c. 2007 Religion News Service
Cathedral Says Sony Apology Doesn’t Go Far Enough
(RNS) After releasing a video game depicting a bloody shootout in England’s Manchester Cathedral, Sony’s public apology is too little, too late, according to church officials.
“We asked them to apologize. … This they have done. We asked them to withdraw the game. They have refused to do this,” said the Very Rev. Rogers Govender, dean of Manchester Cathedral, in a statement.
Sony did not ask permission to use the cathedral’s likeness in “Resistance: Fall of Man,” a game designed for Playstation III. A climactic shooting scene did not sit well with Anglican clergy at Manchester Cathedral, where preventing gun violence is a central outreach campaign.
Sony apologized in a July 6 letter to the editor of the Manchester Evening News.
“It was never our intention to offend anyone in the making of this game,” said David Reeves, president of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. “We would like to apologize unreservedly to them for causing that offense.”
But clergy say the church won’t be satisfied until the game is recalled. According to the Times of London, lawyers representing the two sides are still “in conversation” about Govender’s requests, which also include a demand that Sony donate to community groups as recompense.
_ Michelle Rindels
O’Brien Succeeds Keeler as Baltimore Archbishop
(RNS) Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien, who oversaw Catholic military chaplains and pastoral care for members of the Armed Forces, was named Thursday (July 12) by Pope Benedict XVI as the new archbishop of Baltimore.
O’Brien, 68, will succeed Cardinal William H. Keeler, who has led the nation’s oldest archdiocese since 1989. Given the archdiocese’s historic status, the Baltimore archbishop is typically named a cardinal and given a vote in papal elections.
O’Brien was named in 1997 to lead the Washington-based Military Archdiocese, which serves about 1.5 million Catholics, including members of the U.S. armed forces and their families.
Ordained in 1965, O’Brien has served as a chaplain at West Point, as well as in Fort Bragg, N.C., and Vietnam. He also was the rector of two seminaries, St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., and the elite Pontifical North American College in Rome.
O’Brien oversaw the recent two-year Vatican review of U.S. seminaries that was ordered in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse scandal.
Last year, Keeler turned 75, the age at which bishops are requested to submit their resignations to the pope.
Keeler served as the chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities. He also served in prominent ecumenical roles, most recently as one of five presidents of Christian Churches Together in the USA.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Poll Says Muslims, Evangelicals Closer Than Many Might Think
(RNS) Muslim Americans and white evangelicals find themselves on opposite sides of many issues, but have more in common than other religious groups when it comes to religious fervor, scriptural literalism and social morality, according to a new report.
The report by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found that U.S. Muslims and evangelical Christians consistently scored closer than other groups, including black Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics.
On the question of religious vs. national identity, 47 percent of Muslims saw themselves as Muslims first and Americans second, while 62 percent of evangelicals said they were Christians first and Americans second. Similar scores were 55 percent for black Protestants, 31 percent for Catholics and 22 percent for mainline Protestants.
While black Protestants rated the highest (87 percent) when saying religion is “very important” in their lives, evangelicals came in at 80 percent and Muslims at 72 percent. Findings were significantly lower for Catholics (49 percent) and mainline Protestants (36 percent).
There was similar agreement on whether the Quran (for Muslims) and the Bible (for Christians) were the literal word of God: Half of Muslims and two-thirds of evangelicals and black Protestants agreed, compared to one-quarter or less of both Catholics and mainline Protestants.
Muslims and evangelicals scored the closest _ and highest _ when asked whether homosexuality should be discouraged as a way of life. About six in 10 Muslims and evangelicals agreed, while less than half of other Christian groups did, with white Catholics the lowest, at 27 percent.
Politics was the one glaring difference between Muslims and evangelicals: about 60 percent of Muslims said they are Democrats or lean Democratic, while a similar number (57 percent) of evangelicals said they were Republicans.
“American Muslims, like many people of faith, seek improvements in family values and would like to see society encourage morality, not impose it,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C.
_ Omar Sacirbey
Assemblies of God Leader Thomas Trask To Resign
(RNS) The longtime leader of the Assemblies of God has decided to resign his position.
The Rev. Thomas E. Trask, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God since 1993, announced Tuesday (July 10) that he will leave his position 60 days after the Pentecostal denomination meets for its General Council Aug. 8-11 in Indianapolis.
“As a result of seeking the Lord as to his will for my continuing to serve out the remaining two years of the present term, I have reached a decision to step down as general superintendent of the Assemblies of God at this forthcoming General Council,” Trask said in a statement.
Trask, 71, has spent more than five decades in leadership positions in the denomination, which has grown to 2.8 million members, according to its 2005 statistics. The Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches cites it as the 10th-largest U.S. denomination.
He served as a pastor and district leader before his 19 years at the national level of the Assemblies of God. Prior to his 14 years as general superintendent, he served five as general treasurer.
Trask has also been active in a range of other Christian networks. He is the current chairman of the World Assemblies of God Congress, past president of the Pentecostal World Fellowship, and board member of the National Association of Evangelicals and the National Religious Broadcasters.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Conservative Christian Groups Protest Hindu Prayers in Senate
WASHINGTON (RNS) Conservative Christian groups protested the first appearance of a guest Hindu chaplain on the Senate floor Thursday (July 12).
When Rajan Zed, public relations officer of the Indian Association of Northern Nevada, stepped to the Senate rostrum to pray, protesters began shouting from inside the chamber before he could begin.
“Lord Jesus, forgive us, Father, for allowing the prayer of the wicked which is an abomination in your sight,” shouted one protester before the U.S. Capitol Police removed three people.
Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, a representative for the Capitol Police, said a man and two women from Davidson, N.C., were charged with a misdemeanor count of unlawful conduct for disrupting Congress.
Zed went on to pray: “We meditate on the transcendental glory of the Deity Supreme who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of the heaven.”
The Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association had urged its supporters to contact their senators to object to Zed’s invitation to pray.
“I seriously doubt that Americans want to change the motto, `In God We trust,’ which Congress officially adopted in 1955, to `In gods we Trust,” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said Thursday.
The Hindu American Foundation cheered the inclusion of Zed’s prayer and said it was “disappointed that a few miscreants misinformed about the Hindu faith” had disrupted the occasion.
“Our foundation joins all Hindu Americans in congratulating the U.S. Senate for demonstrating its commitment to the American ideal of pluralism, and for respecting the religious diversity of our great country,” said Ishani Chowdhury, executive director of the Kensington, Md.-based foundation.
Pastor Rod Parsley, president of the Columbus, Ohio-based Center for Moral Clarity, said in an interview that Zed’s appearance reflects American diversity, and said he had no objections.
“My opinion would be that America is the marketplace of ideas and that we should open our doors and our hearts to those of differing religious persuasions than ours, and in a free and open society allow points of views to be heard as loudly and clearly as they can be made,” he said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Oregon Court Says Mormons Can’t Hide Financial Worth
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) Oregon’s top court has rejected the Mormon church’s bid to shield detailed financial information about its net worth _ a closely held secret for nearly half a century.
But the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not immediately release the financial information to lawyers for a Portland-area man who claims he was molested by a church “home teacher” in the late 1980s.
“The church is considering its position,” said Stephen F. English, the LDS church’s lead Portland attorney. “The church respects the rule of law but has profound constitutional concerns based on its constitutional right to protect the free expression of its religion.”
English said he would renew the church’s legal arguments in a hearing Tuesday (July 17) in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
Kelly W.G. Clark, a Portland attorney whose client is suing the LDS church, said a jury should have the financial information before considering his request for $45 million in punitive damages.
“A jury needs to know the entire financial context to know whether a punitive award is too much or sufficient or not enough,” Clark said.
A trial is scheduled for Aug. 6.
The LDS church sought emergency relief from a trial court order to turn over the financial information, but the Oregon Supreme Court rejected the appeal late Monday.
The pre-trial decision was reached on narrow pre-trial grounds and doesn’t mean the court would not ultimately agree with the church’s position that the Constitution protects its right to keep financial information private.
While the LDS church has not released financial information since 1959, a book claims it is among the most affluent churches in the world. “Mormon America: The Power and the Promise” estimated the church’s net worth at between $25 billion to $30 billion in the late 1990s.
Richard N. Ostling, a former Time Magazine religion writer and co-author of the book, said the church had about $6 billion on Wall Street and in church-controlled businesses and cash. It owned $5 billion in real estate.
“The land owned by the church is roughly comparable to the state of Delaware,” Ostling said.
LDS church officials said his estimates were exaggerated but did not offer their own numbers, Ostling said. “The full financial facts are probably known to only 15 or 20 men in Salt Lake City,” he said.
_ Ashbel S. Green
Archdiocese of Los Angeles Reaches Largest Settlement in Abuse Cases
(RNS) The Archdiocese of Los Angeles has reached a landmark $660 million settlement with 508 alleged victims of sexual abuse, the largest such payment thus far in the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal.
The settlement was approved by a California judge on Monday (July 16) and follows an agreement by the archdiocese last December to pay $60 million to settle 45 abuse claims made against its clergy.
Collectively, the sex abuse scandal has cost the U.S. Catholic Church about $2 billion since 1950.
Archbishop of Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony said funding for the settlement will be shared by the archdiocese, insurance companies, several religious orders and other parties.
The archdiocese is expected to pay $250 million of the total settlement, which Mahony said would require the selling of “nonessential properties,” not parish properties or schools.
The settlement was reached Saturday, days before the start of a trial in which the cardinal was expected to be required to testify.
Mahony said he had met “with many, many victims” individually. He became more determined to settle the cases as he listened to their stories.
“I said, your life I wish were like a VHS tape where we could put that in, press rewind, delete these years of misery and difficulty and start over when you were young and just before this happened,” he said.
Ray Boucher, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the settlement “should bring closure and healing to the hundreds of victims who have been waiting more than five years for this moment.”
Mary Grant, Western regional director for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the settlement can be a “healthy validation” of victims but the church hierarchy should get no credit for it.
“Settlements in no way signify `reform’ or `change’ by church officials,” said Grant, who is among the plaintiffs. “When bishops settle child sex abuse cases, it is almost always to spare themselves court appearances, tough questions and the risk of perjury charges.’
_ Adelle M. Banks
Louisiana Moves to Restrict Abortion
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (RNS) _ Gov. Kathleen Blanco has signed into law two bills banning a controversial form of late-term abortions, making Louisiana the first state outlaw the procedure after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a federal ban in April.
Under two bills, which went into effect Friday (July 13), anyone convicted of performing “a partial birth abortion … thereby kills a human fetus” and can be imprisoned for one to 10 years, fined from $10,000 to $100,000, or both. Women who have the procedure will not be subjected to fines or jail time under the new laws.
A doctor charged with the crime can seek a hearing before the State Board of Medical Examiners to determine whether the procedure was necessary to save the mother’s life, an exemption under the new laws.
A lawsuit can be filed against someone who performs the procedure. The law says those who can file a “wrongful death” or injury lawsuit are the biological father of the fetus, unless his “criminal conduct” caused the pregnancy, as in a rape; the mother of the fetus, unless she was an adult and consented to the procedure; or the mother’s guardians, if the mother was a minor at the time _ unless the parents consented to the abortion.
In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that restricting the procedure, usually performed in the late stages of pregnancy, is legal. Louisiana enacted a state ban on the procedure in 1997, but a federal court threw it out in 1999. So-called “partial-birth abortions” account for roughly 3 percent of the 11,000-plus abortions performed in Louisiana each year.
Earlier this month, Blanco signed into law a bill that requires a woman to be told before an abortion that a fetus can feel pain. The bill also requires that a woman be told of the availability of anesthesia that would “eliminate or alleviate organic pain to the unborn child.”
That law takes effect Aug. 15.
_ Ed Anderson and Robert Travis Scott
Cut Farm Subsidies, Boost Food Stamps, Religious Leaders Say
(RNS) A group of religious leaders met on Capitol Hill Tuesday to lobby for a Farm Bill that would improve the Food Stamp Program _ a change they described as the quickest way to reduce hunger in the U.S.
Bread for the World, a Christian anti-hunger organization, is leading Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans and other churches to push what they call “reform that reflects American values of fairness and equal opportunity.”
Religious leaders have been visiting representatives and encouraging Christians to write letters to legislators _ both in favor of food stamps, which now pay recipients an average $1 per meal, and in opposition to what they see as an expensive and unjust farm subsidy program.
“Our nation’s farm policy needs to be guided by a strong moral compass,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, at a press conference. “An equitable system would not pour federal dollars into the largest farms in America without addressing the needs of those who need help the most.”
According to Oxfam, an anti-hunger advocacy group working with Bread for the World, just 25 percent of farmers qualify for commodity subsidies. Among those who do qualify, Oxfam said, only 10 percent receive 72 percent of the benefits.
The group also argued that these commodity payments distort the global market and have destructive repercussions abroad. Low prices for subsidized American products make it more difficult for foreign producers, such as cotton growers in sub-Saharan Africa, to compete in the global market.
“The House leadership must begin to address this bill from a moral perspective, which transcends the typical as-you-go-politics that have sustained U.S. agricultural policy,” said Episcopal Bishop John Bryson Chane of Washington.
The current farm legislation has been in place since 2002, when it was adopted with a ten-year price tag of $190 billion. Congress will debate a 2007 version through Thursday (July 19).
_ Michelle Rindels
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Delegates Re-elect Their President
(RNS) Delegates to the triennial convention of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod have re-elected their president and approved “altar and pulpit fellowship” with a smaller group of Lutherans.
The Rev. Gerald Kieschnick was re-elected Sunday (July 15) to lead the 2.5 million-member denomination for his third three-year term.
In an opening session prior to his re-election, Kieschnick, 64, urged members to do more to turn around a 35-year downward “slide” in membership, which was about 2.8 million in 1972.
“This ought not be!” he said. “I believe that God has called us to instill within the heart of every member of our synod a burning passion for souls _ hearts that will be ablaze with the purpose of taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to every hill and valley, every city, and every community in our land.”
Delegates to the meeting in Houston voted Monday to declare “altar and pulpit fellowship” with the American Association of Lutheran Churches (AALC), which has about 14,000 members. The declaration represents an agreement to share Communion at each other’s altars and to preach in each other’s pulpits.
The AALC made a similar declaration at its convention in June in St. Paul, Minn. The group formed in 1987 when its pastors were concerned about the doctrinal positions of Lutheran church bodies that merged in 1988 to become the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Both the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, which was founded in 1847, and the AALC are more conservative theologically than the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Week: Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno of Los Angeles
(RNS) “I wouldn’t put up an immediate impediment because of someone’s past life. There’s no exclusion in the gospel for anybody.”
_ Episcopal Bishop J. Jon Bruno of Los Angeles, commenting on the decision of Ronald Boyer, a former pornographic film star who is pursuing the priesthood and is a member of an Oak Park, Calif., congregation. Bruno was quoted by The New York Times.
DSB END RNS
