c. 2008 Religion News Service
Feds say minister diverted flood aid
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Federal prosecutors have charged the former pastor of a church damaged by Hurricane Katrina with diverting thousands of dollars in private donations and public flood relief money to his private bank account.
The U.S. attorney’s office said it filed a bill of information charging the Rev. Noah A. Thomas Jr., former pastor of Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, with a single count of mail fraud. He led the church until October 2006, authorities said.
Thomas was unavailable for comment. His telephone number is unlisted and the identity of his attorney could not be immediately determined.
Prosecutors said the church applied for a donation from the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund, a private philanthropy headed by the two ex-presidents. The church also applied for a Small Business Administration rebuilding loan, they said.
The Bush-Clinton Fund donated $35,000 to the church and the SBA approved a rebuilding loan of $252,000, prosecutors said.
Thomas opened a new bank account over which he had sole control and deposited into it the $35,000 from the Bush-Clinton fund, as well as the first installment of $10,000 from the SBA, prosecutors said. His purpose was “to conceal the award of those funds and to illegally use the money for his own personal benefit,” according to the bill of information filed with the court.
The church appears to be functioning today. A sign outside the property identifies the new pastor as the Rev. Brian K. Richburg, who was unavailable for comment.
U.S. Attorney Jim Letten would not say whether prosecutors have evidence that Thomas spent any of the money on himself. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in jail and a fine of $250,000.
_ Bruce Nolan
Survey: Drugs and abortion are sins, but not gambling or dancing
(RNS) The vast majority of Americans believe that sin exists but they differ on which behaviors are sinful, according to a new survey by Ellison Research.
The Phoenix-based marketing research company found that 87 percent of Americans believe in the concept of sin. While most Americans think adultery is sinful (81 percent) and consider racism to be a sin (74 percent), far fewer Americans would put gambling (30 percent) or telling a “little white lie” (29 percent) in that category.
Other activities described as sinful include:
_ Using “hard” drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, LSD: 65 percent
_ Not saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change back: 63 percent
_ Having an abortion: 56 percent
_ Homosexual activity or sex: 52 percent
_ Underreporting income on your tax returns: 52 percent
_ Playing the lottery: 18 percent
_ Not giving 10 percent of your income to a church or charity: 16 percent
_ Dancing: 4 percent.
Ron Sellers, president of Ellison Research, said the survey, which was released Tuesday (March 11), showed inconsistent thought patterns.
“For instance, over a third of all Americans believe failing to take proper care of their bodies is sinful,” he said. “Yet far fewer believe tobacco or obesity are sins _ even though medical science consistently shows using tobacco and being overweight are two of the most harmful things they can do to their bodies.”
The survey was based on a sample of 1,007 adults with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Irish bishops ask to leave Sundays for church
LONDON (RNS) Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland have urged communities to halt sports activities on Sunday morning, especially those involving children, to avoid competition with worship services.
In their bid to keep Sunday morning worship time sacrosanct, the Irish Bishops Conference said scheduling such events before noon violated a long-standing consensus “whereby sporting and leisure activities for young people on Sundays did not begin until early afternoon.”
But spokesman Danny Lynch of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Ireland’s largest sporting organization, said it had no choice but to continue all-day scheduling on Sundays.
“When you have over 300,000 kids to take care of with training sessions and games,” Lynch told journalists, “they have to be facilitated on a limited number of pitches and facilities.”
What this means, said Archbishop of Cashel and Emly Dermot Clifford, is that “Sunday mornings have become what Sunday afternoons used to be … so much so that a lot of young people don’t have an opportunity to attend Sunday Mass.”
A worrisome point, the bishops conceded, is that “dedicated young sports people can be afraid to miss a training session or a game for fear they will lose their place on the team.”
_ Al Webb
Quote of the Day: Letter found in car of Colorado gunman Matthew Murray
(RNS) “Why didn’t you ever answer my cries for help?!”
_ One of the questions asked of Jesus in a letter found in the car driven by gunman Matthew Murray, who killed four people at a Colorado missionary training center and evangelical megachurch in December before killing himself. The letter was posted on the Web site of KMGH-TV in Denver.
KRE/PH END RNS
