c. 1997 Religion News Service

Mennonite church expelled for accepting gays

(RNS) Germantown Mennonite Church, a congregation which dates back to 1683 and is the oldest continuous Mennonite church in the country, has been thrown out of its regional conference for its policy of accepting homosexuals.

In a 178-40 vote, members of the Franconia Conference expelled the Germantown Mennonite Church for its position on sexuality, denying it voice and vote at the conference and stripping its pastor, the Rev. Richard Lichty, of his clergy credentials. The shunning will take effect in January.”This is my church of birth, my church of choice,”Lichty said of his Mennonite denomination.”But the church for a long time has been a follower of the general culture’s fear of sexuality and this just plays into it.” Mennonite Church policy says congregations may only accept celibate homosexuals as members, according to the Rev. Jim Lapp, conference pastor.”The Germantown church has received people into membership who are living in covenanted relationships, and that became a point of disagreement with the membership of our conference,”Lapp said during an Oct. 15 meeting in which the congregation was told of the conference vote.”I learned a long time ago growing up as a Mennonite that I could either be a Mennonite or I could either be gay, but that I damn well couldn’t be both,”said Joe Miller, who grew up a Mennonite and joined the church after rejecting the denomination in his youth.”But this church accepted me for who I was and that’s why I came here,”he said.

Last spring, members of the conference took a straw tally to oust the church, but there weren’t enough votes to do so and Germantown kept its membership status. Conference leaders, however, heard”a great deal of dissatisfaction”from congregations unhappy with the failed efforts to remove Germantown from the conference.

Conference leaders decided that the controversial nature of the issue called for mail-in ballots to avoid a face-to-face confrontation over the volatile issue.

Scholars report ancient inscription mentioning King Solomon’s Temple

(RNS) Scholars have reported that an ancient inscription on a piece of pottery owned by a private London collector is the oldest mention of King Solomon’s Temple outside the Bible.

The finding of the item, which appears to be a receipt for a donation of three silver shekels to the temple, was reported in the November/December issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. It”recently surfaced on the antiquities market,”the magazine reported.

The inscription, which is written in Old Hebrew, or paleo-Hebrew, reads:”Pursuant to the order to you of Ashyahu the king to give by the hand of Zecharyahu silver of Tarshish to the House (or Temple) of Yahweh. Three shekels.” The piece of pottery _ called an ostracon because it carries an inscription _ is about 4 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall. Scholars believe it dates to as early as the 9th century B.C.

The article said the only other mention of the temple outside the Bible may be more than a century older than the item that appears to be a temple receipt. That item is a faded ostracon believed to be the head of a priest’s scepter from the temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

Hershel Shanks, the magazine editor, wrote that he saw the ostracon in 1996 when he visited the collector, Shlomo Moussaieff of London. But at that time there were various scholarly opinions about the authenticity of the inscription. Since then, several laboratories have tested the pottery.”Now, it seems, everyone is satisfied the inscriptions are authentic,”Shanks wrote.

The article also detailed the finding of another inscription by a widow seeking some of her late husband’s property.”No one knows where they were discovered _ or at least they’re not talking,”Shanks wrote.

Shanks told The Washington Post that the temple receipt is”an extremely exciting find”and”the rarest of the rare.””What this provides is the context for the biblical narrative,”he said.”It doesn’t prove the Bible true, but it fleshes out the real-life world in which it was created.”

Three white youths convicted of conspiracy in black church fire

(RNS) Three white youths have been convicted of conspiracy in the arson of a black Baptist church in rural Alabama, but were acquitted of a federal charge of racial hatred in the first trial involving such a charge.

John Kenneth Cumbie, Brandy Boone and Alan Odom were convicted Monday (Nov. 3) of conspiracy in the June 30 fire that demolished St. Joe Baptist Church in the community of Little River.

Prosecutors had filed the racial hatred counts because Boone went to a Ku Klux Klan rally two days before the fire. The other two youths did not attend the rally, but went to a party frequented by rally-goers on the night the fire occurred, the Associated Press reported.

The new federal law was passed after a spate of fires at Southern black churches in 1995 and 1996, and calls for a harsher penalty for racially motivated arson in a religious structure _ a mandatory 10-year sentence.

Odom, 18, was accused of setting curtains on fire to start the blaze. He was convicted of one count of arson and another count of arson with racial motivation, which is different from the count of racial hatred. He faces a maximum of 18 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Boone, 19, shouted”Let’s go burn the nigger church”to encourage the other youths to participate in the arson. Cumbie, 21, allegedly didn’t do anything to stop it. Boone and Cumbie were found innocent of arson but could be sentenced to between four and five years in prison for the conspiracy count.

Before the start of the trial, a fourth defendant pleaded guilty to arson.

Although none of the defendants were convicted on the new racial hatred charge, Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Bordenkircher said he believed Klan members in the area had been”planting seeds that grew into a bitter harvest.” Defense attorneys described the fire as youthful mischief and an attorney for Odom said the verdict will be appealed.

Martin Luther King III to head SCLC

(RNS) The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, acting during a special meeting Saturday (Nov. 1), named Martin Luther King III president of the organization his father co-founded.

The SCLC, a civil rights group which began in the late 1950s to rid the South of government-sanctioned discrimination, chose King, 40, to replace the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery Jr., the retiring president.

King, a humanitarian and affirmative action lecturer, promised to help close the economic gap that exists between blacks and whites, The Washington Post reported. The SCLC, which was founded in 1957, is struggling with its present mission.”Martin King is inheriting an activist civil rights organization that is dead,”said Hosea Williams, who left the SCLC in 1979 after a clash with Lowery.

But David Garrow, a Pulitzer-Prize winning biographer of Martin Luther King Jr., thinks the group just needs time to rethink its mission.”The question facing them is really the same as that facing other civil rights groups: How do you create a meaningful role for a civil rights group now that so much of black America is well represented in state and local government?”said Garrow.

Texas churches told to post `no guns’ signs to bar weapons at worship

(RNS) A revised Texas law says that if churches don’t want guns on their property they must post a sign to alert worshippers.

The newest edition of”Texas Concealed Handgun Laws,”published by the Texas Department of Public Safety, represents changes in the state’s gun law made by the legislature.”I think the language, unfortunately, is exceedingly clear,”said Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission director Phil Strickland.”What they have done is to require churches to provide notice that a person is not to go on the property with a concealed handgun,”he told Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Originally, it was legal to carry a concealed weapon in Texas but illegal to carry a handgun, concealed or not, on the property of churches, synagogues, or other religious establishments.

Under the new law, revised during the last legislative session, churches who do not want guns on their property must post a sign visible to the public in English and Spanish that says:”Pursuant to Section 30.06, Penal Code (trespass by holder of license to carry a concealed handgun), a person licensed under Article 4413 (29ee), Revised Statutes (concealed handgun law) may not enter this property with a concealed handgun.”

Mormons prepare to claim 10 millionth adherent

(RNS) The Mormons are ready to hit the 10 million-member mark.

According to statisticians of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there will be 10 million Mormons by the end of the first week of November. The figures are based on reports from local units across the globe.

The church originated in western New York state in 1830 with six members. From 1947 to 1994, the church had grown from 1 million to 9 million.

The Salt Lake City-based church said nearly half of the 10 million members are in the United States. The rest are spread throughout 160 nations and territories including more than 3 million in Mexico, Central and South America.

Quote of the day: Pope John Paul II

(RNS)”While violence that is unacceptable for all human consciences continues to be unleashed, I pray to God that he may at last give peace to Algeria. I know what a painful Calvary this land is enduring and I am close to all of those who weep for the disappearance of loved ones.” Pope John Paul II praying Oct. 31 about the rampage of sectarian violence that has claimed thousands of lives in Algeria in recent months.

MJP END RNS