c. 2000 Religion News Service
Paulk Ousted as Board Chair of Ex-Gay Ministry
(RNS) John Paulk has been removed as board chairman of Exodus International North America, a Christian group that preaches that gays can become straight, after Paulk visited a gay bar in Washington, D.C., last month and then lied about it, the organization has announced.
Paulk, 37, wrote the book “Not Afraid to Change: The Remarkable Story of How One Man Overcame Homosexuality” and appeared on the cover of Newsweek in 1998 with his wife, who describes herself as a former lesbian.
“John told the board that he had no sinful intentions in entering the bar,” said Bob Davies, North American director of Exodus International. “However, he did engage in behavior which has negatively impacted the credibility of Exodus.”
Paulk was confronted by gay rights activists who noticed him at a bar called Mr. P’s on Sept. 19. Paulk told reporters and others he was looking for a bathroom and didn’t know he had walked into a gay bar. He said he then figured it out and stayed because he was curious about whether gay bars had changed.
But Davies said Paulk changed his story last week. Davies said Paulk admitted he knew he was entering a gay bar. Davies said he thinks Paulk lied out of fear.
He said Paulk didn’t explain why he entered the bar, except to say that he wasn’t seeking gay sex. Gay activists have seized on Paulk’s bar visit as proof that he remains gay. Paulk will remain on Exodus’ board with probationary status.
The status of Paulk’s job at Focus on the Family, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Christian ministry, is unclear. A Focus on the Family official said Paulk is still employed there, but he would not say whether Paulk still heads the group’s homosexual and gender issues division. Paulk has not granted interviews since shortly after the incident and has been out of the office since Sept. 22. He is to return Monday.
New York, Miami Next Evangelistic Focus for Southern Baptists
(RNS) The Southern Baptists have chosen two major cities _ New York and Miami _ as the focus of five-year evangelistic efforts that start next year.
Robert E. Reccord, chairman of the North American Mission Board, announced that the two cities would get special attention through his agency’s Strategic Focus Cities initiative from 2001 through 2006.
“Strategies will be specifically and uniquely put together for those cities,” Reccord said. “The groundwork is already being laid.”
The initiative previously planned one-year implementations in specific cities, followed by two years of additional planning and follow-up activities. Chicago and Phoenix were the first cities for the focus this year. Boston and Las Vegas are to be the evangelistic emphasis in 2001, followed by Seattle and Philadelphia in 2002.
But the plans for Miami and New York involve a variety of pilot projects and major events will be spread over a longer period of time, reported Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
“I would refer to them as unique strategies from how we’ve done the past cities, in view of the complexity and diversity of the two cities,” said Doug Metzger, director of the North American Mission Board’s Strategic Focus Cities team.
The initiative is part of an overall effort by the Southern Baptist Convention to evangelize urban centers outside its traditional Southern strongholds.
Business Coalition Signs on as Supporter of Debt Relief
(RNS) A coalition of 40 multinational businesses and trade groups has announced its support for debt relief for the world’s poorest countries as President Clinton and religious leaders press Congress to approve $435 million for debt relief.
The United States has committed itself to pay more than $900 million to erase foreign debts owed by poor countries; one-third of the money would cancel debts owed directly to the United States, and two-thirds would help cancel debts owed to institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
Clinton has asked Congress for $435 million this year to fund debt relief, but the measure is stalled on Capitol Hill as several leading Republicans want to place additional conditions on the package.
On Monday (Oct. 2), Clinton met at the White House with congressional supporters and religious leaders, including Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, to urge Congress to pass the measure.
The 40 businesses _ including Caterpillar, Goldman Sachs, Merck, Motorola and Bechtel _ released a statement Wednesday (Oct. 4) in support of the debt relief package, saying the measure makes good economic sense.
“Huge debt overhangs undermine the private investment essential to creating new jobs and markets,” the statement said. “Canceling those debts, tied to economic reform and poverty reduction, is essential to any future trade and investment strategy for poor countries.”
The business coalition said canceling debts will improve the economies of these poor countries, opening them up for U.S. businesses as lucrative trading partners.
“For less than $1 billion, the U.S. can help unlock $27 billion in funding from around the world. Considering the potential benefits to the world’s poorest countries and to U.S. economic and strategic interests, this seems a small price to pay,” the statement read.
Hong Kong Catholics Fire Back at Chinese Over Canonizations
(RNS) Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Hong Kong are incensed over orders from Chinese leaders to keep celebrations of 120 new Chinese saints “low-key.”
On Sunday (Oct. 1), Pope John Paul II canonized 120 Chinese martyrs _ 87 native Chinese and 33 foreign missionaries _ who were killed for their faith between 1648 and 1930. The canonizations fell on China’s 51st anniversary, a national holiday.
The canonizations glorified centuries of Western imperialism, China said, and “seriously hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and is also a severe provocation to the Chinese nation,” the official China Daily newspaper said, according to the Reuters News agency.
The Rev. Lawrence Lee, chancellor of the Hong Kong Diocese, told the Associated Press that Chinese representatives told him that the government had “concerns” about any canonization-related celebrations and he was told to keep such ceremonies “low-key.”
“It would have been more appropriate if they didn’t say those words,” Lee said.
Bishop Joseph Zen, deputy to Hong Kong Cardinal John Baptist Wu, wrote in Hong Kong’s daily Ming Pao newspaper that China’s record on religious freedom, not the canonizations, was the problem.
“What hurts the feelings of countless Chinese citizens and peace-loving people all over the world is the violent suppression by central authorities of churches in the country,” Zen wrote, according to Reuters.
China recognizes only state-sponsored Catholic churches, and churches loyal to Rome operate only underground. Beijing severed diplomatic ties with the Vatican in 1951.
Salt Lake Tribune to Resist Efforts by Mormons to Buy Newspaper
(RNS) A newspaper war is brewing between the Salt Lake Tribune and the Mormon-owned Deseret News as Tribune employees urge their company to remain the state’s leading independent voice and resist a takeover by the church.
The two papers have operated under a joint operating agreement since 1952, sharing advertising, circulation, printing and distribution costs. The Deseret News is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Tribune is owned by AT&T.
According to an article published in the Tribune on Thursday (Oct. 5), the newspaper’s management wants to resist efforts by the News to buy the Tribune’s immediate parent company, Kearns-Tribune, or a controlling interest in the joint operations company, the Newspaper Agency Corp.
In a state where 70 percent of the population is Mormon and the church is heavily linked to government and media, the Tribune is widely respected as an independent voice. Losing that independence would be bad for Utah, Tribune employees said.
“It would be so disappointing to live in a place where there wouldn’t be an objective point of view,” Kathy Clark, a non-Mormon Salt Lake City resident, told the Associated Press.
Tribune publisher Dominic Welch said the company managing the paper for AT&T, the Salt Lake Tribune Publishing Co., would like to buy the paper from AT&T rather than surrender ownership to the church-owned News. AT&T has said the newspaper is “not a core asset,” Welch told the Associated Press.
The company has told AT&T, “We’re available to buy it if you really want to get rid of it, and we’re here to try to defend ourselves if you try to get rid of it without us,” Welch told the Tribune.
L. Glen Snarr, president of the Deseret News, said his paper has made no attempts to buy the Tribune. “We have made no bid and have not solicited that property,” he told the Tribune.
Quote of the Day: The Rev. Charles Rush of Summit, N.J.
(RNS) “I had both of them on either side of the Communion table during the Lord’s Supper, a rich symbol of what we are all about. At that moment I thought, we bring differences, but the point is we come together.”
_ The Rev. Charles Rush, pastor of Christ Church in Summit, N.J., whose church is attended by Republican Robert Franks and Democrat Jon Corzine, contenders for the U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey. Rush, who was quoted by the American Baptist News Service, pastors a church dually aligned with American Baptist Churches USA and the United Church of Christ.
DEA END RNS
