What troubles young American adults is described as something big and serious, says Christian Smith in “Books and Culture,” a magazine published by Christianity Today article. His article is titledGetting a Life: The Challenge of Emerging Adulthood.

So many forces, not present in past generations, are buffeting and plaguing those in todays group ages 18 to 30. Theyve been played out in such popular sitcoms as
Beverly Hills 90210, Seinfeld, Dawsons Creek and Friends. Their characters deal with big doses of transience, confusion, anxiety, self-obsession, melodrama, conflict and disappointment, Smith notes. (www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/006/2.10.html)

He tells of a conference recently at the University of Southern California, led by two authors of a book Passing on Faith, who tested their books finding against more of in the age group. Young adulthood was characterized as a mysterious black hole in the life of the American church. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Arnett interviewed 100 emerging adults across the country and noted his most surprising finding about their beliefs is how little relationship there is between the religious training they received throughout childhood and the religious beliefs they hold at the time they reach emerging adulthood. Statistically, he found, there was no relationship between exposure to religious training in childhood and any aspect of their religious beliefs as emerging adults. However, there remains such a pattern with adolescents.

Evidently something changes between adolescence and emerging adulthood that dissolves the link between the religious beliefs of parents and the beliefs of their children, Arnett suggests. Smith says, even though Arnett did not do his research across America, his findings should make Christians sit up and notice.

He points to researcher Tom Smiths work On the Frontier of Adulthood that determined that young adults today go to church less, pray less and are less likely to believe the Bible is the Word of God. Moreover, they are less likely to be Protestant, more likely to identify with non-religious and have less confidence in organized religion than older adults. Oddly, its found that that group is more likely to believe in life after death than older generations.

Compared to the same age group surveyed in 1973, and repeated in 1985, todays 18-30 group are more distrustful of others, less likely to vote or read a newspaper. Theyre less likely to watch a lot of television, but more likely to be in a favor of making divorce harder, less in favor of legalizing marijuana, less in favor of teenagers having sex, more in favor of making pornography illegal to all, more likely to expect a world war, and more likely to answer dont know to survey questions.

Going to college seems especially like to kill regular church attendance for most, Smith asserted. Traditionally, they returned to church after marriage and family moved into their lives. But the gap between leaving home and settling down has grown typically to 15 or 20 years, putting distance to their church habits of youth. In that time, Smith said, these adults have formed their own assumptions, priorities and perspectives largely outside the church. So if they get back to church, they discover their motives, beliefs and orientations dont jibe with faithful, orthodox Christianity. Faith communities try to reinvent themselves to accommodate, attract and keep this niche group with limited results.

One of those assumptions is the notion of sex and relationship. Emerging adults regard cohabitation as an experiment with (allegedly) marriage-like relationships as normal and not promiscuity, Smith says. For many, marriage itself is seen as a distant event, to be postponed until all degrees are earned, identity and career issues are settled, and the biological clock starts clanging or ones girlfriend will not wait any longer and gives the ultimatum.

Its important reading. Smith, a professor of sociology and director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society at the University of Notre Dame, says the debate can go on and on as whether emerging adults are a product of the larger world weve create or a reaction to it. Its complicated, and American Christianity so far, has not figured it out.

American Catholic priests are suffering from a whole lot of things, according to the Nov. 23 issue of Commonweal, the American journal of opinion edited and published by lay Catholics since 1924. The Rev. Paul Stanosz, a priest in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee since 1984 and author of The Struggle for Celibacy: The Culture of Catholic Seminary Life, writes a lengthy commentary, Why Priests Are Coping Poorly.

Part of it counts off a spiraling batch of issues, such as overwork, some disciplines and practices not attuned to 21^st century ministry, or the daunting work that seminaries dont prepare priests for. So much revolves around how few they are in number and how much they are asked to do to keep their parishes going. Among priests, he says, there is much talk of high stress, poor health and low morale. He talks of burnout, heart attacks and premature death and two of the priests of his jurisdiction committed suicide in recent years.

Too many young priests are immediately thrust into parishes out of seminary where they are overwhelmed by the daunting and unfamiliar tasks and challenges, he notes. And a malaise hangs over the priesthood because of the stress, internal conflicts and struggles about whether to continue their sacred call or just bale. (www.commonwealmagazine.org/article.php3?id_article=2068)

As I see it, the greatest threat to priests well-being is denial, he concludes. We priests know we are in trouble, even if bishops are reluctant to admit it. The problems are embodied in the worn, torn, aging and overweight colleagues I observed in my dioceses recent assembly of priests, Stanosz writes. The crisis is right there in front of us, and the forced optimism of those afraid of appearing insufficiently orthodox or disloyal to Rome strikes me as a failure of perception, honesty and faith.

Pretty candid from a working priest in America today. We Protestants cannot help thinking that the church brings it on itself, with its strict limits, with it foisting so many specific duties on only men, on only single, celibate men, and for shutting out the talented laity from greater decision-making and roles. I have to believe faithful Catholics, living today, are deprived of some of the fullness of their spiritual experience by unavailable and sleep-deprived priests, limited Eucharist schedules and repeated messages left in a pastors voice mails.

Stanosz, who is also a sociologist, tells how his Milwaukee archdiocese has had to close its 151-year-old seminary on 44 acres to pay for legal and financial claims related to clergy sexual abuse, while bankruptcy looms. He has observed polarization between older and younger priests so-called Vatican II priests and the newer John Paul II priests ordained since 1978.

The writer took up his archbishops suggestion and has lent his help to an archdioceses new wellness committee to promote priests well-being. He finds priests cannot easily put their fingers on what troubles them. Some must confront issues before they can even go forward with resolving disheartenment. Stanosz shares that the vicar of the clergy even bluntly acknowledged that the wheels are falling off the wagon as issues mount for priests.

Recruiting men for seminary, in the face of massive demands for priests, is among the hardest tasks. He worries that seminaries are getting fervent men who may not have genuine vocations. So they have a new breed of unsuitable candidates with poor relational and leadership skills.

Stanoszs research has found many who see the priesthood as a refuge from a depraved, secular world, a place where their personal limitations and modest abilities are no obstacle to advancement. Once they gain a sense of their own sacred status, they are more likely to become unhappy and disgruntled when their sense of chosenness and elevated status cannot sustain them through the real challenges of ministry. One study found that one in seven priests resigns within five years. The unhappiness has also led to breaking vows of celibacy and getting into addictions, he writes.

The Wisconsin priest calls on the church to better understand modern American Catholics who forgo Sunday Mass for soccer and shopping. These competing influences are not easily overcome by the latest chancery or central-office program for increasing Mass attendance, evangelization, vocations and stewardship. Stanosz tells of priests dutifully implementing their bishops latest new programs geared to stop laity apathy and weak attendance. They feel frustrated when the end result is the same: the people arent filling up the pews or supporting the church financially.

If John Paul II, with all his vision, courage and tenacity, was unable to return the masses to the church, how with the same ideas work. Im not advocating apathy in the face of decline, Stanosz said. Im merely recognizing that the decline began before me and will continue after me.

Once in a while, I will check the web site of my home town. The Internet, of course, can elevate all sorts of obscure places on the map into a position to be known across the planet. Maybe your town has its own site, and you can find out whats going on there. Maybe the boosters there have done a fine job showcasing the place of your roots.

So I checked out www.parkersburgiowa.info to see whats new there in the place that is growing with pride.. I already subscribe to the Eclipse-News-Review, the weekly newspaper where I got my journalism start in 1963 when they printed my weekly editorials and the rest of Top Talk, our school newspaper of which I was editor.

My ancestors settled outside of town the same year the town was founded (1855), and our family cemetery plot on the top of a hill in Oak Hill Cemetery has an obelisk, the highest marker in the sprawling cemetery. Both my parents and maternal grandparents are among those buried there. The plot is next to that of Pascal P. Parker, the founder ofParkersburg, Iowa.

The towns biggest fame is that the high school (since merged with Aplington five miles away) has produced at least four National Football League players. Author Ernest Hemingways second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer, was born there July 22, 1895, but moved away when she was 6 with her family, though it is said that she spent some childhood summers visiting relatives in Parkersburg.

Lamentably, we didnt get back to my hometown in 2005 for the big 150^th celebration. I was 9 when the town celebrated its centennial in 1955, and I still remember my Uncle Genes beard, the long parade on Main Street and the special events, including some guy who did a demonstration on a new kind of foam plastic that oozed all over the stage.

That year, the Parkersburg merchants lavished us with centennial gifts sporting their names and the mere four numbers of the phone exchange.

I pretty much moved from Parkersburg in 1964 when I headed off to Iowa State
University, but have returned often. When I revisited the web site, I checked out the link to the towns churches. There are eight of them now, just one more than when I left. In 1971, the Lutheran Church had a theological split, and Faith
Lutheran Church was born. More conservative, it affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. That churchs link notes Current membership is 125 souls. Some of the churches have new buildings since I left town, like First Congregational Church where my mother attended as a girl.

What I hadnt known until now was that the Catholic church no longer has its own priest, as it did when I was growing up. St. Patricks belongs to what is called the Holy Family Parish Catholic Community one parish encompassing four towns, including Grundy Center (Sacred Heart), Reinbeck (Queen of Heaven) and Dike (St. Mary). In 1999, all were clustered as one parish with four buildings. The greatest distance between any two towns (Reinbeck to Parkersburg) is 22 miles.

Obviously, a shortage of priests has necessitated it. This parish of the Archdiocese of Dubuque has successfully brought together small communities to share resources which enhance parish life in the areas of worship, education, service, community and administration, the web site notes.

But when I checked with Liz Nilles, parish secretary, I learned that the web site is out of date. St. Marys was closed in June and its building sold. A new church will be built south of Dike with a new name to be announced this weekend. When it is completed, the Grundy Center and Reinbeck churches will be closed, and there will be just two churches, the one in Parkersburg and the new one south of Dike. The rural parish encompasses 450 families.

We had to do something or the archdiocese would do it, Nilles said. The priest, the Rev. Dennis Quint, officiates for three Masses each weekend Grundy
Center at 5 p.m. Saturday, Reinbeck at 8 a.m. Sunday and Parkersburg at 10 a.m. Sunday. Confessions are once a month rotating among the various churches.

Merged schools, merged churches since I left home. A resilient town growing with pride.

The pope is coming to America.

Its taken Pope Benedict XVI a while to get settled since he took the helm as Vicar ofChrist on April 19, 2005. Not the traveler that his predecessor, Pope John Paul II was, Benedict, already 80, ventured to the Western Hemisphere, as pope, for the first time last May. He addressed the fifth General Conference of Latin American Bishops in Sao Paolo, Brazil, which is the most populated Catholic country.

Pope John Paul II had made seven trips to the U.S. during his 27-year tenure, the last to St. Louis in 1999. The most ambitious was his September 1987 trip that included a 24-hour stop in Tempe and Phoenix. Some of us can remember how historic it was in 1965 when Pope Paul VI (1963-78) made the first trip of any pontiff to the U.S. He spoke to the United Nations in New York City during his short visit.

A year before, he became the first pope to leave Italy in 150 years when he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He then followed that with a trip to India.

Benedict is scheduled to visit Washington, D.C., and New York City April 15-20, 2008 –marking his second anniversary as pope during his stay. The first of two Masses he will celebrate will be in the new Washington Nationals stadium on April 17. He will celebrate another Mass in Yankee Stadium on April 20, something that John Paul II had also done. He also will speak to the United Nations on April 18, but his visit to Ground Zero where the Twin Towers once stood will certainly be a major media moment. And on April 16, Benedict will celebrate his 81^st birthday. He will be spending it with all his U.S. bishops, including Bishop Thomas Olmsted of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix.

The Vatican said the American visit is timed to coincide with the establishment of the first Catholic dioceses in the U.S. nearly 200 years ago. Vatican ambassador Archbishop Pietro Sambi said the visit may revive the urgency of the Catholic mission in America.

An August poll, conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, looked at public perceptions of Pope Benedict. He is viewed favorably by 73 percent of those who were familiar enough with him to give an opinion. A similar poll in 1996 of Pope John Paul II gave him 86 percent approval.

The survey found that 46 percent of people who have heard at least a little about the new pope regard him as doing a fair or poor job at promoting good relations with other major religions (38 percent say good or excellent). When Catholic responses were separated as to the popes performance in promoting good interfaith relations, 63 percent of self-identified conservatives Catholic said he was. Fifty percent of moderate Catholics agreed and 45 percent of liberal Catholics said so.

Sixty-eight percent of Catholics said the pope is conservative. People who have heard at least something about him were asked whether they were in general agreement with the popes ideological leanings. Twenty percent said very conservative, 36 percent said conservative, 17 percent said moderate and 5 percent said liberal.

The recurring message from the African church is that Christianity is flourishing, especially in the middle and southern parts of the vast continent where Islam has had less impact. Missionaries say they see a hunger for a message like Christianity can give with its stories, parables, message to common people and words of hope.

Mesa is being visited this week by an African pastor who is part of that phenomenon. The Rev. Jackson Senyonga, founder and senior pastor of Christian Life Church in Kampala, Uganda, which has 40,000 registered members and 22,000 in attendance weekly, will speak during the Praying for Power Conference 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 8:30 a.m. to noon Saturday at Central Christian Church of the East Valley, 933 N. Lindsay Road. Cost is $45, or $20 for youth (ages 11-18).

Senyongas story is remarkable. At birth, he was not expected to live. In fact, his parents were getting ready totoss his body onto a garbage dump to die when his grandmother rescued him, his biography said. His mother abandoned him at 3 months of age. His aunt, who was daily involved in witchcraft, raised him through the (dictator) Idi Amin years. Senyongas father was murdered during the Amin reign of terror. Later, he reconciled with his mother.

Eventually, he found opportunities in ministry. In 1995, he started a church with seven people, and two weeks later, he had 2,000 attending. Seven months later, there were 7,000. His bio says that if his church of 40,000 were in the
U.S., it would be one of the top five congregations. Senyonga is also credited with planting about 600 churches in four African countries. In 2003, he rallied some 25,000 pastors to get three million people to pray in a 12-hour period.

Now the 40-year-old pastor counsels the highest leaders in Uganda where he also leads a coalition of 600 churches in the capital city of
Kampala. In heavy demand as a speaker, he has come to the U.S. to address conferences and spoken with
U.S. politicians and such American spiritual leaders as Bill Bright, Pat Robertson and Jack Hayford. His admirers say, in promotional material, His style of ministry springs from a spirit of humility and come across through motivational preaching, incredible faith and a sense of humor . He repeatedly says, Everyone can win in life and can achieve the impossible through Christ. For more details, see CentralChristianEV.com.

Progressive Catholics in the Valley point to a Friday article from the
Baltimore Sun in which a Catholic priest has been disciplined for allegedly officiating at a funeral Mass with an Episcopalian priest in violation of canon law.

They say it conjures an incident in April 2004 when a Gilbert priest was disciplined for allegedly allowing an Anglican priest to concelebrate a wedding at St. Annes Catholic Church. The Rev. John Cunningham, who founded two East
Valley parishes, was suspended, and it took two years to resolve the incident. Cunningham was reinstated after the bishop accepted his apology, and he was allowed to retire.

The Baltimore incident took place Oct. 15. The Rev. Ray Martin was pastor of three parishes under the Catholic Community of South Baltimore. He is accused of leading the funeral Mass for Ann Shirley Doda of his parish, Our Lady of Good Counsel. Among several clergy taking part was the Rev. Annette Chappell, pastor of the Episcopal Church of the Redemption in Locus Point. She had been invited to take part by the son of Doda.

Martin was removed from the pastorate because of the violation, while other alleged pastoral infractions were raised. Father Martin received advice and counsel on numerous occasions from the archdiocese, and he has repeatedly violated church teachings, said Sean Caine, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. In more than a year, Martin has repeated committed administrative and liturgical offenses, Caine alleged. They included allowing dogs in the sanctuary, not complying with hiring rules and failing to show up for baptism, the Sun said.

I am sickened that they would treat our pastor this way, Victor Doda said. It doesnt sound possible that the church would take such a petty thing and ruin a mans career. The dead woman, a lifelong member of Good Counsel, owned the funeral home. She was an activist who had fought a corridor alignment for Interstate 95. The priest argued that both he and Chappell were there for to honor Shirley Doda. I wasnt there for Annette Chappell.

Martin said the Episcopal priest did not take part in the Eucharist, that she just read a gospel passage for the service. Someone at the service reported to the archdiocese that Martin gestured to Chappell to take communion, though Martin said he did not recall doing so, the newspaper reported. Canon law says only ordained priests and deacons can read the scripture at Masses, and non-Catholic specifically cannot receive communion.

Now Martin is getting counseling at a monastery in Latrobe, Pa., and is currently barred from celebrating Mass in a public setting. He had to sign an apology for bringing scandal to the church.

Victor noted that it was the Episcopal priest who had visited his mother daily in the hospital and her participation in the Mass was important to the family.

In our neighborhood, when you go to a church dinner or a church function on a social level, people from all churches are involved, he said. Thats the kind of relationship the churches have. Its very, very close.

The full story is at http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-te.md.ci.priest09nov09,0,5298429.story

Preserving the trappings of the past is so integral to the continuity of our cultures. In our families, we identify heirlooms, and we put away things our children might want and what they probably wont want, but just maybe.

Some of us try to keep records for organizations or churches we belong to help future members know their past. Whole communities do that through museums and archives. We cringe sometimes at having to toss things that our instincts tell us ought to stay intact and kept. But, oh, the burden on space to keep things around.

On Thursday, I had an incredible experience hearing an hour-talk by Marine Reserves Col. Matthew Bogdanos, who was assigned to the daunting task of helping to recover the massive quantity of priceless pieces of antiquity taken from the ransacked national museums in Baghdad before and after the start of the war in
Iraq.

The author of Thieves of Baghdad: One Marines Passion to Recover the Worlds Greatest Stolen Treasures (Bloomsbury USA, 320 pages) spoke to Veterans Day-related breakfast, organized by the Kiwanis Nuevo Club of Tempe and held at the Fiesta Inn. Bogdanos, who was co-introduced by Attorney General Terry Goddard and former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romney, was set up to deliver a compelling speech. No one was disappointed. It was a well-crafted slide presentation and powerfully laid out explanation of what happened.

The one-time assistant district attorney in New York City, with master degrees in both classical studies from Columbia University and in strategic studies from the Army
War College, told how his team masterfully recovered more than 5,000 priceless antiquities from the Iraqi National Museum. Much was made in the media about the chaos and anarchy that came to Baghdad when it fell in 2003 and Saddam Hussein was driven from power. The vast government infrastructure, including community, education and cultural services, became impotent with leadership, bureaucrats and workers scattering. The museums, with their holdings from the Cradle of Civilization in the Tigris and Euphrates river valley, were suddenly vulnerable.

Bogdanos masterfully laid out the magnitude of the losses, with a series of slides of the great works that were missing. Most of the world, he noted, was unaware that the Hussein regime and predecessors had not allowed the huge museum complex to be open for the public to visit and to appreciate their heritage. Corruption had included the sacking of thousands of historical artifacts and selling on the international antiquities underground market that bring billions to its players.

Bogdanos shared countless stories about winning trust among Iraqis and those left in charge of literally picking up the pieces of the vandalism and destruction in the museums and trying to recover as much as possible. A much publicized amnesty program, calling on neighborhood Iraqi who may have been among the looters of the museum, were invited to drop off items for the good of the country no questions asked, no prosecution. Thousands of pieces were returned that way. People were urged to convinced owners of antiquity to turn things in.

The process goes on and an amazing amount of the prices remnants of history are back in safe hands. Of course, the museums restoration is its own huge project. All that Bogdanos earns from his book goes back to help restore the museum and its holdings. The book is in its third printing.

With all the horrors and setbacks of the war in Iraq, this special teams work is a bright spot and underscores that preserving the common beginnings of the human civilization is among the most worthy of undertakings. And Bogdanos perseverance is a true example of what one person can accomplish when the urgency is so great.

When I was 5 years old, my Aunt Mabel came to visit and brought Life Magazines. They absolutely wowed us. The big pictures, colored ads and content were mesmerizing. She left them for us to cut up. We made scrap books and even put some our favorite pictures up in our tiny bedroom. We saw places in the world that were strange and exotic.

When I got to college, I started a quarterly residence hall magazine called Cadence. I recruited a volunteer writing staff, but had total control on content and wrote much of it. My least favorite task was selling advertising for it, but it was an important exercise now 42 years ago in my unfolding journalism career.

Over the years, I have taken special interest whenever a Vol. 1, No. 1 issue of a magazine has fallen into my hands. Each baby issue conjures the excitement I recall in 1965 when Cadence first came off the press at Iowa State University.

The Jewish News of Greater Phoenix has just released its first issue of
Chosen, targeting your city, your community, your life. The autumn 2007 issue, 62 pages of top quality color photography and slick paper, seems to only point out anew how remarkably the Valleys Jewish community is growing and unfolding. The Jewish News, founded in 1948, already puts out a weekly newspaper that can match any Jewish paper published in major American cities. Now comes this product to be published every three months.

In its Oct. 12 issue of the Jewish News, publisher Florence Newmark Eckstein explained that the magazine replaces what has been a quarterly special style section of the newspaper. She said the magazine will focus on many cultural and lifestyle matters, including food and dining, plus music, new products and entertainment calendar. The magazine nicely mirrors the high quality Jewish News annual Community Directory, which provides enormous information and resources on the entire Jewish scene in the Valley.

I say this often in print and when I talk to groups: No faith does a better job of telling its story, promoting its work and giving others an understanding of its beliefs and programs than Jews. If they get press that seems out of balance to their population numbers, its because they are so professional and skilled at communicating their messages. There obviously is a solid advertising base to support high-quality publishing.

Chosen is only more of that. Its editor, Jennifer Goldberg, in her letter near the front, said the magazine celebrates the lives we lead, lives that are shaped by the choices we make. She said her writers and staff will strive to cover those matters that helps Valley Jews better experience the scene.

A Q&A with Leonard Rubin, who recently was named Phoenix Chef of the Year for his work with the Southbridge chain of restaurants, lets the restaurateur talk about his Judaism. While growing up in Connecticut, he said his family did not keep kosher, unlike his grandfather and aunts. Yet, Judaism provides the foundation upon which I live my life and is my moral compass, Rubin explained. Although I do not belong to a synagogue, I wish somehow, someday, to find the time to get more actively involved in and with my religion. My wife is not Jewish but we believe in exposing our children to both of our beliefs. That certainly is a common story in the Valley where intermarriage exists.

The magazine, of course, will be able to draw richly from the Jewish News six decades of Valley coverage and from its archives. Chosens last past parting shot photo dates to Feb. 28, 1978, showing two women kicking up their heels Navy uniforms for a fund-raiser for the Womens Division Welfare Fund. At the event at the Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, they raised $10,000 for high school education for Israeli children.

Add another magazine to Valleys offerings, this one smartly targeted to its Jewish niche and available for just $3.95.

Watchdogs play an invaluable role in tempering powerful organizations from zealously exerting their influence and force to set the agenda and have their way. Theres a fierce battle in public affairs regarding how much religion can and should be allowed, what is offensive and what religious things have become acceptable through American tradition.

Theres a flap this week over the flag at funerals at national cemeteries. I didnt know it, but volunteers for the Memorial Honor Detail, while folding the U.S. flag at gravesides, recite the significance of each of the 13 folds they make. Obviously, what each fold means is only what someone originally thought up, wrote down and pitched to others, who complimented that person for the moving and thoughtful idea. Through regular use, it becomes timeworn tradition. To stop doing it means controversy.

A week ago, the National Cemetery Administration decided to ban the words being recited at all 125 cemeteries under its control. That came about because of a complaint about the 11^th fold: In the eyes of a Hebrew citizen, represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon, in their eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. According to news reports, the complaint was lodged by someone who witnessed the ceremony at Riverside National Cemetery in
California. Yet the administrations spokesman would not give more specifics, saying details were an internal working document not meant for public distribution.

It especially has American veterans livid. As a result, secular fanatics have been attacked. The Riverside Press-Enterprise quoted the American Legion of Californias parliamentarian advising those working on memorial honor details to ignore the edict even it if it means being kicked out of cemeteries.

On Thursday, Vice President Dick Cheney said the flag-folding recitation will be allowed to go on as it has.

Scottsdale-based Alliance Defense Fund offered a letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs. This matter raises the important issue of whether it is constitutionally permissible for government to solemnize a funeral by referring to religious beliefs, said the letter to William Tuerk, undersecretary for memorial affairs, by the ADF chief counsel Benjamin Bull. He advised the government may solemnize important events by referencing religious beliefs without violating the Establishment Clause and that theres legal precedent to it. He pointed out such things as military chaplains and he cited a case, Lynch vs. Donelly, with the ruling, Our history is replete with official references to the value and invocation of divine guidance in deliberations and pronouncements of the Founding Fathers and contemporary leaders.

Bull suggests the flag recitation is not to advance religion or proselytize, but to accommodate veterans and other citizens whose religious beliefs provide meaning, hope and comfort during the difficult time of a loved ones death.

The 11^th fold is only a small part of a recitation filled with religious references: Fold 2): symbol of our belief in the eternal life; fold 4: represents our weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to him we turn in times of peace as well as in times of war for his divine guidelines; fold 8: a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death .; fold 12: in the eyes of a Christian citizen, represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in their eyes, God the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost; and fold 13: when he flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost, reminding us of our national motto, In God We Trust.

Because so little is known about the complaint, it is difficult to know why only the 11^th fold was offensive and not others.

Was it raised because of the specific Jewish (Hebrew) reference? When it comes to picking fights over governments possible endorsement of religion, this doesnt seem like a particularly good example. Funerals are religious, and flag ceremonies for veterans, are part of that. Survivors look for and expect talk of God. People at funerals, for the most part, make up a private assemblage, an event that was planned through the consent of the survivors. Its not like a public classroom of a captive audience of children.

Things like this provide easy ammunition to those sure of a secular agenda to erase references to God wherever they find him.