c. 2007 Religion News Service

`Pragmatic’ bishop supports legalized brothels

LONDON (RNS) The Roman Catholic bishop of Portsmouth, England, insisting it’s time to “be realistic,” has thrown his support behind a campaign to legalize brothels even as he insists he is not condoning prostitution itself.

Bishop Crispian Hollis added his support to a unanimous but controversial vote by more than 200 chapters of the highly respected Women’s Institute (WI) organization in favor of getting brothels licensed by local governments to protect prostitutes.

“If you are going to take a pragmatic view and say prostitution happens,” Hollis explained to journalists, “I think there’s a need to make sure it’s as well-regulated as possible for the health of people involved _ and for the safety of the ladies themselves.”

“That’s not to say I approve of prostitution in any way,” the bishop insisted. “I would be much happier if there was no prostitution in Portsmouth or anywhere else … ”

“But it’s going to be there whatever we do _ it’s been from time immemorial,” Hollis said, “so I think that’s something we have to be realistic about.”

Although its public persona is largely one of pies, cakes and village fetes, the WI has of late expressed deep concern over the illicit sex trade after five prostitutes were killed last December in Ipswich.

The WI also cites worrisome police figures that show more than 4,000 women have been trafficked into Britain in the past few years to work as prostitutes.

There was no comment immediately from other church officials about Hollis’ support for legalized brothels. But Rachel Frost, a spokeswoman for the International Union for Sex Workers, hailed his stance as courageous.

“The bishop should be commended for having the guts to come out and say that,” Ms Frost told The Portsmouth News newspaper. “It sounds like this country is waking up at last to the realities of the industry.”

_ Al Webb

Southern Baptist mission board censures outspoken trustee

(RNS) The Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board has censured board member and blogger Wade Burleson, saying he “repeatedly failed” to follow the board’s standards for appropriate conduct.

The unusual move came during an executive session of the trustees at a meeting in Springfield, Ill., on Tuesday (Nov. 6). Burleson was accused of using his blog to disclose private communications with other trustees, speak disparagingly of fellow trustees, and speak in ways that did not support the board and its actions.

“Wade Burleson is hereby officially suspended from any active involvement with the Board of Trustees for at least the next four IMB trustee meetings,” the censure concludes.

Burleson, a pastor in Enid, Okla., wrote in response on his blog that he respects the trustees that voted for his censure but “I also know that we simply have two different worldviews and two different perspectives on the need for freedom of dissent and complete transparency within the SBC.”

In 2006, the board dropped an effort to oust Burleson, who had defended the right of missionaries to speak in tongues despite a board policy that prohibits missionary candidates who embrace the practice. A board ouster would have required a vote at the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Muslims sue Exxon-Mobil over discrimination claims

(RNS) A Tunisian Muslim immigrant and two female converts to Islam are suing Exxon-Mobil Corp. for religious and racial discrimination at a gas station on the Delaware Turnpike.

In their $12 million lawsuit, Sofiene Romdhani, Bobbi Jo Zeller and Michelle Maloney claim supervisors at an Exxon station in Newark, Del., harassed and verbally abused them because they were Muslim, and denied them raises and reasonable religious accommodations.

The suit alleges that Romdhani and Maloney resigned because they could not tolerate the harassment and abuse, while Zeller was suddenly terminated on the same day she complained about managers viewing pornography in the workplace.

A call to ExxonMobil’s headquarters in Irving, Texas, was not returned. The oil giant is expected to file a reply within a few weeks.

The federal civil suit, filed Monday (Nov. 5), alleges that when Romdhani requested time off to attend Friday prayers, his supervisor said he was “in business to do business, not grant religious accommodations.”

The suit also alleges that another employee, Charisma Muwakkil, regularly used profanity against Romdhani, called him a “terrorist” and told him to “go back to your country.” When Romdhani complained, supervisors ignored him, the suit said.

“I do not recall any of that,” Muwakkil, reached by telephone on Friday at the Exxon station, said. Muwakkil said she was unaware of the suit.

Conducting its own investigation, the Delaware Department of Labor ruled in Romdhani’s favor, concluding that he had “established that illegal national origin and religious discrimination occurred.” Maloney, 28, and Zeller, 29, also have a case pending with the state’s labor department.

_ Omar Sacirbey

Quote of the Day: `Desperate Pastors’ Wives’ co-author Ginger Kolbaba

(RNS) “Everything she does and says reflects on her husband’s ministry, and I don’t think the men understand the stress that places on a woman. Their whole identity can be wrapped up in being the pastor’s wife, and they begin to lose themselves.”

_ Ginger Kolbaba, co-author of a novel about four pastors’ wives in a fictitious Ohio town. She was quoted by Leadership, a journal published by Christianity Today International.

KRE/CM END RNS