it be made very clear that Pastor Warren and Saddleback Church completely disagree with Obama’s views on abortion and other positions he has taken.”
It adds that Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, who co-founded the church’s AIDS initiative, are “staunchly pro-life, because it’s the biblical position.”
Obama has been given a 100 percent “pro-choice score” by NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Signatories to the protest statement included Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association; Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum; and Joe Scheidler, national director of Pro-Life Action League. Other conservative Christians issued additional statements agreeing with their stance, including the Rev. Wiley Drake, second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Rick Who? Most Americans Don’t Recognize Major Christian Leaders
(RNS) If Britney Spears, Denzel Washington and James Dobson were in a lineup, most Americans would know the first two but draw a blank on the evangelical leader.
A new study by the Barna Group found that a majority of Americans, when presented with 16 public figures, had never heard of some of the nation’s most prominent Christian leaders, but instantly recognize pop-culture celebrities.
Rick Warren, pastor of a megachurch in Lake Forest, Calif., has sold more copies of his book, “The Purpose Driven Life,” than any other nonfiction work except the Bible. But three out of every four adults (72 percent) have never heard of him, the survey found.
Nearly 57 percent of adults have never heard of James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and host of a religious radio program that reaches more Americans than any other religious personality.
Bishop T.D. Jakes, a Dallas megachurch pastor who is considered by many to be the most influential African-American minister in the country, is unknown to 68 percent of American adults, Barna found.
And 75 percent said they didn’t know of Tim LaHaye, a prominent minister and co-author of the “Left Behind” novels, the best-selling fiction series of all time. Two out of three Americans (67 percent) drew a blank on Joel Osteen, pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston _ one of the largest Christian congregations in the country _ and host of the most widely viewed teaching programs in the United States.
Actors Denzel Washington, Rosie O’Donnell and Mel Gibson fared better in the minds of Americans. The percentage of adults to recognize their names were 93 percent, 95 percent and 96 percent, respectively.
“The survey statistics suggest that perhaps Christian individuals are more attuned to matters of culture and entertainment than to matters of faith,” George Barna, director of the research study, said in a statement.
“People pay attention to what they deem important. These figures may be another indicator that millions of Christians invest more of their mental energy in cultural literacy than in biblical literacy.”
The Barna Group, based in Ventura, Calif., interviewed 1,003 adults for the survey in October. The margin of error for the study was 3.2 percentage points.
_ Jason Kane
Indiana Pastor To Lead Christian Reformed Publisher
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) An Indiana pastor and author will take the helm at the official publishing house for Christian Reformed Church and Reformed Church in America materials.
The Rev. Leonard Vander Zee, of South Bend, Ind., has been appointed editor-in-chief of Grand Rapids-based Faith Alive Christian Resources, one of the divisions of CRC Publications.
Vander Zee, 61, will start in December. He replaces Patricia Nederveld, who will retire after 18 years as managing editor and director. He will oversee all Faith Alive publications, including church school, leadership, evangelism and worship resources, and also will serve as theological editor.
The Rochester, N.Y., native grew up in Grand Rapids and is a graduate of Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary. He has been a minister in the Christian Reformed Church for 36 years, serving congregations in Michigan, Indiana, New York and Iowa.
“There’s a much wider range of literature available today than there was 20 or 30 years ago,” he said. “Whereas now, the church has a lot more competitors out there, if you want to put it in business terms. So it has to produce material that is faithful to ministry and doctrines, but that will attract people’s attention.”
Although it is the official publishing house for CRC and RCA materials, Faith Alive also has teamed up with Presbyterians for Renewal and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and sells materials to more than 50 other denominations.
_ Morgan Jarema
Quote of the Day: National Catholic Reporter editorial
(RNS) “Bishops, pestered by the abuse scandal that they’ve avoided looking full in the face, find it easier to try to order others’ lives. They have found the things of a more settled time, a time when their authority wasn’t dependent on persuading or relating to other humans. It was enough to have the office and the clothing. Things worked. Dig a little deeper in the closet and bring out the Latin texts, bring back the old documents, bring back the days when homosexuals were quiet and told no one about who they essentially are. … Now that’s order. Now that’s the church. Bring up the lights a little higher so all can see. Before it all fades to irrelevance.”
_ An editorial in the National Catholic Reporter, criticizing the U.S. Catholic bishops’ recent statements on contraception, homosexuality and other issues.
KRE/PH END RNS
Editors: To obtain photos of the Florida polling station referenced in the first item, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.
