The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page C04

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Sunday, November 14, 2004 Faith life Judging the Commandments Roman Protestant Eastern Catholic Orthodox C4 A www.philly.com in Jewish Muslim Buddhist When it comes to public display, should differing versions matter? Baha'i Hindu Sikh HI gk Bill Broadway covers religion for the Washington Post Sometime in late winter, advocates for and foes of public displays of the Ten Commandments will argue the issue before the U.S. Supreme Court for the first time in 25 years. Litigators on both sides say the justices probably will set parameters on what constitutes an acceptable display, relying partly on the court's previous decisions on the display of Nativity scenes in town squares and courthouses. The litigators disagree, however, on whether the existence of different versions of the Ten Commandments reflecting theological differences among Protestants, Catholics and Jews will or should affect the court's decision. "No doubt it's something I'm going to MP and si i 11 1 1 1 1 A I I'M' )1 1 1 A I it I1-.

If if i A l'L 1 I Sf TMr nl AK 1 svSl' Protestant version lists, as a separate commandment, "You shall not make of yourself a graven image," a statement the Catholic version omits. Some analysts say the Protestant version arose from Reformation efforts to rid churches of statues of saints, while the Catholic version allows such statues. The Texas monument has been in place since 1961, one of as many as 200 monoliths donated from the 1950s through mid-1980s by the Fraternal Order of Eagles, said Sue Hoffman, a retired schoolteacher in Washington state who has researched the history of the Eagles' placement of monuments nationwide. Most of the granite monoliths, including the one in Austin, use an interfaith version put together by a committee of Roman Catholic, Protestant and Jewish clergy, she said. The Eagles' monument project began in earnest after the release of Cecil B.

DeMille's 1956 film The Ten Commandments. DeMille helped the Eagles program get started, Hoffman said, and replicas of the tablets used in the movie appear at the top of the monument. The displays in the Kentucky courthouses were framed, printed pages citing the King James translation, unnumbered, from Exodus The statement "I the Lord am your God" does not appear; the prohibition against making graven images does; and the translation of the Sixth Commandment is "Thou shalt not kill." The court decided last month to hear the Kentucky and Texas cases. Rulings are expected by the end of June. DAVE MARTIN Associated Press The Ten Commandments monument that caused a controversy in Alabama when the state's chief justice installed it in the judicial building is now on a nationwide tour.

emphasize," said Erwin Chemerinsky, a Duke University constitutional scholar. Chemerinsky will appear before the court on behalf of Thomas Van Orden, a homeless man and former defense lawyer who numbering systems. The Jewish version, sometimes called the "Ten Utterances," presents the first commandment as a statement of the relationship between God and the Israelites: "I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage." The second commandment is, "You shall have no other gods besides Me." The Catholic-Lutheran and Protestant versions present "I am the Lord your God" as a preface to their first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before Me." Jewish scholars point to what they consider a more crucial ethical and moral distinction: the Jewish translation of the sixth commandment as "You shall not murder." Traditional Catholic and Protestant versions say "You shall not kill" a broader ban that might cover such societal actions as capital punishment. The two Christian versions also differ in substantive ways. The The Chester County Courthouse bears a plaque with the Ten Commandments.

has fought for several years to have a six-foot granite monument of the Decalogue removed from the statehouse grounds in Texas. "My argument in part is: Is there a Ten Commandments?" Chemerinsky said. If such monuments are allowed, the "choice of which one to use is a religious choice." But Mat Staver, president and general counsel for Orlando, Liberty Counsel, said "the issue of different versions is a red herring." Staver's group represents two Kentucky jurisdictions whose framed commandment displays were ordered removed from courthouses. The King James-based displays were "no one's version," he said, but were an abbreviated form of biblical passages. Three generally accepted versions exist, according to religious scholars: Jewish, Catholic-Lutheran and Protestant.

(The Protestant one also is used by many Orthodox Christians.) The commandments appear several times throughout the Bible but most notably in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. The earliest manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible present the passages as blocks of text without paragraphs or verse enumerations. Those were added later by different schools of interpreters which led to varied Catholic-Lutheran 1. I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me. 2.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 3. Remember to keep holy the Lord's Day. 4. Honor your father and your mother.

5. You shall not kill. 6. You shall not commit adultery. 7.

You shall not steal. 8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods. From "A Traditional Catechetical Formula" in Catechism of the Catholic Church U.S. Catholic Conference, 1991). Jewish 1.

I the Lord am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage. 2. You shall have no other gods besides Me. 3. You shall not swear falsely by the name of the Lord your God.

4. Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. 5. Honor your father and your mother. 6.

You shall not murder. 7. You shall not commit adultery. 8. You shall not steal.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house: you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or anything that is your neighbor's. Based on the Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures Jewish Publication Society, 1985).

Numbering varies by tradition. Protestant 1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. 2.

You shall not make yourself a graven image. 3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Six days you shall labor, and do all your work. 5. Honor your father and your mother. 6. You shall not kill.

7. You shall not commit adultery. 8. You shall not steal. 9.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or anything that is your neighbor's. Based on the Book of Confessions (Presbyterian Church USA, 1991). Interfaith Calendar Nov.

14 through Nov. 21 Sunday, Nov. 14 Roman Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Episcopal, Lutheran Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, 33d Sunday of Ordinary Time. Protestant "Persecution Sunday," the concluding day in the Season of Prayer for the Persecuted Church sponsored by the World Evangelical Fellowship. Thousands of churches hold special services and activities to raise awareness of the repression of Christians in some countries.

Interfaith Today ends the National Donor Sabbath weekend, an effort by an array of religious and transplant groups. Sermons, prayers and activities aim to dispel fears that religion and organ or tissue donation are incompatible. Local sponsor is the Delaware Valley Transplant Program. Muslim Eid al-Fitr, the festival to break the Ramadan fasting period. It comes on the first day of Shawwal and begins a three-day period of relaxation and celebration.

Communities gather centrally on the first morning for a special prayer and sermon. People customarily come in colorful dress and exchange embraces at the conclusion of the prayers. The traditional greeting is "Eid Mubarak" (Blessed Feast). Many communities hold bazaars following the prayers. Muslims traditionally take off from work, and spend the three Eid days visiting, giving gifts, and sharing meals.

Thousands of local Muslims will convene for the Eid today at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Jewish Rosh Chodesh Kislev. Prayers are added at morning worship to welcome the new moon, which begins the month of Kislev. Ecumenical Christian Ascension Lutheran Church in Haddon Heights presents "Trading My Sorrows," a contemporary praise service for anyone who has suffered a loss or is in medical, psychological or addiction recovery. 3 p.m.

at the church, Fourth and Highland Avenues. Baptist Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, 1253 S. 19th concludes its 100th anniversary celebrations with a centennial service at 11 a.m. featuring the Rev. Gardner C.

Taylor, pastor emeritus of Concord Baptist Church of Brooklyn. Roman Catholic Annual Memorial Mass for police, firefighters and peace officers, presented by the League of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. 9 a.m., Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul, 18th Street and the Parkway. Mass and veterans service.

11 a.m. Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 642 Market Camden. Pentecostal Christian New Testament Church of God, 935 S. 53d holds a 5:30 p.m. program marking 30 years of ministry in Philadelphia by the Rev.

Felix Poyser, its Jamaica-born leader. Methodist Haddonfield United Methodist Church, 29 Warwick Rd. in Haddonfield, takes part in the first national Smoke-Free Sabbath, sponsored by the Interfaith Partnership Campaign Against Tobacco. The 9:30 a.m. service features special prayers and a talk by State Sen.

John Adler Camden), sponsor of the proposed New Jersey Smoke Free Workplace Act. Native American Awareness Sunday service, with tribal performances and a talk by Lenape speaker Jim Beer. 1 1 a.m., Arch Street United Methodist Church, 55 N. Broad St. Jazz Vespers service, with flutist Walter Bell.

7 p.m., Union United Methodist Church, 200 Brookline Blvd, Havertown. Monday, Nov. 15 Eastern Orthodox (New Calendar) Beginning of the 40-day Nativity Fast. Meat is to be avoided on all 40 days, dairy on Wednesdays and Fridays. The hymns change often during this period, building to a Nativity crescendo.

Wednesday, Nov. 17 Roman Catholic, Lutheran St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Also known as Elizabeth of Thuringia, renewer of society. This 13th-century princess used her wealth to help orphans, the sick and the poor.

Many hospitals have been named in her memory. Thursday, Nov. 18 Interfaith "Fast for a World Harvest" campaign day. The Oxfam America relief organization times this annual event to the Thursday before Thanksgiving. Congregations and campus religious groups hold "hunger banquets" and other programs.

Friday, Nov. 19 Jewish Candlelighting at 4:23 p.m. begins the weekly Sabbath. Islam Jum'ah, the weekly communal prayer, begins at p.m. Saturday, Nov.

20 Jewish Services focus on Torah portion Vayetze (about Jacob's exile and dream). Sunday, Nov. 21 Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Lutheran, Episcopalian Christ the King Sunday, known to Catholics as the Solemnity of Christ the King. This is a feast day that celebrates Jesus' teaching that he will return at the end of time to judge all humanity. Eastern Orthodox (New Calendar), Byzantine Catholic Presentation of the Mother of God, commemorating Mary's visit to the Jerusalem temple for purification.

It is one of Orthodoxy's Twelve Great Feasts Allegations surfaced about founder of Trinity Broadcasting, which bought Ch. 48. Christian TV giant woos Phila. as it faces legal tiff but the network withdrew its application after it was accused of using the subsidiary to get around FCC regulations that limited the number of full-power stations that could at that time be owned by a U.S. company.

Crouch Jr. said that the difficulty in purchasing the Wilmington station involved "coming to terms on the value of the station. So we backed off." Ole Anthony, a longtime critic of TBN, calls the network a "moral snakepit," with the Crouches living lavish lifestyles and presenting a distorted view of Christianity by promoting the notion that believers can expect material prosperity. "Most of what they are preaching about," said Anthony, president of Trinity Foundation a Dallas-based religious watchdog group, "is that Christianity rewards greed." The younger Crouch said the station offers more than the controversial "prosperity gospel." And he defended the teaching. "If you give, it is not unheard of that God will bless you for it," he said.

"It's part of the Bible. If you want to try to deny it and say all Christians should live in poverty and hand-to-mouth, I don't agree." growth and any issues which the media concocts are simply not relevant to our business strategy in Philadelphia or elsewhere. We expect that all unfounded allegations will go away very quickly." The allegations are now the subject of legal maneuvering because Ford is accused of violating the 1998 settlement's confidentiality agreement by again threatening to go public. In the meantime, TBN is expanding a Christian television empire that is said to be the largest in the world, with more than 12,000 affiliates worldwide and accessibility for 93 percent of American households. The network just finished its biannual "praise-a-thon" drive to raise funds for an annual budget of more than $500 million.

The weeklong telethon usually has a live nightly broadcast, but this year it went to a taped, best-of format. According to the younger Crouch, the decision had to do not with the legal troubles but with his mother and network cofounder Jan Crouch's continuing recovery from gallbladder surgery and a desire to make use of the archives. Torossian says the controversy has not adversely affected the network, which he said was healthier than ever. Added Crouch "based on our pledges, we are going right through the roof." In Philadelphia, the younger Crouch said, station officials are looking to move from the Manayunk headquarters and to upgrade equipment and other infrastructure. In three to six months, he said, they hope to begin producing local programming.

TBN officials have begun contacting local ministers for help in producing programming including Praise, a talk show, and Joy in Our Town, which has an "issue-and-answers type format," Crouch Jr. said. TBN, which began in Southern California, did not become the dominant supplier of Christian television until scandals in the late 1980s led to the downfall of televangelists such as Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. That left a vacuum that TBN filled, said Quentin J. Schultze, author of Televangelism and American Culture: The Business of Popular Religion.

Schultze described TBN's programming as a "conservative Christian smorgasbord." The schedule includes everything from "apologetics to preaching to what some would call a religious variety show with live audiences," said Schultze, a religion professor at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. In 1991, the network tried to purchase WTGI-TV (Channel 61) in Wilmington via a TBN subsidiary, National Minority TV Kristin E. Holmes is an Inquirer staff writer Trinity Broadcasting Network had sought a station in the Philadelphia market for more than 10 years. Last month, the Christian television behemoth finally closed a deal. California-based TBN paid $48 million for WGTW-TV (Channel 48), a UHF station based in Manayunk.

The old lineup of reruns, including The Rockford Files and some local programming, has given way to televangelism and more televangelism, featuring the Rev. Robert Schuller, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Paula White, and other national figures. With the Oct. 1 deal, TBN expanded its presence in the area beyond the cable systems that already carried the station.

But the purchase from Dorothy Branson, one of the few African American women to own a television station came at a troubled time for the network. Several weeks earlier, the Los Angeles Times published a series of stories about TBN that included allegations that founder Paul Crouch 70, paid $425,000 in 1998 to prevent a former employee from going public with assertions of having a homosexual liaison with him two years earlier. The employee, Enoch Lonnie Ford, reportedly had Paul Crouch Sr. reportedly paid a former employee $425,000 to drop talk of an affair. threatened to file a wrongful-termination lawsuit.

Crouch has denied the allegations, and his son, Paul Crouch told the newspaper his father settled after advisers told him it would be cheaper than litigation. The network also wanted to avoid negative publicity during TBN's 25th anniversary year, the younger Crouch said. The elder Crouch has not commented on the case, and his son declined to discuss it for this article. But network spokesman Ronn Torossian said the elder Crouch was the victim in a fight "against a twice-convicted felon, a drag abuser and an extortionist, and we expect the court system will soon find our chairman vindicated." Torossian said TBN "continues to experience rapid Notices must be received eight days before publication. Send by fax to 21 5-854-2531 by e-mail to jremsenphillynews.com or by mail to Faith Life, The Inquirer, Box 8263, Philadelphia 19101.

Faith Life editor Jim Remsen is at 215-854-5621. Contact Kristin E. Holmes at 215-854-2791 or kholmesphillynews.com..