c. 1998 Religion News Service

Expressions of outrage continue as Shepard is memorialized

(RNS) As Matthew Shepard, the gay University of Wyoming student who was brutally murdered, was remembered at his funeral Friday (Oct. 16), members of Congress were among those who continued to express outrage over his killing.

On Thursday, the House condemned his beating death, passing a resolution promising to combat intolerance and prejudice.”We cannot lie down, we cannot bury our heads and we cannot sit on our hands,”said Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., sponsor of a resolution that passed by voice vote.”We will not stand for the arbitrary killing of other people due to any hateful act of intolerance.” Cubin’s two sons knew Shepard, a 21-year-old who died Monday after being pistol-whipped and tied to a post in Laramie, Wyo., the Associated Press reported. Two 21-year-old men have been charged with murder.

Representatives of numerous religious groups, ranging from liberals to conservatives, have spoken out during the week about the murder.

The Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance, called for a”moral discussion”about human dignity.”All of our sacred faith traditions begin with the recognition that we are all children of God _ regardless of our differences, shortcomings or strengths,”said Gaddy, whose Washington-based organization aims to promote the positive role of religion in public life and has worked to counter religious-right groups.”Even as a nation of believers, we still struggle to embrace and affirm the inherent worth and dignity of all God’s children.” Some groups continued to decry the recent”ex-gay”ads that have been promoted by conservative Christian groups.”When the influential Family Research Council and its head, Gary Bauer, loudly proclaim their anti-gay agenda; and when preachers join politicians in creating a climate of hatred, there will always be psychopaths who will take those attitudes as carte blanche to resort to violence and even murder,”said the American Jewish Congress in a statement.

Several groups, including the Family Research Council, vehemently condemned Shepard’s murder but also strongly objected to those who tried to link the killing in any way to their support of a campaign to encourage gays to be transformed into heterosexuals.

The city council in Casper, Wyo., banned protesters from public property near St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in the hours surrounding the memorial service that was held for Shepard there.

Several hours before the service, 10 people from the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., stood outside the church carrying signs”Fear God Not Fags”and yelling anti-gay slogans, the Associated Press reported.

The Family Research Council issued a statement Friday deploring such tactics, saying they”only serve to crudely caricature Christianity and its basic tenets.”

Religious elderly have far shorter hospital stays than others

(RNS) Religious elderly tend to have hospital stays that are far shorter than those of their less religious counterparts, a study has found.

Patients who are 60 or older with no religious affiliation stayed an average of 25 days in the hospital compared to 11 days for patients with some affiliation with a religious denomination, a study conducted at Duke University Medical Center reports.

The study was conducted by Duke physicians Dr. Harold G. Koenig and Dr. David B. Larson, who also is president of the National Institute for Healthcare Research in Rockville, Md. It was reported in the October edition of Southern Medical Journal.

Researchers also learned that religious affiliation was linked to a lower probability of being hospitalized.

Patients who were weekly attendees of religious services were 56 percent less likely to have been admitted to a hospital in the previous year compared to those with less frequent attendance. After controlling for factors such as age, severity of illness and physical functioning, patients who attended religious services weekly or more were 43 percent less likely to have had a hospital stay in the last year.

The study focused on the relationship between the use of acute hospital services and religious participation and affiliation of 542 patients aged 60 or older consecutively admitted to the medical center in Durham, N.C.”Given the demographic and economic trends that are facing this nation, the apparent relationship between religious involvement and use of hospital services, and the widespread availability of _ and low cost of _ religious community participation,”Koenig said,”it behooves … health-care organizations to take a closer look at the relationship between religious activity and use of health services.” The researchers attributed the shorter stays by religious patients to the use of religion by people to help them cope, which could speed recovery.

God’s Property sues gospel star Kirk Franklin over royalties

(RNS) God’s Property, the Dallas choir known for its performances with gospel star Kirk Franklin, has sued the singer and the B-Rite Music record company.

The suit alleges that Franklin persuaded God’s Property founder Linda Searight to sign an”onerous and one-sided”recording contract with B-Rite and that the Los Angeles record company has not paid her or group members any royalties from sales of the popular 1997 album,”God’s Property From Kirk Franklin’s Nu Nation.” The suit was filed Oct. 6 in Los Angeles Superior Court, The Dallas Morning News reported.”It’s terribly unfair that you can have a new act that has sold 3 million (albums) at $15 each, generating $45 million in retail sales … but my client has received nada _ nothing,”said Joseph E. Porter, the Los Angeles-based lawyer representing Searight and God’s Property.

Gerry Margolis, an attorney for B-Rite, responded by saying:”We believe the case is totally without merit. When B-Rite and the Rev. Kirk Franklin have been heard from … (Ms. Searight’s) lawsuit will add up to a big nothing.” Searight began God’s Property in 1992 with hopes of keeping some inner-city young people off the streets. The group first collaborated with Franklin in 1993 and sang backup vocals on his 1995 album,”Whatcha Lookin’ 4.”Franklin later produced and co-wrote most of the songs on the group’s 1997 debut album, known for its hip-hop style.

Their 1997 collaboration included the huge pop radio hit”Stomp,”which helped the album become the highest-charting gospel album in history, selling 2.7 million copies worldwide.

But Porter said Searight signed away God’s Property’s royalties to B-Rite in an unfair contract that Franklin helped arrange.

Egyptian Christian clerics reported arrested

(RNS) Three Egyptian Christian Coptic clergymen have reportedly been arrested and charged with”damaging national unity,””insulting the government”and other crimes for their role in exposing alleged police attacks on Christians.

Freedom House, a Washington-based human rights group, said the clerics _ a bishop and two priests _ were arrested Oct. 10, and released later the same day after being interrogated for several hours and posting bail. No trial date has been announced.

Citing information provided by the independent, Cairo-based Center for Egyptian Human Rights for National Unity, Freedom House said the clerics _ members of Egypt’s ancient Christian church _ were arrested after defending victims of alleged police brutality and torture in the southern Egyptian town of El-Kosheh.

In El-Kosheh, two Christians were reportedly murdered by Muslims in August. Shortly after, as many as 1,000 Christians were arrested. Authorities claim they made the arrests to prevent further sectarian violence. Some of those arrested reported being beaten and tortured with electric shocks by police.

Freedom House said Wednesday (Oct. 14) that it had protested the clerics’ arrests to the Egyptian government. Freedom House said it was”gravely concerned that in Egypt, Christians are targets of both Islamic radicals and the local police.” Arresting the three clerics, added Freedom House, means that”Christians face further persecution for simply protesting acts of abuse by the authorities or Islamic extremists.” The Embassy of Egypt in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.

Northern Ireland Catholic, Protestant leaders share Nobel Peace Prize

(RNS) John Hume and David Trimble, leaders of Northern Ireland’s Roman Catholic and Protestant main political parties, have been jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end decades of sectarian strife in their homeland.

Those efforts culminated in April with the signing of the Northern Ireland peace agreement negotiated with the aid of Great Britain and the United States. Voters in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic ratified the agreement in May.

The award, announced Friday (Oct. 16) in Oslo, carries a prize of $963,000, to be equally divided.

Hume, 61, who trained for the priesthood before becoming a Catholic political leader in the troubled British province, was cited for being among”the clearest and most consistent of Northern Ireland’s political leaders in his work for a peaceful solution,”according to the awards committee.

Hume, head of the Catholic Social Democratic and Labor Party, said after the award was announced that it”strengthens our peace process enormously because it tells all the people what the world wants to see on our streets.” Trimble, 54, leader of the Protestant Ulster Unionist Party, was cited for showing”great political courage when, at a critical stage in the process, he advocated solutions which led to the peace agreement.” Trimble was once a Belfast university law lecturer who opposed sharing power with Catholics in Northern Ireland out of fear that might jeopardize the province’s union with Great Britain.

After hearing of the award, Trimble said he hoped the prize had not been given prematurely.”We cannot say with absolute certainty that there is peace in Northern Ireland,”he said while in Denver, where he was promoting investment in Northern Ireland.

Jehovah’s Witnesses recognized in Bulgaria, Latvia

(RNS) Jehovah’s Witnesses have gained legal recognition in two nations formerly part of the Soviet bloc.

On Oct. 7, Bulgaria granted the controversial sect recognition, and on Oct. 12, Latvia followed suit.

Witnesses _ whose organization’s official name is the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Watchtower Bible and Tract Society _ often run afoul of government officials because they reject secular governments as expressions of Satan.

In Bulgaria, Witnesses first won legal recognition in 1991, only to lose it in 1994, along with nearly 40 other faith groups after passage of a law restricting religious practices. Once declared illegal, Witnesses”were subjected to a rash of police raids, beatings and arrests,”according to a statement from the sect.

Witnesses regained legal standing in Bulgaria with the aid of the European Commission on Human Rights, which intervened on their behalf. As part of the settlement, Bulgaria agreed to allow Witnesses who declare themselves conscientious objectors to forgo the military for alternative military service.

In Latvia, Witnesses were legally registered from 1926 to 1933. Under communist rule, many Witnesses were deported to Siberia. The sect reapplied for legal recognition in 1993, after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

There are about 2,500 Witnesses in Bulgaria and some 1,500 in Latvia. The group claims total membership of more than 13 million and official recognition in more than 150 nations.

Experts: Faith-based NGOs exert broad foreign policy influence

(RNS) Faith-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working overseas gain influence over U.S. foreign policy through a variety of activities, including briefing high-level federal officials.

Today, the majority of those in positions to influence policy work for theologically and politically conservative NGOs, speakers at a Washington seminar agreed Thursday (Oct. 15).

Speaking at the seminar, sponsored by the Washington-based Ethics and Public Policy Center, Andrew Natsios, former vice president of the evangelical relief agency World Vision’s U.S. office, said the White House, State Department, Central Intelligence Agency and other federal offices often rely on the NGOs, who generally have more extensive grass-roots contacts in foreign lands.

Natsios, currently a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute for Peace in Washington, noted that ex-President George Bush used information provided by NGOs to justify United States involvement in Somalia _ an effort that ended when American military personnel were ambushed.

The NGOs sought U.S. involvement in the African nation because of the widespread famine there in 1992 resulting from years of civil war. He noted that faith-based NGOs similarly are behind efforts to get the United States more involved in North Korean famine relief efforts.

Mark Amstutz, a Wheaton College, Ill.-political science professor, said the NGOs’ greatest contribution is at”the level of ideas.” Amstutz said”the conventional wisdom (from a secular viewpoint) is religion should not influence foreign policy.”But faith-based NGOs”help develop morality”and”model values”beneficial to host nations as well as the United States, he said.

American faith-based groups _ some oriented toward overt missionary work, others toward relief and development _ have been involved in foreign nations since the early 1800s, noted Paul Pierson, an historian and Latin American expert teaching at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif.

From the start, he said, they’ve involved themselves in local issues while generally reflecting prevailing American foreign policy objectives.

An exception was the involvement of Roman Catholic nuns and other aid workers in Central America in the 1980s, who sided with elements in the local population branded communists by official American policy.

Pierson said those workers were among the”very, very small minority”of American NGO workers who are radicalized by local conditions after realizing that”the easy assumptions of American life that hard work can get you ahead is false in much of the world.” Nearly 45,000 Americans reportedly work full-time for Christian-based mission or relief and development-oriented NGOs operating overseas.

Update: Race-relations ministry to be supported by co-founder’s father

(RNS) Veteran civil rights activist John Perkins has announced that his foundation will work to find new ways to continue the race-relations work of a ministry co-founded by his late son.

Reconcilers Fellowship, an evangelical Christian ministry in Jackson, Miss., had previously announced plans to shut down following the death of co-founder Spencer Perkins in January.”We have decided that the foundation will give leadership to the efforts here in Jackson and will help to support the development of a new vision for ministry,”John Perkins wrote in an Oct. 5 letter to supporters.

Perkins heads the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation & Development, a Jackson-based organization that emphasizes Christian community development and racial reconciliation.

Chris Rice, the president and co-founder of Reconcilers Fellowship, had announced that the ministry had decided to shut down as of Nov. 1.

Now, the property that was owned by the Antioch Community, of which Rice and Spencer Perkins were part, has been purchased for $125,000 by the foundation.

The elder Perkins said he hopes to use the property, which includes three houses and six acres, for youth and leadership development projects. He hopes to build a park and playground facility and to use a house on the property as a retreat and training center.

In addition, Perkins said his foundation will continue Reconcilers magazine, but plans to publish it twice a year rather than quarterly.

Perkins, who has started a fund-raising campaign, estimates that the first phase of the project will cost $250,000, including repaying a loan used to purchase the property.

In a note at the end of Perkins’ announcement, Chris Rice voiced his support for the new plans.”As Reconcilers Fellowship closes, I am very pleased that Spencer’s father and the Perkins Foundation will carry on the vision for developing Mississippi-based training in racial healing and community development,”said Rice.”It’s also exciting to know that out of Spencer’s loss new ministry will begin.” Quote of the day: Actress Morgan Fairchild

(RNS)”God gave us the technology to save our faces and bodies from falling. When I need it, I’ll be the first one there.” Actress Morgan Fairchild, responding to a question about whether she would ever undergo a face lift or other surgical tucks, in an interview published in the Oct. 12 edition of USA Today.

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