c. 2005 Religion News Service

Foxman’s Call to Combat `Christian Right’ Met with Skepticism, Outrage

(RNS) A battle cry by a major American Jewish leader to rally against the Christian Right is being met by some of his peers with skepticism, and in a few cases, outrage.

Earlier this month, Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said the Jewish community must counter what he called a sophisticated approach by the religious right to dismantle the separation of church and state.

“We are facing an emerging Christian Right leadership that intends to `Christianize’ all aspects of American life, from the halls of government to the libraries, to the movies, to recording studios, to the playing fields and locker rooms of professional, collegiate and amateur sports, from the military to SpongeBob SquarePants,” he said at the group’s national commission meeting Nov. 3 in New York.

Many Jewish community leaders draw a different conclusion.

For one, the strict separation of church and state is not universally embraced, said Nathan Diament, director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations.

“You encourage pluralism by not insisting on secularization of the public square but insisting upon government neutrality,” said Diament, whose office has supported government funding for faith-based institutions, benefiting its day schools.

Others say ADL’s strategy is the wrong approach, especially given the strong support by the evangelical community for Israel when the Jewish state has found few allies.

“The evangelical Christian community is not more monolithic than the Jewish community, and our operating principle has been and continues to be that we will work with people in that community when we agree,” said Richard Foltin, legislative director and counsel for the American Jewish Committee. “We will disagree when we must but one really has to be careful about painting with too broad a brush.”

In fact, Jewish officials acknowledge some of Foxman’s concerns and desire a better understanding of the Jewish-evangelical relationship, which has become more complex in recent years. The communities have become closer allies, working together to support religious freedom, international humanitarian crises and the state of Israel.

But Foxman’s diatribe has riled evangelical leaders. Tom Minnery, senior vice president of government and public policy of Focus on the Family, a group Foxman singled out for criticism, is among them.

“If you keep bullying your friends, pretty soon you won’t have any,” Minnery told The Forward, a New York Jewish newspaper. Additionally, he questioned Foxman’s logic. “To the extent that America remains Christian, it remains free for non-Christian belief to flourish.”

_ Rachel Pomerance

Anglican Bishop Removes His Name From Rebuke of Williams’ Leadership

LONDON (RNS) One of the 17 Anglican archbishops who sharply criticized the archbishop of Canterbury on Wednesday (Nov. 16) for not taking a stronger leadership role in handling the crisis confronting the Anglican Communion over homosexuality has removed his name from the critique.

Clive Handford, the president bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, said he had not seen the letter before it was sent to Archbishop Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion.

“While I saw a first draft of the letter, I was not involved in any subsequent discussion of it,” Handford said in a statement released by the Anglican Communion headquarters. “Several other primates shared my unease. In no way did I give permission for my name to be associated with the letter.”

The letter, from 17 Anglican primates led by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, chided Williams for not taking a stronger stand against the Episcopal Church in the United States and its counterpart in Canada for their positions on homosexuality.

The signers asked whether Williams’ personal support for gay clergy “prevents you from taking the necessary steps to confront those churches” that endorse homosexuality. We urge you to rethink your personal views and embrace the church’s consensus and to act on it, based as it is on the clear witness of Scripture.”

The Daily Telegraph in London reported Friday that another of the 17, Archbishop Gregory Venables of the Church of the Southern Cone of America, said that “a number of us” had been “scandalized” that a private letter should have been made public in the way it was.

The London paper added that “at least two other conservative primates are understood to be furious that the letter was released without their knowledge.”

_ Robert Nowell

New York City Raises Penalty for Desecrating Houses of Worship

NEW YORK (RNS) People who get their kicks from vandalizing churches, synagogues and other houses of worship in New York soon will have something to fear besides divine retribution: a $25,000 fine.

The City Council has unanimously approved a bill introduced by Councilman James Oddo, a Republican from Brooklyn. The measure, approved Wednesday (Nov. 16), imposes a fine of up to $25,000 on any person who vandalizes a house of worship.

Oddo introduced his church vandalism bill in August to combat a surge in vandalism that included graffiti sprayed on the walls of the Staten Island Sikh Temple a year ago and the decapitation of a statue of the Virgin Mary outside a Knights of Columbus hall last June. He said the bill’s unanimous approval sends a “strong statement” that desecration of religious institutions will not be tolerated.

The bill increases the maximum civil penalty for an act of vandalism against a house of worship from $10,000 to $25,000. It also establishes a minimum civil penalty of $10,000.

The civil penalties will be in addition to existing criminal sanctions, which call for a maximum of one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to sign the bill.

_ Michael Scholl

Wisconsin Considering Communion Wine for Prisoners

(RNS) A bill on its way to Wisconsin’s governor would give prison inmates access to Communion wine.

The Wisconsin Assembly voted Nov. 10 to let prisoners consume up to 2 ounces of wine as part of a religious service. Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, has not said whether he will sign the measure, which passed with bipartisan support.

A pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod raised the issue last year after being prohibited from giving Communion wine to prisoners under his pastoral care. Wisconsin statutes forbid the delivery of intoxicating liquor to prisoners.

Catholic and Lutheran clergy favored the bill, saying the consecration of sacramental wine is an important element of the celebration of the Eucharist, but state corrections officials told lawmakers they fear it would undermine efforts to treat inmates’ alcoholism. The state estimates 70 percent of inmates have an alcohol problem.

“I view this as a mental health issue,” said state Rep. Joe Parisi, D-Madison, who opposed the bill. “I’m concerned about the door it opens. What are you going to say to a Native American whose religion is participating in a ceremony that includes peyote?”

A 2005 Supreme Court ruling declared that state prisons must accommodate inmates’ religious beliefs, agreeing unanimously with Ohio inmates who sought access to religious literature and the chance to conduct services. Previous court cases have upheld inmates’ right to receive Communion wine. Federal inmates and prisoners in states such as Indiana already may receive Communion wine.

“The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion and the right to practice the religion,” said Rep. Fred Kessler, D-Milwaukee, a former circuit court judge. “The absence of wine prevents you from celebrating the sacrament the way the dictates and terms of the religion require.”

The Roman Catholic Church, for example, teaches that bread alone suffices for the reception of the sacrament, although it also teaches that priests can only fully celebrate the Eucharist when they consecrate and consume both the bread and the wine.

“When they first read, `Oh my God, they’re going to be giving wine to inmates,’ they don’t realize how strict things are in a correctional setting,” said Paul Rogers, president of the American Correctional Chaplains Association and a lay prison chaplain endorsed by the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee.

_ Kathleen Murphy

Quote of the Day: Whistleblower and Former FBI Agent Coleen Rowley

(RNS) “I think the `Person’ of the Year should be God. On the one hand, more people seem certain they know God’s will on the social issues of the day. On the other, all of us feel the need to find answers as we confront the `acts of God’ dominating the news, like diseases and global catastrophes.”

_ Former FBI Agent Coleen Rowley, one of three “whistleblowers” honored as Time magazine’s “Persons of the Year” in 2002, commenting to the magazine on who should be honored this year.

KRE/JL END RNS