WASHINGTON (RNS) Catholic Charities of Washington has added language to a hiring letter for new employees explicitly requiring that they "not violate the principles or tenets of the Catholic faith."

Employees of the Archdiocese of Washington's social service arm "are expected to act in ways that promote the best interest of our faith and church," reads a March 3 letter from Catholic Charities' Human Resources Manager Terrance Pollard. New employees will be asked to sign the letter.

The policy comes a week after the District of Columbia legalized same-sex marriage, prompting Catholic Charities to drop spousal benefits for new employees rather than cover same-sex spouses.

Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the archdiocese, said the two policies are unrelated, and the letter simply adds language that is already covered during new employee orientation.

The addition was prompted by a 2008 case in Virginia, Gibbs said, in which a Catholic Charities branch helped a 16-year-old abandoned immigrant obtain an abortion, which is prohibited by the church.

"That was a wake-up call," Gibbs said.

Employees will not be evaluated differently under the policy, which concerns what they do on the job -- not their private lives -- Gibbs said, adding that Catholic Charities employees non-Catholics. The Obama administration is currently studying whether it is legal for religious charities to discriminate in hiring based on religion when using federal funds.

Asked what would happen if an employee takes a public stand against church teaching, Gibbs said such matters will be handled on a "case-by-case basis."

-- Daniel Burke
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

(RNS) While most Americans describe Easter as a religious holiday, less than half of U.S. adults surveyed link it specifically to the Resurrection of Jesus, a Barna Group study shows.

Seven in 10 respondents mentioned religion or spirituality in their response to an open-ended question about how they describe what Easter means to them personally. But just 42 percent tied Easter to the Resurrection.

At 73 percent, baby boomers (ages 45 to 63) were the most likely to describe Easter as a religious holiday, compared to two-thirds of those ages 26 to 44 and Americans 64 and older. The youngest group of adults (ages 18 to 25) were least likely, at 58 percent, to use that kind of description.

Other than the day Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead, respondents described Easter as "a Christian holiday, a celebration of God or Jesus, a celebration of Passover, a holy day" or a special day to go to church, Barna researchers said.

"The Easter holiday in particular still has a distinctly religious connection for people but ... the specifics of it are really fading in a lot of people's minds," said David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, which is based in Ventura, Calif.

The findings are based on phone interviews of a random sample of

1,005 U.S. adults from February 7-10 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

-- Adelle M. Banks
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

THIMPHU, Bhutan (RNS) The Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan is the only nation that puts happiness at the core of public policy. But its thrust on a "Gross National Happiness"(GNH) index is not just a warm-and-fuzzy inheritance from Buddhism, but also integral to the nation's cultural and political security.

Bhutan's fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, coined the phrase GNH in 1972 on the belief that people's happiness did not depend on the nation's economic wealth, said Tshoki Zangmo, information officer at the Center for Bhutan Studies.

It was, Zangmo said, "a notion of wholeness that is embedded in Bhutan's authentic Buddhist culture."

Ever since, all manner of government policies have centered around GNH in this landlocked Himalayan country -- about half the size of Indiana -- that's sandwiched between India to the south and China to the north.

In 2006, the king abdicated the throne in favor of his son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who in his first address as monarch said his main responsibility would be focusing on GNH.

Two years later, when Bhutan held its first democratic elections after centuries of absolute monarchy rule, GNH was the main agenda of the ruling, royalist Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party.

GNH indicators -- as opposed to more traditional measures like a nation's Gross Domestic Product based on economic activity -- recognizes nine components of happiness: psychological well-being, ecology, health, education, culture, living standards, time use, community vitality and good governance.

It's all tracked twice a year through a survey of 1,300 people conducted by Zangmo's agency.

Many of the GNH indicators find their roots in Buddhism.

Psychological well-being, for example, includes measures of meditation, prayer, nonviolence, and reincarnation. The country's GNH secretary, Karma Tshiteem, said Buddhism is key to people's happiness.

"Happiness is about one's outlook on life, and Buddhist values help people appreciate and focus on what they have rather than what they do not," he said. "Values such as compassion and respect foster greater social interaction."

In addition, belief in karma -- "a force that unifies past and future through the present" -- also figures into GNH, Tshiteem said.

Buddhism also had a "tremendous influence" in creating Bhutan's unique culture and traditions, which he said are "the most important source of our identity."

The Western notion of separation of church and state is, well, foreign to Bhutan. Here, the government and clergy operate from Buddhist monasteries, such as Home and Culture Minister Minjur Dorji's office in the palatial, whitewashed Tashichho Dzong monastery in the nation's capital.

Bhutan is perhaps the only country where culture is part of the interior ministry's portfolio. Dorji said preservation of culture is crucial for our nation's security, and Bhutanese culture, in turn, "is rooted in Buddhism."

One tangible way of preserving culture is a national dress code in schools and government buildings. Men wear the gho, a knee-length robe tied at the waist by a cloth belt, and women wear the kira, an ankle-length dress clipped at one shoulder and tied at the waist.

Bhutan also mandates use of the national language, Dzongkha, and has strict architectural standards throughout the country.

Government officials say it's not just about looking nice in public, but fostering a physical sense of identity to distinguish Bhutan from its larger neighbors.

"Bhutan is a tiny nation between two giants, India and China, and therefore it has to have a distinct culture to reinforce its identity as an independent nation. Otherwise, how is Bhutan different from India?" asked Dorji.

Such distinctions are deeply embedded in Bhutanese DNA. The Indian state of Sikkim, on Bhutan's western border, was once a separate Buddhist kingdom ruled by descendants of an Indian Buddhist saint who, according to tradition, brought Tantric Buddhism to Bhutan and Tibet in the 8th century.

Sikkim was gradually outnumbered by Nepalese Hindus and merged with India after a referendum in 1975. And Tibet, on Bhutan's eastern border, was incorporated into China in 1950.

Neither is it simply a matter of history. "Our little country, once blissfully isolated in a remote corner of the Himalayas ... is now buffeted by powerful forces," Prime Minister Jigme Thinley said at a recent workshop on GNH.

"Though some have brought benefit ... some of them threaten not only our profound heritage but even our lives and land."

Dorji, the culture minister, said Bhutanese leaders plan to integrate GNH, and its Buddhist underpinnings, into school curriculum, in part to help maintain the country's religious demography of three-quarter Buddhists and one-quarter Hindus.

"It's a small country with less than 700,000 people, so why do you need more religions?" he asked, alluding to a few churches, which operate underground fearing persecution.

Indeed, Bhutan's cultural and religious coexistence is fragile, and Bhutan has little patience for threats to that delicate balance. In the 1980s and the early 1990s, around 100,000 people from southern Bhutan -- mainly Hindus of Nepalese origin or Christian converts -- fled to Nepal after Bhutanese security personnel crushed a rebellion against the government's "one nation, one people" campaign to strengthen Bhutan's identity.

"Unlike India, where tensions between Hindus, Muslims and Christians are commonplace," Dorji said, "Bhutan is not resilient."

By VISHAL ARORA
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

VATICAN CITY - A top Vatican official says Pope Benedict XVI will speak with a "clear and decisive voice" when he addresses clerical sex abuses in Ireland in a forthcoming letter.

Benedict is expected to release his letter soon in response to decades of systematic abuse in church-run schools and other institutions in predominantly Roman Catholic Ireland.

The abuse scandal has since spread to other European countries, most significantly Germany, the pope's homeland.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella told an Italian newspaper that the zero-tolerance policy that Benedict wants to implement is a "moral obligation."

Fisichella was quoted as saying Monday that measures introduced in the U.S. church, similarly rocked by an abuse scandal years ago, are making a difference.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

(RNS) The State Department issued its annual human rights report Thursday (March 11), noting religious freedom violations in countries ranging from China to Iraq to Saudi Arabia.

The report on 194 countries called 2009 "a year in which ethnic, racial, and religious tensions led to violent conflicts and serious human rights violations."

The State Department said "no genuine freedom of religion" exists in North Korea and Cuban law permits punishment of "any unauthorized assembly of more than three persons, including those for private religious services in private homes."

The report said religious minorities continue to face "escalating discrimination and persecution." In Iraq, for example, despite the government's public calls for tolerance, attacks on places of worship by extremist and insurgent groups limited their ability to practice their faith.

In China, repression of Tibetan Buddhists and Muslim Uighurs increased, the report said. Non-Muslims are prohibited from expressing their religion publicly in Saudi Arabia.

The department noted that several countries with "generally strong"

human rights records had been home to religious freedom violations in 2009, citing the recent ban on construction of minarets in Switzerland as an example.

"Discrimination against Muslims in Europe has been an increasing concern," the report said.

-- Adelle M. Banks
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

(RNS) The Pledge of Allegiance, with its inclusion of the words "under God," is constitutional, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday (March 11), reversing a previous ruling.

The 2-1 ruling answers a challenge by California atheist Michael Newdow, who argued that the use of the pledge in a Northern California school district -- where children of atheists had to listen to others recite it-- violated the First Amendment's clause prohibiting the establishment of religion.

The "students are being coerced to participate in a patriotic exercise, not a religious exercise," the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. "The Pledge is not a prayer and its recitation is not a religious exercise."

In 2002, the 9th Circuit Court ruled that the use of the words "under God" in the pledge violated the Constitution. The current court called that decision "erroneous." The Supreme Court later dismissed the earlier Newdow suit, sidestepping the church-state issues by finding he did not have standing to sue.

"The 9th Circuit today failed to uphold the basic principle found within the first ten words of the Bill of Rights ... that the government is required to show equal respect to the lawful religious views of all individuals," Newdow said Thursday.

Kevin J. "Seamus" Hasson, founder and president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, who argued for the school district, said the court "finally stood up" for the Pledge of Allegiance.

In a scathing and lengthy dissent, Judge Stephen Reinhardt said the words "under God" have an "undeniably religious purpose" and "we have failed in our constitutional duty as a court."

In a separate decision, also issued Thursday, the 9th Circuit dismissed Newdow's challenge to the words "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency.

-- Adelle M. Banks
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

(RNS) The Catholic Church in Europe's widening sexual abuse scandal hit home for Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, as his former archdiocese admitted to making "serious errors" in the case of a priest suspected of molesting a child.

Benedict discussed the spreading scandal with the head of Germany's Catholic bishops on Friday (March 12), hours before it drew closer than ever to the pontiff himself, as the Archdiocese of Munich, where Benedict was archbishop from 1977-1982, released a statement acknowledging it had reassigned an accused sex abuser in 1980.

Benedict, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was archbishop at the time, but Munich's statement said that an underling, former Vicar General Gerhard Gruber, had taken "full responsibility" for the decision.

Six years after his reassignment to a parish, the priest, identified only as H., was convicted of sexually abusing minors in another jurisdiction. He is still an active priest, according Suddeutsche Zeitung, the German newspaper that broke the story.

An advocate for abuse victims in the U.S. voiced skepticism about the archdiocese's assertion that Benedict had not approved the abuser's reassignment to pastoral work.

"It boggles the mind," said Barbara Blaine, president and founder of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. "We can't think of a single case anywhere on the planet where a credibly accused predator priest was put back around kids and no one asked or told the top diocesan official."

Earlier on Friday, Benedict met with Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg, president of the German bishops' conference, for a briefing on the state of the church in Germany. While the meeting had been previously scheduled, clearly the most urgent topic in their 45-minute conversation was the growing number of sex abuse allegations.

At least 170 abuse allegations have emerged this year involving children at German Catholic schools, prompting an investigation by prosecutors.

Even before Friday, the growing scandal had already reached the pope's own family. Church officials in Germany confirmed last week that a former member of a boys choir directed for 30 years by the pope's elder brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, had allegedly been sexually abused. Ratzinger, who was not himself accused, said he was unaware of any history of sex abuse and would be willing to testify to prosecutors.

At a Vatican press conference on Friday, Zollitsch said German bishops will examine all cases of alleged abuse, "even those that happened a long time ago."

Zollitsch said trials of accused perpetrators by church tribunals were not intended to supersede or influence criminal trials by civil authorities.

That statement seemed to answer criticism from German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, who denounced the church's "wall of silence" around sex abuse. She cited a 2001 letter signed by then-Cardinal Ratzinger, reserving preliminary investigation of abuse charges for the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Zollitsch also said the Vatican has been collecting information on the experiences of bishops' conferences in various countries, as a possible basis for global disciplinary norms.

The German scandal comes only months after the release of two government-sponsored reports of widespread clerical sex abuse in Ireland, and amid increasingly numerous charges of abuse in other European countries, including Austria and the Netherlands.

Last month, Benedict met with all 24 serving Irish bishops to discuss his forthcoming pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, which will be Benedict's first major document devoted to clerical sex abuse. The Vatican says the letter will be released before Easter.

The spate of recent revelations has raised expectations that the pope will address the problem of clerical sex abuse in the entire Catholic Church. Germany's Cardinal Walter Kasper suggested that Benedict's letter might offer a "more general analysis, that might even embrace the universal church and not just one nation."

One expert on the abuse scandal in the American church expects a strong and substantive papal document on Ireland.

"I think (the pope) does get it," said Nicholas P. Cafardi, a professor at Duquesne Law School. "Benedict is taking this much more seriously than it was taken before."

Cafardi, who sat on the committee that developed child abuse prevention policies for the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2002, said he hopes the pope will amend church law to make clerical sex abusers ineligible to continue ministering as priests, facilitating their removal even without a criminal conviction.

No less urgent, Cafardi said, is the need for Benedict to take a firm stand against bishops who ignore or conceal sex abuse.

Four present or former auxiliary bishops in Ireland have offered to resign after last November's Murphy Commission Report, which uncovered a three-decade pattern of abuse and cover-up in the Archdiocese of Dublin.

So far, Benedict has accepted only one resignation, of Donal B. Murray of Limerick.

The growing evidence in Europe of what some once dismissed as an American problem has emboldened the church's critics in Europe, the world's most secular continent.

Some European commentators have invoked the scandals to argue against priestly celibacy and an all-male clergy, and their arguments have drawn recognition in some surprising quarters.

In a recent newspaper article calling for "unflinching examination" of the possible causes of pedophilia, Vienna's Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, a former student of Pope Benedict, referred to priestly celibacy as one of the topics to be addressed -- though he quickly denied through a spokesman that he was raising the possibility of a married priesthood.

This week, the official Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, published an article arguing that placing more women in positions of church authority could rend the "veil of masculine secrecy" that permitted cover-ups of sex abuse.

By FRANCIS X. ROCCA
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

DHARMSALA, India - The Dalai Lama lashed out at China on Wednesday, accusing it of trying to "annihilate Buddhism" in Tibet and rebuffing all his efforts to reach a compromise over the disputed Himalayan region.

China shot back, accusing the Tibetan spiritual leader of using deceptions and lies to distort its policy in the region. The passionate back-and-forth highlighted the distrust, anger and frustration that separates the two sides and leaves little hope for success in recently resumed talks.

Beijing has demonized the Dalai Lama and accused him of wanting independence for Tibet, which China says is part of its territory. The Dalai Lama says he only wants some form of autonomy for Tibet within China that would allow Tibetan culture, language and religion to thrive.

The Dalai Lama spoke Wednesday in an address marking the anniversaries of two failed uprisings against China, one 51 years ago that sent him into exile in India and the other two years ago that was quashed by a government crackdown that is still continuing.

He accused Chinese authorities of conducting a campaign of "patriotic re-education" in monasteries in Tibet.

"They are putting the monks and nuns in prison-like conditions, depriving them the opportunity to study and practice in peace," he said, accusing Chinese of working to "deliberately annihilate Buddhism."

The Dalai Lama's remarks reflect frequent complaints by Tibetan monks that required political study sessions and visitor demands are depriving them of time for religious study. The numbers of monks attaining higher Buddhist degrees are believed to have fallen drastically since the crushing of the 1959 rebellion that resulted in direct rule from Beijing and the imposition of heavy government control over monasteries.

The Tibetan leader said that "whether the Chinese government acknowledges it or not, there is a serious problem in Tibet," but that attempts to talk to China about granting limited autonomy to the region had gone nowhere.

"Judging by the attitude of the present Chinese leadership, there is little hope that a result will be achieved soon. Nevertheless, our stand to continue with the dialogue remains unchanged," he told thousands of Tibetan exiles gathered at a temple in Dharmsala, India, where the Dalai Lama leads a government-in-exile.

While the Dalai Lama's language was strong and indicated the depth of his concern for the Tibetan clergy, his statement did not appear to indicate a change in strategy with regard to his relations with China, said Kate Saunders, communications director for the International Campaign for Tibet.

China's Foreign Ministry did not have immediate comment, but the official Xinhua News Agency, a government mouthpiece, issued a harsh commentary accusing the Dalai Lama of trafficking in "distorted facts" and "obstinate lies."

It mocked his claims about the oppression of Tibetan Buddhism as ignorant, telling him to "do some basic research and find out some truth about Tibet before pointing his finger."

The police presence in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa has been heavy ever since the uprising and crackdown two years ago, but it was stepped up even more in recent days with rifle-toting police guarding intersections and demanding to see ID cards at checkpoints, hotel workers said.

"Because of the March 14 riot anniversary, police are patrolling in the streets every day, and they are conducting more checks," said Luo Wen, a receptionist at the Lhasa River Hotel.

Despite the tensions, Beijing reopened talks with the Dalai Lama's envoys in January for the first time in 15 months. But China was incensed when he met with President Barack Obama in the U.S. last month.

In Nepal, about 1,000 Tibetan exiles chanted anti-China slogans and waved Tibetan flags at a temple on the outskirts of Katmandu, the capital, as riot police deployed to keep protesters from marching in the streets.

"Stop killings in Tibet. We want a free Tibet," the demonstrators chanted. Police detained seven people at the temple for defying a ban on anti-China protests.

Separately, about 15 protesters who tried to break through heavy police lines and storm the Chinese Embassy visa office were stopped and detained by the police.

Waving Tibetan flags, these protesters ran toward the main entrance of the office located in the heart of Katmandu. They were quickly blocked the police and taken away in police vans to detention centers.

China, which sent communist troops into Tibet in 1950, claims the region has been Chinese territory for centuries. Many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of that time.

Associated Press reporters Binaj Gurubacharya in Katmandu, Nepal, and Anita Chang in Beijing contributed to this report.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

(RNS) Bishops in the nation's largest Lutheran denomination have approved preliminary steps to welcome a group of openly gay and lesbian ministers as official clergy with new liturgical rites.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's Conference of Bishops approved a draft proposal on Monday (March 8) for the new rites, which include prayers and the laying on of hands by the local bishop, according to the denomination's news service.

The proposal only applies to 17 pastors who had followed normal ELCA procedures for education and ordination, but remained barred from the denomination's official clergy roster because of their sexuality. The clergy are all members of Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries, a group devoted to gay rights in the ELCA.

Last summer, the ELCA, which has about 4.6 million members, voted to change its longtime policy barring noncelibate gays and lesbians from the pulpit. The church's executive council is expected to vote on the proposed rites at its meeting in Chicago next month, when it is also expected to draw up new rules for other gay and lesbian clergy candidates.

Since the ELCA's decision to allow noncelibate gay and lesbian clergy, 62 congregations have taken the two necessary votes to leave the denomination. An additional 197 have passed one of the votes, according to the ELCA, which has 10,230 congregations in all.

In addition, financial support for the denomination hit an all-time low of about $60 million in 2009, the church announced. ELCA Treasurer Christina Jackson-Skelton said the economic recession and "disagreements within congregations" about the decision on gay clergy had contributed to the decline.

-- Daniel Burke
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

BANGALORE, India (RNS/ENI) Churches in Pakistan have deplored the killing of six World Vision staff members as the international Christian humanitarian organization suspended its operations in the country.

"All of World Vision's operations in the country have been suspended for the time being," agency spokesman Dean Owen said after the attack, adding that the aid group had received "no threatening letters" before the killing.

Owen told Mission Network News that "somewhere between 15 and 20"

militants stormed the compound and "shot up the staff and robbed the staff of jewelry, money, computers, and phones.

"World Vision typically loses one staff member a year to violence; never, ever in our 60-year history have we lost six in one day."

News reports said unidentified gunmen lined up the staff in the small town of Ogi on Wednesday (March 10) and shot them indiscriminately before detonating bombs that damaged the building. The facility was intended to assist those affected by the earthquake that ravaged the area in 2005.

In addition to the six deaths, eight staff members were injured.

"This kind of barbarous act is against the suffering humanity," the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP) said in a statement.

World Vision had been operating relief centers in the troubled North West Frontier Province after the 2005 earthquake killed an estimated 100,000 people and destroyed local infrastructure.

"All the people who were killed belong to (the) Islamic faith," said the national church council, an umbrella group of four Protestant churches in the Muslim majority nation.

Victor Azariah, the NCCP's general secretary, told Ecumenical News International that the attack seemed to be linked to the "Taliban movement, which is against the American presence in any shape."

World Vision president Rich Stearns, in a statement, said in a statement he mourns "the terrible loss to the World Vision family" in the "brutal and senseless attack."

-- Anto Akkara
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

TEL AVIV, Israel - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday implored Israelis and Palestinians to move beyond a diplomatic spat that has marred his trip to the region, urging the sides to waste no time in resolving their decades-old conflict despite daunting obstacles.

Biden used conciliatory language as he wrapped up a three-day visit to the area in an apparent attempt to get past the uproar sparked by an Israeli plan for new settlement construction in disputed east Jerusalem. The Israeli announcement - seen as a slap in the face to Biden - drew a sharp condemnation from the vice president as well as a Palestinian threat to withdraw from U.S.-mediated peace talks before they even begin.

The 22-nation Arab League, which gave Abbas the backing to resume talks with Israel, has recommended withdrawing support for indirect talks in the wake of the Israeli settlement plan.

Biden's speech appeared aimed at not letting the row with Israel derail the Obama administration's latest drive for Mideast peace. However, the vice president's effusive praise for the Jewish state - saying the U.S. has "no better friend" than Israel - could disappoint those who had hoped he would talk tougher in the wake of the new settlement plan.

Speaking at Tel Aviv University, Biden said the sides must get down to the business of making peace.

"To end this historic conflict, both sides must be historically bold," Biden said. "If each waits stubbornly ... this will go on for an eternity."

The vice president's trip had been meant to repair strained ties between Israel and the Obama administration. However, the Israeli plan to build new homes in east Jerusalem - the section of the city claimed by the Palestinians for a future state - quickly overshadowed the visit. Traditionally strong U.S. relations with Israel have been strained recently precisely because of Israeli settlements.

Biden reiterated his condemnation of the building plan, urging both sides to avoid acts that could undermine the negotiations.

"I, at the request of President Obama, condemned it immediately and unequivocally," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has apologized for the announcement's timing, saying he had no intention of embarrassing Biden, though he has refused to scrap the plan. He also said the project must clear additional bureaucratic hurdles and construction would not begin for years.

Biden said Netanyahu's explanation was "significant" and showed the construction plan need not hinder peace talks. He also opened his speech by stressing the U.S. has "no better friend" than Israel and saying the relationship is "impervious to any shifts in either country or either country's partisan politics."

But the vice president also urged Israel to make a serious attempt to reach peace, saying an agreement is "profoundly" in Israel's interests. At the same time, he urged the Palestinians - and the broader Arab world - to do more to work for regional peace.

Netanyahu has said he is eager to start negotiations with the Palestinians. But the hawkish Israeli leader has given few indications that he is prepared to make the sweeping concessions widely believed to be necessary to reach a deal. The planned east Jerusalem construction has only deepened Palestinian suspicions.

The Israelis and Palestinians agreed this week to resume indirect peace talks through U.S. mediation, ending a 14-month breakdown in negotiations. Biden stressed, however, that "the only path" to resolving the conflict is through direct negotiations.

"The most important thing is for these talks to go forward and go forward promptly," he said. "We can't delay."

The Palestinians seek the West Bank and east Jerusalem - areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war - as parts of a future state, along with the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu has signaled he wants to keep parts of the West Bank along with east Jerusalem under Israeli control. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the territory was subsequently overrun by Hamas militants.

In his speech, Biden outlined the contours of what the U.S. believes should be a final settlement. He said a Palestinian state must be based on the pre-1967 borders, with some modifications and strong guarantees for Israel's security.

He acknowledged the formidable obstacles that remain: the Hamas presence in Gaza, the continued captivity of an Israeli soldier in Gaza, the strength of Hezbollah guerrillas to Israel's north in Lebanon, and ongoing Palestinian incitement against Israel. He said such challenges are strong reminders of Israel's security concerns. As Biden wrapped up his visit Thursday, Palestinian militants fired a rocket from the Gaza Strip that landed in an abandoned warehouse in southern Israel. No one was injured in the attack.

But he also urged Israel to embrace the moderate Palestinian leadership in the West Bank, with whom he met on Wednesday.

"Israeli leaders finally have willing partners who share the goal of peace," Biden said. "Their commitment to peace is an opportunity that must be seized."

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

(RNS) A majority of dioceses in the Episcopal Church have confirmed the election of an open lesbian as a bishop in Los Angeles, bringing Bishop-elect Mary Glasspool one step closer to consecration.

The Diocese of Los Angeles, where Glasspool was elected as an assistant bishop last December, announced confirmations from 61 of the denomination's 110 dioceses on Wednesday (March 10).

A majority of diocesan bishops, however, must also consent to Glasspool's election before she can be consecrated a bishop. Episcopal Church headquarters in New York keeps the bishops' tally, but generally does not release it until the outcome is sealed.

"I look forward to the final few consents to come in from the bishops in the next few days, and I give thanks for the fact that we as a church have taken a bold step for just action," said Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno.

Glasspool has until May 8 to receive the necessary votes from bishops. If her election is confirmed, she would be only the second openly gay person to be elected a bishop in the U.S. church or the wider Anglican Communion.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion, said last year that Glasspool's election "raises very serious questions" and urged Episcopal bishops to reject it. A majority of Anglicans in the 77-million-member communion reject homosexuality as unbiblical and the election of an openly gay priest as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 has caused widespread dissent.

-- Daniel Burke
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

LONDON (RNS) Police in Ireland say they have arrested seven suspects in an alleged plot to murder a Swedish cartoonist for depicting Islam's Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog.

Drawings by Lars Vilks triggered widespread anger by Muslims when they appeared in a regional newspaper three years ago. Three Swedish newspapers reprinted the cartoons Wednesday (March 10) after the new threats became public.

Ireland's RTE news network on Wednesday (March 10) identified the seven -- four men and three women -- as immigrants from Morocco and Yemen who now hold citizenship in Ireland.

Police did not immediately name the seven but told journalists they were arrested and jailed in Ireland after an investigation uncovered a "conspiracy to murder an individual in another jurisdiction."

U.S. officials say a Pennsylvania woman, Colleen R. LaRose, who dubbed herself "Jihad Jane," has been charged with supporting terrorism for allegedly traveling to Sweden to try to kill Vilks.

When the Vilks cartoons appeared in 2007 in the Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda, Muslims were outraged because Islam traditionally prohibits images of Muhammad, and they thought the idea of Muhammad with the body of a dog was blasphemous and derogatory.

At one point, a group linked to the al-Qaida terrorist organization was reported to have posted a $100,000 bounty on Vilks' head -- plus a 50 percent bonus if Vilks was "slaughtered like a lamb" with his throat cut.

The British Broadcasting Corp. quoted the artist, who has been under police protection since the threats were made against him, as saying he was "not shaking with fear, exactly."

Vilks added that "I have prepared in different ways, and I have an axe here in case someone should manage to get through the window."

-- Al Webb
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

BERLIN - Catholic authorities in Germany announced two major abuse investigations Wednesday - one into the renowned choir once led by Pope Benedict XVI's brother and another more general look into what everyone, including the pope, knew about the sexual and physical abuse of students.

The Roman Catholic diocese of Regensburg in southern Germany appointed an independent investigator to examine the allegations of physical and sexual abuse that have engulfed the prestigious Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir, which was led by the Rev. Georg Ratzinger, the pope's older brother, from 1964 until 1994. So far, the sexual abuse allegations predate Ratzinger's term.

Regensburg Diocese spokesman Jacob Schoetz said Nuremberg lawyer Andreas Scheulen would lead the inquiry and all charges will be investigated completely.

"The independent lawyer will thoroughly go through all existing legal papers, all court decisions and any information available," Schoetz said. "We expect to publish first results within the next two weeks."

In addition, the German Bishop's Conference said it would look into wider-ranging allegations across the country after more than 170 students at Catholic schools have said they were sexually abused decades ago. Other students have complained of physical abuse.

The conference said it had not launched a formal investigation but had called on parishes and church institutions in Germany to conduct their own examinations. The conference is also seeking expert advice on the issue, prelate Karl Juesten told The Associated Press.

Those local investigations will also examine allegations of sexual abuse at the choir and look into what, if anything, the pope himself knew in his previous position as the archbishop of Munich.

"We do not know if the pope knew about the abuse cases at the time," Juesten said. "However, we assume that this is not the case."

Munich Archbishop Reinhard Marx will be "certainly investigating these questions," he said.

In reaction to the spiraling child abuse scandal, the German government said it would impose stricter rules on educators. Families Minister Kristina Schroeder told the Wiesbadener Kurier daily Wednesday that local authorities will be allowed to ask for a thorough police check on all applicants who are going to work with kids.

Juesten, the liaison between Roman Catholic bishops and the German government, also praised Ratzinger, the pope's brother, for apologizing to victims on Tuesday because he did nothing decades ago to stop the beating of students.

Ratzinger says students told him of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school decades ago and apologized for doing nothing about it.

Reached by telephone Wednesday, Ratzinger said he had no further comment on the matter.

Ratzinger had first said he was unaware of any abuse, and Juesten said that others should follow the 86-year-old's lead in coming clean.

"The other perpetrators should follow the example set by Mr. Ratzinger and apologize to the victims for the abuse they have committed," he said.

However, the pope's brother has said he was unaware of allegations of sexual abuse at his own choir - incidents alleged to have occurred before his tenure.

The Roman Catholic Church has been hit by years of abuse claims in the United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia and other countries. Yet the German abuse allegations are particularly sensitive because Germany is the pope's homeland and because some of the scandals involve the choir his brother led for 30 years.

Juesten said it was not known if Benedict, who served as archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982, was aware of any of the child abuse cases that took place then at Catholic schools and other institutions. Benedict did not oversee the Domspatzen choir, which reported instead to the Regensburg Diocese.

Juesten also called Ratzinger's apology to the victims an act of courage and a "wonderful sign" that all charges would be investigated.

"It is certainly not easy for such a man to publicly apologize," Juesten said.

Schoetz, the spokesman for the Regensburg Diocese, said there were several cases of sexual abuse by two priests at the choir in 1958 and 1959.

"Sentences have been handed down, the accused have been punished and have since died," he said.

However, Scheulen will be asked to collect any other information or allegations on all possible cases of physical or sexual abuse, he added.

Franz Wittenbrink, 61, sang in the Domspatzen choir from 1958 to 1967 and said he was physically abused on a regular basis by the priests at the choir's boarding school.

"Severe beatings were normal, but Ratzinger did not belong to the group of more sadistic abusers," Wittenbrink said in a phone interview with the AP from Hamburg. "But I do accuse him of covering up the abuses."

Wittenbrink said all boys suffered some physical abuse but a "selected group" of students was also abused sexually.

Another former choir boy at Domspatzen told the Bild Zeitung daily that he and other boys were sexually abused by teachers at the choir's boarding school in the 1950s. Manfred von Hove was quoted as saying he "finally wants to have answers and find out who was responsible for the cover-up at the time."

Von Hove also said he planned to sue the Regensburg Diocese for compensation.

Von Hove's telephone number is not listed and he could not be reached for further comment.

Ratzinger has repeatedly said the sexual abuse allegations date from before his tenure as choir director.

"These things were never discussed," Ratzinger told the Passauer Neue Presse daily. "The problem of sexual abuse that has now come to light was never spoken of."

Ratzinger did admit slapping students in the face as punishment for many years, but said he was happy when corporal punishment was made illegal in 1980. Corporal punishment was standard in German schools until the reform movement of the 1960s.

Yet the allegations of beatings from one elementary school at Etterzhausen, however, go far beyond the norm of corporal punishment.

Rudolf Neumaier, a student at Domspatzen Preschool in Pielenhofen in 1981 and 1982, told the AP he was slapped there, witnessed the corporal punishment of other boys, and saw then-director Johann Meier hit an eight-year-old boy with a chair.

Neumaier, who went on to join the Domspatzen choir in Regensburg in 1982, stressed he did not witness or hear about any abuse at the choir boarding school itself. But he said he personally told the pope's brother about the violence at the preschool but Ratzinger did nothing about it.

"I told Ratzinger myself, but he chose not to listen," Neumaier said.

Neumaier said he was shocked to find out that preschool director Meier stayed in his job until 1992.

The schools at Etterzhausen and Pielenhofen, where severe beatings have been reported, were two feeder schools for Ratzinger's choir, and Ratzinger said Tuesday that boys had told him about being mistreated at Etterzhausen but he did not understand how bad it was.

Germany's abuse cases are expected to be brought up Friday at the Vatican when the head of the German bishops conference, Bishop Robert Zollitsch, holds a regular meeting with the pope.

The German government has also announced plans for "round table" meetings involving school, church and other representatives to work on ways of detecting, preventing and dealing with future abuse. The first meeting is set for April 23.

Associated Press writer Juergen Baetz contributed to this report from Regensburg.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

(RNS) In a major shift, Reform rabbis have publicly acknowledged intermarriage as a "given" that calls for increased outreach and understanding, rather than a threat to Jewish identity that must be resisted at all costs.

The Central Conference of American Rabbis, which represents nearly 2,000 Reform rabbis from around the world, embraced the change during its annual convention in San Francisco.

Traditionally, the Reform movement -- the largest and most liberal slice of mainstream Judaism -- has wavered on whether to sanction weddings between Jews and non-Jews; Conservative and Orthodox clergy will not officially perform such ceremonies.

Yet 25 years of demographic studies have documented a growing trend toward intermarriage, with as many as half of American Jews now marrying outside their faith. With Jews making up less than 3 percent of the U.S.

population, and less than 1 percent around the world, Jewish leaders have long warned that mixed marriages weaken Jewish identity and threaten long-term survival.

The traditional view of Judaism as an ethnicity, passed down through the mother, also fuels this conflict, including heated debates about whether "half-Jews" meet requirements for enrollment in religious schools, Israeli citizenship, and other faith-based endeavors.

"When a Jew marries a Jew, there is a greater likelihood of Jewish continuity," admitted CCAR President Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus, in her group's announcement on Monday (March 8). "But in the case of intermarriage, the opportunity for Jewish continuity is significant, especially if there is effective rabbinic leadership."

The Reform rabbis' last statement on this issue, in 1973, had reiterated its 1909 stance that "mixed marriage is contrary to the Jewish tradition and should be discouraged." Rabbis were encouraged to provide conversion opportunities for non-Jewish spouses and educational opportunities for their children.

After a task force spent three years studying the issue, the CCAR maintained that Reform rabbis may still opt not to officiate at interfaith weddings as "a deeply personal matter of conscience."

But now that the group's attitude about intermarriage has officially changed, Dreyfus expressed hope that clergy will make greater efforts to welcome interfaith families into religious activities and life-cycle events like bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies for their children.

"Ignoring intermarriage won't make it go away," she said. "We want to embrace it as an opportunity."

The new position is not a formal policy or resolution, but rather a semi-official "recognition" of changing times based on the task force's 10-page report.

"In the past, there was a great focus on how to prevent intermarriage," the report said. "Today we are more likely to focus on how to deal with intermarriage as a given in our society with the goal of positive Jewish engagement of the family."

For the Jewish Outreach Institute, an New York-based organization that works to include interfaith families in Jewish life, the official announcement confirms what's been going on for years at the grassroots level.

"We're very excited by it," said Paul Golin, the group's associate executive director. "As an intermarried person myself, I'm now curious to see what kind of programming comes out of it."

He added, "There's lots of details to work out, but the first step is acknowledging that attitudes have changed, and it's great that this is finally happening."

By NICOLE NEROULIAS
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VATICAN CITY (RNS) The elder brother of Pope Benedict XVI admitted striking members of the German boys' choir that he led for three decades, but denied knowing that some of the boys were victims of clerical sex abuse.

"I must admit that I often became depressed, because (the boys) did not achieve the results I wanted, and at the beginning I often handed out slaps, though afterwards my conscience pricked me for doing so," Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, who led the Regensburg cathedral choir from

1964 to 1994, told the German newspaper Passauer Neue Presse in an interview published Tuesday (March 9).

Ratzinger denied knowledge of any sexual abuse but admitted knowing that another Catholic priest, the longtime headmaster of the choir boys' boarding school, gave students "very violent slaps ... for very trifling reasons."

Because the school was an independent institution, Ratzinger said, he lacked the standing to report the headmaster to the authorities.

On Monday (March 8), the Web site of the German magazine Der Spiegel reported charges that the headmaster, identified in press reports only by the initial "M," regularly administered naked beatings and forced students to participate in group sexual encounters.

The Regensburg choir is only the latest Catholic institution to be embroiled in a spreading clerical sex abuse scandal in the pope's homeland.

On Friday (March 12), Benedict will meet with Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg, president of the German bishops' conference, to discuss at least 170 abuse allegations involving children at Catholic schools. The charges, which surfaced in January, have prompted prosecutors to launch an investigation.

On Monday (March 8), German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger denounced what she called the church's "wall of silence" around sex abuse. She specifically cited a 2001 letter signed by Benedict, then known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, which reserved preliminary investigation of abuse charges to the Vatican itself.

The German revelations come amid growing reports of clerical sex abuse in other European countries, including Austria, Ireland and the Netherlands.

-- Francis X. Rocca
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WASHINGTON (RNS) The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Monday (March 8) to decide whether the father of a fallen soldier can sue religious protesters for picketing at his son's funeral with signs that read "Thank God for dead soldiers."

The case will test the boundaries of the Constitution by weighing whether extreme speech that inflicts emotional pain -- especially at sensitive venues such as memorials -- should be protected by the First Amendment.

Members of Westboro Baptist Church, led by pastor and founder Fred Phelps in Topeka, Kansas, have protested at military funerals to express their belief that America is being punished for tolerance of homosexuality.

Westboro protestors traveled to Westminster, Md., to picket at the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who killed in combat in Iraq on March 3, 2006.

They marched around the outskirts of St. John's Catholic Church and the cemetery with signs that read "God Hates the USA," "Fag troops" and "Pope in hell." After the funeral, Phelps also posted material on his Web site against the fallen Marine, saying his father had "taught Matthew to defy his creator" and "raised him for the devil."

Snyder's father sued Phelps for invasion of privacy and for intentionally inflicting emotional distress. Snyder received $10.9 million in damages but a judge modified the jury's amount to $5 million.

The decision was reversed last September by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The court threw out the verdict on the basis of the First Amendment's protection of free speech.

"Whatever that U.S. Supreme Court does is going to be beautiful because now the whole world is looking at this situation," said Phelps' daughter, Shirley Phelps-Roper, a church spokeswoman. "It's given us a huge megaphone and furthermore, we get to talk to the conscience of this nation that's responsible for this horrible mess that this country is in."

-- Kimberlee Hauss
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TOKYO (RNS/ENI) The Roman Catholic bishops of Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- the only cities in the world that were leveled by atomic bombs -- are urging world leaders to abolish nuclear weapons.

Nagasaki Archbishop Joseph Mitsuaki Takami and Hiroshima Bishop Joseph Atsumi Misue released a joint statement ahead of a nuclear security summit scheduled for April in Washington, and a review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York in May.

"We, as the bishops of the Catholic Church of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, which is the only country in the world to have suffered nuclear attacks, demand that the president of the United States, the Japanese government and the leaders of other countries make utmost efforts to abolish nuclear weapons," the bishops said.

Takami was born in March 1946,in Nagasaki, the second city to suffer from an atomic-bomb attack in August 1945 during the World War II. He was in his mother's womb when the Japanese city was bombed days after Hiroshima experienced the first nuclear attack.

The bishops said the sin of the atomic bombings in the two cities "should be borne not only by the United States" but "also the other countries, including Japan, which have kept on waging wars throughout their history".

The bishops asked the United States to "limit the purpose of retaining nuclear weapons to deterring others from using such weapons only" as a first step "toward the elimination of nuclear weapons" around the world.

The bishops urged Japan, which has a bilateral security treaty with the United States, to "demonstrate and implement what Japan itself will do toward the total abolition of nuclear weapons." They accused Japan of "an extremely passive attitude" to U.S. nuclear arms reduction policies, because the country is under the protection of a U.S. nuclear umbrella.

In a related move, nine British churches have joined the World Council of Churches and others in "Now is the Time" campaign, which seeks to put all bomb-grade material under international control. The coalition also seeks to make the use and possession of nuclear weapons illegal through a new Nuclear Weapons Convention.

-- Hisashi Yukimoto
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(RNS) A judge sentenced two Oregon parents to 16 months in prison on Monday (March 8), calling their decision to not seek medical care for their 16-year-old son a "crime that was a product of an unwillingness to respect the boundaries of freedom of expression."

Marci Beagley sobbed as the sentencing was read, and shortly after, defense attorney Wayne Mackeson objected to the sentence.

The parents, Jeffrey and Marci Beagley, had been found guilty of criminally negligent homicide on Feb. 2 in the death of 16-year-old Neil Beagley, who died in June 2008 of complications involved with a urinary tract obstruction.

"The idea of sending Jeffrey and Marci Beagley to prison is heart-wrenching," Clackamas County Circuit Court Judge Steven Maurer said in a lengthy explanation of his sentence. `

"I think, certainly, that I'm in complete agreement with the jurors who observed that the Beagleys are good people."

But the decision was necessary, Maurer said, because "the magnitude of their crimes simply warrants it."

Maurer touched upon religious freedoms, saying he thought the local community was very respectful to beliefs from congregations like the Followers of Christ Church, which believes in faith-healing at the exclusion of most medical care.

But there are boundaries for religious freedom, he said.

"It is up to us as a community and a criminal justice system, and government, to take very seriously that societal obligation ... and recognize that investment and interest we have in each and every child," he said.

The sentence could be a "pause for reflection" or re-examination for the Followers of Christ church, said Maurer, who added that he believed the church was capable of "softening the rigidity" of their beliefs on excluding medical care.

The courtroom was packed with Beagley supporters, including their daughter Raylene Worthington and her husband Carl Worthington. Both were tried last July for second-degree manslaughter and criminal mistreatment in the death of their infant daughter, Ava Worthington. Carl Worthington was found guilty of criminal mistreatment, while the two were acquitted of all other charges.

The two families are members of the Followers of Christ Church. The church's lengthy history of child deaths stemming from lack of medical care led to a 1999 law that eliminated the religious freedom defense in cases involving the welfare of a child.

Maurer repeated something he stated during the Worthington

sentencing: the case was not a referendum on the church, yet ignoring the church's impact on the couple would be self-deluding. "The church is imprinted upon them," he said.

Before the sentencing, prosecutor Greg Horner urged the court to impose the presumptive sentence of 16 to 18 months for the case. "Only a penitentiary sentence reflects the seriousness of this crime," Horner argued.

A strong sentence could send a deterrence message to the close-knit church community that had been closely watching the twin trials, he said.

"The court has the opportunity to deliver a clear message that this idea that one can let a child die while they're praying without medical attention is not supportable," Horner said. "It must be addressed."

Defense attorneys, meanwhile, were adamant in recommending probationary sentences without prison time, noting that both defendants had no criminal record.

"Prison would be more destructive than productive," said defense attorney Steve Lindsey, who represents Marci Beagley.

Mackeson, arguing on behalf of the father, spoke to the closeness of the Beagley family and asked the judge to note that the boy's death came just months after the couple's granddaughter, Ava, died under similar circumstances.

He also stressed the personal faith of Jeffrey Beagley, saying his father's faith was an integral part of the teenager's life. The teen's level of maturity, age, and his religious beliefs should be considered by the court, Mackeson said.

The Beagley's situation was a "unique case," Mackeson said, with "unique defendants."

By NICOLE DUNGCA (Nicole Dungca writes for The Oregonian in Portland.)
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.

(RNS) Pope Benedict XVI will meet with the head of Germany's Catholic bishops on Friday (March 12) to discuss allegations of widespread sexual abuse of children in the pope's homeland.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg, president of the German bishops' conference, said through a spokesman that he will brief Benedict on some 170 abuse allegations involving children at Catholic schools. The charges, which surfaced in January, have prompted a possible criminal probe by prosecutors.

In addition, church officials in Regensburg confirmed on Friday (March 5) that a former member of the boys choir there -- which was directed for 30 years by the pope's own brother, Monsignor Georg Ratzinger -- had filed his own allegation of abuse. Ratzinger said he was unaware of any history of abuse, but that he would be willing to testify to prosecutors.

"Enough. We must seriously clean up our church," Germany's Cardinal Walter Kasper told the Rome daily La Repubblica. "The guilty must be condemned and the victims compensated."

Kasper, a former bishop of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, is now the Vatican's top ecumenical official and a widely respected elder statesman in the church.

The German revelations come amid growing awareness of clerical sex abuse in other European countries.

Hundreds of abuse allegations in the Netherlands that have surfaced within the last week prompted the bishop of Rotterdam to call for an independent investigation there.

Last month, Benedict met with all 24 serving Irish bishops to discuss his forthcoming pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, which will be Benedict's first major document devoted to clerical sex abuse. The Vatican says the letter will be released before Easter.

Noting the widespread nature of the problem, Kasper suggested that the pope's letter to Ireland might include a "more general analysis, that might even embrace the universal church and not just one nation.

But it is the Holy Father who must decide that."

-- Francis X. Rocca
Copyright 2010 Religion News Service. All rights reserved. No part of this transmission may be distributed or reproduced without written permission.