c. 2006 Religion News Service

Nigerian Church Calls Episcopal Church a `Cancerous Lump’

(RNS) The Anglican Church in Nigeria has compared the Episcopal Church _ its liberal counterpart in the United States _ to “a cancerous lump” that “should be excised” from the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The Tuesday (July 4) statement from the Anglican Church of Nigeria also rejects a proposed two-tiered membership system that would try to accommodate both liberals and conservatives in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion.

Instead, the statement from the Anglican bishops of Nigeria suggests that the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, should be cut out of the global communion.

“To attempt to condition the whole body to accommodate (the cancerous lump) will lead to the avoidable death of the patient,” the statement reads.

The proposal, from Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, would divide the world’s 38 Anglican provinces between “constituent churches” with decision-making privileges and “churches in association” without them.

The Nigerian statement said the program is a sign that “the wound caused by the revisionists has become difficult, if not impossible, to heal.”

With an estimated 17 million members, the rapidly growing Nigerian church far outnumbers the 2.2 million members in the Episcopal Church and is second only to the Church of England in terms of membership.

Nigeria is one of nine Anglican provinces in Africa that declared themselves in “impaired communion” with the U.S. church since 2003, when openly gay Bishop V. Gene Robinson was elected in New Hampshire.

Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola has led the chorus of conservative criticism against Episcopal leaders, condemning Robinson’s ordination and the blessing of same-sex unions as a “Satanic attack” on the church.

Akinola recently appointed an American priest, the Rev. Martyn Minns of Virginia, as bishop of the Convocation of Anglican Churches in America. Created to care for Nigerian expatriates in America, the convocation could also become a home for breakaway conservative dioceses and churches in the United States.

“This is not a welcome development,” Jonathan Jennings, spokesman for the archbishop of Canterbury, told the Washington Times. “It’s neither timely or constructive. It further complicates an already complex situation.”

_ Daniel Burke

Seventh-day Adventist Awarded $300,000 in Workplace Accommodation Case

(RNS) A former Seventh-day Adventist UPS deliveryman has been awarded more than $300,000 in a court decision affirming his right to religious accommodation to observe the Sabbath.

Todd Sturgill, 41, of Springdale, Ark., was employed by United Parcel Service when a dispute about workplace accommodation arose, the Adventist News Network reported.

On June 30, a U.S. federal district court in Fayetteville, Ark., awarded him $311,166.75 in lost wages and punitive damages. A UPS spokeswoman said the company may appeal the ruling.

Sturgill had been a driver for the company for 19 years when he joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in May 2004. That July, he asked his employer if he could refrain from work on Friday evenings during the holiday delivery season. Adventists observe the Sabbath from sunset on Friday through sunset on Saturday.

Sturgill was told he would receive no accommodation but made arrangements with co-workers to adjust his schedule until a Friday in mid-December in 2004. On that day, after repeated requests for assistance, Sturgill was not able to complete his work before sunset. He returned to the UPS center with about 35 undelivered parcels and went home. The following Monday he was fired.

The former deliveryman got a new job with a lower salary but stood by his convictions.

“Through all of this, my faith has grown,” Sturgill told Adventist News Network. “Maybe a lot of people might want to try and blame God for what happened, but I wouldn’t change a thing. If I had lost (in court), … I still would have been thankful for what I’d done, standing up for what I believe.”

Lynnette McIntire, a UPS spokeswoman, said Sturgill’s termination was upheld by a grievance panel that included UPS management and Teamsters union representatives.

“UPS disagrees with the jury’s decision and is considering its options, including an appeal,” she said. “UPS maintains Mr. Sturgill was terminated solely because he twice abandoned his job by refusing to complete deliveries and pickups and returned to the package center with undelivered packages. Sturgill’s religion played no role in UPS’ treatment of him, assignment of job duties, or the decision to terminate his employment.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Britain Cracks Down on Parents Who Treat Kids as `Witches’

LONDON (RNS) The British government has launched a crackdown on religious leaders and families who it said abuse children by branding them as “witches” or accuse them of being “possessed” by evil spirits.

A new report released by the Department of Education documents at least 38 cases of children in Britain being beaten, burned, tortured and neglected in the name of religious belief since 2000.

Scotland Yard police have code-named the crackdown “Project Violet,” and Detective Superintendent Chris Bourlet, its chief, said “where we identify criminal offenses, these will be taken extremely seriously and a full police investigation will be pursued.”

Most of the cases documented in the government’s report involved families described as Christian, although some were Hindu or Muslim, and in a few cases the religion was not known or disclosed.

The report said the children, all ages 8 to 14 years and all of African or South Asian origin, were subjected to ritual cruelty because of fears by religious chiefs or their families that they would “infect” others with their “evil.”

In one case, an 8-year-old girl from Angola was cut and starved and had chili peppers rubbed into her eyes in an attempt to drive out the so-called kindoki, or spirits. A man has been jailed for that crime.

In another case, London police said an African boy was slain in what was possibly a human sacrifice and his body slung into the River Thames. Only his mutilated torso has been recovered.

Education Secretary Beverley Hughes said religious beliefs in “witchcraft” and “demonic possession” have become a “hidden problem in some parts of our society.”

Katel Kirby, chief executive of the African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance, warned The Times newspaper in London that more research is needed because “it’s still not very clear where faith stops and culture starts. For some communities there is no difference.”

“We have to find a way of saying to communities, `Even if it’s your faith, this is illegal.”’

_ Al Webb

Quote of the Day: British Prime Minister Tony Blair

(RNS) “Government itself cannot go and root out the extremism in these communities. I’m not the person to go into the Muslim community and explain to them that this extreme view is not the true face of Islam.”

_ British Prime Minister Tony Blair, addressing a parliamentary committee on Tuesday (July 4) and responding to criticism in Parliament that he had not done enough to engage the country’s Muslims a year after the terrorist attacks in London last July 7. He was quoted by The Washington Times.

KRE/PH END RNS