c. 2005 Religion News Service
Antiochian Orthodox Leave National Council of Churches
(RNS) The Antiochian Orthodox Church has decided to pull its membership from the National Council of Churches, a move that some conservatives hope will prompt other churches to leave the liberal-leaning ecumenical body.
The 339,000-member Orthodox church voted to leave the NCC on July 28 during its General Convention in Troy, Mich. The decision to leave the New York-based NCC was supported by its leader, Metropolitan Philip.
Topping a list of grievances, apparently, was the NCC’s liberal drift and actions by its outspoken general secretary, the Rev. Bob Edgar. “It got to be too much,” church spokesman the Rev. Thomas Zain told Ecumenical News International. “There was no reason to be part of it.”
Zain also said, “We just feel we don’t have much in common with the (other NCC-member) churches,” pointing to a decision by the United Church of Christ to support gay marriage, and the Episcopal Church to approve an openly gay bishop.
The Antiochian Orthodox Church traces its roots to Arab-speaking immigrants who previously belonged to the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2003, it was granted full autonomy by Antiochian church leaders in Syria.
Pat Patillo, director of communications for the NCC, declined to comment on the church’s decision, in part because the agency had not been formally notified of it. “There was no word before, during or after,” he said.
But Mark Tooley, a frequent NCC critic at the Washington-based Institute on Religion and Democracy, said the Antiochian decision should prompt the 35 remaining Orthodox and mainline churches in the NCC to “seek out alternatives that actually strengthen the body of Christ rather than divide it with dubious political causes.”
Patillo said he doubted the Antiochians would prompt an exodus. “A denomination will do what it wants to do (for its own reasons), rather than because somebody else did it,” Patillo said.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Orthodox Bishops Say Sex Abuse Will Find `No Safe Haven’ in Church
WASHINGTON (RNS) Eastern Orthodox bishops said Tuesday (Aug. 2) that “sexual abuse or misconduct will find no safe haven” in their churches, adding that they will require new priests to undergo criminal background checks.
The Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, which represents the nine major ethnic Eastern Orthodox churches in North America, issued its statement in response to a series of sex abuse scandals involving clergy that have shaken the Catholic Church.
The SCOBA guidelines suggested background checks and criminal investigations for all seminary applicants, and the bishops said such checks now will be mandatory for all men entering the priesthood.
The bishops sought to make clear that sexuality, while a natural human impulse, must be controlled _ and treated as “something which has great potential either for good or for harm.” If a clergyman behaves inappropriately, SCOBA said, he will be removed from his position.
“Orthodox Christians understand human sexuality to be one important aspect of the whole mystery of human personhood,” the statement said. “As is evident from Holy Scripture, human sexuality is intended to be a sublime means of expressing mature and self-giving love between a man and a woman united in marriage, of deepening that love in a communion of two lives, and of enabling a couple to participate with God in the wondrous and sacred work of creation of new life.
“Conversely,” the statement continued, “choosing the way of self-centered, undisciplined and unbridled sexual indulgence ultimately is life-destroying rather than life-affirming in that sinfulness, in whatever guise it takes, always leads us away from God.”
Although guilty clerics will be removed from their positions, those who repent will be forgiven in the eyes of the church.
“The Church will not turn her back on these former clerics, if they repent of their destructive behavior and receive forgiveness, even though they can no longer serve as clergy or in other positions of authority,” the statement said.
_ Hugh S. Moore
Religious Hate Crimes Surge After London Attacks
LONDON (RNS) Since the July 7 bombings in London that killed 52 people and injured 700, religious hate crimes have multiplied more than sixfold in the British capital, according to figures released by the police.
In the three weeks after July 7, 269 religious hate crimes were recorded, compared to 40 in the equivalent three-week period in 2004.
Most of these were verbal abuse and minor assaults, but they also included damage to mosques.
The Muslim Association of Britain attributed the reaction to “media hysteria,” and said the true number of incidents is likely higher because not all Muslims who had suffered abuse are reporting it to the police.
The Metropolitan Police’s highest-ranking Muslim, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, said he had never seen so much anger among young Muslims. Communities were particularly frustrated by the increased use of the police’s power to stop and search people.
Ghaffur warned that the increase in incidents affecting the Muslim community could lead to “these communities completely retreating and not engaging at a time when we want their engagement and support.”
However, in Birmingham, West Midlands Police reported only 10 incidents of religious hate crimes since the London bombings.
A spokesman for the Birmingham Racial Attacks Monitoring Unit, Maxi Hayles, attributed this to the city’s diverse communities bonding together in troubled times.
“What the terrorists tried to do was divide the communities, but that hasn’t worked,” he was quoted as saying by the Birmingham Evening Mail.
_ Robert Nowell
Jewish Leaders Express Concern Over Denomination’s Israel Resolution
(RNS) A coalition of seven Jewish leaders, including representatives from the three major Jewish denominations, has expressed concern over a resolution opposing Israel’s security fence passed by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
At its annual General Assembly gathering in late June, the Disciples adopted a resolution called “Breaking Down the Dividing Wall,” which urged Israel to remove the security barrier it is building to protect against terrorist attacks by Palestinians.
The resolution said, in part, that “security for both peoples can best be achieved through an end to the occupation and efforts to encourage access and contact, rather than restricting and denying it.”
The Jewish leaders expressed “grave concern” about the resolution in their letter to the Rev. Sharon E. Watkins, who was installed as the Disciples’ general minister and president at the meeting.
“We wonder with amazement why your denomination proposes an action that would render innocent individuals even more vulnerable to terrorism,” the letter said.
Signatories on the letter included Betty Ehrenberg of the Orthodox Union, Rabbi David Saperstein from the Union for Reform Judaism, Mark Waldman from the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism and Ethan Felson of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.
While criticizing the Disciples for adopting the resolution on the security fence, the letter applauded the denomination for refraining from adopting a divestment policy. Other Protestant denominations, most visibly the Presbyterian Church (USA), have moved to divest from companies that do business in Israel in protest of that country’s policies and tactics.
Other denominations, including the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, have also criticized the Israeli-erected security barrier.
_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi
Quote of the Day: Carrie Gordon Earll of Focus on the Family Action
(RNS) “This story is a poignant reminder that defending the value of life calls for sacrifice. Contrary to what we’re tempted to believe, it’s not all about us. Sometimes it’s about the strong sacrificing for the weak. That’s why this story brings tears to our eyes: A family endured hardship to protect the weaker member. That’s what being pro-life is all about.”
_ Carrie Gordon Earll, senior analyst for bioethics at Focus on the Family Action, commenting on the death of Susan Torres, a brain-dead woman from Arlington, Va., who remained on life support for three months in order for her baby daughter to be delivered healthy on Tuesday (Aug. 2). Torres died the next day after being removed from life support. Earll was quoted in Citizen Link, an e-newsletter of Focus on the Family.
KRE/PH END RNS
