c. 2006 Religion News Service

Gay Marriage Foes Say Traditional Marriage Threatened by Divorce

WASHINGTON (RNS) In the midst of vocal religious opposition to same-sex marriage, a few religious leaders say traditional marriage is under increasing threat from divorce.

“If divorce were a religious disease, we would declare it a national emergency,” said the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals. “That is how seriously we regard the state of the American family today.”

Cizik claimed that 38 million divorces have occurred since 1970, while the marriage rate has dropped by half since then.

Cizik joined religious leaders, including representatives of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Southern Baptist Convention, at a news conference Thursday (May 25) to raise the alarm about threats to traditional marriage.

Their appearance followed a conference sponsored by the Alliance for Marriage that promoted a proposed constitutional amendment that would outlaw same-sex marriage, slated for Senate action next month.

Critics have charged opponents of same-sex marriage with ignoring high divorce rates among heterosexual couples. The panel said that both issues are important, but said the troubles plaguing heterosexual marriage should prompt churches to do more.

“I think they go hand in hand,” said the Bishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Knoxville, Tenn., chairman of the Catholic bishops’ marriage and family committee. “There is no question about competing for attention. We need to do both, and if we don’t do both, we’re going to be failures.”

The panel highlighted federal grants offered through the Healthy Marriage Initiative, which is offering $122 million to nonprofits and churches through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The one-year grants range from $50,000 to $5 million a year. Written proposals for the smaller grants are due June 23; proposals for the larger awards are due a week later.

“The churches have the greatest potential for using these funds,” said Michael J. McManus, president of the Maryland-based Marriage Savers organization. “… What we’re trying to do here is balance the equation.”

_ Piet Levy

Burleson Continues Fight With Southern Baptist Mission Board

(RNS) A Southern Baptist pastor who has been openly critical of the denomination has been accused of “multiple breaches of confidentiality” and may be banned from closed-door sessions for one year.

Tom Hatley, outgoing chairman of the church’s International Mission Board, read the accusations of breach of confidentiality against Oklahoma pastor Wade Burleson into the record at a board of trustees meeting Wednesday (May 24).

Hatley recommended that Burleson be banned from executive sessions and closed forums for one year.

Burleson attracted national attention this year when he openly criticized IMB policy changes that banned missionary candidates who spoke in tongues privately and were not baptized according to specific criteria.

The recommendation can be sustained only by the incoming board chairman, John Floyd of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. According to Burleson, his attorney and other pastors have questioned the authority of the chairman to impose a ban on any trustee.

“I knew this would happen,” Burleson said. “As soon as I started shining a light on the activities of the trustees, I knew someone would say confidences had been breached. But I will not stop asking questions until someone gives me the answers.”

The accusation is related to a blog entry by Burleson in which he discussed a proposed “blue ribbon panel” that would look into the policy changes enacted by the IMB. Hatley said Burleson had broken confidences because the blue ribbon panel had been discussed in executive session.

Burleson, for his part, contended the panel had been a topic of discussion on blogs and in open forums for weeks leading up to the board meeting.

At the meeting Burleson attempted to request specifics related to the accusation of “multiple breaches,” but Hatley ordered that his microphone be turned off.

On Friday, Burleson posted an entry on his blog that said he will attempt to attend executive sessions and closed forums. He also promised to “detail with names, dates and actions the events of the last two years by certain trustees as they have acted in an improper manner, in violation of board policy and Scriptural commands.”

_ Greg Horton

Ohio Law Lets God Inside Schoolhouses

COLUMBUS, Ohio (RNS) When Ohio public school students return to class this fall, they could see a prominent new name among the student body _ God.

The state General Assembly this week passed a bill that would require public schools to post donated copies of the U.S. or Ohio mottoes, each of which contain the word “God.”

House Bill 184 requires the phrases to be framed or printed, 8.5×11 inches, free of any image other than the motto words and the American or Ohio flag, and not paid for at taxpayer expense. Any person or group could donate the mottoes.

The national motto is “In God We Trust”; the state’s is “With God All Things Are Possible.”

“The goal is to make sure that students have a basis to talk about the historical aspects of how this country was founded,” said state Rep. Keith Faber, who sponsored the bill.

“I don’t think the mottoes are necessarily religiously based,” the western Ohio Republican said.

Theresa Fleming, of Strongsville, who heads Moms for Ohio, a political action committee, testified for the bill during committee hearings.

“Our kids spend the majority of their time in school, and I think it is a really good thing for them to be surrounded by good things, and this will be a good influence,” she said Thursday (May 25).

But critics of the bill say the legislation will add nothing to the students’ learning experience and is merely an election year campaign item in place of other more pressing education matters such as school funding.

“Fundamentally, it is at odds in the historical sense of who we are,” said Jeff Gamso of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. “It is the state deciding rather than the parents what religious exposure or images our children are exposed to.”

Gamso testified against the bill months ago and thought it had stalled. But the Ohio House approved the bill Thursday, after the Senate did a day earlier.

“I had hoped it would die a quiet death,” said Gamso, who also wondered if the provision violates the U.S. constitutional principle separating church and state.

Gov. Bob Taft is expected to sign the bill, and after the mandatory 90-day wait, the mottoes could be in public schools _ including charters _ this fall.

_ Reginald Fields

Quote of the Day: Former Enron Chief Executive Kenneth Lay

(RNS) “We believe that God in fact is in control and indeed he does work all things for good for those who love the Lord.”

_ Former Enron Chief Executive Kenneth Lay, making a statement, with his wife, Linda, by his side, after being convicted Thursday (May 25) of fraud in Houston.

KRE/PH END RNS