c. 1997 Religion News Service

Lyons admits judgment error, asks for second chance

(RNS) The Rev. Henry J. Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, said in a live television interview Tuesday (Sept. 30) that he made an”error in judgment”by buying a luxury home with a female church official and hopes Americans will give him a second chance to prove himself as a denominational leader.

Lyons appeared on”BET Tonight With Tavis Smiley”with his attorney, Grady Irvin, to discuss recent allegations that have surfaced about him since his wife was charged with setting fire to the $700,000 home July 6.”I did not come to this job to bring this kind of sense of shame and disgrace _ or scandal even _ to it,”Lyons said on the program aired on Black Entertainment Television.”I came to raise the standard.” Lyons described the controversial purchase of the house with Bernice Edwards, then a church official, as an”investment opportunity”and a”favor”for Edwards, who is a friend of his family.

Lyons said he informed his wife about the house, but it was still a mistake to have been involved in its purchase.”That was a great error,”he said.”That was a serious error in judgment … I would never, ever make that kind of mistake again.” Asked what he would say to people who feel betrayed by him, Lyons said,”I feel a certain amount of betrayal to those people and I will spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to them.” But Lyons denied that he used church money in the purchase of the house.”I did not use any convention money to buy that house, a ring, a car, a suit, shoes or nothing,”he said.

The Baptist leader said he considered and prayed about resigning his presidency but felt that the vast majority of those attending his church’s annual meeting in early September supported his remaining as president.

Lyons’ attorney advised his client not to answer questions regarding the recent return of $214,500 to the Anti-Defamation League, funds donated to help rebuild burned churches but were never distributed. Lyons and his attorney claimed the media has not scrutinized distribution of much larger donations to other organizations for burned churches.

The Baptist leader said that financial reforms have been put in place, including a new committee to handle the financial aspects of the denomination and presidential restraints.”We are doing business now in an entirely different manner,”he said.

Lyons also continued to complain about the media’s coverage of him.”I don’t believe that no one has withstood the scrutiny that I have had to withstand over the past three months in the history of this country,”he said.”Every molehill, every rock in my life has been overturned.” Lyons said he had this message to people who have questioned his actions:”Give me an opportunity to roll up my sleeves and show America that I can lead and lead with integrity.”

Farrakhan praises Promises Keepers, refuses to apologize to Jews

(RNS) Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan said Tuesday (Sept. 30) that Saturday’s planned Promise Keepers”Stand in the Gap”rally of Christian men in Washington, D.C., is”a noble thing.””We’re not in competition with each other. We’re not trying to outdo the Promise Keepers,”Farrakhan said at a news conference at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles.”Any gathering of human beings to come back to God, to recommit their lives and consecrate and dedicate their lives to obedience to God _ that is a noble thing and certainly we would endorse it.” After praising Promise Keepers, Farrakhan said he wants”dialogue”with Jews to”come to grips with our differences.”But he said he will not apologize for any offensive remarks.”I don’t have to bow down or beg,”he said.”I’m not your enemy. Unfortunately, it is desired that I come on bended knee. Those in the Jewish community feel that I need to atone for telling the truth _ I cannot.” Farrakhan has been criticized by Jewish groups for anti-Semitic remarks. For example, Farrakhan once called Judaism a”gutter”religion.”If I am not telling the truth, then the Jewish community has a responsibility to show me where I am in error,”Farrakhan said.”But to demand of me an apology when I think I am absolutely right, then I don’t have anything to apologize for. This seems to me like you (the Jewish community) see me as one of your recalcitrant slaves and you want to bring me in line so that the rest of the slaves won’t get courage to stand up.” Farrakhan asked African-Americans nationwide to recognize Oct. 16 as the”Day of Atonement”by refraining from work, recreation and shopping. Oct. 16 is the anniversary of the 1995 Million Man March in Washington.

French Catholics apologize for Holocaust silence

(RNS) More than 50 years after the end of World War II, France’s Roman Catholic Church has issued an apology for its silence over French collaboration during the Holocaust.”Today we confess that silence was a mistake,”Archbishop Olivier de Berranger said Tuesday (Sept. 30) in Drancy, a Paris suburb that served during World War II as a staging area for the deportation of French Jews to Nazi death camps.”We beg for the pardon of God, and we ask the Jewish people to hear this word of repentance. We beg God’s forgiveness and ask the Jewish people to hear our words of repentance,”said Berranger, archbishop of St. Denis, a jurisdiction that includes Drancy.

The church’s apology came two days before the start of the Jewish High Holy Days, a period during which individual Jews are urged to repent for their own moral and spiritual lapses. The French government issued a similar apology two years ago.

The church’s apology also came a week before the long-awaited trial of Maurice Papon, the highest-ranking Vichy official ever to stand trial for collaboration with the Nazis. The city of Vichy was headquarters for the French collaborationist government led by Philippe Petain and established by the Nazis after they defeated France.

Papon, now 87, is charged with signing arrest orders leading to the deportation of 1,690 French Jews, including 223 children.

In all, more than 75,000 French Jews _ about one-quarter of the French Jewish population _ were turned over to the Nazis, of which just 2,000 survived.

After the Nazi victory over France, all but a handful of the French Catholic bishops embraced the Vichy government, which reinstituted Catholic religious instruction in French public schools. However, after the mass deportation of French Jews, some Catholic officials did speak out against the ill-treatment of Jews.

Still, Berranger said in his statement,”In the face of the persecution of Jews, especially the multi-faceted anti-Semitic laws passed by Vichy, silence was the rule, and words in favor of the victims was the exception.” Jewish leaders welcomed the apology.

Henri Hajdenberg, president of the Representative Council of (French) Jewish Institutions, called the apology”a major turning point … After the heavy silence of the war, the long silence of the postwar period is broken.” Said Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the New York-based Anti-Defamation League,”It is our hope that the sentiment of this apology will pervade the future teachings of the Catholic Church and continue to improve interfaith relations.”

Survey shows Americans want stricter porn enforcement

(RNS) A national telephone survey for a conservative media watchdog group has found that 80 percent of Americans want stricter enforcement of federal obscenity laws against hard-core pornography.

According to the Wirthlin Worldwide telephone poll, 68 percent of Americans believe the government is not doing enough to enforce pornography laws.

The poll was conducted Sept. 19-21 for Morality in Media, a national, not-for-profit interfaith organization that encourages media organizations to commit to decency standards. “While public opinion clearly indicates that the vigorous enforcement of pornography legislation is preferred by a majority of Americans, the current perception is that enforcement levels are not living up to that expectation,”the Wirthlin report concluded.”The majority of men (66 percent) and women (69 percent), regardless of age, feel that the government is not vigorously enforcing the current legislation,”it said.

The McLean, Va.-based polling company questioned a randomly selected sample of 1,078 adults. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

The poll also found that among 18- to 34-year-olds, 90 percent of women want more enforcement, compared to 60 percent of men. It also found that the sense that the government’s enforcement was not vigorous enough grew with the level of education of those surveyed.”The results of this poll should greatly encourage every elected and appointed federal official concerned about the explosive increase in the availability of hard-core pornography,”said Robert Peters, president of Morality in Media.”This poll should help dispel the false notion that the widespread availability of hard-core porn is proof of community acceptance.”

Update: Kennedy returns to pulpit after illnesses

(RNS) The Rev. D. James Kennedy, a prominent Presbyterian Church in America minister, has returned to the pulpit after battling several illnesses during the summer.”He has been back in the pulpit now for three weeks and he is feeling much better,”said Alysia Mathisen, spokeswoman for the D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship in Washington, D.C.”He feels wonderful.” Kennedy, the 66-year-old senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., suffered from what ministry officials called a”complete physical collapse”in June and after several weeks of rest, dealt with a high fever and an irregular heartbeat.

In addition to returning to preaching, he also has resumed taping of the”Coral Ridge Hour,”his television broadcast, Mathisen said Wednesday (Oct. 1).

Quote of the day: Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney

(RNS)”Almighty God has called us here to repent. We are not coming with any other agenda. We are coming to ask God to forgive us.” _ Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney when asked by USA Today whether the group had a political agenda for its planned Oct. 4 Stand in the Gap rally in Washington.

MJP END RNS