Religion Today Summaries – December 10, 2003
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world. In today's edition:
- Poll: Religion Crucial to Casting Votes in 2004
- Parents Win Fight to Put ‘God’ Back in School Music Program
- New Orleans to Host Baptists, Gays Same Weekend
- Non-Christians' Complaints Remove Christmas Tree Display
Poll: Religion Crucial to Casting Votes in 2004
Kevin Eckstrom, Religion News service
Nearly two-thirds of American voters say their religious beliefs will be an important factor when it comes time to cast their votes for president next year, according to a new Gallup Poll. Sixty-four percent of registered voters say their "personal religious beliefs and faith" will help shape their vote for president, while 36 percent say it will not. Pollsters detected a "gender gap" between women and men -- 44 percent of women said faith would be extremely or very important, compared to only 33 percent of men. The Rev. Albert Winseman, religion and values editor for Gallup's Tuesday Briefing report, said the gap presents opportunities and challenges for both parties. "The challenge for the Democratic candidate -- whoever that may be -- will be to make a real connection between personal faith and public life, something that most of the Democratic candidates have not yet done," he said. President Bush, who has been open about his evangelical Christian faith, may have an advantage in areas that are traditional Republican territory -- rural areas and suburbs. Only 30 percent of urban voters said religion will dictate their votes, compared to 41 percent of suburban voters and 46 percent of rural voters.
Parents Win Fight to Put ‘God’ Back in School Music Program
Agape Press
In Pleasant Valley, California, a group of angry parents have won a battle to get God put back in a popular patriotic song. According to an Associated Press report, Kaila Kaden and her 11-year-old daughter Jackie took issue with officials at Jackie's school who wanted to remove the word "God" from the Lee Greenwood anthem "God Bless the U.S.A." Jackie and some other students were supposed to perform the song at a school benefit, but the school officials wanted the singers to change the lyrics from "God bless the U.S.A." to "I love the U.S.A." But the school officials backed down after Kaden and other concerned parents argued that fear of lawsuits was not sufficient reason to drop the word from the song. Young Jackie says the whole affair taught her a lesson. "It's really important that you speak out for what you think is correct and what you think is incorrect," she says. "The song got changed back because of me and my mom," Jackie adds, "and I think anyone who has a problem like that should just speak up and not let anyone trample all over them." School board president Ron Speakman now concedes that trying to censor the song was, in his words, "a misguided attempt to be politically correct."
New Orleans to Host Baptists, Gays Same Weekend
Bruce Nolan, Religion News Service
A pure accident of convention scheduling will usher 35,000 Baptists into New Orleans just as Southern Decadence weekend reaches the gaudy height of its public celebration of gay pride next year. Both events are tied to Labor Day: Southern Decadence by custom and the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention by order of its constitution. The church meeting, which features five days of singing, Bible study, preaching and some street witnessing by Baptists from throughout the country, begins Labor Day, Sept. 6, the end of Southern Decadence weekend, which begins Sept. 1. "I know I wasn't aware of it, and I don't think anyone else was, either," said the Rev. C.S. Gordon of New Zion Baptist Church, a key local pastor. No matter, he said when apprised of the coincidence. Delegates from the nation's largest African-American denomination will meet in New Orleans as planned. Gordon said that the street witnessing the members do largely occurs among the people of the city's housing developments, he said. As for entertainment venues, "I doubt our people would even be in many of the same places as those other folks," he said.
Non-Christians' Complaints Remove Christmas Tree Display
Charisma News Service
A Christmas tree with no religious ornaments was recently removed by an Indianapolis law school because some complained that the decorations made non-Christians feel excluded. According to "The Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) Sagamore," several students and at least one faculty member were unhappy when the tree decorated with paper fans and globes was set up the day before Thanksgiving in the atrium of the school. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Christmas trees are secular symbols of the holiday, IUPUI's dean decided to replace the Christmas tree with two trees, one with lights and the other without, a sled and fake snow. Elsewhere, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently urged a Kansas school district to investigate elementary schools allowing a minister dressed as Santa to discuss the meaning of Christmas. The ACLU claimed school officials violated the U.S. Constitution's separation of church and state last December by allowing a pastor dressed as Santa to share with students in Baldwin, Vinland and Marion Springs schools his thoughts about Jesus. However, Baldwin Supt. Jim White said he didn't think they violated the law.
Originally published December 10, 2003.
