c. 2006 Religion News Service

Williams Says He Doesn’t Want Balkanized Anglican Church

(RNS) The spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion said he doesn’t want its American branch _ the Episcopal Church _ to splinter over homosexuality and other contentious issues.

As conservative Episcopal dioceses and parishes align themselves with other likeminded overseas bishops, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said he fears a balkanized religious map.

“I don’t especially want to see the Anglican Church becoming like the Orthodox Church, where in some American cities you see the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church. I don’t want to see in the cities of America the American Anglican Church, the Nigerian Anglican Church, the Egyptian Anglican and the English Anglican Church in the same street,” Williams said in a recent interview with Nederlands Dagblad, a Dutch newspaper.

Since the election of V. Gene Robinson, who lives with his longtime male partner, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003, the 2.1-million member Episcopal Church has been riven by disputes over homosexuality and the authority of Scripture.

The conservative Anglican Communion Network, a group of 10 dioceses and about 900 parishes, have built close ties with foreign churches. Seven of those dioceses have asked the archbishop of Canterbury to assign them to a foreign primate, and a number of U.S. congregations have joined Anglican dioceses in Uganda, Brazil, Rwanda and Bolivia.

Williams said he has not yet decided what to do about the dioceses’ requests for alternative oversight.

“We are working extensively on what that might mean. I don’t want to make up church law on the back of an envelope, because in fact it’s a very complicated situation.”

“My nightmare is that action is now going forward that will tie us all up in law courts for 10 years, in disputes about property,” Williams said.

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Referring to Robinson’s election, he said the Episcopal Church has “pushed the boundaries” by “making a decision that is not the decision of the wider body of Christ.”

But Williams said he “has great concern for the vast majority of Episcopal Christians who don’t wish to move away from the Communion at all, but who don’t particularly want to join a separatist part of their church either. I want to give them time to find what the best way is.”

_ Daniel Burke

Study Says U.S. Christian Flocks Guilty of “Overgrazing”

(RNS) On the way to the church picnic, some Christians may not be sidestepping one of the seven deadly sins: gluttony.

A new study surmises that among Christians in the U.S. _ particularly Baptists, Pentecostals and Catholics _ there is a significant relationship between being religious and being obese.

The study tracked about 2,800 religious Americans of various denominations for eight years.

Baptists, according to the study, were most likely to be obese, followed by Pentecostals, Catholics, Methodists and members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Denominations that stress physical health, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Seventh-day Adventists, show low levels of obesity, according to the study. There is also a very low percentage of obese Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists in the U.S., the study found.

Because religion is often associated with positive health factors, such as lower blood pressure, stronger immune systems and less depression, the results of the study were somewhat surprising, said Purdue University sociology professor Kenneth E. Ferraro, a leader of the research.

“We usually think of religion as contrasting negative behaviors,” Ferraro said. But “Baptists, as well as most fundamentalist groups, place great emphasis on separating the mind or soul from the body,” which may lead to over-eating.

The study found a significant correlation between obesity and people who use religious media, such as television, radio and magazines. These “couch potato saints,” as the study calls them, tend to be less active and often watch “lots of obese religious leaders on TV,” according to Ferraro.

Ferraro said his study has received some negative attention from preachers who say that he has “the wrong priorities … for trying to find fault with the church.”

But he said rising obesity rates in the U.S. present a dangerous health problem. “If you’re a pastor you ought to be concerned about the condition of your flock,” Ferraro said.

_ Daniel Burke

Newspaper: Investigators Looking Into Possible Fraud by Artist Kinkade

(RNS) FBI investigators are looking into allegations that Christian artist Thomas Kinkade and some top executives of his company have been involved in fraudulent practices related to galleries where his work was sold, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The investigation centers on issues raised in lawsuits filed by several former Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery owners, according to people who have been contacted by the FBI.

The former owners allege that the artist used his Christian faith to persuade them to invest in the independently owned stores that only sell Kinkade’s work. These former owners said Kinkade and his executives then caused them financial ruin.

“They really knew how to bait the hook,” one former dealer told the Times on condition of anonymity. “They certainly used the Christian hook.”

Kinkade has denied the allegations.

Jim Bryant, a spokesman for Kinkade’s company in Morgan Hill, Calif., said Monday (Aug. 28) that the company had not been contacted by the FBI and was not aware of a criminal investigation.

“The Thomas Kinkade Co. asserts that there is no legitimate grounds for a federal investigation of any kind,” Bryant wrote to the Times in an e-mail message.

FBI Special Agent Brian Wickham, who is based in San Jose, Calif., declined to comment and cited the agency’s policy of neither confirming nor denying that investigations are in progress. Others familiar with the situation said the FBI’s San Jose office was coordinating an investigation.

Former owners of galleries said they were driven out of business after investing tens of thousands of dollars. Company practices, they alleged, included being coerced to open more stores in saturated markets.

Known as the “Painter of Light,” Kinkade has painted colorful pictures of homes that often feature glowing lights and picturesque lighthouses, churches and gardens.

Fans of his work pay from a few hundred dollars for paper prints to more than $10,000 for canvas editions he has retouched and signed, the Times said.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Retired Washington, D.C., minister A. Knighton Stanley

(RNS) “I don’t think there are many churches left where people would follow the clergy. Most of those people who might have done what I told them to do, they are citizens of heaven now.”

_ A. Knighton Stanley, retired senior minister at Peoples Congregational United Church of Christ, saying religion has less pull than it used to in local Washington politics. He was quoted by The Washington Post (Aug. 30).

KRE/RB END RNS