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March 21, 2006

Volume 123, Issue #6
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Features

Feature

Card-carrying ecumenists: The WCC convenes in Brazil

The theme of the World Council of Churches Ninth Assembly, held last month in Porto Alegre, Brazil, was the prayer, “God, in your grace, transform the world.” A recurrent question for many observers is whether the WCC can transform itself.

by Richard A. Kauffman
Feature

U.S. leaders confess church failures: Repentence for silence on Iraq

Leaders of the U.S. denominations belonging to the World Council of Churches created a small buzz at Porto Alegre by delivering a letter to the Ninth Assembly in which they confessed the complicity of the U.S. churches in actions and policies that are detrimental to the well-being of the world. They mentioned three areas in particular: the Iraq War, the global environmental crisis and global poverty.

by Richard A. Kauffman
Cover Story

Star power: The limits of celebrity activism

As chief spokesperson for the One Campaign, U2 rock star Bono asks fans not for money, but for a personal commitment to taking a stand against poverty. The campaign, founded by Bread for the World, CROP, World Vision and other organizations, has 2 million U.S. members.
by Douglas A. Hicks
Film

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

You might expect that a movie with the teasing title The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada would deal with issues of redemption and resurrection. The film does brush up against themes of spiritual rebirth at times, but it is primarily concerned with friendship and the decision to honor the sanctity of friendship even after death.

By John Petrakis

Books

Take and read

When it emerged in the 1980s, the Irish rock group U2, with its lead singer Bono, displayed a spiritual passion that countered the big-h...
By Mark Yaconelli

BookMarks

...
By Amy Frykholm

Healing the political psyche

Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of the progressive Jewish magazine Tikkun, understands that a bipolar p...
By Brian D. McLaren

BookMarks

...
reviewed by Walter Brueggemann

BookMarks

Ayres’s book is ambitious....

Departments

M.E.M.O.

Acting Methodist: A history in theater

Mario cuomo, no mean rhetorician, is no expert on Christian denominations....
by Martin E. Marty
From the Editors

On the waterfront: A diversion from the fight against terrorism

If President Bush were running for reelection, he would probably be opposed to letting an Arab company run six American ports. He would use Karl Rove's game plan for electoral success: run on national security, and stress that you, unlike your opponent, understand the ruthlessness of terrorists and the gravity of threats in the post-9/11 world. Many members of Congress seemed to be mindful of Rove’s advice as they blasted away at the Bush administration for allowing Dubai Ports World to manage shipping terminals in the U.S.In this case, the Bush administration has taken a nuanced view of national security, one that argues that long-term security depends on good relations with the Arab world and on the ability to foster alliances in the Middle East.
Editor's Desk

Altar recalls: Born yet again

I like the title of Jon Sweeney’s book Born Again and Again, reviewed in this issue along with three other memoirs dealing with fundamentalism....
by John Buchanan

You are dust: Ash Wednesday on a psychiatric ward

The Ash Wednesday service in the state psychiatric hospital where I work was hardly an elegant affair....
by Warren Kinghorn
Faith Matters

Lowbrow wisdom: The priestess of positive thinking

Ella Wheeler Wilcox—does the name ring a bell?...
by Carol Zaleski
Impressions

Port paranoia: The Dubai deal

Congressional leaders from both parties responded quickly to White House approval of a deal that allows Dubai Ports World company, owned by the United Arab Emirates, to control shipping operations in New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, New Jersey...
by James M. Wall

News

People

Evangelical historian Mark Noll, longtime professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, will leave for the University of Notre Dame at the end of this academic year....

Presbytery backs gay wedding rites: Minister cleared by church court

A lesbian minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who conducted weddings for two same-sex couples has been cleared by a church court in northern California of misconduct charges. ...
Century Marks

Century Marks

The hidden Jesus: After the end of the Japanese occupation of Burma in 1945, the minority population of Christians feared for their lives in the face of some Buddhist mobs. Myanmar theologian Anna May Chain said that during this time her family was taken in by friendly Muslims—the males were hidden in a mosque and the females were led from one safe house to another. Later they were sheltered in a prison where Buddhists jeopardized their own well-being by bringing them food, medicine and clothes. They finally found refuge in a convent run by Catholics, then considered “outsiders” by Protestants. At this very vulnerable time in the life of her family, said Chain, Muslims, Buddhists and Catholics were like Jesus to them, offering hospitality and charity (address at the World Council of Churches Ninth Assembly).

Churches urged toward visible unity: Overcoming longtime obstacles

The appeals for visible church unity made at the recent World Council of Churches assembly in Brazil were not new, but the longtime obstacles remain a sore point for many—especially limits on celebrating communion in each other’s churches and the ...
by Stephen Brown ENI

Abortion rights: Frontal or piecemeal attack? South Dakota's wide-ranging new ban

A wide-ranging abortion ban recently passed by South Dakota is aimed ultimately at the U.S. Supreme Court....
by ABP news

Justices OK use of hallucinogenic tea: No "compelling interest" for limiting religious freedom

In a case related to religious freedom, the U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously sided with members of a small New Mexico sect in their bid to use hallucinogenic tea in religious rituals....
by Religion News Service staff

Responses to hurricane boost hopes for faith-based funding: Legislative battles ahead

As criticism of the government’s response to Hurricane Katrina continues, praise of faith-based groups that have responded is providing new momentum in a campaign to expand federal funding of religious social services....
by Kim Lawton

Methodists channel sizable donations: Foreign and domestic funds for counseling and storm relief

United Methodist relief officials, chosen late last year by the U.S....

IRS finds cases of church politicking but few feel sting: Warnings but no revocations for churches

In an ongoing investigation of 2004 partisan politicking by churches and other tax-exempt nonprofit organizations, the Internal Revenue Service said that it found violations in 59 of 82 cases as of last month. ...

Federal agency settles suit over religious abstinence program: Religious components must be separate for Silver Ring Thing

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to stop funding an abstinence program that included religious elements....
by Religion News Service staff

Birmingham church named U.S. landmark: Sixteenth Street Baptist

Birmingham’s Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, the site of a 1963 bombing that killed four girls, has become a national historic landmark. U.S....
by Religion News Service staff

Catholic Democrats seek room to differ with church stances: Rejecting a one-issue agenda

Reviving a religious issue from the last presidential election, a coalition of 55 Catholic Democrats in the House of Representatives acknowledged the “moral leadership” of the Catholic Church but said they will remain “in disagreement with the chu...
by Religion News Service staff

Christmas wrappings: Name is racially charged

The United Methodist Church will not hold its large 2012 General Conference in Richmond, Virginia, because the name of the city’s minor league baseball team is racially charged, according to denominational officials....
by Religion News Service staff

Briefly noted

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says it is “deeply concerned” about a worsening situation for religious minorities in Iran....

Lectionary

The life force (Ephesians 2:1-10)

As much as we might like to make the faith about spiritual enlightenment or ethical ideals or the broad love of God that inspires tolerance, the fact of the matter is that the gospel is at root a rescue story.
by Thomas G. Long

Name-dropping: Hebrews 5:5-10

It is not pain and violence that God desires, says the preacher of Hebrews. It is human life as God created it to be, summoned it to be.
by Thomas G. Long

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