MARYVILLE, Ill. (AP) - The wife of an Illinois pastor who was fatally shot during a Sunday sermon one year ago says she looks forward to seeing him again in heaven.
Cindy Winters spoke at two Sunday services at the First Baptist Church of Maryville.
Her husband, the Rev. Fred Winters, was gunned down on March 8, 2009.
Cindy Winters told the congregation that in her anguish that day, she felt God telling her, "Cindy, what happened here was sheer evil, and it was orchestrated by Satan. "
Winters says she responded aloud, "Then Satan will not win. "
Terry Sedlacek was charged with first-degree murder, but has been declared mentally unfit to stand trial. He's in the custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services.
SAN FERNANDO, Philippines (AP) - A bus carrying Christian
pilgrims from a Philippine mountain resort has slammed into a tree
after its brakes apparently failed, killing 12 people and injuring
14 others.
Police Senior Superintendent Noli Talino said Sunday that the
driver rammed the bus into the tree to prevent the vehicle from
falling into a deep ravine.
He says the impact pinned 10 passengers inside the bus, killing
them, while two other passengers were thrown out of the bus by the
impact and fell to their deaths in the ravine.
The accident happened Saturday in the northern Philippines as
the group returned from a pilgrimage to Catholic churches and a
visit to tourist spots.
WASHINGTON (AP) - American Muslim groups are rejecting a call by
an Al-Qaida spokesman for Muslims in the U. S. armed forces to
emulate an Army major charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council says the statement by
American-born Adam Gadahn is a failed attempt to deliver Al-Qaida's
bankrupt ideology to Western Muslims.
The Council on American Islamic Relations says American Muslims
repudiate "all those who would promote or condone terrorism
anywhere in the world. "
Pakistani officials said Sunday that Gadahn has been arrested
but there's been no U. S. confirmation.
Gadahn described the man accused of the Fort Hood attacks, Maj.
Nidal Hasan, as a role model for other Muslims, especially those
serving in Western militaries.
JOS, Nigeria (AP) - Security forces have imposed a curfew in
central Nigeria after rioters armed with machetes slaughtered more
than 200 people in renewed violence between Muslims and Christians.
Hundreds of people have fled their homes, fearing reprisal
attacks.
Local journalists and a civil rights group say the bodies of the
dead lined the streets of three mostly Christian villages south of
the regional capital of Jos.
The city lies in a region separating Nigeria's Muslim north from
the predominantly Christian south.
Witnesses who escaped the massacre said they believed the
attackers were Muslims.
The Red Cross says Nigerian military units are surrounding the
three affected villages.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee school district has agreed
to end the promotion of religion by teachers and officials during
school hours.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee announced the
settlement after the Cheatham County school board voted
on Monday night to approve it.
The ACLU sued the school district in November after six months
of negotiations failed.
The settlement prohibits the distribution of Bibles during the
school day and bars school officials from citing "the Bible or
other sacred texts as authority for historical or scientific
fact. "
ACLU of Tennessee Executive Director Hedy Weinberg has said that
for religion in school to be legal it must be student-led and
cannot be compulsory.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Two Americans still jailed on
kidnapping charges in Haiti will have to wait for their freedom.
A Haitian judge says he's not ready to release his decision
after holding a final hearing.
Judge Bernard Saint-Vil says he's consulting with prosecutors on
the charges against Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter. Saint-Vil had said earlier he would probably order their
release after Tuesday's hearing. He declined to explain the delay.
The two missionaries seemed in good spirits before they were
taken back to jail. They were visited by U. S. Embassy personnel.
Saint-Vil previously freed eight other Americans detained with
the pair for trying to take 33 children out of Haiti without proper
papers.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Some churches in Washington D. C. are
scheduling weddings for gay and lesbian couples now that same-sex
marriage has become legal in the nation's capital.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block the law from
taking effect, freeing the city to issue its first marriage
licenses to same-sex couples.
Couples must then wait three full business days for their
licenses before exchanging vows.
The senior minister of Washington's All Souls Unitarian Church,
the Rev. Robert Hardies, says his phone is "ringing off the hook"
with gay and lesbian couples asking to schedule weddings.
Hardies says he'll perform a same-sex wedding next Tuesday and
another on the following Sunday, with more sure to follow. He's one
of 200 local pastors who supported legalizing same-sex marriage.
Other pastors failed to convince city officials and the courts
that voters should decide the issue.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - An Ohio teenager who ran away after
converting to Christianity and her Muslim parents have agreed to
continue counseling to work out their differences.
Attorneys for 17-year-old Rifqa Bary and her parents came to the
understanding Tuesday after a juvenile court hearing in Columbus.
The arrangement requires the girl and her parents to continue
working with individual counselors, but does not mandate joint
meetings. The agreement also clarifies how Bary can have contact
with Christian pastors who allegedly helped her run away to Florida
last July.
Judge Elizabeth Gill told Bary and her parents they need to work
hard on their situation before she turns 18 in August. For now, she
remains in foster care.
Bary's parents have denied her claims that she could be harmed
or killed for becoming a Christian.
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict says he's asking God to give
survivors of Chile's massive earthquake "relief from suffering and
courage in this adversity. "
The pontiff says the church would support relief efforts in the
predominantly Roman Catholic country.
Benedict told pilgrims in St. Peter's Square that he's
"spiritually close to those so tried by such a grave calamity. "
And he assured the quake victims that "solidarity won't be
lacking. "
Separately, the head of the Chilean bishops conference said the
church is offering its help to both local authorities and volunteer
workers. The bishop said he's "full of sorrow" for the hundreds
who died in the 8. 8 magnitude quake.
XENIA, Ohio (AP) - Bill Pearce, the comforting voice of the
Christian radio program "Nightsounds," has died of complications
from Parkinsons disease.
Nightsounds' Web site says Pearce died last week at a nursing
home in Xenia, Ohio, at the age of 83.
Pearce was an accomplished trombonist who produced instrumental
and vocal albums. But he was best known for the nightly broadcast
he launched in the 1970s, blending soothing music with Christian
counsel.
He was inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of
Fame in 1992.
The Web site says recordings of Bill Pearce's "Nightsounds"
will continue to be broadcast on more than 300 radio stations.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal
Francis George, has urged Mormons to stand with Roman Catholics in
defense of traditional marriage and a religious voice in the public
square.
George, who is president of the U. S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, addressed thousands of students, faculty and Mormon church
leaders at Brigham Young University.
The cardinal called for "interreligious coalitions" to stand
against what he called "forces at work in our government and
society to reduce religion to a purely private reality. "
George denounced as "thuggery" the anti-Mormon vandalism that
followed California voters' repeal of gay marriage, and said the
impending recognition of gay marriage in Washington D. C. is driving
Catholic Charities out of tax-funded social services.
BOONE, N. C. (AP) - The Rev. Franklin Graham says the weeks-long
detention of U. S. missionaries who tried to take children out of
Haiti shows the importance of doing good in the right way.
Graham says his Samaritans Purse ministry is preparing to build
7,500 temporary homes for Haitians still living outdoors after last
month's earthquake. But he says to avoid legal problems, his teams
must first determine who owns the land where shelters are to be
built.
Samaritans Purse also has been sending surgeons, chaplains,
water purification and food distribution teams to Haiti for what
Graham says will be a long-term relief and rebuilding effort.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Congressman John Dingell admits the health
care reform bills that are being considered don't compare favorably
with the Ten Commandments.
At Thursday's health care reform summit in Washington, the
Michigan Democrat drew a chuckle from colleagues when he said the
last perfect piece of legislation handed down was on Mt. Sinai and
was written on stone tablets by the hand of God.
Dingell observed, "Nothing like that has been presented to
mankind since. "
SALEM, Ore. (AP) - Oregon's Legislature has passed a bill that
would strike down a law barring teachers from wearing religious
clothing in classrooms.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski hasn't said whether he'll sign it.
The measure would overturn a law dating to the 1920s when the Ku
Klux Klan dominated the Legislature.
Some lawmakers said they worried that the measure posed a
constitutional clash between the religious freedom of teachers and
the right of students in public schools to be free of
proselytizing.
Proponents responded that it was a matter of consistency --
protecting the rights of teachers who wear head scarves as well as
those who wear a Christian cross or a Star of David.
Oregon, Pennsylvania and Nebraska are the only states that
restrict religious clothing in classrooms.
DOVER, Del. (AP) - Delaware's first Jewish governor, Jack
Markell, has hung a mezuzah at his home: the governor's
mansion in Dover.
The small ornamental boxes containing a prayer scroll are
commonly affixed to entrances of Jewish homes, because the Bible's
book of Deuteronomy instructs Jews to write the commandments "on
the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. "
Rabbi Peter Grumbacher on Tuesday affixed the mezuzah to a door
post. Grumbacher is rabbi emeritus at Congregation Beth Emeth and
has long been rabbi to the Markell family.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senator Jim DeMint says religious intolerance
appears to be on the rise in China, Egypt, India, Vietnam and other
countries.
The South Carolina Republican addressed his concern to Secretary
of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at a hearing of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee.
She responded that the U. S. speaks out "vigorously against
human rights abuses and in particular religious freedom and
discrimination complaints, and will continue to do so. "
Clinton said the U. S. also is working with Muslim nations to
find an alternative to banning what they call defamation of
religion. She said that while some people feel threatened when
their religion is criticized, freedom of speech must also be
protected.
BRAINTREE, Mass. (AP) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston
is projecting its parishes will collect $2 million to support
earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.
Cardinal Sean O'Malley plans to visit Haiti on Monday to see the
recovery efforts and convey his parishioners' support. He's a
member of the U. S. church's advisory group on meeting the Haitian
church's long-term needs.
The archdiocese said Wednesday that it's collected $1. 7 million
so far and expects to break $2 million when money is counted from
50 parishes who haven't reported their donations.
Parishes held offerings for Haiti on two weekends in January.
O'Malley said he was "deeply moved by the outpouring of love
and support," noting the donations come at a time when many
parishioners are struggling financially.
TYLER, Texas (AP) - Court records say books on demons and
atheism as well as rifles and knives were found in a home linked to
one of the suspects in the burning of churches in Texas.
The items are listed in an affidavit filed in state district
court in Tyler after a residence linked to 19-year-old Jason Robert
Bourque was searched on Sunday.
The affidavit says Bourque left graffiti tying him to one of the
blazes in the bathroom of a Tyler store. The Dallas Morning News
says investigators found an upside-down cross topped by flames
carved into the wall of a store bathroom Bourque used, along with
the words "Little Hope was Arson. " Little Hope Baptist Church was
the first of 11 churches that burned in what authorities believe
was an arson spree.
Bourque and 21-year-old Daniel George McAllister were arrested
and charged with felony arson.
BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) - The head of the Christian Medical
Association is concerned that President Barack Obama's health care
overhaul, which many thought was dead, appears to have been
resurrected.
Dr. David Stevens fears that Obama's plan would provide
inadequate conscience protection for medical professionals who
oppose abortion. He says a survey of 2,800 faith-based doctors,
nurses and pharmacists found that 95 percent of them would quit
medicine rather than violate their conscience.
Stevens also objects to dropping the tougher House language
barring federal funding of abortions.
Stevens adds that the president's proposal is too expensive, and
fails to rein in malpractice lawsuits that drive up the cost of
medicine.
RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) - Police say they've made a second arrest
in connection with a shooting inside a California church that
injured two teenage brothers.
Richmond Police Sgt. Bisa French says police arrested
a 16-year-old boy in the San Francisco Bay-area community on
suspicion of conspiracy to commit a crime.
Witnesses told investigators that three young men wearing hoods
walked into New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ and paced the
aisle before opening fire during a Feb. 14 service. Two brothers,
ages 14 and 19, suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Last week, police arrested a 15-year-old boy in the case, but
later released him due to insufficient evidence. French won't say
what role the 16-year-old may have played in the shooting.
SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (AP) - A Mississippi man says the seating in
Southaven Municipal Court -- church pews with engraved crosses --
violates his constitutional rights.
Carroll Roberson tells The Commercial Appeal that he noticed the
church pews, and the 62 crosses engraved on them, when he went to
court for a trial date on disorderly conduct charges.
Roberson says the crosses endorse a religion he does not believe
in.
Southaven Mayor Greg Davis says that when the court reopened
last year after a renovation, the city used old church pews it
already owned as courtroom seating. He described it as a
cost-saving measure.
Roberson wants Southaven officials to remove the pews.
JERUSALEM (AP) - An Israeli archaeologist says newly excavated
ancient fortifications in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the
time of the Bible's King Solomon.
Archaeologist Eilat Mazar says pottery shards date the walls to
the 10th century B. C. If she's right, the findings would indicate a
strong central government in Jerusalem at that time because
building city walls demanded great resources and organization.
Some archaeologists argue that David and Solomon's monarchy was
mythical.
Others, including Mazar, believe they actually ruled 3,000 years
ago as the Bible declares.
Based on the wall's age and location, she theorizes that it was
built by King Solomon.
WASHINGTON (AP) - About 20 women have risked arrest by praying
in the main hall at the Islamic Center of Washington.
Mosque officials called D. C. police over the weekend to stop the
protest. Police told the women to leave or they would be arrested.
Jannah B'int Hannah says she feels like a second-class citizen
when she's asked to pray in a separate room where she can't see the
imam. She was among the women who protested the policy.
Syed Burmi, the imam of the Islamic Society of Western Maryland,
says the separation of men and women helps maintain a focus on
prayer. He says it also protects women's privacy and modesty.
Asra Nomani, an Islamic feminist, says Muslim women don't want
to be second class in the mosque.
MERIDIAN, Idaho (AP) — The husband of one of the eight Americans released yesterday from a Haitian prison says God has helped the families get through a difficult couple of weeks.
Eric Thompson spoke with reporters in Meridian, Idaho, as Carla Thompson and her fellow Baptist missionaries were preparing to fly back to the United States. They arrived in Miami early today.
The Thompsons' pastor, the Rev. Clint Henry, said his congregation at Central Valley Baptist Church will continue to pray for the release of Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter, who await further questioning by the Haitian judge who freed the others.
The missionaries were accused of child kidnapping for trying to take 33 Haitian children to the Dominican Republic without proper documents after last month's earthquake.
PETERSBURG, Ky. (AP) — The founder of the Creation Museum says American Christians are losing the culture war because many of them now believe what he calls the "pagan religion" of evolution.
In what he characterized as a "State of the Union" speech from his museum in Kentucky, Ken Ham rebuked churches and Christian scholars who don't believe in a young Earth and creation in six days.
Ham argued that the opening chapters of Genesis are Christianity's foundation, so attempts to reconcile the Bible's teaching with evolution undermine faith in Jesus' divinity and resurrection.
Ham called for "a new Reformation to call the church back to the authority of the word of God. "
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — More than 160 faith leaders in Iowa have voiced their support for same-sex marriage and are criticizing opponents who cite the Bible in raising objections.
Members of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa held a Statehouse news conference Tuesday to present a letter they sent to all 150 legislators outlining their position.
It says many faith traditions affirm that "where there is love, the sacred is in our midst. " It goes on to say, "This belief is the same for couples comprised of a man and a woman, two women or two men. "
Speakers said they wanted to counter arguments by people who rely on the Bible to back up their views.
The Iowa Supreme Court last spring struck down a state law banning gay marriage. The Legislature has been pushed to begin the lengthy process of putting a constitutional amendment before voters that would overturn that ruling. But most Democrats, who dominate both chambers, have declined to act.
APEX, N. C. (AP) — A North Carolina middle-school teacher has been suspended after declaring on her Facebook page that she was subjected to a "hate crime" by Christian students.
The News & Observer of Raleigh reports that eighth-grade science teacher Melissa Hussain was suspended with pay while investigators review her case.
Wake County schools spokesman Greg Thomas says parents objected to comments on Hussain's social-networking site about her conflict with Christian students.
Hussain wrote that she would punish students who anonymously left a Bible on her desk. Parents say a student earlier put a postcard of Jesus on Hussain's desk that she threw in the trash.
Hussain's Facebook page does not mention her religious affiliation.
LONDON (AP) — Several prominent Anglican British bishops are urging Christians to keep their carbon consumption in check during Lent, which starts on this Ash Wednesday.
The 40-day period of penitence before Easter typically sees observant Catholics, Anglicans, and Orthodox Christians give up meat, alcohol or chocolates.
This initiative aims to convince those observing Lent to try a day without an iPod or mobile phone to reduce their use of electricity, and thus trim the amount of carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere.
London Bishop Richard Chartres says the poorest people in developing countries are the hardest hit by man-made climate change. He says the "Carbon Fast" is "an opportunity to demonstrate the love of God in a practical way. "
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican plans to make some of its World War II archives available on the Internet soon to calm the controversy over Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust.
The Vatican's newspaper announced the plan, saying it will "render service to the historic truth," and officials said Tuesday the material will be accessible soon.
However a panel of Jewish and Catholic scholars who examined the 11 volumes of material a decade ago concluded that more information was required to decide whether Pius did everything he could to head off the Nazis' efforts to exterminate European Jews.
Some Jews and others contend Pius should have done more, and are angered by Pope Benedict's recent decision to move Pius closer to sainthood.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Haiti's creaky, quake-damaged
electrical system has delayed a ruling on whether 10 Americans
charged with child kidnapping can be released.
A Haitian prosecutor says he's written his recommendation, but a
power outage Monday kept him from printing it out and giving it to
the judge. He also says that because Tuesday is a national holiday,
he doesn't expect the judge to issue a decision until Wednesday.
Meanwhile, a man who served as the missionaries' legal adviser
has acknowledged he's wanted in El Salvador on human smuggling
accusations.
DENVER (AP) - A Colorado lawmaker wants to make sure that
students and teachers can express their religious beliefs in public
schools.
State Sen. Dave Schultheis is proposing that the
state education board draft two religious bills of rights -- one
for students and parents and one for teachers and school employees
-- and that schools post them prominently.
The students' bill of rights would state that students can
express religious beliefs in homework assignments, exchange
greeting cards with religious themes and sing religious songs in
school-sponsored programs. Teachers would have the right to refuse
to teach a topic that violates their beliefs.
RICHMOND, Calif. (AP) - Authorities say two teenagers were shot
and wounded when a man opened fire at a church service in the San
Francisco Bay area.
Richmond police Sgt. Bisa French says three men in
hooded sweat shirts walked into the church at about 12:30 p. m.
Sunday and one of them fired a gun, hitting a 14-year-old boy in
the shoulder and a 19-year-old man in the leg. Both were
hospitalized and are expected to survive.
The three men fled and no suspects were immediately arrested.
French says there were about 100 people inside the New
Gethsemane Church in Christ at the time. There
were no other injuries.
French says investigators believe the gunmen were targeting
someone in the church but don't know if the two that were hit were
the intended targets.
NEW YORK (AP) - There are more Roman Catholics, Mormons and
Assemblies of God worshippers than there were a year ago, according
to the 2010 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.
But the annual survey by the National Council of Churches
reports declining membership in mainline denominations, and a
slight decline in the number of Southern Baptists.
The yearbook says the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
lost almost two percent of its members last year, and membership in
the Presbyterian Church (USA) fell more than three percent.
The Roman Catholic church remains by far the nation's largest,
with 68 million members.
The second-largest church, and the largest Protestant
denomination in the U. S. , is the Southern Baptist Convention, with
more than 16 million members.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - A relative of the 10 U. S.
missionaries jailed in Haiti says church members didn't know that a
man who offered legal help may be wanted for human trafficking in
El Salvador.
Sean Lankford, whose wife and daughter are among the detainees,
says Jorge Puello contacted the missionaries'
Idaho church after they were arrested for trying to take a busload
of Haitian children to the Dominican Republic.
Lawyers for the missionaries say Puello deceived their clients,
and his legal predicament should have no bearing on whether the
missionaries are released provisionally, as a judge has
recommended.
The New York Times has quoted Puello as denying any connection
to trafficking and saying he's never been to El Salvador.
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama has named a White House
lawyer as his special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic
Conference, which represents 57 Muslim countries.
Obama announced the appointment of Rashad Hussain during a video
address to the 7th U. S. -Islamic World Forum meeting in Qatar.
He said Hussain is a "hafiz of the Quran" -- one who has
memorized Islam's holy book.
The president said Hussain will continue working to repair
U. S. -Islamic relations and develop the types of partnerships Obama
called for last year in his address to the Muslim world in Cairo.
Obama said he looks forward to continuing the dialogue next
month when he visits Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim
country. Obama spent several of his childhood years living in
Indonesia with his mother and stepfather.
DHARMSALA, India (AP) - The Dalai Lama says Tibetans have
decided against celebrating the Lunar New Year for a second year in
remembrance of the suffering of people inside Tibet.
The Tibetan Buddhist leader asked his followers not to lose
hope, saying Sunday that people in Tibet have shown great courage
in facing China's crackdown after uprisings in March 2008.
The Lunar New Year holiday that began Saturday is the most
important of the year in China.
This Thursday, the Dalai Lama will meet with President Barack
Obama at the White House, despite Chinese warnings that doing so
will damage U. S. relations with Beijing.
In India Sunday, the Dalai Lama addressed more than a thousand
Tibetans in exile and led a prayer session attended by senior
Buddhist monks.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Two preachers at Oakwood University have
received kidneys from a 14-year-old who was killed at school in
Madison, Ala.
Discovery Middle School freshman Todd Brown was fatally shot
Friday during a class change. A 14-year-old classmate who's accused
of the crime is being held in a juvenile facility.
The kidney recipients were James Doggette, on the faculty of
Oakwood's religion and theology department, and James Caldwell,
assistant dean in a male residence hall.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church at Oakwood will be the site of
Todd's funeral on Friday.
GEORGETOWN, S. C. (AP) - A South Carolina high school says
students will be able to pray on campus, if they follow some new
rules.
Multiple media outlets reported the Georgetown County School
District announced procedures Tuesday that will allow for a prayer
club.
Georgetown High School last week had stopped a longtime practice
where a woman was handing out religious literature to students on
campus and inviting students to pray before classes.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State had
complained about the practice.
School superintendent Randy Dozier says prayer will be allowed
if the club allows any student to participate, obtains a faculty
sponsor and has all club activities led by students. The club can
meet for prayer before school but must not distribute unapproved
materials.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - The Virginia House of Delegates has passed
a bill that would ban the forced implantation of tracking devices
in people, with supporters citing both privacy concerns and
religious prophecy.
Del. Mark Cole says the bill means no one could be required to
wear a tracking implant as a condition of employment or by
insurers.
Most people objected chiefly on privacy reasons -- the fear of
their whereabouts being electronically pinpointed at all times --
and long-term health concerns.
But Cole said some had religious objections, including those
rooted in Christian teachings of an Antichrist who would compel
followers to wear "the mark of the beast. "
Del. David Englin, who's Jewish, also noted that some Orthodox
Jews would consider the implants a defiling of the body.
Many Presbyterians believe Jesus isn't only way to heaven
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - The Presbyterian Church USA's statement
of faith says God through Jesus Christ delivers followers "from
death to life eternal. "
But a recent poll suggests more than a third of the nation's
largest Presbyterian denomination finds some wiggle room for
non-Christians to get into heaven.
The Presbyterian Panel's "Religious and Demographic Profile of
Presbyterians" found that 36 percent of members disagreed or
strongly disagreed with the statement: "Only followers of Jesus
Christ can be saved. "
Another 39 percent, or about two-fifths, agreed or strongly
agreed with the statement.
Experts say the result could be rooted in a belief that God's
work can be carried out even in those who don't believe in Jesus
Christ.
HANCOCK, Md. (AP) - A Chicago church group stranded on a western
Maryland highway after a ferocious weekend snowstorm has enjoyed
food and football courtesy of a small-town volunteer fire
department.
Hancock Fire Company Chief Greg Yost said Monday that 40 members
of the Deliverance Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith joined
local firefighters at their annual Super Bowl party Sunday night.
Yost says the group's bus broke down on Interstate 70 near
Hancock as they were returning from a trip to Baltimore. So rescue
workers brought the travelers to the fire hall for a feast of
steak, shrimp, hamburgers, hot dogs, baked potatoes, spaghetti and
chili.
He says they watched most of the Super Bowl before hitting the
road in their repaired vehicle.
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - A Kentucky lawmaker whose district
includes a Toyota plant is urging people to pray for the automaker
and its employees amid massive recalls that have tarnished the
company's image.
State Rep. Charlie Hoffman says, "we definitely need to be
pulling for them and praying for them to get through this
situation. "
Hoffman notes that many families depend on jobs provided by
Toyota in "these perilous economic times. " The automaker's
production plant in Georgetown, Ky. , employs about 6,600 full-time
workers.
But last week, work shut down on one of two production lines at
the Georgetown plant as Toyota dealt with fallout from a recall
over a sticky accelerator.
Kim Menke, manager of community and government relations at the
Georgetown plant, said Hoffman's prayer request was well received
when he made it at a recent legislative breakfast.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - The new lawyer for 10 U. S. Baptists
charged with child kidnapping says he believes they had paperwork
to take 33 children out of the country after Haiti's devastating
earthquake.
Attorney Aviol Fleurant's remarks came as investigators
questioned the Baptist group's leader, Laura Silsby. As she left a
courthouse in Port-au-Prince, Silsby told reporters, "I am
trusting in God to reveal all truths and that we will be released
and exonerated of charges. "
The rest of the group's members will be questioned this week
over allegations they tried to take the children to the neighboring
Dominican Republic without proper documents.
The Baptists' Dominican lawyer, Jorge Puello, told a news
conference that the Haitian court would drop all charges against
his clients on Wednesday. Puello would not say where that
information came from. Last week, he claimed nine of the 10 were
about to be released.
UNDATED (AP) - Viewers primed for controversy over a Christian
ministry's Super Bowl ad featuring football star Tim Tebow might be
asking, "Is that all there is?"
Focus on the Family revealed beforehand that the ad would
feature Tebow and his mother, Pam, who gave birth to him in 1987
after rejecting a doctor's advice to have an abortion for medical
reasons.
But if abortion rights groups hadn't protested, you might never
have known what the ad was about.
The closest it comes to mentioning abortion is when Pam Tebow
says, "I call him my miracle baby. He almost didn't make it into
this world. I can remember so many times when I almost lost him. "
Tim Tebow then bursts in and tackles his mom, who responds that
she's tougher than he is.
The ad ends by saying viewers should go to Focus on the Family's
Web site for the full Tebow story.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Bake sales, chicken barbecues, fish fries
and other charitable food sales would be exempt from state health
inspections under a bill passed unanimously by Pennsylvania's state
Senate.
The bill, which now goes to the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives, is in response to a cease-and-desist order
delivered last spring at St. Cecilia's Church in Rochester, near
Pittsburgh.
Church officials say volunteers were cutting slices of homemade
pies to sell at a fundraiser when a state food safety inspector
warned them that selling baked goods made in an unlicensed kitchen
is illegal.
The Agriculture Department says the inspector was just doing his
job to protect public health.
GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) - The California megachurch founded by
the Rev. Robert H. Schuller is pulling its weekly "Hour of Power"
broadcast off some TV stations and taking other measures to offset
a nearly $8 million drop in revenue.
Officials at the Crystal Cathedral declined to name the cities
where the program will be cut because station managers have not yet
been notified.
The 10,000-member church will also cancel this year's "Glory of
Easter" pageant, which attracts thousands of visitors and is a
regional holiday staple along with the church's "Glory of
Christmas" show.
Spokesman Mike Nason says the Crystal Cathedral's revenue
dropped 27 percent from roughly $30 million in 2008 to $22 million
in 2009. Church leaders blame the decline on the struggling U. S.
economy.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A Los Angeles church called Mosaic is among
the top six finalists in the Doritos' "Crash the Super Bowl"
commercial contest, but the pastor insists there's no hidden
religious message.
If the church's entry makes the top three in online voting, it
will be aired during the Super Bowl.
The tongue-in-cheek ad opens on a funeral scene and then cuts to
a young man alive in a closed casket. His body is covered in
Doritos and he's watching the Super Bowl on a tiny TV while
chomping on chips as mourners sob outside. Two friends, who are in
on the prank, snicker that by faking his death, their friend will
get a week off work and an endless supply of his favorite snack.
But the man gets excited when his team makes a big play and
jostles the casket, which tips over to reveal him inside with a
pile of crushed chips. After an awkward pause, his buddy jumps up
and nervously exclaims to the shocked assemblage: "It's a
miracle!"
The Rev. Erwin McManus says the ad isn't about resurrection, but
just creative Christians having fun.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Donnie McClurkin and Karen Clark Sheard are the winners of the 'Best Gospel Performance Grammy'
for their "Wait on the Lord. "
'The Best Gospel Song' Grammy, a songwriters award, went to
"God in Me" writers Erica Campbell, Tina Campbell and Warryn
Campbell. The hit was recorded by Mary Mary, and featured Kierra
"KiKi" Sheard.
Third Day won in the Best Rock Or Rap Gospel Album for 'Live
Revelations. '
The Grammy for Best Southern/Country/Bluegrass Gospel Album was
won by Jason Crabb for his self-titled project.
Israel Houghton's "The Power of One" won Best Pop/Contemporary
Gospel Album.
The Grammy for Best Traditional Gospel Album was "Oh Happy
Day," recorded by various artists.
And Heathy Headley's "Audience of One" took the Best
Contemporary R&B Album.
SEATTLE, Wash. (AP) - Thousands of American teens will go hungry
on a weekend this month in an effort to help Haiti quake survivors
and fight global hunger through World Vision's 30-Hour Famine.
This year, a portion of funds raised by 30-Hour Famine groups
will go toward Haiti's long-term recovery.
World Vision's Pat Rhoads says the program is an opportunity for
teens to have a direct impact on teens and children in Haiti.
World Vision has been working in Haiti for more than thirty
years. It say the funds raised for Haiti will be spent on long-term
needs such as food rations, treating the HIV-positive, agriculture,
irrigation, and immunization.
NASHVILLE (AP) - Award-winning Christian artist Michael W. Smith
has gathered a big group of artists to record the song "Come
Together Now" to benefit relief efforts in Haiti.
The song was written by Smith, David Mullen and Cindy Morgan.
Dozens of artists joined Smith yesterday at Ocean Way Studio to
record the song. It's purpose is to remind Americans to support
earthquake survivors. Smith says all the artists, technicians and
others involved are donating their time. He says he hasn't seen a
bill yet.
In addition to the artists participating, a large children's
choir will also be featured. Smith says Haitian children who live
in the Nashville area also participated.
He says it's hard to believe the session came together less than
two weeks after the idea came to him. He expects the final mix will
be completed by the weekend and that the song will be available for
download shortly after.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is
urging Congress not to abandon health care reform just because
there has been a shift in the political climate.
They've made the call in an open letter signed by key church
leaders. The letter cites a "moral and policy failure that leaves
tens of millions" without access to health care.
The church leaders have also encouraged lawmakers to begin
acting in "a bipartisan manner providing political courage, vision
and leadership. "
They also criticized the Senate bill saying it doesn't meet the
church's criteria for restrictions on abortion.
The bishops urged that undocumented persons be able to purchase
insurance in the new health care exchange with their own money.
They also called for removal of the five-year ban on legal
immigrants accessing health care plans such as Medicaid.
ALBUQUERQUE, N. M. (AP) - All manner of groups are funneling aid
to Haiti, including spiritual needs of earthquake survivors.
When Audio Bibles were requested by organizations with a
presence in Haiti, Faith Comes By Hearing heard the call.
They are sending 600 Haitian Creole Proclaimers -- rugged,
dedicated, solar-powered Audio Bible players that do not require
any external power source.
These Audio Bibles will be carried by other groups involved in
relief work and will arrive along with food, water, and medical
supplies.
Jon Wilke, the charity's spokesperson, says the bibles are not
being mass-distributed. He says they'll go to Haitian pastors,
medical teams and into refugee camps where people can gather
together and listen.
Faith Comes By Hearing is a non-profit Bible ministry.
PURCELLVILLE, Va. (AP) - A German couple who fled to Tennessee
so they could homeschool their children have been granted political
asylum by an immigration judge in Memphis
The decision clears the way for Uwe Romeike,
his wife and five children to stay in Morristown, Tenn. , where they
have been living since 2008.
German law requires children to attend public or private
schools, and parents can face fines or prison time if they don't
comply. Romeike, an evangelical Christian, said he believes
Germany's curriculum is "against Christian values. "
The family was represented by the Virginia-based Home School
Legal Defense Association. HSLDA staff attorney Mike Donnelly says
the family is delighted. Donnelly says an appeal is possible but
not likely. He hopes the ruling will influence public opinion in
Germany.
NEW YORK (AP) - CBS continues to draw heat for its decision to
allow a Super Bowl ad funded by the conservative Christian group
Focus on the Family.
CBS says it has received numerous e-mails -- critical and
supportive -- since a coalition of women's groups began a protest
campaign Monday against the ad. It says it will accept other
advocacy ads if they are "responsibly produced. "
The 30-second ad will recount the story of Pam Tebow's pregnancy in 1987. Tebow says she was encouraged to get
an abortion after getting sick during a mission trip. She later
gave birth to Tim Tebow, a college football standout who won the
2007 Heisman Trophy.
In 2004, CBS was criticized by many liberal organizations for
rejecting an ad by the United Church of Christ highlighting the
UCC's welcoming stance toward gays and others who might feel
shunned by more conservative churches.
A Focus on the Family spokesman calls the ad "inspirational"
and says it will run during the pre-game coverage and during the
game.
LONGMONT, Colo. (AP) - Not everyone is happy that a large
Christian music festival is moving to Longmont, Colo. this summer.
Heaven Fest is expected to bring 30,000 people to hear some 70
Christian music acts on July 31. The Longmont City Council has
given preliminary approval to the event, which is moving from
Brighton.
Heaven Fest promoters told The Denver Post that the music
festival could pump $700,000 into the local economy. But some
residents oppose the plan to hold the concerts at a reservoir. They
say staging, parking and a large crowd could cause environmental
damage.
Organizers have pledged to make any restorations needed.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn (AP) - A new evangelical group is calling for
the forgiveness of Haiti's foreign debt.
The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good (NEP) says
it exists to "advance human well-being as expression of love for
Jesus Christ. "
NEP executive director Rev. Steven Martin says the group's call
is Bible-based, and the right thing to do is to help Haiti recover
from the devastating earthquake.
Martin says Christian leaders don't often discuss the issue of
debt, but that it was a concern of Jesus and is mentioned in the
Scripture. Martin says freeing the Haitian government from the debt
will allow it to invest in the long-term needs of the people.
NEP has also launched an online petition calling for Haitian
debt relief. The petition will be presented to the White House.
NEP was founded by the Rev. Richard Cizik, former
National Association of Evangelicals vice president and the Rev.
David Gushee, a Christian ethics professor at Mercer University.
Gushee also founded Evangelicals for Human Rights, which has merged
into NEP. The Rev. Martin is a pastor and documentary filmmaker.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A runaway teenage girl from Ohio who
converted from Islam to Christianity has reached a court settlement
that allows her to remain free of her Muslim parents.
The agreement says that 17-year-old Rifqa Bary will stay in a
foster home under state custody in Columbus until she turns 18 in
August. After that, she'll be an adult and free to live where she
chooses.
Bary's attorney read a statement in Franklin County Juvenile
Court, saying that the girl and her parents love and respect each
other and will try to resolve their differences through counseling.
Bary ran away to Florida last summer, saying she feared her
father would harm or kill her for leaving Islam. Her father denied
that, and a law enforcement investigation found no credible threats
to the girl.
But her Florida attorney says Bary would still appreciate
prayers for her safety, and for wisdom.
LONDON (AP) - A Christian woman is asking London's High Court to
force British Airways to admit it was wrong in demanding she stop
wearing a crucifix at work.
Airport check-in clerk Nadia Eweida became the center of a
national debate over religious symbols in public life when she was
sent home in November 2006 for refusing to comply with rules
banning employees from wearing visible religious symbols.
British Airways eventually relented, changing its policy to
allow Eweida to return to work. But she wants the airline to
acknowledge the old policy amounted to religious discrimination,
and she's seeking nearly $200,000 in damages and lost wages for the
roughly three months she was kept off the job.
British Airways has denied the allegation of religious
discrimination.
A High Court judgment is expected in the coming weeks.
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) - Rescue teams are still looking for
survivors more than a week after Haiti's magnitude-7 earthquake,
although the rubble was compressed by Wednesday's 5. 9 aftershock.
Hours earlier, a 26-year-old woman sang praise to Jesus as she
was removed from a collapsed store.
A 23-year-old man who was rescued Saturday says that during his
five days buried in debris, he asked God to free him and promised
that he wouldn't waste a second chance at life.
World Vision USA President Rich Stearns says relief workers need
security, because so many Haitians are hungry that food
distribution can start a riot.
Stearns compares the damage in Haiti's capital to what
Washington D. C. would look like if the White House, Capitol,
Supreme Court, National Cathedral and most other buildings had
collapsed.
LEITCHFIELD, Ky. (AP) - Amid talk of God and country, officials
in a Kentucky county have restored the Ten Commandments to their
courthouse walls, days after an appellate court allowed the
display.
Grayson County Judge-Executive Gary Logsdon thanked God for the
return of the commandments as part of a display of historical
documents. An overflow crowd of hundreds of people at the county
courthouse sang "Amazing Grace" and "God Bless America" to
celebrate their victory in an eight-year legal battle.
Monday's ceremony came less than a week after the 6th U. S.
Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an injunction barring the Ten
Commandments from public property.
Two citizens and the American Civil Liberties Union sued over
the display. The ACLU has not decided whether to appeal the
decision.
MIAMI (AP) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami is working
on a plan to let Haitian children whose parents died in last week's
earthquake move to the United States.
Mary Ross Agosta, spokeswoman for the archdiocese, says the plan
would allow thousands of orphans to first be placed in group homes
and then paired with foster parents.
Officials say many details would have to be worked out and the
Obama administration would have to grant Haitian orphans
humanitarian parole to enter the U. S.
But Agosta says, "We have children who are homeless and
possibly without parents and it is the moral and humane thing to
do. "
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A church organization says a minister from
Indianapolis and two other missionaries are presumed dead from the
earthquake in Haiti.
Free Methodist World Missions says a bishop held a funeral
service over the weekend at the collapsed building for the three
missing workers -- the Rev. Jeanne Acheson-Munos of Indianapolis,
Merle West and Gene Dufour. The hometowns for West and Dufour
weren't immediately announced.
The group says the minister's husband, Jack Munos, and fellow
missionary Katie Zook of Arlington, Wash. , are improving in
intensive care at a Miami hospital.
The Munoses moved from Indianapolis to Haiti in 2004. Group
spokesman John Hay Jr. says Acheson-Munos' desire was for Haiti to
be transformed by God's love and grace.
JOS, Nigeria (AP) - Officials in northern Nigeria say Muslim
youths set a church filled with worshippers ablaze, starting a riot
between Muslims and Christians that killed at least 27 people and
wounded more than 300 others.
A local Red Cross official says about 5,000 people lost their
homes as rioters also burned mosques and homes in Jos, a
city that saw more than 300 residents killed during a similar
uprising in 2008.
Musa Pam, secretary of a local Christian elders forum, issued a
statement Monday claiming the Muslim youths picked Sunday to launch
their attack because they knew Christians would be worshipping at
church. He asked the police to bring the killers to justice,
because Christians were being attacked without cause.
ATLANTA (AP) - The Reverend Martin Luther King Junior has been
remembered as a leader whose ministry was characterized by love for
the weak and downtrodden.
Princeton University scholar Cornel West gave the keynote speech
at Atlanta's Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King was once pastor,
on the federal holiday marking the civil rights leader's birthday.
West said King learned to love in church, and it's up to
churches today to carry on his ministry.
West added that political leaders should be held to the Bible's
standard to "do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with thy God; Let
justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty
stream. "
He said, "The voice of God is always found in the witness for
the weak. "
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - The Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul
nearly 30 years ago is out of prison, and warning of the end of the
world.
In a written statement distributed by one of his attorneys,
Mehmet Ali Agca calls himself a
messenger of God and predicts that the world will end in this
century.
Agca has spent more than 29 years behind bars for shooting the
pope in May 1981 as he rode through St. Peter's Square in an open
car. The pontiff forgave Agca two years later as they met in an
Italian prison. The motive for his attack has never been made
clear.
In his statement Monday, Agca repeated his earlier claims of
being the Messiah.
Turkish authorities say they plan to monitor Agca because of
questions about his mental health.
Agca has said he wants to travel to the Vatican, although he
lacks a passport.
LONDON (AP) - The editor of Britain's flagship Jewish newspaper
says its Web site was attacked by Turkish hackers who replaced the
main page with a Palestinian flag and anti-Semitic writings.
Editor Stephen Pollard says the Web site for the Jewish
Chronicle -- the world's oldest continuously published Jewish
newspaper -- was defaced for a "couple of hours" on Sunday.
The hijacked version of the site cached by Google shows a large
Palestinian flag against a black background. In a message posted in
English and Turkish, a group calling itself the "Palestinian
Mujaheeds" quotes from the Quran and attacks Jews in anti-Semitic
terms.
The site was back online by midday Monday, and Pollard says
there appears to have been no damage.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the Reverend Martin Luther King Junior was a man of faith who "trusted that God would make a way -- a way for prayers to be answered. "
Obama says that same faith helps him handle the pressures of the presidency, and enables Haitians to praise God amid the ruins of last week's earthquake.
The president spoke from the pulpit of Washington's Vermont Avenue Baptist Church on Sunday -- the eve of the federal holiday marking King's birthday.
Calling King and those who fought for civil rights the "Moses generation," Obama said the congregation was part of a "Joshua generation" who must "get back to basics" amid the challenges of a new age.
NEW YORK (AP) — The director of the United Methodist Church's humanitarian relief agency and a mission executive are among those killed as a result of last week's earthquake in Haiti.
The church announced in a statement that the Rev. Sam Dixon died before he could be rescued from the rubble of the Hotel Montana, which was destroyed by the earthquake.
The 60-year-old Dixon was director of the United Methodist Committee on Relief.
When the quake struck, Dixon was meeting with another Methodist mission executive, the Reverend Clinton Rabb, who was rescued from the hotel rubble. But the church says Rabb died later from his injuries at a hospital in Florida.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Former University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow and his mother will appear in a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl next month. The Christian group Focus on the Family says the Tebows will share a personal story on the theme "Celebrate Family, Celebrate Life. "
The group isn't releasing details, but the commercial is likely to be an anti-abortion message chronicling Pam Tebow's 1987 pregnancy. After getting sick during a mission trip to the Philippines, she ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child and gave birth to Tim.
The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner has remained active in his family's Christian ministry.
Thirty-second commercials during the Super Bowl sell for more than $2. 5 million. But Focus on the Family President Jim Daly says all the funds for the ad came from a handful of "very generous and committed friends," and that no money from the group's general fund was used.
ROME (AP) — Pope Benedict has defended his predecessor Pius XII, telling Jews at a synagogue in Rome on Sunday that the Vatican worked quietly to save Jews from the Nazis during World War II.
Many Jews object to Benedict moving Pius toward sainthood, contending the wartime pope didn't do enough to protect Jews from the Holocaust. The Vatican has maintained that Pius used behind-the-scenes diplomacy in a bid to save Jewish lives.
Benedict spoke shortly after the president of Rome's Jewish community said that while some Italian Catholics worked to save Jews, the "silence" of Pius "still hurts. "
The synagogue sits in the Old Jewish Ghetto, the Rome neighborhood near the Tiber where for hundreds of years Jews were confined under the orders of a 16th century pope.
PARIS (AP) — The head of President Nicolas Sarkozy's party says he wants a law to ensure that Muslim women who wear face-covering veils do not acquire French nationality.
Xavier Bertrand says the full veil "is simply a prison for women who wear it. "
France is moving closer to banning such veils, even though only a tiny minority of Muslim women wear them. France's Muslim leaders have warned that the entire community of Muslims -- the largest in western Europe -- would feel stigmatized.
Sarkozy opened debate on the topic in June, telling a special gathering of both houses of parliament that veils that cover the face "are not welcome" in France. He reiterated his position Wednesday, saying the full veil "is contrary to our values and contrary to the ideals we have of a woman's dignity. "
ROCKFORD, Mich. (AP) - Michigan-based Baptist Haiti Mission says
its hospital near the epicenter of Tuesday's earthquake is open and
doing the best it can to treat a flood of casualties.
Mission board member Ron Sparks says the medical team there
reports some patients have been too badly injured to save and
others have died on the way to the hospital.
Sparks says Baptist Haiti Mission has more than 350 churches and
schools throughout the country, and at least two of its churches
were destroyed in the quake. But the hospital and surrounding
missionary compound a few miles west of Port-au-Prince were
relatively undamaged.
Right now, he says the mission -- like many other relief
agencies -- needs cash donations, and its medical team in Haiti
needs prayer.
MIAMI (AP) - Haiti's poverty and hardship have long drawn aid
groups and charities from around the world, but especially from the
United States. Now, with communications down after Tuesday's
devastating earthquake, many organizations do not know how their
representatives in Haiti have fared.
Relatives of church group members from several New Jersey
churches struggled Thursday to get in touch with loved ones who
arrived in Port-au-Prince just hours before the quake.
A couple from Wisconsin who helped set up a dental clinic in
Haiti's capital hasn't been able to reach the dentist who runs it.
Members of Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas have
finally accounted for their 12 missionaries in Haiti. Two of them
were being flown to Martinique -- one with serious internal
injuries and the other with broken ribs -- and three others
suffered hand or back injuries.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - A Kentucky county can restore a display
that included the Ten Commandments along with other historical
documents after a federal appeals court ruled Thursday that there's
no evidence the county intended to mount a religious display on
public grounds.
The 6th U. S. Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 2-1 vote, vacated an
injunction barring Grayson County from using the commandments as
part of a "Foundations of American Law and Government" display
that included the full text of the Mayflower Compact, the full
Declaration of Independence and other historical documents with an
explanation of their significance.
Appellate Judge David McKeague wrote that minutes of the Grayson
County Fiscal Court show that county officials were interested
mainly in having a historical display at the courthouse.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Religious and human rights advocates are
applauding Google's threat to pull out of China unless Beijing
allows the search engine to show uncensored results.
Google also complains that computer-hacking attacks have pried
into the e-mail accounts of dissidents protesting the Chinese
government's policies.
At a news conference, New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith said
many of those activists are now jailed "for the crime of
peacefully expressing their religious beliefs or political opinions
on the Internet. "
Amnesty International's T. Kumar said, "Thank you Google for
taking a principled stand as opposed to only counting profits. " He
urged other companies to follow Google's example.
Smith has introduced legislation to help Internet firms fight
censorship by repressive regimes.
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