c. 2005 Religion News Service
Polls Show More People Claim Evangelical Label Than Hold the Beliefs
(RNS) Four in 10 Americans identify themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians, but a significantly smaller percentage of Americans actually subscribe to “core evangelical doctrine,” the Gallup Organization has found.
In a mid-April poll, 42 percent of respondents said they consider themselves to be born-again or evangelical. But in a similar poll taken in early May, only 22 percent agreed with all three beliefs that Gallup said “most evangelical leaders would say are core evangelical doctrine.”
The questions were about evangelism, the authority of the Bible and a turning point in one’s life that related to Christian commitment.
The poll found:
_ 52 percent said they had encouraged someone to believe in Jesus Christ.
_ 32 percent said they believe the “Bible is the actual word of God.”
_ 48 percent said they “have been born again or had a born-again experience.”
The percentage of Americans who say they have had a born-again experience increased the most over the last few decades. In 1976, just 35 percent said they had had such an experience.
The new polls, each of about 1,000 U.S. adults, were conducted April 18-21 and May 2-5. Both had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Saudi Arabia, Seven Other Nations Cited for Laxity on Human Trafficking
(RNS) Saudi Arabia and seven other countries have been added to the State Department’s list of nations whose governments do not meet minimum standards for addressing human trafficking and are not making significant attempts to address it.
Joining Saudi Arabia on the list, according to the annual Trafficking in Persons Report, were Bolivia, Cambodia, Jamaica, Kuwait, Qatar, Togo and the United Arab Emirates.
“For millions of people entrapped each year in vicious schemes of labor and sex trafficking, freedom is denied,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in a letter introducing the 258-page report, which was released Friday (June 3).
“These trafficking victims are deprived of their most basic human rights and fall into modern-day slavery.”
The fifth annual report analyzes efforts in 150 countries to fight trafficking in coerced sex acts and involuntary servitude. Rice said Friday that her department estimates such international trafficking at up to 800,000 people a year.
The report also examined the rate of convictions and prosecutions under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, finding that convictions rose from 2,815 in 2003 to 3,025 in 2004 while prosecutions decreased from 7,992 to 6,885.
Some religious organizations were highlighted in sections of the report that looked at positive results in addressing trafficking. In Indonesia, Islamic boarding schools, which educate many young girls from poor families, have received anti-trafficking training materials through a foundation.
Among the report’s “heros acting to end modern-day slavery” are a Roman Catholic order in Lima, Peru, called Sisters of Adoration, Slaves of the Blessed Sacrament and of Charity. Members of that order spend time at night on dangerous streets to offer women and girls alternatives to prostitution.
The eight new countries on the list join Burma, Cuba, Ecuador, North Korea, Sudan and Venezuela.
Countries removed from the list for 2005 are Bangladesh, Equatorial Guinea, Guyana and Sierra Leone.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Religious Groups to Lobby for U.N. Development Goals
(RNS) Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and other religious leaders will address the United Nations on how faith groups in the United States can help cut world poverty in half by 2015.
Representatives from the Jewish Life Network, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Islamic Council of North America, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and many others will address the U.N. on the Millennium Development Goals Wednesday (June 8).
The eight goals call for developed nations like the United States to dedicate at least 0.7 percent of their annual gross domestic product _ the sum of all goods and services produced within U.S. borders _ toward reaching the goals.
The U.S. currently contributes 0.14 percent, and the average contribution by developed countries is 0.23 percent, according to a statement released by CLAL, the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership.
“This consultation moves beyond dialogue to action, and focuses on what America’s religious communities can do together to ensure that the U.S. goes the extra mile to fulfill its commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goals,” said Michael Gottsegen, organizer and senior fellow at CLAL.
Activists say 2005 is a crucial year for the goals because progress so far has been slow.
The Millennium Development Goals were adopted in 2000 and include, in addition to the poverty initiative, items such as reducing child mortality, promoting gender equality and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
_ Yogita Patel
Lesbian Minister to Be Among First to Use U.K. Civil Union Law
LONDON (RNS) A lesbian minister and her partner hope to become the first British couple to take part in a legal same-sex wedding when legislation allowing civil partnerships takes effect in December.
The Rev. Debbie Gaston is currently the minister of Metropolitan Community Church in Brighton. The English Channel resort aims to be the first local authority in the United Kingdom to acknowledge such unions by holding the first ceremonies at one minute past midnight on Dec. 21.
The legislation takes effect on Dec. 5, but couples have to give 15 days notice, which means the first weddings may be held on Dec. 21.
Gaston, 46, met her partner, Elaine Cook, 53, when they were both members of a Baptist church. “Being a lesbian and a Baptist was difficult,” Gaston said.
The couple had a blessing ceremony in 1996 at Gaston’s predominantly gay church. Rather than the usual pattern of a civil ceremony followed by a church service, Gaston and Cook plan to renew their vows in a church before the civil ceremony on Dec. 21.
_ Robert Nowell
Campus Prayer Room Causes Concern for Non-Muslims
FLINT, Mich. _ A room for peaceful reflection and prayer at the University of Michigan-Flint has become the focus of a months-long controversy because some students said Muslims took over the space.
Non-Muslims began complaining in November about Room 386 at the University Center _ known as the Meditation Room. They said Muslim students were monopolizing the room and filling the tiny space with religious paraphernalia and anti-Israel literature.
The Muslim students countered that they were being unfairly targeted by “Islamophobia” and appealed to the university for religious tolerance.
“The room serves the needs of students from different religions, but I do think that the reaction would have been different if the room was used predominantly by Christians or Jews,” said Bishr Aldabagh, a former UM-Flint Student Government Council president.
UM-Flint student Zea Miller, 22, asked the university in a written petition to allow more balanced use of the room, to “whitewash” the walls and to remove all religious items _ a step Miller said caused him to be stalked and harassed.
The university investigated Miller’s claims about being harassed and said they were unfounded.
“There are people who feel offended and intimidated being in the Meditation Room or within the presence of artifacts representative of beliefs not their own,” Miller said in his petition.
Miller is a staff member of the school’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center and doesn’t belong to any of UM-Flint’s four student religious organizations.
Muslim students use the room to perform religious practices such as praying five times a day, as required by their faith.
“The room is really important to us also, (and) we don’t feel comfortable using it the way it is right now,” said Katie Segal, president of Hillel, a Jewish student group. “The inside and outside had a lot of anti-Zionist propaganda and pictures and paraphernalia.”
New rules have been posted outside the room in an attempt by school leaders to ease the tension.
“Anyone can go there to pray or (do) what they want,” university spokeswoman Jennifer Hogan said. “It’s not set up for one religion in particular.
_ Shena Abercrombie
Quote of the Day: Writer M. Scott Peck
(RNS) “I have wondered specifically about the Supreme Court in the case of Bush vs. Gore where, astonishingly, I believe the majority _ five out of nine justices _ were engaged in an evil act. And I wonder how that could happen without Satan hanging around.”
_ M. Scott Peck, author of the popular book “The Road Less Traveled” and a new book, “Glimpses of the Devil.” He was quoted by Salon.com.
KRE/RB END RNS
