c. 2008 Religion News Service
Calif. court: Doctors can’t discriminate based on sex orientation
(RNS) California’s Supreme Court ruled Monday (Aug. 18) that doctors cannot discriminate against gays and lesbians even if they believe their religious freedom will be violated during a course of treatment.
The case involved a San Diego County lesbian, Guadalupe Benitez, who informed doctors that she and her partner wanted to pursue fertility treatments. Two doctors in a Vista, Calif., practice said that their religious beliefs would prevent them from performing an artificial insemination for Benitez.
Benitez sued, citing California’s civil rights act.
The Constitution’s “right to the free exercise of religion does not exempt defendant physicians here from conforming their conduct to the Act’s antidiscrimination requirements even if compliance poses an incidental conflict with defendants’ religious beliefs,” wrote Associate Justice Joyce L. Kennard in a unanimous decision.
The judge said the civil rights act imposes “certain antidiscrimination obligations” on business establishments, including medical groups.
One of the doctors, Christine Brody, said her religious objection was because Benitez was not married. But Benitez argued that Brody objected to performing the procedure because Benitez is a lesbian.
The judge said the doctors could refuse to perform the medical procedure for all patients or refer them to a physician in their practice who did not hold the same religious objections.
Lawyers for the doctors are considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Vatican to beatify parents of popular French saint
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Tuesday (Aug. 19) announced that the mother and father of a popular French saint will soon be venerated as “blessed,” placing them just one step below sainthood.
Louis and Marie Zalie Guerin Martin will be beatified this Oct.19 in a ceremony in Lisieux, France. The couple were the parents of St. Therese of Lisieux (1873-97), popularly known as “the Little Flower of Jesus.”
A Carmelite nun who died of tuberculosis at the age of 24, Therese is one of only three women recognized as a “doctor” of the Catholic Church, and is unofficially considered a patron saint of AIDS patients.
The beatifications are consistent with a relatively recent Vatican policy of recognizing sanctity in Catholic lay men and women, in addition to the priests and nuns who have traditionally dominated the ranks of saints.
The Vatican on Tuesday also announced four other beatification ceremonies, which will take place this fall in Italy and Poland.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Presbyterian minister will return to court over lesbian wedding
(RNS) A Presbyterian minister who officiated at a lesbian wedding in 2005 is heading for church court again, two years after charges against her were dismissed on a technicality.
The Rev. Janet Edwards of Pittsburgh will again face possible expulsion if convicted by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Pittsburgh Presbytery.
Edwards will appear before the commission Oct. 1, to answer charges that she defied her ordination vows and Presbyterian Church (USA) rules by officiating at the Pittsburgh wedding of a lesbian couple in 2005.
“I am trying really hard to speak clearly about how what I did reflects Jesus’ love and justice, and so I hope the permanent judicial council acquits me,” Edwards said.
The PCUSA allows ministers to perform same-sex unions as long as they are not equated with traditional marriage. Edwards says her church’s positions on gay relationships are recommendations, not binding laws.
Similar charges against Edwards, who is a direct descendant of famed Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards, were dropped in 2006 after prosecutors missed a deadline to file charges.
The Rev. James Yearsley, a Presbyterian minister from Tampa, Fla., has re-filed the charges against Edwards, according to Presbyterian News Service. Seven other ministers and six elders have joined the complaint as “co-accusers,” PNS reported.
Earlier this year, the PCUSA’s high court dismissed charges against another minister who performed same-sex weddings, ruling that the ceremonies were not marriages.
_ Daniel Burke
ELCA reports membership drop for 16th consecutive year
(RNS) Membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the country’s largest Lutheran denomination, has fallen for the 16th consecutive year, the ELCA announced Thursday (Aug. 14).
While the ELCA grows worldwide _ particularly in sub-Saharan Africa _ baptized membership in U.S. declined by more than 64,000 in 2007, a 1.34 percent drop.
The church now counts 4.7 million baptized members in 10,500 congregations.
John Brooks, an ELCA spokesman, said a committee has been formed to identify potential causes of the decline.
“We are working on a number of strategies to try to change the trend,” he said.
Brooks attributed the pared membership rolls in part to improved bookkeeping.
“One of the things that is going on is we’ve made a much stronger effort to get congregations to make sure that their rolls are accurate,” Brooks said.
The church has made a concerted effort in recent years to diversify its members, who are more than 98 percent white. According the report, “multi-ethnic” membership rose by 13.3 percent from 2006 to 2007.
“One of our strategic priorities is to become a multi-cultural church,” Brooks said.
The church was formed in 1987 when three Lutheran denominations _ the American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America _ merged.
_ Tim Murphy
Quote of the Day: Rabbi Robert Eisen of Tucson, Ariz.
(RNS) “I called up and said, `I’m taking a shot in the dark. It’s dark. Let’s bring in some light.”’
_ Rabbi Robert Eisen of Congregation Anshei Israel in Tucson, Ariz., quoted by the Arizona Daily Star on his decision to invite the Rev. Glen Elliott, the leader of one of his city’s larger evangelical churches, to a public event Wednesday (Aug. 20) to explain evangelical Christian beliefs.
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