c. 2005 Religion News Service
Newdow Refiles Pledge Case, Attempts to Halt Inaugural Prayers
(RNS) Dr. Michael Newdow, the California atheist who sued to get “under God” removed from the Pledge of Allegiance, says he has refiled a suit regarding the pledge and filed an additional suit to try to prevent members of the clergy from praying at President Bush’s inauguration.
Newdow refiled the pledge suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on Monday (Jan. 3), he told Religion News Service. A court staffer said legal documents had been received but had not been officially recorded pending additional paperwork from Newdow.
In the new case, Newdow has been joined in the suit by three families who include atheists and claim they are offended “to have their government and its agents advocating for a religious view they each specifically decry.”
Defendants in the case include the Congress, California, the United States and several school districts.
The U.S. Supreme Court determined last June that Newdow did not have standing to bring the legal challenge.
Two weeks before refiling the pledge suit, Newdow filed suit in a Washington district court to try to halt designated clergy from uttering prayers at Bush’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
Newdow said in the Dec. 21 filing that prayers such as those offered at the 2001 inauguration by the Rev. Franklin Graham and Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell made him feel like a “second-class citizen.”
“He _ like all Americans _ has a right to view his government in action without being forced to confront governmental endorsement of religious dogma with which he disagrees,” Newdow said in the complaint, referring to himself.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the case. A court staffer confirmed that a hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 14 at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Brethren Agree to Revive `Alternative Service’ Draft Programs
(RNS) Leaders of the Church of the Brethren say they will follow through on a request from the Selective Service to have “alternative service” programs in place for conscientious objectors if a draft is reinstated.
As one of the historic “peace churches” that shun military service, Brethren officials were “cautious” after an unannounced visit by a draft official to a church center in Maryland last October. Officials were worried that the visit signaled that a draft may be at hand.
In follow-up meetings, draft officials urged the church to dust off long-standing “alternative service” programs that allow conscientious objectors to serve in two-year domestic service projects in lieu of military service.
In a meeting Dec. 10, the church’s council voted to “maximize our efforts” on alternative service, as well as help “guide our youth in their choice of nonviolent service.”
“We don’t want to miss the part of providing resources to our youth that will help them understand and embrace the Brethren peace witness,” said Chris Bowman, moderator of the church’s 2004 conference.
Selective Service officials have insisted there are no plans to reinstate the draft, and said Alternative Service Director Cassandra Costley stopped by the Brethren Service Center simply because she was in the area.
Dick Flahavan, a spokesman for Selective Service, said officials did their best to convince church leaders there is no draft on the horizon. “We answered every one of their questions and they didn’t leave with anything hanging,” he said. “What we were telling them was what we tell everyone. The story hasn’t varied.”
Brethren leaders also agreed to meet in March with other Anabaptist churches that oppose military service. The meeting in Elgin, Ill., will bring together six Brethren and Mennonite groups to discuss “how to prepare for alternative service opportunities.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Calif. Diocese Details Record $100 Million Abuse Settlement
(RNS) The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, Calif., on Monday (Jan. 3) unsealed the details of a record $100 million settlement with sexual abuse victims, the largest settlement since the scandal broke three years ago.
The settlement was reached in December but remained sealed for a month. Half of the money will be paid by the church and the remaining $50 million will be covered by insurance, the Associated Press reported.
Bishop Tod Brown, who has received wide praise for his handling of the scandal, prayed that the settlement would yield a “holier, humbler and healthier church” where victims could rebuild trust.
“I seek their forgiveness, I hope for reconciliation and I know that they have now begun their healing process,” Brown said at a news conference with plaintiffs.
The settlement resolves 90 lawsuits involving 31 priests, 10 lay personnel, one religious brother and two nuns in the diocese. More than 800 lawsuits are still pending statewide after a 2003 law waived the statute of limitations in filing suits. The neighboring Archdiocese of Los Angeles is fighting 500 suits.
Raymond Boucher, a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the Los Angeles Times that individual settlements would range between $500,000 and $1.6 million, depending on the severity and length of abuse. Victims urged other bishops to follow Brown’s lead in settling the cases.
“Today, we can stand and we can say, `I forgive you,”’ victim Mark Curran said, according to the Associated Press. “And of course I do, of course we forgive you.”
Left-Leaning Religious Leaders Challenge White House Nominee
(UNDATED) A group of more than 225 left-leaning religious leaders has sent a letter to attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales expressing concern for memos he penned on anti-torture policy as White House counsel.
The letter, released Tuesday (Jan. 4), said the religious leaders greet his confirmation with “grave concern.” The religious leaders called on him to denounce torture and hold it unconstitutional to imprison terror suspects indefinitely without legal aid.
“We are concerned that as White House counsel you have shown a troubling disregard for international laws against torture, for the legal rights of suspected `enemy combatants,’ and for the adverse consequences your decisions have had at home and abroad,” the letter states. “We fear that your legal judgments have paved the way to torture and abuse.”
As White House counsel, Gonzales penned a memo in 2002 to President Bush arguing the war on terrorism “renders obsolete Geneva’s strict limitations on questioning of enemy prisoners.”
The White House says it always has operated under the spirit of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit torture. Critics say the memo and other documents led to abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Those signing the letter included the Rev. George Hunsinger of Church Folks for a Better America, Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center, Jim Wallis of Sojourners, Ron Sider of Evangelicals for Social Action, Anthony Campolo of Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, Rabbi Michael Lerner of the TIKKUN Community, Dr. Stanley Hauerwas of Duke University Divinity School, Dr. Paul Sherry of the National Council of Churches of Christ, Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Sheila Musaji of The American Muslim Magazine and Thomas Gumbleton, auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit.
The Senate Judiciary Committee begins hearings on Gonzales Thursday (Jan. 6).
_ Amy Green
All Now Agree Israel Did Offer Aid to Sri Lanka for Tsunami Relief
JERUSALEM (RNS) Jewish groups in Israel and the United States are relieved to learn that the Vatican’s official newspaper had not claimed _ as previously believed _ that Israel was withholding humanitarian aid to Sri Lankan victims of last week’s deadly tsunami.
The misunderstanding occurred after the Catholic World News Web site mistranslated an article in the official Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano chastising the government of Sri Lanka for refusing much of the medical and other assistance offered by the Israel Defense Forces’ top rescue unit.
The IDF team had offered to assist in search and recovery missions, and to establish a mobile hospital. Israeli aid organizations have sent tons of food, clothes, blankets and other supplies to tsunami victims.
Prior to the clarification, the American Jewish Committee blasted what it believed to be the Vatican newspaper’s disregard of the truth, noting that it was Sri Lanka that “refused Israeli personnel but was only (too) ready to receive provisions which Israel willingly delivered notwithstanding.”
The AJC and other Jewish groups retracted their harsh words after Vatican officials in Israel ascertained that the newspaper in Rome had in fact lauded Israel and criticized Sri Lanka.
On Dec. 31, CWNews.com admitted that “a crucial error in translation caused a serious misinterpretation of the news.”
It went on to say, “CWNews apologizes for the error.”_
_ Michele Chabin
Quote of the Day: National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice
(RNS) “This is the way that Americans respond. They respond through their churches and through their communities. What the government does is important, but what each individual American does is even more important.”
_ National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, responding to a request at National Presbyterian Church in Washington on Sunday (Jan. 2) _ and similar calls across the country _ for worshippers to donate to relief efforts for tsunami victims in Asia. She was quoted by The Washington Post.
MO/PH RNS END
