c. 2003 Religion News Service

Poll Finds Growing Concern Over Hunger Issues

WASHINGTON (RNS) As the Democratic primary season approaches and nine candidates struggle to stand out from the pack, a new poll by an anti-hunger advocacy group says hunger is an issue that could galvanize lukewarm voters.

The poll released Tuesday (Oct. 14) by Bread for the World found that likely Democratic voters in Iowa and New Hampshire care about conquering hunger and poverty, even though the issue hasn’t been in play in recent elections.

Seventy-five to 80 percent of the voters said they are more likely to choose a candidate who made reducing hunger a “higher priority,” the pollsters said.

“With a close race like this with many months to go, (this) is an issue out there, kind of like an oil well, waiting to be tapped,” said David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, the Christian grass-roots anti-hunger lobby group.

According to Beckmann, some respondents said a commitment to fighting hunger is more important than terrorism or defense. When asked what was “most important” to them when voting for a presidential candidate, 6 percent of Iowa Democrats and 9.2 percent of New Hampshire Democrats named hunger and poverty. By comparison, 1.8 percent of Iowa Democrats and 5.8 percent of New Hampshire Democrats said defense and terrorism would have the greatest influence on their votes.

Pollsters think one of the reasons hunger has the potential to affect a large number of Democrats’ votes is that many people feel personally affected. Nearly one-fourth of Iowa Democrats and 16.2 percent of New Hampshire Democrats said they feared someone in their family would not have enough to eat in the future.

Meanwhile, more than 40 percent of likely voters in Iowa and New Hampshire said “soft social issues” _ for example, education and health care _ are the most important issues when they vote for president.

Jim McLaughlin, a Republican who worked with Bread for the World on the poll, said, “It’s clear that hunger is an issue that’s a priority, (but) it’s a sleeper issue.”

“I really believe this could be an issue in Democratic primaries that candidates could use to differentiate themselves from the pack,” he said.

The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points.

_ Michelle Gabriel

Supreme Court to Hear Pledge Case

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday (Oct. 14) agreed to decide whether the Pledge of Allegiance should continue to include the 50-year-old phrase “under God,” prompting renewed debate among religious groups and church-state separationists.

The court will hear oral arguments in the case sometime next year.

“Including the words `under God’ does not render the pledge unconstitutional because it just acknowledges that we are a religious people,” said J. Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee.

The atheist father of a 9-year-old California girl sued her school, Congress and the president to remove “under God” from the pledge she, like millions of other schoolchildren, recites every day.

When a federal appeals court upheld the decision to strike the words from the pledge, many were outraged at the decision to change a daily fixture in American schools that dates back to the Cold War ideological struggle against “godless” communism.

Some say the long-held tradition of repeating the pledge make the words in question innocuous.

But a spokeswoman from Americans United for Separation of Church and State said, “No one should feel coerced to take part in a religious exercise to express patriotism.”

The Interfaith Alliance, a Washington-based group that monitors religion and public policy, said the words both violate the Constitution and demean religion. “God is not a name to be used by the government to advance its political cause,” the group said in a statement responding to the court decision to hear the appeal.

“The principle of church-state separation is not a tool for removing religion from the public square, but rather a provision by which the public can benefit from the vitality of many different religions,” it said. “In order for us to enjoy religious freedom for ourselves, we must be willing to extend freedom to others of different or faiths, or of no faith.”

The pledge was adopted by Congress in 1942, during the Second World War. The words “under God” were added in 1954.

_ Michelle Gabriel

Disciples Moderator Takes Leave Just Before Assembly Meeting

WASHINGTON (RNS) The moderator of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has announced he will take a leave of absence starting just days before he was scheduled to lead business sessions at his denomination’s General Assembly.

The Rev. Alvin O. Jackson, who in recent months has apologized for using other ministers’ sermons without giving them credit, sent letters to his Washington congregation and his denomination’s president informing them of his decision to take the leave starting Wednesday (Oct. 15).

“I’m taking a leave from ministerial duties in order to spend time discerning how our entire church family might better pursue our ministry, walking together in faith, hope and love,” Jackson said in a letter to members of National City Christian Church.

He told the Rev. Richard L. Hamm, the Disciples’ general minister and president, in a separate letter that he regretted not being able to attend the assembly that begins Friday (Oct. 17) in Charlotte, N.C.

The Washington Post reported in August and September that Jackson first was found to have used others’ sermons without crediting them and then to have published a sermon that contained significant portions of borrowed and unattributed material.

In statements of their own, congregation and denomination leaders accepted the move.

Roger W. Webb, general board moderator of the congregation, acknowledged that Jackson “has been under considerable pressure these last several months” and Hamm said he was glad Jackson “is exercising self-care.”

First and second vice-moderators will take over the moderating duties at the General Assembly, the denomination announced.

Jackson intends to resume his role at the Washington church in January.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Belgian Cardinal Says Popes Should Have the Option of Retiring

(RNS) Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Brussels, one of the most influential European prelates, says he believes future popes should have the option of retiring when they reach an advanced age.

Danneels, who is 70 and is considered a possible candidate to succeed the 83-year-old Pope John Paul II, made no mention of John Paul’s failing health but cited a general increase in longevity.

“We live much longer than in the past,” the cardinal told the Flemish weekly Knack. “One cannot continue to bear the weight of responsibility if one reaches 90 or 100 years no matter how well cared for.”

Noting that church law provides for the retirement of a pope, he said it is only “a question of time” before a pope breaks the custom of centuries and leaves his post before death.

But Danneels stressed that it must be entirely up to the pope to decide whether and when to retire. “The choice of the right moment must be a prerogative of the pope,” he said.

The retirement of a pope is rare but not unprecedented. Pope Celestine V stepped down in 1294 after less than four months in office. Pope Gregory XII resigned in 1415 to help end the Great Western Schism of 1378 to 1417.

_ Peggy Polk

Update: Seventh-day Adventists Suit Dismissed in Uganda

(RNS) A suit by Seventh-day Adventist university students in Uganda was recently dismissed after they sought a court’s help in resolving a dispute about taking exams on their Sabbath.

The Constitutional Court in Uganda dismissed the case in late September, agreeing with assertions that the students at Makerere University could attend other schools, including Adventist ones, Adventist News Network reported.

“The Makerere University policy complained of by the Seventh-day Adventist students was fair and its students, including the petitioners, voluntarily joined the university,” the court ruled.

Mutuku J. Mutinga, public affairs and religious liberty director for the Adventist Church in east-central Africa, said the church will support the students in an appeal.

“Makerere is our university, it’s a public university, so no one has a right to say, `Hey, you don’t belong here,”’ he told the news agency for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

“A lot lies at stake.”

The three law school students at the university in the capital city of Kampala decided not to appear for exams on a Saturday in January and were later asked to repeat an entire year of school. They sued after their request to take the exams at an alternate time was denied.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Southern Baptist Mission Board Executive Bob Reccord

(RNS) “We are seeping into an evangelism strategy that says, `I’ll just witness by my life. I’ll get into relationships, and that’ll just sort of ooze people into the Kingdom. Let me tell you folks, people don’t ooze into the Kingdom. They make a decision to step into the Kingdom.”

_ Southern Baptist North American Mission Board President Robert “Bob” Reccord, speaking in an address to trustees of his mission board on Oct. 8. He was quoted by Baptist Press.

DEA END RNS