c. 2008 Religion News Service
British clerk files suit over gay partnerships
LONDON (RNS) A Christian government clerk in Britain has taken her town hall bosses to court for threatening to fire her because she refused to register civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples.
Lillian Ladele, who earns more than $60,000 a year as a registrar, says she was bullied by officials at London’s Islington Council after she told them she objected on religious grounds to same-sex civil partnerships.
In testimony before an employment tribunal in London, Ladele likened forcing her to preside over such ceremonies to force-feeding a Muslim “unclean” food.
Ladele has registered births, deaths and marriages at the town hall for 16 years and had been allowed unofficially to opt out of civil partnership rites.
But that changed with the British government’s introduction of the Statistics and Registration Act, which removed the opt-out option last December and made her subject to local council orders _ including registering gay and lesbian civil partnerships.
“I sincerely believe that civil partnerships are contrary to God’s law,” she told the tribunal. “I cannot condone something I see as sinful.“
“It’s like a Muslim being told to eat food that is unclean.“
She added that “the council knows that if I am required to choose between my conscience and their desire that all registrars must undertake civil partnership duties, then I will have to honor my faith and face unemployment.“
_ Al Webb
`Davey and Goliath’ creator dies at 90
(RNS) Richard T. Sutcliffe, the creator of the “Davey and Goliath” animated television series, died May 11.
Sutcliffe died at the age of 90 at a Dallas hospital from complications after suffering a stroke, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America announced.
Sutcliffe developed the idea that led to the popular series that aired from 1961 to 1976 and is now a property of the ELCA.
As executive producer, he hired the staffers who were responsible for the show’s stop-motion animation production. In 2004, Sutcliffe and his production team were honored with the Wittenberg Award by The Luther Institute, which recognized outstanding service to church and society.
Born in Columbia, Pa., Sutcliffe first worked as a journalist at The Roanoke (Va.) Times and later became assistant editor of The Lutheran, the magazine of the former United Lutheran Church in America, in Philadelphia.
In 1962, when the United Lutheran Church and three other Lutheran church bodies merge to become the Lutheran Church in America, he became associate director of the church’s Commission on Press, Radio and Television.
Sutcliffe’s daughter, J.T. Sutcliffe of Dallas, told The Dallas Morning News it was years before her father learned the influence of the series he created about a boy named Davey Hansen and his talking dog, Goliath.
“People started saying, `My children love that,’ or `We loved it growing up,”’ she said. “He’s gotten a lot of good and positive feedback in these years looking back on it. I knew that he was happy with it then.”’
Sutcliffe became director of university relations for Southern Methodist University in 1969, the Dallas newspaper reported. He later became a director of communications for the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, but returned to the university position and retired in 1982.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Churches applaud agreement between Burger King, farm workers
(RNS) Burger King Corp. has reached an agreement with a migrant workers’ advocacy group that is backed by U.S. churches to improve working conditions by raising wages for tomato pickers by one cent per pound.
The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, which has received financial support from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other faith groups, announced the agreement with the hamburger chain on Friday (May 23) in Washington.
The penny-per-pound raise could add about $20 to workers’ daily wage of $50, according to the coalition. The agreement also adds a half-cent per pound to help tomato growers cover costs.
Long Island Bishop William Murphy, chairman of the Catholic bishops’ committee on domestic justice and human development, called the agreement “an important step toward greater justice for farm workers in Florida.”
Mainline Protestants, including the National Council of Churches and the Presbyterian Church (USA), have also supported the Immokalee, Fla.-based coalition. Similar deals have been reached with McDonald’s and Yum! Brands, the parent of Taco Bell.
_ Daniel Burke
Fourth Canadian diocese approves same-sex weddings
TORONTO (RNS) A fourth Anglican diocese in Canada has voted to approve conducting same-sex marriages.
Clergy and lay delegates attending the annual synod of the southern Ontario Diocese of Huron voted May 26 to ask Bishop Bruce Howe to permit clergy to bless same-sex marriages “where at least one party is baptized” and to authorize an appropriate rite.
Howe said he “gave concurrence” to the motion based on the large percentage in favor, but cautioned that he intends to consult with other bishops before acting on the vote.
Howe said he would likely not announce a final decision before the autumn.
“The diocese made a very strong decision _ over the 70 percent mark,” he told the Anglican Journal. “I’ll be on the phone this week with other bishops, but obviously nobody is going to do anything before the Lambeth Conference,” the upcoming decennial meeting of worldwide Anglican bishops in England.
The latest decision mirrors those of the dioceses of Ottawa, Montreal and Niagara, which voted last year in favor of the “local option” that allows clergy “whose conscience permits” to bless gay marriages, provided the parish approves and where at least one party is baptized.
The Vancouver-based diocese of New Westminster has offered same-sex blessing ceremonies since 2002, but they are not considered marriages. Canada is one of five countries that allow same-sex marriage.
Howe said he did not know of any parishes or clergy which plan to leave the Anglican Church of Canada because of synod’s decision. To date, 17 Canadian congregations have quit the national church and joined the breakaway Anglican Network in Canada, which opposes same-sex marriage.
_ Ron Csillag
UCC cleared in IRS probe of Obama speech
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Internal Revenue Service has cleared the United Church of Christ on charges that it violated tax laws by allowing presidential candidate Barack Obama to speak at a church synod last summer, the UCC announced Wednesday (May 21).
“We have determined that the activity about which we had concern did not constitute an intervention or participation in a political campaign,” the IRS said in a letter to the Cleveland-based church.
U.S. tax law prohibits churches from engaging in partisan politicking under punishment of losing their tax exemptions.
“We are pleased that the IRS reviewed the complaint quickly and determined, as we expected, that the church took every necessary precaution and proactive step to ensure that Sen. Obama’s appearance at General Synod was proper and legal,” said UCC General Minister and President Rev. John Thomas.
The IRS said they determined that Obama, a member of Trinity UCC in Chicago, was invited to address the church’s General Synod in May 2006, well before he announced his presidential candidacy in February 2007.
Moreover, UCC legal counsel advised Obama’s campaign about ground rules for the speech _ he was expected to speak about faith in public life, not about his candidacy _ and told church members not to engage in partisan political activities at the gathering, the IRS said.
Obama campaign volunteers who set up tables outside the meeting were not “attributable to the church,” since they were on public property, the IRS said.
Earlier this week, Pastor Wiley Drake, a California Baptist who had endorsed Republican presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee, announced that he, too, had been cleared by the IRS.
_ Daniel Burke
Ala. governor says churches, not state, must rehab prisoners
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (RNS) Gov. Bob Riley on Tuesday (May 20) asked Alabama churches to shoulder the burden of caring for newly released inmates, saying the state lacks the flexibility and funds to help them successfully re-enter society.
Leaders from churches and charitable groups were asked to provide a wide range of services to former inmates, including employment assistance, housing, clothing, health care and cash.
Riley said the state’s churches can rise to the challenge just as they do in response to natural disasters such as hurricanes.
“If we can motivate the faith-based community in the state the way we do during an emergency, then we can make a difference,” Riley said to a group of about 500 people, mostly religious leaders.
Bill Johnson, director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, said the state releases 11,000 inmates a year and isn’t capable of providing the services necessary to help them readjust. Even if the state had the funds, such programs aren’t popular with taxpayers, he said.
The state will provide no direct funds to the program, called the Community Partnership for Recovery and Re-entry, but will coordinate the efforts of the churches and other volunteer groups.
“We’re admitting we can’t solve the problem,” Johnson said.
At a meeting that vacillated between policy seminar and revival, Deborah Daniels, state director of the Prison Fellowship Ministry, drew a chorus of “amens” when she said faith is a necessary component of rehabilitation.
“We allowed government to come in and take over what God’s people are supposed to do,” she said. “We talk about crime. But crime is sin. Apart from God, every child is troubled.”
Vickie Locke, director of the new state program, told potential participants that they have an advantage operating outside of government. If a church wants to buy a car for a newly released inmate who lacks transportation, it can do so, she said. Government has to provide cookie-cutter solutions to sometimes complex problems.
In a written program overview distributed to religious leaders, the state suggested 80 ways churches can help, including everything from financial counseling to cash for emergencies. They also could mentor former inmates, provide day care for their children and help them write resumes.
Alex Luchenitser, senior attorney with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said it’s too soon to know whether the program will raise constitutional issues. But if the state government’s involvement with the program ends with referring inmates to churches, then it likely would pass constitutional muster.
“There’s certainly nothing wrong with religious charities providing care for inmates and recently released inmates,” he said.
_ Stan Diel
Lay group honors controversial Australian bishop
(RNS) A prominent lay Catholic group is presenting an award to retired Australian Bishop Geoffrey Robinson, whom U.S. bishops have barred from speaking on church property for questioning the church’s authority.
Voice of the Faithful, a reform movement spawned by the Catholic sexual abuse crisis, presented its “Priest of Integrity Award” to Robinson on Thursday (May 22) in Manhasset, N.Y.
VOTF is also sponsoring several events on Robinson’s U.S. speaking tour, which continues through mid-June, according to spokesman John Moynihan.
Robinson, a sexual abuse victim and auxiliary bishop of Sydney until 2004, led the Australian bishops’ investigation of its own clergy sex scandal.
But the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has denounced Robinson’s 2007 book,“Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church,” for “doctrinal difficulties.”
The book’s “questioning of the authority of the Catholic Church to teach the truth definitively” improperly puts in doubt Scripture, tradition and the authority of the pope and creeds, the Australian bishops’ conference said in a statement May 8.
Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony, citing the Australian bishops’ concerns,asked Robinson to cancel his U.S. speaking tour, including his June 12 trip to Los Angeles. Ten other U.S. bishops have also asked Robinson not to speak in their diocese, according to Catholic News Service.
Dan Bartley, president of Voice of the Faithful, who will present Robinson with the award, said: “Is this the way American bishops respond to Pope Benedict’s call to do everything possible to heal the church?”
“Why is a loyal Catholic bishop prevented from asking honest questions in his search for the truth in the aftermath of the worst scandal in the modern church?” Bartley asked.
_ Daniel Burke
Court backs Oregon gay marriage ban
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) The Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday (May 21) upheld the ban on gay marriage that state voters approved by a wide margin in 2004.
The court rejected two procedural arguments that attacked the scope of the initiative, known as Measure 36, and whether it ever should have appeared on the ballot.
There are two ways to change the Oregon Constitution: by initiative, which allows citizens to propose discrete changes; and by revision, which allows the Legislature to propose sweeping changes.
Gay-rights advocates argued that Measure 36 was a revision because it fundamentally altered the Constitution.
“Our Constitution was created to perpetuate liberty and establish justice,” said Jeana Frazzini, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, the gay-rights group that brought the legal challenge. “And Measure 36, by denying a portion of our community access to equality of the law _ that’s a serious change in what the Constitution promises.”
But the Court of Appeals said Measure 36 “is not so far-reaching” that it should be overturned as a revision.
Supporters of Measure 36, which passed by 57 percent to 43 percent, applauded Wednesday’s ruling.
“Marriage between one man and one woman is the ideal for raising children,” said Nick Graham of the Defense of Marriage Coalition. “And the government should be in the business of promoting the ideal for children and families.”
Gay-rights advocates promised to appeal to the Oregon Supreme Court.
_ Ashbel S. (Tony) Green
Calif. Episcopal church agrees to marry gay couples
(RNS) A prominent liberal Episcopal church in Pasadena, Calif., says it will allow gay and lesbian couples to marry after the state’s Supreme Court opened civil marriage to same-sex couples starting next month.
The move by All Saints Episcopal Church is likely to fan tensions within the U.S. church and the wider Anglican Communion as Anglican bishops head to England this summer for a high-stakes, once-a-decade summit.
The vestry, or elected leadership, of All Saints voted unanimously Thursday (May 22) to “treat all couples presenting themselves for the rite of marriage equally.” The church currently blesses same-sex relationships.
“As a priest and pastor, I anticipate with great joy strengthening our support of the sanctity of marriage as I marry both gay and straight members and thus more fully live out my ordination vows to nourish all people from the goodness of God’s grace,” said the Rev. J. Edwin Bacon Jr., the church’s pastor.
Los Angeles Bishop J. Jon Bruno, a supporter of gay marriage who welcomed the court’s ruling on May 15, could not be reached for comment. It was not immediately clear if other California parishes would allow same-sex couples to wed.
The Episcopal Church defines marriage between a man and a woman, although some bishops allow same-sex blessings (but not marriages) in their dioceses. A spokeswoman for Episcopal Church headquarters in New York declined to comment.
As All Saints moved to embrace the California court’s May 15 decision, conservatives filed a petition to stay the ruling until Golden State voters are able to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.
At the same time, U.S. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., said he would reintroduce a federal constitutional amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman. That proposal had effectively died when Democrats won control of Congress in 2006.
In Massachusetts, the only other state to recognize same-sex marriage, Episcopal Bishop Thomas Shaw has told his priests they may bless those relationships but not officiate in same-sex civil marriages.
And in Canada, which also allows gay marriage, the Anglican Church is studying its internal laws that define marriage as between a man and a woman, and at least three dioceses have asked their bishops to grant permission for priests to perform same-sex weddings.
This is not the first time All Saints has made headlines. Earlier this year, the IRS cleared the parish on charges of improper politicking stemming from a sermon on the eve of the 2004 presidential election.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
McCain rejects second minister’s endorsement
(RNS) Sen. John McCain has rejected the endorsement of Ohio megachurch pastor Rod Parsley for comments that called Islam a violent religion bent on world domination.
McCain, R-Ariz., rejected the support of Parsley, the senior pastor of World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, almost immediately after McCain renounced an earlier endorsement by Texas megachurch pastor John Hagee, who had made controversial comments about Catholics and Jews.
“I believe there is no place for that kind of dialogue in America, and I believe that even though he endorsed me, and I didn’t endorse him, the fact is that I repudiate such talk, and I reject his endorsement,” McCain said Thursday (May 22) in a statement about Parsley reported by ABC News.
That network posted video of some of Parsley’s statements on its Web site.
“Islam is an anti-Christ religion that intends through violence to conquer the world,” Parsley says on the video.
Parsley spokesman Gene Pierce did not have an immediate comment on Friday, but on Thursday sent ABC News a statement saying that Parsley’s remarks “were in response to militant Islamic leaders’ repeated pledges to kill Americans and destroy the United States and Western culture and democracies.”
In his 2005 book, “Silent No More,” Parsley included a chapter on Islam titled, “Islam: The Deception of Allah.”
“The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe Sept. 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore,” wrote Parsley, who is the founder of the Center for Moral Clarity.
Later in the chapter, he added: “As I scan the world, I find that Islam is responsible for more pain, more bloodshed, and more devastation than nearly any other force on earth at this moment.”
On Friday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations welcomed McCain’s rejection of Parsley’s endorsement.
“Senator McCain’s decision to reject Parsley’s vile speech put the pastor’s bigotry back on the political sideline where it belongs,” said Corey Saylor, CAIR’s national legislative director.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Week: Elizabeth “BB” Blanchard of Baton Rouge, La.
(RNS) “Why me? I don’t know. But it has been a really cool experience having a biblical disease.”
_ Elizabeth “BB” Blanchard, 15, of Baton Rouge, La., who recently finished taking medication to treat leprosy, a rare disease that dates to biblical times. She was quoted by The Washington Post.
KRE/LF END RNS
