Reuters Will Take Methodists' Ad After All

Reuters: Methodist ad can appear on our Times Square billboard It’s rare to see the United Methodist Church and liberal mainliners like the National Council of Churches complaining about having their religious viewpoint excluded from the public square. That’s something that’s more often left to conservatives—unless it’s liberals complaining about the attention paid by the media to the religious right.

But this week, the mainliners have been mobilized against the Reuters news agency after it went back on a $30,000 contract to air ads for the United Methodist Church on its 7,000 square-foot electronic billboard in New York City’s Times Square. The news agency explained that it does not allow “pornographic, political, religious, libelous, misleading, or deceptive” ads on its billboard.

Of course, the mainliners cast the debate in different terms than evangelicals would have, had, say, a Southern Baptist Convention ad been rejected. “The public square is becoming increasingly like private property, overtaken by larger and larger corporations who control more and more of our channels of communication, from cable to broadcast networks to newspapers to billboards,” the NCC lamented.

If we get to the point where a handful of corporations can buy up the walls of the town square and rule that certain topics, like religious faith, cannot be expressed there—even when those who wish to speak are willing to pay for the opportunity—American democracy will truly be at risk. … Are we afraid that hearing these voices could change the agenda of the conversation from consumption to conscience? … If religious speech is banned from the public marketplace, the remaining dialogue will revolve solely around getting and spending.

This week, the cries of outrage were heard by Reuters CEO Thomas H. Glocer, who had been traveling during the mounting controversy.

“You state on your website that your church should be given the same access and opportunity to speak in the commercial marketplace as corporate advertisers. On reflection, I believe that you are right,” Glocer said in a letter to UMC communications head Larry Hollon. “Consumers have become more sophisticated over recent years, and I think there is little likelihood of an advertisement being viewed as the opinion of a news gatherer such as Reuters. Provided it is made clear that the material in question is paid advertising and that there is no possibility of confusion with our news output, I believe you should have the same access to commercial space as any other organization.”

Hollon said that the agency’s policies are changing, but that not all religious advertising would be accepted. “For example, we would not permit advertising that maligned another religion,” he said.

The Methodist ads will now run 10 times daily during Thanksgiving week, one of the busiest shopping times of the year.

Had this happened to an evangelical denomination or church, conservatives probably would have merely decried “liberal media bias.” Perhaps this argument about religious speech vs. the message of consumerism is worth exploring and using further. Especially if it works.

Terri Schiavo:

Priest disputes governor’s role in Schiavo case | Some Catholics who say they aren’t liberal still oppose feeding Schiavo (Jim Defede, The Miami Herald)
Husband sues Florida to halt wife’s feeding | Michael Schiavo and the ACLU are challenging the constitutionality of ‘Terri’s Law,’ enacted to keep the brain-damaged woman alive (Los Angeles Times)
Spouse fights new law over feeding tube | Lawyers for the husband of Terri Schiavo argued in court papers filed Wednesday that the law granting Gov. Jeb Bush the power to reinsert her feeding tube was unconstitutional (The New York Times)
Schiavo lawyers challenge ‘Terri’s law’ (Associated Press)
Schiavo lawyers challenge ‘Terri’s Law’ (USA Today)
What would God say? | Many religious leaders say it is within His will to withhold basic needs from someone with no chance of recovery, such as Terri Schiavo (St. Petersburg Times, Fla.)
Judicial hearing shifts focus | A judicial-confirmation hearing yesterday turned into the latest battleground over family members who want to remove feeding tubes from their loved ones (The Washington Times)

Partial-birth abortion ban:

Bush: USA isn’t ready for total abortion ban | Both sides in the debate — and half of Americans surveyed by a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll — read Bush the same way (USA Today)
Doctors wary of partial-birth abortion law | Doctors who perform abortions say the bill’s broad language covers all D&E procedures—and could block virtually all abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy (The Boston Globe)
Court restricts movement of abortion foe | Dan Holman supported Paul Hill’s abortionist murder (Associated Press)
Sides weigh in on proposed abortion rules | Texas health board to discuss pamphlet data, clinic regulations (The Dallas Morning News)
Chipping away at abortion | The abortion industry’s control of the issue is eroding (Editorial, The Washington Times)

More life ethics stories:

Energized conservatives seek to widen fetal rights | Their agenda for the next year: pass more bills to protect fetuses, stop human cloning and hinder abortions; confirm pending nominees who are sympathetic to the antiabortion movement to federal trial and appellate courts; and, with an eye to potential future Supreme Court vacancies, reelect Bush and expand the slender Republican Senate majority (Los Angeles Times)
Canada’s lower house okays cloning ban bill | Bill also sets guidelines on stem cell research (Associated Press)
Embryo case woman to appeal | A woman fighting her former boyfriend to save frozen IVF embryos from destruction is taking her legal battle to the Court of Appeal (The Daily Telegraph, London)
India steps up effort to halt abortions of female fetuses | J. K. Banthia, the Indian census commissioner, estimates that several million fetuses have been aborted in India in the last two decades because they were female (The New York Times)
A birth control controversy | In its zeal to bring down the fertility rate, the Rajasthan government plans to implement methods of contraception that have women and the poor as the main target groups (Frontline, India)
Preserving the dignity of life | Philosophers, theologians, ethicists and the inevitable lawyers met for three days in Chicago to talk about how each of the three great religions upholds the sanctity and dignity of human life (Suzanne Fields, The Washington Times)

Adoption and homosexuality:

Adoption groups opening doors to gays, report says | A majority of agencies (60%) accept applications from lesbians and gay men; 40% have placed children with gay or lesbian parents (USA Today)
Also: Survey: Adoption by gays gaining favor (Associated Press)
Also: Most U.S. adoption agencies accept gay parents (Reuters)
Family Research Council says gay adoption ‘study’ is a fraud (Press release)

Gay marriage:

Church open to same-sex benefits talk | Bishop says marriage laws cannot change (The Boston Globe)
Also: Bridging the gap on gay partners | The Massachusetts Legislature got some good advice last week from Worcester Bishop Daniel P. Reilly on the issue of how to best acknowledge within state law gay relationships (Editorial, Boston Herald)
Gay marriage looms as issue | GOP push for amendment is dilemma for Bush (The Washington Post)
New Age Arnold, Old Testament GOP | Arnold Schwarzenegger is in Washington today, where his party is busy at work ensuring that the 2004 election turns on the question of banning gay marriage (Harold Meyerson, The Washington Post)
Activists want strict ‘gay marriage’ rules | Gay campaigners today warned the Scottish Executive not to make it “too easy” for same-sex couples to enter into legally recognised civil partnerships (Evening News, Edinburgh)

Other sexual ethics issues:

Chastity finds youthful embrace | Miss America 2003 Erika Harold, who last year fought pageant officials’ attempts to stifle her abstinence message, says growing numbers of young people are rejecting sexual promiscuity (The Washington Times)
Rescue Mission rejects help from gay church | Leader says letting group serve hungry would be endorsement (The Charlotte Observer)
Charlotte Rescue Mission refuses aid (Associated Press)
Group prepares legal challenge to ‘born gay’ theory | Coalition members want to see an end to what they consider reverse discrimination by institutions. Since homosexuality is no longer considered a disorder, neither should recovery from homosexuality be considered a disorder, they said. (CNSNews.com)
Gay at birth? | Some people say we should settle gay rights disputes on the basis of the Old Testament. I say we should rely on blinking patterns.(Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times)
When religious beliefs are the enemy | The Mormon Church. The Vatican. Islamic fundamentalists. They all use their “deeply held religious beliefs” to bash gay people. Yet few dare call them bigots. Having helped lead the charge against the homophobic Dr. Laura, Frasier creator and activist David Lee is ready for his next battle (The Advocate)
Supreme mocking | Scalia on the Court’s gay sex ruling (Peter Augustine Lawler, National Review Online)
Anti-gay preacher loses | Casper City Council votes against 6-foot monument deriding Matthew Shepard (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
Kilgore criticized for tie to gay-rights pledge | Two conservative Christian groups are criticizing Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore for his promise not to discriminate against gay people in hiring decisions (The Virginian-Pilot)
Also: Fair hiring defies labels of liberal, conservative (Kerry Dougherty, The Virginian-Pilot)

Politics and law (U.S.):

Churches ask court to void state gun law | A state law, in effect for five months, that prohibits churches and other property owners from barring guns in their parking lots and rental facilities is an unconstitutional infringement on religious freedom, the lawyer for 45 church groups argued Tuesday before the Minnesota Court of Appeals (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
Filibusters passe, way needed to end judge logjam, Frist says | Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist yesterday declared the days of round-the-clock filibustering over and said that the historical maneuver would be useless in preventing President Bush’s judicial nominees from getting confirmed (The Washington Times)
Yuba may hire anti-porn lawyer | A Tennessee lawyer with a national reputation as the “Orkin exterminator” of sexually oriented businesses may help Yuba County fashion its own law restricting such businesses (Appeal-Democrat, Yuba City, Calif.)
Prayers of ‘faith, trust’ for mayor | Local religious leaders offer interfaith service for the city (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
Handicapping religion in political wars | If success in the political arena occasioned by religiously motivated lobbying is taboo, then believers would be handcuffed in exercising their First Amendment right to petition government for redress of grievances (Bruce Fein, The Washington Times)

Church and state

No room for ‘Jesus Christ’ at council meetings | As part of a long-standing tradition, every Turlock city council meeting begins with an invocation lead by a local pastor. But a California appellate court ruling earlier this year has placed some limitations on how the invocation can be conducted (Turlock Journal, Calif.)
Stafford may halt spread of churches | Mayor says move is economic (Houston Chronicle)
Church sues over park display | Calvary Chapel filed a federal lawsuit against the county, claiming censorship over its planned Christmas display (Associated Press)
District aims for all-secular calendar | A proposal would eliminate Good Friday as a school holiday. (Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Fla.)
Church-state issues studied | Professor lets divinity students see how controversies play out in a real-world setting (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.)
The unconstitutionality and political incorrectness of God | Whether you believe in a higher power or not, it is extremely disturbing to see the ultimate symbol of goodness and discerner of good and evil being virtually eliminated from our everyday lives (Luis Valdivia, The Tallahassee Democrat, Fla.)
Church and state are getting a bit too cozy in America | Religion, protected by the wall we’ve erected between church and state, has been largely and blessedly free from the taint of government and, as a result, has prospered (Donald Kaul, The Sun Herald, Miss.)

Bush and faith-based initiatives:

Bush visits to promote faith-based programs | At Oak Cliff church, he says U.S. should help ‘armies of compassion’ (The Dallas Morning News)
Bush says religion mended his ways | President alludes to past drinking (The Washington Post)
Federal grant to help church-based services | The Collaboration for a New Century, founded two years ago by Phoenix sports mogul Jerry Colangelo and community leader Bill Starr, was the grant recipient (The Arizona Republic)

Politics (non-U.S.):

Some may hate us, but here we stand | If there’s one thing guaranteed to turn the liberal chattering classes into rabid persecutors, it’s Christians (Cristina Odone, The Guardian, London)
Legislation will shield minorities from discrimination | Homosexual people, Jews, Sikhs, orthodox Christians and followers of other minority religions will be protected by the same anti-discrimination laws already in place for sex, race and disability (Financial Times, U.K.)
Seven countries back Christianity in Constitution | The demand to have Europe’s Christian values mentioned in a new European Constitution is gaining increasing support (EU Observer)
EU religious and govt. leaders meet | Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders met with top European officials Thursday to explore how inter-religious dialogue can help combat terrorism and tensions over immigration while promoting peace (Associated Press)
Canadian conservatives see unity as best hope | The religious conservatives and disaffected voters in western Canada and Quebec that former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney brought together to win two consecutive majority governments began to fracture in the late 1980s, leading to a crushing defeat in 1993 (The Washington Times)
Group brings troops religion | A fast-growing international movement is attempting to entice the 1,900 Canadian soldiers here into Christianity and bring them back to church (The Winnipeg Sun)
Board says Christmas can come home for holidays | Halifax regional school board members voted 10-3 on Tuesday night to keep Christmas in school holiday celebrations (The Halifax Herald, N.S.)
Polish government on collision course with church | The head of Poland’s church has slammed plans by lawmakers to loosen abortion laws and provide protections to gays (Deutsche Welle, Germany)
French may scrap holiday for health care | The Monday after Pentecost, which fell on June 9 this year, is one of 11 annual holidays in France (Associated Press)
Also: French PM says govt still mulling whether to scrap holiday to help elderly (AFP)

Christianity and Islam:

Hate case judge assures Americans no one is going to prison | Judge Michael Higgins told a tribunal yesterday he had received a call from the Department of Foreign Affairs over concerns about the case raised in a “considerable” number of emails from Americans (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
Christian seminar on Islam one-sided, tribunal told | Father Patrick McInerny said a selective treatment of the New Testament could suggest that Jesus Christ was “prone to violence, ever-ready to take up the sword and intent on fomenting division” (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
Case pitting Muslims against Christians moves forward in Australia (CNSNews.com)
Church course on Islam faulted | Wording of promotion for class at The Chapel deemed objectionable (The Beacon Journal, Akron, Oh.)
Christians and Muslims can benefit from fasting | Imagine going 44 days without food (The Tennessean, Nashville)

Pledge of Allegiance:

The pledge’s creator | What would the minister who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance make of the legal challenge to it? (Jeffrey Owen Jones, Smithsonian)
‘Under God’ foe vows more challenges ahead | Michael Newdow says the legal challenge will be followed by others in his attempt to expunge all mention of a deity from government, its symbols and officials performing government duties (UPI)
The meaning of ‘Under God’ | If you approve of the developments usually associated with the 1960’s — the civil rights movement, antiwar struggles, resurgence of feminism, sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll — then you should approve of “under God” (Peter Steinfels, The New York Times)
The pledge of allegiance | The atheists have gone bananas in the extent to which they misinterpret the First Amendment (Alistair Cooke, BBC | listen)

10 Commandments:

Monument battle not new | Scholars say renewed interest in Ten Commandments displays came in the last few years, with events such as the Columbine High School shootings and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks prompting a search for a solution to society’s ills (Associated Press)
Nation, God wrongly divided, Alabama justice tells activists in Fort Lauderdale | Moore speaks at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
Group pushes to remove plaques from county buildings | There’s a commandment controversy in Memphis (WMC, Memphis, Tenn.)
Plaza chosen as Ten Commandments display solution | Casper, Wyo., City Council votes to move monument out of park; anti-gay preacher’s offer rejected (Associated Press)

Christian group sues U. Minn over gay rule:

Student group sues U. Minn. over membership rule | Maranatha Christian Fellowship says a mandatory Equal Opportunities Statement violates its rights (The Minnesota Daily, U. Minn.)
Christian student group fights U bias rule | Maranatha Christian Fellowship doesn’t want gays or non-Christians to be able to serve on its board (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
Student religious group sues University of Minnesota (Associated Press)

Education:

Pupils will get access to rooms for ‘reflection’ | Three local authorities have agreed that future non-denominational schools will include ‘reflective spaces’ – which would echo the chaplaincies now present in many Catholic state schools – in a move welcomed by religious leaders (Scotland on Sunday)
High school senior came ‘out’—and was expelled | Sexuality is not addressed specifically in the Jupiter Christian School student handbook (Palm Beach Post)
Gay students rarely problem at Christian schools | But as gay culture goes mainstream and as younger kids deal with their sexuality, that’s bound to change (Palm Beach Post, Fla.)
Nobel winner attacks faith schools | Amartya Sen says single-faith establishments damage educational attainment (The Scotsman)
Baptist school to appeal rejection from voucher program | Denver officials denied private school’s application because school would expel homosexuals; principal says decision is unfair, contradicts purpose of voucher plan (Associated Press)

Survey says:

Everyone else can go to hell, Americans say | A new survey of Americans’ views of the afterlife suggests that hell is for other people (The Guardian, London)
Is the devil real? Readers write about it | Polls show that, increasingly, people are doubting the existence of the devil as a real being (The Tennessean, Nashville)
Stats show decline of Christianity | JUST 68 per cent of Australians classed themselves as Christians in 2001, down from 96 per cent at Federation, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (AAP, Australia)
A shaky life for young without belief | A society that fails to connect its young to solid personal and moral foundations is failing to provide them with much needed direction in life. But, according to a new study, such a society is also acting in ways harmful to their essential biology (Chris McGillion, The Sydney Morning Herald)

Theology

Discovering Magdalene the apostle, not the fallen woman | Karen L. King and several other scholars, maintain that the church made Mary Magdalene into a sinner in an attempt to denigrate women and to solidify male leadership (The New York Times)
Theologian still drawing crowd | Followers mark anniversary of Edwards’ birth (Religion News Service)
Pair to give their ‘biblical’ defense of slavery at U of I conference | Doug Wilson and Steve Wilkins co-authored the booklet, “Southern Slavery, As It Was.” (Idaho Statesman, Boise)

Books:

A cultural scorecard says West is ahead | Charles Murray says that for cultures, Christianity stands out as a crucial spur to excellence (The New York Times)
Listen to your ‘wild heart’ | It’s God’s plan for man, author says (The Toledo Blade, Oh.)
Great food and lots of playtime: You’ve died and gone to heaven | It’s literally the trip of a lifetime, Anthony DeStefano says as he describes the final journey in his book about heaven (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland)
Combing through lost articles of faith | Lost Scriptures and Lost Christianities discuss what didn’t make it into the canon (The Boston Globe)

Church of Scotland’s first female moderator:

Church of Scotland’s first woman moderator signals she will be open to reform | Alison Elliot, the first female moderator-designate, will not don the traditional knickerbocker outfit favoured by the men who have preceded her (The Herald, Glasgow, Scotland)
Female Moderator makes history (The Scotsman)
Piercing the stained glass ceiling | The only extraordinary aspect about the moderator of the General Assemby of the Church of Scotland being a woman—at last—is that her gender is considered significant a full 35 years after the assembly agreed that women could be ministers “on the same terms and conditions as are at present applicable to men.” (Jennifer Cunningham, The Herald, Glasgow, Scotland)