c. 2000 Religion News Service
Episcopal Church pulls out of convention hotel over racial claims
(RNS) The Episcopal Church will pay a $1.2 million penalty and break a contract with Denver’s Adam’s Mark Hotel because the hotel chain has been sued for racial discrimination.
The denomination had planned to use more than 1,000 rooms and all of the hotel’s meeting rooms during its General Convention this July. About 10,000 people are expected to attend the meeting.”We were disturbed to learn just prior to Christmas that the United States Department of Justice had filed suit against the hotel chain in federal court in Florida alleging a broad pattern of racial discrimination in providing a variety of guest services,”wrote President Bishop Frank T. Griswold and House of Deputies President Pamela P. Chinnis in a joint statement.
They said their subsequent discussions with hotel officials in Denver and at the chain’s St. Louis headquarters did not halt their concerns.”The church is obviously not in a position to assess the merit of the discrimination suit against the hotel chain,”they wrote.”Nevertheless, the allegations of the Justice Department and other reports from local leaders citing similar problems with the Adam’s Mark in Denver led us to recommend … that the church not go forward with the planned arrangements to use any of the facilities of that hotel at the Denver convention.” The church’s Executive Council voted unanimously Monday (Jan. 17) to no longer use the hotel.
Hotel officials could not be reached Monday (Jan. 17) but Andre van Hall, general manager of the Denver hotel, said earlier that he knew the Episcopal Church had some concerns”but we haven’t been found guilty of anything.” The church already had booked delegates and meetings in four other downtown hotels, but the Adam’s Mark _ the largest hotel in Denver _ was to be the convention headquarters.”This is a large, complicated meeting so we will have to find another space,”said Jim Solheim, national spokesman for the New York-based denomination.
The Justice Department suit, filed in December, alleged that African-Americans were charged more than other guests, given less desirable rooms and required to wear identifying bracelets while at the chain’s Daytona Beach, Fla., hotel.
Religious leaders urge recognition for same-sex unions
(RNS) More than 800 religious leaders have signed a declaration declaring sexuality is”central to our humanity and … integral to our spirituality,”and urging that all faiths recognize same-sex unions and gay and lesbian ministers.”In a culture that often seeks to exploit or repress our sexuality, it is critical for people of faith to offer an alternative vision that places sexuality in the context of divine holiness and moral integrity,”said the Rev. John H. Thomas, president of the United Church of Christ, one of the declaration’s endorsers.
The Religious Declaration on Sexual Morality, Justice and Healing also advocates lifelong, age-appropriate sex education and”a faith-based commitment to sexual and reproductive rights, including access to voluntary contraception, abortion and HIV/STD (sexually transmitted disease) prevention and treatment.” The document _ sponsored by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States, a national nonprofit group _ was released at a news conference in New York on Tuesday (Jan. 18). Its 20 creators, drawn from a wide range of faiths, include Rabbi Balfour Brickner of the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in New York City, Dr. Beverly W. Harrison of Union Theological Seminary in New York, and the Rev. Carlton Veazey of the Religion Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
Endorsers also represent a variety of faith communities _ from Baptist to Episcopal to Roman Catholic _ and secular organizations, such as the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence and faith communities. Among those who signed the document _ independent of their organizations _ were Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice; Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center; and John Buehrens, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association.”Religious people need to think about issues of sexuality from the point of view of justice and equality for all,”said Buehrens.
Debra Haffner, president of the group sponsoring the declaration, said it was created because”the religious right has staked the public claim to the dialogue on sexuality and religion. There was a huge outpouring of interest in doing something to articulate a different vision.””At the dawn of the new millennium, religious leaders are calling on faith communities to heal the mind/body dualism of the past 2,000 years,”said Haffner.”Our sexuality and our spirituality are inexorably linked.”
Supreme Court to rule on cases addressing abortion, gay issues
(RNS) Organizations concerned about two of the nation’s most controversial moral topics _ abortion and homosexuality _ have welcomed a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to take on cases dealing with a controversial late-term abortion procedure and gay leadership in the Boy Scouts of America.
The high court said Friday (Jan. 14) it will hear oral arguments in the two cases. The cases will likely be heard in April and decisions are expected to be rendered by July, the Associated Press reported.
In the abortion case, justices will review a Nebraska law making it a crime for doctors to perform a surgical procedure known as dilation and extraction _ what opponents call a”partial birth”abortion. In that procedure, a fetus is partially extracted, feet first, through the birth canal, and its skull is cut and drained.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously struck down the Nebraska law, saying its wording also would ban a more common procedure called dilation and evacuation.
But other, almost identical, state laws were upheld by another federal appeals court.
The Family Research Council, a Washington-based group opposing abortion, was among those cheering the Supreme Court’s consideration.”We hope the judges uphold the ruling of the lower court and end this very gruesome, very specific measure of infanticide,”said Janet Parshall, the group’s chief spokesperson.
Janet Benshoof, president of the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, an abortion-rights group with offices in New York and Washington, also welcomed the court’s upcoming ruling.”Whatever decision the court eventually makes, this case will be our roadmap for women’s reproductive choice in the 21st century,”she said in a statement.”With this step, we all hope for and will continue to work toward a positive route that ensures women’s constitutional right to choose.” In the Boy Scout case, the high court will decide whether the scouting organization can bar gays as troop leaders or members. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled last summer that the Boy Scouts’ denying of membership to gays violated state anti-discrimination laws.
Liberty Counsel, an Orlando, Fla.-based group that supports the Boy Scouts in this matter, welcomed the high court’s review.”Requiring the Boy Scouts to employ or admit an active homosexual is like requiring a church to hire a Satanist as its pastor, or like requiring a Miss America Pageant to admit drag queens,”the organization said in a statement.
But James Dale, the gay man whose assistant scoutmaster position was revoked, said in a statement the Boy Scouts should not be able to discriminate.”The court now has a chance to hear that scouting is about honesty, community service, self-reliance and respect for others _ not discrimination,”he said.
Dale is being represented by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, a New York-based organization that defends the civil rights of homosexuals.
In a separate matter, the high court also decided to review an appeal by five Branch Davidians who are challenging the length of their sentences for using firearms during a gun battle that began the 1993 standoff at the group’s compound near Waco, Texas.
Two California Healthcare West hospitals vote to unionize
(RNS) Nurses at two southern California hospitals belonging to Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), the state’s largest hospital chain, have voted to go union in an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board.
With 249 voting for and 209 against, according to hospital figures, the professional registered nurses at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, Calif., and St. John’s Pleasant Valley Hospital in nearby Camarillo chose to be represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
The hospital elections in Ventura County near Los Angeles are the latest skirmishes in a bitter battle over how the hospital chain should deal with struggles to unionize in light of the church’s traditional support of the labor movement.
The Oxnard and Camarillo actions ended a two-year process that began with organizing efforts at CHW hospitals in Los Angeles and Sacramento, according to David Bullock, president of SEIU Local 399, which will represent the nurses.
Though management opposition to the union campaign at St. John’s”was markedly less intense”than at other CHW hospitals in 1998 and 1999, the union discovered”a consistent effort by management to dissuade nurses from unionization,”according to SEIU spokesperson Lisa Hubbard.
While the primary issue for the nurses was the desire for a”voice”in how health care is delivered, Bullock said, SEIU indicated the union will also address concerns over wages and benefits.
The St. John’s elections were the first ripples in a cascade of 12 votes scheduled or being organized at CHW hospitals in California in 2000. On Jan. 27, 2,500 CHW employees at eight hospitals in San Francisco will decide on union representation, according to SEIU.
More than 105,000 nurses and 20,000 doctors belong to SEIU, according to union figures.”We respect the decision that our professional registered nurses have made,”said hospital officials,”and we are ready to move forward.”They added,”To this end we will bargain with SEIU in good faith.”
Ailing O’Connor Celebrates 80th Year, Anticipates End of Post
(RNS) Cardinal John O’Connor, ailing after brain surgery, celebrated his 80th birthday Saturday (Jan. 15) and joked about his expected upcoming departure from his role as leader of New York’s Catholics.”I will soon be evicted. I don’t know when it will be,”said O’Connor, who has reached the age at which cardinals lose their power to vote for a new pope.”I will have the distinction of being the first living cardinal to be thrown out.” He made the joke at a birthday gala that raised $5.2 million for Catholic charities, including funding of a seminary position named for the cardinal and support for archdiocesan parochial schools.
O’Connor, who underwent surgery in August for the removal of a brain tumor, is in frail health and cannot stand for long periods. Pope John Paul II is expected to name his replacement soon.”At this time, when your illness makes new demands upon your spiritual and physical resources, I pray that you will press forward, with faith and hope,”the pope said in a letter read during the Sunday service at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
O’Connor also was treated to the singing of”Happy Birthday”by 3,000 worshippers on the day after his birthday, the Associated Press reported.”Well, this is wonderful, but does anybody have a job for me?”he joked after receiving a standing ovation.
O’Connor is the spiritual leader of 2.4 million Catholics in Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island and seven counties of upstate New York.
Among names cited as possible successors are Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis; Archbishop Edwin O’Brien, who leads the archdiocese for the military; and Bishop Henry Mansell of Buffalo, N.Y., a former top aide to O’Connor.
Mormon Student Sues Over Drama Program Profanity
(RNS) A Mormon student who studied drama at the University of Utah is suing the school, claiming she was forced to leave the drama program after refusing to say lines that contained profanity.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday (Jan. 13), Christina Axson-Flynn, 20, seeks unspecified damages for violation of her religious freedom, according to The Associated Press.
Axson-Flynn said faculty members did not allow her to substitute words in a scene containing language she considered offensive, even though during the audition to the program she had informed faculty of her objections to”taking the Lord’s name in vain”and”saying the F-word.”A faculty member told her to”get over”her objections and said she could”still be a good Mormon”if she used profanity. Eventually, Axson-Flynn claimed, she was told to withdraw from the drama program.
Requiring his client to use profanity would be analogous to requiring a Jewish student enrolled in a cooking course to eat pork, said Axson-Flynn’s lawyer, James McConkie.
A university spokesman said the theater department disputes the woman’s claims.
Quote of the day: USA Today Columnist Rabbi Gerald L. Zelizer
(RNS)”Because the Bible was the engine that drove Martin Luther King Jr., its omission in school curricula constitutes an incomplete education about the man and what motivated him.” USA Today columnist Rabbi Gerald L. Zelizer, writing Monday (Jan. 17) about why school textbooks should include religion’s role in the Rev. Martin Luther King’s support for civil rights.
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