Religious Groups

Amid the scrutiny given to America's post-war exodus to the suburbs, the increase in the number of churches and synagogues beyond city boundaries tends to be overlooked. Just as homebuilders and retailers acted swiftly to capitalize on a burgeoning suburban clientele, religious groups moved to establish places of worship for former city-dwellers. A bishop knows as well as a businessman that survival means being where the people are.Now more Americans are leaving the increasingly urban suburbs for the more rural exurbs, and they are again being trailed by homebuilders, retailers and, as evidenced by a current handful of cases in Baltimore County, religious groups.

WASHINGTON -- Charging that the "radical right" dominates and distorts the moral debate in American politics, clerics from a wide range of denominations have formed an organization to counter the influence of conservative religious groups.The new group, called the Interfaith Alliance, was formed to "oppose the notion that only one set of convictions may be held by people of faith," the group's chairman, Herbert D. Valentine, the executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Baltimore, said at a news conference yesterday.

MOSCOW -- With leaders of Russia's so-called "traditional" religions -- Russian Orthodox Church, Islam and Judaism -- sitting as guests in the government's box in Parliament, Russian legislators overwhelmingly passed new restrictions on minority churches yesterday.By a vote of 337-5, the State Duma, or lower house of Parliament, passed the law in less than a half-hour, without debate.International human rights groups have denounced the measure because it sets up two unequal categories of religion.

WASHINGTON -- Reacting to widespread complaints from Christian legal advocates, the Supreme Court said yesterday that it will reconsider a lower court ruling that bars a state university from subsidizing a student magazine because it espouses an "avowedly Christian" perspective.In recent years, Christian legal groups have complained that the high court's insistence on a strict separation of church and state sometimes translates into discrimination against mainstream religious groups.For example, some school and state college officials have said that their institutions may subsidize student groups which promote feminism, environmentalism, gay rights or a variety of other causes but they may not subsidize student groups that promote religion.

Washington's Mt. Pleasant riots last week were a fresh reminder of how deeply this country depends on the ability of people of different ethnic groups, beliefs and cultural backgrounds to get along with one another. Baltimore has its share of racial and ethnic tensions, but it also has some reasons for pride. High on that list is the Institute for Christian-Jewish Studies, which in its four years has broken new ground in fostering innovative and substantive community dialogue between religious groups.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is set to announce a plan next week to enable churches, synagogues and other faith organizations to seek government money to develop low-income housing, drug treatment initiatives and after-school and child care programs. The governor said yesterday that he is finalizing details of the "faith-based" initiative - prominently mentioned during his campaign and his recent inaugural speech - as a way to encourage religious groups to help solve social problems. "It's not to exclusively fund religious groups," Ehrlich said.

TURNING AROUND government policy on welfare is a lot like changing the course of an ocean liner. It's slow work, and it commands close attention from any craft nearby.As the federal government moves away from the welfare role it has played for more than half a century, other institutions that have traditionally dealt with the poor are sometimes rocking in the waves.In Maryland, churches are being asked to play a bigger and more official role -- and some of them aren't happy about it. That's hardly surprising, since they weren't given much say in the matter when the legislature decided last year to allow churches to administer state aid on behalf of families being sanctioned for running afoul of welfare rules -- in other words, taking responsibility for the toughest welfare cases.

Contesting the result of a nominating caucus for a Harfor school board seat because of a "deliberate effort by religious groups to stack the deck," the county teachers union is demanding a new election.Sheron Lumsden, one of two union delegates to the caucus, said some delegates cast ballots under the names of groups they did not represent. She also said some groups unfamiliar with school issues did not register until the last minute, and the caucus failed to determine who voted and what groups they represented.

WASHINGTON -- Public schools that allow outside groups to use their buildings apparently will also have to let religious organizations in, even for worship services -- at least until the Supreme Court reacts differently than it did yesterday.In a brief order, the court chose to leave intact a lower court decision saying that public schools providing an "open forum" in their facilities have a constitutional duty to give equal access to religious groups.This was the first test case to reach the court on that specific issue.

Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s recent column about gay marriage ("Drawing a line at same-sex marriage," April 15) is rife with contradictions. For starters, he says that a ballot initiative opposing gay marriage will be supported by a coalition of religious groups and social conservatives. He then dismisses the notion that opposition to gay marriages isn't discriminatory or fueled by religious intolerance. He rationalizes his position by saying he endured the slings and arrows of outrage from social conservatives and religious groups.