c. 2008 Religion News Service
Poll: Pope unknown to most Americans
WASHINGTON (RNS) Most Americans hold a favorable opinion of Pope Benedict XVI, but the vast majority confess they don’t know much about the pontiff, according to a new poll.
Just weeks before Benedict’s first trip to the U.S. as leader of the Roman Catholic Church, 58 percent of Americans say they have a favorable or “very favorable” opinion of him.
But when asked how much they know about the 80-year-old German, 52 percent said “not very much,” and nearly 30 percent said “nothing at all.”
Benedict and Americans will have a chance to get to know one another better April 15-20, when the pope celebrates Masses, greets interfaith leaders, and visits heads of state in New York and Washington, D.C.
Forty-two percent of Americans said they’d like to attend one of Benedict’s public appearances, according to the survey, which was conducted by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion and financed by the Knights of Columbus. Sixty-six percent of Catholics said the same.
More than 70 percent of Americans look forward to hearing Benedict talk about spiritual matters such as God’s presence in daily life, spiritual fulfillment and how to positively affect the world.
The survey polled 1,015 adults, 613 of whom were Catholic. The margin of error for all Americans is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for the Catholic sample alone it is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
_ Daniel Burke
Report: Saudis deny request to build church
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Saudi Arabia will deny a request by the Vatican to build that Muslim country’s first Christian church, according to a report broadcast Tuesday (March 25) by a television channel owned by the Saudi royal family.
The report came the same day that Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah announced plans to host a conference of monotheistic religions, including Islam, Christianity and Judaism, a project that he said he had discussed with Pope Benedict XVI on a visit to the Vatican last November.
The conference would be the first such interreligious event in Saudi Arabia, which forbids public observance of any faith but Islam.
The two events epitomize the ambivalent and volatile nature of recent relations between the Holy See and the Islamic world.
Earlier this month, a delegation of Muslim scholars and clerics met with Vatican officials in Rome to plan a Christian-Muslim summit in November. Also this month, Catholics were permitted to open the first Christian church in the Persian Gulf country of Qatar.
In the same period, the murder of a Chaldean Catholic archbishop in Iraq highlighted the plight of that country’s Christian minority, leading the pope to use his Palm Sunday homily to demand an end to the “slaughters,” “violence” and “hatred” in Iraq.
Benedict’s decision to baptize Magdi Allam in St. Peter’s Basilica on the day before Easter also raised tensions in the church’s relations with Islam. Allam, who until his conversion was one of Italy’s most prominent Muslims, has been an outspoken critic of Muslim intolerance of other faiths.
Among those denouncing the baptism was Jordanian scholar Aref Ali Nayed, part of the group behind the upcoming Muslim-Christian summit at the Vatican. But Nayed insisted that he and his colleagues would “not let this unfortunate episode distract us.”
In an effort to soothe feelings, the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano ran a front-page article in its Wednesday (March 26) edition declaring that Allam’s baptism did not represent “any hostile intention with regard to so great a religion as Islam.”
_ Francis X. Rocca
Poll: 1 in 10 Americans Think Obama Is a Muslim
(RNS) Ten percent of American voters believe Sen. Barack Obama is Muslim, despite the presidential candidate’s frequent descriptions of his Christian faith and a high-profile flap over his former pastor.
The finding was contained in survey results released by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.
While a majority _ 53 percent _ identify Obama as a Christian, 16 percent of conservative Republicans, 16 percent of white evangelical Protestants and 19 percent of rural Americans believe the Illinois senator is Muslim.
About a third of Americans said they don’t know what Obama’s religious beliefs are, and 9 percent of that group said it’s because they’ve heard different information about his faith.
Confusion over the candidate’s religion crosses party lines. Fourteen percent of all Republicans, 10 percent of Democrats and 8 percent of independents think he’s Muslim, according to the survey.
Nearly 80 percent of Americans said they had heard something about controversial sermon sound bites from Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, that have been circulating in the media.
The survey follows an earlier poll in which 80 percent of the general public said they’d heard rumors that Obama is Muslim.
_ Daniel Burke
Teacher resigns over role in Discovery Channel program
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) A Bible scholar and son of a prominent evangelical pastor resigned from his teaching job at a Christian school over his role in a Discovery Channel program, “Jesus: The Missing History.”
Kent Dobson resigned from his job at NorthPointe Christian High School after it “was apparent to both Kent and the board that some of the views expressed on the program were outside of the Statement of Faith of NorthPointe Christian and therefore his resignation was given and accepted,” the school’s superintendent, Jim Hofman, said in a statement.
Dobson, 31, is the son of Ed Dobson, the retired pastor of 5,000-member Calvary Church and a former leader of the now-defunct Moral Majority. He had taught Bible at the school for nearly two years.
“He did resign, that is accurate,” Ed Dobson said after his son declined to comment. “He basically had no other choice, and he initiated it.”
School officials declined to say which comments on the program had prompted the resignation, citing personnel matters.
The Discovery program first aired March 16. “Wars have been fought in his name. Untold millions have devoted their lives to him. But how much do we really know about Jesus ben Joseph of Galilee? Explorer and Bible scholar Kent Dobson sets out to get to the bottom of it,” the Discovery Web site says.
The program raised “difficult questions about the biblical story,” Ed Dobson said. Kent “interviewed scholars who raised questions, and people assumed falsely this is what Kent believes.
“He said, `I have questions and doubts, but I’m still a follower of Jesus.’ I think anybody who’s thoroughly honest would reach the same conclusion,” Ed Dobson said.
_ Beth Loechler and Charles Honey
Supreme Court to consider religious monuments case
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Supreme Court decided Monday (March 31) to review the case of a 33-year-old religious organization that wants to have its tenets posted in a Utah municipal park near a monument of the Ten Commandments.
The justices will consider the case of Pleasant Grove City v. Summum after the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the city should erect the church’s “Seven Aphorisms” monument.
In their request for the high court’s consideration, lawyers for the city said the appellate court’s decision could “impose severe practical burdens on government entities” and affect their control of public land.
“The Supreme Court is faced with a dramatic opportunity: preserve sound precedent involving the well-established distinction between government speech and private speech _ or permit a twisted interpretation of the Constitution to create havoc in cities and localities across America,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, and the lawyer representing Pleasant Grove City.
The attorney representing Summum, which is based in Salt Lake City, was not available for comment.
The church was incorporated in 1975. According to its Web site, Moses received the “aphorisms that outlined principles underlying Creation and all of nature” during one trip to Mount Sinai and received the Ten Commandments on a second trip to the mountain.
Summum has called the city’s denial of its request to erect the aphorisms monument a violation of free expression guaranteed by the First Amendment.
In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled that religious monuments on public grounds are constitutional, but suggested they need to be displayed with other historical images or documents to avoid an overtly religious message.
Pioneer Park, the city park at the center of the case, includes an artifact from the Mormon Temple in Nauvoo, Ill., a 9/11 monument that was a Boy Scouts project and a Ten Commandments monument that was donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1971.
The American Humanist Association, which has been critical of Ten Commandments monuments on public grounds, said conservative groups who support such monuments must make public space available for all.
“Now they must reap what they have sown,” said AHA president Mel Lipman. “Either they get their monuments at the price of letting all others in, or they give them up _ they can’t have it both ways.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Vatican: Islam has `overtaken’ number of Catholics
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Islam has “overtaken” Catholicism in number of adherents, though Christianity as a whole remains the world’s most widely professed faith, the Vatican’s top statistician said.
“For the first time in history we are no longer at the summit: The Muslims have overtaken us,” said Monsignor Vittorio Formenti, head of the Central Office of Church Statistics, in the Sunday (March 30) edition of the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano.
Muslims accounted for 19.2 percent of the world’s population in 2006, whereas Catholics made up 17.4 percent, Formenti said, giving the total number of Catholics as 1.13 billion.
All Christian denominations together accounted for 33 percent of the world population, the Vatican official noted.
Formenti suggested that the head count of Catholics was more “scientific” than the Muslim figures. The Vatican collects its data through surveys by Catholic dioceses and parishes, he explained; whereas the number of Muslims is based on information provided by Islamic states, which rely primarily on estimates of population growth.
“While Islamic families continue to beget many children, Christians instead tend to have ever fewer,” he said.
Formenti also noted statistical trends within the church, including a rise in the number of men studying for the priesthood.
“It’s the first time that the trend is positive at such levels,” he said, noting that there were 115,000 men enrolled in seminaries around the world, compared to only 79,000 three decades earlier.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Yearbook editor to leave NCC
(RNS) The Rev. Eileen Lindner, the widely respected researcher who has overseen the annual Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, will leave her post at the National Council of Churches on May 15.
Lindner has edited the Yearbook, which is considered to be the most authoritative source of church membership statistics and trends, for 10 years. She said she doesn’t have the fundraising skills the position now requires.
“The role of fundraiser needs to be focused much more sharply than is possible in my current position,” said Lindner, who survived an NCC staff shakeup to become the NCC’s director of organizational development on Jan. 1.
Lindner, an ordained Presbyterian minister known for her work on children’s issues and church-based health care ministries, said the NCC “needs to feel free to rewrite the position description” and find someone better versed in fundraising.
The Rev. Michael Kinnamon, the NCC’s new general secretary, said, “Eileen will certainly be missed as the NCC moves forward with this transition necessary to serving its best interests.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Parents plead not guilty in daughter’s death
OREGON CITY, Ore. _ A couple who tried to heal their dying daughter with prayer walked hand in hand into a crowded courtroom Monday (March 31) and pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment.
Carl Brent Worthington, 28, and Raylene Marie Worthington, 25, are the first parents prosecuted since Oregon cracked down on faith-healing deaths nearly a decade ago. If convicted, they could spend more than six years in prison.
The Worthingtons, members of Oregon City’s Followers of Christ Church, barely spoke a word as Judge Kathie Steele explained the charges. In subdued voices, they answered “yes” and “yes, your honor” to acknowledge they could face prison time, then dodged television cameras as they left the courtroom.
They remain free on $250,000 bonds. A trial is set for mid-June.
Their 15-month-old daughter, Ava Worthington, died at home March 2 from bacterial bronchial pneumonia and a blood infection. Both conditions could have been treated with antibiotics, according to Dr. Christopher Young, a deputy state medical examiner.
Ava’s breathing was further compromised by a benign four-inch cyst on her neck that had never been medically addressed, Young said.
The Followers of Christ, a non-denominational congregation with roots in the 19th-century Pentecostal movement, came under state scrutiny in the late 1990s after several church children died from medically treatable conditions. The deaths prompted state lawmakers to remove religious shield laws for parents who treat gravely ill children solely with prayer.
A spokeswoman for the Christian Science Church, which lobbied for Oregon’s original faith-healing shield laws, acknowledged that the church has been following the Worthington case but declined to comment.
Between 1999, when the new law took effect, and the Worthington case, prosecutors found no incidents of significant medical neglect among Followers of Christ Church members.
A grand jury brought two charges: second-degree manslaughter and second-degree criminal mistreatment. The parents’ “failure to provide medical care caused the death of their daughter; that’s what the grand jury’s charged them with,” explained chief deputy district attorney Greg Horner.
The Worthingtons reportedly also have a young daughter.
On Monday, a pair of defense attorneys representing the Worthingtons said they were waiting to see reports and evidence in the case and wouldn’t comment on the charges.
“They’re presumed innocent at this time, and we ask that no one prejudge them,” said attorney John Neidig, who represents Raylene Worthington. “They have not had the time to breathe properly since this tremendous tragedy, and we hope to provide them with a little privacy and respect.”
_ Jessica Bruder
UpDATE: 4 of 6 ministries submit materials to Grassley
WASHINGTON (RNS) Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Monday (March 31) that the majority of the six prominent ministries he has been investigating are now cooperating with his requests to provide him with financial information.
Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., has said it will provide information on April 15, Grassley’s staff announced. And a lawyer for Randy and Paula White, who co-pastored Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla., told Grassley’s office that materials had been sent to him.
The office had already received materials from Joyce Meyer Ministries in Fenton, Mo., and Benny Hinn Ministries of Grapevine, Texas.
Creflo Dollar Ministries in College Park, Ga., has refused to submit financial records, and Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Newark, Texas, has responded to the request but hasn’t provided sufficient materials.
Dollar’s and Copeland’s ministries each sent letters to members of the Senate Finance Committee in late March expressing concerns about the privacy of their congregants.
Grassley, the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, plans to “continue dialogue” with those two ministries, his office said.
Grassley, in a letter co-signed by committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., had requested materials from Copeland, Dollar, Long and the Whites by March 31.
“It’s good to see the majority of the ministries offering information,” said Grassley. “The ministries’ sharing of material with the Senate committee in charge of tax policy shows an interest in accountability for their special tax status.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Diocese Web site gets an April Fool’s makeover
BOSTON (RNS) Drivers of energy-efficient Toyota Priuses awoke Tuesday (April 1) to a grand invitation: Come to the cathedral of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts this Saturday (April 5) and have your vehicle blessed by three eco-minded bishops.
But alas, the invitation was a joke. April Fool _ courtesy of unidentified hackers.
Perpetrators of the green humor had hijacked the diocesan Web site. Visitors to the site Tuesday morning found the fake announcement alongside an obviously doctored image of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori as they supposedly attended a Prius blessing last year.
SUV drivers were invited to the spoof event, too. Organizers encouraged them to park their gas guzzlers and “run on foot in front of the herd of just-blessed vehicles.”
A Web site manager dashed the prank by replacing its content shortly after 9 a.m., but damage control wasn’t entirely finished. Hackers had also sent e-mail from diocesan spokeswoman Maria Plati to dozens of contacts, inviting them to the blessing. She apologized in an e-mail for the mix up.
“I’m afraid I was taken as part of an April’s fool joke,” Plati wrote. “Ironically, it sounded like something we would do!”
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Quote of the Week: Papal nuncio Archbishop Pietro Sambi
(RNS) “He is not a man of blah, blah, blah. He’s a thinker, and before speaking, he thinks.”
_ Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the papal nuncio (Vatican ambassador) to Washington, in an interview with The New York Times about Pope Benedict XVI.
END RNS
