c. 2008 Religion News Service
DNC lodges complaint over evangelical polling
WASHINGTON (RNS) Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has sent a public letter to national election pollsters, blasting them for only asking Republicans about their religious practices.
“So far, exit polls, media reports and pundits have largely missed the story because they’re using an outdated script, which leaves the impression that religion and faith matter only to Republicans,” Dean said in a letter on Friday (Feb. 1).
Following on earlier complaints by progressive evangelicals, Dean notes that Democratic voters in the Iowa caucuses and Michigan primary weren’t asked about their religion, while Republicans were. In South Carolina, exit pollsters asked Republicans extensively about their faith, while Democrats were only asked how often they attend worship services.
“And this bias in polling questions has in turn shaped news coverage,” Dean said “making it appear that one party has a monopoly on religion in this race.”
The National Election Poll consortium, which includes the polling directors of ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX, NBC and The Associated Press, has said they “have limited real estate on our questionnaires,” and “routinely do not talk publicly about what questions are on our surveys,”according to Faith in Public Life.
Dean called on the pollsters to “honor the religious diversity of our country by including Democrats when asking about faith,” in the upcoming Feb. 5 Super Tuesday contests.
_ Daniel Burke
Woman charged after assaulting Sikh man
HOBOKEN, N.J. (RNS) A woman was arrested early Wednesday (Jan. 30) and charged with trying to rip the turban off a Sikh man’s head in a bar, police said.
“I went to the bar to place an order, and I realized that someone was trying to get my turban off my head,” said 38-year-old Hansdip Singh Bindra, of Union City, N.J., who was at Madison Bar and Grill with a colleague just after midnight. “You’re out for an evening with colleagues and this is the last thing you’d expect.”
Clutching the turban, which was nearly off, Bindra said he asked the woman, later identified as Carrie Covello, 37, of Hoboken, if there was a problem.
“She said `Take it off _ I don’t like it,”’ Bindra said.
Bindra alerted the bouncer to the situation and called police, who came and arrested Covello.
At the precinct, Covello admitted “touching” the turban, but told cops she was only joking and didn’t mean anything by it, police said. Covello was charged with bias intimidation and harassment, a charge that can lead to penalties ranging from probation to up to 18 months prison, said Hudson County Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Debra Simon.
Covello could not be reached for comment. Bindra said he was still reeling.
“I absolutely feel violated by this,” he said.
Wearing a turban is part of the five “mandated articles of faith” required by the Sikh religion. Sikhs are forbidden from cutting their hair and must conceal it from public view with the turban, which is considered a holy object.
“For a Sikh to appear in public without a turban is akin for a person to appear in public without trousers on,” said Neha Singh, advocacy director for the New York-based Sikh Coalition. “It really is the equivalent of being stripped.”
There are more than 500,000 Sikhs in the United States, including about 30,000 in New Jersey. Since Sept. 11, the Sikh Coalition has confirmed more than 500 bias complaints, including 47 in New Jersey.
Bindra said he has been discriminated against before.
In 2006, he said, he was not allowed to eat in a restaurant in Richmond, Va., because of the turban, and in 2003 he sued Delta Airlines after a flight attendant said that “people like (him) shouldn’t be allowed to fly,” he said.
In the lawsuit, the flight attendant was also accused of telling other passengers, “You see the man up front with the turban on, he’s the one who is going to cause trouble.” The Delta Airlines suit was settled out of court, said Ravinder Bhalla, a Hoboken attorney who represented Bindra in the case.
_ Amy Sara Clark
Atheists angry after Myspace page goes dark _ again
(RNS) It isn’t easy being godless online.
For the third time in as many years, what may be the largest group of organized atheists in the world is struggling to stay on MySpace, according to a Cleveland State University assistant professor who founded the site for nonbelievers.
MySpace deleted the 35,000-member “Atheist and Agnostic Group” on Jan. 1, a little more than a month after hackers broke in and renamed the group’s site “Jesus Is Love,” Bryan Pesta said Wednesday.
MySpace has ignored repeated requests to restore the group’s site, including an online petition with more than 500 signatures, said Pesta, who was the group’s moderator.
“These actions send a clear message to the 30 million godless people in America that we are not welcome on MySpace,” Pesta said.
A MySpace spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.
Pesta started the group in 2004 as a social networking site “specifically for godless people.” Atheists are more likely to be geographically spread out, and the online group provided a sense of community, he said.
“We’re regular people, just like Christians, Muslims and Jews,” he said. “We like to network.”
The site grew by about 10,000 people a year to just under 35,000 members by the end of 2007, Pesta said.
But it was never without controversy. Two years ago, Pesta said, MySpace deleted the group after an organized campaign from Christians opposing the site. MySpace restored it and promised it would be protected, Pesta said.
Last Thanksgiving, hackers broke into the group’s site, deleting material and renaming it “Jesus Is Love.” MySpace restored the site three weeks later but then shut it down this year, Pesta said.
_ David Briggs
Quote of the Day: Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa
(RNS) “I have come to the conclusion after two years of debate on immigration without success that it’s going to take the love of Jesus Christ to bring people together.”
_ Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, speaking at the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant in Atlanta.
KRE/CM END RNS
