c. 2004 Religion News Service
Supporters Rally as Gay Marriage Amendment Appears Doomed
WASHINGTON (RNS) Supporters of a constitutional amendment against gay marriage launched a last-ditch effort to rally support for the proposal, which increasingly appears to be headed to defeat in the Senate.
A final vote on the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment, which would define marriage between one man and one woman, and prevent courts from granting the “legal incidents” of marriage to gay couples, is scheduled for Wednesday (July 14).
The amendment would need the support of two-thirds of the Senate and House and then ratification by 37 states in order to take effect. Both sides acknowledge the measure may not even garner a simple majority in the Senate.
Still, supporters said preserving the traditional definition of marriage is an effort that will continue regardless of the final vote on Wednesday. House leaders have said they want to schedule a vote before the November elections.
“Marriage is not an arbitrary social arrangement that can be altered by either the church or the state,” said Monsignor William Fay, general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It is God’s will for humanity and the keystone of every human community.”
Proponents delivered more than 2 million petitions to Congress in favor of the amendment. Supporters include the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, Orthodox Jews and the Alliance for Marriage.
Republicans proposed splitting the current amendment into two parts, hoping that the amendment’s first sentence _ “Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman” _ may garner more support.
Opponents called the move a desperate measure to attract support to a doomed proposal.
“I think it is outrageous and frankly surreal that at the 11th hour in this debate, they are literally rewriting the Constitution on the back of a napkin,” Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign, told the Associated Press.
At the same time, a coalition of mostly mainline Protestant churches recirculated a June 2 letter that opposed the amendment. The letter was signed by the Washington offices of the Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ and others.
“Although we have differing opinions on rights for same-sex couples, we believe the Federal Marriage Amendment reflects a fundamental disregard for individual civil rights and ignores differences among our nation’s many religious traditions,” the letter said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Bush Administration Asks Appeals Court Rehearing on Assisted Suicide Law
(RNS) The Bush administration asked a federal appellate court on Monday (July 12) to reconsider its spring decision to uphold Oregon’s assisted suicide law.
It would like the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to set aside its May ruling that backed the only law in the country that permits doctors to assist patients in hastening their deaths, the Associated Press reported.
The Justice Department said the case, decided 2-1, should be reheard by a panel of 11 judges.
The three-judge panel determined that U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft cannot hold Oregon physicians criminally liable for prescribing overdoses under the voter-approved Death With Dignity Act.
The administration believes federal drug laws bar doctors from dispensing medication that would be used to end the life of a patient.
“Under specified conditions, the Controlled Substances Act allows registered physicians to prescribe controlled substances for legitimate medical purposes in the usual course of professional practice,” the Justice Department wrote in its petition. “The attorney general recently issued an interpretive rule clarifying that assisting suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose under the CSA.”
Eli Stutsman, a lawyer who represents a doctor and pharmacist in the case, said the federal government does not have authority over the state assisted suicide law.
“There is simply no basis in the construct or intent of federal law that gives the federal government the authority to regulate the practice of medicine or establish the standard of care in the states,” he said.
A recent Gallup Poll shows that about two-thirds of adults surveyed agree that doctors should legally be permitted to assist a person with an incurable disease to end his or her life.
Poll Says `Passion’ Is Popular but Changes Few Lives
(RNS) A new poll says 11 million people changed their religious beliefs after seeing Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” but only a tiny fraction of movie-goers became Christians after seeing the film.
The survey, by the Ventura, Calif.-based Barna Group, said the film about the death of Jesus was remarkably effective at drawing attention to the Christian savior, even if it persuaded few to make a profession of faith.
“More than any other movie in recent years, `The Passion’ focused people on the person and purpose of Jesus Christ,” George Barna, the director of research, said.
“In a society that revolves on relativism, spiritual diversity, tolerance and independence, galvanizing such intense consideration of Jesus Christ is a major achievement in itself.”
The controversial film, which was denounced by Jewish groups for its portrayal of Jews, is the year’s top-grossing film, at $609 million worldwide. Barna said about 67 million adults have seen the movie, about one-third of all adults in the United States.
Barna’s survey of 1,618 adults found that 13 million adults (18 percent of those who saw it) altered their religious behavior, and 11 million (16 percent) changed their religious beliefs, after seeing the movie.
Barna said changed behavior involved increased church attendance, praying more often or involvement in church-related activities. Changed beliefs involved becoming more concerned for others, implications of “life choices or personal behavior” and an increased “appreciation” for Jesus’ death.
Still, less than one-tenth of 1 percent of movie-goers (about 67,000) became Christians after seeing the film, and less than one-half of 1 percent (335,000) were motivated to share their Christian faith, according to Barna’s research.
Barna said “major transformation is not likely to result from one-time exposure to a specific media product.” Barna’s overall survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points, and 3.9 percentage points for the 646 adults surveyed who saw the movie.
At the same time, research by Nielsen EDI Inc., which tracks movie sales, found “The Passion” was the most popular in suburbs and a wide swath of the Sun Belt, from Orange County, Calif., and New Mexico through Texas, Florida and up into Ohio, Detroit and New York City.
Michael Moore’s documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” meanwhile, has generated similar passions but has been most popular in urban centers in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and the Washington-New York-Boston corridor, according to The New York Times.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Court Decision on Israeli `Security’ Barrier Draws Reaction
JERUSALEM (RNS) Religious groups reacted quickly to the International Court of Justice’s July 9 ruling that Israel’s security barrier violates international law because it violates Palestinians’ rights.
While Muslim groups appeared to unanimously support the court’s recommendations that Israel immediately dismantle the barrier, many Jewish groups in Israel said they support the barrier’s construction but urged the government to build it in a more humane way.
Even those Jewish groups that supported the ICJ’s criticism of Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian land to build the barrier said the ICJ’s ruling focused on Palestinian suffering but generally ignored the plight of Israelis hounded by Palestinian violence.
“The ICJ decision is important because it squarely put the issue of the barrier in the context of the occupation. It stated that building inside the occupied territories (on Palestinian land) is illegal,” said Rabbi Arik Ascherman, director of Rabbis for Human Rights, a politically liberal group comprised of Jewish clergy from various denominations.
At the same time, Ascherman said in an interview, the decision “was very disappointing in that it included only a line or two about Israel’s security needs.
“We believe, as does Israel’s High Court of Justice, that Israel can defend itself by putting the barrier on the Green Line,” Israel’s pre-1967 border.
Israel’s High Court ruled in late June that 40 kilometers of the barrier already constructed must be rerouted because it caused great hardship to Palestinians and confiscated their land.
The Reform movement in Israel has not taken a formal position on the ICJ ruling, according to Gilad Kariv, one of the movement’s rabbis.
In contrast, the movement has come out in support of the recent Israeli High Court ruling, “which said this fence should be built for security reasons but in a way that minimizes damage to innocent Palestinian civilians,” Kariv told RNS.
The Masorti movement, the Israeli branch of the Conservative movement, adopted a position on the fence last February during its annual rabbinical assembly.
“Our position is exactly the position of the Israeli High Court of Justice decision that balances the need for security with the need to avoid unnecessary hardship to innocent Palestinians,” said Rabbi Ehud Bandel, who heads the Masorti movement.
Christians supporters of Palestinians applauded the ICJ verdict. Members of the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel joined a hunger strike to protest the barrier. EAPPI is coordinated by the World Council of Churches.
Christian supporters of Israel, on the other hand, urged Israel to ignore the ICJ ruling, which is not legally binding.
_ Michele Chabin
Update: Prelate Spoke to Vatican Prior to Bankruptcy Filing
PORTLAND, Ore. _ Portland’s archbishop spoke to the Vatican about the possibility of filing for bankruptcy protection as early as January, a priest told his congregation at a Mass on Saturday (July 10).
When asked about the remarks, Archbishop John G. Vlazny confirmed Sunday that he has “had conversations with the Vatican,” declining to be specific. “They are ongoing and privileged,” Vlazny said through Bud Bunce, spokesman for the archdiocese. “It was the first time the archbishop has acknowledged discussions with Rome, although it was not known how much involvement Pope John Paul II may have had.
Vlazny filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on behalf of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland last week. The filing, the first by a Catholic diocese in more than 50 years, postponed two sex abuse trials scheduled to begin last week.
Vlazny’s decision signals other U.S. dioceses facing huge liabilities from priest-abuse lawsuits that the Vatican won’t necessarily stop them from going to court in an attempt to shield church assets. To date, the Portland archdiocese and its insurers have spent more than $53 million to settle more than 130 claims of priest abuse. Lawsuits by 60 more plaintiffs remain unsettled.
Nationally, settlements total more than 10 times that amount, with hundreds of cases unresolved.
The Rev. E.B. Painter, Jesuit pastor of The Madeleine Church in Northeast Portland, said at Mass on Saturday evening that the archbishop had discussed the matter with the Vatican as early as January.
Painter told about 100 worshippers Vlazny had discussed bankruptcy with his Presbyteral Council, a group of priest advisers, in February. He said he had had talks in January with the papal nuncio, or Vatican ambassador to the United States, and then traveled to Rome, where he had to explain to some Vatican officials what Chapter 11 protection might entail, Painter said.
In his July 6 letter announcing the bankruptcy decision, Vlazny said he had “sought the advice of the Archdiocesan Finance Council (mostly lay financial advisers), the College of Consultors (who represent the clergy of the archdiocese), my attorneys and various others.”
Vlazny submitted a 176-page report on the state of the archdiocese to the Holy See. The Oregonian of Portland requested a copy of the report, but Bunce declined.
That the archbishop has refused, until now, to answer the question about Vatican consultations and had asked priests of the archdiocese not to talk to the media fueled speculation that he might have acted without the blessing of the pope or another Vatican official.
_ Nancy Haught
`Frugal Gourmet,’ Methodist Minister Jeff Smith Dead at 65
(RNS) Jeff Smith, the Seattle-based minister known for his role as public television’s “Frugal Gourmet” before scandal caused him to leave the airwaves, died Wednesday (July 7).
Smith, 65, died in his sleep, his business manager Jim Paddleford, said. He suffered from heart disease and had a 1981 valve replacement, the Associated Press reported.
The United Methodist minister sported a white beard and donned a striped apron on the PBS show that aired from 1983 to 1997.
He began teaching a course at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash., called “Food as Sacrament and Celebration” in the 1960s.
Decades later, “The Frugal Gourmet” was the nation’s most-watched cooking program.
But in 1997, seven men filed suit alleging they had been sexually abused by Smith as youths. Six said they were abused while they worked for him at the Chaplain’s Pantry, a restaurant he ran in Tacoma in the 1970s. The seventh man alleged Smith abused him in 1992 after picking him up as a hitchhiker.
Smith denied the allegations and was never charged with a crime, but was soon off the air. He and his insurance companies paid an undisclosed sum for a suit settlement.
“The saddest thing was he saw a career he had built … and the good he had done being taken away by largely unsubstantiated innuendo,” Paddleford said. “But he saw there was no way to undo or overcome the public relations and so he decided to retire.”
Quote of the Day: Kentucky Prosecutor J. Stewart Schneider
(RNS) “If I preach on Sunday God’s commandment to love everybody, how can I then on Monday tell a jury of 12 people that it’s OK to kill someone? If we kill someone, we cut off God’s plan for that person’s redemption.”
_ J. Stewart Schneider, a county prosecutor in Ashland, Ky., on his dual roles as prosecutor and minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He was quoted by the Associated Press.
DEA/JL END RNS
