c. 2008 Religion News Service
Haggard leaves `restoration’ process with Colorado church
(RNS) Ted Haggard, the former pastor of a Colorado megachurch who was dismissed after a sex and drug scandal, has decided to end a “spiritual restoration” process that had been set up by the congregation.
“He has recently requested to end his official relationship with the New Life Church Restoration Team and this has been accepted by them,” reads a Tuesday (Feb. 5) statement from the trustee board of the church in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Haggard was dismissed from his church in November 2006 for “sexually immoral conduct.”
The former pastor, who also resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals, said he bought methamphetamine and paid a Denver male escort for massages. Haggard acknowledged sexual immorality but denied that he used the drug.
The statement commented on Haggard’s “extraordinary” leadership as the church’s founding pastor, but said his restoration process was not complete.
“New Life Church recognizes the process of restoring Ted Haggard is incomplete and maintains its original stance that he should not return to vocational ministry,” the statement reads. “However, we wish him and his family only success in the future.”
Due to the confidential nature of the process, the church declined further comment from its leaders or the restoration team members.
The team initially included Pastor Jack Hayford, president of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel; Pastor Tommy Barnett, senior pastor of Phoenix First Assembly of God in Arizona; and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson, who quickly stepped down, citing time constraints.
New Life Church’s statement said Haggard will continue his work on accountability at Barnett’s church.
“He has selected Phoenix First Assembly and Pastor Tommy Barnett as his local church fellowship and is maintaining an accountability relationship there,” the statement reads.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Anglican `covenant’ would shift more power to Canterbury
(RNS) The head of the Church of England and an international council would have greater power to settle disputes within the Anglican Communion under a draft of a proposed “covenant” released Wednesday (Feb. 6).
The covenant seeks to build common ground between the communion’s 38 member provinces around the world, which have sharply disagreed since its U.S. branch, the Episcopal Church, elected a gay bishop in 2004.
Drawn up by a 12-member international team meeting in England, the covenant is the second draft to be proposed; the first draft was released last year and roundly criticized. This draft will be discussed and amended at the Lambeth Conference, a meeting of nearly 600 Anglican bishops, in July. Implementation is likely years away.
While asserting the autonomy of each province, the covenant nonetheless lays out a process through which threats to the “unity of the Communion and the effectiveness or credibility of its mission” may be challenged.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, who heads the Church of England and is recognized by Anglicans as the “first among equals,” would be given the power to make “requests” of national churches based on those challenges. The Most Rev. Rowan Williams is the current Archbishop of Canterbury.
The Anglican Consultative Council, an international body appointed by the 38 provinces, would be the last court of appeals on all disputes. It would have the power to determine if a province has “relinquished the force and meaning” of the covenant, the consequences of which are not specified.
Jim Naughton, director of communications for the diocese of Washington, said the draft seems to decrease the power of Anglican archbishops, or primates. Several primates, particularly those from the “global South,” have tried to force North American Anglicans to recant their pro-gay stance or be removed from the Anglican Communion.
“The main question of whether the Episcopal and Canadian churches were going to be disciplined for moving towards full inclusion of gay and lesbian Christians is over,” Naughton said. “There is nothing on the horizon that could result in our expulsion.”
Kendall Harmon, a leading conservative from South Carolina, said “one has the feeling that this is another example of the English bureaucracy being asked to swallow problems instead of dealing with them.”
_ Daniel Burke
Ruth Stafford Peale, co-founder of Guideposts magazine, dead at 101
(RNS) Ruth Stafford Peale, the co-founder of the inspirational magazine Guideposts and widow of author and minister Norman Vincent Peale, died Wednesday (Feb. 6) at her home in Pawling, N.Y., the Guideposts organization announced.
Peale, who was 101, was called the “first lady of positive thinking” after her husband wrote the best-selling book “The Power of Positive Thinking.”
She helped found the Guideposts organization in 1945; its flagship publication now has a paid circulation of 2.5 million and a readership of 8 million.
“Her strength and belief in the power of prayer was an example to thousands and an inspiration to millions,” said Richard V. Hopple, president of Guideposts, in a statement on the organization’s Web site.
The Fonda, Iowa, native was a high school math teacher before she married her husband, who soon became the pastor of New York’s Marble Collegiate Church, where he served for 52 years. When he died in 1993, they had been married for 63 years.
Ruth Peale was the first woman president of the National Board of North American Missions of the Reformed Church in America, and also served on the board of directors of several organizations, including more than 50 years with the American Bible Society.
“She was a renowned speaker and author in her own right and personified one of her most famous quotes: `Find a need and fill it,”’ said the Rev. Paul Irwin, president of the Bible society.
Peale was the author of “Secrets of Staying in Love,” and the autobiographical “A Lifetime of Positive Thinking.” The organization she helped found now includes prayer ministries and a program that provides handmade sweaters to needy children across the globe.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Turkey moves to allow hijabs in universities
(RNS) The Turkish Parliament voted 397-113 Thursday (Feb. 7) in favor of a constitutional amendment to allow Muslim students to wear Islamic headscarves in Turkish universities.
If passed in a second round of voting, the bill would grant women the right to wear headscarves, or hijabs, that are tied under the chin at universities, according to The Associated Press.
“No one will be allowed to use headscarves as political statements against the state,“ Devlet Bahceli, the leader of the Nationalist Action Party, told The Associated Press.
The primary opposition, the Republican People’s Party, argues the amendments would be unconstitutional and violate the republic’s principle of secularism, according to the Web site of the Turkish Prime Minister.
Representatives from the Democratic Society Party, however, claim the issue of the headscarf should be addressed within the context of individual freedom, and that these amendments would allow all girls to continue their education.
“I have been wearing my headscarf since I was 14. This is how I express myself. I do not aim to impose anything on others,” said Leyla Shahin, who was expelled from medical school for refusing to remove her headscarf, to BBC News.
Hijabs have been viewed as political symbols that conflicted with the secular government in Turkey. They were banned from state and private universities in the 1980s, according to CNN.
Secular Turks fear that removing the ban on headscarves would be the first step in a movement toward allowing religious symbols into all aspects of public life. Turkey’s judges, military and university rectors are opposed to the reform, according to BBC News.
“The government is the guarantor and protector of the republic, secularism, the democracy and the state of law,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told The Associated Press. “None of our steps or practices have been contrary to that and nor will they ever be.”
One lawmaker from the Republican People’s Party, Hakki Suha Okay, told The Associated Press that if the parliament approves the new proposal, opponents would appeal to judiciary. The second phase of voting will take place Saturday.
_ Brittani Hamm
Quote of the Day: Christianity Today editorial
(RNS) “This problem can no longer be a back-burner issue for evangelicals. … It is time to spend our energies helping create a better national health-care system.”
_ Editorial in the February 2008 issue of Christianity Today magazine, an evangelical publication.
KRE DS END RNS1,500 words
Eds: a photo of Norman and Ruth Peale (third item) is available via https://religionnews.com.
