c. 1997 Religion News Service

Pope, WCC speak out on Hong Kong transfer

(RNS) Pope John Paul II has sent a blessing to Hong Kong and Chinese Roman Catholics as Great Britain prepares to turn its colonial territory over to China on July 1.

In a letter to Cardinal John Baptist Wu of Hong Kong, John Paul said,”I am close in prayer to your eminence, to the bishops, the clergy … and the entire diocesean community, as well as to all people of goodwill.”My thoughts also go to the Catholics of mainland China, who at this time are united in a particular way with their brothers and sisters in the faith living in Hong Kong,”John Paul said, according to Reuters.

At the same time, Catholic church officials in Hong Kong said the church would be represented at the swearing-in ceremony of the new Chinese-appointed and unelected Hong Kong government, despite its opposition to the legislature.”We have reservations about it because it is not in accordance to the will of the Hong Kong people,”said Bishop Joseph Zen.”It is not an elected body. We hope an election will be held as soon as possible.” In a separate but related development, the Rev. Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, sent a special message to the Hong Kong Christian Council saying churches face a new challenge with the takeover and they must”transcend barriers of political systems in search of new models of society which uphold justice, peace and human dignity.” Raiser’s statement acknowledged the”future hopes and fears of the territory and its people”and assured Hong Kong Christians”of our prayers for you and solidarity with you.”

High Court rejects landlord who refused to rent on religious grounds

(RNS) The Supreme Court, without comment, Friday (June 27) rejected an appeal by a California landlord who cited her religious beliefs in refusing to rent to unmarried couples.

The justices left intact a California Supreme Court ruling that said landlord Evelyn Smith violated a state fair-housing law, the Associated Press reported.

In her appeal, Smith relied in part on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the 1993 law the Supreme Court struck down earlier in the week. That law made it more difficult for government to interfere with private religious practice.

Smith said she should be exempt from having to abide by the housing law because renting to people who have sexual relations outside marriage violates her Christian beliefs.

Two years ago, the Supreme Court rejected an almost identical appeal from an Alaska rental agent.

Smith’s appeal to the Supreme Court was supported by a friend-of-the-court brief submitted by a coalition of religious groups, including the American Jewish Congress, the National Association of Evangelicals and the National Council of Churches.

But the state fair-housing agency urged the justices to reject the appeal, arguing that”because nothing in her religious beliefs requires her to be a landlord, the burden on her free-exercise rights is not substantial.”

UFMCC head urges U.N. reforms to advance women

(RNS) The head of the gay-oriented Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches has urged new United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan to use internal reforms of the U.N. as a means to advance the place of women in the world body.”This process of reform offers an unprecedented opportunity to promote women’s human rights and to increase progress toward gender parity within the United Nations organization,”the Rev. Troy D. Perry said in a June 24 letter to Annan.

Perry is founder and moderator of the 42,000-member UFMCC, a largely gay and lesbian denomination with a particular focus on human rights.

Annan has been under strong pressure from the U.S. government to institute wide-ranging internal reforms at the United Nations as a price for having the United States pay the more than $1 billion it owes the organization.

Perry said the U.N. leader could use the reform momentum to strengthen the agency within the U.N. Secretariat by giving it more money and resources and to increase the number of women appointed to top staff positions.”The dawn of a new millennium offers a unique and historic opportunity for the United Nations to give appropriate prominence to the rights of women, both through the institutional structure of the United Nations, as well as through its ongoing programs,”Perry said.

Agency removes”notation”from Southern Seminary’s accreditation

(RNS) A major accrediting agency has removed a critical”notation”from its accreditation of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

The notation, imposed in January 1996 by the Association of Theological Schools (ATS), said”General tone of the school impairs the capacity to provide significant theological education and ministerial training.” Seminary President Albert Mohler received a letter Monday (June 23) from ATS informing him that the agency’s accrediting commission voted to remove the notation earlier in the month.”This is a significant achievement for Southern Seminary,”Mohler said in a statement.”It affirms the academic excellence and institutional vitality of this seminary.” The accrediting agency started reviewing the seminary’s accreditation status in 1995. At that time, it was responding to concerns by faculty relating to new procedures dealing with tenure, faculty hiring and the March 1995 dismissal of Diana R. Garland as dean of the seminary’s Carver School of Church Social Work.

An ATS committee visited the seminary in April and found that the seminary’s recent turn toward conservatism did not diminish the school’s academic standards. They noted that faculty respected the academic climate, but grieved the loss of colleagues and friends who had left the seminary.”Yet, though they feel defeated, they do not feel abused; though they feel sorrowful, they harbor no hostility; though they may disagree with the new direction the school has taken, they do not feel threatened,”the committee reported.

State Department criticizes Egyptian court’s decision

(RNS) The U.S. State Department has criticized an Egyptian court’s decision to uphold the controversial practice of female circumcision.”The U.S. government will continue to urge an end to this form of violence against women,”said State Department spokesman John Dinger Thursday (June 26).”It has been widely condemned by international experts as damaging to both (the) physical and psychological health of women.” The department considers the procedure that cuts female genitals to be an”abhorrent practice,”the Associated Press reported.

The Egyptian court’s decision on Tuesday overturned a year-old ban on the procedure in state and private clinics. The ruling was cheered by Islamic leaders and denounced by human rights advocates.

New Virginia Baptist group links with Southern Baptist agencies

(RNS) Just before it was merged into the new North American Mission Board, the administrative committee of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Home Mission Board voted to begin a formal relationship with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia.

The step marks the first time the SBC has recognized two conventions in the same state.

The SBCV is a conservative Baptist state convention in Virginia that last year split from the long-established Baptist General Association of Virginia. Close to 100 Virginia Baptist churches have voted to”uniquely”align with the SBCV.

The June 16 committee decision permits the NAMB to start giving joint funds to missionaries and ministries affiliated with the SBCV, reported Associated Baptist Press, an independent Baptist news service.

Each of the 39 Baptist state conventions and fellowships signs a standard four-page written covenant with the NAMB that governs the missionaries and ministries jointly sponsored by the NAMB and the state group.

Martin King, vice president of communications for NAMB, said the agreement with SBCV is similar to those with other state groups.

Other SBC agencies, including the Baptist Sunday School Board and the SBC Annuity Board, also have begun links to the new Virginia convention.

Theological school association executive to change jobs

(RNS) James L. Waits, executive director of the Association of Theological Schools, plans to resign his position to become the full-time president and CEO of the Fund for Theological Education.

Waits’ resignation is not effective until June 30, 1998.

The Fund for Theological Education was established in 1954 to serve as a conduit for fellowships and grants to candidates for ministry and doctoral studies. It has been affiliated with the Association for Theological Schools, the program and accrediting agency for graduate theological education in the United States and Canada, since April 1996.

Quote of the Day: Southern Baptist executive Robert E.”Bob”Reccord

(RNS) Robert E.”Bob”Reccord, president of the new North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, spoke at his agency’s first chapel service Wednesday (June 25) about the new requirement for every agency employee to spend a week a year on a missions project:”It is ludicrous for us to say we’re a mission board if every one of us is not on mission. … It is critical that we walk the walk and not just talk the talk.”

MJP END RNS