c. 2007 Religion News Service

Gay Man at Center of Court Case Joins Virginia Church

(RNS) The openly gay Virginia man who was at the center of a high-profile court case after he was denied membership in a United Methodist church has been accepted into membership under the church’s new pastor.

The Rev. Barry Burkholder, current pastor of South Hill (Va.) United Methodist Church, said he welcomed the man into membership during services March 11 on the basis that he “met all the requirements” and professed a “belief in Jesus Christ.”

In a 2005 ruling, the Methodists’ highest court sided with South Hill’s former pastor, the Rev. Ed Johnson, who refused to admit the gay man as a church member. The controversial decision upheld the right of local pastors to make those decisions based on their own discretion.

Johnson _ who was put on unvoluntary leave but has since been reinstated _ was eventually placed with another congregation, according to officials of the church’s Virginia Conference.

The new pastor, Burkholder, said the man (who has not been named publicly) approached him about church membership after the pastor arrived last July.

“He was sincere,” Burkholder said. “I know that as we talked he satisfied me that he believes that Jesus Christ died for his sins.”

Susan S. Garrett, director of connectional ministries at the Virginia Conference headquartered just outside Richmond, said the membership was a “local pastor decision.”

“The authority now falls on me,” Burkholder said. “It is very important to know that the bishop didn’t impose anything on me or suggest what I needed to do in this situation.”

Burkholder said he feels there was “not a major disconnect” among congregants concerning the man’s membership. “We felt the time was appropriate,” he said. “For the majority of the congregation he was warmly received.”

The Institute on Religion and Democracy, a conservative Washington think tank that monitors the mainline Protestant churches, said the case was “not about homosexuality per se, but about the meaning of church membership.”

“Liberal bishops and caucus groups insist that church membership is an automatic right,” said the IRD’s Mark Tooley. “But traditionalists have a more nuanced understanding, believing that church members should seriously strive to live up to their membership vows.”

_ Melissa Stee

Conservative Seminary in Jerusalem Won’t Admit Gays and Lesbians

JERUSALEM (RNS) The Conservative Jewish movement’s main seminary here has decided not to follow its U.S. counterparts and will continue its ban on gay and lesbian rabbinical students.

The Schechter Rabbinical Seminary said “there will be no change in the admissions policy” after the American branch’s Rabbinical Assembly voted in December to permit the ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis and allow same-sex union ceremonies.

The Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, the movement’s flagship American seminary, said March 26 that it would begin admitting gay and lesbian students.

Schechter’s decision underscores the differences between the movement’s American and more traditional Israeli branches. It remains to be seen how Schechter’s U.S. donors will react to its decision.

Rabbi Einat Ramon, Schechter’s dean, said: “I have great respect for … Conservative rabbis who have chosen to follow a different opinion, and for the Reform movement in Judaism which has long admitted candidates to its rabbinical schools who are practicing gays and lesbians or who favor same-sex commitment ceremonies. However, Jewish law has traditionally prohibited homosexuality and only sanctifies sexual relations between members of the opposite sex.

“Today in particular, when the traditional family is in trouble, it is especially important that we ordain modern rabbis who are devoted to this institution and identify with this worldview,” Ramon said.

Ramon said Jewish theology “regards the union between a man a woman who are sexually and emotionally different from one another as a complementary covenant of friendship and intimacy, which forms the basis for procreation and childrearing.”

“This is why Jewish law has so fervently opposed sexual relations between members of the same sex,” she explained, “and why the heterosexual family has played such a vital role throughout the ages in the transmission of Jewish values and the survival of the Jewish people.”

_ Michele Chabin

Mahony Blasts Proposed California Assisted Suicide Bill

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (RNS) The leader of the nation’s largest Roman Catholic diocese urged parishioners this week to oppose an assisted suicide bill making its way through the California Legislature.

Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony criticized the California Compassionate Choices Act, saying he was “saddened” and “confused” that Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez had recently thrown his support behind the bill.

The two men met privately a few weeks ago at the cardinal’s behest to discuss the church’s views on assisted suicide, said Tod Tamberg, spokesman for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

“We should be troubled that Fabian Nunez, who has worshipped here in this cathedral as a Catholic, somehow has not understood and grasped the culture of life but has allowed himself to get swept into this other direction, the culture of death,” Mahony said Monday (April 2) during a noon Mass to mark the second anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles.

Mahony, who oversees more than 5 million Catholics, decried a “culture of death” during his homily. “Assisted suicide is totally unnecessary,” Mahony said. “Not only is it against God’s law and God’s plan, we simply don’t need something like that.”

The bill would allow terminally ill patients with six months to live to end their lives with medication they take themselves. Patients must be diagnosed by two doctors, request the medication verbally and in writing and be given a list of care alternatives, among other measures.

Three similar bills have died in the Legislature since 1999. Nunez’s support is seen as key in helping it reach the governor’s desk. The bill was approved in a 7-3 committee vote on March 27.

For Nunez, the issue is one of public policy, not religion. Terminally ill people should have control over how they end their lives, said his spokesman Steven Maviglio. “Sometimes it’s unfortunate when a religious leader tries to impose their will on the electorate,” Maviglio said. “I think it’s inappropriate.”

Supporters point to a 2006 Field Poll, which found that 70 percent of Californians _ including a large percentage of Roman Catholics, Protestants and born-again Christians _ favor assisted suicide.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the bill. He believes “this is an issue that should be decided by voters,” Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Lockhart said.

_ Joanna Corman

Quote of the Day: Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.

(RNS) “While we respect First Amendment rights and don’t think the artist was trying to be offensive, Senator Obama, as a rule, isn’t a fan of art that offends religious sensibilities.”

_ Jen Psaki, spokeswoman for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., responding to a Chicago art student’s statue of Obama, complete with halo and flowing robes and posed to look like Jesus. Psaki was quoted by The Associated Press.

KRE/PH END RNS