c. 1999 Religion News Service
Ten Commandments removed from Georgia courthouse
(RNS) Church-state separationists are claiming a victory with the decision by the Lumpkin County, Ga., County Commission to remove a Ten Commandments display from the local courthouse.
The decision came after Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Georgia affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union threatened a lawsuit unless the display was removed.
The Georgia incident was one in a number of clashes across the country between government officials and church-state separation groups over public display of the Ten Commandments, including a failed effort in Congress last year to pass a”Ten Commandments Protection Act.””Government officials need to learn that the Ten Commandments is a religious text and should not be manipulated as some kind of political football,”the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United said Tuesday (March 9) in responding to last month’s decision by the Georgia county officials.
On Feb. 25, County Attorney William M. Brownell Jr., announced that,”Upon careful consideration of this issue, the Commissioner has agreed to take down the Ten Commandments display from the Lumpkin County Courthouse.” Lynn said the county”made the right decision,”adding:”I’ve got a commandment for government officials: Thou shalt keep church and state separate.”
Cardinal O’Connor seeks to repair police, African-American relations
(RNS) Cardinal John J. O’Connor, Roman Catholic archbishop of New York, is leading an effort to repair badly strained relations between the city’s black residents and police, following the shooting death of an unarmed West African immigrant last month.
O’Connor mediated a discussion last Thursday (March 4) between police union officials and black business leaders _ a discussion applauded by both sides as a positive development toward resolving a divisive conflict.
The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association and 100 Black Men, a civic group of black professionals, had been meeting for over a year to discuss the problem of police violence against minorities when, on Feb. 4, Bronx resident Amadou Diallo was shot 41 times in the apartment building where he lived by five officers searching for a rape suspect.
The shooting has been sharply condemned by religious leaders in the city as well as leaders of the New York-headquartered National Council of Churches.
O’Connor spoke out about the tragedy in a Feb. 14 sermon in which he condemned America’s”culture of violence”and continued racism. He also offered prayers for the victim’s family and the families of the officers, and praised the”vast numbers”of police officers who do their jobs with”courage, integrity, generosity and self sacrifice.” Shortly after, the two sides approached the cardinal to preside over their next meeting, saying they were looking for spiritual guidance to help resolve their differences.”The cardinal was perfect, as a spiritual leader and high-profile person whose interests are New York City,”said James Savage, president of the union that represents 28,000 street officers.”We didn’t want to scream at each other over the barricades.” Black leaders agreed.”We felt a person like the cardinal could appeal to police and their families that things have got to change,”said James Gatling, president of 100 Black Men.
He said his organization was formed over the issue of police brutality in 1963 and believes little progress has been made since then.”I think the solution is with a higher power,”said Gatling.”We need divine intervention, and what better man to go to than the cardinal?” O’Connor welcomed the chance to be involved, said Joseph Zwilling, spokesman for the archdiocese. “He wanted to help bridge their differences and give them an opportunity to talk,”said Zwilling.”They sat down and did just that.” The two sides agreed to continue meeting and planned to organize a joint prayer service for racial peace _ possibly at St. Patrick’s Cathedral _ in the near future.
Protestants in Greece urge religious equality
(RNS) Protestants and Roman Catholic leaders in Greece are urging that their minority religious communities be accorded the same rights and freedoms as the majority Church of Greece, an Orthodox body.
They also have urged the Orthodox church _ which claims the support of the vast majority of Greece’s 10.4 million citizens _ to be more open to ecumenism.”Legally, religious freedom is secure here,”Antoni Koulouris, secretary-general of the Greek Evangelical (Reformed) Church, told Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency.”But,”he added,”the attitude persists that citizens have a duty to be Orthodox, and that belonging to other denominations is unpatriotic and heretical.” Koulouris made his comments in response to a recent speech by Pope John Paul II in defense of religious freedom, a speech the pope made on Feb. 5 as the country’s eight Roman Catholic bishops made their ad limina visit to the Vatican.
Koulouris said legal curbs imposed on minority churches during Greece’s 1936-37 dictatorship remained on the law books, including a requirement to obtain an Orthodox bishop’s approval for building a place of worship. “The Orthodox church plays a crucial role in political life, influencing policies and laws,”said Koulouris.”As the predominant church, (it) claims all Greeks as members, even though most are only nominal Christians and only 1 to 2 percent go (regularly) to church.” Roman Catholic Archbishop of Athens Nikolaos Foscolos said his church had no”official contacts”with Orthodoxy, even though its members maintained the same national traditions and had contributed significantly to neo-Hellenic culture.
Among areas of what he called”practical discrimination,”Foscolos listed Greece’s armed forces, where being Orthodox is the”first requirement”for officers. “Orthodoxy is the church of the state, so non-Orthodox are considered incompletely Greek,”he told ENI.”Although the constitution guarantees citizens the same juridical status regardless of creed, religious discrimination exists.” John Paul, in his speech, said he hoped religious freedom would be given to”all Greeks, irrespective of their faiths”. He said he was pleased that”significant efforts”were now under way to find a”just solution to unresolved problems”.”Like all citizens, Catholics have a duty to work towards sincere coexistence between all Greeks, enjoying the same rights and freedoms”, John Paul II said.”I hope the church will now move forward and intensify dialogue with the competent authorities for the good of the whole nation.”
India’s biggest Lutheran church ordains 18 women
(RNS) India’s Lutherans witnessed an historic event last month when the country’s biggest Lutheran church, the 800,000-member Andhra Evangelical Lutheran Church (AELC), ordained its first women.
All told, 18 women were ordained as pastors in the Feb. 20 service at St. Matthew’s Church in the city of Guntur in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. An additional 38 men were also ordained during the service.
The AELC is one of 11 regional Lutheran churches operating in India under the umbrella of the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of India (UELCI).
It is based in the state of Andhra Pradesh, on the Bay of Bengal coast, and is the fourth of India’s Lutheran churches to ordain women, Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency reported. The first Indian Lutheran women were ordained in 1991.”This is a great turning point in the history of the Lutheran church,”G. Immanuel, AELC’s president, told ENI after the ordinations. He said that”it took so long for us”because the AELC ministerium _ the church leadership which is made up of 350 AELC ordained men _ had for a long time rejected women’s ordination. “Gradually, we were able to convince the ministerium,”said Immanuel, who led the ordination service. He said the reason for the change of heart in the AELC, which is regarded as conservative, was the entry of”supportive young blood”into the ministerium.
The youngest of the 18 newly ordained women is 35 years old, while the oldest is 73-year-old B. V. Subhamma, former principal of a Bible training school at Rajamundri in Andhra Pradesh. Actively associated with the church for decades, Subhamma, who holds three doctorates, including one in theology, was ordained along with some of her former students.”I am happy,”Subhamma told ENI.”With my ordination, I feel I can serve them (congregations) fully. I am excited that now I can administer baptism and communion to my people.”
Quote of the day: Richard Land, Southern Baptist Convention official
(RNS)”The greatest threat to America’s liberty in the next 20 to 30 years … will be over governmental suppression of free exercise (of religion). If we are not careful, we are going to lose our right to preach what we believe and say what we believe in the public square.” _ Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, in a speech in Austin, Texas, opposing efforts to broaden hate crime legislation to what he said would include criticism of homosexual behavior.
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