c. 2005 Religion News Service Cardinal Rebuffs Charges of Vatican Meddling in Italian Affairs VATICAN CITY (RNS) A high-ranking cardinal on Tuesday (June 14) denied charges that Catholic leaders had intruded on state affairs after Pope Benedict XVI and Italian bishops helped kill a referendum that would have expanded fertility options in Italy. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the pope’s vicar for Rome and president of the Italian Conference of Catholic Bishops, called accusations of church meddling “totally mistaken.” “On matters of the greatest human and moral importance, the church has the duty to express its voice clearly,” Ruini told Vatican Radio. He said Italians “heard and shared” the church view and acted “on the basis of their personal conscience.” Final returns from the Interior Ministry showed only 25.9 percent of Italians voted Sunday and Monday on the referendum that would have repealed some of Europe’s most restrictive fertility laws; a minimum 50 percent turnout was needed to make the ballot measure valid. Italian bishops and Benedict had urged Catholics to sit out the vote. Still, at least 78 percent of those who cast ballots voted to loosen the restrictions that were adopted in February 2003. Current law bans the use of donor eggs and sperm, allows no more than three embryos to be transplanted into the uterus at one time, prevents screening of embryos for genetic disorders, gives embryos full legal rights and limits embryo freezing and research. There was no immediate comment from the Vatican on the outcome, which many saw as the first test of the new pope’s drive to restore Christian values to Europe and the West. One possible reason for the silence is the delicacy of church-state relations, which are governed by a concordat recognizing Italy as a secular state. Enactment of the controversial fertility law and the defeat of the referendum were clear victories for the Catholic Church after a series of failed attempts in recent years to overturn laws permitting divorce and abortion. Ruini, however, denied reports that the church now will make a new attack on legalized abortion, although he hinted the church might seek “small, light modifications” if the time were “opportune.” “We are against abortion, but we don’t want to modify the law,” he said in an interview on Italian television. “We only wish that in the application of the law the importance of favoring life is taken into consideration as much as possible.” _ Peggy Polk Study Shows Religious Giving Increased 2 Percent in 2004 (RNS) Donations to religious congregations in the United States rose by nearly 2 percent last year, to an estimated $88 billion, according to a new study. The Giving USA Foundation annual report, released Monday (June 13), divides contributions into 10 categories, including the arts, international aid and education. But the category called “religious organizations” outpaced them all, as it traditionally does. “It reflects how important religion is to Americans,” said Richard Jolly, vice chair of Giving USA, in an interview. Of all the giving categories, religion, he said, is “probably the closest” to donors because it impacts them as individuals. Charitable contributions overall were at a record high last year, increasing by 5 percent to an estimated $248.5 billion. Most donations flowing to the year’s biggest disaster, the Dec. 26 Asian tsunami, will be included with figures for 2005. In 2004, tsunami relief represented less than half of 1 percent of all contributions. The Giving USA report includes contributions from foundations, corporations, individual donors and bequests. Individuals gave 76 percent of the total. “Religious organizations” include donations made to individual congregations, national offices of religious groups and religious media. Donations to faith-based groups that provide education, health care and other services are tallied with other sectors. The Giving USA report is compiled annually by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. It is based on surveys of organizations, information from research institutions, tax data and government estimates of economic indicators. _ Nancy Glass Update: Scrutiny Continues of Evangelical Climate at Air Force Academy

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (RNS) Accusations that evangelical Christians have been too aggressive at the Air Force Academy have been heard by the Academy’s superintendent, who says the problem “is something that keeps me awake at night.”

Pressure to change has increased on Lt. Gen. John Rosa, the Academy’s superintendent, who says he wants “to create a climate of respect for people and culture in the United States Air Force.”

A Tuesday (June 14) editorial in the Denver Post praised Rosa for publicly recognizing a problem while describing him as “the right man at the right place at the right time.” It’s unclear, however, if Rosa will stay at the Academy. He’s a finalist to become president of The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, S.C.

Rosa made his first public comments on the accusations at a June 3 meeting of the Anti-Defamation League in Michigan. Rosa, a Catholic, said evangelical football coach Fisher DeBerry’s outspoken religiosity was “clearly over the line,” and he also criticized the Academy’s second in command, Brig. Gen. Johnny Weida.

Weida, an evangelical who came to the Academy in 2003 following a sex scandal at the institution, is now under investigation by the Air Force for his outspoken promotion of faith. The investigation was revealed last week in a letter from acting Air Force Secretary Michael Dominguez to Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif.

Capps is one of 45 House members who wrote a letter to Dominguez last month urging him to investigate claims of religious bias at the Academy. House Appropriations Committee members have also amended defense spending bills to require the correction of religious abuses at the Academy.

These developments have encouraged critics of the Academy who have long argued that problems there represent much more than the overzealousness of a few, but point to systemic issues that reach to the top of the chain of command.

Among the most outspoken critics is advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, which opposes most government funding of military chaplains and other faith-based activities.

“Early on we were worried that conservatives in Congress and some of the religious right organizations would pressure the Air Force to back off and to not be aggressive about the complaints,” said Americans United spokesman Rob Boston. “Rosa’s comments are especially significant because he admits there is a problem. He knows that any type of cover-up or whitewash will be unacceptable.”

_ Steve Rabey

Editors: The following is a corrected repeat of an item that moved Monday, June 13. The correction, regarding the number of languages the Bible has been translated into, moved the morning of Tuesday, June 14.

Creator of Easy-to-Read Bible Dies

(RNS) Kenneth Taylor, creator of the easy-to-read Living Bible, died of heart failure Friday (June 10). He was 88.

“We’ve lost a giant,” said Eugene Habecker, president of the New York-based American Bible Society. “This was a gentleman who has made a massive impact on the church.”

The Living Bible was a paraphrase of Scripture. With a master’s degree in theology, Taylor began interpreting the Bible in the 1960s so his children, confused by the popular King James translation, could read and understand it.

Unable to interest any publishing companies, he founded Tyndale House, which published the Living Bible in 1971. For the next three years, Taylor’s paraphrase was the best-selling book in the United States, and Tyndale House became one of the country’s largest Christian publishers.

Born in Portland, Ore., in 1917, Taylor was the son of a Presbyterian pastor. He received a doctorate of theology from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1944 and began to paraphrase the Bible while commuting by train to his job at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.

Evangelist Billy Graham gave Taylor a major boost early on by distributing “Living Letters,” Taylor’s version of books in the New Testament, to audiences at Graham’s crusades.

Some scholars criticized Taylor’s paraphrase for changing the original meaning of the Bible. Tyndale House published a revision of the Living Bible in 1966. The newer version, called the New Living Translation, retained the conversational style of Taylor’s original, but only after consulting a board of biblical scholars.

While Mary is “great with child” in the King James Version (Luke 2:5), Joseph’s “fiancee” is “obviously pregnant” in the New Living Translation.

The Living Bible sold more than 40 million copies and was translated into more than 100 languages. Taylor also founded the Christian Booksellers Association, the trade association of the Christian publishing industry, in 1950.

One of Taylor’s sons, Mark, is now president of Tyndale House, based in Wheaton, Ill., best known in recent years for publishing the successful “Left Behind” series. Taylor died in Wheaton and is survived by his wife and 10 children.

_ Nancy Glass

Wittenburg Door Magazine Picks Its Own Editors as `Biggest Loser’

(RNS) The Wittenburg Door, a religious satire magazine known for poking fun at the pious, has named its “Biggest Loser” just in time for its 200th issue in July.

In true Door fashion, it’s the bimonthly magazine’s own editors.

Senior Editor Robert Darden said the editorial staff narrowly edged several contenders, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, cited for his “amoral exploitation of the tragic Terri Schiavo case on `religious’ grounds.”

Also considered were Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, for his “creepy, unabashed pursuit of the papacy,” and the “Usual Suspects: Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn.”

“We examined liberals and conservatives, Catholics and Protestants, Evangelicals and Calvinists,” Darden wrote in a cover story for the July issue. “We took notes, tallied votes and scratched our throats over dark horse candidates like Al Mohler, Supreme (sic) Joseph Scalia, the pastors of a couple of megachurches, and SpongeBob himself.”

But when all facts were considered, the editors realized that they had no choice but to award the Loser tag to themselves, he said.

“We’ve failed in virtually everything we’ve attempted over the past 200 issues,” Darden explains. “What’s better now than it was when The Wittenburg Door started 200 issues ago? We haven’t changed a thing.”

The magazine began in California in 1971 as a forum for questioning and redressing problems in the church. The founders intended its namesake to be the Wittenberg Door, upon which Martin Luther sparked the Reformation by posting his 95 theses.

When Wittenberg was inadvertently misspelled in the magazine title, the founders decided it was God’s way of telling them that humor and satire would be their medium.

Twenty-five years later, Mike Yaconelli handed publishing duties to Trinity Foundation Inc. of Dallas and its president, Ole Anthony.

Since then, Anthony has melded Trinity’s work with the homeless in inner-city Dallas and the magazine, which regularly roasts televangelists and tries to evoke awareness of social issues.

“I suspect that down the road we’ll be forced _ for one faux paux or another _ to name ourselves Losers again,” the cover story says. “And with a little luck, and a whole LOT of grace, we’ll see you again in about 60 or days or so.”

_ Bobby Ross Jr.

Quote of the Day: Rev. Steve Strickland, minister of Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church in Fayette, Ala.

(RNS) “When you make a game where policemen are targeted to be killed _ and the police are the very people who take an oath to protect us _ then there’s something wrong with that. Even somebody who’s not a Christian should be able to see that there’s no good in this whatsoever.”

_ Steve Strickland, whose brother was a police officer killed by a teen accused of carrying out the violence after months of playing the video game “Grand Theft Auto.” Makers of the game are being sued for the deaths. Strickland was quoted by the United Methodist News Service.

MO/PH END RNS