c. 1997 Religion News Service

Bishops’ leader urges Clinton to sign abortion ban

(RNS) The president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops has urged President Clinton to sign legislation passed overwhelming Wednesday (Oct. 8) by the House of Representatives that would ban a controversial late-term abortion procedure.

The measure _ which has been criticized by some as politicizing what they say should be a woman’s personal decision _ was previously passed by the Senate and now goes to Clinton, who vetoed a similar bill last year.”On behalf of the nation’s Catholic bishops, I urge you to sign this legislation to help stop one violent form of child abuse,”Bishop Anthony M. Pilla of Cleveland wrote in a letter to Clinton.”The killing of partly born children has no place in our society. You are in a unique position to put a stop to it.” But Clinton’s position remains unchanged, a White House spokesman said.

The House vote margin _ 296-132 _ is sufficient to override a presidential veto. The Senate has passed the bill twice, but neither time managed to garner the two-thirds majority required to override Clinton. It’s uncertain whether Senate supporters of the bill could muster the votes needed to override should Clinton veto the measure again, as expected.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said Wednesday he believes there is a”real opportunity this year”to overcome the veto, the Associated Press reported.

The debate about the procedure, called”partial-birth”abortion by its critics, has featured emotional arguments. On Wednesday, bill supporters called the procedure”brutal”and”cruel,”saying there is no medical reason justifying its use.

Opponents of the bill said the Republican House majority is trying to turn a private decision into a campaign issue.

Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, said:”This bill puts government and politicians in the business of making medical decisions. Congress should not be practicing medicine or passing laws that place women’s health in jeopardy. These private medical decisions should remain in the hands of women and their doctors _ not politicians.” The House passed a similar ban last March, but agreed to minor modifications by the Senate before the measure was sent to the president.

The procedure, known medically as an”intact dilation and evacuation,”involves partially extracting a fetus, feet first, and collapsing the skull in the birth canal by suctioning out the brain.

According to the bill, the procedure could be used only when it is necessary to save a woman’s life. Clinton has insisted that the measure also allow an exemption when a woman’s health is in jeopardy.

Update: Biology teachers reject changing evolution statement

(RNS) The National Association of Biology Teachers has rejected the assertion of two leading scholars who say the group’s official statement supporting evolution goes beyond the limits of provable science.

Meeting in Minneapolis, the NABT’s eight-person board of directors voted unanimously Wednesday (Oct. 8) not to alter the wording of its”Statement on Teaching Evolution,”as had been urged by retired University of California at Berkeley religion professor Huston Smith and Alvin Plantinga, a University of Notre Dame philosophy professor.

In a September letter to NABT, Smith and Plantinga did not argue against evolution. Rather, they said the NABT statement went beyond the limits of provable science by insisting that evolution was an”unsupervised”and”impersonal”process.

The pair _ both pre-eminent in their respective disciplines _ maintained that since science could not prove or disprove any divine role in setting the evolutionary process in motion, both”unsupervised”and”impersonal”should be dropped from the statement.

Wayne W. Carley, executive director of the Reston, Va.-based teachers’ group, said NABT directors felt”rather strongly”about not changing the statement.”We believe it. Evolution is real,”he said.

The directors also rejected the professors’ assertion that because surveys say 90 percent of Americans believe in God, the”logical vulnerability”of NABT’s statement undercuts the credibility of science and provides a”legitimate target”for advocates of creationism _ belief in the biblical account of the universe’s origins.”The fundamental issue is not what people believe, but that science isn’t a matter of public opinion but is based on testable hypotheses,”Carley said, adding that altering the statement would have given creationists”just the aid and comfort Smith and Plantinga argue against.” In response, Smith said the NABT board’s decision perpetuated”bad science”by adhering to”our current pseudo-scientific myth.””… How can empirical science pronounce on whether the evolutionary process that evidence unfolds was or was not divinely monitored without violating its pledge to adhere to factual evidence?”he said.”I do not think it will be too long before biologists will look back on the (NABT statement) with the same embarrassment that theologians remember their predecessors refusal to look through Galileo’s telescope.”

RCA classis set to seize church over sex-harassment allegation

(RNS) Leaders in the Reformed Church in America’s local jurisdiction in Muskegon, Mich., voted Tuesday (Oct.7) to seize the property of Christ Community Church unless its pastor, who is accused of sexually harassing a parishioner, begins cooperating with a church investigation of the matter or the congregation ousts him from the pulpit.

Following a three-hour closed session, the Muskegon Classis of the RCA voted to clamp down on the Rev. Richard Rhem for his failure to negotiate with church leaders looking into a sexual harassment complaint brought against him by a former female organist in his congregation in Spring Lake, Mich.

Rhem has been deposed by the classis for”gross sexual misconduct,”a charge he has consistently denied. However, he refuses to acknowledge the denomination’s action because Christ Community Church broke away from the RCA in July 1996.

Since then, negotiations in the case have been stalled because Rhem refuses to attend church trials or accept legal counsel, said RCA officials.

Although Rhem refuses to cooperate, that has not stopped RCA officials from trying him in absentia and rebuking him for his view that salvation is possible apart from faith in Jesus.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Muskegon leaders also dealt with ways to address a second charge by the organist that they failed to respond effectively to her allegations.

Christ Community Church recently filed a civil lawsuit against the classis to secure the title to the church property. Rhem’s congregation, which overwhelmingly supports him, also filed for at least $10,000 in damages.

Evangelicals contribute to intellectual discussion on poverty

(RNS) A Baptist-affiliated college center and a socially active evangelical group have been named co-sponsors of a new initiative designed to add evangelical scholarship to discussions on the issue of poverty.

The Center for Christian Leadership at Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and Evangelicals for Social Action, based in Philadelphia, are co-sponsors of the effort.

About 20 evangelical scholars representing fields such as education, ethics, theology, political science and economics have begun working on the project. By the fall of 1998, they hope to produce a major scholarly volume on poverty.

David P. Gushee, director of the Union University center, will be the volume’s editor, reported Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.”We want a book that provides concrete proposals for how both government and nongovernmental agencies can best address the needs of the poor,”said Gushee.”Evangelicals have the rare opportunity here to provide leadership on an issue that every American should care about _ and that every Christian must care about.” The Bauman Foundation of Washington, a private foundation that finances projects and research on the arts, economy, and the environment, has provided much of the funding for the project.

Update: Methodist minister hires outside consultant

(RNS) Just weeks after a complaint was filed against a pastor of one of Nebraska’s largest Methodist churches for performing a ceremony uniting two lesbians, conference leaders have hired an outside consultant to help the congregation work through its differences.

The Rev. Jimmy Creech, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Omaha, Neb., said he hopes the consultant will be able to bring unity to his fractured congregation.”My hope is that people will respond and will be willing to speak and listen and talk together,”said Creech.

The first consultation session is scheduled for Sunday (Oct. 12).

The consultant, Kathy Russell, an Episcopal administrator and owner of Great Plains Consulting in Kearney, Neb., has been hired by the Omaha conference to help the congregation address”what it means to be an inclusive church,”Creech said. Russell, who has conducted sexual harassment and clergy misconduct workshops for the conference, is expected to meet with First United members a second time later in the month.

In recent weeks, Creech has watched as some in his congregation _ upset over the direction of the church to become more inclusive and his decision to unite two lesbians _ withdrew or transfered their memberships.

Creech may be the first United Methodist clergy to be disciplined for conducting a same-sex ceremony since the 1996 General Conference, the denomination’s top legislative body, added to its Social Principles a statement saying:”Ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in churches.” The complaint was filed against Creech by a member of his congregation following the Sept. 14 ceremony. It is the first step in a disciplinary procedure that could lead to a church trial.

In a formal statement issued in early September, Nebraska Area Bishop Joel N. Martinez said he counseled Creech that”to proceed with the ceremony would put him in noncompliance with the United Methodist Discipline and in conflict with previous church rulings.”

Quote of the day: Bob Curlee, pastor of murdered Promise Keepers supporter

(RNS)”Brian Tribble was an angel without a halo, a preacher without proper credentials, a music director who couldn’t read music, a worker with youth who never grew up … Yet when he sang, the heavenly choirs paused to listen.” _ Bob Curlee, pastor of Centercrest Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., speaking of Brian Tribble, the church’s 36-year-old assistant pastor for music and education, who was shot to death as he prepared to leave for the Promise Keepers”Stand in the Gap”assembly Oct. 4 in Washington.

MJP END RNS