c. 1998 Religion News Service
Beliefs, caring attitude, good sermons draw church members
(RNS) American churchgoers cite three significant factors in their choice of a church _ its beliefs and doctrine, how much people in the congregation care about each other, and the quality of sermons, according to a recent poll by the Barna Research Group.
Most churchgoers listed those factors as”extremely important,”the Ventura, Calif.-based research organization reported.
About 45 percent of adult churchgoers also said three other factors were”extremely important”_ friendliness to visitors, involvement in helping the poor and the quality of children’s programs.
The results were based on a random telephone survey of 1,015 adults in July. The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
The study found marked differences among churchgoers of different denominational backgrounds. For instance, according to the survey, Catholics were less concerned than Protestants about theology and doctrine, quality of sermons, how much congregants cared about one another, friendliness toward visitors and the quality of adult Christian education. Catholics were more concerned than Protestants about the convenience of service times, the length of sermons and the denominational affiliation of the church (specifically, whether it is Catholic or not).
People attending mainline Protestant churches _ such as Episcopal, United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran, United Methodist and Presbyterian Church, USA, _ ranked three factors to be of much lower importance than did other adults. Those factors were convenience of service times, helping the disadvantaged and how far the church is located from their home.
Adults attending evangelical and other non-mainline Protestant churches placed a higher priority than others on factors such as theological beliefs and doctrines of the church, friendliness to visitors, helping the disadvantaged, quality of sermons and adult Sunday school, and how much congregants cared about one another.
George Barna, president of the research firm that conducted the study, said the distinctions detailed in the survey could be misleading.”The most fundamental differences are those between Protestants and Catholics regarding doctrine and practice,”Barna said.”Apart from that, however, the big story is that people are people. They want substance from their church; they want to make a difference in the world through their church; and they need to feel connected to God and to other God-loving people as a result of their church experience.” Barna added that”people will put up with a lot”to have their primary spiritual needs satisfied.”If a church does not satisfy these particular needs, people will feel spiritually unfulfilled and restless and probably search elsewhere for a church home,”he said.
First Southern Baptist seminary hires Hispanic biblical expert
(RNS) Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary has become the first of the six Southern Baptist seminaries to elect an Hispanic professor of biblical studies.
Trustees of the seminary in Mill Valley, Calif., voted to hire Rudolph D. Gonzalez as associate pastor of New Testament studies during their Oct. 12-13 meeting, reported Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Gonzalez, 45, was appointed guest professor of New Testament studies at the seminary earlier this spring after he served as assistant professor of New Testament and Greek at Criswell College in Dallas.”I think it’s important for you to know that he is of Mexican heritage, but we elected him because he is a solid New Testament scholar,”said David George, chairman of the trustees’ instruction committee.
Mormon missionary murdered in Russia in knife attack
(RNS) The Mormon Church says it believes the murder of one of its missionaries in Russia was a random act of violence unrelated to his faith.
Jose Manuel Mackintosh, 20, of Hiko, Nev., was stabbed to death Saturday (Oct. 17) in the city of Ufa, about 750 miles east of Moscow. A second missionary _ Bradley Alan Borden, also 20, of Mesa, Ariz., _ was injured in the attack and was hospitalized in stable condition.
Police in Ufa said the pair had just left the home of a Mormon family when they were attacked on the street by a group of men believed to under the influence of alcohol.
One man was taken into custody. The Russian ITAR-Tass news agency said the suspect _ who reportedly carried a knife _ was drunk when he allegedly participated in the attack.
In Salt Lake City, Don LeFevre, a spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon Church is officially named, said the police assessment appeared accurate.”We certainly believe this was not a premeditated crime and that the assailants were not acquainted with the victims,”LeFevre said.”While it’s very tragic, this could have happened anywhere.” Earlier this year, two Mormon missionaries were kidnapped and held hostage for four days in southern Russia before being released unharmed. Police said the motive in the kidnappings was financial. Two men convicted in the crime had sought $300,000 for release of the missionaries.
About 500 Mormon missionaries work in Russia. Worldwide, there are about 57,000, most of them young men who voluntarily serve for two years.
Mackintosh had been a missionary since September 1997, and had been in Russia since about November of last year, LeFevre said. Borden became a missionary in January 1998.
Mormon missionaries generally work in pairs and are readily identifiable by their white shirts, ties and generally cleancut appearance. LeFevre said the church would probably require its missionaries in Russia to go around in groups of at least four for the immediate future.
However, he said the church has no plans to remove any missionaries from Russia, where deteriorating economic conditions have led to a crime explosion.
Survey: Younger American Jews losing ethnic identity
(RNS) American Jewish”ethnic identity”is on the decline among younger Jews, even as”religious identity”remains stable, according to a new survey.
The”1997 National Survey of American Jews,”commissioned by the Jewish Community Centers Association Research Center and released Monday (Oct. 19), defined ethnic identity as attachment to Jewish”peoplehood”and”tribalism;”commitment to Jews marrying Jews, Israel, having Jewish friends, belonging to Jewish institutions and the Jewish value of social justice; and a sense of feeling marginalized in the larger society.
Sociologist and demographer Steven M. Cohen, who conducted the survey, said that in every one of those categories, younger Jews were less committed or concerned than their elders.
At the same time, Cohen said the survey indicated that younger Jews were as religiously identified as their parents. Religious identity was measured by religious commitment, faith in God and ritual observance.
Cohen also said that although the ethnic component was weakening, it was still stronger than religious identity among younger Jews.
The study was the latest in a series of surveys in recent years that have identified accelerating assimilation within the 5.6-million member American Jewish community. Charles Liebman, a sociologist at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, said this latest survey further”documents the ongoing Americanization of American Jewry.” Liebman said the survey”points to the extensive ways in which American Jews are re-defining their group identity in more religious terms, in ways compatible with American Protestantism”and away from”the ethnic and particularist understanding that has been shared by Jews throughout historyâÂ?¦”
Supreme Court rejects appeal by anti-abortion protesters
(RNS) The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal by a group of anti-abortion protesters who were challenging a court-ordered”buffer zone”limiting picketing at a New Jersey doctor’s home.
The protesters said the no-picketing zone, as well as limits placed on their picketing outside the zone, violated their free-speech rights.
Justice Antonin Scalia, while agreeing with the majority of justices not to hear the appeal, said in his concurring opinion that the lower court ruling upholding the buffer zone nevertheless”makes a mockery of First Amendment law.
The case involved Dr. Elrick Murray, a New Jersey physician who performs abortions. After abortion opponents began picketing his home, Murray obtained a court order keeping the protesters 100 feet from his property line and limiting the number and hours the demonstrators could protest.
In the case, which the justices refused to take, lawyers for the protesters argued”the right to engage in peaceful picketing outweighs the right of the residents to privacy in their homes.” Murray’s lawyer urged the justices to reject the appeal, arguing that”small picket-free zones”are allowed to protect residential privacy.
Quote of the day: Pope John Paul II
(RNS)”I ask from the heart for your prayers so that God may give me the strength of his spirit so that I may fulfill until the end the mission entrusted to me.” _ Pope John Paul II, praying during a Mass Oct. 18 celebrating his 20th anniversary as pontiff.
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