c. 1996 Religion News Service

(Following is a collection of domestic religion stories compiled from RNS staff, wire and denominational reports).

Religious, education groups issue guidelines for public schools debate

(RNS)-Acknowledging that debates over public education often lead to conflict, a panel of religious and education groups Monday issued a set of principles aimed at keeping the disputes civil.

At the same time, the panel admitted it could not resolve some areas of disagreement, including parents’ rights to control the education of their children versus the community’s right to direct its public schools.

In recent years, parents and interest groups have fought over such issues as what should be taught in the public schools, what books children should read, alleged censorship of school libraries, the role of sex education in the schools, and the proper role of religion and moral values in the classroom.

Paul Houston, executive director of the 160,000-member American Association of School Administrators, released a five-page statement,”Debating Public Education: A Joint Statement,”endorsed by 13 organizations often involved in those debates. The statement is the result of two years of talks.”It must be candidly admitted that sometimes no consensus about the direction of the public schools is possible,”the statement said.

But it said some of the conflicts exist because”people of goodwill misunderstand the views … of others.”A first step to reducing conflict is to listen,”it said.”Each of us believes that all points of view concerning public education issues have a right to be heard.” The statement included a set of nine principles the signers said are”indispensable”ground rules for vigorous but respectful debate.

On religion, the signers said they agreed public schools”should … not engage in narrow ideological indoctrination.”That does not bar schools from teaching”civic virtue and other core, shared values,”it added.

The statement said schools should neither inculcate nor undermine particular religious views.

Panelists, however, said they continue to differ on such issues as parental versus community rights and whether exposing students to ideas with which one disagrees”constitutes a substantial burden on religious practice.” In addition to the American Association of School Administrators, panel members included representatives from the American Federation of Teachers; the American Jewish Congress; Americans United for Separation of Church and State; the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development; Atlanta Public Schools; the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom; Citizens for Excellence in Education; the Corporate Radio Network; the National Association of Evangelicals; the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators; People For the American Way; and the Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast.

Catholic movie official: Oscar nomination sends message to Hollywood

(RNS)-The Oscar nomination of the family-oriented”Babe,”an Australian film about a pig that thinks it’s a sheepdog, as one of 1995’s best motion pictures should send a message to Hollywood about the quality of its filmmaking, says Henry Herx, director of the (Roman Catholic) Bishops’s Office for Film and Broadcasting.”`Babe’ was one of the few quality movies that theaters offered for the entire family, and it had to come from Australia,”Herx said in a statement Tuesday (Feb. 13) after the Oscar nominations were announced.”This is amazing in the nation where Walt Disney became a legend with family movies.” Herx’s office rates movies for Catholic film-goers.”Babe”is a computer-enhanced, live-action film whose moral message is that it’s wrong to judge others by their outward appearance.

Herx also praised the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences-the film industry organization whose members nominate and vote on the Oscars-for nominating three other quality movies for the Best Picture award”despite the fact that Hollywood has turned movies into an overwhelming adult medium.” However, those three were not rated by the bishops’ office as movies suitable for all members of a family.

In addition to”Babe,”Herx praised the nominations of”Apollo 13,”the story of an American space flight that went wrong;”Sense and Sensibility,”the movie version of Jane Austen’s novel, and”The Postman,”an Italian film about Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s life in exile.”All three were uplifting,”Herx said.

Herx was silent on the fifth Best Picture nominee,”Braveheart,”a battlefield movie, which received his office’s next-to-lowest rating because it included graphic violence.

Bishops ask Wisconsin Supreme Court to uphold state voucher program

(RNS)-The U.S. Catholic Conference, the social policy arm of the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops, says it has filed a friend-of-the court brief with the Wisconsin Supreme Court asking the justices to uphold the constitutionality of the state’s School Choice Plan for the city of Milwaukee.

The program, first enacted in 1990, provides financial assistance, or vouchers, to low-income residents, who can use the money to choose from an array of public and private schools for their children.

In 1995, the legislature amended the program to include religious schools. That action was challenged by parents and church-state separation groups on grounds it violated the state and federal constitutions.

The Catholic Conference, joined in the brief by the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, argues that the law was designed to meet the needs of children from high-poverty areas that are not being met by the public schools.

The inclusion of religious schools, it said,”is a key component, not because of any religious agenda on the part of the state or the (religious) institutions involved, but because, in reality, religious schools can play an important part in providing greater educational opportunities to disadvantaged youth.”

United Church of Christ agencies object to governors’ Medicaid plan

(RNS)-Leaders of two national agencies of the United Church of Christ said Monday (Feb. 12) that a bipartisan plan adopted by the nation’s governors for restructuring the delivery of health care to the poor would harm rather than help low-income people.”The governors’ plan builds on the desire to cut the federal budget with schemes that also cut state budgets,”said Loretta Richardson, minister for health programs of the United Church Board for Homeland Ministries, and the Rev. Patrick Conover, policy advocate of the UCC’s Office of Church in Society.

The governors’ statement on Medicaid, the health program for the poor, called for giving state officials more authority to design and operate health programs. The federal government would still guarantee coverage of certain groups of people and certain benefits.

The UCC officials said the governors’ proposal would give states permission to cut people from eligibility and reduce services being offered.”We need an effective and adequately funded Medicaid program as one fundamental part of the (health care) solution,”the officials said.

Colorado legislative panel rejects bill to pay for prison chaplains

(RNS)-The Colorado House’s State Affairs Committee has voted to kill a bill providing $300,000 to pay for chaplains at the state’s prisons, the Associated Press reported Wednesday (Feb. 14).

The chaplaincy program was discontinued in 1993 because lawmakers objected to the cost.

Rep. Phil Pankey, a Republican lawmaker from Littleman, Colo., said churches should support chaplains as they do other missionaries.”If we can send thousands of missionaries all over the world, why can’t we (the churches) do this?”Pankey said during debate.

The committee voted 5-4 to reject the bill.

MJP END