c. 2005 Religion News Service

Two Groups of Nuns Call for End to Iraq War

(RNS) Two groups of Catholic nuns have condemned the war in Iraq, with one group calling for a withdrawl of U.S. troops and the other urging Catholic military personnel and chaplains to refuse to fight.

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), meeting in Anaheim, Calif., and the National Coalition of American Nuns, meeting in Elm Grove, Wis., each denounced the war in separate statements.

The LCWR, an umbrella group for the leaders of some 75,000 U.S. Catholic sisters, said the war has resulted in the “alienation and diminishment of the moral and political leadership of the United States” and called for troops to be withdrawn.

“War dehumanizes and diminishes all of the human community and devastates the Earth,” the LCWR statement said. “The ongoing war in Iraq is taking an immense toll on human life, not only of young men and women in the military, but also the lives of innocent civilians of all ages.”

The smaller, more liberal National Coalition of American Nuns, represents some 1,200 nuns in the United States. In their statement, the nuns said U.S. bishops need to tell Catholics that “killing in an unjust war is murder.”

“If a war is unjust, the role of Catholic military chaplains needs to be questioned,” the nuns said. “If a war is unjust, Catholics may not join the military, or if they are already in the military, they must refuse to kill.”

The LCWR, in a separate statement, marked the 60th anniversary of the use of the atomic bombs in Japan that ended World War II. The National Coalition of American Nuns also lambasted the separation barrier erected by Israel around Palestinian lands, urged greater leeway for conscientious objectors in the military and called on U.S. bishops to apologize for their “secretive, destructive behavior” during the sexual abuse scandal.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

`Lutheran Handbook’ Selling Briskly

(UNDATED) Move over Garrison Keillor. Sure, “A Prairie Home Companion” has poked fun at Lutherans for almost 30 years, but now Lutheran theologians are claiming their own place in the comic spotlight.

We refer all doubting Thomases to “The Lutheran Handbook” on “How to Tell a Sinner From a Saint.” Or “What to Bring to a Church Potluck (by Region),” “How to Avoid Being Burned at the Stake” or “How to Banish the Devil From Your Presence” (Martin Luther himself suggests breaking wind).

This handy little book, which also includes serious sections such as “Five Important Things the Lutheran Reformers Wrote (or Translated) and Why They’re Still Important Today” and a modern translation of Luther’s “Small Catechism,” is flying off bookshelves. Since April, 50,000 copies have been printed, says a spokesman for Augsburg Fortress, official publisher for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Two Oregon pastors, who own their own copies of “The Lutheran Handbook: A Field Guide to Church Stuff, Everyday Stuff, and the Bible” ($14.99, 227 pages), are among its biggest fans.

The Rev. Suzan H. Farley, pastor of St. James Lutheran Church in Portland, Ore., says the funny, functional handbook will appeal to young people who are used to seeing serious subjects infused with humor (such as “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart”).

“It’s a question of whether we can bring humanity into the Bible and our faith,” Farley says. “People come to Christianity through relationships, not because of doctrine and not because of Bible classes.”

“Humor is such a part of being human,” says the Rev. Tom Hiller, the interim pastor at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Cornelius, Ore. “Martin Luther was a funny guy,” he insists. “Lutherans can laugh.”

Which reminds the two pastors of their favorite denominational joke: How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb? They answer in chorus: “None; we don’t believe in change.”

_ Nancy Haught

Secularists Hire Own Washington Lobbyist

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Secular Coalition of America has hired former Nevada State Sen. Lori Lipman Brown as the first lobbyist in Washington to represent humanists and atheists, the group announced recently.

Brown will begin her duties representing the SCA at the federal level on Sept. 19.

“Bias against nonbelievers is the last civil rights struggle in which blatant discrimination by politicians is viewed as acceptable behavior,” said Herb Silverman, president of the SCA. “That situation is about to change.”

Brown said the challenge will be to convince members of Congress to accept an agenda of ethical secularism.

“I expect some members of Congress and their staffs may be wary of a secular person,” Brown said. “For that reason, I think it will be essential that they come to know me as an ethical, good person whose information they can trust.”

Brown also said many politicians are facing increasingly religious constituents in their home districts.

“My biggest challenge will be framing the information in such a way that it will be accepted by members of Congress who are also receiving pressure from the folks at home who push for a theocracy,” Brown said.

Tim Gordinier, public policy director of the Institute for Humanist studies, said Brown’s work will include promoting secularism during political campaigns.

“The 2006 mid-term congressional elections could decide the future of church/state separation in the United States,” Gordinier said. “We are excited to have our own lobbyist promoting a secular agenda long before the candidates start making stump speeches. This is the first step on breaking the religious right’s stranglehold on cultural politics in the nation’s capital.”

_ Hugh S. Moore

Quote of the Day: Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold

(RNS) “Life affords us very few securities and yet deep within us, often revealed in the midst of profound vulnerability and loss, springs up a hope that contradicts the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Such hope emerges from the depths of despair as a pure and unexpected gift. This is the way in which Christ accompanies us and seeks to share our burdens.”

_ Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, in a pastoral letter urging help for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

KRE/JL END RNS