c. 2007 Religion News Service
Canadian Anglicans, Lutherans Say No to Same-Sex Unions
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (RNS) The national governing body of the Anglican Church of Canada on Sunday (June 24) defeated by the tightest of margins a motion to forge ahead with same-sex blessings across the country.
The church’s lay and clergy delegates voted to allow same-sex blessings, but church bishops defeated the move, 21-19. Majorities in all three groups would have been needed to approve the measure.
Earlier in the day, delegates approved a statement that said the blessing of same-sex unions is “not in conflict with the core doctrine” of the Anglican Church of Canada. Yet bishops, perhaps mindful of pressure from overseas Anglican provinces, narrowly killed the measure.
Archbishop-elect Fred Hiltz, who was chosen Friday (June 22) as the church’s next primate, or top bishop, voted in favor of same-sex blessings, and said he wanted to reach out “pastorally” to gay and lesbian Christians.
“This is no doubt going to cause lots of pain,” Hiltz said. “There are a lot of people who will say, “How long, oh Lord? How long?”
The decision is likely to spare the Canadian church some of the ire from overseas Anglicans that has been directed south of the border at the Episcopal Church in the United States. Both churches were told to promise not to allow same-sex blessings by Sept. 30 or face unspecified “consequences” from the worldwide Anglican Communion.
But in Canada, which legalized same-sex civil marriage in 2005, Hiltz _ who was the bishop for Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island _ and others wondered whether a better, simpler way could be found to hold such important votes.
“It’s a bitter pill for those in our church who are frustrated and had wanted to move forward,” said Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham, whose diocese is the only one in Canada to have formally approved the blessing of committed same-gender relationships.
“The decision raises serious doubts about leadership _ when the whole church is held back by two bishops,” Ingham said.
The Anglicans’ rejection of same-sex blessings came one day after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, which was also meeting here, defeated a similar motion.
On Saturday, 52.5 percent of delegates from the 175,000-member Evangelical Lutheran Church voted against allowing local churches to offer the rites of blessing to same-gender couples.
_ Douglas Todd
Calif. Muslim Woman Wins Sermon Contest
(RNS) What started as a prank sermon contest has ended up as a $1,000 prize for Dr. Lena Al-Sarraf of Glendale, Calif., a leader of the Los Angeles-based Muslim Women’s League.
Laury Silvers, an Islamic studies professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., first saw the announcement for the “Ingrid Mattson and Sherman Jackson Awards for Sermonic Excellence” in January on an electronic mailing list for Muslim academics. She sent it on to another list run by a fledgling group called Muslims for Progressive Values.
The contest, named for the current president of the Islamic Society of North America and a well-known Islamic scholar at the University of Michigan, invited male and female preachers to write a sermon, or khutba in Arabic, about Muslim ideals in America.
The top five sermon writers would be awarded $8,000 each while the top winner would get to deliver his or her sermon to ISNA’s annual Labor Day convention in Chicago that draws 40,000 people.
Most Muslims on the lists agreed it was a good idea _ but it wasn’t real. Al-Husein N. Madhany, a doctoral student in Islamic studies at the University of Chicago and editor of Islamica Magazine, invented the contest as his “hopeful hoax” to inspire North American Muslims to write more inspiring sermons.
Indeed, many Muslim Americans often complain that the sermons they hear on Friday afternoons are either uninspired snoozers or angry rants.
But several Muslims on the Muslims for Progressive Values group thought Madhany had a good idea, and in February announced the first annual al-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz (Malcolm X) Award for Excellence in Islamic Sermons, and started collecting donations for what turned out to be a $1,000 prize.
Al-Sarraf’s sermon, one of 12 entered, was called “Women’s Rights in Islam,” and was selected because it was “heartfelt” and well-supported with extensive references from Islamic scripture, Taylor wrote.
_ Omar Sacirbey
ACLU Wants Jesus Out of Courthouse
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Jesus has no place in the lobby of Slidell City Court, says the Louisiana ACLU, which has asked court officials to remove his portrait within a week or face a possible lawsuit to force the issue.
Several people have complained to the ACLU about the picture, and one has filed a written complaint, prompting the organization to intervene, said Joe Cook, the Louisiana chapter’s executive director. The ACLU also wants the court to remove lettering beneath the portrait that says, “To know peace, obey these laws.”
The organization sent a letter Wednesday (June 20) to court officials saying the display violates the First Amendment by advancing religion.
Cook said it would be impossible for the court to oblige every religious group with a similar display in the court’s lobby. Therefore, the display has to go, he said.
“If you can’t accommodate, you must separate,” Cook said. “That’s the beauty of the First Amendment.”
Slidell City Court Judge Jim Lamz, who was unavailable for comment, issued a statement through Ann Barks, a court spokeswoman. Barks noted that the display had been in place for several years.
“I was shocked and disappointed to receive the letter,” Lamz said in the statement. “To my knowledge, no one has made a complaint. I’m disappointed the ACLU released their letter to the press either before or simultaneously to us, which indicates they’re not interested so much in a resolution, but in confrontation and publicity.”
Katie Schwartzmann, the ACLU attorney who wrote the letter, said the display conveys a religious message and instructs those who see it to obey Jesus’ laws.
“The display is prominently placed in the lobby of the courthouse, such that every person entering the courthouse is subjected to it,” Schwartzmann said. “Moreover, as an admonition hanging in a court of law, it clearly gives the impression that only believers in the law of Jesus Christ will receive justice in that courthouse.”
_ Christine Harvey
House Votes to Change Policy on Overseas Family Planning
WASHINGTON (RNS) In a narrow defeat for anti-abortion groups, the House on Thursday (June 21) approved a measure to fund contraceptives for foreign organizations that also provide abortions.
The measure passed 223-201, reversing the so-called Mexico City policy that was enacted by former President Ronald Reagan. The policy prohibits grants to groups that promote abortion as a means of family planning.
President Bush promised to veto the amendment, which was drafted by Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., and attached to a $34 billion bill that finances State Department operations and foreign aid. Bush revived the policy in 2001 after former President Clinton had killed it in 1993.
Opponents of the bill argued that since taxpayers do not fund abortions domestically, they shouldn’t be funding them abroad. Though the measure would not specifically allocate funds for abortions, opponents contested that funds can flow freely within the overseas organizations, sending funds meant for contraceptives toward abortions.
Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia had urged representatives to vote against the measure.
“Logic and common sense dictate that we cannot reduce abortions by supporting groups dedicated to promoting abortions,” Rigali wrote in a statement.
But the policy’s limits on contraceptives _ especially condoms _ drew sharp criticism from AIDS prevention advocates, who call it “detrimental to women’s health.”
Catholics for Free Choice (CFFC) argued that restricting birth control is out of touch with reality. The group claims that 97 percent of sexually active American Catholics _ and a similar percentage of Catholics worldwide _ use contraception even though church leaders considers it immoral.
“Access to contraception should be something that everybody who has an interest in reducing the need for abortion can agree on,” said CFFC President Jon O’Brien.
The House also voted to remove funding restrictions that earmark one-third of HIV/AIDS prevention money to abstinence-until-marriage programs.
A Focus on the Family spokesperson decried the vote, saying that abstinence education has proven effective, and putting it on the back burner “could skyrocket infection rates.”
_ Michelle C. Rindels
Southern Baptist Pastor Outspoken on Tongues Resigns Seminary Post
(RNS) Texas pastor Dwight McKissic, who has been at the center of a debate in the Southern Baptist Convention over speaking in tongues, has resigned his trustee position with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
McKissic, the pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, told the seminary’s trustee board chairman in a June 20 letter that his role as a trustee was a “huge distraction” from his ministry priorities.
“I’ve been distracted and consumed with SBC/SWBTS matters the past nine months in a way that I haven’t been the past 24 years of pastoring an SBC church,” McKissic wrote. “It has taken a tremendous toll on my family and ministry, and my wife believes it has negatively impacted my health. I simply want to return to the place I was prior to being a trustee.”
McKissic told of his personal use of tongues during a sermon in the chapel of the Fort Worth, Texas, seminary last August. Two months later, the seminary trustee board _ with McKissic dissenting _ voted not to hire professors or administrators who promote charismatic Christian practices, which include speaking in tongues.
Southwestern Seminary President Paige Patterson issued a statement reacting to McKissic’s resignation, which said in part: “It is well known that we have not always agreed, but we are brothers in Christ and I love this pastor.”
McKissic has criticized an International Mission Board policy _ which is now termed a “guideline” _ that says Southern Baptist missionaries who currently practice “ecstatic utterance as a prayer language” will not be accepted.
“We have prayer police,” McKissic said in an interview during the Southern Baptists’ recent annual convention in San Antonio. “They say we are about missions and evangelism and then they hinder people from the mission field based on their private prayer lives.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Poll: Trust in Organized Religion at Near-Record Low
(RNS) Americans trust the military and the police force significantly more than the church and organized religion, a new Gallup Poll says.
Only 46 percent of respondents said they had either a “great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the church, compared with 69 percent who said they trusted the military and 54 percent who trust police officers.
The figures are among the lowest for institutionalized religion in the three and a half decades that Gallup has conducted the poll. Peaking at 68 percent in May 1975, the numbers bottomed out at 45 percent in June of 2003.
But while confidence is waning for organized religion, the numbers are even bleaker for other American institutions. Just 25 percent expressed confidence in the presidency, while a mere 14 percent say they trust Congress.
The poll was conducted by telephone from June 14-17. The margin of error is three percentage points.
_ Michelle Rindels
Polluted Jordan River Placed on Endangered Sites List
JERUSALEM (RNS) The lower portion of the Jordan River is so polluted that the World Monuments Fund (WMF) has designated it an “Endangered Cultural Heritage Site.”
The WMF, the leading international body for the protection of monuments, placed the river that is revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims on the organization’s “watch list” of 100 endangered sites on June 6.
Also listed as endangered are a 2,000-year-old Roman bridge that crosses the river and a 12th-century “Khan,” a rest house for travelers. Both are in disrepair.
About 90 percent of the river’s natural water flow has been diverted by Israel, Jordan and Syria for domestic and agricultural use, with sewage flowing in its place, according to Friends of the Earth Middle East, an environmental organization with offices in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.
The upper Jordan, which is formed from three tributaries originating in Lebanon, the Golan Heights and Israel, is considered clean and flows into the Sea of Galilee. Israel’s large baptism center is located in this region.
The lower Jordan, which meanders some 125 miles from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, is highly polluted with sewage and agricultural runoff. Some pilgrims, particularly in Jordan, do not realize that the river is polluted and wade into the water.
Environmentalists for years have warned that the river is endangered but governments have been slow to respond, said Mira Edelstein, a spokeswoman for Friends of the Earth Middle East.
“We’re not proud of being on this list and hope to get off as soon as we can,” Edelstein said in an interview. “Hopefully, this international pressure will bring our governments to act.”
_ Michele Chabin
Pope Changes Rules on Election of Next Pope
VATICAN CITY (RNS) In a move that could lengthen the process of choosing the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI has ruled that popes must always be elected by a two-thirds majority of eligible Roman Catholic cardinals.
The change undoes a reform by Benedict’s predecessor, Pope John Paul II, which permitted election by a simple majority under certain circumstances.
After the death of a pope, all cardinals under the age of 80 who are healthy enough to attend must assemble in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel to elect a new pontiff. A majority of at least two-thirds has traditionally been required for election.
But under rules established by John Paul in 1996, if no candidate in a papal election _ called a conclave _ attains a two-thirds majority after about 12 days and about 30 ballots, the vote can be decided by an absolute majority.
Benedict’s decision, published Tuesday (June 26), holds that a two-thirds majority is always necessary “so that a pope may be considered validly elected,” according to a statement from the Vatican Press Office.
However, after 13 days, the cardinals will be forced to choose between the two top candidates and will not be allowed to seek a third compromise candidate. The Rev. Thomas Reese, a senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, and author of the 1996 book, “Inside the Vatican,” called that move “a mistake.”
“Benedict should have simply returned to the ancient tradition and left the cardinals free to pass over the top two candidates and vote for a third if they wanted to,” Reese said.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Religious Leaders Call for End to Torture
WASHINGTON (RNS) More than 100 religious and secular leaders on Tuesday (June 26) demanded an end to what they called a “continuing authorized pattern” of U.S.-sponsored torture.
Members of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture rallied in the nation’s capital to support congressional efforts to restore the legal right of habeas corpus to prisoners suspected of terrorist activities.
The Rev. Richard Kilmer, the group’s executive director, accused the United States of abandoning its historic opposition to “the use of torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees.”
He said U.S. mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba is “not just isolated instances,” but “a pattern.”
Joining Kilmer were Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America; Charles Gutenson, an evangelical leader and professor at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky.; Rabbi Gerry Serotta, head of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America; and retired Roman Catholic Walter Sullivan of Richmond, Va.
“Torture is always immoral,” said Gutenson. “We’ve got to recognize the extent to which engaging in torture makes us like our enemies. We actually think we’re winning _ but we’re losing.”
Since its inception in January 2006, the organization has been working with the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International and the Leadership Council on Civil Rights to call for an end to torture and secret prisons, and to restore due process legal rights to U.S. prisoners.
_ Alexandra Steigrad
UCC Laments `Silent Witness to Evil Deeds’ in Iraq
(RNS) The United Church of Christ has issued an unambiguous call to end the war in Iraq, saying rather than ending oppression, the war “has imposed the new oppression of terror on the people of Iraq.”
The letter was read Friday (June 22) at the UCC’s General Synod in Hartford, Conn. Among those endorsing the statement were chief executives of the denomination and seminary presidents.
When a standing ovation greeted the letter, a UCC spokesman said, delegates “affirmed overwhelmingly” to add the General Synod to the list of supporters.
“Too often,” the letter said, “the church has been little more than a silent witness to evil deeds. We have prayed without protest.”
But the protests have already begun. On Monday night, about 500 people from the Massachusetts delegation staged an impromptu protest walk along Hartford sidewalks. A spokesman said protesters donned yellow armbands and carried yellow signs saying “End the War.”
In other business, delegates on Tuesday rebuffed attempts to revisit the denomination’s 2005 endorsement of same-sex marriage.
_ Michelle C. Rindels
Mormons Mark 1 Millionth Missionary
(RNS) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a significant milestone on Sunday (June 24): 1 million missionaries have served the church in its 177 years of history.
Church President Gordon B. Hinckley made the announcement at the Mormons’ Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. Though the church is not sure exactly who the millionth missionary is, Hinckley said the milestone statistic is a reliable estimate.
Currently, some 53,000 missionaries are serving around the world. Known for wearing suits and traveling door-to-door by bike or on foot, these missionaries have reached 145 different countries with the Mormon message.
The two-year mission trips are not mandatory but are highly encouraged for men between the ages of 19 and 21. Women are also accepted for missionary service starting at age 21.
Among those at a Monday press conference were Samuel Pelaquim and Brandon Soelberg, who just entered a Missionary Training Center in preparation for a two-year assignment in Japan.
Soelberg, 20, said people ask him why he is voluntarily postponing college, giving up television and paying his way for the trip.
“The reality is I feel I have a lot to give,” he said. “I have always known I wanted to serve a mission, so it doesn’t really feel like a sacrifice to me. I need to do this, I want to do this.”
_ Michelle C. Rindels
Quote of the Week: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
(RNS) “My faith teaches me that I can sit in church and pray all I want, but I won’t be fulfilling God’s will unless I go out and do the Lord’s work.”
_ Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., a member of the United Church of Christ, addressing the UCC’s General Synod in Hartford, Conn., on Saturday (June 23).
END RNS
