c. 2000 Religion News Service
`Kum Ba Yah’ Forbidden at Camp Talent Show in Florida
(RNS) An 8-year-old girl was barred from singing “Kum Ba Yah” because talent show organizers at her Florida day camp said the campfire favorite violated their ban on religious songs.
After practicing the song for a week, Samantha Schultz was told she could not sing it Friday (Aug. 11) at the North Port Boys & Girls Club talent show. The song repeated the word “Lord” and thus was excluded, the Associated Press reported.
Bill Sadlo, director of operations for the Boys & Girls Club of Sarasota County, said he was concerned parents would complain if children returned home saying they heard a religious song at the nonsectarian camp.
“We don’t want to take the chance of a child offending another child’s religion,” he said.
Samantha’s relatives were upset with the decision.
“I learned that song in Girl Scouts, not in church,” said her mother, Pam Schultz. “It’s a campfire song, for goodness’ sakes.”
Sadlo apologized to the family and said Samantha should have been urged to sing a different song.
“We just can’t allow any religious songs,” said Randy Bouck, the local club’s director. “You have to check your religion at the door.”
Missouri Synod’s Washington Office Closes Due to Budget Cuts
(RNS) The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, faced with a serious budget crunch, has closed its Washington advocacy and information office in a cost-saving move.
In a final message to subscribers to the Office of Government Information’s “Church and State Update” e-mail newsletter, former OGI Director David L. Adams wrote that the closing means, in part, an end to the newsletter and discontinuance of OGI’s Web site.
The office opened in 1986 with a part-time director, Candace Mueller. It later was expanded to include three full-time staff members.
“Thank you for your past support and encouragement,” Adams wrote to subscribers. “On behalf of OGI’s staff, we hope that you will all continue to fulfill your God-given vocation as citizens in this society through responsible, well-informed and thoughtful participation in the process of governing our land. It has been our honor, and our pleasure, to assist you in this in some small way.”
Adams has accepted a position with Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.
Farrakhan Questions Lieberman’s U.S. Loyalty
(RNS) Nation of Islam minister Louis Farrakhan has questioned whether Democratic vice presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman would be loyal to the United States or if his Jewish religion would make him more faithful to Israel.
“Mr. Lieberman, as an Orthodox Jew, is also a dual citizen of Israel,” Farrakhan said incorrectly. “The state of Israel is not synonymous with the United States, and the test he would probably have to pass is: Would he be more faithful to the Constitution of the United States than to the ties that any Jewish person would have to the state of Israel?”
Farrakhan’s comments were quoted in the Saturday (Aug. 12) edition of the Los Angeles Times, which reported he made the remarks at a news conference in Los Angeles.
He also called allegations he is anti-Semitic “so mistaken.”
On Sunday, Farrakhan criticized the newspaper’s story about his comments concerning Lieberman.
The Times “made mischief of my words,” he said, the newspaper reported on Monday. He said, “I know I never spoke one anti-Semitic word,” but he did not deny making the comments.
“If we question Gov. George W. Bush, we’re not anti-Texan. If we question Dick Cheney, we’re not anti-Wyoming. If we’re questioning Mr. Lieberman on the issue, don’t raise the issue of anti-Semitism to stifle the political debate,” Farrakhan said.
David Lehrer, Los Angeles regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Farrakhan’s statement continued his three-decades-old reputation for bigotry.
“The canard of dual loyalty is nothing new from Farrakhan or anti-Semites,” Lehrer said.
Speaking in an Aug. 8 interview on CNN’s “Larry King Live,” Lieberman addressed the issue.
“If I’m honored and fortunate enough to become the vice president of the United States, my first and primary loyalty is of course to the United States of America,” the Connecticut senator said.
He added, “Now, you know, generally speaking American policy and Israeli policy has been in the same direction.”
Muslim activist Najee Ali hailed Farrakhan for publicly voicing questions that had been raised privately about what the selection of Lieberman could mean for U.S. policy concerning the Mideast.
“They’re blowing this out of proportion,” he said of Jewish reaction to Farrakhan’s comments. “Farrakhan is raising legitimate questions about the senator’s maybe having favoritism toward Israel. The senator needs to meet with Muslims to arrest those fears.”
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America: Membership Down a Bit, Giving Up
(RNS) The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America saw a slight dip in membership in 1999 but had an increase in giving to congregations during the same year.
The total of 5,149,668 baptized members is a decrease of about half of 1 percent _ 0.55 percent _ or 28,557 baptized members, said the Rev. Lowell G. Almen, secretary of the ELCA.
The decrease was greater than any previous year since the 1988 formation of the ELCA, the church announced.
“Most of this decrease can be attributed to roll-cleaning _ the removal of inactive members from the rolls of congregations,” said Almen.
Losses of baptized members that can be attributed to roll-cleaning increased from 172,561 in 1998 to 187,543 in 1999.
The number of losses due to deaths also increased slightly in 1999 _ 51, 521, compared to 50,383 in 1998.
Meanwhile, the income for the denomination’s 10,851 congregations exceeded $2.2 billion in 1999. That figure is 6.64 percent higher than 1998 figures, said Almen.
“The growth in giving by members to congregations was significant in 1999,” he said.
The average regular giving per confirmed member increased by 5.97 percent _ from $447.89 in 1998 to $474.66 in 1999.
Scottish Leader Rejects Anti-Catholic Charges
(RNS) The “lie” that Protestants were against Catholics has been sharply rejected by the Rev. Andrew McLellan, moderator of the general assembly of the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian).
McLellan, preaching in Edinburgh’s Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary on Sunday (Aug. 13) at a service celebrating the opening of the Edinburgh Festival, used the occasion to respond to charges that Protestants in Great Britain are deeply anti-Catholic.
McLellan is the first moderator of the state church ever to preach in St. Mary’s.
“It is a lie which has done immense damage to Protestants, for it has allowed the most wicked parts of our psychology _ I mean our capacity to hate people _ to have some spurious quasi-religious justification,” McLellan said of the charges.
“Protestants have been much damaged by being told that it is all right to hate Catholics. And it is a lie which has done much damage to Catholics,” he said.
Recalling that the high point of this year’s general assembly was an address by Jean Vanier, the Canadian Catholic who founded L’Arche _ the communities of and for people with mental retardation _ McLellan said: “He spoke wonderfully about handicap and weakness and Jesus and the gospel, and everyone in our assembly knew that we were hearing God speaking to us from the lips of a Roman Catholic.”
Protestants, of course, do not agree with Catholics about everything, he said.
“If we did, then you would all be Protestants,” he added wryly.
There is a “great hurt,” he said, that Protestants and Catholics are still barred from intercommunion. And he said there remain major differences about what the Bible means about justice for women and the ordination of women.
But these differences, as well as those on such ethical issues as abortion and sexuality, should not mean the two faiths are against each other, he said.
“Catholics and Protestants are together in their faith in God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” McLellan said. “Catholics and Protestants are together in the struggle for justice for the poor and peace in the world and in the struggle for personal holiness and gentleness and depth.”
Quote of the Day: Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles
(RNS) “In the end, God will not rely on polling data to judge our fidelity to the gospels. God will not convene focus groups to determine our moral integrity or our ethical fitness.”
Cardinal Roger Mahony, leader of the Los Angeles archdiocese, speaking Sunday (Aug. 13) at a Mass for delegates to the Democratic National Convention and their guests in a Los Angeles hotel ballroom.
DEA END RNS
