c. 2008 Religion News Service

ACLU seeks end to noontime prayer at U.S. Naval Academy

WASHINGTON (RNS) The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the U.S. Naval Academy to halt its practice of expecting midshipmen to stand for a prayer at their noon meals, saying it makes some of them uncomfortable.

“We believe it is long past time for the Naval Academy to discontinue the official lunchtime prayers that all midshipmen are compelled to attend,” wrote Deborah A. Jeon, legal director of the ACLU of Maryland, in a letter to a vice admiral at the academy in Annapolis, Md.

ACLU officials tied their request to a 2003 federal appeals court ruling that organized prayers before mandatory meals at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., were unconstitutional.

“People have to separate themselves out if they do not wish to be seen praying,” said Jeremy Gunn, director of the ACLU’s Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “It’s creating a dual status for people, those who are accepting the Naval Academy’s prayer versus those who are not.”

Gunn said the May 2 letter from the ACLU followed a similar request last year. He said the ACLU, which has heard from nine midshipmen concerned about the tradition, will consider suing if the policy does not change.

The academy, in a statement, said it is developing a response to the ACLU but seemed reluctant to change a tradition that’s been a part of academy life since it was founded in 1845.

“The academy does not intend to change its practice of offering midshipmen an opportunity for prayer or devotional thought during noon meal announcements,” it said.

In a September 2007 memo drafted after a previous ACLU complaint, the U.S. Naval Academy called the noon meal prayer “a worthwhile and beneficial practice that tangibly supports the mission of the USNA, as well as individual midshipmen who are preparing to lead sailors and Marines in the fleet.”

It said the prayer is “not mandatory or compulsory” but midshipmen are “expected to be respectful of those who do wish to pray.”

The Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., has also been questioned about evangelistic practices on its campus. The Air Force issued guidelines in 2006 saying “nondenominational” prayers may be appropriate in military ceremonies.

_ Adelle M. Banks

New Orleans churches return favor and aid Midwest flood victims

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) A team of New Orleans Episcopal volunteers is headed to the Midwest to help flood victims in Quincy, Ill., a community that reached out to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The four-day trip by the Rev. Jerry Kramer and seven companions from the Free Church of the Annunciation will deliver money and personal cleaning supplies to the Midwestern flood zone, said Duane Nettles, pastoral associate at the church.

It’s also a reconnaissance mission to see what further help the New Orleans church might provide, he said.

The Episcopal Diocese of Quincy, although one of the poorest in the area, sent more than 20 teams of relief workers to help homeowners in the Church of the Annunciation’s New Orleans neighborhood, Nettles said.

“They’ve been tremendous in support of us,” he said.

He said the New Orleanians will sleep on the floor of an Episcopal church “just like their people did for us.”

_ Bruce Nolan

Full Gospel Baptists mark rapid growth

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) The Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International marked nearly 15 years of rapid growth on Tuesday (June 24) by consecrating nine new bishops and celebrating its blend of black Baptist and Pentecostal theology.

“They have called us `Bapticostals,”’ said Bishop Andy Lewter of Amityville, N.Y., the keynote preacher for the consecration service that drew more than 1,000 people. “Those who joked and pointed fingers 15 years ago, they ain’t laughing no more.”

The Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship has been growing fast since its founding in New Orleans in 1994 by Presiding Bishop Paul S. Morton Sr., who relocated to Atlanta after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“It was founded to bridge the gap between the Baptists and Pentecostals,” said Doris Stokes, a member of Morton’s church, Changing a Generation Full Gospel Baptist Church in Decatur, Ga.

Morton’s wife, Debra, was recently named senior pastor of his former pulpit at St. Stephen’s Full Gospel Church in New Orleans.

Although some churches have left traditional Baptist denominations to join the movement, newly consecrated Alabama Bishop Freddrick Andre Hardy said it’s not a rivalry.

“We’re trying to let them know we’re not in competition,” Hardy said. “We’re all God’s children. One should be free to experience all of God. We don’t say the traditional Baptist church is less saved than we are. We believe there is more to experience.”

That would include speaking in tongues, which is usually discouraged in Baptist churches but embraced in Pentecostalism as a sign of the Holy Spirit.

Beyond theology, the Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship emphasizes evangelistic outreach and numerous social ministry programs.

“Our assignment is to change a generation,” Hardy said. “We’re going to reach out in our communities and show the love of Christ.”

_ Greg Garrison

Quote of the Day: Ola Reese of Birmingham, Ala.

(RNS) “I feel like Cinderella. I’m going to turn into a pumpkin at midnight.”

_ Ola Reese, 55, after wearing makeup for the first time and attending a ball for homeless people and recovering addicts in Birmingham, Ala., sponsored by the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship International.

KRE/PH END RNS950 words

Editors: Freddrick in Full Gospel item is CQ