TruthBook Religious News Blog

Churches, mosques, and synagogues look for ways to make their buildings more energy efficient, both to heed ethical imperatives against waste, and also to save money.

As evidence of global warming has mounted, congregations across the US are examining their habits and asking what their faith demands of them in response. Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish groups have turned to scripture for guidance.

Houses of worship, it turns out, are some of the biggest wasters of energy on a per capita, per hour-of-use basis.

With help from an interfaith power and light movement now spreading around the country, churches and other religious institutions are cutting back on energy consumption, investing in more efficient heating and lighting systems, buying renewable energy, and even, on occasion, joining the effort to "build green."

Congregations that practice environmental stewardship can save 30 percent on their utility bills, says the US Environmental Protection Agency. If all US congregations did the same, they'd save an estimated $573 million annually and prevent 6 million tons of CO2 from polluting the air - the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road.

Churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples get help for stewardship efforts in EPA's Energy Star program, which identifies equipment, appliances, and lighting products that are energy efficient and provides some funding (www.energystar.gov).

The interfaith power and light movement, now active in about a dozen states, aims to help congregations by providing ready access to technical services for efficiency upgrades; information on funding resources; and a means for purchasing solar, wind, or landfill gas power.

The movement - sparked in California by an interfaith discussion on how to respond to global warming - began in the late '90s in the Episcopal church. After gaining backing from the state's bishops, MacAusland and Sally Bingham, a priest at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, formed Episcopal Power & Light (EP&L) as California was deregulating the electrical industry.

"Suddenly people were going to have choices about where their electricity came from, and we focused on clean energy," says the Rev. Ms. Bingham. Within two years, 60 Episcopal churches were buying renewable energy from Green Mountain Energy and using conservation measures.

"Renewable energy is the most exciting part of the program - getting power from the sun and wind," says MacAusland. "But you need to build your base on energy conservation and efficiency, and by saving energy and money you can begin to afford premium grades of power."

In 2000, other churches and synagogues joined the effort with the formation of California Interfaith Power & Light. Congregation Shir Hadash of Los Gatos became the first synagogue in the state to install solar panels, spurred, says Rabbi Melanie Aron, by the Jewish teaching of Tikkun Olam about repairing the earth.

As other states deregulated, however, interest in the program caught on. MacAusland formed MIP&L, and similar nonprofits are developing in New Jersey, Connecticut, North Carolina, Maine, Georgia, Tennessee, and Michigan. With the growing enthusiasm, a foundation is funding CIPL to act as an umbrella group supporting interfaith efforts nationwide.

IP&L receives funding from the Heinz Endowments, and can offer free audits, technical services, and help in upgrades. It also provides churches with a curriculum to explore connections between faith, religious spaces, and the environment. St. Stephen's benefited from $30,000 of IP&L planning and technical services.

Churches have lagged far behind commercial and government entities in green building because it requires a lot of costly planning, which St. Stephen's couldn't have done without IP&L's help. They hope to finish the project by the fall.

Not everyone needs to be that ambitious to have an impact, says Scot Horst, IP&L director. "We tend not to focus on global warming - it's such a big issue. But churches have a tool right under their noses that allows you to do what you can right now - your own building."

By Jane Lampman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

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Thursday, June 23, 2005

Christians take up the cudgels

Washington - Christians, dismayed by the political power of America's "religious right" on issues like gay marriage and abortion, launched a new grassroots movement on Wednesday to reclaim their faith.

Patrick Mrotek, founder of the Christian Alliance for Progress, said: "We are here because we can no longer stand by and watch people speak hatred, division, war and greed in the name of our faith."

The movement, which aimed to work as a catalyst for progressive Christians in United States churches, wanted to balance the influence of conservative religious leaders on hot-button social issues like abortion and stem-cell research.

Mrotek said: "We are here because Christianity is being used by some leaders on the religious right to marginalise gay and lesbian people, to criminalise desperate pregnant women."

"We are here because the language spoken by the religious right is Christian - this requires a uniquely Christian response."

The Rev Timothy Simpson, director of religious affairs, said: "The religious right has been extremely successful in taking control of the language of our faith and using it to promote an extreme and divisive political agenda.

"We think that most Americans, especially people of faith, are ready to hear from Christians who are tolerant, and who understand the many ways that our faiths have an impact on our views of public life."

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Survey: Most U.S. Doctors Believe in God

A survey examining religion in medicine found that most U.S. doctors believe in God and an afterlife - a surprising degree of spirituality in a science-based field, researchers say.

In the survey 76 percent said they believe in God, 59 percent said they believe in some sort of afterlife, and 55 percent said their religious beliefs influence how they practice medicine.

"We were surprised to find that physicians were as religious as they apparently are," said Dr. Farr Curlin, a researcher at the University of Chicago's MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics.

"There's certainly a deep-seated cultural idea that science and religion are at odds," and previous studies have suggested that fewer than half of scientists believe in God, Curlin said Wednesday.

A previous survey showed about 83 percent of the general population believes in God.

But while medicine is science-based, doctors differ from scientists who work primarily in a laboratory setting, and their direct contact with patients in life-and-death situations may explain the differing views, Curlin said.

The study is based on responses to questionnaires mailed in 2003. It is to appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine and was released online to subscribers earlier this month.

Dr. J. Edward Hill, president of the American Medical Association, said religion and medicine are completely compatible, as long as doctors do not force their own beliefs on patients.

Belief in "a supreme being ... is vitally important to physicians' ability to take care of patients, particularly the end-of-life issues that we deal with so often," said Hill, a family physician from Tupelo, Miss.

Religions among physicians are more varied than among the general population, the survey found. While more than 80 percent of the U.S. population is Protestant or Catholic, 60 percent of doctors said they were from either group.

Compared with the general population, more doctors were Jewish - 14 percent vs. 2 percent; Hindu - 5 percent vs. less than 1 percent; and Muslim - almost 3 percent vs. less than 1 percent.

By LINDSEY TANNER
AP Medical Writer

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Friday, June 17, 2005

Boomers want to aid others

Half of people in their 50s and 60s want to do work that helps others, according to a survey released on Thursday.

The trend was even more pronounced among people aged 51-59, as 58 percent of those so-called leading-edge Baby Boomers said they want to take jobs that serve their communities.

"Work and volunteering, two pursuits usually held in opposition, were being combined in the minds of a lot of people, almost like a social Prius," said Marc Freedman, president of Civic Ventures, a San Francisco nonprofit group that works to expand the social contribution of older Americans. "This (is a) hybrid notion of the continued income and seriousness/structure of work at the same time focusing on the spirit of service."

The survey also contradicts images of the Baby Boomers as self-centered.

"This reframes the question of whether this will be the 'Me generation' or the 'We generation' in a way that is more promising," Freedman said.

Jobs in education and social services were two of the three types of work mentioned most often by people surveyed, with retail as the third. Among the 53 percent who said they want to work in retirement, more than three quarters expressed interest in working to help the poor, the elderly and others in need, while 56 percent were interested in dealing with health issues and 55 percent in teaching.

People surveyed said connection with others and a feeling of purpose were very important work motivations. But even while desiring socially worthwhile second careers, many of those surveyed worried they would be difficult to find. For that reason, 60 percent strongly supported giving a tax credit to older Americans who work in schools or social services, and almost half strongly supported tax credits and increased funding to help train older Americans for such fields.

Source: MetLife/Civic Ventures
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, June 17, 2005
E-mail Carolyn Said at csaid@sfchronicle.com.

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Monday, June 13, 2005

Podcasting becomes another pulpit

Like a mustard seed doused with Miracle-Gro, podcasting is rising rapidly as a new way of delivering religious messages to people across the street or around the globe.

Whether one's taste is for Buddhist dharma talks from Western Australia, brief thoughts from Devotions 4 Gamers, or Bible readings done in the language of Klingons from "Star Trek," an expanding universe of faith-based audio offerings is available for automatic download to personal computers in formats that can be listened to there or transferred to portable devices such as Apple Computer's popular iPod.

Anyone with a microphone, computer and some technical savvy can launch an Internet radio show to preach, teach or screech. Melded with software that can deliver digital recordings, these transmissions - usually free - become podcasts.

The word is a combination of iPod and broadcast, with some people using the term "godcast" to refer to faith-related messages. Podcasting has skyrocketed in less than a year, with religion and spirituality just two of the categories of an expanding array.

A national survey earlier this year by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 4 million to 8 million adults in the United States have downloaded a podcast or an Internet radio program so they could listen to it on their digital audio player at a later time, said Mary Madden, a research specialist with the project in Washington, D.C.

Steve Jobs, chief executive officer of Apple, estimated last month that there were 8,000 or more podcasts available. Others peg the total around 6,000.

Although owners of iPods and MP3 players tend to be young, the people producing podcasts include retirees, Lewin (Elisabeth Lewin, 40, who operates Podcastingnews.com) said.

Most of the listeners are in the United States, but some tap in from Brazil, Great Britain and various European countries.

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Thursday, June 09, 2005

Seniors return to God just as they did in their youth

Do people become more religious as they enter into late life? If so, why does this happen? And does religion mean the same thing to them now as it did when they were young?

There are no simple answers to these questions, but they offer a wealth of fascinating implications for both personal reflection and scholarly research.

Michelle Dillon is an Irish-born sociologist who teaches at the University of New Hampshire. Her work is useful to those who seek to understand the field of aging; at the same time, on a smaller scale, it inspires us to think of our own individual situations and those of people we know.

Dillon contradicted or undermined a number of widely held impressions. One of these is historical: "We tend to exaggerate how religious people were in the past, and we tend to underestimate how religious they are today." (At the same time, there has been a certain decline in religious participation in the United States since the peak year of 1958.)

Within this general historical context, can we say that people tend to become more religious as they grow older? Dillon's answer to this is two-fold. As they approach late adulthood, Americans tend to return to the level of religious practice that marked their early adult years. But, in general, they do not become more religious than they were then.

This conclusion is somewhat unexpected. One might easily suppose that, in most cases, the prospect of death would lead people to reflect on God and the afterlife, and to become more actively religious than ever before.

But Dillon's research does not support this impression. The level of activity is set at the beginning of adult life, and the experience of age does not tend to lead people to surpass it. We should note, in passing, that women tend, at every stage of life, to be more devout than men.

A major factor complicating this discussion, however, is the question of spirituality. This concept is notoriously difficult to define, but is frequently associated with some sort of vague interest in non-material reality.

In her research, Dillon reaches for a more precise definition of spirituality, one that includes not only an encounter with the holy, with a higher power than oneself, but also an attempt to act upon that encounter. The experience of transcendence triggers the kind of activity that can be called spiritual.

Among the values created by both religion and spirituality, Dillon cites generativity as one of the most significant. Generativity is the productive principle that helps people to grow and share themselves with others.

As people approach later life, their interest in spirituality does increase. This may or may not be connected with religious practice. After all, the goal of religion is to support and stimulate the spiritual life, and that is the way it works for many people.

For others, however, the institutional aspects of religion have become alienating, even obstacles to their spirituality. Even though it may mean a loss of social and community support, they often break with their church, synagogue or temple in order to find inner freedom.

Whatever its level may be, is this new religious or spiritual activity inspired by fear of death? Professor Dillon, who believes that the answer, generally speaking, is no. Rather, the most anxious people tend to be those who half believe in an afterlife, but lead a completely secular existence.

These "half-believers," though, are not alone in their fear of dying. Almost everyone dreads the prospect of a long, drawn-out and painful death.

By Richard Griffin
Thursday, June 9, 2005
Richard Griffin of Cambridge is a former officer of Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services. He can reached by e-mail at rbgriff180@aol.com or by calling 617-661-0710.

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Wednesday, June 08, 2005

A New Reformation: Theologian Matthew Fox Challenges The World To Rethink Christianity

WITTENBERG, GERMANY---June 8, 2005---Crowds gathering at the famous Wittenberg Cathedral (Schlosskirche) witnessed the nailing of the 95 Theses for a New Reformation, by American theologian Matthew Fox.

Fox's new book calls for a new awakening for Christians. The book's premise is that we are confronted with two versions of Christianity: one that is fundamentalist and is characterized by a Punitive Father God, a rigidly hierarchical church structure, a belief that we are born of original sin, intolerance of gay lifestyles, a fear of science; and the other version of Christianity which is expressed by a loving God of justice and compassion, is earth centered and eco-conscious, is interfaith and lifestyle tolerant, embraces the feminine, believes in original blessing and encourages scientific thought. Some of Fox's new takes on the 95 Theses include: "God is both Father and Mother;" "Religion is not necessary, but spirituality is;" and "Jesus said nothing about condoms, birth control or homosexuality." Fox believes it is time for Christians to choose whom it will follow: an angry exclusionary God or the loving God who opens the path to wisdom.

Hailed as "the New Reformer" by the German media, Fox and his quest for a new reformation was supported by over 500 attendees in Bad Herrenalb while his nailing of the 95 Theses on the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg drew new crowds and interviews from various magazine and television journalists. Fox noted that the Cathedral today was mainly a tourist stop, much like his analogy in his new book, where he refers to today's institutionalized churches as "museums" rather than active spiritual centers.

"The traditional purpose of a thesis is to open up constructive debate in the search for truth," says Fox. "At this critical time in human and planetary history, when the earth is being ravaged by the violence of war, poverty, sexism, homophobia and eco-destruction, we need to gather those who offer a future that is one of compassion, creativity and justice to stand up and speak their conscience together as never before. Religion ought to be part of the solution, not the problem."

Contact: Dennis Edwards: 510-835-4827 ext.11
dedwards@wisdomuniversity.org or
Suzanne Fox Sevel at (404) 229-5359, sfox@publicityink.com

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Can prayer help cure the sick?

On an operating table at a medical center in San Francisco, a breast cancer patient is undergoing reconstructive surgery after a mastectomy. But this will be no ordinary surgery. Three thousand miles away, a shamanic healer has been sent the woman's name, a photo and details about the surgery.

For each of the next eight days, the healer will pray 20 minutes for the cancer patient's recovery, without the woman's knowledge. A surgeon has inserted two small fabric tubes into the woman's groin to enable researchers to measure how fast she heals.

The woman is a patient in an extraordinary government-funded study that is seeking to determine whether prayer has the power to heal patients from afar — a field known as "distant healing." While that term is probably unfamiliar to most Americans, the idea of turning to prayers in their homes, hospitals and houses of worship is not. In recent years, medicine has increasingly shown an interest in investigating the effect of prayer and spirituality on health. A survey of 31,000 adults released last year by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 43 percent of U.S. adults prayed for their own health, while 24 percent had others pray for their health.

Some researchers say that is reason enough to study the power of prayer.

"Almost every community in the world has a prayer for the sick, which they practice when a member of their community is ill," said Dr. Mitchell Krucoff, a Duke University cardiologist and researcher in the field of distant prayer and healing.

Science has only begun to explore the power of distant healing, and the early results of this research have been inconclusive. In an article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2000, researchers reported on 23 studies on various distant healing techniques, including religious, energy and spiritual healing. Thirteen of the 23 studies indicated there are positive effects to distant healing, nine studies found no beneficial effect and one study showed a modest negative effect with the use of distant healing.

The study of distant healing was once the realm of eccentric scientists, but researchers at such prominent institutions as the Mind/Body Medical Institute in Chestnut Hill, Mass., Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina and the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco are involved in the field. And the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has spent $2.2 million on studies of distant healing and intercessory prayer since 2000 — a small fraction of the agency's annual budget, which totaled $117 million in 2004.

Cardiologist Randolph Byrd did the first major clinical study on distant healing at San Francisco General Hospital in 1988. He divided 393 heart patients into two groups.

One group received prayers from Christians outside the hospital; the other did not. His study, published in the Southern Medical Journal, found that the patients who were not prayed for needed more medication and were more likely to suffer complications. While it had flaws, the study garnered considerable attention.

Since then investigators have continued to look at the possible effects of remote prayer and similar distant healing techniques in the treatment of heart disease, AIDS and other illnesses as well as infertility. Numerous experiments involving prayer and distant healing have also been done involving animals and plants. One such study found that healers can increase the healing rate of wounds in mice.

"Critics often complain that if you see positive results in humans it is because of positive thinking, or the placebo response," said Dr. Larry Dossey, a retired internist in Santa Fe, N.M., and author of numerous books on spirituality and healing. "Microbes don't think positively, and are not subject to the placebo response."

By Hilary E. MacGregor
Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, June 08, 2005

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Tuesday, June 07, 2005

Study shows G-rated fare more profitable

A new study set to be released Tuesday shows that family-friendly movies are more profitable than R-rated films, throwing more fuel onto the fire of the long-running debate over sex and violence in entertainment -- and whether it sells.

The survey was commissioned by the Dove Foundation, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based group that advocates wholesome family entertainment. According to its Web site, its advisory board includes radio talk show host Laura Schlessinger and "Touched By an Angel" executive producer Martha Williamson.

In a follow-up to a 10-year study commissioned by the foundation in 1999 -- which found that between 1988-97 the average G-rated film made eight times the profit of an R-rated picture -- an extension of that study found that trend continuing and expanding.

The new, expanded study examines the revenue and production costs for 3,000 Motion Picture Assn. of America-rated theatrical films released between Jan. 1, 1989, and Dec. 31, 2003, using the 200 most widely distributed films each year based on the number of theaters.

"While the movie industry produced nearly 12 times more R-rated films than G-rated films from 1989-2003, the average G-rated film produced 11 times greater profit than its R-rated counterpart," said Dick Rolfe, the group's founder and chairman.

The new study found that the average profit for films rated G rose to $92.3 million from $74.2 million, PG vaulted to $78.8 million from $9.9 million, PG-13 rose to $45.6 million from $15.4 million, and R-rated films increased to $17.9 million from $3 million. The study notes that those increases are probably due in part to higher ticket prices, coupled with a decrease in home video manufacturing costs.

At the same time, on average more G and PG-13 films are being made and released. Since the first study was released in 1999, Rolfe noted that there has been a slight production shift toward more family-friendly films: "The production of R-rated films has dropped by 12%, while G-rated fare has increased by 38%." The average number of R-rated films released each year dropped to 93 from 105, G-rated films increased to 10 from seven, PG-rated films decreased to 21 from 36, and PG-13 rated films rose to 75 from 50.

"Dove is not suggesting that Hollywood produce only G and PG movies," he said. "We just think the proportionality is out of balance, given the relatively few, highly profitable family-friendly movies released each year. Our study reveals that Hollywood is not serving the most prolific audience segment in the entertainment marketplace: the family."

"There is no question in my mind that Hollywood has been making more PG-13-, PG- and G-rated movies. Movies make huge sums of money when they work and have those ratings, since they have a much broader audience to draw from," said Tom Sherak, a partner at Sony-based Revolution Studios, who said he had not seen the report.

The study defined "profit" as estimated worldwide theatrical rentals (the share of box office sales retained by the studios), TV and video grosses, minus estimated negative (i.e. production) costs, prints and advertising, and video/DVD manufacturing costs. To produce an accurate rate of return, all costs and revenue used were limited to the first 24 months from the date of each release.

"Profit" in this study does not include revenue derived from merchandising, licensing or fast-food tie-ins. If those revenue streams were included, the average profit for G, PG and PG-13 films would rise dramatically, while the average profit for R-rated films would not, because sales of toys and other licensed products are rarely associated with R-rated films.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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Spirituality makes the grade on campus

According to a recently released national study, the majority of college students across America think about their religious and spiritual beliefs with similar contemplation. The University of California, Los Angeles’ Higher Education Research Institute surveyed about 100,000 freshmen at 236 colleges and universities last year and found that 80 percent were interested in spirituality. Seventy-nine percent said they believe in God.

“In some ways, our society has taken us by surprise,” said Helen Astin, a senior scholar at the institute and co-principal investigator on the study, at a news conference that followed the announcement of survey results. “In the past, we, as well as other researchers and commentators, have thought of college students as materialistic, focused on themselves and very apprehensive about the future. What have we learned through our nation’s study? College students are in a serious search for deeper meaning and purpose in their life.”

And the results of the study, distributed to students at both religious and secular schools, suggests that if their answers don’t match up with other people’s answers, the students don’t seem to mind. More than eight in 10 respondents agreed with the statement, “Non-religious people can be just as moral as religious believers,” and 64 percent agreed with the idea that “most people can grow spiritually without being religious.”

The survey itself asked respondents to separate the concepts of spirituality and religion, using factors like belief in the sacredness of life and whether spirituality is a source of joy as indicators of spirituality. Religiousness was determined by a belief in God, whether students pray and how closely they follow religious teachings in everyday life, among other indicators.

“Over two-thirds report that they pray,” Astin said. “Their prayers are for loved ones, to express gratitude, for forgiveness and for help in solving problems.”

Whether today’s students are actually more in touch with their spiritual sides than were undergrads of the past remains up in the air. The UCLA research, funded by the Templeton Foundation, which also publishes Science & Theology News, was the first longitudinal study of its kind on the subject. Students evaluated themselves in the survey, a subjective format that is sometimes not wholly indicative of reality. Researchers said they would have a fuller picture after a follow-up survey is conducted in 2007, when the students who participated will be in their junior year.

“We’ve been doing these large-scale surveys of freshmen for 38 years, but until this last survey in 2004, we’ve not had much about spirituality and religion in the survey,” said Alexander W. Astin, co-principal investigator with Helen Astin. He added that only recently has spirituality become an acceptable topic for scientific study.

“Most colleges want to say that they develop the whole person, and in the last 20 years there’s been an enormous focus on developing health habits and physical training,” said Helen Astin. “It seems that we just haven’t made equivalent time for the spirit,” she said.

“If you say ‘whole person,’ it’s mind, body and spirit. We’ve become more courageous about putting that on the table.”

All of the findings — from the personal to the political — ring true with Shelli Jankowski-Smith, director of Northeastern’s spiritual life office. “I’ve been working in spiritual life for the past 17 or so years,” she said. “Things have been going beyond tolerance to real acceptance and working together, a desire to get along.”

In response to students’ wanting to distance themselves from much of what is traditionally associated with “religion,” the past two decades have seen a number of schools eschew the term in favor of “spiritual” when offering student services and resources, Jankowski-Smith said.

“I hear this all the time: ‘I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual,’” she said. “Part of our job is to show them maybe those two words aren’t as mutually exclusive as we think they are.”

By Kimberly Roots
http://www.stnews.org/articles.php?article_id=601&category=News
(June 7, 2005)
Kimberly Roots is associate editor at Science & Theology News.

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Monday, June 06, 2005

Poll: Religious devotion high in U.S.

Religious devotion sets the United States apart from some of its closest allies. Americans profess unquestioning belief in God and are far more willing to mix faith and politics than people in other countries, AP-Ipsos polling found.

In Western Europe, where Pope Benedict XVI complains that growing secularism has left churches unfilled on Sundays, people are the least devout among the 10 countries surveyed for The Associated Press by Ipsos.

Only Mexicans come close to Americans in embracing faith, the poll found. But unlike Americans, Mexicans strongly object to clergy lobbying lawmakers, in line with the nation's historical opposition to church influence.

"In the United States, you have an abundance of religions trying to motivate Americans to greater involvement," said Roger Finke, a sociologist at Penn State University. "It's one thing that makes a tremendous difference here."

Nearly all U.S. respondents said faith is important to them and only 2% said they do not believe in God. Almost 40% said religious leaders should try to sway policymakers, notably higher than in other countries.

In contrast, 85% of French object to clergy activism — the strongest opposition of any nation surveyed. France has strict curbs on public religious expression and, according to the poll, 19% are atheists. South Korea is the only other nation with that high a percentage of nonbelievers.

Australians are generally split over the importance of faith, while two-thirds of South Koreans and Canadians said religion is central to their lives. People in all three countries strongly oppose mixing religion and politics.

Researchers disagree over why people in the United States have such a different religious outlook, said Brent Nelsen, an expert in politics and religion at Furman University in South Carolina.

Some say rejecting religion is a natural response to modernization and consider the United States a strange exception to the trend. Others say Europe is the anomaly; people in modernized countries inevitably return to religion because they yearn for tradition, according to the theory.

Some analysts, like Finke, use a business model. According to his theory, a long history of religious freedom in the United States created a greater supply of worship options than in other countries, and that proliferation inspired wider observance. Some European countries still subsidize churches, in effect regulating or limiting religious options, Finke said.

History also could be a factor.

Many countries other than the United States have been through bloody religious conflict that contributes to their suspicion of giving clergy any say in policy.

A variety of factors contribute to the sentiment about separating religion and politics.

"In Germany, they have a Christian Democratic Party, and they talk about Christian values, but they don't talk about them in quite the same way that we do," Nelsen said. "For them, the Christian part of the Christian values are held privately and it's not that acceptable to bring those out into the open."

In Spain, where the government subsidizes the Catholic Church, and in Germany, which is split between Catholics and Protestants, people are about evenly divided over whether they consider faith important. The results are almost identical in Britain, whose state church, the Church of England, is struggling to fill pews.

Italians are the only European exception in the poll. Eighty% said religion is significant to them and just over half said they unquestioningly believe in God.

But even in Italy, home to the Catholic Church, resistance to religious engagement in politics is evident. Only three in 10 think the clergy should try to influence government decisions; a lower percentage in Spain, Germany and England said the same.

Within the United States, some of the most pressing policy issues involve complex moral questions — such as gay marriage, abortion and stem cell research — that understandably draw religious leaders into public debate, said John Green, an expert on religion and politics at the University of Akron.

The survey did find trends in belief that transcend national boundaries. Women tend to be more devout than men, and older people have stronger faith than younger people.

The Associated Press

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UK Religious Survey Suggests Search for Spirituality Outside Christian Churches

The Herald newspaper’s survey interviewed a total of 970 people. According to the survey, the percentage of those who are practising members of a religion (53.4%) is very close to that of those who are not (45.7%). This result once again reaffirms the finding of the 2001 UK national census that Scots are more likely than people in England, Wales or Northern Ireland to say they have no religion.

In the census, 27.5% of Scots said they had no religion, compared with a UK average of 15.4%, quoted the Herald newspaper.

Despite the high portion of people without religion, 70.9% of respondents described themselves as spiritual; 60.5% said they believe in God; 67.7% in a higher life force; and 62.9% in life after death. It has clearly showed that people who are searching for spirituality are shifting their focus from church or organised religions, to some other practices they consider that can quench their "spiritual needs" - a trend that has been widespread in post-Christendom Europe.

In response to the survey, Callum Brown, professor of religious and cultural history at Dundee University said to the Herald, "The figure suggests Scotland is a leading part of the very pronounced collapse of traditional Christian culture in Europe. In a recent survey of the people of the EU, 42% claimed that religion did not occupy an important place in their life."

Peter Kearney, spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland, however, argued that "the demise of religious belief in Scotland has been greatly exaggerated".

Speaking to the Herald, Kearney believed that "belief and practice are not the same thing, many more believe than actively worship and this does not mean that religion is dead". He insisted that "belief in God clearly remains a fundamental truth for an overwhelming majority of Scots."

Rev Alex Millar, who is involved with mission and evangelism in the Church of Scotland, echoed, "There is at large a spiritual search being conducted by modern men and women in search of happiness and fulfilment which materialism does not offer."

"The old pattern of measuring religious affiliation is not necessarily the best indication of the strength of religion. Parish ministers up and down the country increasingly have people attending regularly, but who don't belong in the formal sense of membership."

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Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Teilhard de Chardin attempted to draw evolution into his spiritual vision and reimagine the cosmos.

His first question is this: Is Christ “capable of still embracing and still forming the center of our prodigiously expanded universe”? Or, in other words, now that we know about the enormity of the universe in space and time as well as something of the dynamic processes at work in matter, is Christ of the Gospels large enough?

His second question concerns the value of work. Is there a cosmic purpose to evolution? Is it going somewhere? Does what we do matter and does our work contribute to the ongoing process?

To believe in evolution requires a change in viewpoint from a static and stable world to a highly dynamic one, from a view of life that is human-centered to one that is cosmic. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that evolution impacts theology profoundly.

Because of the profound connection that he experiences between his inner and outer journeys, Teilhard finds, in physical evolution, a model for the Great Work that he must do, hand in hand with God. In fact, he describes his spirituality in language that resonates with the language of the evolutionary biologist of his day. He compares the human species to an endangered species searching for survival. We must continually search for new ways to effect the communion that we desire. We must be willing to try everything as we grope our way toward fuller life, toward the building up of the spirit of Earth.

Another important aspect of Teilhard’s spirituality is the way he integrates matter and spirit. In his view, matter and spirit are not dualistic opposites. Instead, they are so interwoven that they become almost inseparable. Matter, understood in this holistic way, becomes a matrix on which spirit can be synthesized and unified.

For Teilhard, matter is “the . . . milieu . . . in which we live.” Due to the indwelling presence of the divine, matter becomes transfigured from within, bathed in an interior light. However, this way of seeing does not modify the apparent order of things. Instead, it is subtle and often missed by those with a materialist bend. For those who know how to see, the world becomes transparent.

A milieu both formidable and charming, it is a holy place, a divine milieu. Within the depths of matter, the divine is everywhere, especially beneath our groping efforts, synthesizing all the elements of the world and leading the entire cosmos back to God.

His sensitivity to cosmic processes kept him alert for new possibilities for growth and development. His synthesis of evolution and incarnation suggests that there is something more profound happening at the heart of matter than humans had been able to observe before his time. This synthesis sheds light on the dramatic power at work within the continuing creation.

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This article is adapted from “The Spiritual Power of Matter: Evolution and Incarnation in Teilhard’s The Divine Milieu,” a paper presented at Marist College, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., May 14, 2005.
By Kathleen Duffy
(June 1, 2005)
Kathleen Duffy is professor of physics at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.