Gay Bishop to Enter N.H. Civil Union With Partner (RNS) Openly gay Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson said he and his longtime partner will register under New Hampshire’s new civil union law for gay couples when it takes effect next year. “My partner and I look forward to taking full advantage of the law,” Robinson told The Associated Press. The 59-year-old Robinson, whose 2003 election as bishop of New Hampshire has brought the global Anglican Communion to the brink of schism, has been with his partner, Mark Andrew, 53, for 18 years. New Hampshire is set to become the fourth state to offer civil unions after the state legislature voted Thursday (April 26) to approve them. Gov. John Lynch said he would sign the law. “I think this moves us one step closer to the American promise to all its citizens of equality under the law,” Robinson told the AP. “New Hampshire understands fairness and has acted on that value.” Robinson is the first openly gay man elected as a bishop in the Episcopal Church. While Robinson is accepted by the Episcopal Church’s liberal majority, many conservatives in the wider Anglican Communion believe homosexuality is sinful and were deeply distressed by his election. In February, Anglican archbishops demanded that the U.S. church promise to stop electing openly gay bishops as well as ban any blessings for same-sex commitment ceremonies by Sept. 30. The Episcopal Church has yet to meet those demands. -Daniel Burke Pastor Launches `Prayer Patrol’ for Baghdad (RNS) Wayne Dillard believes that one surge deserves another. President Bush ordered a surge in U.S. troops sent to Iraq, and now Dillard is calling for a surge in prayers on behalf of Baghdad, once known as “the city of peace.” Dillard, an ordained minister in the Vineyard Christian Fellowship and a founder of Prayercentral.net, has launched the Baghdad Prayer Patrol at http://www.prayercentral.net/baghdad. He’s enlisted at least 300 people who have agreed to spend at least one minute a day praying for the city where death and violence are daily occurrences. Each day, an e-mail goes out to subscribers, focusing on a particular need of U.S. troops, Iraqi leaders and police, and the residents of the city. Each e-mail includes a Scripture passage and a recommended prayer. A satellite map highlights one of seven Baghdad neighborhoods identified by the U.S. military as a “hot spot,” Dillard says. “People have different ideas about whether we should be in Iraq or not, about bringing the troops home now, whatever,” Dillard said in a telephone interview from Virginia Beach, Va. “I’m not interested in those issues. We’ve got a conflict in Baghdad that needs a godly solution, a peaceful solution. That’s not going to be fully accomplished through just military effort, or political effort or social effort,” he said. “There are spiritual forces at work that need to be addressed.” Since the project began in March, prayers have been offered for Iraqi leaders, whose lives have been threatened; fathers who struggle to protect their families; and troops, who may need the gift of compassion, Dillard said. Recently the prayer of the day quoted Psalm 55: “Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech. … Destructive forces are at work in the city; threats and lies never leave its streets.” The heart of the prayer is this request: “Lord, with all my brothers and sisters praying this prayer today, I am asking you to break this stronghold of violence over the city of Baghdad and its people. Honor your word, Lord, and strip Baghdad from the hands of the violent and give it to those who love peace.” There is no cost to subscribe and no request for donations, Dillard says. Though he asks for a six-month commitment, it’s possible to unsubscribe at any time. Subscribers can post their own prayers and comments, too. “All of Iraq needs prayer,” Dillard says, “and people are praying for all of Iraq. But the military has identified Baghdad as an area that needs concerted effort right now. As the troops are surging, we need prayers to surge behind them.” -Nancy Haught New Trial Ordered for Leader of Grave-Robbing Cult (RNS) A New Jersey appeals court has ordered a new trial for a leader of a grave-robbing religious cult who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for directing a follower to steal human remains from two Newark cemeteries. Miriam Miraballes, an alleged high priestess in the Palo Mayombe sect, was unfairly convicted in a 2004 trial after an expert on cults was improperly allowed to give his opinion on her guilt, according to a ruling by the Superior Court Appellate Division. Miraballes’ appellate attorney, William Welaj, also argued that 15 years was an excessive sentence for the 61-year-old Cuban immigrant, who is being held at a correctional facility in Clinton, N.J. But the court said it did not have to rule on that question because it was ordering a new trial. Paul Loriquet, a spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, said his office believes the Miraballes trial was handled properly and that it would seek to have the matter reviewed by the state Supreme Court. Miraballes’ trial in April and May of 2004 came after a highly publicized series of thefts from above-ground mausoleums at Holy Sepulchre and Mt. Pleasant cemeteries. In one theft, the bones of Richard Jenkinson, a prominent industrialist and Newark mayoral candidate in the early 1990s, were dragged from his crypt at Mt. Pleasant. Newark police and the FBI linked the grave robbing to practitioners of Palo Mayombe, a religion with African roots that experts say is practiced by a small number of Cuban immigrants. Palo worshipers at times use human skulls and other remains in their ceremonies. Miraballes � also known as Miriam Mirabal -was accused of directing one of her followers, Ramon Gonzalez, who testified at her trial, to carry out crypt thefts. She was found guilty on May 3, 2004 of seven counts of burglary, theft and conspiracy to commit theft. On June 25, 2004, Superior Court Judge Michael Ravin sentenced her to 15 years in prison. During her trial, Marco Quinones, who investigates religious cults for the New York Police Department, took the stand as an expert witness. According to the appellate decision, Ravin improperly allowed Dean Maglione, then an assistant Essex County prosecutor, to ask Quinones what role he believed Miraballes played in the cemetery thefts, instead of limiting his expert testimony to the general nature of Palo worship. The ruling said Maglione “elicited an opinion that the `61-year-old Cuban woman’ was responsible for the cemetery thefts” and that his questions “called on the expert to opine on the credibility of the state’s case.” The 3-0 ruling, written by Judge Harvey Weissbard, found that the “question and answer were erroneously admitted” by the judge, despite the failure of Miraballes’ trial attorney, Francisco Guzman, to vigorously object. In addition, the appellate panel found that Maglione should not have been allowed to ask Quinones whether, in his expert opinion, a Palo priestess would be truthful in court testimony. Quinones responded that a Palo priestess would lie rather than reveal the group’s secrets. -William Kleinknecht Quote of the Day: Presidential Candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. (RNS) “I think my party has to demonstrate that it’s not afraid to deal with the faith issue, and has a candidate who the public thinks knows there’s something bigger than he or she is and is comfortable with that. We treat it like a third rail within our party.” -Presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., speaking during an April 20 taping of Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program. He was quoted by the Associated Press. KRE/LF END RN