commission head Leonard Leo. Oth- ers cited were Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pak- istan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmen- istan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Advocate dies
Paul Schultz, an advocate for Native Americans, tribal elder and faith healer in the White Earth band of the Anishinaabe (Chippewa) tribe in Minnesota, died March 19. Schultz, 66, headed the National Indian Lutheran Board in the 1980s (part of the Lutheran Council in the USA), which helped strengthen the church’s social ministry response to the needs of Native Americans. He also was director of the Bay Area Native American Ministry, an ecumenical agency in Oakland, Calif.
Nigeria: Churches burned Violence broke out after Nigerians re-elected as president a Christian from the south over a Muslim from the north. More than 100 people were reported dead and at least 10 churches and one police station were burned. Following the April 18 announce- ment of President Goodluck Jona- than’s victory, Christian and Mus- lim leaders united to condemn the violence in a country divided along religious lines. Christian Solidarity Worldwide also reported a number of attacks on mosques.
$1 million grant awarded
The Capital Region Theological Center, an Albany-based ecumeni- cal group that strengthens congrega- tions, received a $1 million grant for its work from the Lilly Endowment. Begun in 2001, the group works with seminaries of the ELCA, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Reformed Church in America, and United Church of Christ to offer theological education to congregation lay leaders. The four- year grant begins in June.
Making friends over dinner Christ Lutheran Church, Fairbanks, Alaska, in April hosted a potluck between
Christian and Muslim communities. The crowd—including teachers, students, lawyers and religious leaders—discussed everything from the conflict in Libya to gas prices, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported. “This is what world peace looks like, if you could look at it. This is the picture,” member George Riley said. Those who attended are originally from Kuwait, Egypt, Nigeria, the Sudan, Alaska, Pennsylvania, New York and the Midwest. The menu included saffron rice, Scottish shortbread, smoked salmon and banana Jell-O.
June 2011 11
‘No’ to I.D. cards
Orthodox churches in Russia and Greece objected to plans in both countries to introduce electronic national identity cards with personal and financial information. Thousands of Orthodox believers demonstrated against the cards in the streets of Greece March 27. Russian Ortho- dox Patriarch Kirill II said the church has asked for the cards to be optional and understands concerns that “all- encompassing information ... could in the long term be used to discrimi- nate against citizens based on their worldview.”
British astrophysicist wins prize A British theoretical astrophysicist who achieved renown for his study of the cosmos and for sounding warn- ings about the future of humanity won the 2011 Templeton Prize. Martin J.
Rees of the University of Cambridge (England) will receive $1.6 million from the John Templeton Founda- tion. The prize honors an individual who has made “exceptional contri- butions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.” Rees, 68, was a some- what unorthodox choice because he holds no formal religious beliefs. The Templeton Prize is the world’s larg- est annual award to an individual and is intended to exceed the monetary value of the annual Nobel Prizes.
Growing Protestantism
Baylor University researcher Paul Charles Freston predicts that 20 per- cent to 35 percent of Latin America will be Protestant in the coming decades. In Brazil, where Freston is professor at the Federal Univer- sity of Sao Carlos, Sao Paulo, the 12
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