c. 1998 Religion News Service

Moravians name first woman bishop

(RNS) The Northern Province of the Moravian Church in America, a denomination that traces its history to 1457 Europe, has elected the first woman bishop in the history of the worldwide Moravian Church.

The Rev. Kay Ward, of Bethlehem, Pa., was elected Aug. 10 during a meeting of the province’s synod.

Ward, 56, serves on the faculty of Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem as director of continuing education and professor of pastoral theology. Before coming to the seminary in 1990, she spent 11 years in parish ministry in Indiana and California. She taught elementary school in Madison, Wis., before beginning seminary.

In the Moravian Church, bishops are not administrators or executives, nor do they serve specific regions or dioceses. Instead, the office is primarily that of being a pastor to pastors. Bishops have the authority to ordain persons _ men and women _ into the first order of Moravian ministry, which is deacon, and then consecrating that person to the order of presbyter, or minister.

The Moravian Church in America has ordained women since 1975.

The Northern Province, one of church’s regional jurisdictions, has about 29,000 members in 103 congregations in the United States and two Canadian provinces.

Internationally, the Moravian Church is known as The Unity of Brethren and traces its history to 1457 and the pre-Reformation reformer Jan Hus. Moravians first came to the United States in 1735.

Court: Students can’t be forced to fund groups they oppose

(RNS) The University of Wisconsin can no longer force students to pay an activity fee if students object to the ideologies of some of the groups funded by the fee, a Wisconsin appeals court has ruled.

Several evangelical Christian students sued the University of Wisconsin at Madison because they did not want their money going to groups such as those supporting gay and abortion rights.”Forcing objecting students to fund private organizations which engage in political ideological activities violates the First Amendment,”stated the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals in its ruling Monday (Aug. 10).

The appellate panel emphasized that the decision does not affect non-ideological or non-political groups, such as a student union or health centers.”I am very pleased and very relieved,”said Scott Southworth, one of the students who sued, USA Today reported.”We were told, `If you don’t pay your fees you’re not going to graduate.'” The decision affects public institutions in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Jordan Lorence, a lawyer for the students, said he is representing students in a similar case pending at the University of Minnesota.”Before the end of the year you might see a few more popping up,”said Lorence, of the Northstar Legal Center, a conservative Christian public interest firm in Fairfax, Va.”The court’s unanimous decision is a big victory for free speech,”Lorence said in a statement.”No student, whether conservative or liberal, should be forced to subsidize student advocacy organizations which violate their deeply held beliefs.” University of Wisconsin spokesman Peter Fox said lawyers for the school system are studying the decision.

If the Board of Regents chooses to appeal, a U.S. Supreme Court decision in the matter would affect all public institutions, said Sheldon Steinbach, general counsel for the American Council on Education in Washington.

Fox said revising school policies for students to choose to fund only certain groups would be”a significant challenge. … It’s almost like having 150,000 students walking through a cafeteria line.” At the Madison school, activity fees are about $330 a year, with each group getting 10 cents to 30 cents from each student.

Financially troubled Phillips University to close

(RNS) Trustees of Phillips University, an Enid, Okla., school affiliated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), have voted to take actions to close the financially troubled institution.

On July 31, the trustees voted to cancel classes scheduled for this fall and liquidate the institution’s assets, said Michael Sohn, vice president for university advancement. Phillips was founded in 1906.

Although the board did not use the words”Phillips University is closed permanently,”Sohn said the decisions by the board mean”we’re done.” Students are receiving assistance in transferring to other institutions, reported Disciples News Service, the denomination’s official news agency.

Officials at Phillips filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but plans for reorganizing the school’s debt failed.

The Rev. Richard L. Hamm, general minister and president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), called the closing of Phillips a”tragic loss”and noted the school had contributed scores of clergy and lay leaders to the denomination.

The denomination does not operate schools affiliated with it, but instead provides modest financial support.

Boys who killed students in Arkansas prayer group found guilty

(RNS) Two boys were found guilty in the killing of students who had gathered last March for an informal prayer meeting at their Jonesboro, Ark., school.

Mitchell Johnson and Andrew Golden were ordered into the custody of the state Division of Youth Services after their trial Tuesday (Aug. 11), the Associated Press reported.

Mitchell, 14, and Andrew, 12, were pronounced delinquent by Craighead County Juvenile Court Judge Ralph Wilson Jr.

Mitchell pleaded guilty to five counts of murder and 10 counts of battery. Wilson found Andrew guilty of the same charges after the boy unsuccessfully tried to plead temporary insanity.

Four students and a teacher were killed and 10 people were injured in the shooting incident.

Andrew’s lawyer plans to appeal.

Arkansas can hold the boys until they turn 21, but the state has no facility for juvenile criminals older than 18. Wilson said the crime was so awful that if the boys are released early by the state, they must be held in a county lockup for 90 days.”Here the punishment will not fit the crime,”said Wilson.”The heinous and atrocious nature and the apparent deliberation and planned premeditation”justified the jail time, the judge said.

Mitchell apologized to the families affected by the shooting and to his family and friends.”If I could go back and change what happened on March 24, 1998, I would do so in a minute,”he said, his voice breaking.

Family Research Council hires staffer to address homosexuality

(RNS) In another indication of increasing commitment to anti-gay efforts by conservative Christian groups, the Family Research Council announced Wednesday (Aug. 12) that it has added a new staffer to address homosexual issues.

Yvette Cantu, a former gay activist with Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and the American Civil Liberties Union, joined the council this month (August) and will be a policy analyst.”The reason for the focus on homosexuality is not because it is worse than other sexual sins, but because this behavior has an aggressive lobby of activists trying to influence public policy and ultimately redefine the family,”said Steve Schwalm, senior writer and policy analyst for the Washington-based Family Research Council.

Cantu explained why she had made an ideological shift.”I had thought that religious moral convictions are repressive, something which served to impose some people’s beliefs on others,”she said.”Only much later did I come to realize that the moral law as expressed in almost every major religion is to protect us, not repress use.” The Family Research Council has been among more than a dozen conservative groups that have recently placed ads in major newspapers aiming to convince homosexuals that they can change their sexual orientation.

Update: Americans United warns South Carolina on Ten Commandments

(RNS) Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Washington-based religious liberty advocacy organization, has told South Carolina education officials to ignore an opinion by the state’s attorney general that the Ten Commandments may be displayed in public schools.

In a non-binding opinion, Attorney General Charles Condon said public schools may display the Ten Commandments as part of an effort to teach students about law, history or culture.

But Americans United Director Barry Lynn, calling the decision”incredibly irresponsible,”said the Supreme Court has never upheld such displays.”Any public school official who follows his advice is risking a lawsuit and would end up squandering taxpayer money trying to defend a practice the Supreme Court has already struck down,”Lynn said, referring to a 1980 Supreme Court ruling striking down a Kentucky law requiring the posting of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.

Condon’s opinion was issued at the request of state Rep. Brad Jordan, a brother of Henry Jordan, a member of the state Board of Education who has launched a crusade to get public schools to display the Ten Commandments.

Jordan’s crusade drew national attention _ and controversy _ when he was asked at a board meeting on how Buddhists or Muslims might react to the proposal and he responded,”Screw the Buddhists and kill the Muslims _ and put that in the minutes!.”

Quote of the Day: Bishop T.D. Jakes, Dallas-based preacher

(RNS)”I plead with pastors around this nation to minister to women because under those choir robes, those usher uniforms, those pretty hats, those nice dresses, that makeup and eye shadow, there is a nation of bleeding, hurting, wounded women, who harbor in their hearts a secret they won’t talk about.” _ Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas, quoted in The Washington Times Tuesday (Aug. 11) about how churches need to address sexual abuse, citing that 25 percent of U.S. women have been sexually assaulted in some way before the age of 15.

DEA END RNS