c. 2007 Religion News Service

Democrats hail abortion reduction measure

WASHINGTON (RNS) Congressional Democrats and religious leaders are touting a new initiative to allocate more than $600 million to reduce abortion in the U.S., but critics say they’re just putting a new name on old programs.

The funding, part of the Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations bill, represents a “pragmatic, practical way of approaching the problem (of abortion),” said Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio.

“It’s saying loud and clear the Democratic Party wants to reduce the need for abortion and is willing to put our money where our mouth is,” Ryan said.

Critics, however, contend that Democrats have just repackaged old programs under the rhetoric of “reducing abortions.”

“There’s nothing new here,” said Richard Doerflinger, deputy director of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ secretariat for pro-life activities.

The legislation calls for $615 million to finance programs to fight teen pregnancy through contraception and abstinence education, child-care aid for poor mothers and adoption advocacy.

“We are promoting the policies, which are critical for reducing the need for abortion in this country,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.

For several years Ryan and DeLauro, both Catholics, have sponsored legislation aimed at reducing abortions, but the measures have failed.

Groups on both sides of the abortion issue have criticized their past efforts. The Catholics bishops, for instance, oppose birth control, and Planned Parenthood fears the restriction of reproductive choice.

Ryan called birth control “the new fault line in the debate.” But, he said, “we can’t run from the fact, as a Catholic I say this, that if we do not provide birth control for these women we’re going to have (more) abortions.”

The Rev. Joel C. Hunter, a prominent evangelical pastor from Florida, who describes himself as “just to the right of Attila the Hun,” praised the funding measure Thursday.

“I love what the Democratic Party is doing here,” he said in a teleconference to promote the funding. “I think it’s just fantastic.”

Liberal evangelical author and activist the Rev. Jim Wallis called abortion “the third rail of American politics” and said the bill “fits where the American people are.”

_ Daniel Burke

NCC blasts Congress on Armenian genocide measure

(RNS) The National Council of Churches is bucking the conventional wisdom in Washington by criticizing Congress for shelving a measure that would label the deaths of thousands of Armenians in 1915 “genocide.”

The NCC and its affiliated humanitarian agency, Church World Service, approved a resolution on the historical controversy at the groups’ annual General Assembly (Nov. 6-8), calling it “unacceptable that the United States has yet to officially recognize the Genocide of 1915.”

Although a House committee approved the genocide resolution last month, pressure from the Bush administration kept it from reaching the House floor. The White House said the resolution could damage relations with Turkey, which denies that a genocide occurred.

The resolution “strongly urges the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives to bring forth this legislation before the end of this Congress.”

The NCC, an umbrella group of 35 mainline Protestant and Orthodox denominations, includes the U.S. branch of the Armenian Orthodox Church. Armenian Archbishop Vicken Aykazian is beginning a two-year term as NCC president.

The NCC statement praised the House committee action for “acknowledging this universally recognized historical fact (and) condemning this crime against humanity.”

Speaking “as persons of faith,” the NCC and CWS expressed their “concern that the truth was not upheld by our elected representatives.”

_ Heather Donckels

Mukasey, Von Furstenberg lead list of top U.S. Jews

NEW YORK (RNS) What do the star of the hit movie “Knocked Up,” President Bush’s attorney general nominee and a leading fashion designer have in common?

Seth Rogen, Michael Mukasey and Diane Von Furstenberg are among The Forward 50, an annual list of the most influential members of the Jewish community compiled by The Forward, a nationally circulated Jewish newspaper.

“We are trying to figure how Judaism expresses itself,” said J.J. Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Forward. “What does the collective activity of the Jewish community look like, when you take a broad scan?”

The list is based on the suggestions of The Forward’s staff. This year, it reveals changes in the Jewish community and mirrors trends in American culture as a whole. Those who made the list don’t just wield power; as the paper describes it, they “embodied the spirit of Jewish action.”

So, designer Von Furstenberg is named because as head of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, she helped change the dates of New York’s Fall Fashion Week so it wouldn’t conflict with Rosh Hashana.

Well-known figures like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made the cut, but others are known primarily within their communities, like Jimmy Jamshid Delshad, the first Iranian-born Jewish mayor of Beverly Hills, or a 27-year-old who became the first female scribe to complete a Torah scroll.

“We’re finding in philanthropy, in political activism, there’s this new crop of Jewish activists in their 20s, 30s and 40s,” he said. “(They’re) less attached to synagogues and traditional organizations. It’s more distinctly right wing or left wing. I think that’s as much a reflection of America as it is of Judaism.”

The Jewish executive director of Christians United for Israel, a pro-Israel evangelical lobbying group, and a former member of Bill Clinton’s policy team who is working to create a pro-peace Israel lobby each made the list, representing opposite ends of the political spectrum.

“There are also more rabbis than usual,” Goldberg said. “Ten years ago, most of the list would’ve been made up of lobbyists, civil rights activists or of fundraisers. When spirituality returns, which has happened all over America, then the clergy are going to have a bigger role than the bureaucrats.”

The rabbis include the editor of the Reform Movement’s new prayer book, Rabbi Elyse Frishman, and Rabbi Toba Spitzer, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical Assembly and the first openly gay rabbi to lead the clergy of a major Jewish religious denomination.

Several leaders of Jewish organizations are repeats this year, including Abraham Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, and Arnold Eisen, chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary.

_ Ansley Roan

Study suggests fasting is good for your heart

(RNS) Fasting for a day each month can reduce your chances of getting heart disease, according to a study released this week.

Researchers undertook the study based on the experience of Mormons, who historically have been found to have lower rates of heart disease than other Americans.

Mormons belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which teaches fasting. Researchers wanted to assess the impact of this practice _ as well as other church teachings, such as not smoking and abstaining from coffee and alcohol _ on heart disease rates.

They examined the records of heart registry patients who had undergone diagnostic testing between 1994 and 2002 to look for blockages in coronary arteries. A total of 4,629 patients were able to be diagnosed by doctors as either having or not having coronary artery disease (defined as at least 70 percent blockage in at least one artery).

Coronary artery disease was less prevalent in patients who identified themselves as Mormons _ 61 percent vs. 66 percent in those who stated another religion or no religious preference.

But researchers were struck by the fact that non-Mormons who fasted as part of a health-conscious lifestyle also reported lower rates of heart disease.

“People who fast seem to receive a heart-protective benefit,” said Benjamin Horne, study author and director of cardiovascular and genetic epidemiology at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City.

Overall, fasting was associated with 39 percent lower odds of being diagnosed with coronary artery disease in the study, results of which were released during the 80th annual American Heart Association scientific meeting in Orlando, Fla.

According to Horne, the association between fasting and healthy arteries could be due to timing.

“When you abstain from food for 24 hours, it reduces the constant exposure of the body to foods and glucose,” he said.

_ Angela Stewart

Quote of the Day: Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa

(RNS) “Bentleys, Rolls-Royces, corporate jets, $23,000 commodes in a multimillion-dollar home. You know, just think of a $23,000 marble commode. A lot of money going down the toilet, you can say.”

_ Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaking to CNN about his request for six evangelical TV ministries to disclose their financial information. The ministries’ leaders have been known for lavish lifestyles.

KRE/PH END RNS