c. 2004 Religion News Service
Appeals Courts Declare Bible Classes, Park Cross Unconstitutional
(RNS) Appeals courts in two different parts of the country handed church-state separationists victories on Monday (June 7), declaring the unconstitutionality of weekly Bible classes in public schools and an 8-foot cross in a federal park.
The 6th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld a district court ruling that the Bible Education Ministry program in Rhea County, Tenn., public schools violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause.
“The (school) board’s justification of authorizing the BEM program as a component of its character development requirement ignores the overwhelmingly sectarian nature of the actual classes taught under its auspices,” the three-judge panel ruled.
The half-hour classes were held each week for students in three county schools.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld a lower court ruling that the steel-pipe cross structure in the Mojave National Preserve was unconstitutional, the Associated Press reported.
The cross, near Barstow, Calif., was covered in a heavy tarp after a federal judge agreed with the American Civil Liberties Union in 2002 that the “primary effect of the presence of the cross” was to “advance religion.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Discipline Needed for Canadian and U.S. Churches, Anglicans Say
(RNS) Anglican leaders from the “Global South” have demanded the ouster from the Anglican Communion of the Anglican Church of Canada for its recent vote to describe homosexual relationships as holy.
At the same time, 700 self-described “orthodox” Episcopal priests and bishops appealed for “urgent assistance” from an Irish archbishop whose task force is studying divisions within the Anglican Communion.
The Global South statement by Archbishop Gregory Venables, issued on behalf of 22 archbishops who represent 50 million of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, said the Canadian church was “rewriting the Christian faith.”
The use of the word “sanctity” “means that the whole issue has already been decided, and that is devastating,” Venables, who leads the Anglican Church in six South American nations, told London’s Daily Telegraph. “We would like to see them (the Canadians) expelled. This is going against Christian teaching, and they should either repent or shut the door behind themselves.”
The primates said the Canadians should be ejected along with the liberal Episcopal Church in the United States, which approved the consecration of Anglicanism’s first openly gay bishop last year.
After voting to defer until 2007 a decision on blessing same-sex unions, Canadian Anglicans last week (June 3) endorsed a last-minute amendment that “affirms the integrity and sanctity of committed adult same-sex relationships.”
In a letter circulated by the Rev. David Roseberry, pastor of Christ Church Episcopal in Plano, Texas, 700 clergy told Archbishop Robin Eames that previous efforts to hold the U.S. church accountable have been “to no avail.”
“Without the imposition of discipline, the situation will only continue to deteriorate,” the letter said. “We ask you to declare the need for immediate intervention to establish discipline, order and accountability for the Episcopal Church.”
Eames’ commission is scheduled to make its recommendations to the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in October. Eames will meet with U.S. church leaders on Friday (June 11) in North Carolina.
_ Ron Csillag and Kevin Eckstrom
NIH Study: Prayer Is Americans’ Favored `Alternative’ Medicine
WASHINGTON (RNS) Even with all the new alternative medicines that have burst upon the scene under vivid banners of hype and promotion, for most Americans the oldest (and cheapest) “alternative medicine” is still their favorite _ prayer.
According to a nationwide survey recently conducted by the National Institutes of Health, 36 percent of Americans over 18 use some form of “complementary alternative medicine,” or CAM. When praying for health reasons was included in the definition of a CAM, that number jumped to 62 percent.
Of those who have used CAMs, 43 percent said they pray for their own health. Twenty-four percent said they have asked others to pray for them and 10 percent said they have participated in prayer groups where their health was the main topic of supplication.
“Over the years we’ve concentrated on traditional medical treatment, but this new collection of CAM data taps into another dimension entirely,” said Edward J. Sondik, director of the National Center for Health Statistics. “What we see is that a sizable percentage of the public puts their personal health into their own hands.”
Following prayer on the list of most popular CAMs were natural products, such as herbs and enzymes, at 19 percent; deep breathing exercises at 12 percent; and chiropractic care at 8 percent.
The survey, which NIH officials have touted as the most comprehensive and reliable data ever obtained on CAMs in the United States, was administered to more than 31,000 Americans. It was conducted as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey.
_ Daniel Burke
Vatican to Publish Information on World War II Prisoners
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican will publish this month the complete archives of an office that handled requests for help in finding 2.1 million soldiers and civilians missing or held prisoner during World War II.
The Vatican Secret Archives said in its announcement Tuesday (June 8) that it also would make the original documents contained in 2,349 archival units available to scholars as of Sept. 15.
In addition to two volumes of scholarly essays, samples of documents and summaries of work carried out under 21 headings, including Persecution for Political, Religious and Racial Motives, the Vatican is issuing eight DVDs containing reproductions of all the files.
Two years ago, Pope John Paul II directed the Secret Archives to give historians access to archives on relations with Germany during the 17 years leading to the war and the Holocaust and to publish all its files on the missing and prisoners. The pre-war files were opened on Feb. 17, 2003.
Officials of the archives said at the time that this was an “exceptional” action taken in an attempt to “put an end to unjust and ungrateful speculation” over the wartime role of Pope Pius XII. Critics have accused the pope of failing to intervene on behalf of Jewish Holocaust victims because he had Nazi sympathies.
The Vatican normally opens its archives on an entire papacy rather than releasing selected documents. Officials said the archives on the pontificate of Pius XI, from 1922 to 1939, will be released at the end of 2005, but they gave no indication of when they will open the documents on Pius XII’s years as pope, 1939 to 1958.
John Paul’s attempt to beatify Pius XII has been stalled by the World War II controversy. A commission of Catholic and Jewish historians appointed in 1999 to study the issue suspended its work in 2001 with Jewish members attacking the Vatican for refusing them full access to documents concerning Pius XII.
The Vatican said the documents of the Vatican Information Office for Prisoners of War offer “testimony to the wide charitable and social work inspired by the principles of universality and impartiality carried out by the pontificate of Pius XII.”
_ Peggy Polk
European Baptist Mission Seeks Forgiveness From Africans
(RNS) Members of the European Baptist Mission, meeting recently for their 50th anniversary, have asked for the forgiveness of African churches for Europe’s role in the division of the continent among colonial powers, the Baptist World Alliance announced.
“We ask our African partner churches for forgiveness for allowing the spirit of colonialism to make a mockery of the spirit of Christ,” the mission stated in a declaration approved at a meeting that concluded last month (May).
“We also ask for forgiveness for the events of the past, which we recognize today as being contrary to the spirit of Christ.”
The mission’s 50th anniversary meeting took place in Berlin, which was the location of a “Berlin Congo Conference” 120 years ago when representatives of European countries and the United States made decisions about the partition of the continent.
“The division of Africa, which was planned, decreed and made possible by the Berlin Conference, resulted not only in a political splintering of Africa, but also in a destruction of natural, ethnic, social and national connections, which led to tensions that continue to cause bloody conflicts,” the declaration reads.
The European Christians confessed that they had profited from the unequal treatment of nations and promised better future partnerships.
“We vow to learn from the 1884 Berlin Conference to strive for a world where justice prevails,” they wrote.
_ Adelle M. Banks
New President Named at Andover Newton Theological School
(RNS) Andover Newton Theological School, a primary training ground for American Baptist and United Church of Christ clergy in Massachusetts, has named a former disarmament activist as its new president.
The Rev. Nick Carter, who led the SANE/Freeze movement for global disarmament during a time when the Cold War ended in the late 1980s, will take the reins at the ecumenical seminary on July 1. He replaces the Rev. Benjamin Griffin, who is retiring after nine years on the job.
Carter comes to the school as a specialist in “institutional transformation,” Andover Newton said in a statement. “He brings a varied resume including experience as a suburban church pastor, a strategic consultant to nonprofits and an evangelist who used folk music and poetry readings to attract young adults to church in the 1970s.”
An ordained American Baptist minister, Carter will lead an institution with Baptist and Congregational roots dating to 1807, but whose students now come from 35 denominations. Increasingly, graduates use their education to launch careers not only in parish ministry but also academia, counseling, religious education and social work.
“We are delighted to welcome as our next president a person of Nick Carter’s intellect, enthusiasm and humor,” said Jean Muller, chair of the presidential search committee.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Quote of the Day: Baptist Center for Ethics Executive Director Robert Parham
(RNS) “The biblical witness tells us that human beings are neither morally perfect nor completely devoid of the divine image. Thus, we must always temper our praise and dampen our criticism. While some use President Reagan’s death to advance their ideological agenda, Christian faith teaches us to pray for those who mourn.”
_ Baptist Center for Ethics Executive Director Robert Parham, commenting in an article published by his center’s EthicsDaily.com about reaction to the death of former President Ronald Reagan.
DEA/PH END RNS
