c. 1998 Religion News Service
N.J. law banning late-term abortion ruled unconstitutional
(RNS) A New Jersey law that would have banned a controversial late-term abortion procedure was ruled unconstitutional Tuesday (Dec. 8) by a federal judge.
Judge Anne Thompson of Trenton, N.J., said she overturned the law because its wording was so ambiguous that it could be interpreted to ban all abortions, the Associated Press reported.
She also said the law was unconstitutional because it did not include an exception if the health of the mother is in jeopardy.
The law, which would have banned what opponents call partial-birth abortions, cannot be enforced, she decided.
The doctors who performed such abortions could have risked losing their license and faced a $25,000 fine, but the women receiving the abortions could not have been penalized.
Legislators said they expect there will be an appeal of the ruling.
Twenty-eight states have passed similar laws, according to the New York-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.
Bans in 19 states have been partially or totally blocked by court or state action because of vague wording or lack of health exceptions, the center said.
A Virginia law has remained intact, based on a decision by federal Judge Michael Willig.
Congress passed a similar ban twice, which has been vetoed twice by President Clinton.
Jewish groups note concern over possible Saturday presidential primary
(RNS) Jewish groups have asked eight western states planning a year 2000 presidential superprimary not to schedule it for a Saturday, as proposed.
The groups note that Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath and holding a primary that day would force Jews to decide between political participation and religious beliefs.”We believe it imperative that another day of the week be selected that would not disenfranchise citizens of any religion who observe a weekly Sabbath as a holy day,”B’nai B’rith International president Richard D. Heideman wrote in letters sent Dec. 3 to Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt and Montana Secretary of State Mike Cooney, co-chairmen of the Western Presidential Primary Task Force.
Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming are considering holding a joint presidential primary in 2000 as a way of increasing the region’s political clout. Each of the state’s legislatures would need to approve the idea for the proposal to proceed.
March 11 _ a Saturday _ was tentatively selected as a date for the primary, prompting the Jewish concerns. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism noted that Saturday is also the Sabbath for Seventh-day Adventists and other groups.
Spokesmen for Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer and Leavitt told the Associated Press that the political leaders are aware of religious concerns about the primary. At a recent meeting of the Western Governor’s Association, discussions began on holding the primary over several days but ending on March 11, a date that falls between the California primary and the South’s Super Tuesday voting.
Georgia church criticizes state Baptist anti-gay amendment
(RNS) A suburban Atlanta church known for its openness to gays has adopted a statement criticizing the new Georgia Baptist Convention constitutional amendment that permits excluding churches that affirm homosexual activity.
Members of Oakhurst Baptist Church in Decatur unanimously adopted a statement calling the new amendment a one-sided view of biblical teaching on homosexuality.
Two years ago, the Decatur church amended its church covenant to welcome people regardless of sexual orientation. It is widely considered to be one of a small number of Georgia Baptist congregations mostly likely to be affected by the new state convention amendment, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent news service.”We have experienced this as one of the most difficult and volatile issues Christians face, and we recognize that the debate is a valid one in which strong differences exist on every level,”said the statement, printed in the Dec. 3 issue of The Christian Index, the Georgia Baptist newspaper.
Oakhurst members also said that Baptists have been incorrect in the past when they believed the Bible supported slavery, racial segregation and exclusion of women from ministry roles. Their statement was adopted Nov. 11, just before the convention meeting, because the amendment’s adoption had been recommended by the convention’s executive committee.
Today, they said, Baptists are risking making a similar error of”finding certainty where none exists”about the Bible’s teaching on sexuality.”Believing that only one position has been heard, we challenge Georgia Baptists to undertake personally the study of the biblical/theological understandings of sexuality with an openness to all viewpoints,”they said.
Delegates to the Georgia Baptist Convention, which met Nov. 16-17, adopted language excluding as a”cooperating”congregation any church”which knowingly takes, or has taken any action to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior.”
Falwell hits talk-show circuit with his own show
(RNS) The Rev. Jerry Falwell, long a guest on television talk shows, has begun hosting his own one-hour weekly talk show.”Listen America with Jerry Falwell”began in October and has commitments from broadcast and cable television outlets that will bring the show to 60 million homes in the country by January, Falwell announced in the December issue of National Liberty Journal.”I am very excited over this new door God has provided me,”Falwell wrote in the newspaper published by Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., the church he pastors.”I believe I have paid my dues and have finished my boot camp as the token conservative on most of the liberal news and talk shows over the years.” The show also is carried live at 10 p.m. (EST) Fridays on satellite T4/C 01.
Backlog of Scottish annulment driving Catholics south of border
(RNS) _ The backlog in processing Roman Catholic marriage annulment cases in Scotland is so bad that those Catholics in a position to do so are moving south of the border to have their cases dealt with by an English diocese in a fraction of the time it takes in Scotland.
Annulments have to be decided by the diocese in which the party petitioning for the annulment resides.
In English dioceses, with cooperation from the parties in the case, an annulment can be dealt with within nine months to a year, with a further six months for a second tribunal to confirm the ruling.
But in Scotland the national marriage tribunal, which covers all eight dioceses, is trying to clear a backlog of cases that has accumulated over the years.
The tribunal’s president, the Rev. James Nicol, said the cases they were judging now would have been initiated in 1993.
Commenting on this state of affairs, Mrs. Annette Gray, who founded the Scottish Association of Separated and Divorced Catholics 14 years ago, said,”At the end of the day, if you are Scottish and rich, all you need do is move to England temporarily and you will save yourself five years of misery.”On the other hand, if you are Scottish and poor, you have no choice but to join the queue which is getting longer every year. It is a scandal.” Meanwhile anecdotal evidence from south of the border suggests English Catholics whose marriages break down are less and less worried about regularizing their situation in the eyes of the Church.”The number of cases coming before us has drastically diminished over the past three or four years,”said the Rev. Joseph Buckley, president of the Clifton diocesan tribunal, indicating people were just not bothering to get a church annulment.
Quote of the Day: writer Robert Anton Wilson
(RNS)”Clinton is a godsend to these people; he’s proof that liberals are sexual outlaws.” _ Robert Anton Wilson, author of”Everything is Under Control”(HarperCollins), an exploration of cults and conspiracy theories, speaking about religious and political conservatives in an interview in the Winter issue of Gnosis Magazine.
DEA END RNS
