c. 2004 Religion News Service
Gay Methodist Minister to Face Trial Under New Rules
(RNS) Three months after the United Methodist Church tightened its rules against “self-avowed, practicing” gay clergy, a lesbian pastor in Philadelphia will face trial after disclosing her sexual orientation.
The Rev. Irene “Beth” Stroud, associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Germantown since 1999, came out in a 2003 sermon and said she had been living “in a covenant relationship” with her partner, Chris Paige, for more than two years.
A church investigation committee voted 5-3 on July 23 that “reasonable grounds exist” for a church trial. Bishop Peter Weaver of Philadelphia has not yet set a trial date.
“I love the United Methodist Church,” Stroud said in a statement posted on her church’s Web site. “This is where I came to know the love of God as a young child, and where God is calling me to serve.”
In her 2003 sermon, Stroud acknowledged that she could lose her job. “I know that God will take care of me. I know that God will bless my truth-telling and my risk-taking as God has blessed my ministry,” she said at the time.
Stroud’s sermon came well before the highly publicized case of the Rev. Karen Dammann, a lesbian pastor in Washington state whose not-guilty verdict was upheld by the church’s highest court in May.
Still, Stroud’s case is likely to be affected by newer, stricter policies adopted by the court and delegates at the Methodists’ General Conference to prevent similar verdicts like the Dammann acquittal.
Even though the court said it could not overturn the Dammann verdict, it ruled that homosexual practice is a “chargeable offense.” Bishops may not appoint pastors who have been found to be “self-avowed practicing” homosexuals by a church trial, the court said.
The church’s senior pastor, the Rev. Fred Day, said his congregation fully supports Stroud’s ministry and has started a legal defense fund for her.
“She is an excellent pastor, deeply appreciated for her ministry. She is a courageous leader, willing to have her private life made so public,” he said on the Web site.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Ousted Alabama Judge Asks Supreme Court to Reinstate Him
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (RNS) Roy Moore has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reinstate him as Alabama’s chief justice, saying he was subjected to an unconstitutional religious test when he was ousted for refusing to move his Ten Commandments monument.
Moore also contends the Alabama Court of the Judiciary denied him due process by refusing to listen to his argument that the federal court order he disobeyed was illegal.
At a press conference Monday (Aug. 2), Moore said that if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear his case, it could reinstate him, order him retried or affirm his ouster from office. The court’s fall term begins in October, and Moore said he expects to hear its decision soon thereafter.
If the Supreme Court denies his petition, Moore said, “It is over about me being removed from office.”
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ordered Moore almost two years ago to remove his 5,280-pound granite monument from the judicial building rotunda. Thompson ruled that the monument violated the First Amendment’s ban on state-established religion. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review the lower court decisions.
Moore refused to move the monument, but other justices moved it to avoid contempt fines on the state.
The state Court of the Judiciary later ousted Moore from office. Chief Judge William C. Thompson ruled that his court had “neither the authority nor the jurisdiction to entertain issues regarding the correctness” of the federal judge’s order.
Attorneys for Moore, in a 30-page brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, argue that Moore’s monument was an “acknowledgment of God” just like the oaths of office public officials take, in which they say “so help me God.”
They cited a 1961 case from Maryland in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a notary public couldn’t be denied his job because he refused to say he believed in God. The Supreme Court, in that case, said neither a state nor the federal government can constitutionally force a person to “profess a belief or disbelief in any religion.”
Moore, his attorney’s allege, “was removed precisely because he would not forsake that acknowledgment of God even in the face of a federal injunction.”
_ Stan Bailey
Survey Detects Gender Gap Among Rabbis
(RNS) Male and female rabbis in the Conservative movement of Judaism experience very different career paths, leading to a “gender gap” in the rabbinate, a new survey reports.
“Gender Variation in the Careers of Conservative Rabbis: A Survey of Rabbis Ordained Since 1985” was released July 30 by the Rabbinical Assembly, the Conservative movement’s association of rabbis.
The survey, the first of its kind, was a mail-back form sent to all 156 Conservative women rabbis living in the United States, as well as an equivalent sample of male rabbis. From that original sample, a total of 233 actually responded to the survey. Women account for approximately 30 percent of all Conservative rabbis ordained since 1985, when the movement first began ordaining women.
Approaching the 20th anniversary of that move, the survey found that male rabbis work full time, have pulpit positions, lead their congregations and lead larger congregations more than their female counterparts.
At the same time, women rabbis more often complain of gender-related remarks at work, express lower levels of professional satisfaction and feel unfairly treated in job interviews, the survey found.
Some of these issues, particularly the 36 percent of women rabbis who work part time as compared to 3 percent of men, lead to a discrepancy in pay between male and female rabbis. The survey found that the average male rabbi earns $89,000 annually, while a female rabbi earns only $61,000 a year on average.
Family life also differs among the rabbis down gender lines. While 80 percent of male rabbis are married with children, according to the survey, only 42 percent of female rabbis are.
The authors of the survey concluded that the variety of factors that lead to women’s different career experiences converge to the detriment of the larger Jewish community.
“The under-representation of women in certain sectors of Conservative rabbinic leadership, coupled with their under-compensation, is not only a matter of equity and fairness. It is also a matter of securing the best possible leadership for American Jews,” wrote Steven Cohen and Judith Schor in the conclusion of the report.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Muslim Chaplain Cleared in Army Probe Seeks Resignation
(RNS) A Muslim chaplain who was cleared after an espionage investigation has submitted a letter of resignation to the Army.
Capt. James Yee, who was imprisoned for 76 days during the probe, said Monday (Aug. 2) that officials never apologized to him, the Associated Press reported.
Yee, 35, said officials also never let him retrieve his belongings from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where he had ministered to prisoners at a naval station.
He was held after the military linked him to a possible espionage ring at that location.
“Those unfounded allegations _ which were leaked to the media _ irreparably injured my personal and professional reputation and destroyed my prospects for a career in the United States Army,” Yee wrote in the resignation letter.
He asked to be discharged Jan. 7. His resignation must be approved by the Army but his lawyer, Eugene R. Fidell, said he doubted Yee’s request would be denied.
Fort Lewis spokesman Lt. Col. Bill Costello said he did not know when Yee would receive a response to his request.
Yee was taken into custody in September while he was carrying what authorities said were classified materials. He was eventually charged with mishandling classified documents, making a false official statement, failing to obey an order, conduct unbecoming an officer and adultery.
In March, Army officials dropped all criminal charges against him and found him guilty of non-criminal Army charges of downloading pornography and adultery. A month later, an Army general threw out the reprimand he received.
Yee hopes to continue pursuing a master’s degree in international relations and perhaps a doctorate after he leaves the Army, his lawyer said.
European Aid Official Pledges More Help for Darfur
LONDON (RNS) The program manager of the joint European Roman Catholic and Protestant aid operation for the Darfur region of Sudan called the group’s response “1 percent of what it should be” but pledged, “We are working very hard to scale up.”
“In the next few weeks, significant numbers of new staff will arrive, and there will be more local staff recruited in each of the three bases,” said Alistair Dutton.
Dutton’s comments came in the context of a visit to Darfur by representatives of the relief agencies involved, whose program at Nyala, southern Darfur, is believed to be one of the first joint operation between the Catholic Caritas International network and the Protestant Action by Churches Together.
The aim of the program is to help 500,000 people displaced by the conflict in Darfur.
So far about 50,000 displaced people have been helped by the relief agencies, which have been providing shelter, sanitation, clean water, health care, seeds, tools, blankets and soap.
The head of one of the tribes displaced by the conflict, Sultan Abdullah Munwal, told a news conference that people were at the Belil camp for four months before Sudo _ the Sudanese Development Organization _ brought shelter material.
“We need water, food, clothes, mosquito nets and a health center,” he said. “At home we were farmers, but we don’t have seeds, security, or a place to plant here. Before our village was attacked I had cows, money and goats. Now I have nothing.”
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: Cuban President Fidel Castro
(RNS) “He depends on religion as a defense mechanism, substituting thought. In some ways, he doesn’t even have to think.”
_ Cuban President Fidel Castro, criticizing President Bush in a speech marking the island’s annual Revolution Day celebration in late July. He was quoted by the Associated Press.
DEA/PH END RNS
