c. 1998 Religion News Service
Southern Baptist membership continues increase
(RNS) The Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, continues to grow and has seen a significant increase in baptisms.
Membership in Southern Baptist churches increased by 1.3 percent to a new high of 15.9 million, according to the 1997 Annual Church Profile. Church membership has increased every year since 1926.
Southern Baptist churches reported more than 400,000 baptisms for the first time since 1982. A total of 412,027 baptisms were recorded in 1997, an increase of 8.6 percent, reported Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The number of churches affiliated with the denomination in 1997 increased by 0.7 percent to 40,887.
In a joint statement, James T. Draper Jr., president of the Sunday School Board and Bob Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board, applauded the increase in baptisms and challenged their staff to aim for an additional 500,000 baptisms by 2000 and 1 million baptisms by 2005.
The annual profile is compiled by the denomination’s Sunday School Board, based on reports from churches.
Evicted American missionary receives Russian visa
(RNS) American missionary Dan Pollard, who was expelled from Russia under a new law restricting minority religious groups, has received a three-month visa to return to his church in the remote port town of Vanino.
Pollard, who left Russia in March, received the visa Thursday (April 30) and planned to depart for Russia on Saturday. He hoped to preach at his church in the Far East on May 10.
The new Russian religious law, passed last year, requires every faith or religious group that has not been active in Russia for 15 years be certified by the government before it can practice freely.
Pollard is an independent Baptist missionary whose church is not affiliated with a pre-existing Christian alliance, The New York Times reported.
He was refused accreditation in March by a regional official for religious affairs in Khabarovsk in eastern Siberia. Pollard said he will have to reapply for accreditation from the same official to extend his stay beyond three months.
Pollard, whose case has been addressed by the State Department and several members of Congress, said he was only granted the visa after his Russian lawyer obtained an invitation for him from a Russian religious group. He declined to identify the group.
Christian group in Zimbabwe denounces World Council on gays
(RNS) The Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe, one of the largest Christian groups in the southern African country, has condemned the World Council of Churches, charging that the international ecumenical group plans to use its December assembly in Zimbabwe to promote homosexuality.”All the member churches, bodies and individuals in the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe are alarmed at the efforts of the WCC, which should be a body upholding biblical standards, to negate true Christian faith by making the forthcoming WCC conference a forum for homosexuals and lesbians,”Andrew Wutawunashe, the EFZ president said in a statement.”We roundly condemn such a blatant perversion of the Christian faith and we cry `shame’ that it should be sanctioned by a body claiming to represent Christians,”he added.
The church attack on the WCC comes just a little more than a week after Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe also sharply criticized the WCC on the same issue.
The WCC, made up of 332 Protestant, Orthodox and Anglican member denominations, is scheduled to hold its eighth world assembly in Harare Dec. 3-14. WCC officials have repeatedly denied that issues surrounding homosexuality and sexual orientation are on the business agenda for the assembly.
However, the WCC has given space for a group of Zimbabwean homosexuals _ Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe _ at the assembly’s”Padare,”or meeting place, where delegates, visitors and others can discuss issues not on the WCC’s formal agenda, Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency reported.
The inclusion of GLAZ at the Padare is apparently what has triggered the most recent round of criticism of the WCC. Mugabe is an ardent foe of homosexuality, calling it an”evil.”He created an international incident when he sought to block GLAZ from setting up a display at an international book fair in 1996.
New play with gay Christ-like character could see New York stage
(RNS) A new play that features a Christlike figure who has sex with his apostles could be on stage in New York next season.”Corpus Christi”by Terrence McNally was the subject of a reading Thursday (April 28) at the Manhattan Theater Club, a nonprofit off-Broadway theater that was the site of the premiere of the author’s”Love! Valour! Compassion!” The sex in the play occurs off-stage and the play borrows dialogues from the New Testament, the Associated Press reported.
McNally declined to comment on the plot or the play in general.”This is a work-in-progress,”he said in a telephone interview with the New York Post.”And I never do interviews about plays that are not finished.””Corpus Christi”is advertised in a theater brochure for next season as a possible off-Broadway production. No performance dates are included.
An MTC brochure describes the play:”From modern-day Corpus Christi, Texas, to ancient Jerusalem, we follow a young gay man named Joshua on a spiritual journey and get to know the 12 disciples who chose to follow him.” The Post reported that Pontius Pilate’s conversation with Jesus before his crucifixion is paraphrased in one scene.”Art thou king of the queers?”the Pilate character asks.”Thou sayest,”responds Joshua.
Other theater officials also declined to comment on the subject matter of the play or the theater’s plans concerning it.
Southern Baptist Peace Committee materials to be unsealed
(RNS) After being sealed for 10 years, the minutes and other materials of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Peace Committee will be open for public inspection in June.
The committee, established in 1985 to”determine the sources of the controversies in our convention”and to seek reconciliation between warring Baptist parties, met for two years and reported its findings in 1987.
But an agreement between the then-Historical Commission of the denomination and committee officials sealed the collection of minutes and materials for a decade, reported Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Charles G. Fuller, the committee’s chairman and a Roanoke, Va., pastor, said the collection includes some 135 cassette tapes and 366 letters from Southern Baptists.
The collection will be available starting June 1 during regular hours of the Historical Library and Archives in the Southern Baptist Convention Building in Nashville. Appointments can be made to see the collection after hours.
The controversy centered on the conservative resurgence that began in 1979 and has led to conservatives gaining control of SBC entities. Conservatives in the denomination tend to believe the Bible is without error while some moderates think portions of the Bible are open to interpretation.
Dalai Lama, U.N.’s Robinson win spiritual understanding award
(RNS) The Dalai Lama, the spiritual and political leader of Tibetan Buddhists, has been named a recipient of the 1998 Juliet Hollister Award for promoting spiritual understanding around the world.
Also receiving the honor were Mary Robinson, the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights and the former president of Ireland, and Ravi Shankar, the sitar-playing classical musician.
The awards, first given in 1996, are presented by the Temple of Understanding and the Interfaith Center of New York, two educational foundations that further interfaith dialogue worldwide.
Past recipients of the Juliet Hollister Award, named for the Connecticut housewife who in 1960 conceived the idea for a”spiritual United Nations”that later became the Temple of Understanding, include Queen Noor of Jordan and the Rev. James Parks Morton, former dean of Manhattan’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
The May 5 awards ceremony will be broadcast live from New York via the Internet, marking the first time the Dalai Lama will address the world through the information superhighway.
Quote of the day: Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi
(RNS)”Is there a Christian or a Jew called Mohammed? No there is not. Who is the fanatic, us or them? Who is the side that hates, us or them?” _ Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in a sermon at a Friday (May 1) prayer service in Chad, saying that millions of Muslims are named after Moses and Jesus as a sign Muslims don’t hate Christians and Jews while the Christians and Jews hate Muslims.
DEA END RNS
