c. 2004 Religion News Service

Evangelical Scholars Further Explain Support for Biblical Inerrancy

(RNS) A group of evangelical scholars has taken the first step to more clearly state its support of biblical inerrancy, the belief that the Bible is without error.

Members of the Evangelical Theological Society, who gathered for their annual meeting Nov. 17-19 in San Antonio, adopted a resolution that further explains the group’s two-sentence “doctrinal basis” that declares the Bible is inerrant.

“The case for biblical inerrancy rests on the absolute trustworthiness of God and Scripture’s testimony to itself,” reads the resolution, which was approved by a 4-to-1 margin.

“A proper understanding of inerrancy takes into account the language, genres, and intent of Scripture. We reject approaches to Scripture that deny that biblical truth claims are grounded in reality.”

It also states that members should refer to the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, created in 1978, as a further explanation of the group’s stance.

James Borland, secretary-treasurer of the society, said the resolution will be discussed over the next year and is likely to be considered at the group’s 2005 meeting as a change to the organization’s bylaws.

“Some wondered what our original statement meant because it was so brief and so this was to help clarify that,” he told Religion News Service.

The action followed a meeting last year in which two scholars were almost ousted as members after declaring their support of open theism _ the belief that God can “change his mind” depending on the actions of humans. Some society members thought the position of those scholars violated the group’s commitment to inerrancy.

At the time of that vote, R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., had suggested that the society develop a definition of inerrancy. In a statement, Mohler called the approval of the resolution a “good start” toward a hopeful future for the organization.

“The hesitation to define the term would leave the door open to persons who would define it into meaninglessness,” he said. “We should be thankful that the society had the conviction and the courage and the eagerness, by such a margin, to approve this statement.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Gay Methodist Minister Says She Is Calm About Outcome of Upcoming Trial

(RNS) A United Methodist pastor who will face a church trial Dec. 1 for violating a ban on “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy said she is calm about its outcome and expects to have a church job regardless of the verdict in her case.

The Rev. Irene “Beth” Stroud, associate pastor of First United Methodist Church in Germantown, Pa., said her church has offered to make her a paid lay member of the staff if she loses her ministerial credentials in the trial.

“Of course I’m nervous,” Stroud, 34, told Religion News Service. “I want to present myself with dignity and integrity, and I’m nervous of being in the public eye, but I’m not afraid of outcomes.”

Stroud outed herself as a lesbian in a 2003 sermon, prompting her bishop to file charges. The United Methodist Church has considered homosexual activity “incompatible with Christian teaching” since 1972.

Last May, the church’s highest court ruled that homosexual activity was a “chargeable offense” for clergy, and said clergy who are found guilty in a trial are ineligible to be appointed to another pulpit.

Stroud said she recognized the risk she was taking in outing herself, but still feels it was the right decision. Most of her congregation stands behind her.

“It really was a faith stance for me, and a faith action,” she said. “I had reached a point where, as a Christian, unless I took this risk and came out in this public way, I wasn’t going to grow. It was just holding me back in my own sense of my walk with Christ.”

If Stroud is found guilty, she will be unable to perform the sacramental duties of a minister. She said she has an offer to continue working at her church teaching Bible study, confirmation classes and coordinating youth programs.

Stroud has urged her church to bake casseroles for other Methodists who may disagree with them as a gesture of goodwill. She said she and her partner, Chris Paige, received a package of Stouffer’s macaroni and cheese from her bishop, Peter Weaver.

“I think the idea of loving your enemy or of loving someone with whom you’re in conflict is one of the central teachings of Jesus and also one of the hardest ones to live out,” she said. “What I hear people in this congregation say is, `We’re trying.”’

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Study Suggest Candles, Incense in Churches May Be Dangerous to Health

(RNS) Candles and incense burned during church services release potentially carcinogenic particles that could cause lung cancer, according to Dutch researchers who published their findings in the December issue of the European Respiratory Journal.

“The exposures are worrisome, not so much for the occasional churchgoer but priests, choirs and other people working in churches (who) may have significant exposure,” Theo de Kok, author of the Maastricht University study, told the Reuters news agency.

Scientists found the air inside Maastricht’s Basilica of Our Lady exceeded standards set by the European Union as healthy. After nine hours of candle-burning in small chapel, the level of fine particulate matter increased five-fold. In the main basilica, a simulated service with incense increased pollution four-fold.

By comparison, an average traffic intersection had only about one-twelfth the same level of pollution as the basilica after the use of incense.

Worse, scientists also found “very high concentrations” of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are known to be carcinogenic, along with various types of free radicals. Free radicals emitted from burning candles and incense raised concern because they begin the formation process of cancerous tumors.

De Kok has called for research into whether priests, monks and those who are in church regularly are more likely to have lung disease. “While we still have to assess more precisely what level of risk these people are running and how toxic the newly identified free radicals are, this discovery is very worrying,” he said.

De Kok suggested improving church ventilation, using fewer candles or switching to electric candles.

_ Wangui Njuguna and Robert Nowell

Incoming President Resigns From Troubled Baptist College

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) A week after being introduced to Southern Baptists as the next president of troubled Louisiana College, President-elect Malcolm Yarnell III backed out Tuesday (Nov. 23), citing emerging differences with the school’s trustees over governance.

The development provoked widespread dismay from faculty and some trustees. And with recruiting season about to start, it further destabilizes the 1,000-student college, which is already under scrutiny by its accreditation agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Yarnell, an Oxford-trained educator and theologian at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, was introduced last week to Louisiana Baptists as the college’s next president. Holding a Bible aloft at the convention’s annual meeting in Alexandria, he won a standing ovation with a ringing promise to anchor the liberal arts college in a biblical worldview.

However, only Yarnell and a handful of insiders knew that he had not yet finalized his contract.

“After accepting the presidency at Louisiana College, governance issues which would significantly impact my ability to lead the school were fully disclosed during the subsequent (contract) negotiations,” Yarnell said in a statement. He was not available for further comment.

The Southern Baptist college in Pineville, La., has been roiled by increasing internal turmoil for several years.

Critics, including many conservative pastors who now sit on its trustee board, claim that Louisiana College has become intolerably liberal. Most faculty and some alumni dispute that, arguing that conservative trustees unwisely prefer to shelter students from secular influences in popular culture.

The school’s chief academic officer and its president both resigned last year for jobs in other states. The college’s trustee board chairman resigned during the summer before he could be fired in a board revolt.

Meanwhile, conservative board members wrote a new textbook policy, gave themselves a prominent role in faculty hiring and began rewriting the faculty handbook, all with little or no faculty participation.

The trustees’ aggressive involvement in the college’s operations drew the attention of the accrediting agency. A team that visited the school in September reported that it worried for the preservation of academic freedom on campus.

The agency will decide in early December whether to take disciplinary action against the college.

“I think (Yarnell) discovered what some of us have known for a while, that the board of trustees are working on an agenda that’s not workable for our college,” said the Rev. Gil Arthur of Leesville, La., who lost a bid for the convention presidency on a platform critical of the college’s trustees. “The very best scenario would be for the board of trustees to get together and either resign or agree to back off.”

_ Bruce Nolan

Quote of the Day: The Rev. John L. McCullough, Church World Service CEO

(RNS) “Reforms must be made now to protect the rights of asylum seekers in this country. … Otherwise, we begin looking peculiarly like the same `axis’ that our government decries as evil.”

_ The Rev. John L. McCullough, executive director and CEO of Church World Service, reacting to the circumstances surrounding the Nov. 3 death of the Rev. Joseph Dantica, a Haitian asylum seeker who died in the custody of U.S. immigration officials.

KRE/PH END RNS