c. 2003 Religion News Service
Agency Recommends Driver Training for Vans Often Used by Churches
WASHINGTON (RNS) The National Transportation Safety Board has recommended that states require special training for drivers of 15-passenger vans after investigating accidents involving vans used by churches.
The agency also recommended more stringent measures for detecting tire pressure since pressure levels that are significantly below manufacturer-recommended levels can adversely affect the handling of vehicles such as 15-passenger vans.
“The NTSB’s recommendations are based on fact, science and data and our analysis in these accidents demonstrate that we must do more to protect children and adults who travel in 15-passenger vans,” said Ellen G. Engleman, the board’s chairman, in a statement.
“Our recommendations are attainable, doable and will make an immediate impact for safety.”
In the Tuesday (July 15) announcement of the recommendations, the agency cited its conclusions on the probable cause of two accidents involving 15-passenger vans used by churches.
In a May 2001 accident, a driver and three passengers who were members of First Assembly of God church in Burkburnett, Texas, were killed after a rear tire blew out. Two months later, an accident involving a van owned by the Virginia Heights Baptist Church of Roanoke, Va., killed one person after the van suffered a blowout.
The safety board said these accidents prompted it to suggest that all 50 states and the District of Columbia establish a process that would require drivers to finish a training program on operating 15-passenger vans and pass a written and skills test before receiving an endorsement on their driver’s licenses.
“The Safety Board concluded that the safe operation of 15-passenger vans requires a knowledge and skill level different and above that for passenger cars, particularly when the vans are fully loaded or drivers experience an emergency situation,” the agency stated.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Jewish Groups Argue Against State-Sponsored Theology Scholarships
WASHINGTON _ Four leading Jewish groups have told the U.S. Supreme Court that a Washington state man should not be able to use a state scholarship to pursue a theology degree.
The high court agreed May 19 to hear an appeal after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last July that state officials were wrong to deny Joshua Davey a $1,125 state scholarship to pursue a theology degree from a college affiliated with the Assemblies of God.
The Washington state policy allowed scholarships for other majors such as business but not religious studies. The appeals court said the state policy infringed on Davey’s constitutional right to exercise his religion.
In an amicus brief submitted to the court, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism and Hadassah: The Women’s Zionist Organization of America argued Davey’s religious freedom had not been violated.
“Washington did not infringe Davey’s free exercise rights,” the groups said. “Davey is free to pursue his religious calling at the school of his choice, albeit at perhaps a greater expense than if he had received state funding.”
Denying the scholarship “neither burdens Davey’s religious activity nor suppresses religious expression. Davey is free to pursue his calling as a minister of his faith,” the groups said.
The Jewish groups also dispute the appeals court’s reasoning that a scholarship funded with public money makes the program a “limited public forum” that should include religious voices. The groups argued that such reasoning could eventually force social service agencies to fund religious programs with “severe consequences for state governments and their most at-risk constituents.”
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the ADL, said his agency does not want government to fund religion because the separation of church and state “is essential to the continued flourishing of religious practice and beliefs in America, and to ensure the protection of minority religions and their adherents.”
The legal brief was drafted, in part, by Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor at the University of Southern California Law School who unsuccessfully argued last year that a housing tax credit for clergy was unconstitutional.
The high court will take up the case when it reconvenes in October, but has not set a specific date to hear arguments.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Christian Retail Industry Strives to Compete With General Retail
(RNS) Officials of CBA, the trade organization for the Christian retail industry, have announced plans to help Christian stores “be the retailers of choice” as general retail stores increasingly carry Christian products.
“The truth is, our products are so compelling and so in demand that they have attracted big-league competitors,” CBA President and CEO Bill Anderson said in a statement issued during his organization’s annual convention July 12-17 in Orlando, Fla.
Anderson was referring to such secular retail operations as Barnes & Noble and Borders bookstores, Wal-Mart and Kmart stores and Sam’s Club and Costco warehouse clubs.
“With Christian products being sold in more places, some may wonder if our association is considering changing to serve these other channels, and the answer is no,” Anderson said. “Our aim is to help our members become highly skilled and effective Christian retailers who are making a major impact for the kingdom through the products, experiences and services they provide.”
The CBA has revised its mission statement to read “to help our members be the retailers of choice for consumers buying Christian products.”
In addition, CBA leaders have begun a new initiative to help streamline the process through which stores are supplied with products. The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association and the Gospel Music Association will be part of this “supply chain” initiative.
“This is about the survival of Christian retail _ about our ability to compete successfully against well-funded, well-disciplined general retailers,” Anderson said.
The CBA, formerly known as the Christian Booksellers Association, released a study during the convention that showed that sales of Christian products by its member suppliers totaled slightly less than $4.2 billion in 2002, an increase from $4 billion in 2000. While $2.4 billion of the total was sold through Christian retail outlets, $1.1 billion was sold through general retail and $725 million was sold through direct-to-consumer and ministry sales channels.
About 10,900 people attended the CBA convention, during which they received a video greeting from President Bush and saw a brief preview of producer Mel Gibson’s upcoming “The Passion” movie.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Vatican Considers Sainthood for Spanish Architect Gaudi
MADRID (RNS) The Vatican is studying a proposal to canonize the iconoclastic architect Antonio Gaudi, who never completed his most famous work _ the surreal Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona.
Gaudi’s cause for beatification, the first step in the path to sainthood, was officially presented earlier this month to the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, said Barcelona archdiocesan spokesman Jordi Pique.
Archbishop Ricardo Maria Carles went to Rome for the presentation, along with Jose Manuel Almuzara, head of the Gaudi Beatification Association. They handed over 1,024 pages of evidence, including letters from around the world asserting that Gaudi had a hand in miraculous cures.
Pique said the congregation was “very interested and very positive” about the cause.
Born in 1852 in the Catalan town of Reus, Gaudi brilliantly combined Moorish and Gothic elements to develop an innovative architectural style best known for its colorful tiles and sinuous, gravity-defying twists.
Barcelona is peppered with Gaudi’s designs, which mix in Christian motifs and emulate God’s work in nature, with tree-like spires and fish-scale roofs. Sagrada Familia evokes images of a melting and whimsical sand castle.
Although early in life the architect was drawn to the anarchist and socialist ideas that gripped early 20th century Barcelona, his increasing religiosity in the years before his death led him to devote himself to the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family), which he hoped would redeem the city from its sins of secularism.
According to Almuzara, who is also an architect, the cathedral’s design, imbued with symbols of the church, has by itself inspired conversions to Christianity.
And Pique said Gaudi was a “heroic” Christian in that he did almost nothing else in the last years of his life except work on Sagrada Familia. “He was something of a monastic architect,” the diocesan spokesman said.
When Gaudi died in 1926 after being run over by a streetcar, no one recognized the white-haired hermit lying on the pavement. Work on the cathedral was resumed in the 1950s. Although still decades away from completion, it is one of Barcelona’s principal tourist attractions.
_ Jerome Socolovsky
Promise Keepers to Hold First Live Conference in Prison
(RNS) Promise Keepers, an international men’s ministry that usually presents conferences in stadiums and arenas, will hold its first live conference inside a prison in August.
Organizers expect more than 1,000 men to attend the Aug. 12 event at the Marion Correctional Institution, a medium-security prison in Marion, Ohio.
In addition to the on-site prison population, organizers expect prisons across the country and beyond will take part via Web cast.
“We’ve received calls and e-mails from chaplains in Canada, Australia, Great Britain and across the U.S. who are interested in getting the prisons they serve to tune into the free Web cast,” said Ted Padwe, technical director for Promise Keepers, in a statement.
Founded in 1990, Promise Keepers is holding regular conferences this year in 18 cities through October.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: “Gospel Elvis” performer Jim Anderson of Orillia, Ontario
(RNS) “Just as Samson’s biggest victory for God was in his death with the Philistines, so Elvis has reached more souls for God with his gospel music since his death, through his recordings and tribute artists spreading his music.”
_ Jim Anderson, a former carpenter and longtime Elvis fan who performs full time as “Gospel Elvis,” traveling from his home in Orillia, Ontario. He was quoted by Charisma News Service, an affiliate of Charisma magazine.
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