c. 1999 Religion News Service

Methodist bishop begins probe of 69 pastors for same-sex union role

(RNS) A reluctant United Methodist Bishop Melvin Talbert said Tuesday (March 23) that he is referring a complaint against 69 pastors for their role in performing a same-sex union to a church counsel _ the first step in bringing the ministers to an ecclesiastical trial.

Talbert, head of the California-Nevada Annual Conference of the 8.4 million-member church, said he was acting to uphold church law, even though he sharply disagrees with the church’s ban on pastors celebrating or presiding at same-sex unions. He labeled the law”an act of injustice.””I will uphold law, but I will not be silenced,”Talbert said in a statement at a news conference announcing his reluctant action.”I will continue speaking out against the law and will continue working to change the position of our church to be more in keeping with the teachings and compassion of Jesus.” On Jan. 16, the 69 pastors co-presided over a uniting ceremony for lesbians Jeanne Barnett, 68, and Ellie Charlton, 63, both members of St. Mark United Methodist Church in Sacramento, Calif. The church’s pastor, the Rev. Don Fado, is among those named in the complaint filed by the Rev. Ardith Allread and the Rev. David Bennett, both officials within the conference and both opponents of the ban on same-sex unions who nevertheless felt obligated to file the complaint alleging disobedience to church law.

It was this complaint that Talbert forwarded.

Fado said the highly publicized ceremony was to”make a statement to the church that it needs to re-evaluate this policy.” Talbert’s announcement that the conference would begin the official probe of the complaint came just two days before the scheduled opening Thursday (March 25) of the trial of the Rev. Gregory Dell of Chicago for also breaking United Methodist Church law in performing same-sex marriages.

At its 1996 General Conference, the denomination’s highest legislative body, delegates adopted a resolution barring United Methodist clergy from performing or participating in same-sex unions.

Because of some confusion over the legal force of the resolution, the Rev. Jimmy Creech was acquitted of violating church law in a trial in 1998. But the denomination’s Judicial Council _ its Supreme Court _ has ruled that the ban had the force of church law and violating it was a”chargeable offense,”an offense on which a pastor could be tried and, in the most extreme instance, removed from the ministry.”This is a very painful day,”Talbert said, noting that because of his own days as a civil rights activist he”can appreciate acts of civil disobedience.”My prayer is that in the due process to follow, clergy peers will seek justice and to act in a way that is consistent with the teachings and compassion of Jesus,”he added.

Boesak sentenced to six years for misusing charity funds

(RNS) Despite a plea for leniency from Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu, ex-South African anti-apartheid activist and one-time Reformed Church leader Allan Boesak was sentenced to six years in jail Wednesday (March 24) for theft and fraud in connection with a charity he started to aid apartheid victims.”Boesak was a senior churchman who should have exercised the responsibility that went with that position,”Cape Town Judge John Foxcroft said as he handed down the sentence.

Boesak fought back tears as the sentence was read. Afterward, he remained defiant, saying”my innocence is not touched in one way or the other by a conviction of this court. The last word is not spoken.” Boesak was sentenced for theft and fraud involving some $210,000 given to his Peace and Justice Foundation by American singer Paul Simon and Scandinavian aid agencies.

On March 17, Boesak was found guilty by Foxcroft of three counts of theft and one of fraud in misusing the money given to the foundation”as if it was his own.” During the 1980s, Boesak, along with Tutu, was one of South Africa’s most prominent and militant anti-apartheid activists. The two often marched side-by-side. But Boesak’s prominence was also marked by scandal, and he was forced to step down as head of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and leave the ministry after news broke of his having an extramarital affair.

In his defense, Boesak argued that he was guilty of”struggle bookkeeping”_ that it was difficult to maintain good books under pressure from security police during the anti-apartheid campaign and from the possible repercussions to donors.

Tutu, a retired Anglican archbishop now teaching in the United States, was a trustee of Boesak’s foundation.

In a letter faxed to Boesak’s lawyer for the court, he said his colleague had made an”immeasurable”contribution to the fight against South Africa’s former system of racial separation.”It is not surprising that those of us who threw ourselves wholeheartedly into the struggle may have made mistakes,”Reuters quoted the letter as saying.”I cannot see that it is in his or our society’s interest to sentence him to imprisonment,”Tutu’s letter said.

Study shows home-schooled children score in top percentile on tests

(RNS) The average home-schooled child ranks well above his public and private school counterpart in reading, language and mathematics skills, according to a nationwide study released Tuesday (March 23).

The study was sponsored by the Home School Legal Defense Association, which embraced the findings as empirical proof of supporters’ long-held beliefs about the quality of a home school education. In recent years, religious and political conservatives have increasingly turned to home schooling as an alternative to public schools that they consider in steep educational and moral decline.

The largest of its kind, the study evaluated 20,760 home-schooled students contacted through the mailing lists of fundamentalist Christian Bob Jones University in South Carolina. The university is home to the nation’s largest home-school testing service. Currently, 700,000 to 1.2 million children are taught at home in the United States.”We just want to say to the government: We are doing a good job, so leave us alone,”said Michael P. Farris, president of the association, the Washington Post reported.

But the study’s author warned against reading too much into the findings since the study did not evaluate some important grade-influencing factors, such as family income.

Lawrence M. Rudner, director of the Educational Resources Information Center Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation at the University of Maryland, said that although home-schooled children’s test scores were”exceptionally high,”the study”does not demonstrate that home schooling is superior to public or private schools.” Va. school’s ban on gay discrimination draws Baptist criticism

(RNS) The University of Richmond has added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy, sparking criticism from a leader of the Baptist group that founded it.

The rewritten policy was approved by trustees of the school founded by the Baptist General Association of Virginia 169 years ago.

The policy, approved March 5, forbids discrimination against gays and lesbians in student, staff and faculty recruitment and promotion.”This policy bespeaks our current practice,”said William E. Cooper, university president.”We do not and will not discriminate against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation.” But an official of the BGAV, which has diminished its ties with the school in recent years, expressed regret about the decision, Baptist news services reported.”This action is very disappointing,”said Reginald McDonough, executive director of the BGAV.”In this day of relative values, it is important for institutions that are educating the future leaders of our churches and communities to advocate and model the highest standards of Judeo-Christian morality.” At its last annual meeting, the association issued a statement”affirming the biblical teaching that homosexual behavior is sinful and unacceptable to Christians.”The resolution also offered churches guidelines for expressing”Christ-like compassion for homosexual persons.” A new state convention called the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia has charged that the BGAV did not have a strong enough stance on homosexuality.

The BGAV has maintained a”partnership agreement”with the university, but now offers a limited amount of financial support.

McDonough said”how the BGAV relates its support may need to be changed to reflect current realities.” The university’s non-discrimination policy previously prohibited bias on the basis of gender, race and religion.

Quote of the day: Jonathan Gorsky, Jewish education adviser to England’s Council for Christians and Jews.

(RNS)”It seems to me that the buns are part of Christian life. To pretend otherwise is totally absurd. They have no relevance to Jews and I can see no reason to do such a thing.” _ Jonathan Gorsky, Jewish education adviser to England’s Council for Christians and Jews, an interfaith agency, commenting on reports that Britain’s largest supermarket chain is selling”Jewish”hot cross buns for Easter. The chain’s buns replace the pastry’s traditional cross _ intended to symbolize the Crucifixion _ with a Jewish Star of David.

IR END RNS