c. 2006 Religion News Service
Focus on the Family Backs Colo. Measure For Nonmarital Benefits
(RNS) Focus on the Family, a group known for its opposition to gay marriage, is supporting a proposed Colorado bill that would benefit gay couples and other adults seeking benefits outside a traditional marital relationship.
The bill, introduced by Republican state Sen. Shawn Mitchell, calls for the creation of “reciprocal beneficiary agreements” that would extend specific rights to two unmarried persons such as health care insurance benefits.
Mitchell’s bill would also permit them to be involved in medical decisions, joint property ownership and some decisions that would be made at the time of death, such as disposition of remains.
Jim Pfaff, a state policy analyst for the Colorado Springs-based conservative Christian organization, said Focus on the Family supports this bill because it helps a range of individuals and does not give special recognition to gay couples. He cited the example of two elderly women living together and sharing their Social Security benefits.
“This is not a pro-gay bill,” he said. “It benefits any two adults who want to undertake this.”
Pfaff said his organization also supports an initiative in Colorado that would amend the state constitution to declare that marriage is between a man and a woman.
Paul Cameron, chairman of the Family Research Institute, a separate think tank also based in Colorado Springs, harshly criticized Focus’ support of the bill, which he said creates a version of “marriage lite” benefits.
“They’re stripping out some of the benefits of marriage,” said Cameron of the bill.
Jay Smith Brown, a spokesman with the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington-based gay rights organization, also did not welcome Focus’ action.
“This is an extremist group that’s built its foundation on attacking our families, so their support is disingenuous and highly suspect,” he said, noting that the bill gives a “handful of protections” while denying many others to gay couples.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Presbyterian Activist to Face Trial in Gay Wedding Case
(RNS) A self-proclaimed Presbyterian “lesbian evangelist” will face a church court on March 2 on charges that she broke church law by officiating at a wedding of two California women last May.
The Rev. Janie Spahr, who was removed from a Rochester, N.Y., church in 1992 because she is openly gay, could be defrocked if she is found guilty by the seven-member church court in Santa Rosa, Calif.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) considers marriage to be between a man and a woman, but allows pastors to preside at same-sex blessing ceremonies as long as they are not treated as marriage rites.
Spahr, 63, is charged with officiating at the May 27, 2005, wedding of Annie Senechal and Cherrill Figuera near Garneville, Calif., according to Presbyterian News Service. Neither of the women is Presbyterian.
Spahr was originally charged with marrying two men in Ontario in 2004, but those charges were dropped because it was unclear whether Spahr officially pronounced the couple married.
Spahr’s lawyer, Sara Taylor of San Francisco, said the church needs to decide whether participating in a gay wedding is an “essential” or “non-essential” article of faith.
“What she (Spahr) has elected to do is assert her right of private conscience, which each individual has,” Taylor told the news service. “So, acting in conscience, she’s gone ahead and married these people.”
If convicted, Spahr’s punishment could range from a censure to removal from the ministry. Taylor said Spahr will appeal any sanction if she is convicted.
Spahr, who advocates for greater acceptance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender clergy, was called as co-pastor of a Rochester church in 1991. The Presbyterians’ highest court invalidated that call in 1992 because of a ban on non-celibate homosexual clergy. Spahr was allowed to remain a minister in good standing.
A Cincinnati pastor was removed from his church in 2003 for performing a gay wedding service. Last month, a church court decided not to try an Austin, Texas, pastor on charges that he participated in a mass same-sex blessing ceremony on the University of Texas campus in 2004.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Muslims Launch Campaign to Educate About Prophet Muhammad
(RNS) What would Muhammad do?
That’s one question the Council on American-Islamic Relations hopes to help answer as violence in some Muslim countries over unflattering cartoons of Islam’s prophet continues to claim lives and fuel tensions between the Islamic and Western worlds.
The Washington-based Muslim advocacy group launched a year-long campaign Tuesday (Feb. 14) called “Explore the Life of Muhammad.”
CAIR will allow visitors to its Web site to order either “Muhammad,” a biography, or “Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet,” a PBS documentary on DVD. Both are from 2002. CAIR will also help Muslim communities arrange their own events, such as documentary screenings, panel discussions and mosque open houses, and hopes to eventually expand the effort to Europe.
Last May, CAIR started an “Explore the Quran” campaign after reports alleging that American soldiers desecrated Islam’s holy book sparked deadly riots in parts of the Muslim world. CAIR offered to send copies of Islam’s holy book to anyone who asked, and has since received requests for more than 27,000, it said.
As the Muhammad campaign was launched Tuesday, violence fueled by the cartoons left two people dead in Pakistan.
Several European newspapers republished the controversial cartoons, some depicting Muhammad as a terrorist, two weeks ago. They were originally published last September in a Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten.
Hooper said he hopes the campaign will send the message that Muhammad would condemn the violence. “We’ve been reminding Muslims that violence and other inappropriate responses only serve to reinforce existing stereotypes,” Hooper said.
Muhammad epitomized forgiveness and compassion in the face of hostility, Hooper said.
Imam Mohamed Magid, executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society near Washington, D.C., which serves about 5,000 families, praised the initiative, but also said Muslims should look at anti-Semitism in their own media. The CAIR campaign does not address anti-Semitism in Muslim media.
“Muslims should speak up on this also,” Magid said. “If you don’t like something for yourself, you should not like it for others. Bigotry is bigotry.”
_ Omar Sacirbey
Parishioners Keep Watch Outside Alabama Churches
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) As authorities continued to investigate the arson that has hit 10 rural Baptist churches in Alabama, residents of those areas were keeping watch on their own churches.
“You pull in a churchyard now, you’re just about going to see a police car or a civilian (vehicle) pull up in there,” said the Rev. Robert Murphy, pastor of Pleasant Sabine Baptist Church, one of five in the county that was hit by fires on Feb. 3.
“Who knows? They could come back through here and start all over again.”
Investigators have said each of the 10 church fires was deliberately set. Six of the buildings were either gutted or burned to the ground. Nine of the church fires are believed to have been set by the same people, but authorities were reluctant to say that about the most recent fire, the Saturday (Feb. 11) blaze which gutted the Beaverton Free Will Baptist Church in Lamar County.
“It’s too early in the investigation,” said spokesman Eric Kehn of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Two men, possibly in a dark sport-utility vehicle, are being sought in the first nine arsons.
Pleasant Sabine Baptist Church burned to the ground Feb. 3. Murphy said it might take up to $250,000 to rebuild it. He said some members of predominantly white Old Union Baptist Church, whose building was partially fire-damaged on Feb. 3, have offered to help predominantly black Pleasant Sabine clear the fire debris off its property.
“We’re all brothers and sisters in Christ, no matter what color,” said Old Union member Connie Lawley. “And we’re going to have to help each other any way we can.”
About 150 state, local and federal officers are investigating the arsons. Kehn said Monday (Feb. 13) that investigators were still checking out leads.
“If the investigators have uncovered anything, they’re not saying,” said the Rev. Steve Patrick, head of the Bibb County Baptist Association.
On Monday, the Christian Coalition of Alabama offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for the church fires. The state of Alabama and the ATF each have offered $5,000 rewards. Alfa Insurance has offered a $10,000 reward for a conviction in any of the arson cases, and an additional $7,500 for each conviction in a case involving one of the five burned churches insured by the company.
_ Tom Gordon
Ore. Plaintiffs Ask Church to Pay Up on Abuse Claims
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) Priest sex abuse plaintiffs on Monday (Feb. 13) asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to force the Catholic Archdiocese of Portland to pay all their claims without limit _ a figure that past verdicts indicate could be as high as $245 million.
The committee that represents the 110 plaintiffs, however, says the actual figure is expected to be much lower, and could be funded without having to sell any churches, schools or cemeteries.
The plaintiffs contend that initial payments would come mostly from the archdiocese’s bank accounts and its insurance companies. Moreover, many plaintiffs are expected to settle for lower amounts rather than go to trial.
The plaintiffs’ proposal is the heart of a plan to reorganize the archdiocese, pay off creditors and allow the Roman Catholic Church to emerge from its first-in-the-nation filing for bankruptcy protection.
The sex abuse plaintiffs’ plan challenges the archdiocese’s own plan on a key point: What happens to claims after the church emerges from bankruptcy? Under the archdiocese’s plan, the church would have no responsibility to pay claims in full if they exceeded the money set aside in a claims fund. Moreover, punitive damages would not be allowed.
But under the claimants’ plan, the claims fund would be open-ended, paying any and all claims as they are settled, arbitrated or decided in jury trials. That includes punitive damages.
The independent claims fund would be allowed to foreclose on any archdiocesan property _ including parish churches and schools _ if the archdiocese failed to pay claims in full.
Albert N. Kennedy, the lawyer for the claimants’ committee, said he doesn’t think there will be any need for foreclosures. But despite those assertions, the archdiocese countered Monday in a statement that churches and schools might have to be sold.
The plaintiffs’ plan, the statement said, “provides for the possible sale of all parish churches and schools to pay claims without considering what effect that would have on the parishioners’ rights to practice their religion as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”
_ Steve Woodward
Quote of the Day: Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele
(RNS) “You of all folks know what happens when people decide they want to experiment on human beings, when they want to take your life and use it as a tool. I know that as well in my community, out of our experience with slavery. So I’m very cautious when people say this is the best new thing.”
_ Republican Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, who is black, speaking to the Baltimore Jewish Council about stem cell research on Feb. 9. Steele, who was quoted by The Washington Times, later apologized for comparing the research to Nazi medical experimentation.
KRE/RB END RNS
