c. 2005 Religion News Service
Atheists Mull Appeal of Decision Allowing Ten Commandments Monument
(RNS) An atheist group is considering an appeal after a federal appeals court ruled that a Ten Commandments monument may remain in a La Crosse, Wis., park.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday (Jan. 3) that the city was within its rights to sell the monument and the property around it to the fraternal organization that donated it to the city decades ago.
The decision came two months before the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear two Ten Commandments cases on March 2 as the legal battle over the monuments simmers in lower courts.
“The city is able to extricate itself completely from the implied endorsement of the purpose and content of the religious symbol, yet the monument can remain in the location it has occupied for many years,” the court said in a 2-1 ruling.
Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which joined the suit challenging the monument, said her organization wished the appeals court had waited until the U.S. Supreme Court hears the Ten Commandments arguments in March. It may ask for a full panel of the appeals court to rehear the case.
“We’re rather indignant, and pleased with the dissent,” she said of the separate opinion by Circuit Judge William J. Bauer.
Bauer wrote that the city’s solution “borders on a fraud” and questioned the disclaimer posted on the fence around the monument that states the city does not endorse the monument’s religious expression.
“The disclaimer seems to me to be taken from a scene in the movie `The Wizard of Oz’ in which the phony wizard, whose fraud has been exposed, directs the onlookers to `pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”’
Supporters of the monument _ including Mathew Staver, president of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, who will argue before the Supreme Court on behalf of two Kentucky counties with public displays of the Ten Commandments _ were pleased with the appeals court decision.
“This case shows what extreme positions groups like Freedom From Religion Foundation will take to erase all references to God from public sight,” Staver said in a statement. “The court made a common-sense ruling in the La Crosse case.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Group Questions Prohibition of Crosses at Inaugural Parade
WASHINGTON (RNS) An evangelical Christian group planning a prayer vigil and demonstration near the inaugural parade has criticized a U.S. Secret Service ruling prohibiting crosses and other structures along the route.
The Christian Defense Coalition sent a letter Thursday (Jan. 6) to officials of the federal agency that protects the president and requested that it redraft the rules to remove crosses from the list.
“We were stunned on a number of levels that somehow crosses are included on a Secret Service letter detailing what items should be prohibited from the inauguration parade,” the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Washington-based group, told Religion News Service.
“To somehow single out a cross and imply that it can be used as a weapon is ludicrous.”
A Secret Service letter _ which the group received with its permit to gather along the parade route on Jan. 20 _ outlined items that would be excluded from the event, including firearms, explosives and structures.
“The prohibition on structures includes props, folding chairs, bicycles, displays such as puppets, papier-mache objects, coffins, crates, crosses, theaters, cages and statues,” said the mid-December memo.
Tom Mazur, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, told RNS: “The reference to crosses is strictly in regards to structures, certainly not the symbol. There is no prohibition against signs or images of a cross or other symbols made out of approved materials.”
Cardboard, poster board and cloth materials are permitted. He said someone choosing to wear a cross necklace would be allowed to attend the parade.
Mazur said the goal of the Secret Service is to have a safe inauguration.
“Without question, the Secret Service respects the right of the public to … demonstrate,” he said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Jewish, Muslim Groups React to Report of Rising Anti-Semitism in Europe
(RNS) A U.S. State Department report to Congress detailing a rising number of incidents of anti-Semitism in Europe is being applauded by U.S. Jewish groups as an important example of American leadership.
Muslim groups, however, are disappointed that the report correlated the problem with Europe’s rising Muslim population. The report also identified skinheads and other radical political fringe groups as responsible for anti-Semitic acts.
The report, released Wednesday (Jan. 5), was mandated by the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act and will be published annually. It chronicles anti-Semitic incidents in eastern Europe, France and Germany, as well as places like Pakistan and Syria, where local media inflame anti-Semitic sentiment.
While the report provided little new information, Jewish groups welcomed it as a vehicle to draw attention to the issue of global anti-Semitism, and to praise those countries _ including France, Belgium and Germany _ that have implemented effective efforts to combat the problem.
“The publication of this report is yet another demonstration of America’s resolve to take practical and meaningful action to highlight both problems and progress,” said Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, which works against anti-Semitism worldwide.
A leading U.S. Muslim group took exception to the report’s citing of Muslim anti-Semitism as a rising problem in Europe, distinct from traditional anti-Semitic sentiment.
“I think there’s a real problem overall in Europe with racism and bigotry, and I think it’s unfair to put it at the feet of the Muslim community,” said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington, D.C.-based civil liberties organization.
Hooper cited French laws that ban Muslim girls from wearing traditional headscarves and attacks on mosques as examples of a broader problem with bigotry.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Fans of Thomas Merton Want Monk Put Back in New Catechism
(RNS) Fans of the late Thomas Merton have launched a last-ditch effort to have the Trappist monk put back into a new Catholic catechism for adults after he was replaced by a 19th century nun.
Nearly 500 people _ including members of the Thomas Merton Society _ have signed a petition asking that Merton be reinserted in the catechism that was approved by U.S. bishops last November and is now awaiting Vatican approval, the Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal reported.
Merton, who died in 1968, inspired followers with his conversion to Catholicism but sparked controversy when he dabbled in Eastern religions and Buddhism toward the end of his life.
Pittsburgh Bishop Donald Wuerl, who oversaw production of the new catechism, said last year that bishops didn’t “know all the details” about Merton’s ties to Buddhism and said young Catholics don’t know who Merton was.
Merton originally was the opening chapter in the new catechism, which features short profiles on the lives of notable American Catholics. He was replaced in the final edition by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first native-born North American saint.
“It was more a choice for Elizabeth Ann Seton than against Thomas Merton,” Monsignor Daniel Kutys, director of the bishops’ catechism office, told the Louisville newspaper.
Still, Merton fans say he should be included because of his wide following and best-selling books. Merton lived at the Abbey of Gethsemani near Bardstown, Ky.
“For the sake of young adult Catholics in the future, it’s going to make the catechism a better document if somebody as attractive a personality and as positive a role model as Merton is in there,” Patrick O’Connell, the editor of a Merton journal who is spearheading the petition, told the Courier-Journal.
Canadian Buddhists Put Temple Up for Sale to Raise Relief Funds
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (RNS) A Canadian Buddhist organization is selling a temple worth more than $400,000 to give all the proceeds to Asia’s tsunami victims.
Abbot Thick Nguyen’s Buddhist organization showed their second temple, a small one in the Vancouver suburb of Mission, to a prospective buyer in hopes of immediately donating the money to the Red Cross.
The act of generosity was just one of many that Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and aboriginal groups in Canada were coming up with this week to aid the families of those killed, injured or left homeless across south Asia.
The outpouring of compassion from a cross-section of religions marks a rare moment among the world’s often-divided faiths, which are showing a united front in rushing to the aid of the mostly poor people of south Asia’s shattered coast. It is home to hundreds of millions of Buddhists, Muslims, Christians and Hindus.
“When the abbot made his announcement, a lot of people dropped their jaws. But after a day went by, everybody began supporting him wholeheartedly,” said Dr. Vi Liet Nguyen, a family physician in East Vancouver and board member of the Vietnamese Buddhist Congregation of Canada.
Dinh Nguyen, another member of the international Buddhist organization that has two temples in British Columbia, said Monday the abbot wants his followers to show compassion for all people, no matter what their religion or country of origin. Vietnam was not struck by the tsunami.
Speaking through a translator, the abbot said one reason he’s making a large donation to tsunami victims is to say “thank you” to the hard-hit people of the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, who, in the 1970s, took in him and many other members of his congregation after they fled Communist Vietnam as refugees, or “boat people.”
Separate from the land sale, the Buddhist organization has already raised $5,000 for tsunami victims.
_ Douglas Todd
Funds From Fellowship of Christians and Jews Beef Up Israeli Security
(RNS) Funds from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews provided 86 metal detector-gates and six X-ray machines for Israel’s transportation system, according to Gideon Ezra, Israel’s minister of public security.
The new security devices will be installed by February as the second phase of Operation Safe Bus, an initiative aimed at increasing security at bus and railway centers.
The fellowship, with offices in Chicago and Jerusalem, is a collaboration of American Jews and Christians in support of Israel. A donation of $2 million from the fellowship in February 2004 spurred the first phase of the security operation, enabling 1,000 hand-held metal detectors to be used by guards at bus stops and terminals in Israel.
“As Israel’s terrorism experts identify advanced technological systems for the detection and neutralization of explosive devices, we will do everything we can to support their lifesaving efforts,” said Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the fellowship.
According to an Israeli government report, attacks by suicide bombers have decreased in the past year. In spite of the drop in attacks, the number of threats has increased, Ezra said. Since September 2000, 200 Israelis have been killed by bombings on buses.
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews may raise an additional $5 million for further transportation security measures, Eckstein said.
In recent years the fellowship has given over $100 million for Jewish immigration, resettlement and social welfare in Israel, in addition to aid for Jews in other parts of the world.
_ Celeste Kennel-Shank
Muslim Group Creates Hotline for Fingerprinted Hajj Returnees
(RNS) A Muslim advocacy group has created a 24-hour hotline for Muslims who may face fingerprinting or detention upon their return from the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) set up the hotline following reports that dozens of American Muslims were fingerprinted after attending an Islamic conference in Canada.
CAIR has called for an investigation of that incident, but said it has not yet received word from the Department of Homeland Security or U.S. Customs and Border Patrol about whether attending an Islamic event flags a person for fingerprinting.
The hajj, which ends Jan. 20, is one of the “five pillars” of Islam, and every Muslim is required to complete the pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime. CAIR estimates that each year up to 10,000 American Muslims go on hajj.
CAIR legal director Arsalan Iftikhar has written to the Department of Homeland Security asking for an accounting of the laws under which Muslims are being fingerprinted, as well as asking what the legal repercussions are if a Muslim refuses to be fingerprinted or detained.
The hotline will be available for Muslims to call upon their return if they feel their constitutional rights have been violated. In addition, CAIR has posted an incident report form on its Web site, and recommends that Muslims download it and keep it with them in case they need to fill it out.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Catholic Poll: Poor Americans Most Concerned About Jobs, Health Care
WASHINGTON (RNS) While the general public worries about the economy, war and terrorism, the nation’s poor say that things like unemployment and health care are the biggest problems facing the United States, according to a new survey released Tuesday (Jan. 11).
The Poverty Pulse poll by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development found that the top five concerns for low income people are unemployment, health care, education, discrimination and poverty. In contrast, the general public’s top concerns are the economy, war, government, immorality and terrorism.
CCHD released two surveys that monitor public opinions on poverty among the general public and low-income people. Under the researchers’ guidelines, a family of four earning no more than $30,000 a year would be considered low income.
“We’re trying to raise awareness about poverty in the United States among all Americans,” said the Rev. Robert Vitillo, executive director of the office, which coordinates anti-poverty programs for Catholic bishops.
Fewer Americans believe that poverty is increasing in the United States, although the number of people living in poverty in the United States has grown to 36 million, which is larger than the population of California, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In the general public, 64 percent think poverty is growing, compared with 70 percent who thought that in 2003.
The general public thinks increased poverty causes more crime. The second biggest impact cited by respondents is damage to the economy, higher taxes and more homelessness.
Since the campaign started its poll in 2001, awareness of poverty has grown, and 90 percent of Americans are concerned, according to Vitillo.
“We’ve watched as a lot of interest grew in the situation of poverty in America,” Vitillo said. “It gives me some encouragement that people are becoming more concerned about poverty in the United States.”
Most Americans, about 84 percent, did something to help the poor in the past year. The most popular ways to help are donating money, food or clothing, the survey found.
The general public thinks the top three causes of poverty are lack of jobs, lack of education and personal laziness. Among low-income respondents, lack of education is the largest cause of poverty, followed by the minimum wage level, and “unjust laws or social policies.” Personal laziness is ranked last as a cause for poverty among low-income respondents.
Increasingly, people believe that the government is responsible for addressing poverty, with 54 percent thinking that in 2004 compared with 38 percent in 2000. Among low-income respondents, 78 percent believe the government is most responsible for addressing poverty.
“At the same time we see the gap between the rich and the poor growing more and more,” Vitillo said. “Americans have to have a collective will to do something about poverty, not just think it’s the government’s will or private citizens alone. Together we need to do something about poverty.”
The Washington, D.C.-based Market Research Bureau, a private market research firm, conducted the survey for CCHD. The low-income survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points; the general public survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 points.
_ Andrea James
Sex and Religion Not Compatible, French Believe
PARIS (RNS) Islam is the more repressive mainstream religion and Buddhism the most tolerant when it comes to sex _ or so many French believe.
A newly published survey found more than two-thirds of French believe Islam was “repressive” on sexual matters, and that pleasure had “no positive value” in the Muslim faith.
But Judaism and Catholicism are not exactly considered bastions of sensuality, according to the CSA survey published in the January-February edition of Le Monde des Religions, a Paris-based magazine.
Among 952 French surveyed about their views of sex and the major religions, some 43 percent believed the Roman Catholic church was repressive when it came to sexual matters. Those surveyed were split over whether the church considered sexual pleasure a “positive value.”
Some 45 percent of French also believe Judaism and sexual pleasure are a losing combination, although 31 percent said they did not consider the Jewish religion particularly repressive on sex and sensuality.
Protestant churches were given mixed reviews. While half of those surveyed said they believed it was tolerant on sex, 37 percent believed the Protestant hierarchy did not necessarily consider sex in a positive light.
The findings were part of a wide-ranging poll of French views on religion and sex _ never a dull topic in this Gallic country. Overall, more than three-fourths of those surveyed believed that organized religion had no business intervening in matters of the bedroom.
The survey also found that more than 40 percent of French did not exclude chances that Jesus might have been married. And a resounding 85 percent said their opinion of Christ would not change if he had been.
_ Elizabeth Bryant
Quote of the week: T-shirt by Nashville, Tenn.-based Merchplaza
(RNS)“Jesus loves the little children, except the ones that burn CDs.”
_ Saying on one in a new line of T-shirts by Merchplaza, a Nashville, Tenn.-based merchandising and apparel company that is raising awareness of the theft of music, including Christian music, through unauthorized downloading.
MO RNS END
