c. 2005 Religion News Service
Catholic Bishops Want New Justice to End Abortion, Death Penalty
WASHINGTON (RNS) The president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has sent a letter to President Bush urging him to select new Supreme Court Justice to replace Sandra Day O’Connor who would protect all human life and abolish the death penalty.
In the letter, dated July 1 but released Wednesday (July 6), Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Wash., promised that “the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops does not participate by endorsing or opposing specific nominees.”
“Our concern is for principles and policies rather that personalities,” Skylstad said.
The letter made a veiled reference to recent Supreme Court rulings barring displays of the Ten Commandments in public courthouses, urging Bush to select a justice who would “respect the role of religion and religious institutions in our society.”
In her years on the court, O’Connor garnered the reputation of a moderate on several controversial cases, which has made the question of her successor a potentially bitter dispute between religious conservatives and liberal secularists.
In his letter, Skylstad also referred to the right-to-die case involving Terri Schiavo that polarized the nation several months ago. The letter also underscored the opposition of the bishops to the death penalty.
“I urge you to consider for the Court qualified jurists who, pre-eminently, support the protection of human life from conception to natural death,” Skylstad said.
“Our prayers are with you as you make this decision which is so crucial for our nation.”
_ Hugh S. Moore
Court Rules Pentagon Support of Boy Scouts Unconstitutional
(RNS) A federal judge in Chicago on Thursday (July 7) found the Pentagon’s support of the Boy Scouts of America unconstitutional because of the Scouts’ pledge to honor and obey God.
The Rev. Eugene Winkler, a retired United Methodist minister, and Rabbi Gary Gerson were the lead plaintiffs in the suit filed in 1999 to block the Scouts from receiving taxpayer money for their National Scout Jamboree, which is held every four years at a military base in Virginia.
“Government must be neutral because we are a nation of many religious views,” Winkler, a former pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Chicago, said, according to a press release from the American Civil Liberties Union.
Gerson said the suit was not an attack on the Boy Scouts organization, but a challenge to the government for preferential treatment of a religious organization.
“Government simply cannot give special treatment to a private group that excludes young men who do not profess a particular religious faith,” Gerson said in the ACLU announcement.
The government is expected to spend more than $7 million for the upcoming jamboree that begins on July 25, but the ruling would affect future jamborees. Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County, Va., has hosted the event since 1981.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in December the longstanding relationship with the Boy Scouts should continue. “This is a good relationship. It ought to continue, and as long as I am here, I’ll do everything to see that it does,” Rumsfeld said in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “The O’Reilly Factor.”
A justice department spokesman said Thursday the government was still considering its options, according to the Associated Press.
_ Yogita Patel
Tulsa Reverses Decision to Add Creation Exhibit At Zoo
(RNS) Plans to build an exhibit at the Tulsa (Okla.) Zoo featuring the biblical account of creation were scratched Thursday (July 7) by the city’s Park and Recreation Board.
A public outcry over the proposed display prompted the board to reverse an earlier decision and vote 3-1 to reject the exhibit.
“Religion belongs in places of worship and in the hearts and homes of worshippers, certainly not in a publicly funded institution,” board member Dale McNamara, the only “no” vote when the display was first considered last month, said at Thursday’s meeting.
McNamara’s comment drew a standing applause from more than half of the 175 people at the meeting, where some people wore stickers that read “Don’t Monkey With Our Zoo,” the Tulsa World reported.
Tulsa Mayor Bill LaFortune, a member of the park board, voted for the biblical display both times. Given the rejection of the biblical display, he said he wants to start informal talks about possibly removing other items at the zoo said to have religious meaning, according to the newspaper report.
Those items include a 5-foot elephant statue depicting Ganesha, the Hindu god of success, and a large marble globe at the zoo entrance, which critics say evokes American Indian religion with the message “The earth is our mother, the sky is our father.”
Controversy over the zoo’s handling of religious messages first erupted after Tulsa resident and Christian activist Dan Hicks told the park board, which oversees the zoo, that the 10-year-old elephant exhibit was religious, not educational.
On June 7, the board voted 3-1 to approve a new exhibit including the Genesis account of creation _ which says God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh.
The original plan called for the biblical story to be placed along three to seven other creationist stories of equal size and text amount. But some Christians considered that “demeaning” and feared it could relegate the biblical account to mythical status, board Chairman Walt Helmerich told the World.
Also, donations began tapering off from Tulsa Zoo Friends, the private funding arm of the zoo. Many contributors didn’t want to support a zoo that mixes science and religion, McNamara said.
_ Bobby Ross Jr.
Kentucky Judge Approves $40 Million for Victims of Catholic Sex Abuse
BURLINGTON, KY. (RNS) A Kentucky judge has given initial approval to a $40 million settlement plan to compensate victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington.
But, if church leaders win lawsuits against their insurance companies, that figure could jump to $120 million, the largest abuse-related settlement in U.S. church history.
Louisville-based Judge John Potter on Tuesday (July 5) approved the plan only after the diocese and victims’ attorneys agreed to language that spelled out the Northern Kentucky diocese had only $40 million immediately available.
Potter put the brakes on the $120 million settlement figure until the remaining $80 million _ which the diocese plans to cover with insurance policies _ is won in a federal lawsuit against the insurers.
One carrier, Omaha-based Catholic Mutual, issued policies to the diocese from 1977 to 2003. That company, headed by Omaha Archbishop Elden F. Curtiss, released a statement in June criticizing the proceedings, noting that it was “saddened that the diocese has chosen to sue the church’s self-insurance fund without prior notification or consultation.”
With the settlement now approved, the diocese and plaintiff’s attorneys can begin to advertise the proposed settlement within two weeks. The advertising campaign, which will run locally as well as in USA Today, will seek individuals who ever have been abused by a Covington diocese priest or employee to apply for compensation applications.
Settlements from the funds are expected to range from $5,000 to $450,000 per individual, depending on the extent of abuse experienced.
_ Dennis P. O’Connor
Arena to Become New Home of Houston Megachurch
(RNS) A $90 million renovation has transformed the Compaq Center _ former home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets _ into what the construction manager bills as the nation’s largest house of worship.
The fast-growing Lakewood Church, which is led by the Rev. Joel Osteen and has about 30,000 attendees at five weekend services, will celebrate the project’s completion with Grand Opening Weekend festivities July 16-17.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is among special guests who have accepted invitations to attend the opening service Saturday night, July 16, Lakewood spokesman Don Iloff said.
“This is the biggest undertaking in Lakewood’s history,” Iloff said. “The staff and the membership have rallied behind this project, and there is growing excitement among everyone.”
The renovated sanctuary will seat 16,000, with additional space for 5,000 children and youth during each service, Iloff said. Lakewood’s current sanctuary seats 7,800. Osteen has predicted that as many as 100,000 people will someday worship at the former arena each weekend.
A five-story building has been added next to the arena to house a broadcast production center and programs for Lakewood members. Hallways within the arena that once housed ticket booths and hot dog stands have been turned into “Information and Resource Centers.”
Osteen will deliver his nationally televised sermons from a stage flanked by LD screens and waterfalls on each side, according to the Irvine Team, the senior project manager for the 50 contractors and consultants involved in the project.
Lorrie Foreman, vice president of the Irvine Team, said the renovated facility will bear little resemblance to the arena that once hosted events such as the NBA Finals and concerts by Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones and U2.
“Together with Lakewood, we are bringing new life to a Houston landmark,” Foreman said. “This has truly been a unique undertaking that has required a complete overhaul of the entire facility.”
Lakewood was ranked as the nation’s largest Protestant church in a 2004 study by Church Growth Today, based in Bolivar, Mo. The church signed a 30-year lease in December 2001, soon after the Rockets announced they were leaving the arena for their new home at the Toyota Center in downtown Houston.
Half of the $90 million renovation cost has been contributed through members’ donations, Iloff said. A bank loan has covered the other half, he said.
_ Bobby Ross Jr.
Quote of the Day: The Rev. Michael Clark, pastor of the BTK Killer
(RNS) “Some people want me to get up on that pulpit and condemn Dennis to hell. But that’s not why I was called into the ministry.”
_ The Rev. Michael Clark, pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita, Kan., speaking about church member Dennis Rader, who has admitted to being the BTK serial killer. He was quoted by Reader’s Digest.
KRE/JL END RNS
