c. 2005 Religion News Service
Swedish Preacher Who Referred to Gays as `Cancerous’ Wins Appeal
(RNS) A Swedish preacher sentenced to a month in prison for referring to homosexuals as a “cancerous tumor” in society was acquitted Friday (Feb. 11) by an appeals court.
The court in Jonkoping, in southern Sweden, ruled that a sermon by Ake Green, 63, was not an attack on gays and lesbians because it was a personal interpretation of the Bible.
The court said it “strongly questioned” Green’s comments but a stringent hate crime law under which the preacher was convicted last year should not be used to stifle discussion about homosexuality in churches and other public places.
“There is nothing that points to that fact that the pastor used the pulpit to attack homosexuals,” the verdict read.
“This falls outside of punishment for violating the law against hate against a group.”
The case, which has attracted international attention, could still move to the Supreme Court in Sweden. Some Christians in the United States have said they were worried that Green, the first preacher convicted under the hate crime law, could represent a trend in laws cracking down on people of faith expressing religious views about homosexuality.
The hate crime law was initially designed to protect racial and religious groups, among others. In 2003, it was changed to include homosexuals.
In Sweden, Green’s supporters praised Friday’s ruling.
Lars Ivar Nilsson, a Pentecostal leader, told journalists that even though he did not entirely support Green’s comments during his sermon, he felt that the verdict was a “real and important” victory for freedom of religion and speech.
_ Simon Reeves
Seminary Leader Disciplined for Officiating at Daughter’s Gay Wedding
(RNS) The New Brunswick Theological Seminary, one of the nation’s oldest schools for training mainline Protestant clergy, has retired its president and reprimanded him for officiating at his gay daughter’s wedding.
The board of trustees of the New Brunswick, N.J.-based school implied in an earlier statement that the wedding wasn’t a factor in its decision not to renew the contract of the Rev. Norman Kansfield, 64. But Thursday night (Feb. 10), a board spokesman and Kansfield confirmed that the ceremony, which was conducted in Massachusetts, precipitated the decision.
“We decided that the president had put the seminary in an awkward position by performing that ceremony without giving us the benefit of offering sufficient counsel,” said the Rev. Larry Williams Sr., a member speaking on the board’s behalf. “It could have hurt the school if it divided people in our student body, if it divided our faculty, if it divided other people who support us.”
In a letter sent shortly before the June 19 wedding of his daughter, Anne, Kansfield informed the board of his decision and said he wasn’t seeking its permission. The board voted Jan. 28 not to renew Kansfield’s contract.
The ceremony took place shortly after Massachusetts began allowing same-sex marriages, touching off a national furor.
In an interview at the seminary, Kansfield said he had not done anything to hurt his denomination, the Reformed Church of America. A former pastor and seminary librarian, Kansfield is considered among the church’s most learned theologians.
“People presume I have been on a crusade,” said Kansfield, a strapping man with a shock of white hair. “In point of fact, I’m a conservative theologian. I would not do anything that goes against the church.”
The Reformed Church _ which traces its roots to Dutch settlers who arrived in America 400 years ago _ is one of the more conservative denominations in the National Council of Churches.
Unlike its fellow mainline Protestant churches _ such as Episcopalians and Methodists _ the church has not had high-profile controversies over the rights of homosexuals. That is about to change.
The denomination’s national office in Grand Rapids, Mich., recently said formal complaints have been filed against Kansfield, and he said he expected to be brought up on charges in June at the church’s General Synod in Schenectady, N.Y.
_ Steve Chambers and Jeff Diamant
Pope Accepts Resignation of First Jewish-Born Cardinal, Who Is Ill
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II has accepted the resignation of Jean-Marie Lustiger, believed to be the first Jewish-born cardinal, and named Lustiger’s protege to succeed him as archbishop of Paris, the Vatican said Friday (Feb. 11).
In keeping with church law, Lustiger, who is 78 and a close friend of the pope, submitted his resignation when he became 75, but John Paul was reported reluctant to accept it and did so now only because the prelate is in bad health.
John Paul named Archbishop Andre Vingt-Tois, 62, of Tours, a former auxiliary bishop of Paris, to succeed Lustiger, who was once considered a possible successor to the pope. Because of the importance of the archdiocese, the pope will almost certainly make him a cardinal.
Lustiger has called Vingt-Tois his “spiritual son” and said in a message to the archdiocese that the pope chose for the new archbishop a Parisian who has never stopped “reflecting on the ethical problems of our civilization.”
Born Aaron Lustig, Lustiger was the son of Polish Jews who immigrated to Paris in the 1920s. His mother and many of his father’s relatives died at Auschwitz during World War II, but he was taken in by a Catholic convent and was baptized a Catholic at the age of 14.
John Paul sent Lustiger to represent him at ceremonies on Jan. 26 marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The cardinal told reporters he had never wanted to visit the place of his mother’s death, but he could not say no to the pope.
In addition to his theological studies, Lustiger studied literature and philosophy at the Sorbonne and was a university chaplain for a time. He is a prolific writer and was named to the French Academy in 1996.
Made archbishop of Paris in 1981 and a cardinal in 1983 by John Paul, Lustiger was considered for many years to be among candidates to succeed the pope. He used his ties to Judaism to support John Paul’s efforts to improve Catholic-Jewish relations, describing himself as “a living provocation.”
Vingt-Tois worked under Lustiger in the Paris archdiocese for 18 years before becoming archbishop of Tours in 1999.
_ Peggy Polk
Editors: Check the RNS photo Web site at https://religionnews.com for an image of the appeals court seal to accompany the following story.
California Circuit Court Sued for Alleged Religious Symbol on Seal
(RNS) The controversy over whether the Ten Commandments can be displayed in government buildings has been expanded to government symbols, even though the commandments themselves are unreadable on a California appeals court’s official seal.
Ryan Donlon, a California attorney admitted to practice law in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in June, is suing that court for displaying what he claims are the Ten Commandments on the official court seal. The court is the same one that ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance’s “under God” clause is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
The seal in question was affixed to the certificate allowing Donlon to argue before the court. It features a woman sitting in a chair with a large book spread wide open in her lap. She is shrouded in flowing robes and set against a crown of laurel leaves. At her feet stands what Donlon says are the commandments.
“Appearing within the seal is an inscribed, tablet-shaped object,” said Donlon in his complaint to the court. “On each side there are five lines of illegible script, totaling 10 lines of script.”
It is unclear whether the seal actually contains the words of the Ten Commandments.
Cathy Catterson, the court’s clerk, does not believe the actual Ten Commandments are visible on the seal even though she says the shape may resemble the tablets on which the commandments were written, according to the Associated Press. The court now declines further comment, saying the litigation is pending.
Donlon is not convinced.
“Though the inscription is illegible, according to information and belief, this object represents the Judeo-Christian Decalogue commonly referred to as the `Ten Commandments,”’ he said in the complaint. This, he says, has “no secular purpose,” and amounts to a “constitutionally impermissible establishment or endorsement of religion.”
This type of suit has been proliferating in recent months. Last year, Los Angeles County removed a cross from its seal after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue.
Until the Supreme Court rules on a case involving the Ten Commandments, which it’s expected to hear in March, opinion on the legality of religious symbolism on government documents and buildings may remain starkly divided.
The Supreme Court struck down the 9th Circuit’s pledge ruling, which had prompted outrage nationwide, especially from conservative Christian groups.
“Hopefully the court will provide some clear guidance and clearly express the fact that we will not be able to erase religious history just because a few radically slanted individuals would seek to have God removed” from all aspects of government, said Bob Tyler, legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian group based in Scottsdale, Ariz.
_ Lauren Etter
Christian Woman Recounts Religious Persecution She Experienced in China
WASHINGTON (RNS) Providing a personal example of Chinese persecution of Christians, a 34-year-old Chinese woman told a Washington audience Thursday (Feb. 10) that she was beaten, shocked, tortured and sexually abused as punishment for professing her faith.
Liu Xianzhi, or “Sarah,” said she spent six years in prisons and labor camps in China on charges of “illegal evangelism” for her church leadership and writing for the South China Church Magazine.
She escaped to the United States on Jan. 7, and spoke to an American audience for the first time Thursday at the National Press Club. She lives in Midland, Texas, as a refugee, assisted by the China Aid Association based there.
About 20 million Christians live in China, but religious practice for them is restricted to the two Christian organizations sanctioned by the Chinese government, according to the U.S. State Department. Buddhism is the most practiced religion, but the country also has about 20 million Muslims.
About 9,000 members of the South China Church have been arrested, according to the association.
“We were slapped and beaten up,” Liu said, recounting one of several occasions when she was arrested. “I was interrogated in a bedroom and seven male policemen surrounded me and made me stand in the center of the room. They started laughing at me and cursing me and started touching my body.
“Another man used a clothes hanger and beat up my toes and my feet,” she said through a translator.
She said she felt like dying after she was tortured into falsely accusing South China Church Pastor Gong Shengliang of raping her, she said.
Gong is serving a life sentence on charges of rape, “organizing an evil religion” and other confessions “obtained through torture,” according to the association. The association is fighting to get Gong released from prison.
Association president Bob Fu held up a 3-inch-thick document of torture testimonies recorded by Chinese Christians. He claimed the document represents less than 1 percent of the abuse cases that the organization suspects have occurred.
“The situation has been worsening year after year,” Fu said. “What we simply want … is to ask China to honor its own signature on the United Nations international covenant and other international laws of its obligation to protect each citizen’s basic human right _ the right of religious freedom.”
_ Andrea S. James
Quote of the Day: North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper
(RNS) “Exploiting the bonds of trust that pastors have with their congregations is a cruel and effective trick. People believe in their pastor and when their pastor gets taken in by the fraud, the whole church becomes vulnerable.”
_ North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, reacting to a spree of scams that have targeted black churches. He was quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
MO/PH RNS END
