Will the Faith-Based Initiative 'Explicitly Prohibit Hiring Discrimination'?

Barney Frank says bill will lead to discrimination and racism. Supporters of President Bush’s faith-based initiative have worried that the legislation eventually passed may be a weak shadow of its original intent. Some were concerned it would do little good for faith-based charities. Now it could actually hurt them.

The Boston Globe reported yesterday that House democrats and civil-rights groups are campaigning against the current bill in the Senate because it “would not expressly bar religious charities that receive federal funds from proselytizing or practicing discrimination in hiring.”

In other words, it would allow faith-based groups to practice their faith and hire those who share it. But Democrat Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts says the bill would lead to racism and discrimination against homosexuals because organizations will hire on the basis of their religion or culture.

He has met with several senators and senatorial aides, The Boston Globe reports, to encourage blocking the bill unless it is amended to “explicitly prohibit hiring discrimination.”

The bipartisan bill’s supporters are frustrated that such arguments are delaying action. Some are nervous that it won’t be passed before midterm elections. Rick Santorum, Republican senator from Pennsylvania, was unable this week to get Democrats’ approval to move the bill to the Senate floor with attached limits on debate and amendments. It was the fourth attempt.

”Time is slipping away,” Democrat Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut told The Boston Globe. ”This is a good bill. But, for reasons that are sometimes clear and sometimes not so clear, some of our colleagues are holding up action.”

Pakistan president blames India for attack Pakistani Christians this week are keeping their institutions closed for three days to mourn the death of seven employees of the Institution for Peace and Justice in Karachi. Two gunmen executed them in their office. There are no suspects.

Institution employee Robin Piranditta was the only survivor of the attack. While the other workers were killed, he was beaten. Police hope he can shed light on the attack. Authorities say he has given conflicting statements but is not considered a suspect.

Meanwhile, the event is not only increasing the fears of Christians in Pakistan, but adding intensity to the struggle between Pakistan and India. Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf told The Boston Globe last night that he suspects that Indian intelligence agencies carried out the attack to destabilize the country’s religious unity. A spate of recent attacks on Christians suggests that if religious unity exists, it is fragile at best.

Musharraf’s claim follows India’s allegation that Pakistan was behind the attack on a Gujarat Hindu temple this week that has left 30 worshippers dead.

Christian school students leave Ivory Coast The 191 Americans pinned down in the Ivory Coast’s International Christian Academy are now on their way to Ghana. French military secured the school yesterday after days of fighting between the government and rebels trapped them in the Bouaké school.

Approximately 300 Americans live in the city, the second largest in the Ivory Coast, which has been cut off from water, electricity, and food since an attempted coup began on September 19. Authorities say rebels still hold the city.

Approximately 800 ex-soldiers rebelled against the government after being dismissed for allegiance to a former leader. The Associated Press says the fighting has “sparked off deadly rivalries between the mainly Muslim north and the predominantly Christian south.”

Attacking Iraq:

A just war? | That Christians could be marshaled to oppose war is hardly news (David Davenport, Naples Daily News, Fla.)
Protesters urge Dodd to oppose Iraq attack | More than 100 people participated in the prayer vigil, and 10 clergy members had a 45-minute meeting with members of Dodd’s staff (The Hartford [Conn.] Courant)
What makes a war ‘just’? | Three Christian ethicists yesterday opposed a “pre-emptive war on Iraq,” echoing a statement signed by 100 Christian thinkers who wanted to heat up the Washington debate on “just war.” (The Washington Times)

Sex and marriage:

Let’s have more teen pregnancy | It’s not a problem (Frederica Mathewes-Green, National Review Online)
Christian meeting to study sex roles | Christians for Biblical Equality will present its view of marriage at a “mutual relationships” conference Friday through Sunday in Portland, Ore. (The Washington Times)

Catholicism:

Catholic college takes on the church’s crisis | At Boston College, a two-year initiative seeks to engage Catholics in sorting through the sex-abuse scandal. (The Christian Science Monitor)
Vatican scientists accused of destroying Turin Shroud | Microscopic particles that could have proved whether or not the Shroud of Turin could be dated to around the time of the death of Christ have been destroyed by Vatican scientists. (Sunday Herald, Glasgow, Scotland)
Mother Teresa moving closer to sainthood | May be beatified as early as next year, marking the final step before sainthood (Reuters)
Catholic Theologians debate ills of church hierarchy | Inquiry an outgrowth of sexual abuse crisis. (The Washington Post)
Outspoken leader for HK Catholics | Cardinal John Baptist Wu, 77, died after a long battle with diabetes and cancer. His deputy, Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, would take over, but has been banned from visiting China since 1998 (BBC)
Columbia’s president apologizes for remark taken as anti-Catholic | Alluded to the priest sex scandal and involved a double entendre about altar boys during football game against Fordham (Associated Press)
The bishop’s legacy: An empowered laity | Bishop Anthony Bosco has reached the mandatory retirement age of 75, but the Vatican has made no move to unseat him (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Allentown priest stirs debate on ordination of gays | The Rev. Andrew Baker writes from the Vatican that all-male seminaries tempt gays, and the homosexual ‘disorder’ confuses the vow of celibacy. A bishop disagrees. (The Morning Call, Allentown, Penn.)

Missions and ministry:

Freeing wild hearts | John Eldredge’s ministry seems to have touched a nerve (The Washington Times)
What would Jesus do? | Maybe, if he couldn’t lure the modern masses to church, he would build a place to enjoy a basketball game, a yoga stretch, a play or a meal. That’s Pasadena Community Church’s $3.8-million idea (St. Petersburg [Fla.] Times)
Missionaries carry on regardless of harassment | Despite the challenges they face from the government, the Russian Orthodox Church and even skinhead groups, Moscow’s missionaries are quietly going about their business and say the Russian people are receptive to their work (The Moscow Times)
Vicar takes a plunge for charity | Simon Foster has raised more than £1,000 for his parish by parachuting from 13,000 feet over a Nottinghamshire airfield (BBC)
Adventure just part of pastor’s job | Paul Winslow’s lifestyle of service, generosity never lacks excitement (The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.)
Taking their message to the world | Assignment for 35 Baptist college students: Spend nine weeks as a missionary in West Africa (The Courier, South Louisiana)
Missionary finds grace to forgive | 1956 slaying of missionaries in Ecuador was a generational event for the mid-20th century (The Dallas Morning News)
Mission to forgive | More than a year after two missionaries were shot by the people they thought they were helping, they return to Uganda (Wilmington [N.C.] Star)
Adoption program finds homes through churches | Board appointed by governor will direct program. (WESH, Orlando)
Young people on a mission | Seven teens plan to share faith on overseas trip. (The Washington Post)
Freeing wild hearts | Ransomed Heart Ministries seeks to “give back men their hearts.” (The Washington Times)

Sex abuse scandals:

Sting leads to sex abuse charge against ex-priest | Man’s arrest is the first to result from molestation allegations in Southland (Los Angeles Times)
Archdiocese eyes more legal rights for accused priests | On Friday, church officials in Boston plan to offer their first official response to such complaints, authorizing the drafting of a sort of canon law bill of rights that would be made available to all priests (The Boston Globe)
New take on clergy discipline | The Anglican Church in Southern Africa was set on Wednesday to break new legal ground by introducing a revised disciplinary process against clergy accused of sexual misconduct (SAPA)
Non-U.S. bishops could balk at American abuse guidelines | Some bishops from other regions of the globe are wondering why “mismanagement” in a small percentage of dioceses should lead to far-reaching rule changes (The Boston Herald)
Md. archdiocese discloses accused priests, expenses | Roman Catholic Cardinal William Keeler of Baltimore disclosed yesterday that his archdiocese and its insurers have spent more than $5.6 million in the last 20 years in the sex abuse scandal. (The Washington Post)
Priests upset by release of abuse list | Many object to decision to include those who were accused but not convicted; Keeler ‘not surprised’ by anger. (Baltimore Sun)

Pop culture:

A religious but not preachy ‘Joshua’ | Billed as a ‘spiritual western,’ this tale of compassion from a do-gooder stranger avoids cloying overtones (Los Angeles Times)
Onward Christian bikinis | The Miss America pageant is too uniformly Christian (Christine Craft, San Francisco Chronicle)
Evangelical Culture | Evangelical media, from videos for children to adult contemporary music, is growing in popularity and profit (Odyssey, WBEZ, Chicago)