c. 1997 Religion News Service

Church-state group chides Gingrich for seeking to be”national pastor” (RNS) House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose recent speeches have been peppered with religious language and what the Georgia Republican says is the need of the nation to be”submissive to God’s will,”has been criticized by a church-state separation group for his remarks.”You are speaker of the House, not our national pastor,”the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a letter to Gingrich.

The Constitution, Lynn said,”gives public officials no right or duty to involve themselves in the religious life of this country. Government leaders are not empowered to serve as religious leaders.” Lynn’s letter was prompted by a number of recent speeches by the embattled GOP leader, who has admitted he violated House ethics rules. In those speeches, Gingrich has frequently appealed to members of Congress to”seek divine guidance”and to address the”spiritual … and moral deficit.” Most recently, in his Jan. 7 address to the House of Representatives after his narrow re-election as speaker, Gingrich said:”I would suggest to all of you that until we learn in a nonsectarian way _ not Baptist, not Catholic, not Jewish _ in a nonsectarian way, until we learn to re-establish the authority that we are endowed by our Creator, that we owe it to our Creator, and that we need to seek divine guidance in what we are doing, we are not going to solve this country’s problems.” Lynn said that public officials such as Gingrich”are certainly free to refer to God and their personal religious devotion in public speeches,”but that the”tenor”of Gingrich’s remarks and his record on church-state legislation”suggests a different and more troubling agenda.” He noted Gingrich’s support for the Religious Equality Amendment that would, according to critics, allow for restoration of state-sponsored prayer in public schools, and his support for taxpayer subsidies to private religious schools.”Mr. Speaker,”Lynn wrote,”let me remind you that religion does not exist to serve as an arm of government or an engine of public policy. … The best thing government officials can do for churches and church schools is leave them alone.” Lynn called on Gingrich to issue a public statement of support for church-state separation and to disavow any intent to undermine that principle.

Gingrich’s office did not return phone calls requesting comment on the letter.

Russian Orthodox officials kidnapped in Chechnya

(RNS) Two leading Russian Orthodox Church officials have been kidnapped by armed gunmen in Grozny, the capital of the secessionist Muslim republic of Chechnya.

In Moscow, Patriarch Alexii II, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, issued an appeal for the safe release of Father Yefimi, the dean of the Russian Orthodox Church in Grozny, and an unnamed assistant priest.

Calling it a”blasphemous act,”the patriarch pleaded Jan. 11 that”this tragic situation be resolved and not, God forbid, set Christians against Muslims.” Father Yefimi and his aide were apprehended by gunmen on Jan. 9, according to Ecumenical News International, a Geneva-based religious news agency.

They were reportedly kidnapped after Father Yefimi was invited by an unknown person to visit the grave of his predecessor, Father Anatoli Chistousov, who was also kidnapped and has never been found.

Chistousov was kidnapped one year ago this month along with a visiting Russian Orthodox priest from Moscow and a Russian expert on Orthodox-Muslim relations. The expert was released after being held for 160 days, during which time he was tortured, ENI reported. The visiting priest’s fate is also unknown.

In Chechnya, Interior Minister Kazbek Makashev told reporters that the latest abductions were a”provocation intended to undermine the presidential election”scheduled for Jan. 27 in the breakaway republic. Last month, six International Red Cross workers were killed in Chechnya in an attack also seen as intended to disrupt the election, which has pitted several rebel factions against each other.

It is not known who killed the Red Cross workers, nor is it known who kidnapped the Russian Orthodox officials this time.

Although Chechnya’s population is predominantly Muslim, an ethnic Russian minority, most of it elderly, has remained there through the recent war for independence from Moscow.

The Russian Orthodox Church of Michael the Archangel in Grozny was destroyed during the fighting, which began in December 1994. Ironically, it was Russian bombardments that destroyed the church.

Lutheran, Orthodox propose scrapping controversial Nicene Creed phrase

(RNS) Lutheran and Orthodox church leaders, seeking to pave the way for greater unity between the two faith groups, are recommending that Lutherans use a different form of the ancient Nicene Creed _ one of the basic statements of faith in Christianity _ than it and most other Western churches now use.

The proposal, made public Jan. 10, came from a meeting of officially appointed bishops and theologians from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and representatives of Standing Conferencer of Canonical Orthodox Bishops held Dec. 16-18 in Delray Beach, Fla.

The Nicene Creed dates back to 381 A.D. and was formulated by a church council held in Nicaea (now Iznik, Turkey). It lays out the doctrine of the Triune God _ Father, Son and Holy Spirit _ that is widely accepted across Christian communions.

But in later versions of the creed, the Latin word”filioque,”meaning”and the Son,”was added to a sentence that originally speaks of the Holy Spirit”who proceeds from the Father.”The”filioque,”rejected by the Orthodox tradition and a contentious point in theological efforts to unite the churches, describes the Holy Spirit who”proceeds from the Father and the Son.” The meeting of bishops and theologians urged the ELCA Church Council _ the 5.2 million-member denomination’s highest governing body between Churchwide Assemblies _ to allow churches using the Nicene Creed in their liturgies to”use the version of 381,”referring to the original version.”The action proposed by the consultation would bring the two historic Christian churches closer in their profession of faith in their worship,”said the Rev. Paul Werger, retired bishop of the ELCA’s Southeastern Iowa Synod and one of the Lutheran co-chairs of the dialogue panel.

Former Southern Baptist president named Floridian of the Year

(RNS) Jim Henry, the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has been named”1996 Floridian of the Year”by the editorial board of The Orlando Sentinel.

The honor recognizes”the person who has made the most outstanding contribution to the state.”Henry is pastor of the 10,000-member First Baptist Church of Orlando.

In an article announcing the honor, Henry was described as”a consummate conciliator and a man of reason in confusing times.” The newspaper recognized Henry for his presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention from 1994 to 1996; his recent appointment to a State Department panel on religious persecution; his role in addressing his denomination’s concerns about Walt Disney Company policies; and his efforts to reach out to African-Americans.”I was stunned and overwhelmed that I would be chosen when there are so many others more deserving,”Henry said, according to Baptist Press, the news agency of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Quote of the Day: Martin Luther King III

(RNS) In a recent interview in Baptist Press, the news agency of the Southern Baptist Convention, Martin Luther King III _ whose father, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was born 68 years ago today (Jan. 15) _ recalled how his mother broke the news of his father’s assassination to her young children and how she and his grandfather taught them not to hate:”She explained to us that Daddy had gone home to live with God and that when one serves God well, he rewards them and brings them home to live with him. We would not be able to be with him physically anymore. We would get the opportunity to see him, but he would not be able to embrace us. He would look as if he were asleep, but in a permanent sleep. And one day, we would reunite with him again. … I thank God for the example my mother and grandfather set. They helped me develop a foundation so that I would not end up adopting hatred. It would have been very easy to hate. Instead, the spirit I try to emanate is that of love.”

MJP END RNS