c. 2008 Religion News Service
Amish farmers join in case against agriculture departments
(RNS) Six Michigan farmers, including two Amish men, say a state-required livestock numbering system infringes on their religious beliefs and are suing the U.S. and Michigan departments of agriculture to stop the program.
The electronic numbering and tagging procedure is designed to trace sick animals and protect public health.
But Robert Alexander and Glen Mast, both members of the Old Order Amish community, believe that “God and the Bible authorize (them) with dominion over all the animals on the planet.”
Moreover, they argue in a suit filed Sept. 8 in federal court in Washington, D.C., that “use of a numbering system … constitutes some form of a `mark of the beast.”’
The Bible’s book of Revelation warns that the Antichrist will force everyone to receive the “number of the beast” during the end times.
The Amish men are joined in the suit by two ministers, Robert Keyworth, a Pentecostal pastor, and Rev. Roseanne Wyant, who is identified as “an ordained Reverend of the Christian faith.”
All six plaintiffs contend the tagging requirements violate their religious beliefs, which are outlined in numerous Bible verses, according to the suit.
“Plaintiffs’ religion pervades and determines virtually their entire way of life, regulating it from diet through the strictly enforced rules of their respective church communities,” the suit says.
In addition, the ID program forces the Amish farmers to “violet tenets of their Old Order Amish beliefsâÂ?¦they are forced to use technology they would not ordinarily use.”
The Falls Church, Va.-based Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund is representing the farmers.
_ Daniel Burke
Bill would protect mezuzahs in housing laws
WASHINGTON (RNS) Ten weeks after a federal appeals court ruled that fair-housing laws do not protect the rights of a Jewish resident to nail a mezuzah to a door frame, legislators have proposed changing the law.
The Freedom of Religious Expression in the Home Act, introduced in the House on Wednesday (Sept. 17), would amend the Fair Housing Act to protect the freedom to display religious symbols or objects on the exterior of homes.
The news was applauded by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, which was outraged when the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that federal laws did not prevent condominium or homeowners associations from banning exterior displays, including those required by a person’s religious beliefs.
Mezuzahs are small encased biblical scrolls nailed to door frames. Observant Jews touch the case with their fingers, then kiss their fingers, as they pass through a doorway.
The court ruling stemmed from the Bloch family’s lawsuit against the Shoreline Towers condominium association in Chicago, which repeatedly removed the family’s mezuzah to comply with a 2004 policy that banned doormats, shoes, signs and other materials in the hallways.
Shoreline Towers has since adopted a religious exception to the rule; Chicago and Illinois have also adopted laws guaranteeing tenants’ rights to affix religious symbols to their doors.
But in light of the appeals court ruling, federal protections are needed to prevent similar bans in other parts of the country, Orthodox officials said.
“We are encouraged that these members of Congress, and other friends of religious freedom, have responded so rapidly to our request to correct the court decision,” said Nathan J. Diament, Orthodox Union spokesman. “We thought, like all Americans, that a person’s right to practice their faith … in and on their home is clearly within their constitutional rights.”
The amendment was introduced by two Republicans and two Democrats in the House; a companion bill is expected to be introduced in the Senate, Diament said.
_ Nicole Neroulias
Orthodox church seeks new leader after financial scandal
NEW YORK (RNS) Reeling from an internal investigation that revealed financial misconduct at its highest levels, the Orthodox Church in America has vowed to work on “building a culture within the church which fosters communication, transparency and personal responsibility.”
The church’s top official, Metropolitan Herman, retired Sept. 4, a day after a special investigative commission recommended “discipline” against him, former Metropolitan Theodosius, former chancellor Robert S. Kondratick, two former treasurers and a former comptroller.
The 32-page report confirmed accusations that church leaders had either personally “squandered” millions of dollars or participated in covering up the diversion of the funds for personal expenses and to cover shortfalls.
Church leaders have begun implementing some of the committee’s 19 recommendations, said the Rev. Andrew Jarmus, an OCA spokesman.
“Both the Holy Synod and the Metropolitan Council have been working very hard and with due diligence to address the issues and to come up with solutions, and certainly a plan to ensure that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” he said.
“There will be an increased level of accountability and transparency in the work of the church and the central administration, and making sure that we have qualified individuals doing the work of the church.”
Herman, 75, announced his retirement after being denied a medical leave of absence. He was elected to lead the church in 2002, succeeding Metropolitan Theodosius, who had retired after 25 years in the position.
Kondratick was defrocked last year, and the OCA is involved in a legal actions over his alleged embezzlement of church funds.
The OCA’s next metropolitan will be selected during a gathering of more than 1,000 clergy and lay representatives at its All-American Council on Nov. 11 in Pittsburgh. Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas and the South and Archbishop Seraphim of Ottawa and Canada are overseeing the OCA in the interim.
The OCA has appointed a management team in its central administrative office, which “allows for better peer supervision and a greater degree of checks and balances,” Jarmus said. To ensure church finances are properly handled, the church’s treasurer since Nov. 2007, the Rev. Michael Tassos, is a certified public accountant, he added.
The 27,000-member church, which was granted independent status from the Russian Orthodox Church in 1970, is based in Syosset, N.Y. Church leaders commissioned the special investigative committee in 2007, composed of a bishop, two priests, two lay members, an attorney and a retired police chief.
_ Nicole Neroulias
Pittsburgh Episcopal bishop removed from ministry
(RNS) Episcopal bishops voted late Thursday (Sept. 18) to remove Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh from ministry, saying the leading conservative has renounced and abandoned the Episcopal Church.
The vote, with 88 bishops in favor of removing Duncan, 35 against and four abstaining, came at a special session of the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Duncan is no longer allowed to present himself as a bishop in the Episcopal Church. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said his actions over recent years have constituted “abandonment of the communion of this church.”
The effect of removing Duncan may be limited though, because the Diocese of Pittsburgh is poised to leave the Episcopal Church Oct 4 to join the more conservative Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, based in Argentina. It would be the second diocese to do so, after the Fresno, Calif.-based Diocese of San Joaquin.
Duncan has already been accepted as a bishop in the Southern Cone and the Pittsburgh diocese is expected to re-elect him, the diocese said in a statement.
“This is of course a very painful moment for Pittsburgh Episcopalians,” the Rev. David Wilson, president of the diocese’s standing committee, said in a statement. “While we await the decision of the diocesan convention on realignment to a different province of the Anglican Communion, we will stand firm against further attempts … to intimidate us.”
The charges against Duncan were initiated by Pittsburgh Episcopalians who feared he would lead the diocese into secession and take church property with him.
Duncan “has rejected numerous opportunities and warnings to reconsider and change course,” said the Progressive Episcopalians of Pittsburgh in a statement. “Instead, he has continued to resolutely pursue a course of action designed to remove this diocese and many unwilling Episcopalians from the Episcopal Church.”
Elected bishop of the 20,000-member diocese 11 years ago, Duncan has been a prominent voice for conservative Episcopalians distraught over the liberal drift of the church on biblical interpretation and sexual ethics.
He leads the Anglican Communion Network, a conservative network that claims some 10 dioceses and 900 congregations in North America.
Duncan is the second Episcopal bishop removed from active ministry this year. In January, Fresno Bishop John-David Schofield was deposed for leading San Joaquin to secede.
The Episcopal Church maintains that secessions are illegal under church law and has worked to rebuild the San Joaquin diocese.
_ Daniel Burke
Survey: Four in 10 Americans think clergy should endorse candidates
(RNS) Four in 10 Americans believe that religious leaders should be permitted to endorse political candidates from the pulpit without risking their organization’s tax-exempt status, a new survey by the First Amendment Center shows.
Twenty-two percent of respondents “strongly” agreed and 18 percent “mildly” agreed that religious leaders should be able to make such endorsements, which are currently prohibited by IRS regulations.
In comparison, 39 percent strongly disagreed, 15 percent mildly disagreed and 6 percent didn’t know or refused to answer.
The finding was based on a new question in the Washington-based center’s annual “State of the First Amendment” national survey.
When asked to name specific rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, just 15 percent mentioned religion, the lowest percentage to recall that topic since 2000.
Asked if Americans have too much or too little religious freedom, 6 percent said they had too much, 28 percent said they had too little and 62 percent said they had about the right amount.
Fifty-five percent strongly or mildly agreed that people should be permitted to say things in public that could be offensive to religious groups. Forty-two percent mildly or strongly disagreed.
Asked about freedom of worship, 54 percent said the concept applies to all religious groups regardless of how extreme their beliefs may be. In comparison, 29 percent said it was never meant to apply to religious groups that the majority of people consider to be extreme.
The national telephone survey of 1,005 respondents was conducted this summer has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
_ Adelle M. Banks
State Department blasts China on religious freedom
WASHINGTON (RNS) The U.S. State Department, in its annual report on international religious freedom issued Friday (Sept. 19), admonished several Asian nations, including China, for severely repressing religion.
Listing “countries of particular concern” that engage in or tolerate “particularly severe violations of religious freedom,” the report highlights everything from government persecution to patriotic education campaigns designed to extirpate religion.
The eight countries of particular concern are: Myanmar (formerly Burma), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.
Compiled by diplomats and human rights activists every year since 1999, the 800-page report covers 198 countries and territories and is mandated by federal law.
“In exposing injustice, this report lights a candle _ and 800-page candle _ that we trust will encourage justice and greater respect for the rights of religious believers across the globe,” said John V. Hanford, U.S. ambassador at large for religious freedom.
Despite sanctions and diplomacy, China’s repression of religious freedom intensified in the last year, especially in the run up to the Olympic Games, the report says.
Churches were closed, foreigners detained, Falon Gong practitioners arrested and possibly killed, Muslims prohibited from taking the hajj to Saudi Arabia, and Buddhist monks were forced to undergo “patriotic education” campaigns, according to the report.
Hanford said the harsh treatment of Buddhist monks in Tibet were a “major factor” in the March riots in the Himalayan region, during which dozens were killed.
The “patriotic education” campaigns, which force monks and nuns to study communist texts and denounce the Dalai Lama “need to cease,” Hanford said. And the government must not interfere in naming Buddhist lamas, or leading teachers, the ambassador said.
“This should be the prerogative of religious leaders, not of a government,” Hanford said.
_ Daniel Burke
Jews ask how Canadian P.M. knew they were Jewish
TORONTO (RNS) Canada’s governing Conservative Party is facing questions about religious profiling and privacy after Jewish Canadians received Rosh Hashanah greeting cards from Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
This is the second consecutive year the cards were mailed out, and critics say they raise serious concerns over voter privacy. Some of the recipients have demanded to know how the government knows they are Jewish.
Some Jews who do not affiliate at all with synagogues or Jewish communal groups have been surprised and upset that they somehow got on Harper’s list. In addition, people with Jewish-sounding surnames, but who are not Jewish, also received the cards.
Conservative spokesman Ryan Sparrow told the Globe and Mail newspaper that the party doesn’t use any prepared lists and hasn’t purchased any. He said he wasn’t sure how many cards were sent out this year.
Canada’s Privacy Commissioner received complaints from people who received Rosh Hashanah greeting cards last year, but determined that the issue fell outside her jurisdiction.
Montreal resident Lev Berner told The Gazette newspaper he found it ironic that Harper is “conscientious enough to reach out to possible Jewish voters, yet ignorant enough to schedule the election on (the Jewish holiday of) Sukkot.”
Canada’s federal election is slated for Oct. 14.
Canadian Jewish Congress spokesperson Jordan Kerbel said the cards were “just a gesture, the same as a Chinese New Year card.”
_ Ron Csillag
Boston Globe’s Michael Paulson wins top religion reporting awards
WASHINGTON (RNS) Michael Paulson of The Boston Globe won the two top prizes for journalists covering religion from the Religion Newswriters Association.
The awards were presented Saturday (Sept. 20) at a ceremony during the group’s annual meeting.
Paulson garnered first place in the Templeton Award for religion reporting and first place in the Supple Award for religion writing, both for his work on a series about the challenges of an inner-city church.
John Dart, news editor of Christian Century magazine and a former longtime religion writer at the Los Angeles Times, was honored with a lifetime achievement award.
Second- and third-place winners for the Templeton Award were Robert Sibley of the Ottawa Citizen and Mark Pinsky, for work done at the Orlando Sentinel.
Julian Guthrie of the San Francisco Chronicle won second place in the Supple Award contest, followed by Lee Lawrence for work done for The Christian Science Monitor, in third place.
Winners in other categories included:
_ The Cornell Award, for religion writers of mid-sized newspapers: Jennifer Green of the Ottawa Citizen, first place; David Yonke of The Blade in Toledo, Ohio, second place; Peggy Fletcher Stack, The Salt Lake Tribune, third place.
_ The Cassells Award, for writers at small newspapers: Sara Schilling of the Tri-City Herald in Kennewick, Wash., first place; Melissa Nann Burke, York (Pa.) Daily Record/Sunday News, second place; Sarah Bruyn Jones, for work done at The Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News.
_ The Schachern Award for religion pages and sections: The Salt Lake Tribune, first place; The Houston Chronicle, second place; The Birmingham (Ala.) News, third place.
_ Reporters from the PBS show Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly swept all three television reporting awards. Kim Lawton took first place, and Lucky Severson won second and third place.
_ Jason DeRose won first and third prize in the radio awards for work done at Chicago Public Radio. Simone Orendain of WFAE in Charlotte, N.C., won second place.
_ The Chandler Award for student journalists: Heather Surls, The Master’s College, first place, for work done at Religion News Service; Allison Ross, University of Missouri-Columbia, second place; Matthew Streib, Northwestern University, third place.
_ Adelle M. Banks
U.S. evangelicals urge focus on global poverty
(RNS) Responding to a call from their Third World counterparts, U.S. evangelical leaders are urging church members to pay greater attention to global poverty, saying increased advocacy is necessary in light of the current U.S. financial crisis.
Last month, 21 leaders of churches in Africa, Asia and South America wrote that the U.S. church has preached the gospel in their lands but “has not also raised its voice in protest against the injustices that powerful governments and institutions are inflicting on the global South.”
In response, several evangelical leaders, organized by the group Micah Challenges USA, spoke Monday (Sept. 22) about the need for action by U.S. churches.
“Those of us in evangelical churches are kind of late to the table on some of these issues because we’ve been focusing on more personal morality … and we’ve forgotten to address the issues of public morality,” said megachurch pastor Joel Hunter of Longwood, Fla., a member of the board of the World Evangelical Alliance.
“Even though there are a great number of people who are facing financial instability, this is just the right time to find out what your priorities really are and whether or not you’re going to love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Week: Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa.
(RNS) “It reminds me of the hymn `Oh God, our help in ages past … our shelter from the stormy blast.’ If there was ever a time in our history where a lot of people need shelter from the stormy blast of their lives, we’re living through that time now.”
_ Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., reflecting on the current economic turmoil.
KRE END RNS
