c. 2007 Religion News Service

Update: Episcopalians Void Election of South Carolina Bishop

(RNS) Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has thrown out the election of a conservative bishop-elect in South Carolina, declaring that he did not receive the proper approval of a majority of Episcopal dioceses.

Although South Carolina announced that its candidate had been approved by a majority of Episcopal dioceses, Jefferts Schori said some of the “consents” were sent in electronically, which violates church rules.

On the eve of a crucial meeting of Episcopal bishops in Texas, the rejection may exacerbate tensions between church liberals and conservatives, who are already bitterly divided over homosexuality and the interpretation of the Bible.

After a diocese elects a bishop, he or she must be approved by both a majority of active bishops and a majority of lay and clergy leaders in the Episcopal Church’s 110 dioceses. The Episcopal Church has not rejected a candidate for bishop since the 1930s, according to several people who have studied the matter.

The Rev. Mark Lawrence, 56, who was elected by South Carolina last September, was approved by a majority of bishops and 57 dioceses, according to the Rev. J. Haden McCormick, president of South Carolina’s standing committee.

However, some dioceses “thought that electronic permission was sufficient as had been their past accepted practice,” McCormick said in a statement.

Jefferts Schori saw it differently, according to Episcopal News Service.

“In the past, when consents to Episcopal elections have been so closely contested, the diocese has been diligent in seeking to have canonically adequate ballots submitted,” Jefferts Schori told ENS.

Lawrence is a priest in the conservative diocese of San Joaquin, which has taken preliminary steps to leave the Episcopal Church. A number of Episcopal dioceses said they feared South Carolina would do the same under Lawrence.

The diocese must now hold another election.

“I hope that this tragic outcome will be a wake up call to both clergy and lay people throughout (the Episcopal Church) as to the conditions in our church,” McCormick said.

_ Daniel Burke

New York City Muslims Ask for School Closings on Holidays

NEW YORK (RNS) A coalition of Muslim groups and community members on Thursday (March 15) called for the public schools to observe two of the holiest Muslim holidays with days off.

The action was spurred by testing last January that fell on the holiday Eid al-Adha _ the Feast of the Sacrifice, which marks the end of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca _ which critics said forced nearly 100,000 students to choose between turning their backs on their religion or their education.

“Students experience a hard time with administrators because of the general post-9/11 political climate,” said Zahida Pirani, project director of the New York Civic Participation Project, one of several organization that contributed to a recent report on perceived inequities faced by Muslims in public schools. “They’re facing a lot of discrimination and a lack of awareness around their religion.”

City Councilman Robert Jackson, a Manhattan Democrat who is Muslim, said his children were among the many who were given the uncomfortable choice of school versus religion.

He said if the Department of Education failed to move forward on the issue, he would introduce legislation into the City Council for the recognition of Eid al-Adha and Eid al-Fitr, an early-fall holiday marking the end of Ramadan.

Education officials countered that no action was necessary because students are already given excused absences for religious observation, and that any missed tests can be rescheduled.

_ Yoav Gonen

Jewish Groups Approve Divestment in Sudan

NEW YORK (RNS) Two national Jewish bodies have called for divestment from Sudan, joining a growing number of states and universities that have agreed to pull funds from companies that do business with the troubled African country.

The Union for Reform Judaism, which represents 1.5 million U.S. Jews, approved its divestment resolution this week. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a public policy body representing many streams of American Judaism, passed its resolution at a forum in late February.

An estimated 400,000 people have died in Darfur, a war-torn western province of Sudan, where the Khartoum government is accused of supporting Arab “Janjaweed” militias against black Africans. The U.S. government has called the conflict “genocide” since 2004.

Having survived the Holocaust, Jews in particular must be committed to preventing and ending genocides, URJ and JCPA members agreed.

“The situation in Darfur continues to deteriorate and international pressure is not having the impact we all hoped,” said Rabbi Marla Feldman, director of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism and board member of the Save Darfur Coalition. “Divestment is the correct strategic and ethical step at this juncture.”

In recent years, Jewish groups were outraged over a national Presbyterian Church (USA) proposal for divestment from Israel, which the church reversed in 2006. The controversy came up during the JCPA’s discussion, members said, but the majority agreed that divestment from Sudan would serve a clear, legitimate purpose.

Divestment was used to help end apartheid in South Africa in the 1980s. Since 1997, U.S. sanctions have blocked U.S.-owned companies from doing business in Sudan, but they do not prevent companies, mutual funds and individuals from investing in multinational companies that operate there.

Of about 500 multinational corporations that do business in Sudan, the Sudan Divestment Task Force has identified about two dozen _ predominantly oil companies _ as candidates for divestment.

At least eight states _ California, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, Oregon and Vermont _ have voted to divest their public pension funds from such companies. Several others are now considering similar action, including New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

_ Nicole Neroulias

Quote of the Day: Author and Accident Survivor Philip Yancey

(RNS) “As I thought of what may await me, I felt a feeling of great trust. No one raised in the kind of church environment I grew up in totally leaves behind the acrid smell of fire and brimstone, but I felt a overwhelming sense of trust in God.”

_ Author Philip Yancey, writing on his Web site, http://www.philipyancey.com, about surviving when the vehicle he was driving rolled over several times Feb. 25. He described awaiting news of whether his broken vertebra would lead to a life-threatening condition. He was released from the hospital the same day with a neck brace to be worn for 10 weeks.

KRE END RNS