Atheist Wants Congressional Chaplains Ousted & other news
- 'Pledge' Father Now Seeks to Abolish Congressional Chaplaincies
- Bible Society Lends Hand to Flood-Ravaged Czech Republic
- World Relief President Clive Calver Heads to Zimbabwe
- Washington Bishop, Accokeek Vestry Settle Differences
'Pledge' Father Now Seeks to Abolish Congressional Chaplaincies
According to The Washington Post, Michael Newdow, the California atheist who sued to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance, now wants to stop House and Senate chaplains from ministering to members of Congress. Last week Newdow filed a lawsuit in federal district court that challenges the constitutionality of taxpayer-funded chaplaincies. He named all of Congress and James M. Eagen III, chief administrator of Congress, as defendants.
"If congressmen want to go to church, [then] walk down the block like other Americans do and go to church,'' Newdow said in an interview with the Post. "Don't get my government engaged in it. There are some people who don't love God Almighty."
The Post noted that Newdow is on "a crusade to take God out of government. He wants the words 'In God We Trust' off money, presidents to quit talking about God at their inaugurations, and members of Congress to be prohibited from offering resolutions in the House and Senate talking about God." Newdow, who says he "absolutely denies the existence of any Supreme Being," claims he applied for the jobs of House and Senate chaplains, and was passed over.
According to the Post, Congress has had paid chaplains since 1789. They earn as much as $147,000 per year to lead prayers, counsel members and perform other religious tasks.
Bible Society Lends Hand to Flood-Ravaged Czech Republic
On Sept. 2, the International Bible Society (IBS) began a campaign to bring Scripture to people affected by flooding in the Czech Republic. Recent flooding in Europe has resulted in the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people and has left more than 100 dead; more rain is forecast.
IBS, working in concert with hundreds of local churches, will distribute 30,000 Scripture-based disaster booklets and 3,000 New Testaments. The Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations will also help with distribution. While local church members personally hand out some of the Czech-language Scripture resources, others will be added to humanitarian aid parcels. The cost of the Scripture and distribution, a total of $20,555, will be offset by IBS' Emergency Scripture Fund.
IBS-Czech Republic National Director Milan Hlouch is leading the distribution efforts. "These terrible floods have covered many big cities, including Prague," he said. "Thousands of people have lost their homes, and many other homes are damaged. It is so important to bring these people the hope of Jesus when they are facing such great devastation."
Hlouch has contacted approximately 500 church leaders and offered copies of our Scriptures for their local disaster outreach. The IBS special crisis outreach booklet, "When Your Whole World Changes," uses portions of Scripture in 25 daily readings that share comfort, encouragement and counsel. The text also includes personal testimonies and an invitation to salvation.
World Relief President Clive Calver Heads to Zimbabwe
World Relief President Clive Calver will land in Zimbabwe on Sept. 4 to oversee the organization's response to the famine facing Zimbabwe and other Southern African nations. World Relief is the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals. Its mission is to alleviate human suffering around the world. The World Relief disaster response team is tackling the food crisis throughout Southern Africa by forming alliances with various churches such as the Free Methodist Church to conduct targeted food distribution.
Member denominations throughout Southern Africa are compiling lists of the neediest food aid recipients including the sick, orphans, pregnant or nursing women and deliver food to them with support from World Relief. In Zimbabwe alone, World Relief and the Free Methodist Church hope to assist more than 150,000 people over the next seven months.
During a U.S. Department of State briefing on the food crisis in Southern Africa, Andrew S. Natsios, administrator of USAID, outlined the importance of funneling the necessary aid through "NGOs and church groups" to insure proper distribution among the needy. Calver explained that churches are vital in the response to the growing food crisis in Southern Africa because they [churches] understand the needs of their communities better than outsiders do and can distribute aid more effectively.
Washington Bishop, Accokeek Vestry Settle Differences
(Episcopal News Service) -- The 18-month-long impasse between a vestry in Accokeek, Md., and the Diocese of Washington over the election of a rector was broken Aug. 29 with the issuance of a joint statement between the vestry and Bishop John Chane. The statement named the Rev. Stephen Arpee, who has served in recent months as priest-in-charge, as the parish's new rector. The agreement also binds the Accokeek vestry not to appeal to the Supreme Court a decision in the case of Dixon v. Edwards.
The case was brought by Washington's then-bishop pro tempore Jane Holmes Dixon in June, 2001, asking that a federal judge prohibit the Rev. Samuel Lee Edwards from officiating at Christ Church and declare his contract with the parish invalid. Two lower federal courts had ruled in Dixon's favor.
The vestry and the diocese had been embroiled in controversy since March, 2001, when Dixon informed the vestry that she refused Edwards' election as rector on the grounds that he was not "duly qualified," based on reports of his teachings while executive director of the traditionalist group Forward in Faith/North America (FIF/NA) and on what Dixon termed his "unwillingness to guarantee his obedience" her as his bishop and his "lack of commitment to keeping Christ Church and church property" in the Episcopal Church.
Edwards' backers claimed that Dixon had exceeded a canonical time limit for objection to his election, while Dixon and her attorneys argued that no such time limit existed in the canons.
The Accokeek vestry has agreed that the parish will "resume its participation in both the legislative and pastoral life of the Diocese of Washington," and Chane is to conduct a regular visitation to Christ Church on Sept. 22, 2002. Chane was consecrated as the eighth Bishop of Washington in June. Dixon retired as bishop suffragan on Aug. 31.
Originally published September 04, 2002.
