c. 2000 Religion News Service
Methodists Begin Pivotal Votes on Homosexuality
(RNS) Having voted decisively not to make opposition to homosexuality a litmus test for clergy, the United Methodist Church still appears likely to retain its position that homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching” and to uphold its ban on same-sex unions.
The church _ the nation’s second-largest Protestant body _ is meeting in Cleveland for its quadrennial General Conference, which sets doctrine and policy for the denomination. The meeting will wrap up on Friday (May 12).
On Monday, delegates voted 705-210 to reject a proposed oath for the church’s clergy that read, “I do not believe that homosexuality is God’s perfect will for any person. I will not practice it. I will not promote it. I will not allow its promotion to be encouraged under my authority.”
The General Conference is the only body that can speak for the entire church. Issues of gay ordination, same-sex unions and removing the “incompatibility” statement are expected to be sent to the delegates on Thursday (May 11) or Friday (May 12).
The church’s Faith and Order Committee, which has handled all legislation dealing with homosexuality, has signaled in various votes that it supports retaining the current language on homosexuality by about 60 percent to 40 percent.
The committee has recommended that the church keep its prohibition against same-sex unions and ordination of open homosexuals. Members also voted to retain the “incompatibility” language, although they approved an addition that reads, “We implore families and churches not to reject or condemn their lesbian and gay members and friends.”
The Rev. J. Phillip Wogamon, pastor of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., said he plans to file a proposed addition to the church’s “Book of Discipline” that would acknowledge the church “has been unable to arrive at a common mind on the compatibility of homosexual practice with Christian teaching.”
In other business, the church on Tuesday (May 9) called for a “total ban on ownership by the general public of handguns, assault weapons, automatic weapons conversion kits and weapons that cannot be detected by traditionally used metal detection devices” in countries where there are United Methodist churches. That vote passed by nearly 4-to-1.
Catholic Relief Services Evacuates Workers From Sierra Leone
(RNS) – Catholic Relief Services has announced it is withdrawing its workers from strife-torn Sierra Leone where a number of United Nations peacekeepers have been killed.
Four workers in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, were evacuated Saturday (May 6) to Conakry, Guinea, because of security concerns, said a spokeswoman for Catholic Relief Services, the official overseas relief and development agency of the nation’s roman Catholic bishops. She said several agency workers who are from Sierra Leone remain in the country, and the evacuated workers will rejoin them if the political situation in the country improves.
The evacuation is the latest evacuation order by groups with workers in the embattled West African nation, where rebel fighters are believed to be holding hundreds of U.N. peacekeepers hostage. More than 8,000 U.N. troops from India, Jordan and several countries in Africa are in Sierra Leone to help supervise a 1999 peace accord intended to bring an end to nearly 10 years of civil war between the government and Revolutionary United Front rebels. The U.N. peacekeeping mission has fallen into disarray since rebels began attacking troops last week.
Most of the United Nations’ civilian staff were evacuated from Sierra Leone on Monday (May 8), the Associated Press reported, as were more than 260 U.S. State Department non-essential employees. About 320 British, European Union and Commonwealth citizens were evacuated also, according to a British Ministry of Defense spokeswoman.
Revolutionary United Front rebels are believed to have taken at least 300 U.N. peacekeepers hostage last week. At least one peacekeeper is presumed dead,and some 200 are still missing.
The Washington Post reported that a senior government official said the Clinton administration has made no commitment to send U.S. troops, but the U.S. Air Force may be willing to transport about 700 peacekeepers from Bangladesh to Sierra Leone to help the situation.
African leaders are expected to meet Tuesday (May 8) in Guinea and Nigeria to analyze ways to resolve the situation.
Talks Fail on Preventing Protests at Cleveland Methodist Meeting
(RNS) An attempt to prevent mass demonstrations of civil disobedience on Wednesday (May 10) during the General Conference meeting of the United Methodist Church fell apart between pro-gay activists and church officials.
Protesters, led by the interfaith group SoulForce, plan civil disobedience demonstrations during Wednesday’s session of the conference, which is meeting in Cleveland through Friday to set policy for the nation’s second-largest Protestant body.
At issue is an appearance by Archbishop George Carey, leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, during an ecumenical celebration at the Cleveland Convention Center. SoulForce had wanted to pray silently during Carey’s speech, but church officials would not allow them on the convention floor.
SoulForce is protesting what it says are the anti-gay policies of the church which prohibit the ordinations of open homosexuals and ban same-sex union ceremonies. Much of the church’s positions on homosexuality are expected to remain intact during votes this week.
According to the Rev. Mel White, director of SoulForce, and the Rev. William Oden, president of the church’s Council of Bishops, an attempt to allow activists on the floor fell apart. White, who is not a member of the United Methodist Church, said his group wanted to be on the floor whenever gay legislation came up for a vote. He said the Council of Bishops voiced support for the group, but could not allow the group on the floor without getting the permission of close to 1,000 voting delegates.
White said the bishops did not want to further spotlight the controversy by bringing the issue to delegates. White also said if the protesters would not be allowed on the floor for all votes, they would not accept a deal. Oden’s comments on the discussion were limited.
“We have offered them hospitality and that’s all I can say,” Oden said.
White, an outspoken gay activist who was a former ghostwriter for Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson, said several of the church’s bishops will be arrested alongside the protesters, although he could not say how many. He added that if the church does not change its “hateful” anti-gay policies, he will lead a financial and talent boycott against “unfriendly” United Methodist congregations.
Students in Egypt Say Book Insults Islam and Mohammed
(RNS) Riot police in Cairo, Egypt broke up a demonstration Monday (May 8) of thousands of students from a prestigious Muslim university calling for the firing of Culture Ministry officials and the execution of the author of a novel they claim insults Islam.
Some 5,000 students of Al-Azhar University began demonstrating on Sunday to protest “A Banquet for Seaweed” by Syrian author Haider Haider.
“When someone insults God, he should be executed,” said one student,according to the Associated Press.
Police arrested at least 20 protesters, police officials said, who were joined by non-students on Monday (May 8).
At the heart of the controversy is a novel originally released in 1983 in Beirut, whose central characters are two leftist Iraqis who fault dictatorships for political oppression in Arab countries.
Egypt’s Culture Ministry reprinted the book last November as part of an effort to honor celebrated Arabic novels, but Culture Minister Farouk Hosni came under attack last week from Islamic fundamentalists in Egypt who said they believed the book insulted God and Mohammed, the founder of Islam. Students at Al-Azhar rallied to their cause.
The Associated Press reported that none of the students interviewed by its reporters had actually read Haider’s book. They had, however, read an article printed May 5 in the newspaper Al-Shaab which reported that Haider’s novel described as Mohammed as “a failed artist” and labeled the Koran as excrement.
But Haider told the Associated Press that fundamentalists were “trying to impose their monopoly of interpreting Islam the way they like … to impose a totalitarian cultural system.”
Hosni, who told Reuters the newspaper deliberately misrepresented the book, has said he does not intend to resign. Last week he appointed a committee of professors and religious figures to look into the charges against the book.
Anglican Bishop Says Church Might Accept Gays As It Did Gentiles
(RNS) Anglican Bishop Richard Holloway of Edinburgh, Scotland has suggested that the church might learn to accept gays and lesbians into the church in the same way the first Jewish Christians learned to accept Gentiles.
Holloway, one of the most outspoken advocates of gay rights in the Anglican communion, made his comments Sunday (May 7) in a sermon at a worship service during a conference of gay and lesbian activists.
“The real heart of the problem for lesbigay (sic) Christians is the Bible,” he said. “The Bible does not say much about homosexuality, but what it does say is negative and condemnatory, in both the Old and New Testaments.
“Rather than try to torture those texts into a liberal meaning, I want to say: `So what?’ There is much in the Bible that no modern person spends even a second worrying about,” noting it forbids usury, the taking of interest, and it sanctioned slavery and the subordination of women, “forms of immorality that we are no longer prepared to tolerate.”
“The simple point is that the Bible is a human book that contains much enduring wisdom and inspiration, as well as much that is no use to us because it is specific to the culture and practice of the time from which it comes,” Holloway said.
Just before his sermon the conference heard read the passage from the Acts of the Apostles when the Apostle Peter had to decide whether Gentiles could become Christians without first becoming Jews.
“”Were those things that the Bible clearly prohibited now to be permitted, even encouraged, as the divine voice clearly stated?” asked Holloway. “It took the early church generations to settle that question, but they did, which is why we are here today.”
Today, he said, the gay and Lesbian community is knocking at the church’s door in the same way the Gentile centurion Cornelius had come knocking at Peter’s door. “Go on knocking, my brothers and sisters, but please do not go away,” Holloway concluded. “One day it will be opened unto you.”
Quote of the Day: Pat Robertson, chairman of the Christian Coalition.
(RNS) “If (George W,) Bush would like to have somebody screaming curses at him about three times a week at the other end of the White House, then McCain is his man. I think other than that, if he wants harmony in his official family, I think he might look elsewhere.”
_ Christian Coalition Chairman Pat Robertson _ in an interview with the television program “Meet the Press” on Sunday (May 7) _ on whether Texas Gov. George W. Bush should select Arizona Sen. John McCain as his vice presidential running mate.
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