c. 2007 Religion News Service
Former Salvation Army Leader Named to NAE Post
(RNS) The National Association of Evangelicals has chosen a former top official of the Salvation Army to serve as its new executive director.
W. Todd Bassett, the former national commander of the Salvation Army, has been a member of the NAE’s Executive Committee for four years.
“We’re thrilled to have him do this,” said interim NAE President Leith Anderson, pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie, Minn., on Wednesday (Jan. 17). “He brings enormous stature and experience and is well-connected with the evangelical community.”
Officials of the umbrella organization explained that Bassett is not succeeding the Rev. Ted Haggard, who resigned last November as president amid a sex and drug scandal.
“This is a new role that we used to have in years gone by and we now have,” said the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs.
Reached in Calcutta, India, during a church missions trip, Anderson said Wednesday (Jan. 17) that a key part of his role as interim president has been to focus on the staffing of the Washington headquarters of the association. Bassett’s appointment is a part of that, he said.
“It’s a different style of organization and it strengthens the organization,” he explained. “It’s less dependent administratively on the position of president and provides just a breadth of organization and infrastructure.”
Bassett was national commander of the Salvation Army from 2002 through April 2006. The Salvation Army is one of 60 member denominations in the organization.
His new role with NAE will include oversight of its administrative, communications and financial activities.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Driver Says He Followed Policy When Kicking Muslim Woman Off Bus
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) Bus driver Gene Bandlow says he was just following policy when he asked a woman with an Islamic veil to step off his bus last July.
He didn’t believe passenger Tasha Douglas was a terrorist, nor did he intend to discriminate against her religion, said Bandlow, who has been driving a city bus for 61/2 years.
“I’m not an idiot,” said Bandlow. He said he decided to come forward after letters to the editor in the Grand Rapids Press suggested he believed Douglas was a terrorist.
“I didn’t see her as a security risk, it was just a policy I had to enforce,” said Bandlow, who compared the transit system’s then-rule against passengers having their faces covered to its rule against eating on the bus.
Bandlow, 37, said he would not have told her she could not wear the veil had he known she was wearing it for religious reasons.
Since September, attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, working on Douglas’ behalf, have been in talks with transit officials about the incident.
Douglas’ lawyer, Miriam Aukerman, said she finds it hard to believe Bandlow did not recognize Douglas’ garb as being religious.
“If that’s the case, I think it points to the need for diversity training within” (the transit system), she said. “That’s a fairly common form of dress among Muslims.
“Our issue is not with the driver,” Aukerman said. “He’s an individual who made a mistake because The Rapid as an institution had a policy that was wrong.”
Since Douglas’ complaint surfaced in September, Rapid officials have modified their ban on head coverings and apologized to her.
Rapid spokeswoman Jennifer Kalczuk has said the original policy was for security reasons and that religious dress was not considered. The rule was made so on-board cameras could identify riders in the event of a disturbance.
Douglas, 30, since has said she was “devastated” and “humiliated” by the incident. The Grand Rapids woman, who does not own a car, said she has relied on taxicabs since then.
“I embrace all religions,” Bandlow said. “I don’t care what religion you are. If it makes you a better person, I’m all for it.”
_ Jim Harger
Catholic Bishops Urge Parishes to Tighten Financial Oversight
(RNS) The nation’s 19,000-odd Roman Catholic parishes should tighten internal controls to protect against financial improprieties, according to a committee of experts that advises the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The lay-led committee, which recommended keeping a closer eye on the collection plate and “effective oversight by the bishop,” has been discussing its proposals for a year, said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the bishops’ conference.
Eighty-five percent of Catholic dioceses responding to a recent survey experienced embezzlement during the past five years, according to a Villanova University report. Eleven percent reported internal thefts of more than $500,000 each.
A Virginia priest appeared in court Thursday (Jan. 18) to face charges of felony embezzlement after the Richmond, Va., diocese accused him of stealing more than $600,000 from two Virginia churches.
The USCCB’s Accounting Practices Committee recommends parishes send an annual letter to their bishop, detailing the names and professional titles of parish finance council members, dates of meetings and a copy of published financial statements and budgets.
Parish finance council members should undergo thorough training and dioceses should establish policies to cover conflicts of interest, fraud and whistle-blower protections, according to the committee.
The committee also said seminarians should be given financial training. Bishop Dennis Schnurr of Duluth, Minn., rejected that suggestion, according to a statement from the USCCB.
“Seminary days are jampacked enough, and I am not certain that finances should be added to the schedule,” Schnurr said. “Members of the laity who have expertise and experience with administration and finance should be encouraged to consider a stewardship of their talents.”
_ Daniel Burke
Pastor Says Female Professor Was Dismissed Because of Gender
(RNS) A pastor and influential blogger has accused Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, of gender discrimination in denying tenure to a female former faculty member at the Fort Worth, Texas, seminary.
The allegations were made on the personal blog of Wade Burleson, a pastor in Enid, Okla., who gained attention in Southern Baptist circles last year when he challenged the denomination’s ban on missionaries who speak in tongues.
Burleson alleged that Patterson had promised Sherri Klouda, who taught Hebrew, that she would stay on faculty after he was appointed president in 2003, but later refused to grant her tenure.
Burleson alleged that Patterson dismissed Klouda because of his strict interpretation of key Biblical passages _ particularly that the Bible prohibits women from teaching men in the areas of theology and Biblical studies.
T. Van McClain, chair of Southwestern’s board of trustees, released a statement calling Burleson’s blog entry “filled with inaccuracies” and denied that Klouda was dismissed. “Actually, she did not have tenure and, like hundreds of professors around the U.S. every year, was told that she would not be awarded tenure,” he said.
McClain also denied that gender discrimination played a role in Klouda’s dismissal: “The second issue involves the desire of (the seminary) to have only men teaching who are qualified to be pastors or who have been pastors in the disciplines of theology, biblical studies, homiletics, and pastoral ministry. This is in keeping, of course, with the statement of faith of the SBC that clearly says the pastorate is reserved for men.”
McClain said the school was free to hire only men for these positions, saying, “It is a matter of freedom of religion in this country for a private institution to align itself with the majority views of its constituency.”
McClain called Klouda’s hiring a “momentary lax of the parameters” and said the school has now returned to “its traditional, confessional, and biblical position.”
Klouda, who has since obtained a position at Taylor University in Indiana, did not return calls for comment.
_ Greg Horton
Virginia Bishop Says He Will Fight for Church Property in Court
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Episcopal Bishop of Virginia said his diocese has tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with dissident parishes for years and will now seek to settle differences over church property in civil courts.
Eleven conservative Virginia churches _ including two large, historic parishes _ have voted to leave the 2.2-million member denomination over differences on homosexuality and the authority of Scripture.
Bishop Peter Lee said in a letter Thursday (Jan. 18) that diocesan officials now consider those churches’ property “abandoned” and will seek to recover them in court.
“I have tried to find a way forward in our dispute over property that would keep us from having to resort to civil courts,” Lee wrote. “No longer am I convinced that such an outcome is possible, nor do I believe that such a move at this time is dishonorable.”
The value of the property of two churches _ Truro Church and The Falls Church _ has been estimated at $25 million. The two churches have joined a missionary branch of the Anglican Church of Nigeria.
Jim Pierobon, a member of Falls Church and a spokesman for the two parishes, told The Associated Press that all 11 congregations will fight for the property.
“We intend to protect our churches’ property rights to the fullest extent of the law,” Pierobon said.
Under the laws of the Episcopal Church, individual church property is held in trust by the diocese and the denomination. The breakaway parishes will argue in civil court that denominational trusts are not valid in the Commonwealth of Virginia, according to Pierobon.
_ Daniel Burke
Beloved French Priest Abbe Pierre Dies at 94
PARIS (RNS) Abbe Pierre, a Capuchin monk who became one of France’s most beloved and popular figures, died of a lung infection in Paris Tuesday at the age of 94.
The man known simply as Abbe Pierre wore many hats: priest, resistance fighter, lawmaker _ and, most famously, champion of the homeless who founded the international nonprofit, Emmaus.
“All France is deeply touched,” French President Jacques Chirac said in one of many tributes that poured in throughout the day. “She has lost an immense figure, a conscience, an incarnation of good.”
Born Henri Groues to an affluent family in 1912, Abbe Pierre became a Capuchin monk as a young man. But he left the monastery after just six years. He joined the French resistance during World War II, helping Jews hide from the Nazis, and later became a deputy in France’s National Assembly.
But it was during a bitter winter in 1954 that Abbe Pierre became a household name in France. After a woman died of cold on the streets, the priest took to the airways, pleading in a radio message for the nation to open its heart _ and its homes.
“Tonight, the message must go out across France to shed light on those who are suffering so they see these simple words: That whoever you are come in, eat, sleep, find joy again. We love you,” Abbe Pierre said at the time.
Abbe Pierre also made practical requests for donations of blankets, tents and cooking stoves for that cold winter. The drive pushed the French parliament to pass legislation to create 12,000 new shelters for the homeless.
Emmaus, the nonprofit he launched in 1949, today has chapters in more than 50 nations.
At home, Abbe Pierre became a regular figure on television talk shows and topped a yearly popularity poll _ ahead of politicians, rock stars and movie idols _ until he finally dropped out of the running.
His relaxed views on marriage and women in the priesthood clashed with those of the Vatican; in 2005, he suggested he had broken the vows of chastity in a “fleeting” manner.
Still, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, head of the French bishops’ council, lauded the priest in a statement Monday for his “engagement and humanity … a source of hope for us.”
_ Elizabeth Bryant
Update: British Airways Reverses Stance on Religious Jewelry
LONDON (RNS) Britain’s biggest airline, stinging under criticism from religious and political leaders, has reversed its ban on employees’ openly displaying religious items such as crucifixes.
British Airways created a furor, and reportedly lost a number of customers, when it told Nadia Eweida, a Christian check-in worker at London’s Heathrow airport, that the cross she wore on a necklace violated its dress code because it could be seen.
BA chief executive Willy Walsh, after first defending the uniform policy, announced the about-face after he said the airline had “unintentionally” found itself at “the center of one of the hottest social issues in current public debate” in Britain.
The airline said on Friday (Jan. 19) that effective Feb. 1, it is changing its dress code “to allow a lapel-pin symbol of faith, such as a Christian cross or a Star of David, with some flexibility for individuals to wear a symbol of faith on a chain.”
Criticism of BA’s restrictive policy on the open wearing of religious jewelry has ranged all the way to British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who told the airline that “there are battles really worth fighting,” but that this was not one of them. The airline, he said, should “do the sensible thing.”
At one point, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams had threatened to sell the Church of England’s $18 million worth of stock in the airline. After the policy reversal, he said he was “grateful that BA have listened to the deep concerns that have been expressed about this issue.”
Walsh conceded that during an internal “review,” “comparisons were made between the wearing of a cross around the neck and the wearing of hijabs, turbans and Sikh bracelets,” which are allowed under company policy.
“Our uniform is one of the most powerful symbols of our company and heritage,” Walsh said. “This modification will enable staff to wear symbols of faith openly without detracting from the uniform.”
_ Al Webb
African Church Leader Warns of `Disease’ of Pentecostalism
(RNS) The president of the All Africa Council of Churches, a fellowship of mainline Protestant, Orthodox and indigenous Christians, said Pentecostalism is a “disease” spreading across Africa, according to an AACC news release.
Speaking at the Ecumenical Platform of the World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, the Rev. Nyansako-ni-Nku seemed to direct his remarks at a type of Pentecostal prosperity preacher who “gets richer and the congregation gets poorer.”
The AACC news release also said that Nyansako, who is moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon, exhorted “mainline churches (to) wake up to the challenge and provide direction; otherwise many people will follow these Pentecostal churches.”
Pentecostalism has become an increasingly prominent force in African life, according to a recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. The movement’s growth has been dramatic since decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s, according to Pew, rising from 5 percent of the population in 1970 to 12 percent in 2005.
Pentecostals play a large role in politics, particularly in Kenya and Nigeria, and control numerous radio and television stations, according to Pew.
Nyansako said mainline pastors at the pulpit are “becoming bashful and instead of naming the demon which harasses people by name, they are willing to socialize with the mighty and the powerful to the detriment of the people who have placed their trust in them.”
The AACC is a fellowship of 169 churches and Christian councils in 39 African nations.
_ Daniel Burke
Court Dismisses Suit by Jehovah’s Witnesses Who Were Expelled
(RNS) A state appeals court in Tennessee has dismissed a $20 million lawsuit brought by two former Jehovah’s Witnesses who charged the religious body with wrongful expulsion after one of them questioned Jehovah’s Witnesses’ handling of child sexual abuse claims.
Barbara Anderson, a former employee at the international headquarters of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Brooklyn, N.Y., and her husband, A. Joseph Anderson, a former elder of the religious group, were members of the Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Manchester, Tenn., before they were “disfellowshipped.”
Barbara Anderson appeared on the NBC program “Dateline” in 2002 to voice her concerns about how the religious body dealt with abuse claims. She and her husband were soon expelled from the church.
Denominational leaders have said they abide by state rules that require them to report abuse claims. Calls to the group’s headquarters in New York were not returned.
The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York sought a dismissal of the case but a lower court allowed the suit to go forward. On Friday (Jan. 19), the Court of Appeals of Tennessee at Nashville reversed that decision.
Jehovah’s Witnesses officials argued that the complaint related to an “intrachurch dispute” and the secular court should not interfere with it. The appeals court agreed.
“Decisions by the governing bodies of religious organizations on matters related to doctrine, faith, or church governance and discipline are not reviewable by civil courts,” the ruling reads.
The Andersons had asked the court to determine if their dismissal on religious grounds was really a pretext for secular reasons. But the court said making such a determination would result in “excessive inquiry into ecclesiastical matters” in violation of the First Amendment.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Week: Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa
(RNS) “I am deeply disturbed that in the face of some of the most horrendous problems facing Africa, we concentrate on `what I do in bed with whom.”’
_ Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, speaking about the divisions within the Anglican Communion over homosexuality. He was quoted by the Reuters news agency.
KRE/PH END RNS
