c. 1999 Religion News Service

Christian group in Israel says millennium’s importance is distorted

(RNS) The International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, a non-governmental evangelical Protestant group, has warned of a”growing tendency to distort the theological significance”of the new millennium.

The ICEJ said in a statement Wednesday (Jan. 13) that it”does not assign any prophetic significance to the passing of the years 2000 or 2001 on the secular (Gregorian) calendar. We see no scriptural or other basis for giving these two years any ordinate eschatological significance, though they do have symbolic value.” The statement said the ICEJ shares a”firm belief”that”we live in prophetic times.”But it also said”the vast majority of Christians do not take seriously anyone who may be setting with certainty either 2000 or 2001 as the date for Christ’s return.” The ICEJ noted the recent deportations from Israel of members of the Denver-based Concerned Christians”cult,”who had resettled in Jerusalem in the belief that their leader would die and be resurrected in the city and that violent acts could hasten Jesus’ return.

Media reports about the group, said the ICEJ, has”caused unnecessary apprehensions”in Israel about the many Christians who are expected to visit the Holy Land in connection with the millennium. The ICEJ said it hoped Israel would look past the”negative images”and recognize that the true Christian pilgrims”are coming with peaceful intentions.” For the past 20 years, the ICEJ has hosted Christian visitors to Israel. The ICEJ is a strong supporter of Israel, seeing its existence as vital to Jesus’ return in accordance with biblical prophecy.

Presbyterian women’s group apparently survives conservative critics

(RNS) A special panel to study the National Network of Presbyterian College Women, which provides study material and other resources for college age women, will recommend the ministry be maintained and funded by the church despite conservative critics’ efforts to paint it as”Marxist.” The network, which dates from the early 1990s, claims some 250 participants on 80 campuses around the country. It received $50,000 in funds from the denomination in 1998.

At last year’s Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly meeting, the network was the focus of a series of highly contentious actions, including a decision to withdraw funding from the group followed by a floor demonstration by network supporters. After the demonstration, commissioners, as delegates are known, reversed themselves and voted to continue funding the group for one more year while the special panel did its review.

Although the study panel has not finalized its report, a clear consensus on continuing General Assembly funding of the network emerged at a Jan. 12 meeting, the Presbyterian News Service reported.

Critics, including the Presbyterian Coalition, Voices of Orthodox Women and the independent newspaper,”The Presbyterian Layman,”charge the materials fall outside the biblical and constitutional standards of the church.

The Rev. Parker Williamson, editor of”The Presbyterian Layman,”for example, has charged that”the last vestiges of Marxism … will be found clinging to the skirt of this network.”Other conservative critics have branded it”demonic”and”prodigal daughters.”

Clinton notes Religious Freedom Day

(RNS) Americans’ concern for religious freedom and tolerance”has saved us from much of the hatred and violence that have plagued so many other peoples of the world,”President Clinton said in a statement recognizing Religious Freedom Day.

This year, Religious Freedom Day, which commemorates the adoption in 1786 by the Virginia legislature of a religious freedom statute, falls on Saturday (Jan. 16). The Virginia statute served as a model for the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees Americans freedom of religion.

In his statement, the president noted the passage of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, which makes religious persecution in other nations a U.S. foreign policy priority.”Freedom of religion is a fundamental human right that must be upheld by every nation and guaranteed by every government,”the president said. He urged Americans to mark the day with”appropriate ceremonies, activities and programs ….”

Pope urges equal rights for all ethnic groups in Bosnia

(RNS) Pope John Paul II said Friday (Jan. 15) peace will endure in Bosnia only if all ethnic and religious groups are guaranteed fundamental rights and equal opportunities to rebuild their lives after years of bitter conflict.

Addressing the bishops of Bosnia Herzegovina, who are ending a visit to the Vatican, the pontiff urged them to”defend the inalienable rights of every person and of every people.””Fundamental human rights must be guaranteed to all; and everyone must be offered the same opportunities,”he said.”Truth, liberty, equality, justice, reciprocal respect and solidarity are the basis of a future of serenity and progress for each one and for all. On such values is built a country made up of diverse peoples, culture and religious communities.” The Roman Catholic pontiff also met with Albanian Prime Minister Pandeli Majko in a private audience. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said Majko briefed the pope and Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano on”the present situation in Albania in the context of the difficult moment in Kosovo and the Balkans.” Speaking to the Bosnia bishops, John Paul, who visited Sarajevo in 1997,expressed concern over the failure to resolve the”thorny problem of the return of the refugees”to their prewar homes.”I have noted the obstacles that the Catholic populations in the zones of central Bosnia _ Banja Luka and Posavina _ find in their attempts to return to their own hearths,”he said.

The pontiff also deplored the”unequal treatment”of Orthodox Serbs, Roman Catholic Croatians and Muslims, especially as regards”full respect of their religious cultural identities.” The pope called on the bishops to be”tireless messengers of faith and reconciliation, urging them to”pursue with faith the ecumenical commitment with your Orthodox brothers as you do the dialogue with the Jewish community and the Islamic community.”

Court says landlords can refuse to rent on religious grounds

(RNS) Landlords who cite religious grounds can refuse to rent to unmarried couples, a federal appeals court in San Francisco has ruled.

The 2-1 decision, handed down Thursday (Jan. 14), upheld a lower federal court ruling in favor of two Anchorage, Alaska landlords who said their Christian faith forbade them to rent to unmarried people living together.

In the lower court ruling, Circuit Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlaina said an Alaska law barring housing discrimination based on marital status interfered with property owners’ free exercise of religion as well as their property rights and freedom of speech.”This is an important decision in the era after the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was struck down because it is the beginning of rebuilding in the courts the rights of citizens to freely exercise their religion without governmental interference,”said Nathan Diament, director of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America’s Institute for Public Affairs.

The IPA had filed a friend-of-the-court brief on the side of the landlords.

If the ruling stands, it will be binding on federal courts in Alaska and eight other western states.

Jury selected for Baptist leader’s trial on theft charges

(RNS) A six-person jury has been selected for the state racketeering and grand theft trial of the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, the Florida-based embattled Baptist leader.

Lyons, the president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, and co-defendant Bernice Edwards are charged with defrauding millions of dollars from groups and companies that did business with the predominantly black denomination. Edwards was the public relations director of the NBCUSA.

A jury of five women and one man was chosen on Thursday (Jan. 14) in St. Petersburg, The Washington Post reported.

Among the charges, Lyons is accused of accepting a $225,000 donation from the Anti-Defamation League to rebuild burned black churches and holding on to all but $39,000 for himself.

Lyons was charged by the state after his wife set fire to the $700,000 house Lyons and Edwards owned in St. Petersburg on July 6, 1997. That prompted an investigation that led to the charges.

Opening statements and testimony are scheduled to begin Jan. 25.

Lyons, the pastor of Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church in St. Petersburg, Edwards and Brenda Harris, another employee of the denomination, have been indicted on similar charges by a federal grand jury. That trial is scheduled to begin in April in Tampa.

World Council of Churches: `Russian Orthodox Church’ has not quit

(RNS) The World Council of Churches says news reports that the Russian Orthodox Church _ the largest denomination in the 338-member international body _ has”suspended or withdrawn”its membership in the WCC are untrue.”The Russian Orthodox Church has not suspended or withdrawn its membership in the World Council of Churches,”the Geneva-based WCC said in a brief, four paragraph statement issued Thursday (Jan. 14).

It said the Russian Orthodox representatives in Geneva confirmed that the the church had not quit the council.

The reports were based on actions taken by the Holy Synod of the Russian church in late December in response to a report on the Eighth Assembly of the WCC held in Harare, Zimbabwe earlier in December.

At the synod, the Orthodox church said its members on the WCC’s executive and central committees would not actively participate in general discussions or vote on issues but would continue to attend meetings.

The Russian church has long been unhappy with what it perceives to be a liberal and Protestant bias in the World Council and it sent a scaled-back delegation to the Harare assembly.

At the Harare meeting, the WCC agreed to set up a special commission, including Orthodox leaders and theologians, to examine Orthodox concern and the Holy Synod of the Russian church agreed it would fully participate in the work of that panel even while maintaining its scaled-back presence in other WCC activities.

Quote of the day: Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn.”It’s obviously not going to be the kind of Sabbath I normally like to spend, but I think we can, you know, work it out.” _ Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., the Senate’s only Orthodox Jew, on how he’ll cope with participating in Saturday sessions of the impeachment trial of President Clinton within the restrictions of Sabbath observance.

DEA END RNS