RELIGIOUS BRIEFS

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Aug 27, 2008 | by BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

Brooklyn Park, Minn.

PASTOR SLAMS IRS PROBE: The pastor of one of Minnesota's largest churches said an IRS investigation into his ministry's finances is "politically motivated."

The Rev. Mac Hammond is recognizable to a wide audience through Sunday morning TV broadcasts of his services at Living Word Christian Center in Brooklyn Park.

Hammond wrote in a letter to congregants that "enemies of the gospel" are behind the inquiry. He preaches the prosperity gospel, which says that God wants his faithful followers to be rewarded spiritually and financially.

In March, the church declined to comply with an IRS summons, arguing that the law states the request must come from a "high- ranking official" of the IRS. The IRS has asked the U.S. District Court to force the church to answer a demand for detailed financial information.

A court hearing is set for Oct. 2.

Phoenix

BILLBOARDS TOUT FREEDOM: Billboards promoting freedom from religion and separation of church and state are going up around the downtown Phoenix area.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, based in Madison, Wis., paid advertising company CBS Outdoor to put up five signs around Phoenix that read Imagine No Religion. Annie Laurie Gaylor, foundation co-president of Freedom From Religion, said the billboards will be in place for a month.

The group of atheists or agnostics promotes free thought and the separation of church and state. They have sponsored similar billboard campaigns in other U.S. cities and so far, Gaylor said, there has been little opposition. Religious leaders say they are seeing an increase in atheist activism.

"I would prefer that there was serious tolerant dialogue that might emerge from this publicity campaign because it is much needed," said the Rev. Bob Mitchell, senior pastor at Central United Methodist Church of Phoenix.

New York

FIRST FOR REFORM JUDAISM: The Union for Reform Judaism, the largest synagogue movement in North America, has named its first female vice president.

The appointment of Rabbi Stacy Offner, the longtime leader of Shir Tikvah Congregation in Minnesota, was announced last week. The liberal Union for Reform Judaism, led by Rabbi Eric Yoffie, represents more than 900 congregations in the United States and Canada.

Offner is the founding rabbi emeritus of Shir Tikvah Congregation, which was established in 1988 in St. Paul and Minneapolis. She taught Jewish ethics at Hamline University in St. Paul and was the first rabbi to serve as chaplain of the Minnesota State Senate.

Washington

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM GROUP: James Standish, a former legislative affairs official with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, has been named executive director of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Standish, whose appointment was announced Aug. 20, succeeds Joseph R. Crapa, who died last fall. The commission is an independent, bipartisan federal agency that advises the president and Congress on religious freedom issues worldwide.

-- Associated Press