c. 2008 Religion News Service

House passes debt relief bill

WASHINGTON (RNS) Religious leaders praised the House this week for passing the Jubilee Act, which pushes the Treasury Department to seek debt cancellation agreements with 24 countries.

The bill, which passed 285-132 Wednesday (April 16), targets countries that need their debts canceled in order to meet the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals, which seek to eradicate extreme poverty and halt the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.

“We commend the U.S. Congress for its bold step in passing the Jubilee Act and listening to the people of the impoverished nations who have borne the burden of unjust debt for far too long,” said Patricia Rumer, co-chair of the Washington-based Jubilee USA Network, which includes religious groups, development agencies, and civil and human rights groups.

A Senate panel is scheduled to consider related legislation April 24.

The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), hailed the House passage as “an important step towards building a world in which deadly poverty no longer stands in the way of the full flourishing of all God’s people.”

The bill seeks reform of International Monetary Fund and World Bank policies so that more resources can be allocated for grants to the world’s poorest countries.

“Funds going from poor countries to well-heeled financial institutions to service debt should instead be used to improve education, provide better health care for all people, and increase food security for the poorest,” said Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Judge rejects man’s religious pot claim

HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS) Robert George Henry told a Pennsylvania judge Wednesday (April 16) that smoking marijuana is vital to his efforts to connect with God.

“The first thing I do every day is smoke a little bit of cannabis and say my prayers,” said Henry, 48, of Fannettsburg, Pa. “I’ve come to the belief that smoking cannabis helps me commune with my Lord and understand what he wants me to do with my life.”

His argument quickly went up in smoke.

Ten seconds after Henry finished testifying, President Judge Edgar B. Bayley dismissed a motion Henry filed seeking to avoid prosecution on drunken driving and drug possession charges on religious grounds. A full trial is now scheduled for next month.

In that motion by defense attorney George Marros, Henry claimed his drug use is protected by the religious freedom guarantee of the U.S. Constitution.

Henry said that, four months after his October arrest, he joined the Hawaii Cannabis Ministry, which promotes marijuana use for religious enlightenment, and was ordained as a minister of the Universal Life Church.

He said if children can drink wine during Holy Communion, he should be able to smoke pot in his search for God.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Derek Clepper said the law is more stringent than that.

To invoke a constitutional religious protection, a person must show his spiritual beliefs are sincere and prove he has no way to worship other than by breaking the law, Clepper said.

Marros said Henry has no immediate plan to appeal Bayley’s ruling.

State police said Henry was intoxicated and was driving a car loaded with freshly harvested marijuana last October. He also had more than $1,800 in cash, they said.

Henry said he was taking his fall harvest home for personal use when he was stopped. He admitted smoking a pipe of marijuana a half-hour before driving.

He said he began feeling a religious tie to his marijuana use “back in the ’80s” and said he joined the Hawaii Cannabis Ministry in January because founder Roger Christie’s beliefs “are similar to mine.”

_ Matt Miller

Parents charged in daughter’s death fight back

OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) Two parents charged in the faith-healing death of their young daughter launched a counteroffensive Thursday (April 17), pledging to defend their constitutional right to religious freedom and unveiling a Web site aimed at rallying nationwide support.

They also plan to create a legal defense fund, their attorneys said.

“Our clients are not wealthy,” defense attorney Mark Cogan said. “We surely anticipate there will be folks who want to help these people.”

Cogan compared the Web site for Raylene and Carl Brent Worthington to those for other high-profile defendants, such as the Duke lacrosse players who were accused and later vindicated in a rape case. He said the Internet was the best way to disseminate accurate information because “we’re getting inquiries from all over the place.”

National advocacy groups and legal scholars are keeping close watch on the Worthington case, which will invoke federal religious protections and test, for the first time, a 1999 state law that struck down religious protections for parents who treat their children solely with prayer.

“Prior to this prosecution of Mr. and Mrs. Worthington, no person in this state has faced charges involving the 1999 legislation,” their attorneys wrote in documents made public Thursday, when the Worthingtons appeared for a bail hearing.

The courtroom was packed with friends, relatives and fellow members of the Followers of Christ Church, whose members believe in healing the sick with prayer rather than medical care.

On March 31, the couple pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment in the death of their 15-month-old daughter. Ava Worthington died at home March 2 from bacterial pneumonia and a blood infection, conditions the state medical examiner said were treatable with antibiotics.

Outside the courtroom, defense attorney John Neidig challenged the basis for criminal charges.

Ava Worthington’s medical condition “might have been treatable, but not necessarily curable in conventional medical terms,” Neidig said. He said the Worthingtons had used several faith-healing methods _ “prayer and anointment and the laying on of hands” _ to treat their daughter.

After defense witnesses testified that the Worthingtons posed no flight risk, they were each granted a reduction in bail from $250,000 to $50,000. Since they had already paid the 10 percent _ or $25,000 apiece _ required to be released from jail, each will receive $20,000 back from the court.

_ Jessica Bruder

Quote of the Day: Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi

(RNS) “From the page of pain and shame one thus turns to the page of hope.”

_ Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, writing in the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, about Pope Benedict XVI’s meeting with abuse victims at the Vatican embassy in Washington.

KRE/PH END RNS