c. 2006 Religion News Service
Gay Priest Loses Bid to Be Newark Bishop
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) The Episcopal Diocese of Newark on Saturday (Sept. 23) elected a Massachusetts priest as its 10th bishop, passing over a gay candidate whose election could have further roiled the global Anglican Communion.
The Rev. Mark Beckwith of Worcester, Mass., was elected on the third ballot, beating out five other candidates. “I look forward to our next steps together and living among you as your bishop,” Beckwith told his new diocese by speaker phone.
The Rev. Michael Barlowe, an openly gay San Francisco cleric, finished fifth on all three ballots. Barlowe, who works as a officer for congregational development for the Diocese of California, said in a statement that the Newark Diocese had found a “great bishop” in Beckwith.
Still, he said, “God is calling lesbian and gay persons to be bishops, priests, deacons and lay ministers in the church, and we must never deny God’s call.”
The Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton, an openly gay priest at St. Paul’s Church in Chatham, N.J., had advocated Barlowe’s candidacy but said she switched her vote after making a statement before the first ballot.
“He took such a risk in putting his name forward,” she said. “I hope this doesn’t stop the gay and lesbian clergy called to the episcopacy from seeking a vote in the convention.”
Observers and church officials said his election could have widened the schism between the 77 million-member, 38-country Anglican Communion and the 2.3 million people in the American church. The two have been at odds since the 2003 confirmation of the Episcopal Church USA’s first gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Beckwith, a 55-year-old father of two, succeeds retiring Bishop John Croneberger, who supports the rights of gay people to be bishops. Croneberger said the votes for Barlowe were “legitimate votes of people saying, `This is someone we can support not because of his sexuality but because of his ministry.”’
_ John Wihbey
VeggieTales to Air on NBC Minus Most Religious Content
(RNS) NBC has given the religious “VeggieTales” cartoon the 10 a.m. slot in its Saturday morning lineup, but it is editing many references to God out of the show.
The Parents Television Council and longtime fans of the popular children’s home videos are not pleased.
“NBC is trying to take God and the Bible out of one of the most popular and successful children’s animated series ever,” said Brent Bozell, president of Parents Television Council, in a statement.
The 30-minute episodes that encourage moral behavior based on Christian principles began airing on Sept. 9. Bob the Tomato, Larry the Cucumber and their pals got a Nielsen rating of .95 in their first week, which means about a million homes were tuned in.
Despite some viewers’ discontent, VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer takes a more positive outlook on his blog, http://www.philvischer.com.
“Let’s focus on one thing … kids are meeting Bob and Larry on network television. And that’s really cool,” he wrote.
Vischer said he was not upset NBC wants their kids programming to be free from religious statements. However, he wishes he would have known the extent of the required cuts before agreeing to reformat the shows. He didn’t find out about the need for the cuts until two weeks prior to the first episode.
“I probably would have declined to participate simply because there aren’t enough veggie shows that could be made acceptable to NBC without significantly compromising their message,” he wrote.
All of this follows the recent controversy over NBC’s November airing of a Madonna special from her “Confessions” tour. In one scene of the tour she sings while attached to a suspended, mirrored cross, wearing a crown of thorns. After many complaints, NBC has reportedly asked Madonna to cut that scene.
_ Chansin Bird
Reform Jews Launch Campaign to Send Kids to Camp
NEW YORK (RNS) The Union for Reform Judaism will use a $1 million gift to begin a $15 million campaign for scholarship programs to send Jewish children to summer camps and on trips to Israel.
Summer camps play an important role in Jewish education _ four out of five current rabbis, cantors and educators in the Reform movement participated in the Union’s camping system.
“It’s the most powerful transmitter of Jewish identity, culture and knowledge that we know of,” said Rabbi Daniel Freelander, vice president of the Union. “A two-week or four-week session at a Jewish specific summer camp has as much educational value as one or two years participation in Sunday school.”
The Union operates 12 camps in the U.S. and Canada, and while they are not for profit, the camps need to break even, which means as costs rise, so will the cost of attending.
Peter and Joan Weidhorn of Manalapan, N.J., donated $1 million to start the endowment campaign. Weidhorn chaired the Union’s North American camping committee for several years.
Planning efforts are under way to raise the rest of the money, which will be invested. Only the interest will be used to fund the scholarships, “so it becomes a gift in perpetuity,” Freelander said. “These dollars will be able to be given out in 5 years, and 20 years, not just the next couple of years.”
The funds will be used to provide scholarships for first-time participants and need-based scholarships for others, Freelander said, so that a lack of funds doesn’t keep any young person from going to camp.
“It’s a 24-hour-a-day Jewish community,” Freelander said. “The kids are doing all of their normative life experiences in a Jewish setting. They’re eating, they’re playing sports, they’re swimming. It’s living Judaism rather than talking about Judaism.”
The scholarship program will also help more teens to travel to Israel, through the Rabbi Alexander Schindler NFTY (North American Federation of Temple Youth) Experience in Israel program.
_ Ansley Roan
Liberal Group Says Hot-Button Issues Are Not `Values’ Concerns
WASHINGTON (RNS) Findings from a recent survey by a liberal advocacy group suggest that the values of many American voters span beyond the controversial social issues often cited by religious conservatives.
The Center for American Values in Public Life published the results just as the conservative Family Research Council and other groups hosted the Values Voter Summit 2006 Sept. 22-24.
According to the survey, “at least three-quarters … say issues like poverty and health care are more important than hot-button social issues.” The survey also showed that when asked what “voting their values” meant, 39 percent responded that it coincided with a candidate’s honesty, integrity and responsibility; 23 percent cited poverty elimination; while 9 percent said it meant standing against same-sex marriage and 3 percent said fighting abortion.
“Abortion and same-sex marriage rank last in importance to the vast majority of Americans in determining their vote,” said Robert Jones, executive director of the group, during a conference about the findings.
“Trying to understand these values … is the story of this election,” said pollster Anna Greenberg, vice president of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, a public opinion research firm.
But despite the results of the survey, “you have to wonder why Democrats aren’t creaming Republicans at polls,” said panelist Amy Sullivan, contributing editor for Washington Monthly magazine.
“It’s not helping Democrats to be presented as the `pro-abortion’ party,” Sullivan said.
The telephone survey was conducted by Braun Research Inc., and sampled 2,502 U.S. adults from Aug. 9-23. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.95 percentage points.
_ Keith Roshangar
Quote of the Day: Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan
(RNS)“In this period of testing, you can prove to the world that the Nation of Islam is more than the charisma, eloquence and personality of Louis Farrakhan.”
_ Minister Louis Farrakhan, in a statement to members of the Nation of Islam on his “life-threatening” battle with prostate cancer and an ulcer. Comparing his own situation to that of ailing Cuban President Fidel Castro, Farrakhan temporarily relinquished many of his executive responsibilities to the Nation’s executive board.
KRE/JL END RNS
