c. 2007 Religion News Service

Al Gore named `Baptist of the Year’

(RNS) Former Vice President Al Gore has been named “Baptist of the Year” by EthicsDaily.com, the Web site of the Baptist Center for Ethics.

“He has pressed for the global good with a compelling message about the danger of climate change and a clear call for moral responsibility, knitting together science and faith, reason and passion,” wrote Robert Parham, the center’s executive director, in an announcement of Gore’s selection.

“He has refused to be distracted by the character-assassins, the fear-mongers, the science-deniers and the merchants of short-term gain. He has remained faithful to his mission of protecting the earth and its inhabitants.”

The Baptist Center for Ethics, based in Nashville, Tenn., was founded in 1991 and is supported by moderate Baptist groups.

Parham noted that Gore’s fellow Baptists have not always supported the vice president’s efforts.

“Regrettably no Baptist has received less applause from Baptists than Gore, a shameful but not unexpected reality from a people snarled in religious fear, suspicious of science and stuck in the rut of spiritualized reading of the Bible,” Parham wrote.

The EthicsDaily.com honor comes two months after Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for their work on global warming.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Accused killer asks to meet with father/pastor

ELYRIA, Ohio (RNS) A 16-year-old boy accused of murdering his mother and trying to kill his father has created a peculiar legal dilemma by making a seemingly ordinary request.

Daniel Petric has asked that his father, the Rev. Mark Petric, visit him at the Lorain County Jail as a minister. What makes the request unusual _ and troubling to prosecutors _ is that it could make their conversations confidential.

As a parent, Mark Petric could be forced to testify about what he and his son talked about during a jailhouse visit. But common law allows a conversation between a clergyman and an inmate to be kept private. Petric is pastor of New Life Assembly of God in Wellington.

Jack King, director of public affairs for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said the situation is very unusual.

“I would think it would take a lot of legal research to find a precedent,” King said.

Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge will have to decide whether to allow Mark Petric to visit his son as a minister.

Prosecutor Dennis Will objected Wednesday (Dec. 26) to the request, saying the father is a key witness to the fatal shooting on Oct. 20, as well as a victim.

Will added that allowing the father to visit as a minister would give the younger Petric additional visitation privileges. Inmates can have clergy visit as often as they want but are entitled to only 30 minutes a week from other visitors.

The boy’s attorney, James Kersey, vehemently denied he had requested that the father be given minister status so as to keep the conversations with his son confidential. But Kersey would not explain why he made the request.

_ Molly Kavanaugh

Watchdog group rates best ministries

(RNS) MinistryWatch.com has released an honor roll of 30 evangelical Christian ministries it cited for financial openness and Christian identity.

In its third annual study, the Matthews, N.C.-based fiscal watchdog group picked the nonprofit organizations based on financial transparency, mission, and clear self-definition as evangelical Christian ministries.

During a roughly yearlong process, MinistryWatch.com examined Internal Revenue Service documents and other specific information about each of the nonprofits’ internal dealings. The group maintains a zero-tolerance policy, excluding organizations that suggest any financial “red flags,” said Rod Pitzer, the managing director of research for MinistryWatch.com and principal author of the study.

MinistryWatch.org also requires a statement of faith to ensure that the ministries are, in fact, Christian.

“I think most people would think, `Well, of course. … But that’s not always the case,” Pitzer said. “Some organizations don’t necessarily want to give out a statement of faith or what they believe.”

Rusty Leonard, the president of MinistryWatch.com, said that 10 years ago, organizations used to balk at the request for financial documents. Now some nonprofits are voluntarily posting the information on their Web sites.

“Once they realized that organizations like ours were going to treat that information with respect _ not twist it or turn it _ they realized this is a good thing,” Leonard said.

But there’s still work to be done.

“There’s always a handful out there who will come up with every excuse under the sun why they shouldn’t give information out,” Pitzer said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is currently investigating the finances of six prominent evangelical ministries. Grassley, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, has emphasized a need to ensure church ministries are following tax law.

MinistryWatch.com’s 2007-2008 list of 30 “Shining Light” ministries includes: Ameritribes; AnGeL Ministries; Answers in Genesis; Awana Clubs International; Bethany Christian Services; Bridges for Peace; Care Net; Child Evangelism Fellowship; Children’s Hunger Fund; Christian Legal Society; Compassion International; Crown Financial Ministries; EvanTell; Fellowship International Mission; International Aid; JAARS; Medical Teams International; Military Community Youth Ministry; Moms in Touch International; New Tribes Mission; Prison Fellowship Ministries; Ravi Zacharias International Ministries; Ron Hutchcraft Ministries; Scripture Union USA; Stand to Reason; Truth for Life; Turkish World Outreach; The Voice of the Martyrs; Wycliffe Bible Translators; and Young Life.

_ Kat Glass

Quote of the Day: The Rev. Johan Candelin of the World Evangelical Alliance

(RNS) “She told me several times that she wanted to work for Pakistan where a Jew could go to the synagogue, a Christian to the church and a Muslim to the mosque _ all without any fear. She was fully aware of the risk she took when she went back to Pakistan, but said that democracy is worth risking one’s life for.”

_ The Rev. Johan Candelin, executive director of the World Evangelical Alliance’s Religious Liberty Commission, reacting to the Dec. 27 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

KRE/PH END RNS