c. 2007 Religion News Service

Survey Finds Conservative Jews Support Gay Rabbis and Cantors

NEW YORK (RNS) Most Conservative Jews would support gay and lesbian rabbis, according to an e-mail- and Web-based survey commissioned by the Jewish Theological Seminary.

About two-thirds of the 5,583 rabbis, cantors and JTS students responding to the e-mail and online survey supported openly gay rabbis and cantors. Among Conservative educators and other professionals, the approval rating was 76 percent.

Support varied by gender: Eighty-six percent of female respondents approved of gay rabbis and cantors, compared to 60 percent of male respondents. Approval ratings were higher in the U.S. than in Canada or Israel, and among respondents under 25.

The results may help JTS, the academic center of Conservative Judaism, decide whether to begin admitting openly gay students.

“The survey gives us data on this score as one factor among many to bear in mind as we consider a complex and controversial decision that will undoubtedly have a major impact on the future direction of JTS and the Conservative movement,” said Arnold Eisen, the seminary’s chancellor-elect. “A final decision on this matter is expected this spring.”

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, which interprets religious law for the Conservative Jewish movement, voted last month to accept a legal opinion that allows for the ordination of gay rabbis and the blessing of same-sex unions, while retaining the ban on male homosexual sex. However, the committee also said that local congregations and seminaries could make their own decisions on these matters.

One of the authors of the permissive opinion, Rabbi Daniel Nevins of Michigan, was appointed dean of the JTS Rabbinical School on Monday (Jan. 29).

Aaron Weininger, 21, an openly gay man currently applying to JTS, said he is optimistic about the findings.

“I think it’s great that there is such an open process,” he said. “It’s really great that the chancellor is hearing from different people and taking different factors into consideration.”

An estimated 1.5 million Americans consider themselves members of the Conservative movement, which ideologically falls between the Reform branch _ which allows gay ordination and the blessing of same-sex unions _ and the more traditional Orthodox branch, which does not.

_ Nicole Neroulias

Pope to Share U.S. Publisher With Brown’s Book

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Slammed by the Vatican for profiting from Dan Brown’s runaway best-seller “The Da Vinci Code,” U.S. publisher Doubleday is turning to new talent for its upcoming tome on Christianity: Pope Benedict XVI.

Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the Holy See’s official publishing house, said Doubleday will publish “Jesus of Nazareth,” the pontiff’s forthcoming reflection on the life of Jesus Christ.

Libreria owns all the rights to papal writings and defended its long-standing relationship with Doubleday, while distancing the Vatican from the book deal. The Vatican said it sold the rights for the book’s international distribution to Italian publisher Rizzoli, which then cut a deal with Doubleday to publish the book in the U.S.

At the same time, the Vatican emphasized Doubleday’s record as a publisher of Vatican books, such as “Catechism of the Catholic Church,” and works by popes John XXIII and John Paul II.

The deal marks a bizarre twist in the Vatican’s relations with the publishing industry.

The Vatican has forcefully criticized “The Da Vinci Code” and the industry that capitalized on its success. Before his appointment as secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s number two official, called on Catholics to boycott the work, which postulates that Jesus sired a child with Mary Magdalene.

Nearly a year ago, during a Good Friday Mass attended by Benedict, “papal preacher” the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa blasted the publishing industry for promoting “The Da Vinci Code” and the so-called “Gospel of Judas.”

“Christ is still getting sold _ no longer to the (high priests) for 30 coins, but to the editors and publishers for millions,” he said.

_ Stacy Meichtry

Mobile, Ala., Catholic Archbishop Gets Stolen Cross Back

MOBILE, Ala. (RNS) A pectoral cross stolen from the car of Catholic Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb on Christmas Eve was returned to him after someone bought it at a thrift store for $6, the archbishop said Tuesday (Jan. 30).

“They got a bargain,” Lipscomb joked. “The person who bought it was showing it to a friend whose mother recognized it and told them what they had. They called us, and we retrieved it. I was happy to get it back.”

Catholic abbots, bishops, archbishops, cardinals and the pope often wear pectoral crosses suspended on a chain across the chest as a symbol of their office.

No arrests had been made in connection with the theft as of Jan. 30, said a police spokesman.

In addition to the pectoral cross, the thief or thieves stole other symbols of the bishop’s office _ including Lipscomb’s gold shepherd’s crook, mitres and pallium.

The items were in a black case, which was taken after the archbishop apparently forgot to lock his car door, according to Monsignor Michael L. Farmer, chancellor of the Archdiocese of Mobile.

Lipscomb had backups for most of the items taken, but the pallium _ a white, woolen circular band decorated with crosses and worn over the shoulders _ is garment of honor that can be given only by the Vatican.

Lipscomb said he has not officially petitioned the Vatican to replace the pallium but plans to do so while he is there for work in March.

“It still might show up,” Lipscomb said. “That’d be the best of both worlds. I do hope there might be a chance to retrieve the other articles which, despite some value, are really of no use to anyone.”

Lipscomb said he would make a donation to any charity or organization that may find any of the items in their public drop sites and return them to the church.

_ Nadia M. Taylor

Jehovah’s Witnesses Battle Blood Transfusions in Canadian Hospital

TORONTO (RNS) A clash between religious beliefs and the government’s responsibility to protect children is playing out in a Vancouver hospital, where government officials have seized the babies of a Jehovah’s Witness couple in order to give them blood transfusions.

The drama began Jan. 7, when six premature babies were born to parents who are devout Jehovah’s Witnesses. Two of the six babies have since died.

Doctors warned that the remaining babies would likely need life-saving blood transfusions, a procedure that is forbidden for Witnesses.

Social workers from the British Columbia government seized three of the remaining four babies last weekend, just long enough to give two of them blood transfusions, over their parents’ objections.

On Tuesday (Jan. 30), a lawyer for the parents appeared in court ready to appeal the government’s decision to seize the children, only to find that officials had already returned the children to the parents’ care.

The three seized babies remain in the neonatal ward at Women’s and Children’s Hospital. All four remaining babies are in stable condition.

The parents, who have not been identified, have filed a court action requesting a hearing before the Supreme Court of British Columbia to challenge the province’s conduct. A hearing is set for Feb. 23.

“The family appealed what the government did and has brought an application for judicial review, saying that the government violated what the Supreme Court of Canada said 10 years ago,” the parents’ lawyer, Shane Brady, told Canadian Press.

Canada’s Supreme Court ruled in 1995 that a child’s right to essential medical care trumps a parent’s right to religious expression. But the ruling also gave parents the right to present evidence at a hearing in such matters.

In an affidavit filed by the father, the parents quote Scriptures that Jehovah’s Witnesses say forbid them from having blood transfusions.

“What the government did is wrong,” Brady said. “The father described it to me like this _ it’s a hit and run.”

The parents have said they would not oppose “alternative medical treatments” for their children.

“Our obligation to protect children is paramount,” said British Columbia’s Children and Families Minister Tom Christensen, who said he could not discuss details of this case.

_ Ron Csillag

Report Says Catholics Must Rethink Parochial School System

(RNS) The glory days of the U.S. Catholic parochial school are gone, according to a new University of Notre Dame report, and the church must rethink its mission in order to recapture the school system’s lost luster.

The report, issued late last year by a 50-member team assembled by Notre Dame President Rev. John Jenkins, presents the “grim statistics and trends” facing the world’s largest private school system. But it also lays out hope the trends can be turned around.

Enrollment in the nation’s approximately 7,800 elementary and secondary Catholic schools is now about 2.4 million, after peaking near 5 million in the mid-1960s, according to the report. Recent school closures have wiped out the modest enrollment increases of the 1990s.

The nuns and priests who educated generations of American Catholics are almost gone, retired or deceased. Collections and Mass attendance are down. Faculty salaries are too low while tuitions and costs are rising, the report says.

Internal and external trends are responsible for the declines, including demographic shifts, the “changing role of religion in the lives of American Catholics,” and an increase in other educational options. Moreover, only 3 percent of Latino families send their children to Catholic schools, despite the nation’s rising Latino Catholic population, according to the report.

“In little more than a generation, Catholic schools have undergone an almost complete transformation in how they are staffed and how they are financed,” the report says.

The schools’ mission is now primarily to “educate disadvantaged children of their neighborhood regardless of their religious affiliation.” The traditional parish school is “most under duress, most vulnerable to demographic shifts and eventual closure,” the report says.

But the report states the U.S. church has “abundant resources to meet the challenges” and issues 12 recommendations to revive the school system, including: recruiting a new generation of Catholic school teachers and leaders, building a national initiative to improve academics, strengthening the schools’ Catholic identity, forming partnerships with Catholic colleges and universities, and attracting Latino students.

_ Daniel Burke

Study: College Students’ Political Labels Don’t Always Match Faith Views

WASHINGTON (RNS) American college students’ stated political views frequently don’t reflect their religious beliefs or attitudes on social issues, according to a new survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.

In 2004 and 2006, students were asked to define their political views as far left, liberal, middle-of-the-road, conservative or far right. Despite holding traditionally conservative or liberal views, the most popular political label for students was “middle-of-the-road,” chosen by 43 percent of those surveyed in 2006.

Just under one-third described themselves as liberal or far left, while 26 percent said they were conservative or far right.

Researchers said students belonging to the most conservative and liberal religious groups often chose political labels that did not seem to directly correspond with their religious affiliation.

Baptists, Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists and other Christians (mainly evangelicals) were identified as the most conservative groups, based on attitudes toward social issues such as gay civil unions, abortion and legalizing marijuana.

A majority of students of these faiths opposed liberal positions on such issues. Yet less than half identified themselves as conservative or far right.

The most liberal religious groups, according to the same set of social issues, were Buddhists, Jews, Quakers, Unitarians and those with no religious preference.

Still, only about half described themselves as liberal or far left.

“Despite students’ beliefs on these core issues, students are largely not identifying themselves as liberal or conservative,” said Alexander Astin, a co-principal investigator of the survey, in a press release.

The 2006 poll surveyed 271,441 college freshmen, and the 2004 survey received responses from 112,232 students from 236 colleges and universities.

_ Katherine Boyle

Groups Criticize Bush Budget for Cuts to Domestic Programs

WASHINGTON (RNS) A variety of faith groups are protesting President Bush’s proposed $2.9 trillion budget, arguing that cuts in medical and anti-hunger programs would leave millions of Americans sick and hungry.

The president’s budget, which was submitted to Congress Monday (Feb. 5), slashes spending on health care, education and housing. It also proposes drilling for oil in an Alaskan wildlife refuge and changing food-stamp eligibility rules.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters the budget was “disingenuous.” With Democrats in control of Congress and the federal government’s purse strings, Bush’s proposal amounts to an opening salvo in the upcoming budget battle.

That hasn’t stopped faith-based advocacy groups like Catholic Charities USA, Bread for the World, and the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism from criticizing Bush’s plan.

“The president’s budget misses the mark on reducing poverty in America,” said the Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA. “In fact, with cuts to key programs such as Medicaid and Medicare, the president’s budget will only serve to exacerbate problems facing millions of our nation’s poor families.”

Over the next five years, Bush’s budget would reduce funding for Medicaid and Medicare _ health care programs for the poor and elderly _ by more $100 billion.

While the food stamp changes may help new households, it may also hurt those already part of the program, according to the anti-hunger group Bread for the World.

“The president’s budget proposal offers little new for those low-income families needing help from our federal nutrition programs and reveals little for struggling rural communities and small farmers,” said the Rev. David Beckmann, Bread for the World’s president.

President Bush’s budget also proposes drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, a plan that has been debated and defeated several times in Congress.

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism said Congress must again squelch the plan.

“As a habitat for hundreds of native species, and home to the indigenous Gwichin tribe the (refuge) is an invaluable part of our natural and human world,” RAC said in a statement.

_ Daniel Burke

Haggard Says He’s `Completely Heterosexual,’ Plans To Move

(RNS) The Rev. Ted Haggard, who left his Colorado megachurch and the National Association of Evangelicals amid a sex and drug scandal, believes he is “completely heterosexual,” the Denver Post reported.

Haggard recently emerged from three weeks of counseling at an undisclosed Arizona treatment center, said the Rev. Tim Ralph of Larkspur, Colo., one of four members of a board of overseers for New Life Church, which Haggard founded in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“He is completely heterosexual,” said Ralph, pastor of New Covenant Fellowship. “That is something he discovered. It was the acting-out situations where things took place. It wasn’t a constant thing.”

The newspaper reported Tuesday (Feb. 6) that Haggard sent a weekend e-mail message to some members of his former church informing them that he and his wife, Gayle, intend to leave the city and take master’s degree courses online.

He cited Iowa and Missouri as possible states where they may move.

Ralph said the board has encouraged the former pastor to consider secular work if the couple continue plans to earn master’s degrees in psychology.

The overseers also encouraged Haggard to attend a 12-step program for sexual addiction, the Denver Post reported.

Haggard’s dismissal from the church and resignation as president of the NAE followed allegations that he was involved with a former male prostitute. Haggard admitted he committed “sexual immorality” and said he bought methamphetamine but never used it.

Representatives of the board and the church could not be reached immediately for comment.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Week: The Rev. Ian Douglas of the Episcopal Divinity School

(RNS) “The Anglican Communion is not like a reality TV show where a church can get voted off the island.”

_ The Rev. Ian Douglas of the Cambridge, Mass.-based Episcopal Divinity School, on the tensions between the Episcopal Church and the global Anglican Communion. He was quoted by The Washington Times.

KRE END RNS