c. 2006 Religion News Service

American Baptists Mull Sale of Headquarters Building

(RNS) Officials of the American Baptist Churches USA are considering selling their Valley Forge, Pa., headquarters building, which currently houses Baptist offices in less than half of its space.

“We want to be good stewards of our resources and to `right-size’ to fit our current space requirements,” said the Rev. A. Roy Medley, the American Baptists’ general secretary, in a statement. “We should not be in the real estate business. We need to remain focused on our primary work of proclaiming the gospel of Christ as radical disciples.”

The denomination’s General Board Executive Committee unanimously voted in September to recommend the sale; the full board is expected to act on the suggestion when it meets in mid-November.

“At one point, we had this building full of American Baptists,” recalled the Rev. Bob Roberts, a spokesman for the denomination.

He said the recommendation comes as the American Baptists and other churches face changing giving patterns among members, who often wish to fund specific causes rather than a unified budget of a central office. Roberts said it did not relate to the struggles the denomination has had over homosexuality, which led in part to a decision last May by the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest to split from the denomination.

“When we built this, it was the era of … very, very strong denominational loyalty and people willing to give the millions of dollars that it cost to put a building like this up,” Roberts said.

The three-story, circular-shaped building has unique architecture that has earned it the nickname “Baptist bagel.” Roberts would not say how much the 42-year-old building is currently worth.

Officials said if the building is sold, proceeds would be used to create an endowment fund for the denomination. Any sale would include an option for denominational offices to remain there for three to five years before they need to be relocated.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Lost Tribe of Jews Migrates from India to Israel

CHENNAI, India (RNS) A group of 218 people belonging to an Indian tribe recently recognized as “lost descendants of ancient Israelites” will soon be welcomed to their new homes in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

The emigrants are members of the Bnei Menashe tribe living and practicing Judaism in northeast India. The Bnei Menashe believe they are descended from one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel who were exiled when Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom of Israel in the 8th century B.C.

Many of the exiled Israelites made their way across the “silk route”, ending up in China. The Shinlung tribe, as they were also called in China, eventually migrated to Myanmar and northeast India, losing many of their Jewish customs along the way.

There are more than 300,000 Bnei Menashes in the state of Manipur, but most of them follow Christianity. Only around 6,000 have converted to Judaism _ many in the 1970s. The rabbis sent to Manipur and Mizoram states by the chief rabbi of the Sephardic Jews, Shlomo Amar, declared the converts “descendants of the Jewish people.”

Bnei Menashe members welcomed the announcement, saying they could now “go to the Promised Land.” Michael Freund, founder of Shavei Israel, an association assisting “lost Jews” to return to Israel, described the proposed relocation by the 218-strong Bnei Menashe group as “a turning point.”

“This is a major historical event,” he said, “because these members of a lost tribe of Israel can return home after 27 centuries.”

_ Achal Narayanan

Student Teacher Reaches Agreement in Dispute About School Prayer

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) A student teacher who claimed she was given a failing grade because she objected to teacher-led prayer in a Louisiana classroom has settled a lawsuit she filed against her university.

In an agreement, senior education major Pamela Thompson accepted a “withdrawal” grade for the student-teaching course she took during her final semester at Southeastern Louisiana University.

The mark replaces the failing grade she originally received.

But while her transcript has been salvaged, Thompson must fulfill more requirements _ including repeating her student-teaching assignment _ before receiving her diploma from the university, according to the settlement.

Despite the contingencies attached to her degree, officials with the American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana, who backed Thompson’s case, deemed the terms “favorable,” saying it removed the tarnish from her transcript and empowered those who sought to defend religious freedom in public settings.

“It did vindicate her right for free speech,” said Joe Cook, ACLU’s executive director for Louisiana. “And hopefully, it sent a message that retaliation under these circumstances is illegal.”

Meanwhile, officials from Southeastern, who long contended Thompson’s grade came as a result of her academic performance and not her objections to school prayer, said the resolution is consistent with the university’s original position, as the option of earning a withdrawal grade was offered to her in early negotiations as an alternative to failing.

“Nothing has been gained through months of litigation,” Southeastern President Randy Moffett said in a prepared statement, as the decision to take the withdrawal grade was offered “before the lawsuit was even filed.”

In early 2005, Thompson was assigned to the public D.C. Reeves Elementary School in Ponchatoula, La., as part of her student-teaching training. Over the next few months, she observed teacher Pamela Sullivan lead her class in prayer and organize a Bible study group on school grounds on several occasions.

The Tangipahoa Parish School Board, which also named a defendant in the case, later investigated Sullivan, verified the allegations and ultimately halted such practices, Cook said.

_ Jenny Hurwitz

Mormon Studies Expanding at Secular Universities

(RNS) Two American universities with no ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have plans to endow professorships in Mormon studies, making them the first secular schools to establish chairs in the academic study of Mormonism.

The programs, scholars say, could help push the public perception of Mormonism and its academic study further into the mainstream.

Utah State University at Logan plans to launch the Leonard J. Arrington Chair in Mormon History and Culture in fall 2007, and the School of Religion at Claremont Graduate University in Southern California plans a fall 2008 start for its Howard W. Hunter Chair for Mormon Studies.

Mormon studies, a field focused on comparative and analytical study rather than encouraging belief, has been limited. Secular universities in the U.S and England have offered classes in Mormonism as part of a religious studies degree, but no such school has offered a more comprehensive program, scholars say.

“There is a lot of ignorance and superstition and fear of the Mormon religion, and so what is needed, really, is a serious understanding,” said Karen Torjesen, dean of Claremont’s School of Religion.

At Utah State, Mormon studies will be part of a new undergraduate religious studies program that began this year.

The future Mormon studies program at Claremont is part of a new global religion outlook, with the school planning endowed chairs in diverse faiths. It would allow for specializing in Mormonism as part of a broader master’s degree or doctorate.

At the University of Wyoming, a proposal for an endowed chair in Mormon studies is in the “initial stages,” spokesman Jay Fromkin said.

The two endowed chairs show that people are beginning to take Mormon theology and history more seriously, said Robert Millet, a professor of religion at Brigham Young University and a member of the advisory council that is helping Claremont plan its program.

“Whether they agree or accept the prophetic claims (of Joseph Smith), they recognize you can’t tell the whole story of spirituality in America without studying Mormons,” he said.

_ Joanna Corman

Quote of the Day: Richard Sheirer, former New York emergency official

(RNS) “This piece of steel meant more to many people than any piece of steel ever. It goes beyond any religion.”

_ Richard Sheirer, who served as the commissioner of the New York City Office of Emergency Management in 2001, quoted by the Associated Press about the 20-foot-high, cross-shaped steel beam that was moved from the World Trade Center site to the nearby St. Peter’s Church. The cross is expected to eventually be included in a memorial or museum by the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation.

KRE/JL END RNS