Religious Leaders

The Rev. Lee Hudson is preaching at the State House this week, urging legislators to protect God's creation from global warming pollution. Hudson is lobbying on behalf of 210 Lutheran congregations in Maryland as he tries to persuade the General Assembly to pass a bill to require a 25 percent cut in greenhouse gases statewide by 2020. Other religious leaders - including those of the Presbyterian Church in Central Maryland, the state's Episcopal Diocese, the Unitarian Church, and several ministers and rabbis acting individually - also have come out in support of the Global Warming Solutions Act. "All of the things that we say in the Genesis story, that God made creation and it was good.

The progress was slight but still significant, religious leaders in Maryland said yesterday of the outcome of the peace talks in Annapolis. All major issues that have prevented peace and the creation of a Palestinian state in the past remain unresolved. Israeli and Palestinian representatives agreed only to keep talking with the goal of reaching resolution by the end of next year. But talk, in this case, between these groups, is not so cheap, local religious leaders said. "Even to come to an agreement like that is very positive," said Irma Hafeez, president of the Montgomery County Muslim Council.

As the State Department finalizes the agenda for the Middle East summit in Annapolis, it should consider including some last-minute participants who have the clout to build authentic support for the peace process. We suggest that they include the region's most senior Israeli and Palestinian religious leaders in these and all future talks. These courageous leaders have joined together to form a Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land with the express purpose of removing religion from the conflict and putting it into the peace process.

Religious leaders in Maryland are sharply divided on the question of same-sex marriage, a fact that is likely to weigh heavily in an anticipated debate on the issue this winter in the General Assembly. Religious leaders bring podiums, votes and organizations to a hot-button issue that is both religious and political. When the Maryland Court of Appeals rejected same-sex marriage in a 4-3 ruling last week, "friend of the court" legal briefs from religious groups were among the stacks of material urging support for each side.

Jason Poling was shifting uncomfortably in his seat while watching the new film Jesus Camp, the same way he does while watching the TV mockumentary The Office about a dysfunctional workplace - except the film was real. Poling, the pastor of New Hope Community Church in Pikesville, said he worried about how his neighbors and friends would perceive the film, about a North Dakota camp, that began arriving in theaters last week. "As an evangelical, I'm concerned that people see this as an accurate representation rather than a sliver of evangelicalism ... and see that as normative for everybody," Poling said.

A quiet but sociable dentist, Albert Woonho Ro enjoyed his family, golf and religious worship. This week, he was found beaten to death in his Glen Burnie office, devastating his family, stunning the Korean community and setting his neighbors in the complex on edge. Preparing for the funeral today, Michael Ro, a doctor, said he has no idea why his brother met such a violent death. "That is why I hope the police can find out and help us solve the mystery. We as a family, we want quick closure to the matter, as to who and how and why. We are still shocked.

Three years after a group of local Christians first talked about inviting the Rev. Franklin Graham to preach in Baltimore, tens of thousands of people are expected at Camden Yards this weekend for three days of music, prayer and preaching. The Metro Maryland Festival is aimed at winning what Graham's ministry calls "decisions for Christ." "What we're trying to do is get people to come to have a genuine relationship with the lord," said Mount Pleasant Church Bishop Clifford M. Johnson Jr., a member of the committee that has brought Graham to Baltimore.

VIENNA, Austria -- Iranian political and religious leaders sounded defiant yesterday in the face of the accord between major world powers demanding that Iran suspend its nuclear program in exchange for a package of incentives but stopped short of saying they would reject the deal. Much of what was said repeated past statements, and none of it addressed specifically the incentives and penalties agreed to here Thursday by permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said international pressure "would not bear fruit" and obliquely accused Israel of being behind the effort to censure Iran, in comments to the official Iranian news agency.

KAMPALA, Uganda -- When it comes to buying condoms, Gideon Byamugisha prefers to dart in and out of the drugstore, leaving his car engine running for a quick escape. But invariably, after watching a rattled clerk triple-bag his purchase or enduring disapproving glares from fellow customers, Byamugisha goes out and turns off the motor, returns to the store and tells his story. "It's the collar," said Byamugisha, a canon with the Anglican Church of Uganda. "They look at me and think: Sin has gone deep when even a man in a collar is buying condoms."

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Shiite Muslim religious leaders heated up their anti-American rhetoric during prayers yesterday as sectarian violence continued and talks aimed at creating a new Iraqi government faltered. The occasionally vitriolic sermons, often delivered by clerics close to the young cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, were the latest sign of souring relations between U.S. political and military leaders and the country's majority Shiites, who initially welcomed the U.S.-led ouster of the Sunni-led government of Saddam Hussein in 2003.