c. 2005 Religion News Service
Methodists Concerned by Ruling That Gives Pastors Power Over Membership
(RNS) A court decision that allows United Methodist pastors to deny church membership to gays and lesbians is causing concern for some lay members who worry about possible discrimination and for bishops who fear it could usurp their authority.
The church’s Judicial Council on Monday (Oct. 31) ruled in favor of a Virginia pastor who denied membership to an openly gay man. It said local pastors have full discretion to deny or accept membership.
The liberal Methodist Federation for Social Action said there is now nothing to keep pastors from denying membership based on race, immigration or marital status, or theological beliefs.
“The Judicial Council has made the church subject to the prejudices and even the whims of its pastors,” said MFSA’s director, the Rev. Kathryn Johnson.
Conservative groups largely dismissed those concerns. The Rev. Jim Heidinger, head of the evangelical Good News movement, called fears of race-based discrimination a “red herring.”
Baltimore-Washington Bishop John Schol said he was “shocked” by the decision and its implications, and said efforts to exclude anyone from membership are “generally a bad idea.”
“I want you to know that I believe gay and lesbian persons should be welcomed and received as members in our churches,” Schol wrote in a pastoral letter. “I will work to insure that gay and lesbian members will continue to have the right to be members of the United Methodist Church.”
The church’s Council of Bishops is currently meeting in North Carolina and is expected to issue a statement on the court’s ruling before adjourning Friday (Nov. 4).
Steve Drachler, a spokesman for the church, said the bishops are examining the decision _ especially how it affects a bishop’s authority to supervise clergy _ but emphasized that the church’s message of openness remains the same.
“The constitution of the United Methodist Church has not changed,” Drachler said. “We remain open to all people who seek God’s love and seek a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
The bishops could ask the court to reconsider its ruling, but any legislative remedy would have to wait until the entire church gathers for its General Conference meeting in 2008.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Pope Advocates for More `Families With Lots of Children’
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday (Nov. 2) called on Italian lawmakers to provide incentives to large families as Europe continues to struggle with sagging fertility rates.
“It is my hope that further adequate social and legislative measures be promoted to protect and support more numerous families, which constitute a richness and a hope for the entire nation,” the pope said.
The pope made his remarks to a group of pilgrims representing the Italian Numerous Families Association who attended his weekly general audience.
The European Union’s statistical agency Eurostat reported last week that the 25-nation bloc made a slight improvement in its fertility rates, climbing from 1.48 children per woman in 2003 to 1.5 in 2004.
But the uptick comes amid a decades-long downward trend that has caused Europe to depend on foreign immigration to prop up its shrinking native population.
More than 1.9 million foreign immigrants entered the EU in 2004, compensating for the lack of native births, which numbered fewer than half a million.
Italy, once considered Europe’s reproductive engine, hovered near the bottom of the continent’s fertility ranks with a rate of 1.3 children per woman compared to the world average of 2.8.
“In the current social context, families with lots of children constitute a testimony of faith, courage and optimism, because without children there is no future,” Benedict said.
Predominantly Catholic Spain and Poland joined Italy near the bottom of the list, representing a numerical setback to the Vatican as it pushes for wider recognition of Europe’s Christian identity.
The U.S. government, the Eurostat report said, recorded a fertility rate of 2.1 in 2004.
_ Stacy Meichtry
Jewish Leaders Praise Establishment of International Holocaust Day
JERUSALEM (RNS) Jewish leaders are expressing satisfaction over a United Nations decision to establish an International Holocaust Day, but said that such a gesture is long overdue.
The International Day of Commemoration will be held every year on Jan. 27, exactly 60 years after Allied forces liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
“This important declaration by the United Nations comes very late, but better late than never,” said Rabbi Michael Melchior, the Israeli deputy minister responsible for Israeli society and the world Jewish community. “By declaring this day, the United Nations is recognizing the importance of dealing with anti-Semitism, which gave birth to the most terrible crime in the history of humanity.”
The resolution passed Monday (Oct. 31) encourages member countries to promote Holocaust education and activities that will help their citizens better understand its implications as a means of preventing future acts of genocide. The resolution also renounces the practice of Holocaust denial, whereby people either deny that the Holocaust ever happened, or insist that its scale _ the number of Jewish victims, for example _ has been grossly exaggerated.
Jewish leaders consider the decision to commemorate the Holocaust in an official, fixed way especially significant because the initiative was spearheaded by Israel, a nation frequently criticized by Arab countries and their supporters.
Israel officially proposed the memorial day on Aug. 15, the day it began its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, a move applauded by the world community. For many years Israel declined to propose resolutions, believing that they would be automatically denied by anti-Israel member states.
Israeli officials were delighted with the resolution’s passage, insisting that it signaled recognition not only of the suffering of the Jewish people, but of the often-maligned Jewish state.
“This is an historic decision which means that the U.N. relates to Israel as a country equal to other countries, and a step that contributes to Israel’s international standing,” Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said.
The number of living Holocaust survivors is dwindling. The vast majority are in their 80s and 90s.
“This is an important decision taking into account the fact that the number of Holocaust survivors is decreasing every year as they pass on,” said Jewish Agency for Israel Chairman Zeev Bielski.
“This will guarantee that the memory of the Holocaust and its lessons will not be erased.”
_ Michele Chabin
Progressive Muslim Leader Continues Dialogue With Jews
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (RNS) Sunni Muslim leaders in Canada have failed to silence a progressive imam who has been engaging in interfaith dialogue with Jews.
Although popular Vancouver imam Fode Drame has been fired by the British Columbia Muslim Association, the organization was unsuccessful in late October in attempts to obtain a court injunction against him leading prayers at his Ul-Haqq mosque.
Both Drame’s supporters and independent Muslim observers say the BCMA, which claims to represents all of the province’s 50,000 Sunni Muslims, is trying to force him out of his Vancouver mosque because he is a liberal-minded leader who promotes interfaith events with Jews and does not strictly segregate women from men during worship.
Drame has drawn hundreds of young supporters, both male and female. He is becoming known for his Sufi-like mystical approach to Islam, and especially his efforts to reach out to British Columbia’s Jewish community.
In the past year, Drame and Rabbi David Mivasair, of the Ahavat Alam Jewish community, have organized events in which Greater Vancouver Jews and Muslims have met and talked together in each other’s religious institutions.
Prominent B.C. Muslim Hanif Karim says the BCMA does not speak for the whole Sunni community and is exercising its power in a heavy-handed way by trying to oust the charismatic imam from Senegal.
“Imam Fode Drame poses a challenge to the BCMA power structure. They are trying to silence him,” said Karim, a Muslim activist who has been in the news for protesting the anti-Jewish remarks of an extremist Muslim cleric in Vancouver, Sheik Younus Kathrada.
“Imam Fode is attracting lots of young supporters and allowing women to participate fully in community activities. He develops an open spiritual space for everyone, regardless of faith or gender,” said Karim.
Karim’s views that Drame has been caught in a theological power struggle with the more conservative, male-run, Fijian- and Indian-dominated BCMA were supported by Nusrat Hussain, editor of The Miracle, a leading B.C. Muslim newspaper.
“Imam Fode is doing great things. He’s promoting tolerance and peace and respecting one another. At the same time, the BCMA is becoming more hard-line,” said Hussain.
BCMA President Daud Ismail refused to comment. A lawyer for the BCMA would not explain why Drame was being terminated.
_ Douglas Todd
Quote of the Day: Former U.N. Ambassador John Danforth
(RNS) “You may disagree with everything they (conservatives) say and every position they take and every candidate they support, but they are our brothers and sisters in Christ, and they too read the Bible, and they too try to be faithful.”
_ John Danforth, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and an Episcopal priest, addressing a gathering in Washington of progressive Episcopalians.
MO/PH END RNS
