c. 2003 Religion News Service
Orthodox Christian Laity Pressing Unity Efforts
CLEVELAND (RNS) The dream of an American Orthodox Christian Church that transcends ethnic and national boundaries is being realized on the grass-roots level despite efforts by foreign prelates, say leaders of a lay group.
Pro-unity Orthodox leaders meeting in Cleveland last weekend (Nov. 1-2) were celebrating how far Romanian, Greek, Russian, Antiochian, Albanian Orthodox and Orthodox Americans from other traditions have come in working together in their communities.
Pan-Orthodox efforts from local groups helping the elderly in Pennsylvania to serving the poor in Cleveland to larger organizations such as International Orthodox Christian Charities are leading a unity movement from below, say leaders of Orthodox Christian Laity, the sponsor of the Cleveland meeting.
The hierarchy may be slow to change, but a future of increasing Orthodox cooperation “is happening whether the hierarchs want it or not,” said Andy Kartalis, co-chair of the Cleveland Steering Committee for the meeting.
The Orthodox Christian Ministries Networking Conference is part of an Inter-Orthodox Cooperation Initiative started last year by the national lay group that supports a united church in North America.
The road to Orthodox unity in America has not been easy.
The first Orthodox clergy came to Alaska in the late 18th century to minister to Russian fur traders. Up until the Russian Revolution of 1917, the missionary church embraced waves of immigrants from Europe and the Middle East, holding the hope of eventually forming an independent church in the United States.
The chaos of the Russian Revolution and a rise in ethnic nationalism quickly divided the church into ethnic jurisdictions. There are more than 30 ethnic jurisdictions in the United States today, most administered from abroad in places from Moscow to Jerusalem to Istanbul.
Hopes were raised in 1994, when U.S. bishops from several jurisdictions convened in Ligonier, Pa., and committed themselves to work toward administrative unity. But some overseas patriarchs, reluctant to give up control of the U.S. churches, rejected the Ligonier conference.
The Greek Orthodox Church, the largest Orthodox Church in the United States with an estimated 1.5 million members, seems further than ever from independence. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, based in Istanbul, Turkey, issued a new charter last year that protects overseas control of the U.S. church. Rejecting appeals for greater autonomy from the U.S. church, the hierarchy in Istanbul retained complete control when selecting the archbishop to govern the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
In talking about the efforts to move toward an American Orthodox Church, speakers at the Cleveland conference emphasized all the cooperative work from shared liturgical services to work on behalf of the poor being done in local communities.
And that is happening all over, said Deacon John Zarras, conference chair.
“The call of Ligonier has been amplified, is alive and well, and is and will be responded to by all the faithful in North America,” he said.
_ David Briggs
Bankruptcy Judge Approves VeggieTales Sale
CHICAGO (RNS) A federal bankruptcy judge has approved the sale of Big Idea Productions, makers of the best-selling VeggieTales video series, to Classic Media, owner of “Rocky and Bullwinkle,” “Lassie” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Classic Media will pay a reported $19.3 million for Big Idea, according to the Chicago Tribune. The sale, which was approved Thursday (Oct. 30), is expected to close by mid-December.
Classic Media had agreed in September to pay a reported $7.5 million for Big Idea. But an open auction was held Oct. 27 for the company’s assets, including rights to Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber, stars of the VeggieTales series, which has sold close to 30 million copies.
“I’m very pleased Classic Media has been confirmed as the new owner,” said Phil Vischer, founder of Big Idea and voice of Bob the Tomato. “Everyone at Big Idea is looking forward to working with them to advance our ministry to families in new and exciting ways.”
Despite VeggieTales’ popularity, Big Idea has had significant cash flow problems. According to the Tribune, the company lost more than $18 million in 2002, the same year it released the self-financed “Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie.” The film earned more than $24 million at the box office but cost close to $20 million to produce, little of which was recouped.
In April, Big Idea also lost a $10.6 million lawsuit to its former distributor, Lyrick Studios, which also distributes “Barney.”
Three new VeggieTales episodes are scheduled for 2004: “An Easter Carol,” in February, with additional releases in May and September. Classic Media plans to continue producing additional VeggieTales in the future.
“We are very enthusiastic about the addition of Big Idea to our portfolio of kids’ and family properties,” said Eric Ellenbogen, chairman and CEO of Classic Media, in a statement. “The creators at Big Idea are enormously talented and VeggieTales is a wonderful name in family entertainment. We look forward to many new productions and to supporting the Big Idea mission and the great relationship they have established with their audience.”
_ Bob Smietana
Muslim Student Sues School District Over Headscarf Ban
(RNS) A Muslim girl who was suspended twice for wearing a religious headscarf to her Oklahoma public school has filed a suit saying her rights to free speech and religious exercise have been violated.
The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties organization, filed suit Oct. 28 on behalf of Nashala Hearn, an 11-year-old student at the Benjamin Franklin Science Academy, a public middle school in Muskogee, Okla.
According to the suit, Hearn was suspended twice in October for violating the school district’s dress code. The dress code bar students from wearing “hats, caps, bandannas, plastic caps, or hoods on jackets” in school buildings.
The suit argues that she wears the headscarf, or hijab, in accordance with her religious beliefs.
After three-day and five-day suspensions, Hearn was allowed to return to school wearing the hijab pending school officials’ decisions about whether to change the dress code.
The suit seeks a declaration by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma in Muskogee that the use of the dress code to prevent Hearn’s wearing of the hijab violates her rights to free speech and religious exercise.
“School districts that pay lip service to pluralism and diversity but send a message of exclusion to religious adherents whose faith imposes certain dress requirements repudiate those same values in practice,” said John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, in a statement.
Eldon Gleichman, superintendent of the Muskogee Public School District, said he could not comment on the suit, but said district officials made an agreement with the student’s parents to study related court cases to determine if they need to revise district policy.
“She is wearing the same scarf … that she came to school with originally, which is part of the agreement,” Gleichman told Religion News Service.
Gleichman said he permitted her to cover her hair but not her whole face, though it had been requested that she be able to cover both.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Pope Warns Ecumenical Dialogue Has Become `More Problematic’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul said Tuesday (Nov. 4) that while Christians have taken “significant and important” steps toward unity over the past quarter-century, in some cases dialogue has become more rather than less problematic.
The Roman Catholic pontiff assessed the progress of ecumenism during his pontificate in a message to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which met two days after the Anglican Episcopal Church in the United States took the controversial step of consecrating an openly gay bishop.
The Rev. V. Gene Robinson on Sunday (Nov. 2) became the first admitted homosexual bishop in a major Christian denomination in a ceremony in a sports stadium in Durham, N.H.
The pope had served notice at a meeting in the Vatican on Oct. 4 with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion, that the Catholic Church opposed the consecration.
The pope said “new and serious difficulties” involving “essential matters of faith and morals” had arisen in Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue. The Catholic Church considers the practice of homosexuality to be a sin.
There was also strong opposition within the 77 million-member Anglican Communion. Conservative Anglican leaders in the United States, Africa and elsewhere announced they would break off relations with the Episcopal Church.
The pope made no direct reference to Robinson on Tuesday but said although “important and significant steps” have been taken toward the common goal of Christian unity, dialogue “seems in certain cases to be made more problematic.”
In his message, addressed to Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Council for Promoting Christian Unity, John Paul nevertheless underlined “the urgency with which the church must carry forward the task of re-establishing full communion among Christians.”
Acknowledging “the ecumenical way is not an easy way,” John Paul said the church must continue dialogue in the “conviction that there is no other choice.”
“All of us, in the school of ecumenism, are learning to live with humble faith in this intermediate period in the knowledge that it remains, however, a period of no return,” the pope said.
_ Peggy Polk
Fla. Church Sues Over County Rejection of Religious Display
(RNS) A Fort Lauderdale, Fla., church has sued county officials, claiming they reneged on an agreement for the church to display a “Jesus Is the Reason for the Season” display during a holiday lights event in a county park.
The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based legal firm, filed suit in district court Oct. 22 on behalf of Calvary Chapel Church.
According to court documents, the nondenominational church paid $15,000 to participate in the two-mile “Holiday Fantasy of Lights” event, a series of drive-through displays in Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek.
The church alleges that it reached an agreement over the summer with county officials to display a cross and the words “Jesus Is the Reason for the Season _ Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale.”
But in late August, the church was informed that the approval had been revoked. The suit claims that church officials were told that there was a new policy that permitted sponsors of the event “to select only from a pre-existing inventory of displays.”
The church argues that the denial of its sponsorship of a display violates its rights of free speech and free exercise of religion. It seeks a declaration by the court that the county’s actions amounted to unconstitutional censorship.
“Our parks have, from time immemorial, been recognized as forums appropriate for free speech activities,” said John W. Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, in a statement. “To exclude Calvary Chapel from this holiday event is clearly viewpoint discrimination and is therefore in violation of our Constitution.”
The attorney for Broward County did not return a call from Religion News Service.
In 2002, the church proposed a display including a Christmas star and the words “Remember Him.” County officials did not permit that religious view and a compromise suggested by the church _ a star and the words “God Bless America” _ was accepted.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Terry Butts, lawyer for suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore
(RNS) “We will continue to defend and fight for the chief until hell freezes over, and when hell freezes over, we’ll fight them on the ice.”
_ Terry Butts, defense lawyer for suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, discussing plans to defend the judge during a Nov. 12 ethics trial before the state Court of the Judiciary regarding his unsuccessful efforts to keep a Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building’s rotunda.
DEA END RNS
