Effective Sept. 1, ministers in Alabama will be prohibited from assisting illegal immigrants, including offering them rides, hiring undocumented workers or renting to them under the state’s new immigration bill passed in June.

“We call it the ‘Clergy Criminalization Act,’ ” Louis Cortes Jr., president of the Philadelphia-based Esperanza network told Christianity Today magazine.

More than 150 ministers in the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church signed a letter denouncing the legislation and the Southern Baptist Convention adopted a resolution this summer reiterating that pastors should minister to everyone regardless of immigration status.

The Christianity Todayarticle goes on to say that whether the law goes into effect remains to be seen because Alabama also passed a religious freedom amendment to the state constitution in 1999 — and the immigration law appears to conflict with that amendment.

There’s also the question of whether ministers will adhere to the law when it runs counter to their religious beliefs.

“Our Spanish people need help,” said United Methodist Bishop William Willimon. “It’s like [Peter said] in Acts: ‘We must obey God rather than men.’ “

A story for the Jewish Daily Forward by Josh Nathan-Kazis talks about how reduced federal spending as part of the debt ceiling deal may affect Jewish federations trying to provide nursing home, education and social services:

The budget deal in Washington and the near certainty of steep declines in federal funding for social services have created a challenge for Jewish communal federations across the country: How to maintain support for hospitals, nursing homes and other services while continuing to provide the education, identity and Israel programs that their donors want?

Federations already spend between one-sixth and one-half of grant allocations on social services. Drops in federal funding may bring pressure to increase the size of those grants relative to other priorities, but federation officials insist that they will instead address the cuts by raising additional money and reducing redundancies.
Read more: http://forward.com/articles/140878/#ixzz1UNyUTB00

The atheists raised awareness, and ire, with their billboards proclaiming ”I can be good without God.” Now a church group is planning to erect its own billboards this fall in 500 cities nationwide.

The billboards — along with bumper stickers, yard signs, and bus advertising — will pose the question ““If you could ask God any question, what would you ask?” Those responding to the advertising campaign will be invited to a low-key, 10-week “exploration of the Christian faith,” created by Alpha USA, an Illinois-based organization that partners with churches to reach the unchurched — some of the same demographic the atheists are going after.

“We sometimes forget that the church is a wonderful organization for those who are not its members,” said Alpha USA’s president Gerard Long,  “This is a way for churches to get back to the work of evangelism and outreach that Jesus called us to, and to get people thinking without making them feel judged.”

More than 4,300 churches representing 127 denominations use the Alpha USA program. 

Washington Post’s On Faith: 9/11 beams at a crossroads

Last week, American Atheists filed suit in New York objecting to the inclusion of a cross—an artifact of 9/11—in a September 11th museum, provoking a debate over the appropriate way to memorialize the attacks. The atheist group argues that the cross’s inclusion endorses Christianity, while others insist that the beams, uncovered in the rescue effort, are a genuine part of the attack’s history. If you use the cross in memorials, should the government include symbols for all faiths, including atheism?

Among the views:

• Susan Jacoby in defense of the 9/11 cross
• Tom Flynn: 9/11 cross a private symbol, not public monument
• Herb Silverman: Militant atheism, militant Christianity
• Jack Moline: 9/11 cross is Christian

For responses from On Faith panelists, visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/atheists-say-911-cross-beams-a-christian-symbol/2011/08/02/gIQA2j6vpI_blog.html

Interfaith Prayer Service

An interfaith ceremony calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons will be held Saturday, Aug. 6, at the Orlando Quakers Meeting House, 316 e. Marks St., Orlando.  

Those scheduled to attend the service — including Joe Iron Eagle (Native American Medicine Man/Chiricahue-Apache tribe), Father Scott Circe (Catholic), Vemeru Krishna (Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization), Kathy Beasley (Christ Unity Church), Imam Hamidullah (Islam), Amy Ueda (SGI/USA/Buddhist) Orlando Region Women’s Division Leader, and Steve Phalen (Quakers of Orlando) — represent a movement advocating the end to nuclear weapons by Aug. 6, 2020 — the 75th anniversary of the atom bombs dropped on Japan.

On February 20, 2011, Orlando joined the Mayors for Peace 2020 Vision Campaign initiated by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. More than 4,800 cities nationwide have joined the Japanese cities in calling for an  international conference to end nuclear weapons. 

To attend the service or for more information call 407.425.5125.

Campus Crusade for Christ gets a new name

The Campus Crusade for Christ’s recent announcement that the organization plans to change its name to Cru has left lots of people scratching their heads — especially after the ministry said it went through 1,600 possible names before coming up with that one.

Cru? Really? What’s that mean? Shorthand for “Crusade”? An acronym?

Campus Crusade Vice President Steve Sellers says the name began as a nickname in the early 1990s on college campuses where students started referring to “going to Cru” or attending a “Cru meeting.” Sellers couldn’t say who first started using the nickname or how it came about, but it’s safe to assume – since this is the same generation of college students that reduced “parents” to “rents” – that “Cru” is short for “Crusade.”

The decision to change the name came because both “Crusade” and “Campus” no longer accurately reflect the organization, Sellers said.

The ministry, founded in 1951, is no longer confined to college campuses. And “crusade” has taken on some negative connotations since the 1950s — recalling the violence carried out by the Christian crusaders during the Middle Ages. 

Sellers said few of their organizations around the world — especially those in the Middle East — use the name Campus Crusade for Christ. Many of the Campus Crusade ministries in Europe use the name “Agape” — Greek for “love” — while in Africa the preferred name is “Great Commission.” In New Zealand, the organization is known as “Tandem Ministries.”

Any of those names might have become the new name for Campus Crusade for Christ, but they didn’t make the cut when the contenders were whittled down from 1,600 to 100 to 42 to the final five. Sellers wouldn’t say what the final choices were, only that Cru was the unanimous pick.

So what does Cru mean — aside from college slang for crusade? Right now, nothing – and anything.

“It’s a coined word so it has no inherent meaning. What we intend for it to mean is that Cru is a caring community passionate about connecting people to Jesus Christ,” Sellers said.

As an example of what Campus Crusade hopes for Cru when it becomes the ministry’s official name in 2012 is how the word Google has been transformed from an obscure mathematical term to a brand name (and verb) for searching the Internet.

“Over time,” Sellers said, “a coined term takes on the meaning of what you live it out to be.”

 The term has been used to describe Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. In a new Washington Post On Faith column, religion writer Lisa Miller looks at how women are traditionally defined and whether Bachmann and Palin represent an emerging conservative women’s movement. 

To read the column, go here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/evangelical-women-rise-as-new-feminists/2011/07/27/gIQAEbuGfI_story.html.

In future columns, Miller will cover the religious dimensions of the upcoming presidential race, the intersections between faith and personal values, international religious conflict, and culture-wars issues in the political sphere. The column will also take an unbiased approach to cover spirituality, belief and believers.

Miller is a contributing editor at New York magazine and the author of “Heaven: Our Enduring Fascination with the Afterlife.” She was a senior editor at Newsweek, overseeing the magazine’s religion coverage, writing the weekly “Belief Watch” column and editing Newsweek’s prominent “Spirituality in America” double issue. Before joining Newsweek, Miller covered religion for The Wall Street Journal. She has also worked with The New Yorker, Self magazine and Harvard Business Review.

For more information, visit www.washingtonpost.com/onfaith.

With New York becoming the sixth state to allow gay marriage and Maryland headed the same direction, Religion Link  has complied a series of links to stories about the battle taking place in Congress and among congregations over gay marriage.

“For religious conservatives who oppose same-sex marriage, the movement toward greater acceptance of it in the culture and in the law portends a long-running battle in the face of decreasing public support,” Religion Link reports. “But even religious groups that are more supportive of gay rights may face challenges when same-sex marriage becomes a legal reality. In New York, for instance, Episcopal Church leaders were divided on whether to allow their clergy to officiate at same-sex weddings because the church itself is still developing rites for blessing same-sex unions.”

Here are some of the recent stories on the shifting terrain of gay marriage in America:

• In July 2011, the Obama administration announced that it would support overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, which since 1996 has defined marriage for the purposes of federal law as a union between one man and one woman.
• In Maryland, Gov. Martin O’Malley announced July 22, 2011, that he would lead the legislative effort in January to legalize gay marriage in his state. As The Baltimore Sun reported, a gay marriage bill that was approved earier in 2011  by the state Senate was pulled from the floor of the House of Delegates after vote-counters determined that they did not have enough votes to pass the measure. O’Malley’s leadership the next time could make the difference, gay marriage supporters argued.
• As early as September, the California Supreme Court could begin hearing oral arguments on a ruling that overturned the state’s controversial Proposition 8 ballot measure, which state voters narrowly approved in November 2008. Prop 8, as it is known, declared that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.” Whatever the California high court decides, the case is expected to be appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
• Same-sex marriage is sure to be a bright line dividing the eventual Republican candidate and President Barack Obama during the 2012 campaign, and the issue is already a source of debate among the GOP candidates as they joust over what sort of policies and positions to adopt. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is rumored to become a late entry into the Republican presidential sweepstakes, made headlines in July when he said that New York state was acting within its rights under the 10th Amendment to legalize gay marriage, even if he would not take that course. Many social conservatives were upset with Perry, and in a July 28 interview with Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council he modified those comments and added that he would support a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

In preparation for National Back to Church Sunday on Sept. 18, a free webinar is being held Tuesday, Aug. 2, at 3 p.m.

Sponsored by LifeWay Research and Outreach, Inc., the webinar will instruct churches on how to build excitement for the event, engage their communities and partner with other churches for a greater impact. The webinar features Philip Nation, LifeWay’s director of ministry development and equipping/teaching pastor at The Fellowship at Two Rivers in Nashville, Tenn.

No registration is required. To learn more, click here: http://backtochurch.com/participate/webinar.

served as executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando for 10 years. He is a member of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals, Planned Giving Council of Central Florida, Consortium of Florida Education Foundations and various civic organizations.Geboff

Here is Kudlowitz’s retirement statement:

The years at JFS have provided me with many memories that have shaped my philosophy. I will share one of the memories that stands out most in my mind. Several years ago, I attended the dedication of Catholic Charities’ new building. Bishop Wenski was giving the dedication and remarked, “Catholic Charities makes Catholicism look good.”

I thought to myself, “I hope our community feels that JFS makes Judaism look good. After all, JFS’ mission is based on Jewish faith and tradition… to make a diff erence for all people in need.” In hindsight, I can say that JFS has remained true to Jewish values and to our mission, and that the community as a whole appreciates our contribution.

We often ask you, the community, for financial support to help us in our mission. These requests are more than about money. They are about how the money can be used to help children and families. Every meal makes a difference, as does every counseling session, KidsKonnect group or volunteer activity. Whether it is paying rent or visiting someone at the end of life, it all makes a powerful impact.

Sure, my job is asking you to support JFS. But what I am really asking, is for you to become part of our dream to build a caring community with dignity and respect for all individuals. Some of you may feel this is idealistic and naive. However, for the 20,000 lives JFS touches each year, this dream is a reality.

I am retiring, but I will not be leaving this wonderful community. Th is is my home. I am not sure what the next chapter of my life may bring, but I will continue to be involved. All I ask is that you, too, make mankind your business and by your actions be a beacon of hope.

Thank you for the memories.