c. 2006 Religion News Service

Williams Says Anglican Stand on Gays Will Not Be Debated

(RNS) Anglican leaders will not reopen debate on a resolution that condemns homosexuality and discourages the blessing of same-sex unions at their next meeting in 2008, according to the archbishop of Canterbury, the leader of world Anglicanism.

In 1998, representatives from the Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces approved a resolution that rejects homosexual acts as “incompatible with Scripture,” and advises against the “legitimizing or blessing of same-sex unions.” The Lambeth Conference meet every 10 years in England.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has “ruled out (for the time being) reopening of the resolution … on human sexuality from the previous Lambeth Conference,” according to a statement from the archbishop’s office.

Williams has, however, “emphasized the `listening process’ whereby diverse views and experiences of human sexuality are being collected and collated in accordance with that resolution,” the archbishop’s spokesman, James Rosenthal, said in a statement. There will be time at the 2008 conference “for this to be presented and reflected on,” according to Rosenthal.

Factions within the Anglican Communion and its U.S. branch, the Episcopal Church, have been bitterly divided over homosexuality. Rifts between liberals and conservatives were exacerbated in 2003, when V. Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, was elected bishop of New Hampshire.

Because the Episcopal Church’s soon-to-be presiding bishop supports gay rights, conservative Anglicans, especially in the Global South, have said they will not recognize her at future meetings. Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will become the head of the Episcopal Church at a ceremony in Washington on Nov. 4.

_ Daniel Burke

Woman Bishop Takes Reins of Episcopal Church

WASHINGTON (RNS) Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori knocked three times on the door of the National Cathedral Saturday (Nov.4) and the Episcopal Church welcomed her as its new presiding bishop _ the first woman to lead a national church in the history of Anglicanism.

In a majestic three-hour ceremony, Jefferts Schori, 52, was formally handed the primatial staff, symbolizing her role as chief pastor of the nation’s 2.2 million Episcopalians and their representative in the global Anglican Communion.

Beneath the cathedral’s soaring arches, Native American drummers and sacred healers accompanied a red-robed train of bishops processing through the cathedral as young dancers twirled streamers in the aisle and nave.

Jefferts Schori’s rise to presiding bishop _ a role that calls on her to lead the church for the next nine years _ surprised many Episcopalians, including herself.

A former oceanographer and a trained pilot, Jefferts Schori had only been an ordained priest for 12 years and bishop of Nevada for five before she was elected by a conclave of fellow bishops in June. She and her husband Richard Schori have one daughter, Katharine Johanna, 25, a pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

Taking the pulpit for her first sermon as presiding bishop, Jefferts Schori preached peace and reconciliation to her fractured church, which has been divided over issues of sexuality and the interpretation of Scripture.

Referring obliquely to Episcopal controversies about the ordination of gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions, Jefferts Schori said that “we cannot love God if we fail to love our neighbors into a more whole and holy state of life.”

“If some in this church feel wounded by recent decisions, then our salvation or health as a body is at some hazard, and it becomes the duty of all of us to seek healing and wholeness,” Jefferts Schori said.

_ Daniel Burke

Fareed Named Head of Islamic Society of North America

(RNS) The Islamic Society of North America has named Muneer Fareed, an Islamic studies professor at Wayne State University in Michigan, as its new secretary-general, the second-highest position in what is arguably North America’s largest Islamic organization.

The election of Fareed, who is about 50, comes barely two months after ISNA elected Ingrid Mattson, a Canadian convert, as the organization’s first female president. Fareed’s election was viewed by at least one observer as a step that completes a momentous transformation for ISNA.

“It’s a generational handover. I think ISNA is trying to make a point here,” said Ebrahim Moosa, an Islamic studies professor at Duke University. “This will help ISNA reach out to many more constituencies. If you wanted a dream team, you’ve got one now.”

Fareed succeeds Sayyid M. Syeed, ISNA’s secretary-general since 1994, who will head ISNA’s new Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances in Washington. Mattson succeeded Muhammad Nur Abdullah. Syeed and Abdullah were considered two of the Muslim American community’s eldest statesmen.

Fareed studied Islam at Darul Uloom Deoband in India, one of the largest Sunni seminaries in the world, as well as in his native South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and at the University of Michigan, where he earned a Ph.D. in Islamic studies. He came to the United States in 1989, settling in Detroit where he served as an imam while teaching.

As a well-traveled, classically trained scholar who is also comfortable in American culture, Fareed is expected to further integrate ISNA into American society but keep the group grounded in fundamentals.

“He brings both practical knowledge of lived Islam as well as a depth of scholarship to this position,” Mattson said in a prepared statement. “Dr. Fareed has a good understanding of the challenges faced by youth.”

Fareed has written extensively about the Islamic concept “ijtihad,” or reinterpretation, which many scholars see as a key bringing modernity to Islamic societies.

“Will we simply remake classical institutions, or will we take into consideration the changes that modernity and colonialism have wrought on Muslim society, and engage in a new form of ijtihad to establish new institutions based on these changes?” he said to the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2005.

_ Omar Sacirbey

Bahais Say Iran Steps Up Monitoring of Minority Group

(RNS) Iran’s Bahai community has been under siege throughout its 150-year history, but a letter reportedly obtained from Iran’s Ministry of the Interior has some fearing that Tehran plans to increase persecution of the group.

The authenticity of the letter could not be determined. But the document, obtained and released by Bahai leaders, was consistent with those previously leaked to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of the U.S., said Aaron Emmel, a group spokesman, on Thursday (Nov. 2).

In the letter, dated Aug. 19, Iran’s Interior Ministry director Seyyed Mohammad Reza Mavvalizadeh said the Iranian government had received reports that some Bahais “are attempting to teach and spread the ideology of Bahaism, under the cover of social and economic activities.

“In view of the fact that this sect is illegal and that it is exploited by international and Zionist organizations against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, we therefore ask (provincial officials) … to cautiously and carefully monitor and manage the Bahais’ social activities,” the letter said.

Kit Bigelow, the Bahais’ director for external affairs, said the letter was significant because it is “part of a larger strategy by the Iranian government to destroy the Bahai community in Iran.” But Bigelow said Iranian Bahais were resolute and would “continue as they have continued before.”

Over the last two years, at least 129 Bahais have been arrested in Iran, according to the assembly.

The Bahai faith was founded during the 19th century in Persia _ now Iran _ by Baha’u’llah. It is a monotheistic religion derived from the Shi’a sect of Islam but separate from it. Bahais claim their religion is the latest in a series of “progressive revelations,” a concept heretical to some Muslims who believe Muhammad was the last of the prophets.

According to the Bahai World Center Department of Statistics, Bahais number around 6 million in more than 200 countries. About 300,000 live in Iran and 160,000 in the U.S.

_ Keith Roshangar

Beliefnet Teams With Yahoo! for Spiritually Influenced Personals

(RNS) For spiritual singles seeking a soul mate in cyberspace, one pool of potential matches is about to get a lot bigger.

Beliefnet, whose spirituality Web site (Beliefnet.com) attracts 3.1 million users per month, on Thursday (Nov. 2) said it will connect its dating service users with those of Yahoo! Personals, an online dating service based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Under the agreement, Yahoo! Personals will host Beliefnet’s Soulmatch dating venue. The new arrangement gives users of Soulmatch access to as many as 5 million singles who troll for new connections each month on the Yahoo! Personals site.

“For so many people, finding a soul match means connecting on a deep level _ seeing what’s on the inside as well as on the outside,” said Steven Waldman, CEO and co-founder of Beliefnet. “We want to help people who believe that spiritual connection is an important part of building a great relationship.”

Currently, women _ who make up 60 percent of Beliefnet users _ outnumber men on the Soulmatch Web site, Waldman said. But he expects “the partnership with Yahoo! will even that out.”

Beliefnet’s agreement with Yahoo! Personals comes at a time when social networking sites, such as MySpace, are demonstrating critical ability to attract large numbers of loyal visitors. Beliefnet originally launched Soulmatch, Waldman said, after noticing “the tremendous popularity of advertising for spiritually oriented online dating on our site.”

Among those advertisers was eHarmony, an online dating service that attributes millions of matches to a process that explores such factors as core values, spiritual beliefs, passions and character. However, the Beliefnet-Yahoo! site takes a somewhat different approach from eHarmony, Waldman said. While eHarmony uses a mathmatical formula to generate a list of potential matches, the Beliefnet-Yahoo! site gives users the tools to make their own short lists.

_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Nepal to Probe Role of Young “Living Goddesses”

CHENNAI, India (RNS) The Supreme Court of Nepal has ordered an inquiry into whether the centuries-old tradition of worshipping a virgin girl as a “living goddess” has led to the exploitation of young girls and violates their human rights.

The order came after a child rights lawyer, who says she only wants to reform the tradition, not abolish it, filed a petition. Other activists have lodged their own court case aimed at keeping the tradition unchanged.

Traditionally, young girls _ called “kumaris” _ are selected from the country’s Buddhist community. Once they meet select criteria, they are worshipped as goddesses by both Hindus and Buddhists until they reach puberty, when they are replaced by other girls.

The young “living goddesses” are isolated from family and friends and revered. Every one of their motions is interpreted as “divine instruction.” From the age of 5 or 6, many girls chosen as kumaris live their childhood lives through a series of rituals with little contact with the outside world.

The Hindu King of Nepal traditionally worships the goddess during the Indra Jatra festival, which is celebrated in the capital city of Kathmandu in early autumn.

A final ruling by the Supreme Court is expected after a three-month inquiry is completed by Nepal’s Ministry of Culture.

_ Achal Narayanan

Pope Bans Lay Catholics From Cleaning Communion Vessels

(RNS) Lay Catholics who distribute the Eucharist can no longer clean the chalices used in the sacrament of Communion, Pope Benedict XVI has ruled.

In 2002, U.S. bishops received special permission from Pope John Paul II for “extraordinary ministers” _ lay Catholics who are authorized to help distribute Communion _ to help purify the sacred vessels at Mass.

Bishop William Skylstad, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote to the Vatican in 2005 and 2006, asking Benedict XVI to extend the “indult,” or dispensation.

But in an Oct. 12 letter, Cardinal Francis Arinze of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship told Skylstad that Benedict XVI rejected the request.

The Roman Missal, the book that guides the celebration of Roman Catholic Mass, states that only priests, deacons and “instituted acolytes” may purify the sacred vessels. Like Catholic deacons and priests, instituted acolytes _ who are often preparing for the priesthood _ must be male.

But a shortage of priests in the U.S. led the bishops to ask for an indult allowing lay Eucharistic ministers to clean the sacred vessels and save time, said Monsignor Anthony Sherman, associate director of the bishops’ liturgy office.

Benedict’s order follows a pattern of papal concern over the celebration of the Eucharist that began under John Paul, Sherman said. In his travels throughout the world, John Paul became distressed that Mass was celebrated differently in different locales, according to Sherman.

“He felt there were some abuses in the celebration of the sacrament,” Sherman said.

_ Daniel Burke

Controversial Gay Parade OK’d for Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (RNS) Israel’s attorney general said a controversial gay parade slated to take place in Jerusalem on Friday (Nov. 10) can proceed as scheduled, despite fears of violence from religious fundamentalists.

Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on Sunday rejected a request by the Israel Police to cancel the parade. For the past several weeks, fervently Orthodox Jews have set trash cans on fire at major intersections to protest the parade, which Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders have all tried to halt.

During a Nov. 1 demonstration attended by thousands of black-coated ultra-Orthodox men, prominent rabbis attributed Israel’s security woes to the “promiscuous” lifestyle led by many Israelis.

Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, who heads the fervently religious Eda Haredit rabbinical court in Jerusalem, told the protesters that Israel failed to score a strong victory against Hezbollah during the recent war in Lebanon “due to the obscenity and promiscuity in the Holy Land.”

Top rabbinical authorities also signed a poster, hung in fervently religious neighborhoods, decrying “the evil mob seeking to defile the holy city of Jerusalem.”

Prominent Muslim and Christian leaders have also called for the parade to be permanently banned from the city, which is holy to all three monotheistic faiths.

Noa Satath, general director of the Jerusalem Open House, an advocacy organization for Israeli and Palestinian gays and lesbians, hailed Mazuz’s decision as “a victory of freedom of speech and democracy.” Unlike the annual gay parade in Tel Aviv, Satath said “our parade will not be eccentric or outwardly sexual. It has never been our intention to offend the religious communities in town.”

_ Michele Chabin

Poll: N.J. Voters Support Civil Unions, Not Gay Marriage

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) Half of New Jersey’s registered voters agree gay couples are entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals, but they balk at calling it marriage, according to a poll by The Star-Ledger newspaper.

Fifty percent of those polled agreed with the recent state Supreme Court decision that same-sex couples are entitled to all the protections state law gives married couples. But overall, only one in four agreed that it should be called marriage, the poll found.

“People in New Jersey are very supportive of equal rights, but the concept of marriage is more complicated,” said Mickey Blum, whose firm, Blum & Weprin Associates, performed the telephone survey of 777 people for the newspaper. The poll, conducted Nov. 1-2, has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points.

Blum noted that the portion of people who said they were undecided about whether the state Legislature should grant gay couples the right to marry was 17 percent, which is unusually high.

“This is an issue people are struggling with,” she said. “They seem to be trying to decide what is reasonable or fair.”

“I think gays should have the same rights as everybody else, but I am also Catholic and my church says it’s wrong for gays to marry,” said Antonia Clampett, 62, of Hopewell, N.J., who participated in the poll. “It is a shame, because nobody should have to live a lie.”

Overall, 23 percent of those polled favored allowing gays to marry in New Jersey. Along party lines, 32 percent of Democrats supported gay marriage, but only 17 percent of Republicans.

A similar partisan divide was apparent in sentiments about civil unions. Sixty-four percent of Democrats agreed with the state Supreme Court’s decision, compared with 34 percent of Republicans.

Steven Goldstein, chairman of Garden State Equality, a gay rights organization, said the high number of undecided responses in the poll offers a clear sign that people don’t really understand what gay marriage would mean.

“There is talk about pushing through a civil union bill, but we urge the Legislature to give us time,” he said. “We will do the education, but we need that 180 days to do it. We’ve waited this long. What’s a little more time?”

_ Judy Peet and Rick Hepp

Quote of the Week: Author and Blogger Andrew Sullivan

(RNS) “I’m praying for (the Rev. Ted) Haggard, as I hope he is praying for me and every sinner. But the lesson of this to the religious right surely is `go and sin no more.’ Stop the lies. Stop the bigotry. Deal with the reality of gay people, our souls, our wounded hearts, our humanity, our right to be treated equally by our own government. It’s what Jesus did. And it is your true calling now.”

_ Author and blogger Andrew Sullivan, reacting to the scandal surrounding the Rev. Ted Haggard, former president of the National Association of Evangelicals, who resigned that post after a male escort said Haggard had paid him for sex and bought drugs.

KRE/PH END RNS