c. 1998 Religion News Service
Conservative Christians, lawmakers rally to support NFL’s White
(RNS) Football great Reggie White, who in March stunned some Wisconsin lawmakers during a state assembly speech in which he made controversial remarks about race and called homosexuality and abortion”sins,”was honored Monday (May 18) by the Family Research Council, a Washington-based conservative advocacy group aligned with the religious right.
White, a star defenseman for the Green Bay Packers and an ordained minister, received FRC’s Family, Faith and Freedom award during a luncheon attended by some 300 supporters, including Reps. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., and Ron Lewis, R-Ky.
And several prominent Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, sent letters supporting the embattled White, who claims he lost a broadcasting job at CBS Sports because of his March remarks.
At the luncheon Monday, White said a CBS executive told him, his wife and his agent during a conference call,”We are concerned with the pressure we may get from gay activists groups. We can’t hire you.” CBS has denied the charge but in March CBS spokeswoman Leslie Ann Wade said as a general policy”CBS doesn’t accept bias from any of its announcers of any kind.” In a recent letter to supporters, FRC President Gary Bauer defended White’s remarks in which he attempted to summarize the”gifts”each race brings to humanity but which many said sounded like bigotry.”He tried to argue that each race is `gifted’ in a different way, and that the fullness of God’s love is shown through this mosaic of gifts,”Bauer wrote.”… If Reggie had used more of the buzzwords of modern social discourse _ praising `diversity’ and celebrating `differences’ _ these comments would have passed with little notice.
Rep. Steve Largent, R-Okla., supported White’s right to free speech.”America desperately needs more men of courage like Reggie White, who won’t allow the `politically correct’ culture to keep him from speaking the truth from his heart,”Largent wrote in a letter to White.”… And to those who would distance themselves from his recent statements, I believe it will be a better day for our nation when corporate America will stand beside those … who are willing to speak out to provide leadership and a positive direction for our nation’s youth.” White, a spokesman for Campbell Soups, Nike and Edge shaving cream, blamed the media for the recent criticism over his Wisconsin remarks.”The media was able to get people to believe I am stupid … an amateur preacher,”he said.”I lost $6 million,”White said of the potential contract with CBS.”I’m tired of whoever is pushing us around. … We are not going to take it anymore.”
Reformed Church rejects effort to tighten clergy doctrinal standards
(RNS) The Reformed Church in America has narrowly rejected a proposal to have all ministers and churches annually reaffirm their belief in salvation by grace through faith alone.
The denomination’s regional groups, known as classes, voted 29-16 to add the amendment to the book of church order but fell one vote short of the two-thirds needed to ratify amendments to the church’s constitution, according to the United Reformed News Service, an independent news service that covers Reformed and Presbyterian churches.
The amendment would have required ministers and churches to annually reaffirm”the truth that divine redemption from sin is only by grace through faith in the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, the only mediator between God and humankind.” Last year, a 23-23 vote rejected the measure but a clerical error deleting the words”by grace”led the denomination’s General Synod _ its highest decision-making body _ to resubmit the proposal for a new vote. One classis, the Classis of Central Plains, which voted for the amendment last year, didn’t this year because the meeting was canceled due to bad weather.
The Rev. Patrick Shetler, author of the amendment, said he was encouraged rather than disappointed because there were several more votes for the amendment this year. He said he hopes the issue will be considered again next year.
Conservatives have been trying to tighten the theological reins on clergy and congregations for a number of years but especially since a flap involving the Rev. Richard Rehm, a prominent RCA pastor in Michigan who eventually left the denomination after being charged with heresy for questioning the necessity of Jesus in salvation.
But the Rev. Christopher Kaiser of the RCA’s Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Mich., an opponent of Shetler’s amendment, said Shelter’s proposal contradicts classical Reformed theology.”The historic position is it is the grace of God, pure and simple, with or without faith, that leads to salvation,”Kaiser said. He cited the Westminster Confession’s affirmation that God saves some children of believers who die in infancy and others unable to understand the Gospel.
The Westminster Confession is the definitive statement of Presbyterian doctrine in the English-speaking world.
Washington state megachurch pastor resigns amid sexual misconduct claims
(RNS) The pastor of Washington state’s second largest church has resigned amid allegations of sexual misconduct.
The Rev. Bob Moorehead, 61, allegedly fondled male parishioners and was arrested on a morals charge in Florida three years ago, the Associated Press reported.
Moorehead said Sunday (May 17) he was resigning as senior pastor of Overlake Christian Church because the accusations created a stumbling block to the church’s mission.
Members of his family wept as Moorehead spoke.”He’s an incredible man and it’s been a very hard time,”church member Dawn Hammontree said.
More than 10 men have come forward claiming Moorehead fondled them in the late 1970s and early ’80s. The accusations arose following reports that Moorehead was arrested in July 1996 in Daytona Beach, Fla., on charges he masturbated in a public bathroom. He claimed it was a case of mistaken identity and police thought he was someone else, but said he offered to plead no contest to reduced charges to avoid a court battle.
Moorehead’s lawyer, however, was elected prosecutor while the case was pending and, while the allegations were dropped, police maintain the arrest was justified.
Overlake, a nondenominational evangelical church with 5,000 members, moved to a $37 million, 241,000 square-foot complex in Redmond, Wash., in December. Moorehead has served the church since shortly after its founding in 1968. A few months ago, church elders hired an investigator to review the accusations and a report is due at the end of May.
Moorehead said Sunday he submitted his resignation April 20 and it was not related to the investigation.
Arthur Ashley, a 55-year-old bus driver and one of the accusers told the AP he was pleased with the resignation”because that was what he needed to do. But then he said he was innocent of all charges and I know that to be a blatant falsehood.”
NCC official suspended from Presbyterian ministry for sexual misconduct
(RNS) The Rev. Richard Killmer, a former top official of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and currently the director of environmental justice at the National Council of Churches, has been suspended from the Presbyterian ministry for a minimum of one year after pleading guilty to a charge of sexual misconduct.
Killmer headed the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program from its establishment in 1980 to 1996, working in the denomination’s national office, and the incident to which Killmer pleaded guilty took place while he was on the national staff.
Under terms of an agreement reached by Killmer and the Presbytery of New Brunswick (Maine), a local grouping of churches, Killmer pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual misconduct and”will be excluded from the exercise of the ordained office of Minister of the Word and Sacrament for a minimum of one year.” Frank Diaz, executive director of the General Assembly Council (GAC), said the May 12 settlement concluded a months-long investigation into charges of sexual abuse by Killmer involving the misuse of the power of his office.
The investigation was apparently prompted by reports that Killmer was to be nominated as moderator — the top elected position in the church — at the forthcoming General Assembly.”This is the second occurrence of sexual misconduct against Mr. Killmer arising while he was employed by the GAC,”Diaz said. In a 1993 case filed at the Presbyterian Center — the church headquarters in Louisville — a committee found Killmer”had engaged in unethical sexual misconduct.”
His service with the church was not terminated at that time because (he) denied there were any other relationships of sexual misconduct and he agreed to professional counseling,”Diaz said. “Even as the 1993 case was being addressed, the sexual misconduct resulting in the Presbytery of New Brunswick action was ongoing.”
At the National Council of Churches, which coincidentally is in the midst of a meeting of its top officers, spokesman Randy Naylor issued the following statement:”We take this situation very seriously and the Officers of the Council, meeting currently, have this matter under advisement.”
10,000 United Methodist women call for end to discrimination
(RNS) Beginning with the blowing of the shofar, and combining music, dance and worship with actions aimed at reaffirming their commitment to social justice, some 10,000 United Methodist women met in Orlando, Fla., May 14-17 for the United Methodist Women’s Assembly.
During the three-day event, participants took a number of actions related to their goals of improving the lot of children and women around the world, including taking the time to write letters to members of Congress urging support of the United Nations’ treaty known as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
The United States has not yet ratified the treaty.”Women around the world have been oppressed for so long that it’s time the world recognizes that men and women are equal,”said Amy Miles, of Fruitland Park, Fla., the social action coordinator for UMW in Florida.”The way women are treated in society should reflect their equality.” Anna Rhee, executive secretary for public policy of the Women’s Division in the denomination’s General Board of Global Ministries, said the United States”is a leader in human rights and women’s rights, so there is no reason why they should not be signing this treaty.” CEDAW was adopted by the United Nations in 1979 to address the rights of women socially, politically, economically and culturally. It requires those ratifying the treaty to guarantee equal rights regarding access to the political system, citizenship and legal rights.
WCC names Orthodox official for No. 2 post
(RNS) The World Council of Churches’ has named Georges Lemopoulos as deputy general secretary, the second highest day-to-day post in the Geneva-based international ecumenical agency.
On Monday (May 18), the WCC announced its Central Committee, voting by mail, had affirmed the decision of its executive committee to name the Greek Orthodox Church leader to the post. He is the third Orthodox to hold the No. 2 spot in the council’s 50 year history.
Currently, Lemopoulos is executive secretary in the WCC’s office of Church and Ecumenical relations, where he serves as co-secretary of the Joint Working Group of the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church. “Georges Lemopoulos brings to his new responsibility a unique range of broad ecumenical experience gained during more than two decades of work in the ecumenical movement,”said the Rev. Konrad Raiser, WCC General Secretary said.
Lemopoulos, who was born in Istanbul, Turkey, earned a theology degree from the University of Thessaloniki in 1973. He joined the WCC in 1983 as Secretary for Orthodox Studies and Relations in the WCC’s Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.
Quote of the day: Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Newark, N.J.
(RNS)”God has given each of us special talents. He expects we will take his gifts and share them with our sisters and brothers. Frank Sinatra was truly blessed with a gift that was apparent to the entire world and he shared that gift with millions. His talent not only brought fame to him, but lit up the lives of so many people.” _ Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Newark, N.J., on the death of singer Frank Sinatra, a native of Hoboken, N.J., which is part of the Archdiocese of Newark.
END RNS
