World Vision of Britain and of Ireland have gone to court to counter separate criticisms of their financial practices. World Vision of Britain filed a libel action in British court last April against Channel 4 and the makers of a documentary that accused the relief-and-development agency of spending more money on overhead and proselytizing than on relief services. Spokesman Phil Malone said the allegations undermined a major fund-rasing effort, a Lenten fast that was expected to raise as much as $4.25 million for Third World famine relief. World Vision did not ask for a specific amount of damages in its suit.
Malone said the program, titled “In the Name of Hunger,” ignored independently audited reports that show that approximately 78 percent of World Vision of Britain’s budget goes to ministry services. That figure includes about 8 percent for “public education” to make known needs and the ministry’s programs. Administration receives 7 percent, fund raising receives 19 percent, he said.
World Vision of Britain has never sued anyone before, Malone said, but felt the action was necessary to “seek justice and not vengeance” on behalf of the ministry’s supporters and those it serves.
World Vision of Ireland last April asked Trocaire, the Irish Catholic bishops’ relief arm, to “rescind allegations” made about World Vision’s overhead and ministry practices. Representatives said the Lenten fast lost several sponsors following the distribution of a letter from Trocaire’s director to Irish bishops that criticized the “fundamentalist aims” of World Vision. Trocaire officials also accused World Vision of timing its campaign to compete with its own fund-raising efforts.
Thora Mackey, a representative of World Vision of Ireland, told the Religious News Service that World Vision had asked Trocaire twice to rescind their allegations. “We don’t like doing this, but we are left with no alternative,” she said.
CAPITAL CURRENTS
Profamily or proyuppie?
Members of Congress who regard themselves as “profamily” advocates are landing on different sides of the issue of parental leave.
The “Family and Medical Leave Act” passed by the House of Representatives last month allows workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave upon the birth or adoption of a child or in cases of serious family illness. The White House has threatened to veto the measure, saying the Bush administration supports the concept but does not want to see it mandated.
Breaking with the President was Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.). He cited his support for the family, stating, “It seems to me, for motherhood, for a sick family member, our economy and society should be compassionate enough to provide for that.”
Some profamily legislators, however, argued that businesses’ support for families could be better shown in other ways. Rep. Steve Bartlett (R-Tex.), usually a Hyde ally, called the bill “a yuppie bill with yuppie benefits because only young, upwardly mobile people can afford to take off.” Others fear the measure could lead to employment discrimination against women of child-bearing age.
Guest list backlash
President Bush’s invitation list to a recent White House signing ceremony kicked up a storm of controversy among conservatives around town. The “National Hate Crimes Statistics Act,” sponsored by Sens. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), orders the Justice Department to track incidents of “hate crimes” motivated by prejudice based on religious affiliation, ethnicity, race, or sexual orientation. Among the religious- and civil-rights groups invited to watch Bush sign the measure into law were—for the first time ever—about a dozen gay-rights advocates.
After the ceremony, national gay- and lesbian-rights leader Tim McFeeley praised the Bush administration. McFeeley noted that was not only the first time gay-rights advocates have been invited to the White House, but it was also the first time sexual orientation was included in federal civil-rights legislation.
However, not everyone in the nation’s capital shared McFeeley’s enthusiasm or his point of view. In a strongly worded letter that he sent to the President, Sen. William Armstrong (R-Colo.) protested Bush’s action. Wrote Armstrong, “Inviting such groups to the White House gives them a status they have never previously achieved and undermines the pastors, teachers, youth workers, and others who are trying to hold the line against immorality.”
People and events
As part of the National Day of Prayer festivities last month, some 500 Christians participated in the International Bible Reading Association’s 90-hour Bible Reading Marathon on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Politicians and religious leaders also held a “prayer celebration” proclaiming “healing in the nation’s capital.”
In a Washington ceremony, the Association of Christian Schools International presented Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) with its “Religious Freedom Award” for his “promotion of traditional values and ethics that matter to the average Christian family and religious schools.”
The Christian College Coalition has opened a new permanent headquarters on Capitol Hill. The facility, which will also house the coalition’s American Studies Program, is named after former Congressman and first coalition president John Dellenback, who is now chairman of the U.S. Board of World Vision.
