Roman Catholics says church shapes views, but some tenets misunderstood
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Seventy percent of married U.S. Catholics were either wed in a Catholic church or have had their marriages blessed by the church, according the survey by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University.
A majority of Catholics - 55 percent -said their opinions about marriage have been at least ``somewhat’’ informed by church teaching.
Most accurately described church teachings about the sacrament of marriage, including that the church does not consider a civil marriage after divorce to be sacramentally valid. However, 76 percent of adult Catholics also said divorce is acceptable in some cases.
Misconceptions also were discovered. The survey found six in 10 Catholics have heard that a non-Catholic spouse must promise to have the couple’s children raised Catholic, which has not been the case since a change in canon law in 1983.
On the whole, Catholics were comparable to the U.S. population in marriage demographics, including marriage age and frequency of divorce, the study found.
The survey of 1,008 self-identified Catholic adults, conducted in June 2007, was commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Marriage and Family Life.
http://www.usccb.org
Most evangelical leaders support Iraq war, survey says
WASHINGTON (AP) - A survey of evangelical Christian leaders this month found a majority support the U.S.-led war in Iraq, but almost as many expressed serious reservations.
Most of those who responded to the National Association of Evangelicals’ survey back the war and want the United States to ``stay until the job is done.’’
Each month, the NAE chooses topics to measure attitudes of its board of directors, which includes top executives of 60 denominations and representatives of mission groups, universities, publishers and churches.
``Most evangelicals in America subscribe to the theological position called ‘just war’ theory, that it is morally justifiable to go to war under certain conditions,’’ said Leith Anderson, a Minnesota pastor and president of the NAE. ``However, there is also a strong evangelical voice in the ‘peace church’ tradition that opposes all war.’’
Some who considered the Iraq invasion ``a mistake based on faulty intelligence’’ said leaving now is wrong. One unidentified denominational CEO said: ``We should not have gone in. But we are going to need to stay in long enough to prevent chaos and to stabilize the country.’’
http://www.nae.net
Pittsburgh lay leaders favor break from Episcopal Church
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Nearly 100 lay leaders in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh signed an open letter supporting their bishop’s plan to split the diocese from the national church.
The letter was in response to another letter written last month to Bishop Robert Duncan by 12 clergy outlining their opposition to the diocese’s plan to break away from the national Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the U.S.
But lay leaders said in their letter that the diocese ``can no longer travel with a national Episcopal body that is departing from its foundations.’’ In 2003, Episcopalians caused an uproar in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The communion, a worldwide fellowship of churches that trace their roots to the Church of England, is now on the verge of schism.
The Pittsburgh diocese in November took the first of two steps toward breaking off and aligning directly with a like-minded Anglican province overseas.
Last month, the national church leader, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, told Duncan that she had sought permission from an Episcopal committee to inhibit him, which would bar him from performing religious duties.
The committee blocked the penalty, but the Episcopal House of Bishops is expected to consider imposing the punishment later this year.
http://www.pgh.anglican.org/
Farrakhan says he shouldn’t have to talk about finances in court
HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) _ Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan is challenging a federal magistrate’s order that he appear in court to explain why payments to his son are not considered income.
A motion filed Jan. 30 seeks to vacate U.S. Magistrate Andrew Rodovich’s order that Farrakhan and a financial representative of the Nation of Islam appear in court Feb. 25 to answer questions from the lawyer of a Gary couple seeking to collect $350,000 from Farrakhan’s 49-year-old son, Nasir.
Nasir Farrakhan lost a lawsuit after crashing his father’s Hummer into the car of Charles and Gladys Peterson in 2003 and leaving the scene. He has yet to pay any of the punitive damages awarded, though the couple received $464,000 for their medical expenses from his insurance company.
The younger Farrakhan has said he cannot pay because he has no income, has never been employed and has no checking account or savings. He argues the $1,400 in cash he receives from his father each month is legally considered charity, even though Nasir Farrakhan has acted as head of the minister’s 20-man security force for many years.
The motion filed by Louis Farrakhan’s attorney states that Nasir Farrakhan’s statements did not contain evidence that he is employed by his father or the Nation of Islam. It also argues that the court does not have the jurisdiction to add Louis Farrakhan as a garnishee or the Nation of Islam because it does not derive substantial revenue or benefit from the state of Indiana.
Michael Back, the Petersons’ attorney, said he will file a response.
``Why would this individual be entitled to keep this information private?’’ he said. ``What’s so different about Minister Farrakhan that he can be above the rest of us and not have to appear in open court?’’
http://www.noi.org/
Omaha council rejects street honoring atheist
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) _ Citing community opposition, the City Council unanimously rejected a request to erect a commemorative street sign for noted atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair.
The only person to speak in support of the proposal was the man who proposed it _ atheist Raymond Zbylut, who said the gesture would honor the civil rights work of Murray O’Hair, who was not from Omaha.
Council members voted 6-0 to deny the request without discussing it. Councilman Garry Gernandt said afterward that nearly 200 constituents contacted him opposing the sign.
``They said we should keep religious and state issues separate,’’ Gernandt said.
Another council member, Franklin Thompson, said his constituents also urged him to vote against the sign, while Councilman Jim Vokal said it clashed with community mores.
``Most people in Omaha believe in God, and naming a street after this individual didn’t match the community,’’ Vokal said.
Murray O’Hair, who filed a lawsuit that ultimately led the courts to bar organized prayer in public schools, disappeared in 1995. A former employee was convicted in her murder.
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