c. 2008 Religion News ServiceSalvation Army says no flexibility on officer marriage policy WASHINGTON (RNS) The top spokesman for the Salvation Army on Friday (Dec. 5) signaled that there is no flexibility in a marriage policy that threatens to end the career of a Salvation Army officer who plans to marry a non-officer next June.Capt. Johnny Harsh of Oshkosh, Wis., was suspended after he told superiors that he plans to marry a woman who is not a Salvation Army officer. His former wife, Capt. Yalanda “Yoley” Harsh, died last June.Maj. George Hood, the national community relations and development secretary for the Salvation Army, said the marriage policy is “almost as old as the organization itself” and serves the officers’ long-term interests.“Married couples, each with the same calling and working together for the same purpose, are more effective in service and better able to support each other,” Hood said in a statement to Religion News Service.“Each officer `cadet’ is made aware of this policy before attending one of The Salvation Army’s two-year office training schools.”Harsh told The Northwestern newspaper in Oshkosh that he was aware of the policy, but doesn’t agree with it. He also knew what the consequences were for disobeying it.“For the Salvation Army to let me go because I will marry outside of the (Salvation) Army, I think is wrong,” Harsh told the newspaper. “I pray that people will write letters and call the Salvation Army to change this ruling. It wouldn’t be for my benefit, but for future officers.”Hood declined to comment on Harsh’s specific case because it is considered a private “personnel” matter. Harsh said his fiancee “saved my life” after the sudden death of his wife. Salvation Army officials also told Harsh the woman could not stay the guest room of his house, which he also disagreed with.“I told them … as long as I live in that house, I can have anyone there that I want,” Harsh told The Northwestern. “In my 14 years with the Salvation Army, my wife, Yoley, and I had prostitutes, drug users, homeless people and abused women and their children stay in that house. However, I signed a covenant to obey my Salvation Army leaders and I have failed to obey my leaders.”Harsh said he would be “very very surprised” if he is not dismissed, and if he is, plans to move to Waukesha, Wis., and start a non-denominational church._ Kevin EckstromIrish seeker spreads an unorthodox faith(RNS) For Peter Rollins, God’s truth is out there. His is a Christianity beyond the grasp of the church.That’s why the spiritual community he founded in his native Belfast, Northern Ireland, conducts a kind of discipleship training that interrogates the religion’s long-held tenets. The group also studies atheist writings. And, in another twist, participants open themselves to evangelization by other traditions.“It’s not about what you believe,” Rollins said by phone from Texas during a six-week speaking tour promoting his book “The Fidelity of Betrayal: Towards a Church Beyond Belief.”“The idea is not to get the right interpretation of Scripture, but that we argue with it and wrestle with it and be transformed by it.”Rollins, 35, is the coordinator of Ikon, a group that meets in a bar and exhibits characteristics of the emerging church movement. Far from the “flashy blue lights” of contemporary evangelical worship, the emergent movement is rediscovering ancient theological traditions eclipsed during the past few centuries, Rollins said.“In the wonder of the Enlightenment, we lost mystery,” he said. “We lost the idea of Christianity as something deeper than belief.”Rollins describes Ikon as a collective of diverse people who share “experiments in transformance art,” including live music, poetry, theater and ritual. The point is to create a provocative space to challenge how people believe and live, he said.Ikon’s “The Omega Course,” drawing on the work of mainstream dissidents like John Shelby Spong, deconstructs the basic principles of Christianity taught in the popular Alpha Course used by churches worldwide. The group also partakes in “Atheism for Lent,” studying Freud, Marx and Nietzsche.“We’re not afraid to ask questions; we attempt to offend everybody,” Rollins said. “The Bible’s truth is not reduced to a worldview. There are metaphors of God as warrior and as peacemaker, metaphors that clash and smash together. The truth of Scripture is not in one metaphor or another. The truth is in the revelation that creates the different metaphors.”Also the author of “How (Not) to Speak of God,” Rollins has a forthcoming book of parables called “The Orthodox Heretic.” The book he’s currently touting explores Christianity as “an irreligious religion” broader than any institution._ Matt Vande Bunte`Wonderful Life’ actress sees faith in the midst of tragedy (RNS) It is an iconic moment in American holiday life: The little girl tells her father at the end of “It’s a Wonderful Life” that “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings.”The words of 6-year-old Zuzu Bailey capture the innocence and joy of faith amid the celebration when the town of Bedford Falls rallies around Jimmy Stewart’s character, a man on the verge of suicide who comes to appreciate the value of life.That girl, actress Karolyn Grimes, is now 68. She has experienced more than her share of tragedy. Her parents died when she was a teenager, and she lost an 18-year-old son to suicide. Not long after, her husband of 25 years died of lung cancer.But she says each stage of her life, beginning with her role as Zuzu _ and the happiness her character has brought millions of the movie’s fans _ was part of a divine plan to use her fame to understand the suffering of others and help them through their pain.“I do believe that being Zuzu is a bit of a mission,” said Grimes, who makes personal appearances throughout the year and offers reflections on her Web site, http://www.zuzu.net.“The real main message about this movie is faith,” Grimes said.In the movie, George Bailey, played by Stewart, plunges into despair after his Uncle Billy loses an $8,000 deposit on the day a bank examiner is coming to inspect the records of the Building & Loan company the two men run. But even at his most despondent, Stewart’s character does not turn on his relative or pray for the money that would save the family from scandal, Grimes said.He simply prays, “God, show me the way,” Grimes said.In her life, Grimes says she has found hope reaching “for that inner strength that I know will be provided by God.”The movie helps people see the wonder in their lives, Grimes said.“There are more important things in life than money . . . family, the love that exists from God,” Grimes said. “Maybe you can’t make your mortgage payment, but you have your daughter, you have your son. You can’t put a price tag on love.”_ David BriggsQuote of the Day: Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco(RNS) “Tolerance, respect, and trust are always two-way streets, and tolerance respect and trust often do not include agreement, or even approval. We need to be able to disagree without being disagreeable. … We need to stop hurling names like `bigot’ and `pervert’ at each other. And we need to stop it now.”_ Archbishop George Niederauer, writing in his archdiocesan newspaper, Catholic San Francisco, about reconciliation after the passage of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriages.KRE/DAS END RNS