c. 2005 Religion News Service
Court Rules Government Must Stop Funding Faith-Based Mentoring Group
(RNS) A U.S. district court judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to halt its funding of a faith-based organization in Phoenix that mentors children of prisoners.
Judge John C. Shabaz of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin agreed Tuesday (Jan. 11) with the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which argued that the grant to MentorKids USA violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
Shabaz noted that HHS had suspended funding of the program after the Madison, Wis.-based foundation sued. He said that the department was “effectively conceding that federal funds have been used by the MentorKids program to advance religion.”
Shabaz noted that the program hires only Christians as mentors and encourages them to share the gospel with the youth they mentor.
“We are completely encouraged,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation. “We believe that the faith-based initiative is unconstitutional.”
Daryl Reese, executive director of MentorKids USA, told Religion News Service the program had received $60,000 of a three-year grant that would have totaled $225,000. He said the program could now not have the funding to further increase the number of children it serves.
“MentorKids USA has acted with integrity in the use of federal funds,” his organization added in a statement. “These funds were always used to help adult mentors be positive influences for at-risk children and never to preach.”
Steve Barbour, a spokesman for HHS Administration for Children and Families, said the agency had no comment on the ruling.
George Washington Law School professor Ira Lupu said a significant part of the foundation’s suit was dismissed in November. The foundation had argued that conferences and directors of offices of President’s Bush’s faith-based initiative were all unconstitutional.
The remaining parts of the suit dealt with two HHS grants.
“He didn’t order the government to do anything more elaborate in terms of sort of policing and monitoring its grants,” Lupu said of Shabaz’s decision. “You wonder how did a group like this get a grant in the first place. … That part of the case looked easy for the Freedom from Religion Foundation.”
Shabaz ruled that the foundation did not give sufficient evidence that the other grant in question _ one involving a partnership between Emory University in Atlanta and several foundations _ also violated the Establishment Clause.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Pope Offers Indulgence to Catholics Joining in Eucharist Year
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II has offered a plenary indulgence _ the promise of remission of temporal punishment for sins _ to every Catholic who joins in celebrating the Year of the Eucharist, the Vatican said Friday (Jan. 14).
Cardinal James Francis Stafford, former archbishop of Denver, made the announcement in a decree issued in Latin. He acted as head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican tribunal that deals with questions involving confession and other matters of conscience.
Catholics believe that a plenary, or full, indulgence cancels all the time they would otherwise have had to spend in purgatory due to sins they had committed in their lifetime up to that point.
The Catholic Church has granted plenary or partial indulgences for many centuries, often linking them to celebrations such as a Holy Year. Scandal over the sale of indulgences by priests figured along with theological differences in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century led by Martin Luther.
John Paul has called on Catholics to mark the 12 months starting last October as the Year of the Eucharist.
The decree said that on Dec. 17 he approved the granting of plenary indulgences to all those who participate “with attention and piety” in a “sacred function or a pious exercise carried out in honor of the Most Holy Sacraments” in any church in the world.
Those seeking an indulgence must also make their confession, take Holy Communion and pray unless they are physically prevented from doing so by illness or a disability.
_ Peggy Polk
Fox Network Meets With Muslim Leaders Over Fictional Show’s Stereotypes
(RNS) The FOX television network has agreed to distribute public service announcements against stereotyping American Muslims following a meeting in which Muslim groups objected to the depiction of an American Muslim family on the fictional program “24.”
The one-hour show, about a counterterrorism unit, is in its fourth season. Each 24-show season chronicles the event of one day, with each show depicting a single hour in that day.
This season, which began on Jan. 9, features an upper-middle class Muslim family, made up of parents and a teenage son. But the family, hiding behind the facade of an upscale home and the son’s attendance at a public school, is a terrorist sleeper cell.
After the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) urged its members to write letters to the program objecting to the depiction, representatives of the group and the Washington-based Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) met with producers of the show, members of the show’s production company and representatives from the Fox Broadcasting Company to discuss their concerns.
Calling the hourlong meeting, which took place Wednesday (Jan. 12), “constructive” and very encouraging,” CAIR reported afterward that FOX had agreed to distribute public service announcements, produced by CAIR, that discourage common stereotypes about American Muslims, to FOX affiliate stations.
FOX also agreed to consider CAIR’s recommendations for ways to “balance the portrayal of American Muslims and to mitigate the damage of stereotypical depictions,” said Rabiah Ahmed, a national spokeswoman for CAIR.
Salam Al-Marayati, the executive director of MPAC, called FOX officials “receptive” to suggestions.
FOX spokesman Scott Grogin confirmed that the meeting was “very productive and educational.”
“I think both sides feel like we’ve opened a dialogue,” Grogin said, adding that the network plans to maintain contact with the Muslim groups.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Judge Bans Public School Stickers Questioning Evolution
WASHINGTON (RNS) Civil liberties groups are praising a federal judge’s decision to ban textbook stickers that notify public school students that evolution is a “theory, not a fact.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia sued the Cobb County School District in northwest Georgia on behalf of five parents who argued that the stickers promoted religious viewpoints over scientific theory.
The three-sentence sticker, approved by the school district in 2002, reads, “This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered.”
On Thursday (Jan. 13), U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper ordered the school district to remove the stickers, declaring them an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment provision prohibiting laws that affect religions and their beliefs.
“People who wish faith to compete with science are asking faith to be judged by the same standards as theory, which is a standard of reasonable proof,” said Rabbi Scott Saulson, an ACLU of Georgia board member, in a statement. “To continue to mask religious belief as science will sooner or later besmirch both faith and religion.”
The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, also praised the court decision, saying that “public schools may not be used to advance religious dogma, and the court has rightly upheld that principle.”
The Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture, a Seattle think-tank that questions the scientific validity of Darwinian evolution, disagreed with the court decision, but was encouraged by the judge’s writing that it is important to “foster critical thinking.”
“This is a bizarre decision from the standpoint of constitutional law,” Institute Associate Director John West said in a statement. “The judge struck down this sticker not because it was designed to advance religion _ he ruled that it wasn’t _ but because he thought some people might wrongly believe the sticker advanced religion.”
The Cobb County Board of Education said on its Web site that it was disappointed by the rulling and that the stickers are “a reasonable and evenhanded guide to science instruction and encouraging students to be critical thinkers.” The board has not said yet whether it will appeal the ruling.
_ Andrea James
After Threats, Police in India Promise Protection for TV Evangelist
BANGALORE, India (RNS) Shiv Sena, a hard-line Hindu group, is threatening to disrupt a massive healing crusade planned by television evangelist Benny Hinn, but police promise they will provide adequate security.
Shiv Sena spokesman Subramanya Raju announced on Jan. 8 that his group had formed squads to disrupt the Jan. 21-23 Christian meetings to be held in government-owned airfields near Bangalore, a southern Indian city. In a statement, Raju demanded that the “(federal) government deny permission to Mr. Hinn as he is going to preach Christianity.”
But Bangalore police chief S. Mariswamy told Religion News Service that “total security will be provided for the religious gathering and any anti-social activity will be dealt with severely.” He said police are even conducting aerial inspections of the venue.
Benny Hinn Ministries’ Bangalore organizers say they have hired nearly 3,000 security guards and are intensifying work for their meetings, which they call “Festival of Blessings: Pray for India.”
The flamboyant Hinn, 52, based in Orlando, Fla., produces the “This Is Your Day” television program shown in more than 100 countries. With promises of healing and other miracles, his rallies attract large crowds around the world.
In February 2004, Hinn held three healing services in Mumbai, India, that attracted a total of 4.8 million people, according to Hinn organizers. Hinn’s Web site is predicting the Bangalore event will be even larger, making it perhaps the “largest Christian gathering” in history.
_ S. David
Sept. 11 Families Present $108,500 Check for Tsunami Relief
(RNS) After just seven days of fund raising, families who lost loved ones on Sept. 11 presented more than $100,000 on Wednesday (Jan. 12) to a Buddhist organization that had extended help to them within weeks of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Together, the Coalition of 9/11 Families and the World Trade Center United Family Group delivered a check for $108,850 to members of the Staten Island Buddhist Vihara, where temple leaders made arrangements for proceeds to help rebuild the decimated coastal village of Matara.
With this donation to the Sri Lanka Disaster Relief Fund, the Buddhist group intends to build either a school or a hospital in the name of both tsunami victims and those lost in the attacks of Sept. 11.
“Because we had all this money come into our hands, we are compelled to do something,” said relief project organizer Premalal Ranasingag. “We don’t know how to thank the 9-11 families.”
Relations between the two groups go back to October 2001, when Sri Lankan Buddhists gave $1,000 checks to at least 500 families who had lost loved ones at the World Trade Center. Looking back, 9-11 family members recalled how the Buddhists had helped them promptly at a time when red tape was delaying assistance from many other charities.
“The American Sri Lanka Buddhist Vihara came to the aid of Sept. 11 families during our darkest hours in the days after Sept. 11 as we searched for our loved ones,” the two family groups said in a joint statement this week. “They were there with us at Pier 94 giving direct financial aid to families in need. The American Sri Lanka Buddhist Vihara have temples in this (tsunami-affected) region and have direct contact with those impacted by this horrific disaster.”
To date, the Sri Lanka Disaster Relief Fund has raised more than $500,000 for use in tsunami-damaged areas.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Quote of the Day: Slate.com Columnist Heather Mac Donald
(RNS) “In the wake of the tsunami disaster, it’s time for believers to take a more proactive role in world events. It’s time to boycott God. Centuries of uncritical worship have clearly produced a monster. God knows that he can sit passively by while human life is wantonly mowed down, and the next day, churches, synagogues and mosques will be filled by belivers thanking him for allowing the survivors to survive.”
_ Slate.com columnist Heather Mac Donald, writing about faith and the tsunami disaster in South Asia.
MO/JL RNS END
