c. 2004 Religion News Service
Mainline Church Leaders Once Critical of Bush Congratulate Him
WASHINGTON (RNS) Leaders of mainline Protestant churches, who have been at odds with President Bush over the war in Iraq and other issues, urged national unity in congratulatory statements sent after his win Tuesday.
Bush and his wife, Laura, both United Methodists, received Bibles signed by the 130 members of the Methodist Conference of Bishops at their meeting in St. Simon’s Island, Ga. The signed Bibles are a 200-year tradition for the bishops.
“We pledge to work with President Bush to build bridges of understanding that we pray will lead to overcoming the gulfs that divide the nation and the world,” said Bishop Peter Weaver of Boston, president of the bishops conference.
The bishops vehemently opposed Bush’s decision to invade Iraq and complained that they had little access during Bush’s first term. Bishop John Schol, the new bishop of Washington, said he hoped to mend those fences.
“I know the Council of Bishops wants to have an open line of communication with President Bush,” he said. “As the bishop of Washington, D.C., I too want to establish a good working relationship.”
Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, who criticized both Bush and Sen. John Kerry in September for the negative tone of their campaigns, promised to pray for the president and his family.
“The American electorate has spoken in this election about its deep concern for personal moral values and faith,” Hanson said. “It is my hope that we will not separate personal morality from public responsibility for the complex moral issues of hunger and poverty, HIV/AIDS, environmental degradation, civil war and social inequities.”
When in Washington, Bush occasionally attends services at St. John’s Episcopal Church, located one block from the White House across Lafayette Square. Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold prayed for healing for the nation after a “vitriolic and divisive” campaign.
“What is needed now is a unifying vision, clearly articulated, of our great nation as a servant of all the world’s peoples in their yearning after justice and peace,” he said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Nazi Camp Survivor Highlights Suffering of Jehovah’s Witnesses
LOS ANGELES (RNS) A 99-year-old Jehovah’s Witness who survived Nazi persecution is touring the United States, giving younger generations a face to put on the often obscured story of the estimated 2,000 Jehovah’s Witnessess killed in the Holocaust.
“When you actually meet a person, you connect more; you can see that he’s not a superman,” said Claybourne Roberts, 43, one of about 200 Jehovah’s Witnesses who visited the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles last month to meet Leopold Enleitner, an Austrian farmhand persecuted in World War II after being arrested at a Bible study group.
Despite Nazi offers of freedom if he renounced his faith, Engleitner refused and remained imprisoned with other Jehovah’s Witnessess at three concentration camps, including Buchenwald. His saga is the subject of a book and DVD documentary by fellow Austrian Bernhard Rammerstorfer, both titled “Unbroken Will: The Extraordinary Courage of an Ordinary Man.”
Unlike Europe’s Jews who had virtually no options to leave concentration camps, “he had choices,” said David Goldfarb, who grew up Jewish and became a Jehovah’s Witness at age 15. “He had choices _ to stand up to the entire Hitler regime by choice.”
At an Oct. 12 gathering in Los Angeles, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Museum of Tolerance and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, praised Engleitner and other devoutly religious people for “the tremendous spirit that people of faith bring to the table. No, he is not a survivor of the Holocaust, but he is a survivor of Nazi tyranny, targeted because he made a decision about how he was going to pray to God.”
Though he almost was executed twice, Engleitner clung to his faith. After the war, he returned to a farming life in Austria, married and raised a family.
Engleitner spoke very little at the Museum of Tolerance but shook many hands as he signed copies of “Unbroken Will.” The first question from the audience was which Bible scripture he drew strength from while imprisoned.
Sitting in a wheelchair, Engleitner immediately said in German: “Psalms, 35:1.” Several Jehovah’s Witnesses in the museum theater pulled out Bibles and found the passage, which reads, “Strive thou, O Jehovah, with them that strive with me: Fight thou against them that fight against me.”
_ David Finnigan
Church Youth Group Apologizes for Stealing, Burning Campaign Signs
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (RNS) The senior pastor and the youth minister of an Alabama church have formally apologized for a youth scavenger hunt that targeted Kerry-Edwards signs, which were burned in the church parking lot.
Doug Dermody, chairman of the Madison County Democratic Executive Committee, said Monday that the pastor, the Rev. Jeff Ponder-Twardy, and youth minister B.J. Storey of Owens Crossroads United Methodist Church apologized to their congregation Sunday and submitted a written apology to the county’s Democratic headquarters.
Ponder-Twardy personally delivered the regrets Monday, according to Dermody.
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it,” Dermody said.
Theft of campaign signs from private property is a misdemeanor. The two ministers were unavailable for comment.
Dermody said the incident occurred during a recent youth lock-in in which youngsters were sent on a scavenger hunt. Kerry-Edwards signs were on the list of items to retrieve from area yards. About eight signs were taken and burned that evening at the church, Dermody said he was told.
Dermody said the pastor and youth minister emphasized in their written apology that the incident was not an attempt to make a political statement, nor did it necessarily reflect the views of the church, its congregation or its denomination.
“It was meant to be harmless fun, but it went too far,” Ponder-Twardy wrote, adding that he had no prior knowledge of the plan.
_ John Peck
Korean Missionaries Advised Not to Travel to Iraq
(RNS) The South Korean government warned Christian missionaries in the country Wednesday (Nov. 3) not to travel to Iraq after five South Koreans were taken into protective custody and flown home.
“Asians stand out because of the difference in appearance from people from other countries and they will easily be spotted by terrorists if they ever go looking,” Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told reporters, Reuters reported.
“I want to stress that there is a limit to how much the government can do to protect the citizens if they to enter (Iraq) without concern for their own security,” he said.
South Korea has more than 12,000 missionaries in 145 countries _ second only to the United States, according to the Korean World Missions Association, and many are known for their efforts to spread Christianity to communist and Muslim nations, Reuters said. South Korea also has the third largest foreign military contingent in Iraq, behind the United States and Britain.
A South Korean interpreter, who was also a devout Christian, was beheaded by militants in June.
Officials said while the government cannot legally stop citizens from going to Iraq, it is intensifying its warning following the weekend beheading of a Japanese hostage.
_ David Anderson
Pope Says Truths of Science and Faith Will Converge Into One Truth
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II said Monday (Nov. 8) he believes that the truths of science and the truths of faith will ultimately converge into one truth leading to God.
Addressing members of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the 84-year-old Roman Catholic pontiff called on scientists to serve human beings, avoid being swayed by financial and ideological concerns and cooperate in their work.
Scientists, he said, “are meant to be co-creators with God, using their knowledge and skill to shape a cosmos in which the divine plan constantly moves toward fulfillment.”
“I trust that they will lead to an ever deeper investigation of the truths of science and the truths of faith, truths which ultimately converge in that one Truth which believers acknowledge in its fullness in the face of Jesus Christ,” the pope said.
Referring to his 1998 encyclical letter “Fides et Ratio (On Faith and Reason),” John Paul said that “every seeker after truth, whether aware of it or not, is following a path which ultimately leads to God, who is Truth itself.”
The pope said human creativity in science “must be responsibly exercised” with “respect for the natural order and, above all, for the nature of each human being, inasmuch as man is its subject and end.” For this reason, the Vatican opposes stem cell research using human embryos.
“Men and women of science are challenged to put this creativity more and more at the service of the human family by working to improve the quality of life on our planet and by promoting an integral development of the human person, both materially and spiritually,” he said.
In order to benefit human progress, the pope said, science “must remain detached from every form of financial or ideological conditioning so that it can be devoted solely to the dispassionate search for truth and the disinterested service of humanity.”
_ Peggy Polk
Episcopal Priest Resigns After Confessing Pagan Involvement
(RNS) One member of an Episcopal clergy couple who came under fire for embracing pagan worship has recanted and resigned his Pennsylvania pulpit, while his wife also apologized but expects to keep her job.
The Rev. William Melnyk, known in pagan circles as “OakWyse,” resigned as rector of St. James’ Church in Downingtown, Pa., after begging “for the mercy of the church and of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Jeffrey Brodeur, a spokesman for Bishop Charles Bennison of Philadelphia, said the resignation was a “mutual decision” between Melnyk and parish leaders and was accepted on Saturday (Nov. 6). In a letter to Bennison, Melnyk also resigned as a member of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids.
“I was wrong,” Melnyk wrote to Bennison on Nov. 4. “I repent and recant without qualification anything and everything I may have said or done which is found to be in conflict with the Baptismal Covenant, and the historical Creeds of the Church.”
Melnyk’s letter was publicized by the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a Washington-based conservative think tank that criticized the couple for their ties to paganism. Brodeur verified the letter’s accuracy.
His wife, the Rev. Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk, known in pagan circles as “Raven,” issued a similar apology and will continue serving as pastor of St. Francis-in-the-Fields Church in Malvern, Pa. Bennison issued a “pastoral direction” against her, which is similar to a “cease and desist” order.
“She’s not having the issues with her parish that he obviously ran into,” Brodeur said. “She continues to serve as rector.” He added the bishop currently has no plans to ban her from the diocese.
Melnyk said he was hoping to help lapsed Christian reconnect with the church, pointing to the shared roots between druid and Celtic religions and the “British heritage” found in the Anglican (Episcopal) tradition.
However, he said he now realized “my involvement, writings and activities go beyond the bounds expected of a Christian and a Christian priest.” He thanked critics for “helping me to see the truth.”
The couple first came under fire for a “women’s Eucharist” written by Ruppe-Melnyk that was posted online by the church’s Women’s Ministries division. After the uproar, the office removed the liturgy, citing copyright concerns.
Leaders of the Institute on Religion and Democracy said they were “grateful for his humble and direct letter. We hope that the leaders of the … Office of Women’s Ministries will likewise repent of that office’s promotion of neo-paganism.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Gibson Receives Catholic Award, Blasts Stem Cell Research
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (RNS) Director Mel Gibson accepted a Catholic film award and lashed out against stem cell research on Sunday (Nov. 7).
“I’m kind of concerned about where we’re going as a civilization, particularly here in California,” Gibson told an audience of several hundred during the annual awards luncheon of Catholics In Media Associates (CIMA).
Gibson waged a prominent but unsuccessful fight against California’s Proposition 71, which voters approved Nov. 2. It allowed a $3 billion bond measure to fund stem cell research.
“The sure sign of any civilization that crumbles is when they begin to commit human sacrifice beforehand,” said Gibson, who was honored for his controversial box-office hit, “The Passion of the Christ.”
Gibson did not directly address charges by some Jewish groups that the film was anti-Semitic in its portrayal of Christ’s death but he did allude to the backlash.
“Sometimes when you just want to tell the truth you’re going to get walloped around a lot,” he said. “In many respects the aftermath was more furious than making the film.”
Gibson was not expected to attend CIMA’s four-hour Catholic Mass, luncheon and awards program. But he apparently entered the event during the luncheon and after the Mass.
A traditionalist Catholic, Gibson prefers the old-fashioned Latin Mass to more modern services in English. During the CIMA Mass, actor Jim Cavieziel, a devout Catholic who played Christ in “The Passion,” knelt at his luncheon table while virtually everyone else stood.
Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony usually attends the CIMA awards, but this year the event’s Mass was presided over by Auxiliary Bishop Gabino Zavala. Celebrities included actors Joe Mantegna and Gary Sinise and game show host Wink Martindale.
Other CIMA honorees included TV producer Barbara Hall, a Methodist who created the CBS-TV series “Joan of Arcadia,” and 94-year-old Catholic actress Jane Wyatt, who received a CIMA lifetime achievement award for a career that included her portrayal of the mother Margaret Anderson in the 1950s touchstone series, “Father Knows Best.”
“My religion has always meant a great deal to me,” Wyatt told the CIMA crowd.
_ David Finnigan
Survey Suggests Iraq War Was Most Important `Moral’ Issue
(RNS) The war in Iraq was the most important “moral issue” for voters in last week’s election, according a national poll by progressive groups, far outpacing abortion and gay marriage as top-shelf concerns.
The poll, released Tuesday (Nov. 9) by a coalition of progressive faith groups, suggests that the 22 percent of voters who listed “moral values” as the most decisive factor in their votes may be concerned about more than hot-button social issues like gay marriage and abortion.
The “values voters” cited in exit polls overwhelmingly went for President Bush, and conservatives credited their efforts at mobilizing evangelical Christians to vote in Bush for a second term.
Forty-two percent of voters in the new poll listed the Iraq war as their top moral concern, followed by 13 percent who listed abortion and 9 percent who said gay marriage. The war led among both Catholics and “born-again” Christians, and more than half of Kerry voters.
“Values were important in this election, but whose values, which values and why these particular values and not other values are questions that are still in need of more attention,” said the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, executive director of the Interfaith Alliance.
In other findings, one-third of voters listed “greed and materialism” as the most urgent moral problem in the country, followed immediately by poverty. Just 15 percent cited abortion, and 12 percent cited gay marriage.
On the broader question of the greatest “threats” to marriage, gay marriage rated third, outpaced by infidelity and rising financial burdens. Gay marriage scored higher among people who attend church more than once a week, Bush voters and born-again Christians.
The survey also found that half of voters _ including 56 percent of Catholics _ said attempts by some Catholic bishops to discourage Catholics from voting for Sen. John Kerry had no impact, and made Catholics more inclined to support Kerry over Bush, 25 percent to 19 percent. Across the board, voters said it would have made no difference if Kerry, a Catholic, had talked more openly about his faith.
Overall, just more than half of voters said a president’s policies should be informed by faith, but not imposed with faith. Barely one-third (31 percent) favored a strict separation of faith from policy, while only 13 percent think a president’s faith should determine policy.
“What we dare not do is have a shouting match of our values vs. their values, my values vs. your values,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners magazine, who reviewed the polling results.
The poll of more than 10,000 Americans was conducted by Zogby International in the week after the Nov. 2 elections. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percentage point.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Strong Brew Returns to Canterbury Cathedral
LONDON (RNS) A monastic tradition has been revived with the brewing of a strong ale for sale within the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral.
In the Middle Ages the Benedictine monks who served the cathedral had their own brew house. Though the monks disappeared with the Reformation, the tradition of brewing ale within the cathedral precincts is believed to have continued until at least the early 19th century.
Now bottles of Cathedral Ale are available in the cathedral’s shop. It is brewed by Shepherd Neame of nearby Faversham, one of Britain’s best-known independent breweries, which already has a well-known brew called Bishop’s Finger.
The ale is fairly strong: 6.5 percent alcohol by volume. It is described as “a malty ale with toffee and sultana flavors balanced by Kentish hops.”
_ Robert Nowell
Quote of the Day: First Amendment Attorney Jay Sekulow
(RNS) “This is not the same movement that we saw in the 1980s. This is a religious resurgence, and also a retooling. This is a much more diverse group of people, united across a broad range of issues.”
_ Jay Sekulow, chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative public interest law firm in Washington, D.C. Speaking about religious conservatives, he was quoted in the Nov. 5 Newsday.
MO RNS END
