c. 1999 Religion News Service
Tax complaint filed against New Orleans church over political acts
(RNS) A national public interest group has filed a tax complaint against a small New Orleans church, asking the Internal Revenue Service to determine whether the church went too far in backing a candidate for governor.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, based in Washington, D.C., directed the IRS to a published account in which the Rev. Zebadee Bridges acknowledged he endorsed Rep. William Jefferson, D-La., from the pulpit of Asia Baptist Church.
In the same article, Bridges also said he told congregants they could contribute to the Jefferson campaign through envelopes the campaign had placed in the church.”Collecting money on behalf of a candidate in church seems like a clear violation of the Internal Revenue Code,”Americans United executive director Barry Lynn wrote in an Oct. 25 letter to the tax agency.
The collection in Bridges’ church was part of a larger effort by the Jefferson campaign to solicit support from hundreds of Louisiana churches. The effort was to peak Oct. 17.
Asia Baptist did its part a week earlier, however, and Bridges’ public description of the action appeared in the Oct. 16 edition of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Bridges’ acknowledgment that he spoke for Jefferson and collected some money _ less than $200, he said _ was the basis for the church-state group’s complaint.
The group also asked the IRS to investigate whether other churches answered the Jefferson campaign’s plea to do the same on Oct. 17, the day after the newspaper story appeared. Jefferson failed in an attempt to unseat incumbent Gov. Mike Foster Oct. 23.
IRS investigations, which can take years to conclude, are confidential. Outcomes are sometimes never disclosed, said Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United.
While they may speak to general political issues, churches may be fined or have their tax-exempt status revoked if they engage in partisan politics.
Americans United rarely files complaints like the one against Asia Baptist,”but with their fund-raising on behalf of one candidate, that was so far over the line we felt we had to,”Conn said.
Bridges defended his action. He said his personal endorsement of Jefferson, even if done from the pulpit, in no way amounted to the support of the church, which would require a vote of the congregation.
By that definition,”the Asia Baptist Church has never been involved in politics since I’ve been there,”he said.
He also pointed out that campaign contributions never came from the church treasury, but from individuals.”What they’d like to do is frighten me to stay out of politics so they can do what they want to do,”Bridges said.”But they’re not going to frighten me out. It took me too long to get in.”
Christian Solidarity International loses U.N. status
(RNS) Christian Solidarity International, a Swiss-based group active in freeing slaves in Sudan, has lost its United Nations accreditation after breaching the world body’s rules by allowing a Sudanese rebel leader to speak as its representative.
The U.N. Economic and Security Council (ECOSOC) voted 26-14, with 12 abstentions, Tuesday (Oct. 26) to lift CSI’s accreditation, the Associated Press reported. The United States voted against the move. CSI had rejected a”compromise”proposal that would have seen it lose its accreditation for three years only.
The vote grew out of a flap in March when Sudan People’s Liberation Army leader John Garang represented CSI at a meeting in Geneva. The SPLA has been fighting the Sudanese government for 16 years to gain autonomy for mostly Christian and animist tribes living in Sudan’s south.
Garang used the occasion to urge support for the SPLA and distributed his statement on SPLA letterhead. U.N. rules require that representatives of non-governmental agencies, such as CSI, must speak only on behalf of their organizations.
Sudan promptly demanded the lifting of CSI accreditation that allowed it to participate in meetings, make statements, raise issues and submit reports to all bodies associated with ECOSOC, a key U.N. body.
CSI is known for its aggressive effort to draw world attention to the Sudanese civil war, in which Muslims associated with the government have been charged with taking anti-government Christians and animists as slaves. To prove that slavery exists in Sudan, CSI has paid to gain the freedom of some slaves, a controversial tactic that some say has encouraged slave traders to take more slaves.
ECOSOC’s action was protested by other non-governmental agencies.”It is a very bad precedent,”said Joanna Weschler of Human Rights Watch.
Geneva religious leaders issue appeal to end violence based on religion
(RNS) Officials of major faith and international organizations in Geneva have issued an appeal calling on all political and religious leaders and organizations to ensure that religions are no longer used to justify violence and conflict.
The group issuing the one-page document, called the Geneva Spiritual Appeal, said its members believe 56 conflicts around the world are linked to religion.”Shocked by the fact that there are over 50 contemporary conflicts that have a religious basis, the representatives of the main religions present in Geneva and the chiefs of the humanitarian organizations present in Geneva have come together to proclaim a solemn appeal to the leaders of the world,”the signers said in a statement released with the appeal.
The appeal was dated Oct. 24, United Nations Day.
Hafid Ouardiri, a spokesman for Geneva’s Islamic mosque, said in an Oct. 19 news conference announcing the appeal that the statement was”an act of faith to build peace. But also it gives us an opportunity to correct the caricatures”generated by opponents.
William McComish, dean of Geneva’s St. Pierre (Protestant) Cathedral and one of the organizers of the appeal, said that although not all of the 56 conflicts were religious wars, they were linked to religion. He cited the examples of Kosovo, Timor and Northern Ireland, the Geneva-based religious news agency Ecumenical News International reported.
The appeal asks political leaders to refuse”to invoke a religious or spiritual power to justify violence of any kind,”to refuse”to invoke a religious or spiritual source to justify discrimination and exclusion”and to refuse”to exploit or dominate others by means of strength, intellectual capacity or spiritual persuasion, wealth or status.”
Update: China admits Falun Gong member has died in custody
(RNS) China has confirmed the death of an 18-year-old member of Falun Gong,marking the first time officials have admitted that a member of the spiritual movement died while in custody.
Reuters news agency reported Wednesday (Oct. 27) that an official in the provincial Chinese city of Jiamusi had confirmed that Chen Ying died from injuries sustained when he jumped from a train while in custody.
A Falun Gong spokeswoman in New York had reported the death Tuesday. Falun Gong leader Li Hongzhi is based in New York.
Spokeswoman Gail Rachlin said a second Falun Gong member, Zhao Dong, 38, was also injured after jumping from the same train. The two reportedly jumped after being tortured.
Falun Gong members protested in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square Wednesday for a third straight day. Rachlin said as many as 1,000 members of the movement _ which combines elements of Buddhism, Taoism and”qigong”meditation and physical exercises _ have been arrested during the protests.
Falun Gong demonstrators are demanding government approval of their movement, but Chinese authorities, who tightly control religious expression of any kind, say the group is a threat to China’s social and political unity. The movement is said to have millions of members in China.
Israel turns away Irish Christian pilgrims
(RNS) A group of Irish Christians who traveled by boat to Israel were turned away from the port of Haifa by authorities who mistakenly labeled them as members of the Denver-based Concerned Christians sect, an Israeli human rights group said Tuesday (Oct. 26).
Rabbi David Rosen, head of the Israel office of the Anti-Defamation League and a former chief rabbi of Ireland, said the Oct. 10 incident reflected the”serious intelligence inadequacies”of police and customs officials who will have to cope with a heightened flow of millennial tourists to Israel while needing to single out potentially dangerous groups from harmless pilgrims.
Rosen said the 26 tourists hailed from a bona fide institution known as the Pilgrim House in County Wexford, Ireland. At the time of the incident, police reported the group belonged to the controversial Concerned Christians sect, which is believed to be plotting millennial violence. The pilgrims had arrived at Haifa, in northern Israel, en route from Cyprus with four trailer homes in tow. They intended to live in the trailer homes while making their pilgrimage through the Holy Land.”They may have been naive in failing to go through the correct channels to obtain visas, so not letting them have entry to Israel may still have been justified,”Rosen said.”But the fact that the group was expelled under false pretenses raises a big question mark about the authorities’ intelligence sources.”
Columbia Theological Seminary president to retire
(RNS) The president of Columbia Theological Seminary has announced plans to retire next year.
Douglas W. Oldenburg, the seventh president of the Presbyterian Church (USA) seminary in Decatur, Ga., will officially retire on Dec. 31, 2000, but will begin a sabbatical on June 30, the seminary’s board of trustees announced.
Oldenburg, 64, has served as president since 1987. During his time in the post, the seminary’s budget has increased from $3.9 million to $10.1 million and the endowment has grown from $27 million to $155 million.
A former pastor, he has chaired the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Committee on Theological Education. He was elected moderator last year of the denomination’s 210th General Assembly, which was held in June 1998.
A search committee has been formed and a new president is expected to assume the office on July 1, 2000.
Quote of the day: Janet Benshoof, president of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy
(RNS)”This decision creates a constitutional crisis which will probably go to the Supreme Court.” _ Janet Benshoof, president of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, reacting to a federal appeals court ruling Tuesday (Oct. 26) upholding state laws in Illinois and Wisconsin banning a late-term abortion procedure opponents call”partial-birth abortion.”
DEA END RNS
