c. 2005 Religion News Service

Carter Says He Worships `Prince of Peace,’ Not `Prince of Pre-emptive War’

WASHINGTON (RNS) Former President Jimmy Carter said Thursday (Nov. 3) he doesn’t doubt President Bush has a sincere faith, but they practice their Christianity differently.

“I have a commitment to worship the prince of peace not the prince of pre-emptive war,” the former president told a gathering of reporters at a breakfast meeting sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor.

Carter, the nation’s 39th president, said he also differs with the Bush administration on addressing poverty.

“I believe that Christ taught us to give special attention to the plight of the poor,” said Carter, a Baptist who ended his affiliation with the conservative Southern Baptist Convention in 2000. “In my opinion, this administration _ I’m not talking about President Bush personally _ has committed itself to extol the advantages of the rich. … Almost every major change that’s been made in our taxation system has been to enrich the already extreme rich Americans.”

Carter spoke at the Ritz-Carlton Washington, one of many appearances publicizing his new book, “Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis,” which was released Tuesday by Simon & Schuster. The author of 20 books said his latest one is his first political volume.

“I have felt for a number of years that we have had such a dramatic and profound and unprecedented change in basic American politics,” he said.

“There’s been an increase in basic fundamentalism … both within the religious community of our country and also within government and an unprecedented and overt _ not disguised _ merger of the church and the state, of religion and politics,” he said.

Asked about the Democratic Party’s handling of religion, Carter said he thinks the lack of a demonstration of “compatibility with the deeply religious people” has hurt it greatly.

“I felt at ease going to an African-American church and taking over the role of the pastor even … and there was a feeling, I think among deeply religious people in this country that maybe Bill Clinton and I were compatible with them,” he said. “I don’t think they had that feeling in 2004.”

Carter said Democrats need to make changes in their appeal to have more success in the next presidential election.

“I think to let the very … deeply religious people and the moderates on social issues like abortion feel that the Democratic Party cares about them and understands them is a crucial element that has to be inserted,” he said.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Gay Bishop Meets With Archbishop of Canterbury to Discuss `Problems’

LONDON (RNS) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams on Thursday (Nov. 3) held a “friendly but candid” meeting with Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire whose consecration threatens to split the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Williams, the spiritual leader of world Anglicanism, is struggling to hold his flock together despite deep divisions over Robinson’s election and consecration in 2003. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of Anglicanism.

The two men met privately and talks centered on “the range of problems that have arisen following Bishop Robinson’s consecration,” according to a statement issued by Lambeth Palace. The meeting ended with prayer.

The meeting was described as part of the archbishop’s commitment to listening to the voices of all concerned in the current challenges facing the Anglican Communion.

Robinson is in England to take part in a debate at the Oxford Union on a motion approving the appointment of gay bishops. Over the weekend, he will speak at meetings organized by Changing Attitude, a network of gay and lesbian Anglicans in Britain and Ireland formed in 1995.

Last Saturday (Oct. 29), Robinson spoke to a gay Episcopal group in San Francisco and predicted that gays and lesbians will eventually be welcomed into “every level of our church.”

“We know what the end looks like and our enemies do, too,” Robinson told members of Oasis. “What we are really arguing about is timing, not the final outcome. I may not live to see it, you may not live to see it, but this church of ours will see the day when all of God’s children are equal.”

_ Robert Nowell and Kevin Eckstrom

FBI: No Racial Profiling of Muslims Detained at Pro Football Game

(RNS) The FBI is denying that five Muslims were victims of racial profiling when they were detained and questioned at a New York Giants football game after reports that they were seen bowing down for evening prayer.

An FBI spokesman said Wednesday (Nov. 2) the men merely were subjected to “routine, precautionary law enforcement” because they conducted their prayer session near the stadium’s main air intake duct.

Two of the five Muslims taken from their seats and questioned at Giants Stadium on Sept. 19 spoke of the incident Wednesday at a news conference in New York City to promote a “Pray for Understanding” awareness of Muslim religion and culture.

“We want people to be educated about Islam,” said Wissam Nasr, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, at whose Manhattan headquarters the news conference was held. “The more people learn about Islam, the more tolerant they become.”

One of the Muslims removed from the game, 27-year-old law school student Sami Shaban of Piscataway, N.J., said the episode left him with “a feeling of disappointment.”

“I’m as American as apple pie,” he said, describing himself as a Giants fan since the team’s 1986 Super Bowl victory. “Now I’m sitting there and I’m made to feel like an outsider for no reason other than I have a long beard and I prayed.”

Shaban said the men arrived at the stadium early in the first quarter, about 8 p.m., and found an open location off the concourse near Gate D where they said their evening prayer, one of five required daily by the Muslim faith.

Shaban demonstrated how four of the men stood in a straight line behind the fifth man who led the prayer. They then bowed halfway dropping to their hands and knees.

“This was my first Giants game and I’d say it wasn’t a pleasant experience,” said Mostafa Khalifa, 27, of Howell, N.J., who identified himself as an information technology professional.

The two said they were taken to a room, where they were questioned by the FBI for a half-hour about their faith, how often they pray, what mosque they attend. They were asked if they knew “the Sheik,” a reference to Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric convicted for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The Muslim men said they were not contemplating a lawsuit and Nasr said he does not believe that would be an appropriate response to what happened.

“We want a positive outcome,” he said, “and the best way to achieve that is through public awareness, not a lawsuit.”

_ Rudy Larini and Russell Ben-Ali

Methodist Bishops Criticize Court Ruling on Gay Church Membership

(RNS) The bishops of the United Methodist Church have proclaimed homosexuality is “not a barrier” to church membership, despite a recent court ruling that allowed a Virginia pastor to keep an openly gay man from joining his church.

The Council of Bishops, meeting in North Carolina, criticized the Oct. 31 ruling by the church’s Judicial Council that has raised concerns that pastors are also able to discriminate based on race, marital status or theological beliefs.

“We call upon all United Methodist pastors and laity to make every congregation a community of hospitality,” the bishops said in a statement released Wednesday (Nov. 2).

On Monday, the court ruled in favor of the Rev. Ed Johnson, the pastor of South Hill (Va.) United Methodist Church who denied membership to a man who was involved in a gay relationship. The court’s ruling overturned Johnson’s suspension and said clergy may exercise “pastoral judgment in determining who may be received into the membership of a local church.”

The bishops quoted from the church’s constitution that implores “families and churches not to reject or condone lesbian and gay members and friends.” The bishops did not, however, say if they would try to overturn the ruling.

The bishops are also concerned that the ruling violates their authority to supervise clergy, and said they “affirm” the church’s tradition that makes pastors accountable to bishops, local superintendents and other clergy.

Bishop John Schol of Baltimore-Washington, an outspoken critic of the ruling, said the church may be divided over homosexuality but “the Council of Bishops is of one mind: gay and lesbian people are not to be excluded from church membership.”

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Quote of the Day: Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury

(RNS) “Jesus tells us not to fear those who can destroy the body, but those who can destroy body and soul. And part of the sickness of spirit we feel when confronted with terrorism is that we face people whose souls are damaged, almost destroyed.”

_ Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams at a memorial service for the 52 people who died in the London bombings in July. The service was held Wednesday (Nov. 2.) at St Paul’s Cathedral in London.

MO/JL END RNS