‘Timing is every thing’: Corrine Brown’s test lawyer says politics, religion played a task in overturned conviction
… from a distinctive intersection of religion and politics.
“in the event that you …
Rachel Zoll, much-admired AP religion writer, dead at 55
Rachel Zoll, who for 17 years as religion writer for The Associated Press endeared herself to colleagues, competitors and sources with her warm heart and world-class reporting skills, died Friday in Amherst, Massachusetts, after a three-year bout with brain cancer. She was 55.
Zoll covered religion in all its aspects, from the spiritual to the political, and her stories reached a global audience. But her influence was far greater than that. Other publications often followed her lead, and AP staffers around the world depended on her generosity and guidance.
“Rachel was one of the most universally beloved colleagues we had,” said AP’s managing editor, Brian Carovillano. “She was also one of the best reporters, on any beat. … She had a knack for finding the story or angle that no one else considered but is packed with insight and surprises.”
“Most importantly,” he added, “she was always the best kind of colleague, always available for help or consultation. … She always had time for everyone.”
Zoll was at the forefront of coverage of two papal transitions, the clergy sex abuse scandal in the Catholic Church, and tensions within many denominations over race, same-sex marriage and the role of women.
She often broke news, as in 2014, when she was the first to report Pope Francis’ appointment of Blase Cupich to become the new archbishop of Chicago.
But she also told stories in depth: a 2016 election-year piece examining how conservative Christians felt under siege in a changing nation. A series about Christian missionaries from Africa launching initiatives in the United States. A feature about two churches in Georgia — one black, one white — trying to bridge build a connection by confronting racism.
Not all of her stories were so heavy. In 2005, she reported from Tullahoma, Tennessee, on a Bible study class called “Finding the Way Back to Mayberry” developed by two men who believed watching “The Andy Griffith Show” could lead to spiritual enlightenment.
“Mayberry may be fictitious, but its lessons are not,” preacher Pat Allison told Zoll.
Her work was honored repeatedly by the Religion News Association; it gave her a Special Recognition Award in September 2018, saluting her work over the years and her collegiality.
“She was one of the great personalities in the profession –- or really anywhere,” said RNA contest chairman Jeff Diamant at the awards banquet. “This makes it really hard to get mad at Rachel Zoll, even when she beats you on a story in your hometown.”
Frank Baker, who was Zoll’s editor when she joined the AP’s Providence office in 1996, nominated her for the AP’s most prestigious in-house honor -– a Gramling Award, which she won in 2018
“I’ve worked with countless outstanding journalists. None is better than Rachel,” wrote Baker, now AP’s news editor for California. “She never gets outworked. She never gets intimidated by a subject. And she never loses her sense of humor.”
Zoll, who earned a bachelor’s degree from Tufts University and a master’s from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, worked in her hometown at The Salem (Mass.) Evening News before joining the AP in Boston in 1995.
She moved on to Providence for a short stay before being appointed correspondent in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1998. She returned to Providence as correspondent the next year, and became a New York-based religion writer in May 2001.
Laurie Goodstein, The New York Times’ religion writer from 1997 to 2019, said Zoll was revered by her competitors on the beat.
“Rachel mastered the art of interrogating powerful religious leaders and holding them to account without being confrontational or disrespectful,” said Goodstein, now the Times’ deputy international editor.
“She would go to the microphone at a press conference, face a panel of Catholic bishops peering down from a dais, and ask the pivotal question that cut right to the heart of the matter,” Goodstein said via email. “Then amidst the hubbub in the press room, she would hammer out a clear, even-handed, compelling story on the religious controversy of the day.”
One of Zoll’s frequent sources was the Rev. James Martin, a Catholic priest who is editor-at-large of the Jesuit publication America. He recalled her laughter, staccato-like and frequent.
“Rachel was not only an amazing reporter, who was dogged in her pursuit of a story, but a wonderful person: warm, smart, funny,” Martin told the AP. “Sometimes when she called me for a story, we spent more time laughing than talking about the story.”
Zoll became ill in January 2018 as she was helping negotiate a major expansion of AP’s religion coverage via a grant from the Lilly Endowment. A few weeks later, she was diagnosed with the incurable cancer glioblastoma.
Even after that diagnosis, her years of source-building and intricate preparation ensured that AP was first to receive the news of the death of renowned evangelist Billy Graham on Feb. 21, 2018.
Zoll was born in Salem, where her father, Samuel Zoll, served as city councilor and mayor before embarking on a judicial career that included 28 years as chief justice of the Massachusetts District Courts. He died in 2011.
She is survived by her mother, Marjorie Aronow Waldman; three older siblings and their spouses — Barry Zoll and his wife, Susan; Cheryl Zoll and Eric Sawyer, and Risa Zoll and Tim Williams; and five nieces.
Cheryl said her sister had other talents, beyond journalism — she was a gifted musician. Over the years, she played piano, French horn and trumpet.
She even joined an all-woman accordion orchestra — the Main Squeeze. In 2006, she recalled a performance at a New York venue when one band member took a sledgehammer to a squeezebox.
“There were times in the first year or so when I wanted to quit. I felt humiliated onstage,” she wrote. “But then I realized that no matter how many times we bombed, it was always great to step outside the dead-seriousness of adulthood and do something ridiculous like playing James Brown with 14 other accordionists while a friend smashed an instrument into pulp in front of a crowd.
“That night at Irving Plaza, I realized how lucky I am: I’m with the band.”
Pope Francis swears in 34 brand new recruits for planet’s littlest military
The littlest army plus one the whole world’s oldest standing armies has actually welcomed 34 brand-new recruits from Switzerland to offer the Roman Catholic pope.
In their oath-taking the brand new Swiss protections had been sworn in on 6 in a more sophisticated service in Vatican City where the protections promised to guard the Pope, even “compromising if necessary additionally my very own life,” Catholic News department reported.
Pope Francis addressed the latest recruits and indicated their admiration that young people “decide to dedicate some several years of their particular lives in good service toward Successor of Peter also to the ecclesial community.”
The Swiss Guard was launched in 1506 by Pope Julius II, deposed twice and re-established in 1800. It remains assigned with safeguarding the pope along with his residence.
Francis said, “With you I thank the father, the foundation of all of the good, for different gift suggestions and vocations.
“He has entrusted for you, and I pray that those who are today starting their particular solution may respond completely to Christ’s call, after Him with devoted generosity.”
The Chaplain into the Swiss Guard, dad Thomas Widmer supplied the protections an expression on religious concept of “oath-taking,” Vatican News reported.
He said their particular razor-sharp, armed forces bearing is at its most impressive and gorgeous when it is coupled with interior courage in protecting the Gospel.
“You, as Christian soldiers, understand that you upsurge in nerve and endless energy because Almighty Jesus is by using you,” Widmer stated.
“Your oath, dear Guards, basically says: i will be capable of staying faithful and steadfast in representing and residing out universal values and thus bearing fresh fruit in addition the good of community.”
Entry demands feature becoming Swiss, Catholic, at the very least 1.74 meters (5 foot 7 ins) high, under 30 years old, and male.
The swearing-in service regarding the littlest army in the field always happens on May 6 – in memory of the 1527 Sack of Rome, an uprising during the time.
This year Switzerland’s President man Parmelin came across the Pope when you look at the Vatican when it comes to swearing-in.
The Pontifical Swiss Guard has increased from 110 to 135 males since 2018.
COMECE and CEC applaud the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe
COMECE and CEC applaud the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe
Applauding the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe on Europe Day, H. Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), and Rev. Christian Krieger, president of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), issued the following joint statement.
This year Europe Day, May 9th, marks the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe. The Conference is good news. The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC) applaud it and wish it success.
We welcome the Conference as an initiative to involve all European citizens, civil society, as well as Churches and religious communities, in the discussion about what kind of European Union we want. A broad, open and inclusive discussion about the future of Europe is a much needed first step to renew trust in and reinvigorate commitment to the European Union as a true community of values.
COMECE and CEC– representing, through our members, millions of European citizens in all EU Member States – are strongly committed to and look forward to actively contributing to the Conference on the European level. We will also try to enthuse, inspire and facilitate involvement of our members at local, regional and national level. We will especially encourage young people to take part in the discussions about the future of Europe. Indeed, involving young people in the Conference should be a key priority for the Conference: How can young Europeans – the ‘future of Europe’ – regain high hopes, trust and confidence in the European project?
As Churches, being rooted at all levels in European societies and present in all EU Member States and beyond, we can indeed add value and contribute in a constructive way to the Conference. We consider it important to include in some way also prospective EU Member States in the discussions about the future of Europe.
COMECE and CEC will, as credible dialogue partners of the EU institutions, focus on strengthening our common European values, combating climate change and preserving the creation, and developing migration policies based on respect for human rights and the human dignity of everyone. We also need to rethink and develop the common market – which lies at the heart but is not the heart of the European project – in line with the values of solidarity, social justice, intergenerational cooperation, equality and just green and digital transitions. And regarding EU as a global player, we need to ask how economic interests can be promoted without compromising our core European values.
COMECE and CEC look forward to participating in an open, constructive and inclusive manner throughout the Conference, having great expectations also of the multilingual interactive Digital Platform. The concerns, views and visions of European citizens, civil society and churches should be listened to and the Conference conclusions transformed into concrete recommendations for EU policies.
We invite all Europeans to take part in the Conference, hoping it will give a new impulse to the European project and fresh, innovative visions for a more sustainable, equitable, inclusive and prosperous European Union in the years to come.
We sincerely wish the Conference on the Future of Europe success and that the European Union reaffirms itself as strong vector of hope, peace and justice in the years to come, especially for our young generations.
H.Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ (COMECE President)
Rev. Christian Krieger (CEC President)
Read more
CEC and COMECE applaud the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe
Press Release No: 07/21
6 May 2021
Brussels
For the English version, please click here
Pour la version française, veuillez cliquer ici
Klicken Sie hier für die deutsche Fassung
Applauding the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe on Europe Day, Rev. Christian Krieger, president of the Conference of European Churches and H. Em. Card. Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) issued the following joint statement.
This year Europe Day, 9 May, marks the launch of the Conference on the Future of Europe. The Conference is good news. The Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of the European Union(COMECE) and the Conference of European Churches(CEC) applaud it and wish it success.
We welcome the Conference as an initiative to involve all European citizens, civil society, as well as churches and religious communities, in the discussion about what kind of European Union we want. A broad, open and inclusive discussion about the future of Europe is a much needed first step to renew trust in and reinvigorate commitment to the European Union as a true community of values.
COMECE and CEC– representing, through our members, millions of European citizens in all EU Member States – are strongly committed to and look forward to actively contributing to the Conference on the European level. We will also try to enthuse, inspire and facilitate involvement of our members at local, regional and national level. We will especially encourage young people to take part in the discussions about the future of Europe. Indeed, involving young people in the Conference should be a key priority for the Conference: How can young Europeans – the ‘future of Europe’ – regain high hopes, trust and confidence in the European project?
As Churches, being rooted at all levels in European societies and present in all EU Member States and beyond, we can indeed add value and contribute in a constructive way to the Conference. We consider it important to i include in some way also prospective EU Member States in the discussions about the future of Europe.
COMECE and CEC will, as credible dialogue partners of the EU institutions, focus on strengthening our common European values, combating climate change and preserving the creation, and developing migration policies based on respect for human rights and the human dignity of everyone. We also need to rethink and develop the common market – which lies at the heart but is not the heart of the European project – in line with the values of solidarity, social justice, intergenerational cooperation, equality and just green and digital transitions. And regarding EU as a global player, we need to ask how economic interests can be promoted without compromising our core European values.
COMECE and CEC look forward to participating in an open, constructive and inclusive manner throughout the Conference, having great expectations also of the multilingual interactive Digital Platform. The concerns, views and visions of European citizens, civil society and churches should be listened to and the Conference conclusions transformed into concrete recommendations for EU policies.
We invite all Europeans to take part in the Conference, hoping it will give a new impulse to the European project and fresh, innovative visions for a more sustainable, equitable, inclusive and prosperous European Union in the years to come.
We sincerely wish the Conference on the Future of Europe success and that the European Union reaffirms itself as strong vector of hope, peace and justice in the years to come, especially for our young generations.
Read more: COMECE and CEC: “Churches have an important message and value to add to the Conference on the Future of Europe”
Learn more about CEC Dialogue with European Political Institutions
For more information or an interview, please contact:
Naveen Qayyum
Communication Officer
Conference of European Churches
Rue Joseph II, 174 B-1000 Brussels
Tel. +32 486 75 82 36
E-mail: naveen@cec-kek.be
Website: www.ceceurope.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ceceurope
Twitter: @ceceurope
You Tube: Conference of European Churches – YouTube
Subscribe to CEC newsletter and press releases
Amid damaging cyclone, first nationwide religious Assembly elected in Timor-Leste | BWNS
DILI, Timor-leste — Crisis and victory go hand-in-hand, states an associate of newly set up nationwide Spiritual Assembly associated with the Bahá’ís of Timor-Leste talking about the historic elections that were held final Friday amid tireless attempts to react to the devastating floods in the united kingdom.
Given current conditions, delegates voted remotely. “We feel therefore privileged to have a National religious Assembly in Timor-Leste,” states Graciana da Costa Herculano Boavida, a part regarding the Assembly.
In an email toward Bahá’ís of Timor-Leste, the Universal House of Justice published: “The establishment of this nationwide Assembly will allow your community to contribute with increasing effectiveness into spiritual and content wellbeing of community…”
The Bahá’ís of this nation trace their origins to 1954, when three Bahá’ís from Australian Continent and Portugal arrived in Dili. A quick few years later on, in 1958, the first Bahá’í town Spiritual set up had been created in Dili. While some Bahá’ís off their nations proceeded to reach until the mid-70s, the Bahá’í-community just re-emerged in 1999 with community-building efforts getting momentum in 2011.
The Timorese Bahá’ís were anticipating the National Assembly’s election final month, as soon as the country had been hit by Cyclone Seroja. Extreme floods started on 4 April, taking tragic loss in life around the world from landslides and mosquito-borne conditions.
“It is out of the center of a tragedy this institution emerges,” says Vahideh Hosseini, a part for the National religious Assembly. “These have already been trying months, but most people are striving to do whatever they can to help, especially the childhood.”
An integral aspect of the reaction was the creation of a five-member task force by the Bahá’í Local Spiritual Assembly of Dili to coordinate attempts. The duty force features facilitated the distribution of some 1,400 bundles of food, mosquito nets, as well as other essentials that have assisted a lot more than 7,000 men and women across 13 villages and neighbourhoods. The job power in addition organized for a boat to be built so that assistance could achieve folks in which roadways were take off.
“Bahá’í organizations and regional officials have worked shoulder-to-shoulder with individuals on the ground,” states Madalena Maria Barros, another member of the nationwide Assembly. “we moved aided by the xefe (chief) of my village to see your home of an elderly girl who had lost every thing inside flooding and had been sick with temperature. The xefe, who had been profoundly moved by the woman’s condition, wrapped this lady in a blanket and prepared on her behalf with supplies we’d brought.”
Alberto dos Reis Mendonca, a Bahá’í when you look at the hard-hit Masin-Lidun community of Dili, says, “Bahá’í activities inside our area began simply six months, as well as in that small amount of time we’ve discovered a lot about how to provide together as one.
“Every time we function and mirror, after which arrange for a day later. A few days following the flooding, more support ended up being reaching the location and people had rice, oil, as well as other materials. So we said now we require protein and vegetables is healthy, and we achieved out to organizations who could offer mung beans alongside vegetables for us to circulate.”
Commenting on devotional nature that sustained people throughout these attempts, Marcos da Costa Dias, a member for the nationwide Assembly which life in Masin-Lidun, states: “We pray early each and every morning and feel united, at serenity, and enter a prayerful condition which lasts for the day-to-day work of relief and data recovery.”
Reflecting regarding the previous thirty days, Mrs. Herculano Boavida states, “In our a reaction to this crisis we turn to the exemplory instance of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá—that every where he moved, he always found techniques to help folks in trouble. Equivalent nature of solution is considered now because of the National Spiritual Assembly.”
Bob Abernethy Dies at 93; NBC Veteran Coaxed PBS to Focus on Religion
The series covered a wide range of topics, including atheism, abortion, assisted suicide, sexual abuse by clergy and organ transplants.
“Finding this line between sensitivity to the spiritual dimensions of a story on the one hand and objective, traditional skepticism is a constant struggle and a very appropriate one, but I think we’ve got it right,” Mr. Abernethy told The Washington Post in 2000. “This is a matter of good reporting. Unless you get the spiritual element of the story, you’re missing something very important. It’s like interviewing Babe Ruth and not asking about hitting.”
When “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly” was approaching the end of its run, Jerome Socolovsky, the editor in chief of Religion News Service, was rueful, telling the news service Current in 2016, “The media landscape will miss this crucial provider of video stories about religion that didn’t favor one or the other but gave viewers a full perspective on religious news developments.”
Robert Gordon Abernethy was born on Nov. 5, 1927, in Geneva to Robert and Lois May (Jones) Abernethy. His father worked for the Y.M.C.A.’s international newspaper. After Bob was born, the couple returned to the United States. His father began to teach religion at the Hill School in Pottstown, Pa., but died of complications of appendicitis in 1930.
Bob and his mother moved in with his paternal grandparents in Washington, where his grandfather was senior minister of Calvary Baptist Church. She taught piano at the National Cathedral School.
After graduating from the Hill School, he enrolled in Princeton University but interrupted his studies to serve with the American occupying Army in postwar Japan, where he hosted a program for Armed Forces Radio. Returning to college, he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from what is now the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.
Coming from a family of pastors, he felt “a certain amount of pressure on me to become a minister, too,” he told the website Resources for Christianity in 2013, “but I never heard a call.”
True Religion CEO Michael Buckley Talks Turnaround And International Growth
True Religion has been thriving since exiting bankruptcy court.
Courtesy of True Religion
Denim-based True Religion successfully emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2020 after filing in April of last year. Michael Buckley, who was president of True Religion from 2006 to 2010, returned to the brand in 2019 and guided it through a “massive restructuring.”
“The company got disconnected with who the consumer was,” Buckley said in an exclusive interview. “This was a wealthy customer with a household income of over $150,000, a Nordstrom
JWN
Buckley said one of True Religion’s biggest assets is its customer base of 15- to 40-year-old men and women of all races, with an average household income of $65,000. It’s one of the most diverse apparel brand consumer bases in the industry today outside of Levi’s or Guess
GES
“When I came to True Religion, I knew what had to be done,” Buckley said. “I figured it would take a year to 2 years to turn the company around. Then, the Covid-19 pandemic happened in March of last year all a sudden 60 percent of the revenue disappeared from our wholesale accounts and our own retail stores.”
True Religion’s trip to bankruptcy court allowed it to shed 37 store leases and exit a $3 million corporate lease. Restructuring the organization involved cutting $30 million in SG&A and rethinking the brand’s supply chain.
MORE FOR YOU
For the trailing 12 months that ended in March, the company logged EBITDA of $35 million, compared to a loss of $25 million in the trailing 12 months that ended in March 2020.
Cutting the average unit retail to about half of what it was 10 years ago, required a different supply chain, Buckley said, adding, “True Religion was continuing to source $25 and $35 jeans, and $10 T-shirts, but the supply chain never changed.
With industry-leading product margins of 50% in the wholesale channel, business has been “incredibly strong,” Buckley said. Growth isn’t expected to come from the brand’s 50 owned stores, but rather, e-commerce, which does $80 million to $90 million and is seen growing to $250 million in the next four or five years, and overall sales of more than $500 million in the time period.
Truereligion.com is expected to account for 50% of sales, with 30% to 40% from wholesale and 10% to 15% from the company’s retail fleet. “We have a very strong international business,” Buckley said. “We’re the number one denim brand in Selfridge’s and sit next to strong Italian brands. We’re in China, Korea, India, and 30 other countries. International will grow to 30% to 35% of the business while retail maintains its dollar volume.”
The brand is known for its T-shirts and jeans.
Courtesy of True Religion
Buckley believes the apparel industry is heading into a strong denim cycle. “One of the diversification initiatives we have is to be 40% jeans, in terms of sales, 30% T-shirts, and 30% woven’s, hoodies and accessories. Jeans should probably be 50% of the business, and I think they will get back to that as the world opens up and people go back to work.”
True Religion has spent the last 15 months working on its web site to ensure it’s on-brand. “We’re focusing on getting the right influencers, who are wearing the products and talking about them. Our Gen Z customer is on TikTok, YouTube, and we have Millennials on Instagram.
“We believe more in micro-influencers that have up to a couple million followers,” Buckley added. “We just did a collaboration Kida the Great that’s really more for the Gen Z crowd. We did a whole collaboration with product, and created a video with him dancing that really resonates well with our younger audience.”
Kida the Great is just one of 10 to 20 micro-influencers working with True Religion. The brand is always looking for people “who are relevant, but we also want people who love and believe in True Religion,” Buckley said. “It’s important that they really love the brand.”
True Religion has been able to hold on to 40-year-old consumers while attracting the younger cohort, something other denim brands have tried, but failed to do. “A lot of brands try to get that younger customer,” Buckley said. “Some higher-end brands that continue to sell to Nordstrom priced $100 to $150, are never going to get that customer. To begin with, the consumer can’t afford those prices.”
When True Religion carried high prices in previous years, it penetrated about 5% of the total apparel market. “Today, we believe we penetrate half the apparel market and that 150 million consumers fit into the demographic of the True Religion profile. There’s a lot more people who can afford it. We can tap into the price points that represent half the $15-plus billion apparel industry.”
Religion no bar; Muslim man performs last rites of homeless Hindu woman [details]
At this crucial time when some people are abandoning the bodies of their COVID positive family members, a Muslim ambulance drive in the border town of Mendhar in Jammu and Kashmir set an example of humanity by performing the last rites of a Hindu woman. Rising over religion, Mir Ahmad, a native of Mendhar, cremated the body of a homeless non-local mentally unsound Hindu woman, who was mostly found in the main market of this border town.
“We approached locals to cremate the body of the homeless lady but to no avail. When everyone refused to perform last rites due to fear of getting infected, our ambulance driver came forward to cremate the lady as per Hindu rituals,” Block Medical Officer (BMO) Mendhar, Dr. P A Khan, told International Business Times. “We are all aware how our Hindu brethren perform last rites so we follow the same rituals for the homeless lady also,” Dr. Khan said.
Reports said that after the death of the lady due to COVID, health authorities approached some local religious and social organizations to perform her last rites but to no avail. Instead of convincing these leaders of organizations to come forward, a Muslim ambulance driver came forward and consigned her body to the flames.
Dr. Khan said that two days back, some locals brought the lady to the hospital as she was facing respiratory problems. “As per mandatory protocol we conducted her Corona test and was found positive”, Dr. Khan said, adding, “On Wednesday morning she died due to virus”.
BMO Takes Initiatives To Conduct Last Rites
After social and religious organizations refused to perform her last rites, BMO constituted a team comprising officials of health departments to cremate the lady. When BMO was assigning different jobs to members of the team, Mir Ahmad volunteered himself to perform the last rites of the lady as per Hindu rituals.
Wearing a PPE kit, Mir performed the last rites of the woman and consigned her to flames. With this humane gesture, he has won the hearts of the people.
Ramadan in China: Faithful dwindle under limits on religion
KASHGAR, China (AP) — Tursunjan Mamat, a practicing Muslim in western China’s Xinjiang region, said he's fasting for Ramadan but his daughters, ages 8 and 10, are not. Religious activity including fasting is not permitted for minors, he explained.
The 32-year-old ethnic Uyghur wasn’t complaining, at least not to a group of foreign journalists brought to his home outside the city of Aksu by government officials, who listened in on his responses. It seemed he was giving a matter-of-fact description of how religion is practiced under rules set by China’s Communist Party.
“My children know who our holy creator is, but I don’t give them detailed religious knowledge,” he said, speaking through a translator. “After they reach 18, they can receive religious education according to their own will.”
Under the weight of official policies, the future of Islam appears precarious in Xinjiang, a rugged realm of craggy snow-capped mountains and barren deserts bordering Central Asia. Outside observers say scores of mosques have been demolished, a charge Beijing denies, and locals say the number of worshippers is sinking.
A decade ago, 4,000 to 5,000 people attended Friday prayers at the Id Kah Mosque in the historic Silk Road city of Kashgar. Now only 800 to 900 do, said the mosque’s imam, Mamat Juma. He attributed the drop to a natural shift in values, not government policy, saying the younger generation wants to spend more time working than praying.
The Chinese government organized a five-day visit to Xinjiang in April for about a dozen foreign correspondents, part of an intense propaganda campaign to counter allegations of abuse. Officials repeatedly urged journalists to recount what they saw, not what China calls the lies of critical Western politicians and media.
Beijing says it protects freedom of religion, and citizens can practice their faith so long as they adhere to laws and regulations. In practice, any religious activity must be done in line with restrictions evident at almost every stop in Xinjiang — from a primary school where the headmaster said fasting wasn’t observed because of the “separation of religion and education,” to a cotton yarn factory where workers are banned from praying on site, even in their dormitory rooms.
“Within the factory grounds, it’s prohibited. But they can go home, or they can go to the mosque to pray,” said Li Qiang, the general manager of Aksu Huafu Textiles Co. “Dormitories are for the workers to rest. We want them to rest well so that they can maintain their health.”
By law, Chinese are allowed to follow Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, Roman Catholicism or non-denominational Protestantism. In practice, there are limits. Workers are free to fast, the factory manager said, but they are required to take care of their bodies. If children fast, it’s not good for their growth, said the Id Kah mosque’s imam.
Researchers at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank, said in a report last year that mosques have been torn down or damaged in what they called the deliberate erasure of Uyghur and Islamic culture. They identified 170 destroyed mosques through satellite imagery, about 30% of a sample they examined.
The Chinese government rejects ASPI research, which also has included reports on Beijing’s efforts to influence politics in Australia and other Western democracies, as lies promoted by “anti-China forces.”
The government denies destroying mosques and allegations of mass incarcerations and forced labor that have strained China’s relations with Western governments. They say they have spent heavily on upgrading mosques, outfitting them with fans, flush toilets, computers and air conditioners.
Xinjiang’s biggest ethnic minority is Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim group who are 10 million of the region’s population of 25 million people. They have borne the brunt of a government crackdown that followed a series of riots, bombings, and knifings, although ethnic Kazakhs and others have been swept up as well.
The authorities obstruct independent reporting in the region, though such measures have recently eased somewhat. AP journalists visiting Xinjiang on their own in recent years have been followed by undercover officers, stopped, interrogated and forced to delete photos or videos.
Id Kah Mosque, its pastel yellow facade overlooking a public square, is far from destroyed. Its imam toes the official line, and he spoke thankfully of the government largesse that has renovated the more than 500-year-old institution.
“There is no such thing as mosque demolition,” Juma said, other than some rundown mosques taken down for safety renovations. Kashgar has been largely spared mosque destruction, the Australian institute report said.
Juma added he was unaware of mosques being converted to other uses, although AP journalists saw one turned into a cafe and others padlocked shut during visits in 2018.
The tree-lined paths of the Id Kah Mosque’s grounds are tranquil, and it’s easy to miss the three surveillance cameras keeping watch over whoever comes in. The imam’s father and previous leader of the mosque was killed by extremists in 2014 for his pro-government stance.
About 50 people prayed before nightfall on a recent Monday evening, mostly elderly men. A Uyghur imam who fled China in 2012 called such scenes a staged show for visitors.
“They have a routine of making such a scene every time they need it,” said Ali Akbar Dumallah in a video interview from Turkey. “People know exactly what to do, how to lie, it’s not something new for them.”
Staged or not, it appears Islam is on the decline. The ban on religious education for minors means that the young aren’t gaining the knowledge they should, Dumallah said.
“The next generation will accept the Chinese mindset,” he said. “They’ll still be called Uyghurs, but their mindset and values will be gone.”
Officials say those who want to study Islam can do so after the age of 18 at a state-sponsored Islamic studies institute. At a newly-built campus on the outskirts of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, hundreds train to become imams according to a government-authored curriculum, studying a textbook with sections like “Patriotism is a part of faith” and “be a Muslim who loves the motherland, abide by the national constitution, laws and regulations.”
“Continue the sinicization of Islam in our country,” the foreword reads. “Guide Islam to adapt to a socialist society.”
Though Islam lives on, the sinicization campaign has palpably reduced the role of religion in daily life.
Near Urumqi’s grand bazaar, several dozen elderly men trickled out of a mosque during an unannounced visit by an AP journalist. Prayers continue as usual, the imam said, though attendance has fallen considerably. A jumbo screen showing state media coverage of top Chinese leaders hung above the entrance.
Down the street, the exterior at the Great White Mosque had been shorn of the Muslim profession of faith. On a Wednesday evening at prayer time, the halls were nearly empty, and worshippers had to go through x-rays, metal detectors and face-scanning cameras to enter.
Freedom of religion in China is defined as the freedom to believe — or not believe. It was a mantra repeated by many who spoke to the foreign journalists: It’s not just that people have the right to fast or pray, they also have the right not to fast or pray.
“I really worry that the number of believers will decrease, but that shouldn’t be a reason to force them to pray here,” Juma said.
His mosque, which flies a Chinese national flag above its entrance, has been refurbished, but fewer and fewer people come.
Associated Press video journalist Sam McNeil in Beijing contributed.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Scientology Volunteer Ministers: Looking Back—Ten Years After the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami
Despite the threat of nuclear disaster in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Scientology Volunteer Ministers from Japan and across the globe responded to the needs of the devastated country.
First were the images of 30-foot walls of water wiping away entire towns and lifting 20-ton ships, propelling them 100 yards inland. Next was the news of the meltdown of three nuclear reactors. But with 20,000 people dead or missing and some 500,000 displaced, Scientology Volunteer Ministers immediately mobilized to help despite the danger.
A supply base was established at the Church of Scientology Tokyo to oversee the delivery of aid. Local Scientology Volunteer Ministers contacted officials to find out what assistance they needed.
A 17-man team of the legendary Mexican Los Topos search and rescue specialists, who have partnered with Volunteer Ministers disaster response teams since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, were immediately flown to Japan by International Scientology Volunteer Ministers headquarters in Los Angeles. Los Topos met with the Japanese army and began searching for survivors trapped beneath the wreckage—work memorialized in a National Geographic documentary.
Some 140 Volunteer Ministers from Japan, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Taiwan, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States helped run shelters in Kesennuma, Sendai, Watari, Onagawa, Ishinomaki and Idda. They organized delivery of food, water and supplies. They took part in the arduous cleanup of towns and villages that were destroyed.
In a city where elderly residents were stranded in their homes by floodwaters and impassable roads, Volunteer Ministers organized a fleet of bicycles loaded with supplies to bring vital provisions.
But while the physical needs were dramatic, the shock and loss survivors experienced was even more intense.
Volunteer Ministers are trained to provide Scientology assists—techniques developed by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard that help address the spiritual and emotional factors in stress and trauma.
“I cannot believe I have received such a helpful service in a time like this,” said one person after his assist. “It eased my feeling of shock,” said another. A man whose inn was swept away in the tsunami began his assist in sorrow and walked away humming, telling the Scientology Volunteer Minister he planned to rebuild as soon as possible.
The Scientology Volunteer Ministers provided more than 12,000 assists and trained 1,500 volunteers from other relief organizations, community groups and schools in Volunteer Minister techniques. A Hashikami City Councilor told a Volunteer Minister that theirs is an important service the Japanese people can find nowhere else.
The official in charge of the Onagawa Town disaster effort expressed his appreciation for the help of the Scientology Disaster Response Team in a letter stating, “I have heard many disaster victims say they feel good, relaxed, relieved from body pain and healed from the trauma of this disaster after this group delivered the technology called assists developed by L. Ron Hubbard.”
Four years later, at the grand opening of the Church of Scientology Tokyo in Shinjuku, Mr. Masami Saito, then a member of the legislature for Miyagi Prefecture and recently elected mayor of Ishinomaki City, recalled his own experience with the Scientology Volunteer Ministers. “Following the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that swept my city away, your members, the Volunteer Ministers, were there clearing away debris from our collapsed house in the hope that our family members were there,” he said. “Your humanitarian attitude was touching to the core. You even provided bicycles to people through the city that had this little message that meant so much to us: ‘Don’t give up, Japan!’”
The Church of Scientology Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid-1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. It constitutes one of the world’s largest independent relief forces.
US Rep. Juan Vargas Discusses Religion in Public Life
Professor Peppard leads Curran Center for American Catholic Studies webinar for his religion and American politics course
The Curran Center for American Catholic Studies held a webinar on April 1 with U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas of California regarding his reflection on the role of religion in public office and politics. Michael Peppard, professor of theology, conducted the webinar in conjunction with topics from his religion and American politics class.
Vargas is a California native whose father immigrated from Mexico in the 1940s. He joined the Jesuits at a young age and devoted most of his time to helping disadvantaged communities and displaced people in El Salvador. For his education, Vargas earned his master’s degree in 1987 from Fordham before attending Harvard Law School.
As a Fordham alumnus, Vargas continued to stay connected to the community. During the 2020 presidential election, he told The Financial Times that he endorsed Michael Bloomberg after a conversation with Fordham University President Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., who “praised the candidate’s integrity.”
In conversation with Peppard, Vargas touched upon aspects of religion and the role it has played in the time that he has served in public office. As a Democrat, Vargas noted the difference between himself and his Republican colleagues when it comes to their views on Christ’s mission.
“I wish we could change their mind on some issues with the poor and immigrants,” he said.
Peppard posed several questions to Vargas regarding life in politics and his own experiences when it comes to the integration of religion into public office. This dialogue allowed for an understanding of the ties between church and state and how public officials work while putting aside their own religious beliefs in order to serve their constituents.
“It’s not just Catholics in this society. There are other people that have different views,” Vargas said.
The webinar hosted Peppard’s religion and American politics class along with other students who expressed interest in the topic. At the end of the session, three students were able to ask Vargas questions. The first asked about his decision to attend and his experience at law school.
“The work that I do is because I believe deeply in the Bible. I do believe deeply in our mission to try to make the world a better place and to honor it and so that’s why I do it.”Rep. Juan Vargas
Vargas provided insight into what sparked his political career after earning his juris doctor (J.D.) from Harvard in 1991 and how he became a member of Congress.
“I started practicing law and then really decided that I wanted to do something more than just practice law, so I got into politics,” he said. “I lost an election first. I ran the clean campaign and got my clock cleaned, so next time I ran the not-so-clean campaign.”
Regarding his humanitarian work in El Salvador, one student asked Vargas whether or not his work is guided by his biblical principles.
“The work that I do is because I believe deeply in the Bible,” he said. “I do believe deeply in our mission to try to make the world a better place and to honor it and so that’s why I do it.”
In response to a question about the relationship between politics and religion, Vargas admitted that the two intersect. However, he added that it is harder to come to an agreement when there is a difference in views on issues that are profoundly personal.
“I take an oath to defend the Constitution and I really do try to do that, and there are some instances, I think, where the Constitution doesn’t live up to what it should be but again, those are the rules that we live on.”
The event closed with Vargas reminiscing on his years at Fordham and asking Peppard to keep Congress in his prayers.
Don’t speak about religion, politics…or water
There are two subjects you are told to never talk about in polite company – religion and politics.
But lets add water to the list because it’s an emotionally charged conversation starter that is guaranteed to kick start debate, especially if you come from different parts of the state. Whether it’s irrigation water for cotton or drinking water in the Northern Rivers or even whether dams are the answer, everyone has a point on view on this hot commodity.
For so long the state’s farmers have been fighting over the lack of water.
You might have thought that now dams are filling and the rivers are flooding the debate would have quietened.
But, instead we are fighting over who gets the water now available – the memory of how quickly it can disappear still fresh in everyone’s mind.
In particular there is anxiety in the Southern Basin that the water flowing down from the north might not reach them – and if it does, could quickly pass them by.
Control of the Menindee Lakes is expected to pass from NSW to the Murray Darling Basin Authority later this week – when the 640 gigalitre trigger point is reached.
Menindee locals are concerned that once the MDBA take control, water will be released downriver to supply South Australia’s entitlements – with the MDBA still pedaling the ‘use it or lose it’ philosophy, pointing to the lakes yearling evaporation rates, which can be as high as 700GL/year.
Meanwhile, floodplain harvesting again led to heated debates in parliament this week.
There is a sense of déjà vu as the government’s floodplain harvesting regulations are posed to be disallowed by the Upper House yet again.
The regulations have split party lines, but both their supporters and detractors say they are campaigning for the same thing – better outcomes for downstream communities.
The truth? Like many water issues it is buried deep inside policy and legislative technicalities that the average punter finds difficult to discern.
So while we are enjoying the rising of our water supplies, we need to think carefully how to manage it in the coming months and years so we don’t get into trouble again.
Now is the time for water agencies and governments to seize the opportunity to preserve what we have and use it wisely.
Like the hay reserves, we don’t want to see it whittled away by mice, before our water fortunes turn around. Especially when the next drought is only around the corner.
- Have your say on the issues reported on in The Land by writing to letters@theland.com.au
Love agricultural news? Sign up for The Land’s free daily newsletter
Legacy of Holocaust hides in the shadows of German Psychiatry, documentary
There are few alive today who do not know the incomprehensible horrors of the Holocaust. But while most know the devastating loss of life it incurred, few genuinely understand who was responsible for its design. In Nazi Germany, psychiatrists were the architects of mass murder, applying euthanasia techniques pioneered in their public facilities at scale in concentration camps across Europe. By the end of World War II, over 300,000 mental patients were killed under the orders of Nazi psychiatrists. To this day, it is the largest scientifically justified genocide in human history. Many citizens in Germany today are horrified and confounded that such a thing could have ever happened. But the reality is, it never stopped. The legacy of Nazi psychiatry continues to this day in hospitals across modern-day Germany.
Too many German patients die from psychiatric abuse every year. These preventable deaths come at the hands of barbaric practices like electroconvulsive therapy, unnecessary patient restraint, and severe side effects from medications administered without patient consent. These are perpetuations of the Nazi belief in eliminating “unfit” members of society, and they are still happening because their sinister beginnings have yet to be exposed to the public.
But some are battling to dismantle these inhumane institutions. At the vanguard of this effort is Bernd Trepping and Nicola Cramer, a husband and wife duo who are members of the international psychiatric watchdog group Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) and leaders of its German chapter. They have dedicated their lives to uprooting psychiatric criminality and educating the public on its Nazi origins.
“We know the truth about psychiatric criminality,” says Nicola Cramer in her interview for the documentary series, Voices for Humanity, “[we must] make sure that all human rights and dignity for everybody [is] maintained and safeguarded forever.”
Bernd and Nicola have been fighting for this cause with CCHR for over 25 years. During that time, they have made significant inroads towards their goals of awareness and reform, including the publication of their stunning research exposé, Psychiatrists—The Men Behind Hitler. This unprecedented deep dive into the dark history of German psychiatry sold out its first run almost overnight. Its grassroots success finally pressured a response from the President of the German Psychiatric Association at their annual congress.
To learn more about Bernd, Nicola, and the incredible work their team at CCHR is doing, watch their full episode of Voices for Humanity for free on the Scientology Network.
EU Commission designates new EU Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion: Christos Stylianides
| The Bishops of the European Union welcome the appointment of Christos Stylianides as EU Special Envoy on the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Religion or Belief Outside the EU. Cardinal Hollerich: “We wish him success in this important role of promoting a fundamental right and a core value of the European Union threatened in many parts of the world and we look forward to work closely together”. |
| The appointment of Mr Stylianides was made public on Wednesday 5 May 2021 by the Vice-President of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, who tweeted: “Freedom of religion or belief is under attack in many parts of the world. The appointment of Stylianides […] shows we are determined to protect the rights of all faiths and beliefs”. On behalf of all EU Bishops, H. Em. Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, President of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), congratulates Mr Stylianides on his appointment as EU Special Envoy and “look forward to work closely together to promote the Fundamental Right of Freedom of Religion in all the world”. In a press release published by the COMECE, it is reported that “Since its creation in May 2016, and despite its limited mandate and resources, the EU Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief made a remarkable work in addressing challenging situations in many countries where freedom of thought, conscience and religion is seriously threatened or violated. The positive contribution of the Special Envoy was also recognized by the European Parliament in its resolution of 15 January 2019. According to recent statistics, government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion have increased, and today many people live in fear of persecution and discrimination because of their beliefs, either religious or non-religious. The right to freedom of thought, or conscience, can also be seen as a “canary in the coal mine”: its violation is a reliable warning sign of infringement of many other fundamental rights. In these last years, COMECE has advocated to strengthen the EU mechanisms dedicated to promoting and protecting the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion in third countries. In May 2020, COMECE and the Conference of European Churches (CEC) addressed a letter to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, encouraging the appointment of the Special Envoy, whose mandated ended in 2019.” |
Christian actors publish concrete recommendations to the EU Pact on Migration
Christian actors publish concrete recommendations to the EU Pact on Migration
The Christian Group on Migration and Asylum has recently published several detailed documents analysing some key aspects of the proposed EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, stressing the centrality of the human person and his/her dignity at every stage of the migratory experience.
Following the publication of the proposed EU Pact on Migration and Asylum by the European Commission in September 2020, this Christian Group composed of COMECE and its Christian Brussels-based partners, contributed to the current public debate on how the EU and its Member States should address the phenomenon of migration.
The documents contain several specific recommendations in different areas, including asylum and migration management and funding, pre-entry screening and border procedures, return and readmissions policies and cooperation with third countries, as well as the issue of criminalisation of search and rescue operations at sea.
In December 2020, the COMECE Working Group on Migration and Asylum delivered a statement on the mentioned EU Pact, urging the European Union to put into practice policies that welcome, protect, promote and integrate migrants and refugees, as proposed by Pope Francis in his 2018 message on the occasion of the World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
The next meeting of the COMECE Working Group will take place in May 2021 and will address the challenges of integrating migrants in hosting societies.
Download documents
OCU plans interfaith dedication to honor the late religion professor John Starkey
By Darla Shelden, City Sentinel Reporter —
OKLAHOMA CITY – As part of their graduation celebrations this year, Oklahoma City University will dedicate one of his favorite campus spots to beloved professor, the late John Starkey. (June 17, 1953 – January 11, 2020)
The public is invited to attend the interfaith tree and bench dedication at 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 6 as friends and family celebrate Starkey’s life and commitment to serving others. Starkey taught at OCU for 21 years.
At the time of his passing, the dedicated Millhouse Professor of Theology had earned numerous honors, including Outstanding Faculty Award in 2006, the Undergraduate Research Mentoring Award in 2014-15, the Excellence in Teaching Award for Full-Time Faculty in 2009, and Distinguished Honors Professor in 2001, 2005, 2008 and 2012.
Those who knew Starkey were greatly impacted by his teaching and challenging questions, and his legacy is most embodied by the tributes given by his students and colleagues. He spent more than two decades devoted to his students and others at Oklahoma City University.
“John Starkey had a profound impact on our university and demonstrated his love for others and the world around him every day,” said the Rev. Elizabeth Horton-Ware, director of religious life at OCU. “We hope to honor his memory by gathering as a community and celebrating his incredible life.”
Starkey could often be seen taking a walk around campus and enjoying its various beautification projects.
In honor and celebration of his love for nature and trees, representatives of various faiths will hold the tree and bench dedication ceremony near OCU’s Bishop W. Angie Smith Chapel.
Horton-Ware said she felt it was important to have something students can look at to remember him, reported Destyni Lietzke, of MediaOCU.
“We created a scholarship in his honor,…but we also wanted something tangible that people could look at and physically see and touch,” Horton-Ware said “That’s where the tree and bench idea came into play. This way, students can have both.”
Olivia Clerk, a religion senior who had Starkey for multiple classes throughout her time at OCU said a memorial tree being planted is perfect, Lietzke wrote.
“You would always find him under a tree or around a tree. There’s stories and stories of him just sitting outside on the quad. He felt a special connection to trees and was always connecting them to faith,” Clerk said.
During the memorial service, on January 19, 2020, Dr. Mark Davies, Wimberly Professor of Social and Ecological Ethics at OCU, gave a tribute to his “friend and colleague” John Starkey that read in part:
“John was a former Jesuit who became a Quaker and lived much of his last 21 and half years in service to Methodists both at OCU and through teaching in United Methodist camps and churches. John practiced and taught the best of what he experienced in these spiritual communities, and he loved and sought deeper understanding of his siblings from many other faiths and from those who oriented themselves in different ways to religion.
John loved the classroom and his books, but he was equally at home and happy enjoying the beauty of nature as could be seen when he would take his St. Francis like walks on campus finding beauty in the trees, flowers, and the native plants. He also spent many days hiking in the Green and White mountain ranges of New England with his dear friends. John found joy in nature. One of his students noted that “the way Starkey looked at trees is the way we looked at Starkey.”
Parking will be available for the dedication on the east end of Noble Drive and in the Kramer School of Nursing parking lots.
Facebook photo.
Twin Falls, ID Jewish Girl Threatened By Students For Religion
A young Twin Falls girl attending South Hills Middle School in Twin Falls is allegedly being harassed and threatened at school for her religion. Over the last two weeks she said these incidents have turned into threats.
According to the girl’s mother, some girls began bullying her and threatening to “beat her a**” but have not put any hands on her. They were threats.
Then when she attended South Hills Middle School there was a group of boys who were saying things like they “idolized Hitler” and one child even allegedly threatened to “gas her”. The anti-Semitic language only got more intense according to the daughter. One boy also allegedly told her that he liked to tease Jews so she was going to hate him by the end of class.
According to the mother one student was suspended but still was at a school dance where he told her, “thanks for getting me suspended.” The group of bullies were still able to get in contact with her.
The mother also said in another incident a boy allegedly slammed her daughter into a wall and knocked a snow cone out of her hand. This boy allegedly does this to many other students but no action could be done because it was not caught on camera.
The mother said that the resource officer said they wouldn’t be able to do anything about the threat because they didn’t have the means to carry out the act. The mother of the daughter also told me that she called the Twin Falls Police Department and they were unable to do anything since no laws had been broken
When I reached out to the Public Information Officer for Twin Falls School District they did say that they were unable to share any information about disciplinary action that may or may not be taking place. The school also stated they have policies in place to prohibit discrimination based on race or religion and they prohibit bullying and harassment. Violations lead to disciplinary action and they strive to keep the schools a save environment for all to learn.
The mother has pulled the daughter and her son out of South Hills Middle School.
Bob Abernethy, host and founder of ‘Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,’ dies at 93
(RNS) — Veteran broadcast journalist Bob Abernethy, who founded the PBS program “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,” has died at the age of 93.
He died on Sunday (May 2) in Brunswick, Maine, his daughter Jane Montgomery Abernethy announced in a Facebook post. She said her father died of natural causes.
Abernethy was a correspondent for NBC News for more than four decades. Working in Washington, Los Angeles, London and Moscow, he covered the fledgling U.S. space program, Congress and the Soviet Union’s collapse.
In 1997, he turned his broadcast expertise to the world of religion, launching his award-winning PBS news program that would go on to run for almost 20 years.
RELATED: PBS show ‘Religion and Ethics NewsWeekly’ to end after 20-year run
“There’s an enormous amount of interest in this part of life,” Abernethy said when plans were unveiled for “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.” “There’s not enough being done to cover this part of life, given the interest, and we hope to fill that niche.”
Bob Abernethy of “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,” left, speaks with Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz in a February 2012 taping. Photo courtesy of “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly”
Abernethy was both the host and executive editor of the show, which featured national and international stories and analyses about religion. It included interviews of newsmakers such as former President Jimmy Carter and the Dalai Lama, profiles of religious leaders like Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and evangelist Billy Graham and surveys about “nones,” or the religiously unaffiliated, and faith after 9/11.
“I’ve heard over and over again, since the show went off the air, how much people miss it and how much we filled a niche in especially mainstream television,” said Kim Lawton, the show’s managing editor who now runs her own production company. “And that was all because of Bob’s vision for the importance of religion in society as well as in individual lives.”
Early in the days of the half-hour show, the staff recorded the narration for their stories in a makeshift audio booth — an upright refrigerator box retrofitted with foam to cushion the sound as they spoke into a microphone. When Abernethy took his turn in that booth, he wore a headband with a light on it to see his script as he worked to pronounce the names correctly of people from across the world and across religions.
“We always had to get it right,” Lawton said. “That was so important to Bob. Religion is hard. It’s easy to get it wrong, but he was insistent that we do it right.”
Author Judith Valente, who was a contributing correspondent for “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,” recalled that Abernethy also emphasized having reporters tell compelling stories.
“You could see that in the care and attention Bob gave to the writing in each of the segments we reported for Religion & Ethics,” she said. “He also believed that religion deserved the same kind of penetrating coverage that is given to other subjects, like politics, economics and social issues. He was truly a pioneer in religion news coverage.”
Abernethy co-edited with William Bole the 2007 book “The Life of Meaning: Reflections on Faith, Doubt, and Repairing the World,” which was a collection of edited excerpts from contributors to the program.
In the book’s introduction, Abernethy noted how he had covered the space program’s start and communism’s fall.
“But nothing I have done has been as personally satisfying as founding and working on ‘RENW,’” he wrote, “and the main reason for that is the many opportunities the show provides for sitting down with the likes of Archbishop (Desmond) Tutu — extraordinary men and women who speak as naturally about their faith and doubt and spiritual practices as they do about the weather.”
Bob Abernethy on the set of “Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.” Video screengrab
Abernethy, who was a member of the Cleveland Park Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, had his own personal religion story as well.
His grandfather, the Rev. William Shaddock Abernethy, was the pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, a prominent Washington congregation where President Warren Harding attended, as well as Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes.
“He sat in the pew right in front of ours,” Abernethy told Arthur J. Magida, author of the 2006 book “Opening the Doors of Wonder: Reflections on Religious Rites of Passage.” “Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, I would watch my grandfather preach, looking past the full, white, very well-trimmed beard of ‘the Chief.’”
Abernethy was born in Geneva, Switzerland, where his father was a secretary of the international YMCA. He later spent a year of study at Yale Divinity School.
He told Magida of the “tapestry” of his Christian upbringing, a love of “old hymns” and the enduring lessons of his childhood faith.
“(W)hatever I do will be strongly influenced in more ways than I’m conscious of by my early years at Calvary Baptist, the church of my grandfather,” he concluded.
Abernethy was honored with the James Parks Morton Interfaith Award by the Interfaith Center of New York in 2015 and a special Wilbur Award from the Religion Communicators Council in 2010.
As Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly ended its run, Abernethy thanked the viewers who had grown accustomed to watching the show that won more than 200 industry awards.
“It has been a great privilege to report the many ways people of faith worship and serve others,” he said in a statement. “We are deeply grateful to our thoughtful staff and also to our viewers, many of whom have told us the program consistently affirms the values they most respect.”
RELATED: NEWS STORY: Plans for weekly religion news show unveiled
Philanthropists and politicians: Religion is not a problem to solve, it’s a partnership opportunity
(RNS) — In a period of significant pressure on our democracy, our health and our overall well-being as a people, faith has provided a hidden infrastructure that has held America together. We miss out on much good when we do not recognize the role of faith and religious institutions in our communities.
Last month, the Bridgespan Group released a report confirming what many of us already knew: While faith-inspired organizations, congregations and individuals make up a large percentage of America’s civic and social landscape — especially when it comes to providing aid to low-income people and those on the margins — they are significantly underrepresented and overlooked by philanthropic institutions who fund in these areas. Although faith is often in the headlines as a subject of political intrigue and a tool of partisan warfare, in the lives of millions of Americans, faith is felt closer to home, helping them to survive and make it week to week, day to day.
If you’re not familiar with the basic state of play, the findings of the Bridgespan Group might strike you as something more problematic than simply a missed opportunity. The report finds that “faith-inspired organizations account for 40 percent of social safety net spending across a sample of six cities, which vary in size and demographics. Yet, while some individual philanthropists and community foundations have recognized faith-inspired organizations as platforms for impact, that perspective has not translated into funding from the largest institutional philanthropies — particularly those seeking to address the effects of poverty and injustice.”
The report quotes Kashif Shaikh, co-founder and executive director of the Pillars Fund, a grantmaking organization that invests in American Muslim organizations, who rightly points out: “Secularism is the dominant narrative in the U.S., but often less so in vulnerable communities, in my experience. It’s a disservice to not even acknowledge it.”
Indeed, while it is certainly within the rights of philanthropic institutions to “not do religion,” such an approach undermines any meaningful, holistic commitment to community or place-based philanthropy in much of this country and in many places around the world. At best, a categorical rejection of religious engagement among institutions working in significantly religious communities amounts to an acknowledgment of an organizational deficiency. At worst, it adds up to a willful act of disruption and disrespect for the values, beliefs and culture of the communities that are “served.”
The problem is not just in philanthropy. In politics and public life, faith is often viewed as a sword or a shield for one’s own agenda. Religious communities are too rarely considered on their own terms, categorized instead as political foe or ally. This dynamic contributed to an unfortunate and harmful tenor of conflict between some governments and religious communities as we sought to mitigate COVID-19. These conflicts emerged, in part, because many elected officials viewed religious communities as a problem to solve rather than a potential partner. Politicians need to start viewing faith communities as not just sources of votes, but sources of wisdom and expertise.
Community members work together organizing food donations. Photo by Joel Muniz/Unsplash/Creative Commons
Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) detected a lack of understanding for how faith and civic health are tied together, and in particular, how faith communities are helping people build relationships and work together across difference. In 2019, they launched a funding and learning initiative, Faith In/And Democracy, to support faith-inspired organizations and efforts that are helping to hold our communities and our democracy together.
As an adviser to this program, I have been able to see the tireless, often thankless, work grantees of the program have advanced. We set out to determine if there was a distinct field of faith organizations and actors supporting our civic life, and our efforts have been met with a resounding “yes.” In its pilot year, over 130 qualified organizations applied to the program, and five were selected to participate in a robust learning community that included a range of advisers as well as philanthropic leaders committed to this work. Together, we grappled with what COVID-19 might mean for our grantees’ work, and we saw up close how they discovered creative ways to persist in their mission despite numerous roadblocks. During an election year when some sought to stir up religious resentment and conflict, our grantees were working to strengthen our democracy and build bridges of faith between disparate communities.
Through the crises of this year and my experiences working in the White House under President Obama, I have come to rely on the fact that if there is a crisis or challenge in the news, there are people of faith at work to address it for the common good. Faith is always at work.
As we turn our focus from lockdowns to vaccinations, public officials are turning to religious communities for support. In recent weeks, Dr. Francis Collins and Dr. Anthony Fauci participated in a service with D.C.-area clergy focused on the vaccine. Dr. Fauci has referred to the imperative to get adults vaccinated as a “‘love thy neighbor’ opportunity.” After relative dormancy during the Trump years, President Biden has reestablished and reinvigorated the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which should ensure the federal government is able to effectively partner with the faith community to keep the national response to COVID-19 on track.
If respected, valued and included, people of faith and religious institutions can be partners on so many of the issues at the top of the national agenda. For example, the Biden administration should not merely welcome the support of people of faith for the anti-poverty provisions in the American Rescue Plan, but rather, invite faith leaders to champion the provisions, to claim them as a harbinger of a new national commitment to better care for the “least of these.”
Likewise, we cannot have a conversation about strengthening our democracy without recognizing the role of faith as a molder of civic character and a shaper of civic consciousness. Faith communities’ value to our democracy does not only show up for “Souls to the Polls,” but in the countless ways in which faith beckons Americans outside of themselves and toward their neighbors. In many communities, congregations serve as civic incubators, forums for strengthening muscles of service, negotiation and love.
Philanthropy, governments and other sectors should never instrumentalize faith, nor impose their values on faith communities. The point is not that faith communities should be viewed as potential avenues for advancing someone else’s agenda — rather, that so much of what we struggle to do and be is already attended to by the resources inherent in many religious communities.
Nothing does what faith does the way faith does it. We’re going to need it in the days ahead, just as it has been here — quietly, at times — all along.
(Michael Wear is founder of Public Square Strategies, LLC, and an adviser to PACE’s Faith In/And Democracy initiative. He served in the White House as part of President Barack Obama’s faith-based initiative. The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Religion News Service.)