Associated Press correspondent Dana Wollman reports:

Amazon is selling a self-published book defending pedophiles, sparking discussions about the retailer's obligation to vet items before they are sold in its online stores.

The book, "The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: a Child-lover's Code of Conduct" by Philip R. Greaves II, offers advice to pedophiles afraid of becoming the center of retaliation. It is an electronic book available for Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle e-reader.

The book has triggered mounting outrage on Twitter and beyond. A chorus of Twitter users is calling for Amazon to pull the book, with a few threatening to boycott the Kindle store until it does.

Amazon did not immediately respond to an inquiry about whether and how it vet books sold in its store.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (23)
        

A rural Mississippi school district that was sued by a lesbian student who wanted to bring a same-sex date to the high school prom is denying accusations it routed her to a "sham prom" at a country club while most of her schoolmates partied elsewhere, the Associated Press reports.

The Itawamba County School District addressed the claims made by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Constance McMillen in papers filed Friday with the U.S. District Court in Aberdeen.

It's been nearly two months since McMillen attended a prom at the Fulton Country Club that drew fewer than 10 other students from Itawamba Agricultural High School. Most of her classmates attended a separate event at the nearby Evergreen Community Center, to which McMillen was not invited, and later posted pictures from the dance on Internet sites.

At the time, McMillen had already sued the district over its policy banning same-sex prom dates and for canceling an April 2 school-sponsored prom after the teenager pressed to bring her girlfriend to the event and wear a tuxedo.

U.S. District Judge Glen H. Davidson ruled in March that the district had violated McMillen's rights, but he didn't force the district to reinstate the prom. District officials had told the judge that McMillen was free to attend a parent-sponsored prom.

Continue reading "School board denies staging 'sham prom'" »

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Tough U.S. norms about dealing with clerical sex abuse that have been hailed as a model by the Vatican aren't appropriate for Belgium, even as it deals with dozens of new reports of priests molesting children, a leading archbishop told reporters on Friday.

Brussels Archbishop Andre-Mutien Leonard said the context in which the U.S. norms were created — amid a major scandal in 2002 — required a much tougher response than what Belgium or Europe requires, the Associated Press reports. But he said the Belgian church nevertheless was taking a firm stance against pedophile priests, albeit a more measured one than in the U.S.

"In Belgium, we are truly determined to be firm, transparent and rigorous on this question, but perhaps the European context, the Belgian context is not the same as the American context," he said. "In Belgium, we always like to speak in a language that can be very firm but one might say 'velvety' — a bit soft. But firm."

Leonard spoke to reporters Friday after a week of previously scheduled meetings with Vatican officials that followed the April announcement that the country's longest-serving bishop, Roger Vangheluwe, had resigned after admitting he sexually abused a boy.

The revelation has shaken the Belgian church, sparking what Leonard has said was a "crisis in confidence" in an institution that has already seen a sharp decline in the number of priests in recent years.

The pope addresses the Belgian clergymen Saturday.

Continue reading "Belgian bishop: U.S. abuse response not for us" »

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The Vatican will finance new research, led by the University of Maryland's School of Medicine, into the potential use of adult stem cells in the treatment of intestinal and possibly other diseases, Baltimore Sun colleague Kelly Brewington reports.

The Italian-American partnership, known as the International Intestinal Stem Cell Consortium, brings together researchers from the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Maryland; The University of Salerno, Bambino Gesu — an Italian children's hospital; and the Istituto Superiore di Sanita — the Italian equivalent of the National Institutes of Health.

The project is at a preliminary phase and it will be years before any clinical treatment might be available, Vatican officials said.

Cardinal Renato Martino said he expected the Vatican to help finance the project through Bambino Gesu, but the exact amount must still be worked out in future meetings with the University of Maryland. An initial announcement by the university said the Vatican had already agreed to donate $2.7 million to the research.

Read more at baltimoresun.com.

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The holiest day on the Christian calendar is not the appropriate time to discuss allegations that the Vatican covered up child sexual abuse by priests, Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien said Sunday.

O'Brien did not address the abuse scandal during Easter Mass at the Basilica of the Assumption, the oldest cathedral in the United States, and he touched on it only briefly during comments to reporters before the service, the Associated Press reports.

"Christ himself said, 'In the world, you'll have trials. But do not fear; I have overcome the world.' And that's where our focus is," O'Brien said. "Damage has been done. We're trying to repair that damage. We're trying to help those who've been hurt. But we go on; we're still a church. We still bring a positive message to our people and the world."

Pope Benedict XVI also did not acknowledge accusations that he perpetuated a climate of cover-up for pedophile priests, a scandal that threatens to overshadow his papacy and has led to calls for his resignation. At St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, a senior cardinal defended the pontiff from what he called "petty gossip" and hailed his leadership and courage.

In Baltimore, several congregants said their faith in the church's leadership had not been shaken by the allegations. But Rosemarie McManus said she was dismayed by what she called a worldwide crisis.

"It's disgusting. It's embarrassing. It makes me totally sad," said the 83-year-old music teacher, who said she had to hide her Catholic faith from the Nazis as a girl in her native Germany.

Continue reading "O'Brien: Damage is done; we're trying to repair it" »

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Vatican officials warned church officials in India to monitor a Catholic priest charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl in Minnesota, but four years later he continues to work in his home diocese, the Associated Press reports.

In a 2006 letter to the bishop of the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, Archbishop Angelo Amato wrote that the Rev. Joseph Palanivel Jeyapaul would be watched in his home diocese "so that he does not constitute a risk to minors and does not create scandal."

Amato was secretary to Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which handles all abuse cases.

The letter is among evidence gathered by Jeff Anderson, the attorney for Jeyapaul's accuser.

Jeyapaul denies the charges and has no plans to return to the U.S. to face the courts. His current bishop says Jeyapaul has a paperwork job in his office and does not work with children.

"We cannot simply throw out the priest, so he is just staying in the bishop's house, and he is helping me with the appointment of teachers," said the Rev. A. Almaraj, the bishop of Ootacamund. "He says he is innocent, and these are only allegations. ... I don't know what else to do."

Read the Associated Press story.

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Categories: Abuse, Ethics, International
        

It was the Catholic calendar's holiest moment -- the Mass celebrating the resurrection of Christ. But with Pope Benedict XVI accused of failing to protect children from abusive priests, the Associated Press reports, Easter Sunday also was a high-profile opportunity to play defense.

"Holy Father, on your side are the people of God," Cardinal Angelo Sodano told the pontiff, whom victims of clergy sexual abuse accuse of helping to shape and perpetuate a climate of cover-up. Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, dismissed those claims as "petty gossip."

The ringing tribute at the start of a Mass attended by tens of thousands in St. Peter's Square marked an unusual departure from the Vatican's Easter rituals, infusing the tradition-steeped religious ceremony with an air of a papal pep rally.

Dressed in gold robes and shielded from a cool drizzle by a canopy, Benedict looked weary during much of the Mass, the highlight of a heavy Holy Week schedule. But as he listened intently to Sodano's paean, a smile broke across the pope's face, and when the cardinal finished speaking, Benedict rose from his chair in front of the altar to embrace him.

The pontiff hasn't responded to accusations that he did too little to protect children from pedophile priests, even as sex abuse scandals threaten to overshadow his papacy.

Sodano's praise for Benedict as well as the church's 400,000 priests worldwide cranked up a vigorous campaign by the Holy See to counter what it calls a "vile" smear operation orchestrated by anti-Vatican media aimed at weakening the papacy and its moral authority.

Sodano said the faithful came to "rally close around you, successor to (St.) Peter, bishop of Rome, the unfailing rock of the holy church" amid the joy of Easter.

"We are deeply grateful to you for the strength of spirit and apostolic courage with which you announce the Gospel," said Sodano, who sought to assure Benedict that the scandals were not costing him credibility among his flock.

"Holy Father, on your side are the people of God, who do not allow themselves to be influenced by the petty gossip of the moment, by the trials which sometimes buffet the community of believers," Sodano said.

Continue reading "On Easter, a 'papal pep rally'" »

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The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has lost all credibility because of its mishandling of abuse by priests, the leader of the Anglican church said in remarks released Saturday, the Associated Press reports. A leading Catholic archbishop said he was "stunned" by the comments.

The remarks released Saturday marked the first time Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has spoken publicly on the crisis engulfing the Catholic Church. The comments come ahead of a planned visit to England and Scotland by Pope Benedict XVI later this year.

"I was speaking to an Irish friend recently who was saying that it's quite difficult in some parts of Ireland to go down the street wearing a clerical collar now," Williams told the BBC. "And an institution so deeply bound into the life of a society, suddenly becoming, suddenly losing all credibility — that's not just a problem for the church, it is a problem for everybody in Ireland, I think."

At the Vatican, the pope celebrated Easter Vigil on Saturday evening but didn't directly refer to the scandal in his homily.

The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on Saturday denounced what it called the "vile defamation campaign" against the pope and cited messages of solidarity that had arrived from bishops from around the world.

Benedict, who on Sunday celebrates Easter and delivers his "Urbi et Orbi" speech, hasn't made any explicit reference to the scandal since he released a letter to the Irish faithful concerning the abuse crisis in that country on March 20.

The interview with Williams, recorded March 26, is to be aired Monday on the BBC's "Start the Week" program as part of a general discussion of religion to mark Easter. But its publication ahead of the interview caught Catholic leaders off guard.

Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said he had "rarely felt personally so discouraged" as when he heard Williams' opinions.

"I have been more than forthright in addressing the failures of the Catholic Church in Ireland. I still shudder when I think of the harm that was caused to abused children. I recognize that their church failed them," a statement, posted on the archdiocese's Web site, said. "Those working for renewal in the Catholic Church in Ireland did not need this comment on this Easter weekend and do not deserve it."

Continue reading "Anglican leader: Irish church has lost all credibility" »

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The Rev. Jason Poling is Pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

Five years ago, Terri Schiavo was pronounced dead more than 15 years after a heart attack put her into a persistent vegetative state. The battles leading up to that conclusion originated in a struggle between her husband Michael Schiavo and her parents Robert and Mary Schindler over who would determine proper care for her; they eventually managed to involve all three branches of the federal government, and hastened the political demise of Sen. (and Dr.) Bill Frist's once-promising Presidential candidacy.

As I watched the story unfold like a slow-motion car wreck, I was struck by the difficulty of the ethical issues involved. Does a feeding tube constitute "extraordinary measures" used to sustain life? Some liken it to the technological intervention of a ventilator, while others consider it basic nutrition and hydration which no-one could humanely deny. Did the widely disseminated videos of Schiavo reflect genuine intelligent response to people known to her or simply an involuntary reaction to external stimuli? Was Schiavo a living human being, or simply a metabolizing organism? Did she begin to rest in peace five years ago, or twenty?

The profound ethical questions raised in this case will continue to be debated, as well they should. But as long as they are unresolved the more pressing question for most of us is how a situation like Schiavo's is to be handled. Schiavo's autopsy revealed that she had indeed suffered massive and irreversible brain damage, but decisions about her care had to be made without this evidence. Absent a clear advance medical directive, does her husband make decisions for her? Do her parents have the right to trump her husband? Do the courts have the right to trump both? Congress?

Every day difficult medical decisions are made without certain knowledge about what will happen, or what would happen if a different path were taken. And every day these decisions are made among differences of opinion as what the “right” — or at least best — choice is. At the end of the day someone must make the call, and we as a society must have ways of ensuring that the appropriate person is making these decisions when the patient is unable to and has not authorized someone else to.

Among the most important things we learn from Scripture about the nature of marriage is that every wedding involves two funerals. “A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Jesus commented on this verse, “So they are no longer two, but one” (Matthew 19:6). When I officiate at weddings I always point out that from that day forward the people being married are entering into a change in the very essence of their being: no longer will either be himself or herself apart from the other. (I then sign the marriage license, and hope to snag a few crab balls on the way out. They then spend the rest of their lives working that out.)

What surprised me the most about the controversy over the Schiavo case was that the same people who ordinarily defend traditional understandings of marriage — people who in the course of pastoral ministry and teaching emphasize to couples (and their parents) the importance of “leaving and cleaving,” who encourage couples to work out their problems rather than running to their parents, who really do believe that the two become one — were the ones who wanted Terri Schiavo’s parents, rather than her husband, to make decisions about her medical care. No doubt if the roles had been reversed, they’d have been taking loud and strong stands on the right of a husband to make decisions for his disabled spouse, and decrying efforts by the government and her parents to remove the feeding tube.

Continue reading "Jason Poling: Terry Schiavo, five years on" »

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Categories: Catholicism, Church and State, Ethics, Guest Posts, Jason Poling, Law and Courts, People, Politics, Science
        

Apologies, real and imagined, Part III

The Rev. Jason Poling is Pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

Now that’s what I call an apology.

No "I deeply regret that the citizens of Baltimore have had to go through this ordeal with me," no sideways allusions to a prayer of confession for “any words or deeds of mine that may have” stigmatized Israel. This was the real thing.

In brief: All of you have every right to be mad at me, because I screwed up. I hurt a lot of people in a lot of ways, and I’m sorry. Nobody else is to blame for this pickle that I’m in. It’s my fault, and I’m sorry. I’m embarrassed, as I ought to be. So I’m taking responsibility for my actions, I’m doing what I need to do to try to fix what I’ve broken, and I’m doing so even though I don’t know if I’ll succeed. I know I need help and I’m getting it, as in right now, so I’m leaving to get more help. I’ll see you when I see you.

Some found Woods’ apology a bit too thorough — "the best words ... money could buy," as David Zurawik put it. Clearly his statement was not scribbled on the back of an envelope on the limo ride over; it reflected what must have been a long and arduous editing process. Woods had a lot to say, and his transitions between topics were often anything but smooth. No doubt there were times when he said (as all of us who’ve done any writing have done), “Well, I gotta have this in there and this is as good a place as any to put it.”

Was Woods’ apology ghost-written? One can only hope that the people with whom he has been working had a hand in coaching Woods on his apology. It was not by surrounding himself with people who had permission to speak into his life that Woods entered into a pattern of betrayal. The “money and fame” that made it easy for him to go after those “temptations” to which he felt “entitled” also made it easy for him to insulate himself from criticism.

But his statement bears every mark of being a painfully and personally wrought stake in the ground that is and will continue to be significant as a declaration of his understanding of the causes and results of his behavior, and his intentions to amend it. Certainly it is the product of the work he has been doing in rehab, and a frank posturing of himself as someone who is still very much in recovery. (And it was admirably frank without being inappropriate for something being broadcast live at 11:00 am.)

Continue reading "Jason Poling: Tiger, Tiger, shame burning bright" »

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Categories: Christianity, Culture, Ethics, Guest Posts, Jason Poling, People
        

Apologies, real and imagined, Part II

The Rev. Jason Poling is the pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

On Wednesday we Christians begin the season of Lent. Starting with Ash Wednesday, we enter into a time of reflection, of self-examination, of confession, of penitence.

Or at least some of us do. Some are so put off by religious rigmarole that they will have no part of irrelevant rituals. Others think themselves above this sort of morbid negativism; they could not imagine singing along with Augustus Toplady’s classic hymn “Rock of Ages:”

Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to the cross I cling
Naked, come to thee for dress
Helpless, look to thee for grace
Foul I to the fountain fly
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

Naked? Helpless? Foul? No, they say, I don’t think I’m that bad off. I’m not the best person, but I’m pretty good, and I don’t think I really need anybody else’s help.

But traditionally the Church has taken quite a different view: We are sinful from birth, we are sinful by our own choices, we are sinful by ingrained habit and that’s no surprise since everyone around us is too. We live in a world where the effects of sin are seen all around us, where the very institutions that sustain us are thoroughly shot through with human frailty at best, Infernal evil at worst.

As the great 20th century theologian Reinhold Niebuhr put it, “Religion is very easily used to obscure rather than to reveal the primitive forces which control so much of human nature. Religion without a constantly replenished force of penitence easily becomes a romance which brutal men use to hide the real sources of their actions from themselves and from others.”

Therefore our church, like many others, will begin Lent with an Ash Wednesday service during which we will be reminded that we are dust, and to dust we will return. We will wear ashes on our foreheads as a reminder of our mortality. Mindful of the fact that our life is but a vapor, we will confess to God and to one another that when it comes to examining our consciences during the six weeks of Lent none of us will run out of material that ought to provoke repentance.

Of course, Christianity is not the only religion to focus the attention of devout on the reality of human depravity (original sin being, in the words of the great Roman Catholic apologist G. K. Chesterton “the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved” by the obvious reality of human experience). Our Jewish neighbors recite during Yom Kippur (day of atonement) services the Al Het, a prayer of confession arranged in acrostic format so as to accomplish the work of admitting sins “from A to Z.”

The Al Het is an impressive piece of liturgical work. In the Book of Common Prayer, we Christians are led to confess “that we have sinned by our own fault, in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.” Oftentimes we will allow for a period of silent confession after mentioning a few specifics. But in the Al Het the worshipper begs God’s forgiveness for “the sin we have sinned before You under duress or freewill, and for the sin we have sinned before You in hardness of heart” — and then likewise for 22 other pairs of sins.

So I was struck by the news that during Chanukah Jimmy Carter had offered an Al Het. President Carter has been an outspoken critic of Israel, and has been accused of anti-Semitism by many not ordinarily prone to throwing such a term around lightly. Most recently, his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid drew a furious response from Jewish leaders in Israel and America for likening the government of Israel to the racist government of South Africa under the National Party.

Continue reading "Jason Poling: Jimmy Carter and the Jews" »

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In the months since we started In Good Faith, we've attracted readers and commenters from all over the world. Ties to the Baltimore area will be helpful in spotting some familiar faces in the video above (the list appears at the end).

I wanted to take a moment to say a sincere thank you to all who have stopped by, and particularly to those who have joined in the spirited debate taking shape on these pages. During this holiday season, we wish the very best to everyone of every faith, and no faith at all.

I expect to be posting only lightly over the next few days as I take time off to spend with my family. As my father would say: Talk amongst yourselves.

Best,
Matt

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President Barack Obama won praise from a surprising admirer with his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peeace Prize: Sarah Palin.

The 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee tells USA Today that Obama's defense of war to combat "evil" -- for the use of which his predecessor took criticism -- could have been taken from her own memoir.

"Wow, that really sounded familiar," Palin tells USA Today's Kathy Kiely. "I talked, too, in my book about the fallen nature of man and why war is necessary at times."

The 2009 Nobel peace laureate devoted much of his speech Thursday speaking about war -- which he said was sometimes appropriate:

We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations -- acting individually or in concert -- will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified. I make this statement mindful of what Martin Luther King Jr. said in this same ceremony years ago: "Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: it merely creates new and more complicated ones." As someone who stands here as a direct consequence of Dr. King's life work, I am living testimony to the moral force of non-violence. I know there's nothing weak -- nothing passive -- nothing naïve -- in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.

But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people. For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. A non-violent movement could not have halted Hitler's armies. Negotiations cannot convince al Qaeda's leaders to lay down their arms. To say that force may sometimes be necessary is not a call to cynicism -- it is a recognition of history; the imperfections of man and the limits of reason.

Continue reading "Palin praises Obama comments on war, evil" »

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The last time our friend Christopher J. Doucot spoke at an Episcopal church was in 2004. He had just returned from Iraq, and gave what he describes as a “somewhat forceful sermon” critical of the U.S.-led invasion there.

A graduate of Yale Divinity School, a founding member of the Hartford Catholic Worker, and an instructor in sociology at Central Connecticut State University, Chris was told to keep it upbeat on Sunday -- All Saints' Day -- when he is scheduled to speak at St. James Episcopal Church in West Hartford, Conn.

When I was a kid, my understanding of the saints was that they were something like the cartoon superheroes I watched on Saturday mornings. They could fly, endure great suffering, go years without eating and heal people by praying over them. They were not real people.

As I got older, I began to see various athletes from Boston's professional sports teams as saintly – if not saints in the making. Carl Yaztremski of the Red Sox was the patron of the lost cause who never gave up. Terry O'Reilly of the Boston Bruins was the defender of the meek. He spent hours in the penalty box for busting the noses of any player from the opposing team who got in Wayne Cashman's way. Unfortunately, O'Reilly didn't confine his bellicosity to the ice. Once, in 1979, he climbed into the stands of Madison Square Garden to beat a New York Ragners fan with his own shoe.

Continue reading "Guest post: The vision of the saints" »

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The Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Del., which includes Maryland's Eastern Shore, filed for federal bankruptcy protection on Sunday night, on the eve of a civil trial in a high-profile sex abuse case against the diocese and a former priest, the Associated Press is reporting.

The bankruptcy filing automatically delays the case in Kent County Superior Court, the first of eight consecutive abuse trials scheduled in Delaware, according to the AP. The diocese becomes the seventh in the nation to seek bankruptcy protection in the face of abuse claims.

"This is a painful decision, one that I had hoped and prayed I would never have to make," Bishop W. Francis Maloody said in a statement on the diocesan Web site. "However, after careful consideration and after consultation with my close advisors and counselors, I believe we have no other choice, and that filing for Chapter 11 offers the best opportunity, given finite resources, to provide the fairest possible treatment of all victims of sexual abuse by priests of our Diocese. Our hope is that Chapter 11 proceedings will enable us to fairly compensate all victims through a single process established by the Bankruptcy Court."

Malooly said the moved was "in no way intended to dodge responsibility for past criminal misconduct by clergy – or for mistakes made by Diocesan authorities. Nor does the bankruptcy process enable the Diocese to avoid or minimize its responsibility to victims of abuse. ... The Diocese of Wilmington is committed to pursuing the truth because truth heals."

Thomas Neuberger, an attorney representing 88 alleged victims, described the bankruptcy filing as a "desperate effort to hide the truth from the public and conceal the thousands of pages of scandalous documents" from being made public in court, according to the AP.

Continue reading "Diocese seeks bankruptcy protection" »

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Sun colleague Nick Madigan reveals new allegations against Rabbi Jacob A. Max in Sunday's newspaper. The allegations come from five women who spoke to Madigan after Max was convicted earlier this year of sexually molesting a younger woman at a Reisterstown funeral home.

As Madigan describes it:

The hushed accusations of Max's penchant for groping and fondling - which some women say he accompanied with a smirk and an excuse about his being a "bad rabbi" - appear to have been tolerated without inquiry for decades because of his standing and authority in the tightly knit religious community. Girls who complained to their mothers about his conduct say they were ignored. ...

News of the conviction prompted five other women to share with The Baltimore Sun their own allegations of improper advances by the rabbi. Three contacted a reporter and the remaining two were referred by others. The women said news of the conviction impelled them to come forward because they believe their charges about Max's behavior deserve to be disclosed, no matter how long ago the events occurred. ...

None of the five women had spoken publicly before the criminal case, because, they say, it was understood that members of the modern Orthodox Jewish community - especially young ones - did not divulge errors by its leaders, let alone accuse them of impropriety.

Max's attorney did not make his client available to comment. Attorney David B. Irwin denied any wrongdoing by Max:

"If anyone took a friendly gesture the wrong way, as far as he's concerned, he's sorry," Irwin said. "But he never intentionally molested or inappropriately touched anyone."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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The Vatican has lashed out at criticism over its handling of its pedophilia crisis, saying the Catholic Church was ''busy cleaning its own house'' and that the problems with clerical sex abuse in other churches were as big, if not bigger, The Guardian is reporting.

The British newspaper describes a "defiant and provocative statement" issued after a meeting of the U.N. human rights council in Geneva in which the Holy See says most of the Catholic clergy who committed such acts were not pedophiles but homosexuals attracted to sex with adolescent males:

The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, defended its record by claiming that ''available research'' showed that only 1.5 per cent to 5 per cent of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse.

He also quoted statistics from the Christian Science Monitor newspaper to show that most US churches being hit by child sex abuse allegations were Protestant and that sexual abuse within Jewish communities was common.

Speaking after a representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union accused the church of covering up child abuse and violating several articles of the Convention of the Rigts of the Child, The Guardian reports, Tomasi said sexual abuse was far more likely to be committed by family members, babysitters, friends, relatives or neighbors.

The newspaper says representatives of other religions were "dismayed by the Holy See's attempts to distance itself from controversy by pointing the finger at other faiths."

Read the story at theage.com.au.

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With the death of Michael Jackson, estranged former confidant Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has revived a long-dormant book project based on 30 hours of interviews with the reclusive pop star, the Associated Press is reporting.

This strikes us as awkward.

The author of such self-help books as “Kosher Sex” and “Shalom in the Home,” the Orthodox Jewish Boteach was introduced to Jackson in 1999 and remained close with him until Jackson’s 2003 arrest on charges of molesting a child.

The interviews date from 2000 and 2001, according to the AP, when Jackson and Boteach agreed a book would help to improve Jackson’s public image. The AP says Boteach soured on the project after Jackson failed to adhere to the recovery programs they had worked out, including waking up at a decent hour and not being alone with children other than Jackson's own three children.

The AP reports that the tapes, on which Jackson talks about being beaten by his father, self-consciousness about his appearance and a desire to disappear rather than grow old, sound at times like therapy sessions.

Their posthumous release by a clergyman doubling as confidant and collaborator seems problematic, or at least potentially so. Jackson apparently submitted to – may have initiated – the interviews in the expectation that they would lead to a book.

But it sounds as if the men dropped the project years before Jackson’s death. Given their fallout, one wonders if Jackson would have wanted the opportunity to invoke clergy-communicant confidentiality before it was picked up again.

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Representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, scheduled to meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday, say they will seek the release of three Americans detained in Iran since July.

Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal and Sarah Shourd apparently strayed into Iran while hiking in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. CAIR has been active in seeking their release.

“We hope that President Ahmadinejad will take this opportunity for a humanitarian gesture to create a more positive atmosphere for constructive dialogue between our two nations by releasing the American detainees,” CAIR National Board Chairman Larry Shaw said in a statement. “As an American organization, we must do what we can to help our nation’s citizens when they are swept up in international events.”

Ahmadinejad already has said he will seek leniency for the hikers, who are in their 20s and 30s.
"What I can ask is that the judiciary expedites the process and gives it its full attention, and to basically look at the case with maximum leniency," he said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. "The judiciary has its own procedures to follow, but I'm hopeful.”

CAIR said it would give Ahmadinejad a letter from the families of the hikers, and also a letter from the family of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who has been missing in Iran since 2007.

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With researchers gathered in Baltimore for the World Stem Cell Summit, Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien offers a word of warning: “Science divorced from ethics undermines genuine progress.”

“Embryonic stem cell research requires the destruction of human embryos,” the spiritual leader of the archdiocese’s half million Catholics writes in a commentary in The Baltimore Sun on Wednesday.

“It is understandably tempting to pursue this avenue given the stated goal of such research to produce treatments that could relieve the pain of, and perhaps even provide cures for, diseases plaguing countless people. Those burdened by disease or injuries deserve our unequivocal support, and scientific research should undoubtedly be commissioned on their behalf.

“That same science, however, also irrefutably demonstrates that a human embryo is a distinct human being. Its appearance and abilities differ from ours, but its nature is the same.

“To end one human life for the sake of another, even when the former is microscopically small and the latter is someone we know and love, is to play a dangerous game of utilitarianism. We shouldn't end lives to save lives. This practice violates one of the most basic ethical principles: The ends do not justify the means.”

Read the rest of O’Brien’s commentary at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (15)
        

On the eve or Rosh Hashanah, Jewish leaders in the United States are asking rabbis to emphasize the faith's ethical requirements in their sermons in response to recent financial scandals involving its members, the Associated Press is reporting.

Jews have been embarrassed the past year by the arrest of former Wall Street tycoon [Bernie] Madoff, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence for defrauding investors out of billions of dollars, and several rabbis who were arrested in July on money laundering charges, said Richard Joel, president of Yeshiva University in New York.

Widely distributed images showed them being led into the FBI building in Newark in rabbinical garb and handcuffs didn't help.

Locally, Rabbi Jay Kenneth Wagner, the assistant principal at Yeshivat Rambam Maimonides Academy of Baltimore, was indicted this week on charges of stealing more than $13,000 in school checks that he deposited into his own bank account,

"It's troubling," Rabbi Moshe Kletenik, president of the Rabbinical Council of America, which comprises about 1,000 rabbis in the U.S., Canada and Israel, tells AP reporter Victor Epstein. "Ethical living is as significant a part of leading a religious life as ritual law."

Read the rest of the Associated Press story here.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

The Rev. Jason Poling is the pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville.

For all the agonizing people do over theoretical ethical quandaries, few of us are likely often to find ourselves in genuine ethical dilemmas. Sure, we find ourselves in dilemmas, but our choice is usually between doing the right (but difficult, painful and/or costly) thing and taking a seemingly easier way out. Many of the dilemmas we encounter are self-inflicted: a husband looks at pornography and then must decide between confessing it to his wife (thus making her feel violated) or not (thus hiding something from her). We’re in a bad spot, but we put ourselves there, and we have ourselves to blame for having to lie in the bed we made.

The truly wrenching dilemmas, though, are the ones that are brought upon us by others. You see the neighbor kid smoking dope: Do you tell her parents? A coworker speaks abusively to you in a meeting: Do you object? A preacher delivers a sermon you know was cribbed from somebody else’s: Do you blow the whistle? In every case there are uncomfortable practical implications to either choice, and you’re aware that whatever path you choose will have negative consequences for you personally, but you have to choose. Even if you want very much to do the right thing, even if you work hard to keep your own interests from coloring your decision, it’s not easy. Beyond the harm inflicted by the bad behavior itself is the moral burden placed on those in a position to respond to it.

And sometimes you don’t have much time to make a choice. The adrenaline is flowing, the atmosphere is charged, the play is to you and you’ve got to make the call. This seems to have been the case for John Pontolillo, the Johns Hopkins student who encountered Donald Rice in his yard in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.

That Mr. Rice was guilty at the very least of trespassing is beyond question; that he was preparing to commit more serious crimes is beyond doubt. “Even burglars,” the Sun editorialized today, “don’t deserve to be killed with a razor-sharp sword.” No, of course not; burglary is not a crime that merits the death penalty in civilized societies. (And in the uncivilized ones I’d still prefer a sharp sword to a dull one, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Continue reading "Jason Poling: Facing a dilemma, sword in hand" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Culture, Ethics, Evangelicalsm, Guest Posts, Jason Poling, People, Politics
        

Days after the shooting death of anti-abortion activist James Pouillon, some abortion opponents are asking why abortion rights supporters haven’t condemned the slaying.

Harlan Drake has been charged in the deaths of Pouillon, a 63-year-old retired autoworker who was known locally for wielding signs depicting aborted fetuses, and another man Friday in Owosso, Mich. Police say Drake, 33, intended also to kill a third man.

According to the Associated Press, prosecutors say Drake had been irritated by Pouillon’s protests, but police have said little about what might have led Drake to kill, other than that he had a grudge against the men.

President Barack Obama condemned the killing on Sunday. But over at Politics Daily, Jeffrey Weiss finds Obama’s comment to be too little, too late, and wonders about the silence of other supporters of abortion rights.

He compares the relative quiet to the reaction that followed the killing in May of Dr. George Tiller, the Wichita physician long targeted for performing abortions, allegedly by an anti-abortion activist.

The day that Dr. Tiller was killed, I was easily able to cull a series of condemnations from my e-box from individuals and organizations opposed to abortion …

Those who made statements included Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission; the president and board of directors of Catholics for Choice; Interfaith Alliance Board Chair the Rev. Dr. Galen Guengerich; and Operation Rescue.

The suspect in Dr. Tiller's murder has been linked to some more extreme anti-abortion organizations, but not to any of the groups I just cited. Nonetheless, they felt some moral imperative to condemn the killing. And even if you think the statements were pro forma, the statements were quickly made.

Continue reading "Why the silence on Pouillon killing?" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 2:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (34)
        

More than 3 percent of women who attend religious services at least once a month have been the victims of clergy sexual misconduct since turning 18, according to a study produced by Baylor University.

Baylor’s School of Social Work announced the findings from its forthcoming nationwide study of the prevalence of clergy sexual misconduct, which it said had been accepted for publication later this year in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

The numbers suggest that in the average U.S. congregation of 400 adult members, seven women, on average, have been victimized at some point in their adult lives. That number is greater than has been widely known.

"Because many people are familiar with some of the high-profile cases of sexual misconduct, most people assume that it is just a matter of a few charismatic leaders preying on vulnerable followers," Diana Garland, dean of the School of Social Work and lead researcher in the study, said in a statement. "What this research tells us, however, is that Clergy Sexual Misconduct with adults is a widespread problem in congregations of all sizes and occurs across denominations. Now that we have a better understanding of the problem, we can start looking at prevention strategies."

Garland expressed hope that the findings would “prompt congregations to consider adopting policies and procedures designed to protect their members from leaders who abuse their power. Many people -- including the victims themselves -- often label incidences of Clergy Sexual Misconduct with adults as 'affairs'. In reality, they are an abuse of spiritual power by the religious leader."

Continue reading "Study: 1 in 33 churchgoing women victimized" »

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Associated Press photo

Ian Shapira has an interesting story in the Washington Post about the differing reactions to the release of convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi by two relatives of victims in the 1988 attack.

Megrahi was released Thursday by Scottish authorities on humanitarian grounds. He was diagnosed last year with advanced prostate cancer; he recently was given months to live.

Scottish Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said the release was motivated by Scottish values to show mercy.

"Some hurts can never heal, some scars can never fade," MacAskill said, according to the Associated Press. "Those who have been bereaved cannot be expected to forget, let alone forgive ... However, Mr. al-Megrahi now faces a sentence imposed by a higher power."

Megrahi, the only suspect convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, continues to protest his innocence. As the AP describes it, his 2001 conviction was based largely on the testimony of a shopkeeper who identified him as having bought a man's shirt in his store in Malta; Scraps of the garment were later found wrapped around a timing device discovered in the wreckage of the airliner. Critics of the conviction question the reliability of the store owner's evidence; to many in Libya and some in the West, Megrahi is an innocent scapegoat.

"I say in the clearest possible terms, which I hope every person in every land will hear — all of this I have had to endure for something that I did not do," he said in a statement on his release. "To those victims' relatives who can bear to hear me say this, they continue to have my sincere sympathy for the unimaginable loss that they have suffered."

Nonetheless, U.S. officials urged their Scottish counterparts against the release, and President Obama called it "a mistake."

The Post story includes comment from Anastasios Vrenios, 68, a singing teacher in Northwest Washington, and Stephanie Bernstein, 58, a Bethesda rabbi. Shapira writes that Vrenios, whose son Nicholas was a passenger on Flight 103, is "unbothered" by Megrahi's releaase.

Continue reading "Mercy and the Lockerbie bomber" »

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Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

Yesterday found me at the District Court of Maryland, Traffic Division, to fight a parking ticket. We had received a "Warning Notice" for failure to respond to a citation that we had never received, for our van being parked in a Transit Zone, in one of those neighborhoods in which you might be ill-advised to park in the most legal of spaces -- especially after dark, which, according to the time on the notice, it was. Mistakes happen, and the most likely explanation is that the wrong license plate number was transcribed from the citation onto the notice. Besides a compliment from the judge for having a "mean" hat (like many Orthodox Jewish men, I wear a black fedora, which he didn't want me to forget on the bench), he also gave me the Not Guilty verdict I was looking for (benefit of the doubt).

The experience was notable for a few reasons. First and foremost, the judge was (as the previous comments might indicate), very friendly and down to earth, very unpretentious. He was handling "non-incarcerable offenses" (his translation: "the only way you can go to jail is by doing something really dumb in this courtroom"), and was happy to show the friendlier side of the court system. Everyone appealing a ticket seemed to have some justification, and he was happy to give a Not Guilty to, for example, the obviously handicapped woman who was driving the wrong car on the day she was ticketed for using a handicapped spot. "Justice, justice shall you pursue..." but tempered with mercy. I was impressed.

He also told the following story, which happened to take place in the same neighborhood in which we were charged with parking illegally. He walks, he says, through all of Baltimore's neighborhoods, and on a Sunday morning a young man approached him on the otherwise-deserted street corner. "Hey man," he said, "want some weed?"

Continue reading "Guest Post: My day in court" »

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