c. 1999 Religion News Service

Gore tells Baptists America is”blessed by God” (RNS) Vice President Al Gore said he believes the United States has been deliberately”blessed by God”in a speech Tuesday (Aug. 3) at the annual meeting of the Progressive National Baptist Convention in which he also stressed the overcoming of evil.”I believe with all my heart that our nation has been blessed by God and that God’s hand is on the United States of America, not by accident but on purpose,”Gore said in his 50-minute remarks.

He said the country has a”mission”to emphasize its freedoms and to embrace people of different races, ethnicities and religions.”God teaches us that we have the ability to overcome evil with good,”Gore told delegates and visitors to the meeting in Washington.

He cited the biblical discussion between God and Cain, who killed his brother Abel, as he spoke on the need to overcome sin.

Citing the example of the two boys who killed their fellow students and then themselves at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., Gore said there is a need for people to respect one another.”With all of their privilege, with all of their family wealth … they felt disrespected, their offerings had been rejected by their peers,”said Gore.”Sin came to their door. Its desire was for them. They had a duty to overcome it and they did not.” Gore said there is a need to reach out to other youths, who may feel they have not received respect.”We have to heal wounds that have brought sin to the door,”said Gore.

The vice president, who is a Democratic presidential candidate, was greeted enthusiastically by the Rev. C. Mackey Daniels, president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention. Daniels said Gore was”soon to be the president of the United States of America.” The annual session, which opened Tuesday and concludes Friday, is expected to have about 8,000 attendees.

On Tuesday, about 300 delegates planned to visit members of Congress to express their concerns about legislation involving juvenile justice, health care and debt relief for African countries.

The Rev. Archie LeMone, an associate pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington and an associate director of the National Council of Churches’ Washington office, called the proposed juvenile justice bill”draconian.””It federalizes juvenile crime,”he said.”Juvenile crime is a state issue. It lowers the threshold for kids to be sentenced as adults.” The Rev. Earl Trent Jr., senior pastor of Florida Avenue Baptist Church in Washington and a member of the denomination’s Home Mission Board, said many African-Americans do not have sufficient prescription drug insurance coverage.

The executive board of the denomination has decided not to hold its winter board meeting next January in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to protest the presence of the Confederate flag at the capitol of that state.”The major reason is the flying of the Confederate flag,”said the Rev. Herbert H. Jackson Jr., associate minister of New Macedonia Baptist Church in Washington and director of press relations for the annual session.”We want it removed before we will be supporting and doing business there.” Other groups, including the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the NAACP, have decided not to hold meetings in South Carolina for the same reason.

Judge rules Christian Coalition had right to distribute voter guides

(RNS) A federal judge ruled Monday (Aug. 2) that the Christian Coalition had the right to distribute voter guides in recent presidential and congressional elections.

U.S. District Judge Joyce Green rejected the claims in a 1996 lawsuit by the Federal Election Commission that the coalition’s voter guides and get-out-the-vote initiatives were partisan activities aiming to help Republican candidates.

Coalition officials viewed the decision as a green light to move ahead with similar efforts.”This is a tremendous victory for the Christian Coalition and for all pro-family activists who want to become involved in the civic debate,”said Pat Robertson, president and founder of the Christian Coalition.”With this ruling, Christian Coalition will be free to carry out a primary mission, to educate millions of pro-family voters and encourage them to go to the polls with our material in their hands. We will continue to release millions of voter guides through houses of worship, over the Internet and in the public square.” Green ruled in favor of the FEC on two matters. She said the coalition in 1994 improperly aided then-Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and Iran-Contra figure Oliver North, who was then the Republican Senate nominee in Virginia. The coalition will have to pay a fine, but the amount will be determined later, the Associated Press reported.

Coalition critics, including Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, were disappointed by the overall decision.”Pat Robertson and his Christian Coalition have slipped through a legal loophole,”said Lynn, whose watchdog group is based in Washington.”The decision still provides plenty of evidence that the Christian Coalition is a hardball partisan political operation.” FEC officials declined to comment.

In a separate but related matter, the Louisiana branch of the Christian Coalition won a lawsuit against a Louisiana school district. In a ruling issued Monday, a federal judge in New Orleans said the St. Tammany Parish School Board cannot enforce a policy that forbids groups from holding religious meetings at schools when classes are not in session.

The lawsuit was filed after the board refused to let the Christian Coalition use school facilities for a prayer meeting.

Pope hails reopening of Assisi basilica damaged by 1997 earthquakes

(RNS) The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels, the cathedral built around the hut that served St. Francis as a chapel seven centuries ago, has reopened after two years of work to repair extensive earthquake damage.

Pope John Paul II hailed the restoration of the 17th century basilica, an important place of pilgrimage and the site of his historic prayer meeting with representatives of all the world’s major religions on Oct. 27, 1986.

In a message to the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor, John Paul said he made”a spiritual pilgrimage”to the celebrations held on Sunday (Aug. 1) to mark the completion of repairs to”the wounds of the earthquake of 1997.” The basilica, which stands on the plain below the hill town of Assisi, suffered severe structural damage in two strong earthquakes that hit central Italy on Sept. 26, 1997, and months of aftershocks that followed.

The tremors killed 11 people, including two Franciscan friars and two art experts from the Italian Ministry of Culture who were inspecting damage inside the 13th century Basilica of St. Francis at the crest of the hill when the second earthquake struck. The upper part of the church and its badly damaged frescoes are still undergoing restoration.

The pope is expected to visit Assisi in late November for the basilica’s scheduled reopening.

The Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels contains the small chapel that St. Francis himself restored in the 13th century and the rudimentary hospital where the saint died on Oct. 3, 1226.

It was in the chapel, which is called the Porziuncola, or little portion, that St. Francis consecrated St. Clare; where he had the vision that inspired the”pardon of Assisi,”the indulgence confirmed by papal decree in 1216; and where he was moved to abandon the life of a hermit and return to the world to preach his lesson of poverty and simplicity.”The Porziuncola is one of the most venerable places of Franciscanism, dear not only to the Minor Order but to all Christians who here, almost overwhelmed by the intensity of historical memories, receive light and stimulus for a renovation of life under the sign of a more rooted faith and a more genuine life,”the pope said.

Survey: Born-again Christians, others evaluate Clinton similarly

(RNS) A nationwide survey shows that born-again Christians do not evaluate the character of President Clinton much differently than do other adults.

The survey by Barna Research Group found that 55 percent of adults surveyed approved of the way President Clinton has handled his job while 38 percent disapproved. Born-again Christians were somewhat less likely to approve of the president’s efforts, with 48 percent approving of his job performance. Sixty-one percent of non-Christians approved of Clinton’s handling of the presidency.

When asked their personal opinion of the president, 42 percent of born-again Christians said they had a favorable impression compared to 60 percent of other adults.

One out of every 10 adults, regardless of their faith, said Clinton was”honest and trustworthy.”Slightly more than half of the born-again adults and 40 percent of others said such a characterization”does not apply at all”to Clinton.”Surprisingly, the research shows that people’s faith commitment makes only a small difference in their assessment of Mr. Clinton,”said George Barna, president of the Ventura, Calif.-based firm.

The nationwide survey of 750 adults was conducted by telephone during April and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Those characterized as”born again”answered”yes”to the question”have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?”and agreed with the statement”when I die, I will go to heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior.”

British Catholics raise concern over banning of U.S. gay ministry

(RNS) The Vatican’s banning of the ministry to gays of Sister Jeannine Gramick and the Rev. Robert Nugent in the United States calls into question the pastoral strategy for gays of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, according to a number of theologians and those active in gay ministry.

In a letter to the papal nuncio in London, Archbishop Pablo Puente, the 64 Catholics said they believed the banning of the two Americans contained _ at least by implication _ a criticism of the pastoral strategy of the Catholic church in England.”We seek to be reassured that this is not the case, and that the contribution and memory of our much respected and beloved cardinal (Basil Hume) will not be besmirched in this regard,”they wrote.

A number of gay ministries among British Catholics follow a more tolerant line toward homosexuality than that demanded by the Vatican, which considers homosexuality an”objective disorder”and homosexual activity to be”intrinsically evil.” They were sharply critical of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which imposed the ban on Gramick and Nugent last month forbidding them from carrying out any ministry with gays.”We consider the process by which these decisions have been reached to be deeply flawed, lacking in due process, canonically questionable, and certainly not in the spirit of a church which seeks, in reconciliation and forgiveness, to open the doors to Christ and his people in the celebration of the Great Jubilee,”they said.”Many of us feel rather that these actions slam doors in our faces, whether as committed lesbian, gay and bisexual Catholics, or parents, families and friends.

The 64, who include Professor Mary Grey and the Rev. Kevin Kelly, also said they were worried the Vatican action may set a precedent in dealing with others whose pastoral ministry in a number of areas is”not deemed to be in accord with Vatican views.” They said the Congregation’s decisions should be the subject of”an urgent review”similar to that which led to the lifting of the excommunication of the Sri Lankan theologian Tissa Balasuriya.

Quote of the day: Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas

(RNS)”Setbacks are setups to move the people of God to the next level. It’s not what you go through _ it’s how you go through it.” Bishop T.D. Jakes, a Pentecostal preacher from Dallas, speaking at his”Woman, Thou Art Loosed!”conference in late July that was attended by nearly 85,000 women at the Georgia Dome and nearby World Congress Center in Atlanta.

DEA END RNS