c. 2005 Religion News Service
Billy Graham Declines Invitation for London Crusade
(RNS) Evangelist Billy Graham has declined an invitation to lead evangelistic meetings in London later this year.
On Wednesday (July 13), The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association cited the health of Graham and his wife, Ruth, as factors for the decision, as well as the logistical aspects of conducting a crusade abroad. Graham, 86, suffers from Parkinson’s disease and other ailments and his 85-year-old wife has a degenerative back condition.
“After much prayerful consideration I determined I should not be that far from home,” Graham said in a letter sent to those who had invited him. “This was a difficult decision because London has played such a significant part in the life of my ministry.”
Graham’s association said his decision was made prior to the recent terrorist attack on London’s transportation system and the city’s selection as host for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
“Mr. Graham will continue his ministry of evangelism and resume work writing several books and contributing to other special projects he has begun in recent years,” his Charlotte, N.C.-based association stated.
A. Larry Ross, Graham’s spokesman, said no other crusades are planned nor are active invitations being considered. He said the evangelist felt he gained strength throughout a New York crusade in late June, had a good subsequent health check-up and is now ready for other projects.
“Anything is possible, but at this point there are no crusades in preparation,” Ross said, referring to crusades led by Billy Graham. “Only time will tell, with respect to a crusade, what’s on the horizon.”
Graham’s ministry plans a series of crusades to be led by his son, Franklin, who became president of the association in 2002, and the dedication of the Billy Graham Library at the ministry’s headquarters, probably in late 2006 or early 2007.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Pope Says `We’ll See’ to Invitation to Visit San Antonio
(RNS) Pope Benedict XVI smiled and responded, “We’ll see,” when invited to visit San Antonio, Texas, next year for the 275th anniversary of that city’s historic downtown San Fernando Cathedral, according to a newspaper report.
San Antonio Archbishop Jose Gomez told the San Antonio Express-News that the invitation was extended in the Pope Paul VI Audience Hall during a July 1 gathering for archbishops who received the pallium, the principal symbol of their office, the day before.
During the gathering, each bishop knelt before the pope to receive his blessing, then rose and exchanged a few words with him, the Express-News reported. When Gomez did so, he mentioned the upcoming birthday celebration of San Fernando Cathedral.
The 78-year-old pontiff couldn’t believe at first that an American church could be so old, Gomez told the newspaper. “He asked, `Is it possible?”’ Gomez said, but then the pope remembered the cathedral was built during Spanish colonial times.
Founded March 9, 1731, by 15 families who came from the Canary Islands at the invitation of King Phillip V of Spain, the San Fernando church was planned as the center of life in the new settlement. The cornerstone of the building was laid in 1738, making it the oldest parish church in Texas. Today, San Fernando Cathedral draws more than 5,000 to each weekend’s Masses.
Pope John Paul II prayed and spoke to students in religious formation at San Fernando on Sept. 13, 1987, as part of a 22-hour visit to San Antonio in which more than 1 million people saw him _ more than in any other city on that 10-day tour to the United States.
_ Bobby Ross Jr.
Evangelical Christian Publishers Association Announces Annual Awards
(RNS) Lee Strobel and Garry Poole’s “Experiencing the Passion of Jesus” has won the Jordon Christian Book of the Year Award.
The award, bestowed by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, was announced Monday (July 11). Nineteen other Gold Medallion prizes were given in separate categories.
“The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren was awarded a Double Diamond Award in recognition of over 20 million units sold. It won the book of the year award in 2003 and 2004.
The ECPA Lifetime Achievement award was presented to Barbara Johnson for her contributions to the Christian bookselling industry.
The 2005 Gold Medallion Book Award winners by category were:
Bibles: “The Hands-On Bible” by Group Publishing Inc. (Tyndale House Publishers Inc.); Reference Works/Commentaries: “New Testament Theology” by I. Howard Marshall (InterVarsity Press); Fiction: “Oceans Apart” by Karen Kingsbury (Zondervan); Biography/Autobiography: “A Table in the Presence” by Lt. Carey H. Cash (W Publishing Group).
Theology/Doctrine: “The Holy Trinity” by Robert Letham (P&R Publishing Co.); Devotional: “His Passion” by David R. Veerman, editor (Integrity Publishers); Inspirational: “It’s Not About Me” by Max Lucado (Integrity Publishers); Christian Living: “When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayers” by Jerry Sittser (Zondervan); Christianity and Society: “Total Truth” by Nancy Pearcey (Crossway Books); Missions/Evangelism: “A Case for a Creator” by Lee Strobel (Zondervan); Christian Ministry: “New Light on Depression” by David B. Biebel; D. Min. & Harold G. Koenig; M.D. (Zondervan).
_ Hugh S. Moore
Companies Unveil Ethical Guidelines for `Big Box’ Retail Outlets
(RNS) Two ethically based financial management companies with investments in large-scale stores like Wal-Mart have issued guidelines intended to minimize the community opposition that often accompanies construction of new “big box” retail outlets.
Christian Brothers Investment Services and Domini Social Investments have large-scale retail in their portfolios and control nearly $6 billion in assets. CBIC manages Roman Catholic institutional investments on behalf of various dioceses, educational and religious institutions. Domini manages mutual funds for investors “seeking to create a positive change in society,” according to the report.
CBIS Corporate Advocacy Coordinator Julie Tanner said store siting is a central component of a retailer’s business plan and the implications can be far-reaching. She insisted that ethical considerations make good financial as well as moral sense.
“Conflicts can damage a company’s reputations and impact consumer confidence,” Tanner said. “As retailers expand throughout the U.S. and abroad, we believe they must take proactive steps to engage with communities and ensure that their cultural and environmental heritage remains intact.”
Domini General Counsel Adam Kanzer also said the guidelines should serve as a useful “starting point” for companies facing siting issues.
“Companies have damaged their relations with communities by contributing to urban sprawl, siting stores on land sacred to indigenous peoples and circumventing the open market by acquiring land through eminent domain proceedings,” Kanzer said. “We believe these problems can be avoided.”
In one controversial case, the town of Dunkirk, Md., passed a law restricting the size of retail outlets to 70,000 square feet after Wal-Mart announced it would build in the area. Wal-Mart’s response was to draw up plans for two stores next door to one another. But in May Wal-Mart abandoned the idea in the face of intense community opposition.
The guideline headings proposed by CBIS and Domini include:
_ social and environmental diligence
_ transparency
_ community consultation
_ relations with governments
_ respect for indigenous cultures
_ preservation of cultural heritage
_ environmental stewardship
_ protection of biodiversity
_ smart growth.
_ Hugh S. Moore
Methodist Minister Disciplined for Refusing Gay Man as Member
(RNS) A United Methodist minister in South Hill, Va., has been put on involuntary administrative leave for refusing to allow an openly gay man to become a church member.
The Rev. Ed Johnson, senior pastor of South Hill United Methodist Church, was disciplined in a closed-door executive session at the church’s statewide annual conference held in mid-June. United Methodist officials did not grant interviews on the subject until July.
At issue is how the Methodists’ constitution deals with homosexuality and church membership. The Rev. Tom Thomas, the man who defended Johnson at the annual conference, says Johnson believes his actions were in keeping with the book.
“The social principles in the Book of Discipline make it clear that the church does not condone the practice of homosexuality,” Thomas said. He said “members … take certain vows. The first is that persons acknowledge the spiritual forces of wickedness and repent of their sins.”
“The man was a practicing homosexual and was not willing to consider the notion that (his) homosexual relations must stop,” Thomas said. In the pastor’s mind, Thomas said, this man would “come afoul of (this) vow.”
Bishop Charlene Kammerer, who met with Johnson prior to the disciplinary vote, acknowledged the church’s stance against homosexuality. But, in an interview, Kammerer asserted that “there has been no prohibition of gay membership in the church.”
She pointed to the church’s Book of Discipline, which states, “We implore families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends. We commit ourselves to be in ministry for and with all persons.”
According to Thomas, the man in question had been active at the South Hill congregation for some time, even singing in the choir, when he sought membership. Johnson learned the man was a practicing homosexual in the course of routine membership classes.
A grievance was filed against Johnson, according to Thomas, with then-district superintendent Tony Layman, who reportedly met several times with the pastor.
Bishop Kammerer said Layman “advised him that he should be open to receiving the gay man into membership” but Johnson wouldn’t change his position. At that point, Layman contacted Kammerer, who took the issue to the state board of ordained ministers, which agreed to recommend the disciplinary action at the annual meeting.
_ Martin A. Davis Jr.
Canadian Prelate Says Church Will Not Baptize Children of Gay Couples
OTTAWA (RNS) The Catholic Church will refuse to baptize children of same-sex couples if both parents insist on signing the baptism certificate, Canada’s top Catholic cleric said.
“If I take the example of the ceremony of baptism, according to our canon law, we cannot accept the signatures of two fathers or two mothers as parents of an infant,” Cardinal Marc Ouellet on Wednesday (July 13) told a Senate committee hearing on Bill C-38, the same-sex marriage law that Canada’s lower house of Parliament passed on June 28.
An official with the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops explained that Ouellet’s claim would be true only if both fathers or both mothers insisted on signing the baptismal certificate.
Benoit Bariteau told the Ottawa Citizen that “if the parents insist that the two signatures be on the act of baptism, if we say no, it will be their choice of seeking baptism or not.”
But if one signature is sufficient for both parents, the church would not refuse to baptize children of a same-sex couple, he added.
Meanwhile, some legal experts in Canada dismissed Ouellet’s warnings that vocal opponents of same-sex marriage will risk criminal prosecution for publicly denouncing the unions.
Ouellet told the Senate committee that once the state “imposes a new standard affirming that homosexual sexual behavior is a social good, those who oppose it for religious motives or motives of conscience will be considered as bigots, anti-gay and homophobes, and then risk prosecution.”
He said that already, pulpit priests are beginning to shrink from preaching against homosexual behavior.
“There’s a type of climate that exists where we no longer feel we can express our opinion,” he told reporters after his presentation to the Senate committee. “Even our priests sometimes do not feel free to preach on homosexuality … because they are accused of homophobia and they are threatened for prosecution.
“This is an insane atmosphere in our country and our communities and it is not good for religious freedom.”
A University of Toronto expert in same-sex issues called Ouellet’s remarks “rhetorical hysteria,” while a leading law professor said they are groundless because those who oppose homosexual marriage will keep their freedom of expression. However, as with any example of hatemongering, “if someone speaks out against same-sex marriage in a manner that foments hatred, then they run a risk of prosecution,” Marilyn Pilkington, the former dean of Osgoode Hall Law School, told the Globe and Mail.
The same-sex marriage bill is expected to receive final passage in the Senate next week (July 19 or 20), and could become law the same day.
_ Ron Csillag
Holocaust Center Urges Israelis Not to Write ID Numbers on Arms
JERUSALEM (RNS) Officials of Yad Vashem, Israel’s central Holocaust center, urged Jews not to write their Israeli ID numbers on their arms to protest the withdrawal of troops and settlers in mid-August.
On Thursday (July 14), several Jewish settlers wrote numbers on their arms, evoking images of tattooed victims of Nazi concentration camps and walled ghettos.
The small group of settlers took their action after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sealed off Gaza to outside visitors. Gaza residents wishing to move freely between Gaza and Israel proper were told to register their ID numbers with the army.
The Jerusalem Post quoted a settler, 20-year-old Yehuda Lumberg, as saying “He (Sharon) put us in a ghetto. I’m just completing the actions.”
Avner Shalev, chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, said in a statement that the use of the memory of the Holocaust as a part of a protest “is irresponsible and leads to the damaging of the memory of the Shoah and a perversion of the historical facts.”
Shalev said that “as the public/political debate over the disengagement plan intensifies, Yad Vashem calls on all parties to refrain from using symbols and terminology taken from the Shoah (Holocaust).”
In particular, Shalev said, “people should refrain from unnecessary and wrong comparisons that cause a perversion of the memory of the victims and events, and may even be tainted with Holocaust denial.
Shalev added, “It is important that the memory of the Shoah remain a unifying factor in Israeli society _ not the opposite.”
Several months ago, right-wing activists opposed to the disengagement angered Holocaust survivors by wearing orange-colored stars on their clothes. The Nazis forced many Jews to wear yellow stars during the Holocaust, making it impossible for them to escape persecution.
Also on Thursday, tens of thousands of opponents of the Gaza disengagement gathered at Jerusalem’s Western Wall to pray for “the annulment of the expulsion order.”
Orthodox Jews around the world have been reciting special prayers for months, in the hope that God will ultimately step in and save the settlements in the territory they regard as the biblical land of Israel.
_ Michele Chabin
Media Watchdog Group Joins Sen. Clinton in Warning on Video Game
WASHINGTON (RNS) The president of the National Institute on Media and the Family joined Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., on Thursday (July 14) to warn that pornography may be hidden in the popular video game “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas,” published by Rockstar Games.
According to the NIMF, hidden interactive pornographic content can be accessed by all “Grand Theft Auto” users by downloading a code modification from the Internet.
“If the code is on the disk, we call upon Rockstar to issue a general recall, with a full refund, of all units of `Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’ so they can be properly labeled Adults Only,” NIMF President David Walsh said. “On the other hand if the … sequences have been created, independent of any of Rockstar’s actions, then parents everywhere need to be alerted.”
“If interactive pornography can be so easily inserted into this video game, it can be inserted into any game,” he said.
The Minneapolis-based institute was founded in 1996 as a nonpartisan, nonsectarian clearinghouse of information on the impact of electronic media on families.
Walsh also said he supports Clinton’s request of the Federal Trade Commission to conduct an examination of retailer rating enforcement. “In any case, it is now more crucial than ever that parents be more vigilant about the video games their children are playing,” he said.
_ Hugh S. Moore
Election-Related Complaint Against Falwell’s Ministries Dismissed
(RNS) The Federal Election Commission has dismissed a complaint filed against Jerry Falwell Ministries concerning an e-mail he sent during the 2004 election season.
The unanimous decision, announced Monday (July 18) by Falwell’s lawyers, dismissed allegations by the Campaign Legal Center that Jerry Falwell Ministries and Liberty Alliance, a lobbying organization that supports Falwell’s Web site, had violated election laws by circulating a “Falwell Confidential” e-mail during the summer of 2004.
In the July 1, 2004, e-mail, Falwell stated: “For conservative people of faith, voting for principle this year means voting for the re-election of George W. Bush. The alternative, in my mind, is simply unthinkable.”
In a letter later that month to the FEC, the Campaign Legal Center said the e-mail was an inappropriate endorsement by a religious organization. The center also complained that the message improperly sought contributions to a political action committee.
Liberty Counsel President Mathew D. Staver, who represented Falwell, argued that Liberty Alliance and Jerry Falwell Ministries are covered by a press exemption and meet a “qualified nonprofit corporation” status because they are supported by private contributions rather than corporate ones. Falwell has founded television networks and radio stations and his religious television program, “Old Time Gospel Hour,” has been broadcast since 1956.
“Religious nonprofit groups are not orphans to the First Amendment,” Falwell said in a statement in response to the dismissal. “I have been expressing my views on politics for five decades and am pleased with the FEC’s ruling.”
Mark Glaze, a spokesman for the Campaign Legal Center, said his organization disagreed with the decision by the FEC commissioners.
“What they did was use their prosecutorial discretion to decline to pursue a matter,” he said in an interview.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Connecticut School to Study Roots and Growth of Secularism
(RNS) A Swiss-based foundation is giving $2.8 million to Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., to study the rise of secularism in the U.S. and around the world, and its implications for politics, religion and culture.
The five-year grant will fund the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture, which will be housed at Trinity’s Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion and Public Life.
The project is bankrolled by the Lucerne-based Posen Foundation, which previously funded the American Religious Identification Survey in 2001 that documented a doubling of the number of Americans who claim no religious affiliation.
That survey found the number of American adults who claimed no religion grew from 14 million to 29 million during the 1990s.
“We owe it to ourselves and future generations that secular ideas and phenomena are clearly understood, so that people can make informed choices,” the foundation said in a statement.
The institute will be headed by Barry Kosmin, who oversaw the 2001 ARIS study, and his research partner, Ariela Keysar. The institute and Greenberg Center will become part of a new Trinity Program on Public Values.
Mark Silk, who will oversee all the projects, said the institute will sponsor academic research, conferences, lectures and seminars on the growth of the non-religious. Silk said he believes it is the first U.S. center dedicated exclusively to the study of secularism.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Quote of the Week: Joel Osteen, pastor of the Lakewood Church in Houston.
(RNS) “The principles in the Bible will work for anyone. … If you give, you will be blessed. I talk about things for everyday life. I don’t get deep and theological.”
_ Joel Osteen, pastor of the nondenominational Lakewood Church in Houston. The largest congregation in the country, Lakewood moved over the weekend to its new home, the 16,000-seat Compaq Center. Osteen was quoted by the New York Times.
MO/PH END RNS
