THREE PEOPLE SHOT, ONE DEAD, INSIDE A NEW JERSEY CHURCH

CLIFTON, NEW JERSEY -- A man shot and killed his estranged wife in a Clifton, New Jersey church just before noon Sunday, and opened fire on two other people before fleeing in a Jeep, police said.
According to a story by Claire Heininger in the Newark, New Jersey Star-Ledger, Reshma James, 24, died of her injuries about 4 p.m., at St. Joseph's Medical Center in Paterson, Clifton police Detective Capt. Robert Rowan.
The two other victims, a 47-year-old woman, who was the younger woman's cousin, and a 23-year-old man, remain in extremely critical condition in an area hospital. All three were shot in the head, the Star-Ledger reported Rowan said.

St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church (from church website).
The gunman, identified as 27-year-old Joseph "Sanish" Pallipurath of Sacramento, Calif, opened fire in the vestibule of St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya Church, an Asian-Indian house of worship in Clifton, the Star-Ledger reported authorities said.
Police believe Pallipurath drove to New Jersey from his home in California.
The Star-Ledger reported that police are still searching for Pallipurath, who they said escaped in a 1994 green, soft-topped Jeep with California license plate No. 5JHD200. He is believed to still have the silver handgun he used in the shooting and is considered dangerous, police said.
James had escaped what police described as an abusive marriage. The Star-Ledger reported police said the abuse dated to their years in India, then continued after they moved to California. Most recently, James had left him to live with a relative in New Jersey, where she filed a restraining order against her husband, Rowan said.
The Star-Ledger reported that the restraining order wasn't enough to stop Pallipurath, who confronted his wife and the two others in the church vestibule, toward the end of a three-hour Sunday service, Rowan said. It was unclear why the three victims were not with the rest of the congregation in the sanctuary.
Once inside the church, Pallipurath confronted his wife, and after a brief argument, opened fire on all three.
The Star-Ledger said multiple 911 calls appear to have been made from the church. A variety of law enforcement agencies are working the case.
According to the church website (www.stthomasnj.org), members are mostly first-generation immigrants from India, and their children. They had belonged to St. Peter's Parish in Yonkers, N.Y., according to the website. The congregation moved into its current location in 2000, making it the largest church in the North American Knanaya Community.
The Star-Ledger reported that Clifton Mayor Jim Anzaldi said he heard about the shooting while attending Sunday service in a different church.
“It's a shock, that somebody would have gone into a church like that,” he said. “You always hear about those things happening out west. It's a terrible thing.”
The Record of Bergen County reported that John Daniel of West Paterson said he was home sick when he received a call from his wife who, along with their 17-year-old son, attended the service.
Daniel said his wife called him on her cell phone and told him that she was down on the floor, someone was shooting and that he should call 911.
The Record reported that when asked if it would be difficult to return to the church, Daniel said, “Does it stop us from coming to church? No way.”

OBAMA SKIPS CHURCH, HEADS TO GYM

UNITED STATES - President-elect Barack Obama has yet to attend church services since winning the White House earlier this month, a departure from the example of his two immediate predecessors.On the three Sundays since his election, Obama has instead used his free time to get in workouts at a Chicago gym.Asked about the president-elect's decision to not attend church, a transition aide noted that the Obamas valued their faith experience in Chicago but were concerned about the impact their large retinue may have on other parishioners."Because they have a great deal of respect for places of worship, they do not want to draw unwelcome or inappropriate attention to a church not used to the attention their attendance would draw," said the aide.Both President-elect George W. Bush and President-elect Bill Clinton managed to attend church in the weeks after they were elected.In November of 1992, Clinton went to services in Little Rock, Ark., on the three weekends following his election, taking pre-church jogs on the first two and attending on the third weekend a Catholic Mass with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, with whom he was trying to smooth over lingering campaign tensions.
In the weeks after the contested 2000 election, Bush regularly attended services at Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, and Al Gore was frequently photographed arriving at and leaving church in Virginia.On his first day as president-elect, following weeks of Florida recounts and court hearings, Bush went to church with his wife, Laura. They attended an invite-only prayer service on Thursday, Dec. 14, at Tarrytown United Methodist Church. About 300 people attended, including top campaign staff and visiting clergy. During the service, the Rev. Mark Craig, senior pastor at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, told Bush, "You have been chosen by God to lead the people."Obama was an infrequent churchgoer on the campaign trail, though he did make a series of appearances in the pews and pulpits of South Carolina churches ahead of that heavily religious state's primary.The issue of where he worships is, of course, fraught. For about two decades, Obama and his family attended Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. But, with the public disclosure earlier this year of incendiary sermons at Trinity by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama and his wife, Michelle, in June resigned their membership in the large South Side congregation.At the time, the then-Illinois senator said that he didn't want his "church experience to be a political circus" and expressed regret for the unwanted attention members of the congregation had received, noting that some reporters had taken church bulletins only to call sick members and shut-ins. During the campaign, Obama returned to Chicago to attend the South Side's Apostolic Church of God on Father's Day Sunday to give a speech aimed at the black community on the importance of fatherhood and family.A number of Washington, D.C., churches of different denominations and traditions are now competing to become the spiritual home of the new first family.The Obama aide said the family "look[s] forward to finding a church community in Washington, D.C."

DISGRACED PASTOR RETURNS, AS A CHRISTIAN BUSSINESS MAN

Earlier this month, a guest took the pulpit at Open Bible Fellowship in Morrison, Ill., a 350-member church surrounded by cornfields. The speaker was an insurance salesman from Colorado named Ted Haggard.
The former superstar pastor, disgraced two years ago in a sex-and-drugs scandal, had returned — this time as a Christian businessman preaching a message that was equal parts contrition and defiance. Haggard linked his fall to being molested in second grade and apologized again.
His two sermons were posted, fleetingly, on Haggard's Web site under one word: "Alive!"
While his exact plans remain unclear, Haggard is unmistakably making himself a public figure again, nine months after his former church said he walked away from an oversight process meant to restore him.
The man who confessed to being a "a deceiver and a liar" is asking for another hearing, finding encouragement from a loyal circle of supporters, skepticism from those evangelical leaders who think it's premature and complex emotions at the Colorado Springs church he betrayed.
Haggard, 52, resigned as president of the 30 million-member National Association of Evangelicals and was fired from New Life Church amid allegations that he paid a male prostitute for sex and used methamphetamine.
Haggard said in 2006 he bought the drugs but never used them, confessed to "sexual immorality" and described struggling with a "dark and repulsive" side. He had risen from preaching in his basement to taking part in White House conference calls — and fallen so far that he became a late-night punch line.
As part of a severance package with his former church, Haggard agreed to leave Colorado Springs for a period and not speak publicly about the scandal, church officials said at the time. But he never really disappeared, making news when he relocated his family to Arizona and solicited financial support in an e-mail.
Haggard's plea for funds was rebuked by a three-pastor team overseeing his "restoration" — a healing process that doesn't necessarily mean a public return. In February, New Life Church announced that Haggard had prematurely ended that relationship.
One restoration team member, H.B. London, said a return to vocational ministry in less than four or five years would be dangerous for Haggard, his family, former church and Colorado Springs.
"To sit on the sidelines for a person with that kind of personality and gifting is probably like being paralyzed," said London, who counsels pastors through a division of Focus on the Family, the Colorado Springs-based conservative Christian group. "If Mr. Haggard and others like him feel like they have a call from God, they rationalize that their behavior does not change that call."
Haggard, who declined to be interviewed, is not the first fallen evangelical figure to agree to oversight and then balk. In the late 1980s, televangelist Jimmy Swaggart confessed to liaisons with a prostitute, begged forgiveness and submitted to the Assemblies of God, his denomination. Swaggart was ordered not to preach for a year, but resumed broadcasts after a few weeks and was defrocked.
Haggard's support system includes Leo Godzich, who runs a Phoenix-based marriage ministry and said he met with Haggard at least once a week for more than a year. Godzich said Haggard remains committed to restoration, has paid a high price and still has much to offer.
"If all men are honest, all men are liars and deceivers," Godzich said. "Once someone is gifted and called, that is something they generally cannot escape. They will be used in that regard again."
"True redemption occurs when someone is fulfilling a destiny and purpose in their life."
Haggard's Nov. 2 return to the pulpit was set in motion by the Rev. Chris Byrd, a college classmate from Oral Roberts University. Byrd said he first invited Haggard to speak at his church last summer to offer the Haggard family support, help them heal and teach his own flock about sin and forgiveness.
By then, Haggard had moved his family back to Colorado Springs and was selling life insurance at their $700,000 home down the road from New Life Church, angering some who thought he should stay away.
"I had confidence his heart was solid, his theology is sound and the message he's always bought to the body of Christ would come forth," Byrd said. "The Bible is filled with great leaders, men and women of God, who have failed. They were restored and resumed roles they were called to previously."
In the sermons, Haggard said a co-worker of his father molested him when he was 7, an experience that "started to produce fruit" when he turned 50. Haggard said something "started to rage in my mind and in my heart." Haggard said though some allegations were exaggerated, "I really did sin."
He apologized for making his family suffer, acknowledged suicidal thoughts and chastised church leaders for missing an opportunity to use his scandal to "communicate the gospel worldwide." Haggard said he emerged with a stronger Christian faith and marriage than he'd ever had.
Byrd said he was not restoring Haggard to Christian ministry and introduced him as a businessman — hinting at a possible future speaking to churches and civic groups.
"You could make a career out of your reformed fallen Christian life," said David Edward Harrell, a retired Auburn University history professor who studies charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity. "What you can't do is go back and do the same thing. Once you've lost that clientele, it's lost."
Evangelicals believe God can change hearts, yet Haggard also must be held accountable and should not return to ministry early, if ever, said David Neff, editor of Christianity Today magazine.
"It's like someone who has announced he's an alcoholic and they've got that under control and are dry now," said Neff, a National Association of Evangelicals executive committee member. "You don't want to chance putting them back in the situation where it could happen again."
The risk is diminished if Haggard seeks a role outside the pulpit, Neff said. Yet if Haggard stumbles again as a Christian speaker, it could crush those he inspired, he said.
On the Sunday after Haggard's return went public, Russ Gordon sat studying his Bible in the coffee shop of New Life Church in Colorado Springs. A church member for 12 years, Gordon said he's concerned Haggard stopped the restoration process, but he listened to Haggard's sermons and found them sincere.
"I can't really judge what's in his heart," Gordon said. "I think we have to watch and observe and see his actions. We as Christians believe in giving second chances. I just say, we all have fallen short."
Sitting a few tables away, Sandy Oltrogge had harsher words for her former pastor.
"I wish he'd just leave it alone and let God promote him and not promote himself," she said. "It's good he can apologize, but I don't think anyone can believe anything he says after that."
A New Life spokeswoman would not comment on whether the church believes Haggard has violated his severance agreement, which paid him a year's salary. The church is trying to move on.
"It's sort of like the mouse in the corner," said church elder Paul Ballantyne. "If he wants to squeak, he can squeak. But I don't think it's going to affect New Life."
Haggard's replacement, Brady Boyd, approved a three-sentence statement saying that while the church cannot endorse Haggard returning to ministry, "we do wish him only success in his business endeavors."
And on the day Haggard returned to the pulpit in another state, Boyd began a sermon series on heaven.

POPE QUESTIONS INTER-FAITH DIALOGUE

ROME — In comments on Sunday that could have broad implications in a period of intense religious conflict, Pope Benedict XVI cast doubt on the possibility of interfaith dialogue but called for more discussion of the practical consequences of religious differences.
The pope’s comments came in a letter he wrote to Marcello Pera, an Italian center-right politician and scholar whose forthcoming book, “Why We Must Call Ourselves Christian,” argues that Europe should stay true to its Christian roots. A central theme of Benedict’s papacy has been to focus attention on the Christian roots of an increasingly secular Europe.
In quotations from the letter that appeared on Sunday in Corriere della Sera, Italy’s leading daily newspaper, the pope said the book “explained with great clarity” that “an interreligious dialogue in the strict sense of the word is not possible.” In theological terms, added the pope, “a true dialogue is not possible without putting one’s faith in parentheses.”
But Benedict added that “intercultural dialogue which deepens the cultural consequences of basic religious ideas” was important. He called for confronting “in a public forum the cultural consequences of basic religious decisions.”
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope’s comments seemed intended to draw interest to Mr. Pera’s book, not to cast doubt on the Vatican’s many continuing interreligious dialogues.
“He has a papacy known for religious dialogue; he went to a mosque, he’s been to synagogues,” Father Lombardi said. “This means that he thinks we can meet and talk to the others and have a positive relationship.”
To some scholars, the pope’s remarks seemed aimed at pushing more theoretical interreligious conversations into the practical realm.
“He’s trying to get the Catholic-Islamic dialogue out of the clouds of theory and down to brass tacks: how can we know the truth about how we ought to live together justly, despite basic creedal differences?” said George Weigel, a Catholic scholar and biographer of Pope John Paul II.
This month, the Vatican held a conference with Muslim religious leaders and scholars aimed at improving ties. The conference participants agreed to condemn terrorism and protect religious freedom, but they did not address issues of conversion and of the rights of Christians in majority Muslim countries to worship.
The church is also engaged in dialogue with Muslims organized by the king of Saudi Arabia, a country where non-Muslims are forbidden from worshiping in public.

KAZHAKSTAN RELIGIOUS LAW STIFFNED : A MINISTRIES STUDIES IMPACT

Kazakhstan (MNN) ― Kazakhstan's Parliament is discussing the new amendments to the religion law this week. The measures are causing great concern for mission groups, especially those who provide children's Christmas programs, like Slavic Gospel Association.
SGA's Joel Griffith says the harsher law prohibits children from participating in religious gatherings without permission from both parents, and it bans the distribution of religious materials in public places. The allowance is distribution in permanent buildings designated by the state.
The Senate also removed judges' discretion over the level of fines imposed for violating the Religion Law. It could be trouble for next year's "Immanuel's Child" and "Christmas for Orphans" programs. "If that law actually does clear all hurdles and is signed into law by Kazakhstan's president, obviously, there is some potential impact."
Forum 18 reports the Majilis were set to discuss the Senate changes on the same day as a roundtable with Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) experts was scheduled to begin.
Pray, because while the draft is not officially a law yet, the likelihood is that it will pass. Griffith explains, "We've seen a general trend for the past couple of years with former Soviet countries tightening up their restrictions on religious observance, especially in countries that have a Muslim majority. So I think it is probably fairly realistic, unless the Lord intervenes, that we could continue to see these kinds of restrictions take place."

CAGAYAN VALLEY STATION TO REACH MULTITUDES OF ETHNIC GROUPS

Philippines (MNN) ― Pastors and missionaries have long been troubled by the Cagayan Valley. It's a remote area that desperately needs the Gospel, but the problem encountered by believers is how to reach the region. Just one trip to a village requires a 10-hour car ride followed by 1-2 hours in a jeep, 2 hours in a canoe and finally a long hike.
The Far East Broadcasting Company gathered with local churches to develop a radio project that would share Christ's love with every ethnic group in the Philippines. Permits have been granted and a lease agreement signed to start construction on the Cagayan Valley radio station this spring. When fully operational, the station will offer Christian programming to more people groups than any other FEBC-Philippines station, including 3 groups that were once headhunters.
Located in the northern Philippines, Cagayan Valley is home to millions of people from 30 distinct language groups. FEBC will build and operate the radio station, while local churches will produce the programs. Program production is scheduled to begin in March and will be broadcast in 4 tribal languages, gradually increasing to 14.
Station manager Emmanuel Perez is also preparing the daily operations schedule to begin this spring. Training of broadcasters and programmers has taken place in preparation for the station's first on-air broadcast, which is scheduled for the summer