Theocracy Alert

Candidates Agree to Megachurch Forum

Rev. Rick Warren will host a forum for presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., on Aug. 16.

Cosponsoring the political forum with the megachurch will be Faith in Public Life, which held the Compassion Forum at Messiah College in Grantham, Penn., in April, featuring Democratic candidates.

Obama to Name Faith-based Council

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in July announced at an Ohio ministry that he would keep but rename George Bush’s “faith-based initiative.” Obama proposed a Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships as the “moral center” of his administration.

He said he would not permit hiring and firing discrimination based on religion by such groups and would hold recipients to the same standards of accountability as other federal grant recipients. Obama suggested he might seek a cabinet position for the director of his faith-based council.

Obama’s announcement criticized those “who bristle at the notion that faith has a place in the public square,” and referred to needing “people of faith on Capitol Hill.” He began his speech by testifying to his “personal commitment to Christ” and desire to do “the Lord’s work.”

In a statement, the Foundation noted, “Both John McCain and Obama have been burned by their past close associations with pastors. Why can’t they see that religion mixed with politics is always a combustible mixture?” To read the entire statement, click here.

Religion in Politics

Both presidential candidates have faith liaisons. The Obama campaign is planning as many as 1,000 house parties and dozens of Christian rock concerts and religious gatherings.
Catholic activists in July publicly asked Sen. John McCain to fire a faith adviser who resigned from the Bush-Cheney campaign because of allegations he sexually harassed a college student. Deal Hudson is a member of the Catholics for McCain National Steering Committee, who resigned as publisher of the conservative Catholic magazine, Crisis, after the allegations first surfaced in 2004.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Alliance Defense Fund has started a campaign urging pastors to discuss candidates for public office from the pulpit, in hopes a test case can be brought to challenge tax law forbidding houses of worship from endorsing or opposing candidates.

Interfaith Prayer Protested

Leah Daughtry, an ordained Pentecostal minister who keeps a bible in her purse and is chief executive officer of the Democratic National Convention Committee, will open the Democratic convention in Denver with an “interfaith service.”

On behalf of its member organizations, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation, the Secular Coalition for America wrote Daughtry in July to express concern about the Interfaith Gathering.

“I would be very interested to know how you plan to make the nontheist community feel welcomed,” wrote associate director Ron Millar. “Without an inclusive plan you will make nontheistic Americans feel like second-class citizens at the convention.”

Lieberman Praises Hagee

Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, during his keynote address before the third annual convention of Rev. John Hagee’s Christian’s United for Israel in July, praised the pastor and said: “I am proud to stand with you tonight.”

Sen. John McCain was forced to disassociate himself from Hagee, leader of a San Antonio megachurch. Hagee blamed Hurricane Katrina on a gay-rights parade, said God allowed the Holocaust to happen because it led to the creation of Israel, and called the Catholic Church “the Great Whore.”

Grassley Barred as Delegate

Evangelical Christians in charge of Iowa’s Republican Party are denying Sen. Charles E. Grassley a spot on the state delegation to the Republican National Convention.

A majority of the central committee voted against Grassley, who initiated a Senate Finance Committee investigation of over-the-top finances and claims by several televangelists. Steve Roberts, who was recently replaced as Iowa’s national Republican committeeman, told the Washington Times the party in Iowa is “pretty well controlled now by the Christian Alliance.”

Among the preachers questioned by Grassley is Kenneth Copeland, of Newark, Texas, whose ministry includes a church, a $17.5 million jet, an airstrip, a hangar, a 1,500-acre campus and a $6 million church-owned lakefront mansion. The church owns a for-profit subsidiary that manages an oil and gas field, valued at $23 million last year.

Croatia Closes Sundays

As a concession to the Roman Catholic Church, the Croatian parliament in July passed a law forcing shops to close on Sundays. Croatia is nearly 90% Catholic, but many Croatians spend weekends shopping.

Church Gun Giveaway?

An Oklahoma church in July canceled a scheduled gun giveaway used to attract teenagers to a weekend youth conference.

Windsor Hills Baptist in Oklahoma City had planned to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle. The church canceled the event for unrelated reasons, and plans to give the $800 gun away next year.

Louisiana Evolution Law Draws Criticism

The sweeping Louisiana Science Education Act, which passed easily in the Legislature in mid-July, allows teachers to use supplemental materials, such as books or DVDs, to aid in the instruction of controversial subjects.

Critics say the law is designed to interject religion into science and will encourage teachers to abandon the state curriculum for their own interpretations.

Troubling Election Referenda

Among the referenda on November ballots during this presidential year are:

A sweeping limit on abortion in South Dakota, whose voters two years ago rejected a ban on abortion by 56% to 44%. The new proposed ban, which would make abortion a felony, would include some exceptions for rape, incest or life and health of the pregnant woman. Notification of law enforcement authorities and extensive documentation from doctors would be required.
A proposal backed by the Catholic and fundamentalist churches known as the Human Life Amendment, to define a fertilized human egg as a person, will be on Colorado’s ballot in November.
Two ballot amendments to eliminate the Florida State Constitution’s language barring tax aid to religion were challenged in court in mid-June by the Florida Education Association, the Florida School Boards Association, the Florida Association of District School Superintendents, the Florida Association of School Administrators, the Florida ACLU, the Anti-Defamation League, Americans United and People for the American Way.

Although ostensibly designed to permit voucher subsidies for religious schools, the referenda would remove language barring public subsidy of religion. The lawsuit contends that the Taxation and Budget Reform Commission lacks the authority to place amendments directly on the ballot.

California will vote on yet another antigay marriage ballot initiative in November, to reverse the State Supreme Court’s decision overturning California’s gay marriage ban.

The Mormon president sent a letter in June to be read to all California Mormon hierarchy and bishops, urging financial and volunteer support for the amendment:

“A broad-based coalition of churches and other organizations placed the proposed amendment on the ballot. The church will participate with this coalition in seeking its passage. Local Church leaders will provide information about how you may become involved in this important cause.”

Antigay marriage ballots will also be back on the ballot in Arizona (which is the only state so far, in 2006, where voters have rejected a constitutional amendment on the question) and in Florida. Organized backers of the ban are churches and religious societies.

Lesbian Appeals Firing from Publicly Funded Baptist Group Home

A lesbian who was fired from her job at a publicly funded Baptist group home is suing for discrimination because her job required her to observe the religious belief that being a lesbian is sinful. In July, she appealed a lower court dismissal of her lawsuit. The district court held, “Baptist Homes did not require her to believe that being a lesbian is sinful, but merely required her to observe its religious belief that being a lesbian is sinful.”

In an appeals brief filed by the ACLU, the plaintiff notes the ruling would allow any employer to discriminate based on the observance of any religious belief, opening the floodgate for abuse. Workers could be fired for dancing, eating meat, recieving blood tranfusions, even marrying someone of another faith or joining the military. The brief further states that the use of public money to evangelize children is not constitutional.