3 who influenced religion

During Black History Month, the Daily News is looking at the accomplishments of some of the influential but less-celebrated African-Americans who made their marks in American history.

These are men and women who inspired the dreams, fanned the flames and stood in the thick of revolutionary change, but are often short-changed in the history books.

Here are three such individuals.

Adam Clayton Powell Sr. 1865-1953

He was the grandson of slaves, the father of a flamboyant namesake congressman and a towering figure in his own right.

As a boy, Powell, a Virginia native, is said to have learned the alphabet in a day. A year later, he was reading from the Bible.

A grandfather nudged Powell toward the ministry and he eventually served as pastor of churches in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The pastorate that made him famous, however, was at Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City.

Under Powell's leadership, Abyssinian practiced a social gospel that did not limit itself the pulpit and pews; the church operated a facility for the aged, helped feed the poor and agitated for racial and economic justice.

By the mid-1930s, Abyssinian claimed 14,000 members, making it the largest Protestant congregation in the United States.

Mamie Smith 1883-1946

Bessie Smith was better known, but Mamie got there first.

Her hit, "Crazy Blues," recorded in 1920, was the first blues vocal ever recorded and also the first recording by an African-American woman.

Despite that distinction, Smith did not think of herself primarily as a blues singer - she was a vaudevillian who sang many different styles.

The Cincinnati-born vocalist spent the '20s and '30s barnstorming across the United States with her Jazz Hounds, a band that included such luminaries as James "Bubber" Miley and Willie "The Lion" Smith.

Matthew Alexander Henson 1866-1955

On the day in 1887 that he first met explorer Robert Peary, Henson, though only about 21 years old, already had experience as a stevedore, seaman, bellhop and coachman.

Peary thought Henson might make a valuable valet on Peary's attempt to become the first man to reach the North Pole.

Peary soon discovered that Henson's abilities and experiences made him even more valuable as a colleague.

As Peary once put it, "I couldn't get along without him."

The men mounted seven expeditions to the Arctic, including the last, in 1908 and 1909, when they finally stood together at the top of the world, the first explorers to do so.

Religion News in Brief

LONDON - Muslim women should be allowed to wear a veil in British courts, as long it does not interfere with court proceedings, senior judges said in guidelines published Tuesday.

Decisions on whether to allow the full facial covering, known as the niqab, should be made on a case-by-case basis, the Judicial Studies Board's Equal Treatment Advisory Committee said.

The guidance was issued after an immigration judge adjourned a case in Stoke-on-Trent, in central England, last November because he could not hear a Muslim lawyer who refused to remove her veil. The case resumed after her firm sent another lawyer to represent her client in court.

Forcing a woman to choose between participating in a court case or removing her veil could have a "significant impact on that woman's sense of dignity" and could exclude and marginalize her, the panel said.

The issue of face-covering veils has stoked debate over religious tolerance and cultural assimilation in Britain, which is home to 1.6 million Muslims.

Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw provoked a stir in October when he said he requested _ but did not insist _ that Muslim women remove face-covering veils during one-on-one meetings. Prime Minister Tony Blair said at the time that veils were seen as a "mark of separation."

Southern Baptist baptisms drop for 2nd straight year

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ The number of baptisms in Southern Baptist churches has fallen for the second consecutive year despite a push by top leaders to evangelize.

At the same time, national membership increased by less than 1 percent, but more churches were built, according to the 2006 profile of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, a Southern Baptist agency that conducts the annual survey, said the findings show that denomination has not been effective in "stepping up to the task of sharing the Gospel with a lost and dying world."

Baptisms dropped from 371,850 to 364,826, or 1.89 percent, last year, the lowest annual total since 1993, according to Baptist Press. In 2005, baptisms decreased by 4.15 percent.

National membership reached 16,306,246, up by nearly 36,000 in 2005. The number of churches across the country increased by 524, or 1.2 percent, to a total of 44,223.

The Southern Baptist Convention is the nation's largest Protestant denomination.

Biden says Democrats must convince voters on faith issue

JOHNSTON, Iowa (AP) _ Democrats must convince voters that the party is comfortable with religion or else risk losing the presidential race next year, Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden said.

"I think my party has to demonstrate that it's not afraid to deal with the faith issue, and has a candidate who the public thinks knows there's something bigger than he or she is and is comfortable with that," said Biden. "We treat it like a third rail within our party."

Biden, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, spoke April 20 during a taping of Iowa Public Television's "Iowa Press" program.

Biden said Democrats don't have to demonstrate deep religious faith, but they must make clear their understanding of religion's role in the nation's life. He said religious Americans accepted President Clinton, flaws and all, because he understood the importance of faith for the country.

"When Clinton sat in my Catholic church, people didn't think he was a paragon of virtue, they thought he respected them, they thought he was comfortable with them," Biden said.

Vice President Al Gore, when he ran for president in 2000 against George W. Bush, was far more reluctant to talk about faith and never connected with voters on the issue, Biden said, even though "Al Gore was as pure as the driven snow, fidelity was everything about him."

Biden has barely registered in polls, even though he sought the Democratic nomination in the 1988 election cycle and campaigned heavily in Iowa before dropping from the race. He said many people are making a mistake by treating those early polls seriously. He said most voters are willing to change their minds.

Monument dedicated to victims of clergy abuse in Catholic diocese

GRAND MOUND, Iowa (AP) _ A monument honoring the victims of sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests has been placed near a small eastern Iowa parish where a predator once served.

Parishioners of the SS. Philip & James Catholic Church in Grand Mound unveiled the granite monument last Sunday. They and members of a group called Catholics for Spiritual Healing raised the $4,000 needed for the creation and placement of the 3 1/2-foot-high monument.

The torch and flame design depicts an angel and a small boy carrying a Bible.

The verse is from Luke 12: "There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs."

The monument is inscribed, "dedicated to our children who survived abuse by those we trusted."

It will be placed in the yard outside the parish, the last stop in the 40-year career of James Janssen, a former priest who worked in the church from 1980 to 1990. Janssen was accused of sexually assaulting about a dozen boys in six parishes over three decades. The church placed him on indefinite leave in August 1990 and defrocked him in 2004.

Deacon David Montgomery, spokesman for the Diocese of Davenport, Iowa, which includes Grand Mound, said Bishop Martin Amos was invited to the ceremony but had previous commitments and couldn't attend.

"He's very pleased that they're doing this," Montgomery said.

Diocesan leaders have asked every parish to have a statute or item "signifying the importance of protecting God's children and reminding everyone of the scars of abuse."

The Diocese of Davenport has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the face of abuse claims.

Malaysia's Muslim men shirk financial duties to divorced wives, activists say

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) _ Many Malaysian Muslim men who divorce their wives are ignoring their responsibility to provide for their children because the Islamic legal system fails to punish them, a women's rights group says.

Sisters In Islam said women who were unable to get their ex-husbands to pay child support comprised nearly one-third of the 214 complaints it received in the first three months of 2007, adding that those cases constitute "only a small fraction of what is happening."

"Mothers are forced to beg from their children's fathers so that their children have sufficient food, clothing, shelter and education," the group said in an April 21 statement.

Sisters In Islam said Malaysia's Muslim women are suffering a lack of legal protection in a wide range of issues such as polygamy, where men who take multiple wives sometimes neglect the economic and emotional welfare of their families. Some Muslims interpret Islamic teaching as allowing a man to marry up to four women.

The Islamic Shariah Court is the legal authority in disputes involving families, morality and religion for Muslims, who form nearly 60 percent of the 26 million people in Malaysia, which has Buddhist, Christian and Hindu minorities.

Monks call for Buddhism to be Thai national religion as Muslim insurgency rages in south

BANGKOK, Thailand: Hundreds of monks rallied in Thailand on Tuesday for Buddhism to be enshrined in the constitution as the country's national religion, amid a worsening Islamic insurgency in the Muslim south.

More than 2,000 people have died since 2004 in the country's three southernmost provinces along the Malaysian border in an insurgency fueled by concerns among Muslims that they have been discriminated against, especial in educational and job opportunities, in Buddhist-dominated Thailand.

The call from the monks revives a debate that dates back to 1997 when a campaign to make Buddhist the national religion was dropped amid concerns that it would divide the country.

The issue is heating up again as a new constitution is being drafted by a committee appointed by coup leaders who ousted elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in September.

The coup leaders have promised to put a new constitution to voters in a referendum as early as September.

Along with holding a silent rally outside of Parliament, monks sent a representative Tuesday to meet with Prasong Sunsiri, the chairman of the constitutional drafting committee, to press their demands that Buddhism be included.

"It must be pointed out that this national religion campaign is taking place amid widespread paranoia within the clergy against Islam following the southern violence," Sanitsuda Ekachai, a columnist for the English daily Bangkok Post, wrote earlier this month. "There has also been wide distribution of leaflets alleging that Islam is a threat to Thai Buddhism."

More than 90 percent of Thailand's 64 million people are Buddhists, and the remainder are either Muslim or Christian.

Church remembers its model member

A church was planning a Sunday moment of silence for what the pastor called a model member of his congregation: a wild turkey.The turkey, which died last week after being hit by a car, regularly attended Sunday services and greeted people as they arrived, said the Rev. James Huff, pastor of Lambs United Methodist Church in St. Clair County."He would kind of wait for me to come in," Huff told the Times Herald of Port Huron. "He knew when I got there. Service was about to begin, and then he would sit on one lady's car until we were done."The animal had been hanging around since late last year and quickly became known for its fearless attitude. Some people said it showed up every morning at the community's bus stop and chased children. Others enjoyed watching the bird strut down the street, trying to impress female turkeys."We've got so many pictures of it," said Douglas Bishop, the church's music director. "It was like our mascot."

Women's roles in religion

Are interpretations of sexuality and gender differences creating a struggle for women's equality in religious roles?

"Women and Religion," part of the "Conversations and Controversy" series sponsored by the Catholic Newman Center, was held last Tuesday in room 313 of the Millennium Student Center at 1 p.m.

The event was a conversation with religious leaders from the Catholic, Lutheran and Muslim faiths during which the leaders discussed the role of women in their religion.

M. Waheed Rana, professor of the Center for Anatomical Science and Education at St. Louis University's School of Medicine, said Muslims follow the scripture of the Koran "without any question."

However, he said the equality of the genders in the Islamic religion is not represented properly by what is seen on television."Whatever they show you on TV is totally cultural," he said.

Rana said, according to the Koran, all mankind needs to equally be conscious of their "lord, be conscious of Allah," and demand their rights from one another. He said women who are seen being mistreated in the public eye are not aware of their rights.

"These people doing these things don't let the women know what their rights are," he said.

According to Rana, the treatment of women was that of equality when he was growing up in India.

"The women were all the same," he said, which came from local traditions. Although the Muslim cultures differ greatly in their followers' treatment of women, he said, "the people take these [traditions] very rigidly."

"The local traditions sometimes overshadow the religious factors," Rana said.

Local traditions and interpretations of scripture have also plagued the roles of women in the Catholic and Lutheran religions."It's not easy, God speaks through scriptures and also through community," said Rev. Karen Scherer of Unity Lutheran Church in Bel-Nor.

Scherer said interpretations can "all get mixed up" and from a Lutheran perspective, the scriptures of the Bible are not taken literally.

"We do not interpret it literally. We interpret it culturally," she said.

Teresa Roberson-Mullins, Chaplain of Pastoral Care for SSM DePaul Heath Center in Bridgeton, said the Catholic theory of "in persona Christi" which teaches "that Christ is the groom and the church is his bride" is a stumbling block for women's roles in her religion.

"This is where the church struggles. Do we take this literally or figuratively?" Roberson-Mullins said. "If we do [take it literally], does that mean the congregation should be all women?"

Roberson-Mullins said new Catholic teachings on the theology of the body will help followers understand how to interpret the scriptures through discussion of gender differences and sexuality.

"We've got to come out of the closet and admit that we are sexual beings," she said.

"Dealing with sexuality, we don't know what to do with that," Scherer said. When men and women are around each other, she said, "there is that desire to touch one another," it can take the focus off prayer.

Desire and loss of focus on prayer accounts for the only time a woman cannot perform a religious rite in Islam. Rana said when men are present during a prayer, a woman should not lead it.

"When [a man is] standing in the front, the woman would bend over and this will distract [him]," he said.

Aside from this one condition, Rana said "women can excel anywhere they want" in Islamic religious responsibilities, careers and life in general.

Roberson-Mullins said women's roles in religions can become "unstuck" if we simply learn from each other's religions and cultures.

Where politics and dogma meet

Remember when we thought religion was done for? That the philosophical and scientific revolutions of the Enlightenment couldn't help but replace the folly of faith with the fact of freedom? Mindless dogma was on the way out, rationality was the way forward. The program was progress, and you could no more not get with it than you could stop breathing. If only. As Michael Burleigh's previous book, "Earthly Powers" -- a history of Europe from the French Revolution to the First World War -- showed, the Age of Reason was as much about idolatry as it was ideology. In his latest work, "Sacred Causes," he brings the story up to date, demonstrating that the past century has been no less steeped in the fantastical.

"Sacred Causes" begins in Germany after its defeat in World War I. Struck dumb by self-pity, the country is ready to be lectured -- and there is no shortage of charlatans and ranters ready to slice the baloney good and thick. Chief among them is Adolf Hitler, a soi-disant superman promising everyone that they, too, can don cape and tights. Riding shotgun was Joseph Goebbels, a man so bowled over by his boss' orations that he claimed to see "a white cloud [take] on the form of a swastika" during them. Afterward, "there was a flickering light in the sky, which could not be a star. -- A sign of destiny." Still, inflamed with passion though he might have been, Goebbels was coolheaded enough to know that not everyone would be won over by Hitler's invective. The boss needed an aura -- and there was no better place to steal one from than the church. So were born the rituals of Nazism -- the cathedral of Nuremberg, the processions of jackbooted storm troopers -- and its sacred text: "Mein Kampf."

So far, so liturgical. Burleigh is hardly the first person to notice Hitler's messianic thrust. He is on more contentious ground when he defends the Catholic Church's dealings with the Führer. For the past six decades or so, Pope Pius XII has been hauled over the coals for his lenient relations with the Nazis. Burleigh, though, has no time at all for what he sees as this calumny. While acknowledging that the Catholic Church did sign a concordat with the Nazis in the 1930s, he points out that the then-Cardinal Pacelli (later Pius XII) denounced Hitler's "vulgar and brutal campaign" against both Jews and Catholics. And anyway, he states, had the church not signed that agreement, it would simply have been unable to function. That it did go on functioning meant it could help out in the war effort, lending covert support to Allied action against Hitler's regime. And in 1943, after Mussolini's fall, Jewish refugees were welcomed into Italy with open arms by the pope, who even went so far as to turn his summer palace at Castel Gandolfo over to them. Amen to that, though it is hard to ignore the feeling that for all Burleigh's plaudits, the pope's war effort was as much pragmatic as committed. Nor does it help that Burleigh seems blind to Christianity's own long tradition of anti-Semitism.

But Burleigh is too busy coming down hard on secular humanists, calling them a "liberal elite" and pointing out that their litany of buzzwords -- diversity, human rights, tolerance -- are less the product of enlightenment than of a "deeper Christian culture based on ideas and structures that are so deeply entrenched that most of us are hardly aware of them." Well, maybe. But just because some of your beliefs were originally expressions of a Christian culture, it doesn't follow that you have to sign up to that culture's every belief. Pace Chesterton, at least one of Christianity's beliefs is open only to those capable of believing anything. Nor do you have to know the history of an argument in order to know on which side of it you stand. You and I aren't against anti-Semitism because we've read up on the history of anti-Semitism. We're against anti-Semitism because we're pro-human. Not many people are anti-human, of course, but the bulk of those who are tend also to be pro-God. Just ask Osama bin Laden.

No one deplores the decadent wasteland of our spirituality-free world more than I, but that doesn't mean I have any idea what I would rather have in its place. Burleigh does -- an insight that comforts him no end while invalidating all the good work he has done in this book and its predecessor. Which isn't to say that "Sacred Causes" is less than required reading. Any historian who can refer to Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness as having "got his legal training while packing bacon in James Doherty's butchers shop," who can call Bob Geldof a "mouthy sloven" and who deplores a culture in which " 'wisdom' [is] represented by the lyrics of John Lennon" is worth reading. And if not everything he says is true, well, that only makes him resemble all the more the Christianity on which he places so much hope.

How Americans View Mormon Religion

As students at a Christian university debate the invitation of a presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, a Mormon, to speak at their upcoming commencement ceremony, a new Gallup poll found that Americans' favorable and unfavorable views of the Mormon religion are almost evenly split.

According to poll results, 46 percent of Americans say they have an unfavorable opinion of the Mormon religion in general while 42 percent have a favorable opinion.

Americans who are more religious, based on church attendance, have highly negative views of the religion. People who attend church on a weekly basis are more likely to have an unfavorable than favorable view of the religion (55 to 34 percent). For those who attend on a nearly weekly to monthly basis, poll results were 47 to 41 percent in unfavorable to favorable views. And among Americans who seldom or never attend church, they are more likely to have a favorable than unfavorable view of the Mormon religion (49 to 39 percent).

Religious groups also showed varying opinions of the religion. According to the poll, 52 percent of Protestants have an unfavorable view and 36 percent have a favorable one. Catholics are the most positive group where 31 percent have an unfavorable opinion and 56 percent have a favorable opinion. Meanwhile, 46 percent of non-Christians have an unfavorable view and 39 percent have a favorable one.

Divided by ideology, liberals are more likely to have an unfavorable view (61 percent) than a favorable one (28 percent) while 45 percent of conservatives showed negative views of the religion compared to 44 percent who showed positive views.

When asked what comes to mind first when they think about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, also known as the Mormon church, the most listed term was "polygamy" among both parties who have favorable and unfavorable opinions. Those holding favorable views of the Mormon religion also listed "good people/kind/caring/strong morals" while those with unfavorable views listed "dislike their beliefs/don't agree with their doctrine/false teachings."

The Gallup results, based on a national sample of 1,018 adults, come after Regent University, an evangelical Christian institution, announced Romney as the school's commencement speaker for May. The announcement drew debates on campus with some students saying a Mormon speaker would "confuse young Christians who are not so firmly grounded in Christian doctrine."

Regent founder Pat Robertson has not endorsed Romney. Still, Christians outside the Regent campus have also raised concern, arguing that Romney's religious beliefs are contradictory to the basic doctrines of orthodox Christianity. Robertson had also posted on his Christian Broadcasting Network website that the Mormons, although prosperous, are "far from the truth" when it comes to spiritual matters.

Romney joins a diverse line-up of past speakers on the Regent campus including Al Gore, Bob Dole, Wesley Clark, Alan Dershowitz, and others, according to Regent's press release.

The commencement address on May 5 is to take place in front of nearly 900 graduates.