c. 1997 Religion News Service
Study says teen years key to stemming Jewish intermarriage
(RNS) The teenage years are often the most critical period in determining whether young Jews marry other Jews, according to a new survey.
The study _ released Tuesday (July 29) by the American Jewish Committee and the Los Angeles-based Wilstein Institute of Jewish Policy Studies _ said Jewish teenagers who date mostly other Jews during their high school years”by far”tend to marry other Jews later.
The survey found that 60 percent of those Jews who dated primarily non-Jews while in high school later married non-Jews. About 46 percent of those Jews who dated primarily Jews in high school ended up marrying non-Jews.”The real significance of this report is that it indicates that, if you are interested in discouraging mixed-marriage, the high school years are most important,”said Steven Bayme, the American Jewish Committee’s director of Jewish communal affairs, who is based in New York.
Most American Jewish leaders view the escalation in the number of Jews who marry non-Jews as a significant threat to the community’s long-term survival. A landmark 1990 study found young Jews today intermarrying at a rate of about 52 percent. Other surveys have concluded that the majority of children raised in families with one Jewish parent have little connection to Judaism and are likely to marry non-Jews themselves.
Bayme, who co-authored the preface to the new study, said American Jewish investment in educational activities for Jewish teenagers is critical if the rate of Jewish intermarriage is to be slowed.
The new survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
Official of gay-oriented denomination says time is on its side
(RNS) A leader of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, the American-based denomination oriented toward ministry with gays and lesbians, says it is only a matter of time until other church institutions accept homosexuality.
The denomination recently helding its biennial conference in Sydney, Australia. Some 700 delegates attended the July 20-25 meeting, called the largest international gay and lesbian religious gathering ever held in the Pacific rim region.”Our doctrine is faily mainstream _ there’s nothing unusual or even identifying about our doctrine,”the Rev. Nancy Wilson, the church’s vice moderator, told Ecumenical News International, a Geneva-based religious news agency.”But our outreach from the beginning has been primarily to the lesbian and gay community, although from the beginning we’ve had homosexuals and people of all lifestyles and backgrounds,”she added.
Wilson noted that the denomination has been involved in dialogue with the National Council of Churches since 1981, but has been refused membership in the ecumenical organization because of what she called fear on the part of the NCC leadership.”The leadership of the national Council of Churches are not victims of misinformation, but of fear.”she said.”They are afraid ted the attitude of the council and its member denominations would shift eventually.”I think it is inevitable,”she said of the denomination’s acceptance.”I think it is a generational issues. … Twenty years from now we’ll wonder what all the fuss was about.”
Moomaw, pastor to Reagan, back in pulpit after suspension
(RNS) The Rev. Donn Moomaw _ a nationally known clergyman, former All-American football player and ex-pastor of one of Southern California’s most prestigious churches _ is back in the pulpit after a two-year suspension for”sexual misconduct.” Moomaw, best known as former President Ronald Reagan’s minister and pastor of Bel Air Presbyterian Church, has been allowed to accept the interim pastor position at the 800-member Village Community Presbyterian Church in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday (July 29).
An All-American linebacker at UCLA, Moomaw was a pivotal figure in the formative days of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Admitting he had”stepped over the line of acceptable behavior,”Moomaw resigned in 1993 after 29 years at Bel Air Presbyterian Church and was suspended and ordered to undergo therapy in 1995 for”sexual misconduct”with five women in the congregation from 1983 to 1992.
The Presbytery of the Pacific, the regional jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), decided Moomaw had fulfilled the requirements of his suspension, including signs of repentance, said the Rev. Charles Doak, the presbytery administrator. Moomaw is still barred from one-on-one counseling with women, and a”few other restrictions are in place,”Doak said.
Moomaw, who rejected pro football offers to enter seminary, was the only clergyman invited to offer prayers at Reagan’s first presidential inauguration in 1981, and was one of four pastors invited to the 1985 inauguration.”Some of the best leaders have been people who have been wounded,”Moomaw said in a recent sermon. He told the Los Angeles Times in a telephone interview:”I believe that some of my best work might be ahead of me.”
Alaska judge overturns ban on controversial abortion procedure
(RNS) Opponents of the controversial late-term abortion procedure they call”partial-birth”abortion have lost a round in the ongoing judicial battle over the method, this time in Alaska.
A judge ruled Thursday (July 31) that a ban on such abortions _ adopted by the Alaska legislature in May over the governor’s veto _ would prevent doctors from providing appropriate care to their patients, the Associated Press reported.”This law clearly jeopardizes the plaintiffs’ privacy rights,”Anchorage Superior Court Judge John Reese said in granting an injunction against the ban.
The Alaska chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union earlier this week filed a court challenge to the legislature’s decision on behalf of six doctors and several agencies.
Fairbanks District Attorney Harry Davis, who defended the ban, said it was intended to prevent”barbaric”abortions from being performed in Alaska.
Denver archdiocese sues company over purchase of church of property
(RNS) The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver has sued an Arizona company and a Tucson developer for $1 million, saying the company missed its final payment on the purchase of a building that was the church body’s former headquarters.
The suit, filed in Denver District Court, said that Laurel Partners Ltd., and Keith A. Pochter were to pay the church a final $1 million to complete the $3.8 million sale of the building, according to Charles Goldberg, archdiocesan attorney.
Goldberg said the archdiocese hopes for an out-of-court settlement, but for nothing less than the $1 million.”He (Pochter) has a financial obligation,”Goldberg said.”We expect to be paid.” Pochter planned to build a”low-rise hotel and high-quality shops”on the 1.4-acre parcel of land on which the archdiocese’s former headquarters stood, but was unable to get financing for the project. Pochter could not be reached for comment.
Quote of the Day: Author Laurie Beth Jones
(RNS) In her new book,”Jesus in Blue Jeans: A Practical Guide to Everyday Spirituality”(Hyperion), Laurie Beth Jones writes about keeping things precious:”Our society is reeling with crimes of hatred, neglect, and violence because we have failed to keep the holy things precious. The temples that are our bodies, the kingdoms that are our minds, the altars that are our hearts, the portals that are our mouths, the gates that are our eyes _ we have too often failed to keep them precious.”
END RNS
