c. 2007 Religion News Service
Scholars say evangelicals and their votes are shifting
WASHINGTON (RNS) The face of evangelicalism is changing, two authors at the Pew Research Center said Thursday (Oct. 11), and with that change comes uncertainty about who evangelicals will vote for in next year’s presidential election.
Using the AIDS crisis as an example, Michael Lindsay, author of “Faith in the Halls of Power,” said the present generation of evangelicals has a broader, more international perspective than their forebears.
While many evangelical leaders in the 1980s denounced AIDS as “God’s scourge on the homosexual community,” President Bush’s former speechwriter, evangelical Michael Gerson, was the man who brought AIDS back to the forefront 20 years later, Lindsay said.
“That is a really big change in the evangelical community,” Lindsay said. “The amazing thing is that once that initiative was announced, some of the very same evangelical movement leaders who had denounced” the crisis “praised the White House for being bold and courageous.”
Hanna Rosin, author of “God’s Harvard,” a book about Patrick Henry College in Virginia, hopes that in 20 more years, evangelicals will have examined their traditional stance on the environment and made similar changes.
Lindsay and Rosin attributed part of this change to a heightened appreciation for Reformed theology, which recognizes the problems in the world while at the same time compelling people to do something about them.
Lindsay also sees the change as “a maturing of the evangelical movement.” As evangelicals have moved into positions of influence, they have become more optimistic about changing the world. He sees “the mantle of leadership” passing from evangelicals like Billy Graham _ who focused primarily on saving souls _ to people like megachurch pastor Rick Warren, who believes that social justice and saving souls go hand in hand.
These shifting views cause Rosin and Lindsay to wonder who evangelicals will vote for in the coming presidential primaries and election. Gone is “the idea that evangelicals are in the back pockets of Republicans,” Rosin said. Some of the “most extensive outreach” from evangelicals is directed at Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, not Republicans Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain, she said.
Rosin finds that Clinton and Obama, though running as Democrats, have the most realistic testimonies of all the candidates.
“I started here, I moved here, I’ve consistently been in this church,” she said, paraphrasing their words. “Here is my marriage … I’ve struggled through it and I’ve come to this place.”
Whether or not evangelicals would vote for Clinton, Rosin predicts that the former first lady’s nomination would unite them for a common cause. Lindsay added, “Movements don’t have to have a god, but they have to have a devil.”
“If Hillary Clinton is the nominee, then their role is secure,” Rosin said. “It’s obvious what their role will be in the future.” On the other hand, if Giuliani or Obama were to win, she said evangelicals could lose their purpose.
_ Heather Donckels
Muslims say unity is key to improved Christian-Muslims ties
(RNS) Without peace and justice between Muslims and Christians, there can be no “meaningful” peace in the world. That’s the message from 138 Islamic clerics and scholars in a letter to Pope Benedict XVI and 25 other Christian leaders that urged a focus on common ties and a partnership for peace.
The letter is dated Oct. 13 to mark the Islamic holiday of Eid al Fitr (the end of Ramadan) and the one-year anniversary of a letter to Benedict from 38 Islamic scholars that criticized his speech in Germany that many Muslims believe derided Islam as a faith without reason.
Citing the Quran and the Bible, Muslim leaders said the basis for understanding between the two faiths already existed in the shared recognition of “One God” and the mandate to love one’s neighbor.
“Whilst Islam and Christianity are obviously different religions,” the statement said, “it is clear that the Two Greatest Commandments are an area of common ground and a link between the Quran, the Torah and the New Testament.”
The letter is replete with citations from both Muslim and Christian scriptures emphasizing the oneness of God, but is not a call for Christians to abandon their belief in the Trinity, said Muzammil Siddiqi, chairman of the Islamic Jurisprudence Council of North America and one of 16 American signatories.
“Even though the interpretation of (God’s) unity is the Trinity, the foundation is unity,” said Siddiqi. “It’s monotheism, even though we do not agree with every interpretation of monotheism.”
Nearly a quarter of the signatories were from North America or Europe, although the two continents are home to a tiny fraction of the world’s Muslims. Siddiqi said that should not be construed as a lack of support from leaders in traditionally Muslim countries. Prominent signatories include former grand muftis of Egypt and Jerusalem, as well as the current secretary-general of the Organization of Islamic Countries.
The American recipients of the letter are Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson, president of the Lutheran World Federation; the Rev. George H. Freeman, general secretary of the World Methodist Council; and the Rev. David Coffey, president of the Baptist World Alliance.
_ Omar Sacirbey
New policy allows God on Capitol flag certificates
WASHINGTON (RNS) Americans who ask for a flag to be flown over the U.S. Capitol will now be able to include religious references on the accompanying certificate under new guidelines released Thursday (Oct. 11).
Republican House members were angry after an Ohio Eagle Scout requested a flag be flown in honor of his grandfather’s “dedication and love of God, country, and family.” The accompanying certificate left out the word “God.”
Acting Architect of the Capitol Stephen T. Ayers, who supervises the flag program, said guidelines from 2003 would be revised to allow whatever messages a member of Congress deems appropriate.
“The Architect’s role is to certify that flags are appropriately flown over the U.S. Capitol, and any message on the flag certificates are personal and between a Member of Congress and his or her constituents,” Ayers said in a statement.
After an internal review, Ayers determined that the existing policies had been “inconsistently applied” and it was not his job to “censor messages” from lawmakers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after initialing downplaying the dispute, on Thursday said Ayers’ office should not “be in the role of censoring what members want to say.”
Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, who received the flag request that sparked the policy change, said he would pursue legislation that would permanently allow flag certificates to acknowledge God. Earlier, he had worried that cutting God’s name from certificates could be “the precedent” for removing other references to God from the Capitol.
_ Heather Donckels and Kevin Eckstrom
New Cleveland imam under scrutiny
CLEVELAND (RNS) Anyone following Fawaz Damra as spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland can expect to attract powerful interest, even suspicion. For Ahmed Alzaree, the scrutiny is under way.
The Egyptian-born cleric from Omaha, Neb., was recently named the new imam of Ohio’s largest mosque, replacing Damra, who was deported after ties to Palestinian extremists came to light.
The Damra scandal fractured and isolated the Muslim community as most interfaith leaders shunned the Grand Mosque.
Soon after the mosque announced its new leader, a blogger posted on Cleveland.com a portion of a sermon Alzaree is believed to have delivered four years ago. In it, he talks about Muslims fighting and killing Jews.
Quickly, Web sites with names like Jihad Watch and Central Ohioans Against Terrorism promoted the Web posting under headlines like, “Cleveland: meet the new imam, same as the old imam.”
The mosque’s leadership is standing by their imam.
“There’s nothing at all in his background that points to any anti-Jewish sentiments,” said Dr. Jalal Abu-Shaweesh, a pediatrician for University Hospitals and the mosque president.
The 2003 sermon attributed to Alzaree was archived on the Web site of the Islamic Center of Omaha, where Alzaree was imam.
It’s a lecture on the coming Judgment Day, and it details signs that might herald the end of the world. Among dozens of warning signs the sermon describes is one taken from the Hadith, the collection of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, considered a supplement to the Quran.
“The hour of judgment shall not happen until the Muslims fight the Jews,” the sermon quotes a Hadith. “The Muslims shall kill the Jews to the point that the Jew shall hide behind a big rock or a tree and the rock or tree shall call on the Muslim saying: hey, O Muslim there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him, except the Gharqad tree which will not say, for it is the tree of Jews.”
The sermon goes on to say that current events seem to suggest this doomsday sign is emerging.
Abu-Shaweesh, who read the sermon, said Alzaree was relaying a well-known Hadith as he listed myriad signs of Judgment Day and was likely just being thorough.
Zeki Saritoprak, the chairman of Islamic Studies at John Carroll University, said that particular Hadith is indeed well-known but he found Alzaree’s use awkward and of poor scholarship.
Muhammad’s intent was to warn of conflict with Jews as a bad thing, and the prayer leader should have made that clear, he said. Noting the poor Jewish-Muslim relations in the region, he said, “This is not helpful.”
Nevertheless, “It shouldn’t be considered anti-Jewish, because this is a well-known Hadith in the Muslim tradition,” Saritoprak said.
_ Robert L. Smith
Opponents of Oregon domestic partnerships fall short
SALEM, Ore. (RNS) Opponents of a new domestic partnership law for same-sex couples failed to gather enough signatures to put a referendum on the November 2008 ballot.
The secretary of state’s office said volunteers who spent the summer collecting signatures to allow voters to weigh in on domestic partnerships fell 116 signatures short of the 55,179 needed to qualify for the ballot.
That means that on Jan. 1 same-sex couples in Oregon will be able to enter into domestic partnerships allowing them most of the state benefits of marriage, such as inheritance rights. It does not affect federal benefits, such as Social Security.
Kelly Burke, 38, and her partner Dolores Doyle, 42, were married in 2004 when Multnomah County briefly issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The state Supreme Court later declared those county marriage licenses invalid.
The couple have a 6-year-old son and 1-year-old daughter. Doyle recently spent 10 months battling breast cancer.
“Knowing we could legally take care of each other would have made the burden lighter,” said Burke, of Portland.
In 2004, unhappy with the Multnomah County same-sex marriages, Oregon voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. Opponents later viewed the domestic partnership law passed by the 2007 Legislature as an attempt to overturn the voters’ will.
Last month, a group called Defense of Marriage and Family Again and others submitted petitions with nearly 63,000 signatures to the secretary of state. After the first round of checking, state officials sent 60,531 signatures to the counties for further verification. Those checks found 55,063 valid non-duplicated signatures, short of the 55,179 needed.
Marylin Shannon, a former state senator and spokeswoman for Defense of Marriage and Family Again, said opponents may launch another signature drive _ this time for a citizen’s initiative that would repeal the domestic partnership law after it takes effect.
_ Michelle Cole
Quote of the Day: Dallas megachurch pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes
(RNS) “Our focus right now is saving lives. Tomorrow we can save souls.”
_ Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dallas megachurch pastor, speaking at a two-day conference of black clergy organized by the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. He was quoted by the Associated Press.
KRE/LF END RNS
2,100 words
