c. 1997 Religion News Service
Expert: Expect Russian provinces to curb religious freedom
(RNS) A Moscow-based religious freedom expert says religious expression in Russia is likely to be further limited, despite President Boris Yeltsin’s recent veto of proposed legislation favoring”traditional”Russian religions over other faiths.
Lawrence A. Uzzell, Moscow representative of the London-based Keston Institute, which monitors religious life in the former Soviet Union, said the long-term threat to religious pluralism in Russia comes not from the Yeltsin-led central government, but from the vast republic’s many regional jurisdictions.
At a Washington briefing Monday (July 28), Uzzell noted that one-fourth of Russia’s provincial governments have already instituted laws that to some degree restrict religious freedom. In every case, said Uzzell, the restrictions are largely designed to protect the Russian Orthodox Church from other groups viewed as foreign imports _ including evangelical Protestant churches, Roman Catholicism, Mormonism and a variety of smaller sects.
The Russian Orthodox Church claims some 80 million followers, more than half of Russia’s population of about 150 million. Uzzell said even non-believing Russians tend to view the church as synonymous with Russian culture, prompting them to defend it from real or perceived threats.
Uzzell said national legislation restricting the operation of non-traditional religions is unlikely to be approved in the immediate future, despite the Russian parliament’s strong support for the measure vetoed by Yeltsin.
Yeltsin’s personal inclination toward religious freedom, Russian constitutional safeguards, and Moscow’s current need to appease the United States and other foreign economic benefactors are the reasons why, said Uzzell, a former congressional staffer and journalist who has spent the past five years in Russia.
Largely independent of Moscow, however, provincial politicians have their own agendas, Uzzell said, one which is often hostile to western-originating faith groups who are seen as religious invaders. Many regional Russian politicians were waiting to see whether Yeltsin would veto the measure that granted full state recognition only to Russian Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. Now that Yeltsin has signaled his opposition, Uzzell said additional provincial jurisdictions are likely to pass their own bills curbing non-traditional faiths.”Russians will have less religious freedom one year from now than they have today,”Uzzell said at the briefing sponsored by the Helsinki Commission, which monitors international human rights concerns.”You can expect a flood of new provincial legislation”to curb non-religious religions.
Lowery postpones retirement while successor sought
(RNS) The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, retiring president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, has agreed to remain in his post for a few more months while board members find a successor to lead the Atlanta-based civil rights organization.
Lowery had delivered his farewell address during the organization’s 40th anniversary celebration in Atlanta on Monday (July 28) and had received tributes for his decade-long leadership of the SCLC.
But after the speech and accolades, the board asked the veteran civil rights leader to postpone his retirement for three to six months.
Lowery, 74, agreed, but said it would be the last time he would consider such a delay, USA Today reported.
His upcoming departure marks a turning point for the organization, which has only had three presidents in its 40-year history. Lowery was preceded by the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who was assassinated in 1968, and the late Rev. Ralph David Abernathy, who resigned in 1977.
Lowery has been credited with helping the SCLC regain financial strength and deal with modern-day topics such as economic justice.
Several possible successors have been mentioned, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson and sons of King and Abernathy.”Given that it marks the first change of generations in literally 40 years, it’s not surprising that it would be a difficult decision, a difficult transition,”David Garrow, a historian and King biographer, told the newspaper.
Update: Homeless helper found guilty of breaking zoning laws
(RNS) Southern Baptist pastor Wiley Drake was convicted Monday (July 28) of breaking city zoning laws by housing the homeless in a makeshift shelter at his Buena Park, Calif., church.
Drake was found guilty of four of five misdemeanor counts accusing him of allowing people to sleep in tents and an enclosed patio at First Southern Baptist Church. He was acquitted of one charge of keeping motor homes on the grounds of the church.
Drake, who faces a maximum six-month jail sentence and a $1,000 fine on each count, told his church members after the verdict that he would not throw parishioners off the property, the Associated Press reported.”If I had the privilege and the honor of going to jail because of what Jesus has told me to do then I will indeed be humbled by that experience,”he said.
Drake, whose sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 22, plans to appeal.
Drake wept during the announcement of the convictions, which could affect about 30 people who have stayed on the church grounds.”It’s a sad day when our nation has said it’s a crime to help people,”he said.
Gregory Palmer, the prosecutor in the case, said he would seek probation for Drake if the minister’s homeless ministry begins to comply with zoning regulations.”There’s no chest-thumping here,”Palmer said.”Of course I’m pleased but I’m sad that it had to get to this point.” Drake, whose church is about six miles from Disneyland, has been a key supporter of the Southern Baptist Convention’s recent decision to boycott the Walt Disney Co.
Rhem’s congregation files secular suit in effort to leave denomination
(RNS) Christ Community Church of Spring Lake, Mich., has filed suit against its local governing body _ the Muskegon Classis of the Reformed Church in America _ in another twist in the two-year-old controversy which has pitted the congregation and its pastor, the Rev. Richard Rhem, against the classis and the denomination.
In a suit filed Friday (July 25) in Ottawa County Circuit Court, the congregation asked the court to order the Muskegon Classis to execute an Oct. 1, 1996, separation agreement under which the Spring Lake church would leave the RCA.
The separation agreement had been approved but before it was signed by classis officials allegations of”gross sexual misconduct”were filed against Rhem by a former member of the congregation. Had the classis permitted the separation, it would not have jurisdiction over Rhem.
The classis has until Aug. 15 to respond to the secular lawsuit. Meanwhile, it said it has set an Aug. 5 date for a church trial of Rhem on the sexual misconduct charge.
Neither Rhem nor a classis official returned phone calls and the church’s attorney’s was unavailable for comment.
Rhem has become a lightning rod in the RCA because of his dissent from the denomination’s teaching that salvation comes through Christ alone, the authority of Scripture and homosexuality.
Coming to believe in pluralistic salvation, Rhem stated,”I believe the scope of God’s grace extends beyond the Christian community.”He has taken a”broad view”of Scripture, and has allowed a group of homosexuals to worship in the church.
The denomination rebuked Rhem for his views in 1996. The church then sought to leave the RCA with its property but has been rebuffed.
In its suit against the classis, Christ Church cites three counts of alleged breach of contract, including”multiple violations of due process”and”defamation, slander/libel.””The Book of Church Order is inappropriate to regulate the relationship between the parties, as it does not provide for even rudimentary due process, requiring classis to be simultaneously the investigating body, the grand jury, the prosecutor, the judge and the jury,”the church said in its suit.
Don Van Ostenberg, president of the Christ Community board of trustees, said the church felt it had no choice but to file a civil lawsuit.”Coercive denominationalism must be a thing of the past,”he said.”If churches must go their separate ways because of honest heartfelt disagreements over theological issues, that needs to be allowed. I don’t think the non-Christian or nonchurched community understands that type of coercive action.” According to RCA procedure, ministers and churches cannot withdraw from the denomination without permission.
The church declared its unilateral independence from the RCA on July 4, 1996, after the classis recommended a formal rebuke of Rhem on theological grounds.
Nuns sense a need for Internet proficiency
(RNS) Sister Mary St. Mark Florence isn’t getting much sleep these days, thanks to her late nights surfing the Internet.
Sister Florence is one of number of Sisters of Notre Dame who are double-clicking big time this summer, taking computer courses and going on line.
“We are so blessed to have this right in our own home,” said Sister Florence, 70. “I wanted to better myself without going to college, and I can do it this way.”
About 250 sisters from Florida, North Carolina, Virginia and Ohio are taking basic and intermediate computer courses at the Notre Dame Education Association in Munson Township, Ohio, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. At least one computer _ with Internet and e-mail capability _ is to be placed in every Sisters of Notre Dame convent.
“We feel that electronic communications and the sisters’ ability to utilize the computers are just critical to knowing what’s going on and to integrate that information in our work,” said Sister Mary Brendon Zajac, who is teaching the MacIntosh computer classes.
A survey of the order’s 472 sisters in four states showed few convents had computers, and those that did used obsolete equipment. An overwhelming majority of the sisters who responded said they wanted computer training.
The sisters trained here are designated “power users” at each of their convents, and they help other sisters use the computer.
Sister Zajac, assistant superintendent for curriculum for the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, Ohio, said the use of e-mail alone will result in a huge cost savings for the order.
German regional church considers offering trial memberships
(RNS) In an effort to combat falling membership, the North Elbian Evangelical Lutheran Church _ one of Germany’s largest regional church bodies _ is drawing up proposals for”trial memberships”as a means of encouraging people to become involved in the denomination.
Over the past five years, the 2.4 million-member North Elbian Church has lost 150,000 members, mostly in urban areas, according to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency. For example, less than half the inhabitants of Hamburg, once a stronghold of Protestantism, now belong to the church.
Much of the decline in membership has been attributed to Germany’s church tax, under which members are taxed by the government to support the church.
Elisabeth Lingner, president of the denomination’s synod _ top governing body _ said it is still unclear how such trial memberships would work in practice and what effect they would have on such practices as baptism, confirmation, participation in communion and payment of the church tax.
But Lingner said she hoped the proposal, if implemented, would make it easier for Christians and non-Christians to work together and encourage people to consider permanent and full membership in the church.
Quote of the Day: Bill Ascol, Southern Baptist pastor
(RNS) Bill Ascol, pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Shreveport, La., criticized his fellow Southern Baptist pastors who have sought professional development training at Disney University, a Disney World facility in Orlando, Fla. Ascol, quoted in Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention, referred to the Southern Baptists’ recent boycott of Walt Disney World:”If you’re going to ask Mickey Mouse to give you dance lessons, you shouldn’t be surprised when he starts to take the lead and steps on your toes. … It’s strange to me that we will run to the world to learn its ways, to improve our ministries and then condemn it for its fallenness.”
END RNS
