c. 2007 Religion News Service
Employee Objects to Fingerprint Scanner, Citing `End Time’ Beliefs
RESERVE, La. (RNS) A public school employee has been suspended for refusing to use a biometric time clock that scans fingerprints, claiming the process violates his religious beliefs.
The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board has scheduled a hearing on a grievance filed by the employee, the Rev. Herman Clayton Jr., for its meeting Thursday (April 19).
Joe Cook, director of the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, has urged the board to allow Clayton, a school system electrician and Baptist minister, to continue signing in and out of work, as he did for several months before being suspended without pay in February.
Clayton’s objection to using the system rests on his belief in the “end time” doctrine; some end-time believers object to fingerprinting devices and other scanning technology as tools of the Antichrist, Cook said.
“I believe his belief is sincere,” Cook said. He said Clayton said he teaches the doctrine in his ministry.
St. John school system Superintendent Michael Coburn said he will recommend to the board that the district continue to use the scanner and not grant exceptions.
“The system is in place. It’s doing a great job of showing us accountability, not only people coming to work,” but those working overtime, he said.
“If they want to continue to work, they have to use the system,” Coburn said.
The St. John school district implemented the $75,000 fingerprint identification system last fall. Employees use it to clock in and out of work by placing a finger in front of a small scanner that recognizes key points on each employee’s finger.
Clayton and one other employee who has refused to use the clock filed grievances with the administration. They will be represented by an attorney provided to them by the St. John Association of Educators.
Clayton said he was advised by the attorney not to comment, but he added, “I have faith that the board will make the right decision in my favor.”
_ Sandra Barbier
Report Finds Global Anti-Semitism on the Rise
(RNS) Israel and Jewish communities observed Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday (April 16) in the wake of worrisome findings by Tel Aviv University that anti-Semitic activity skyrocketed in the past year.
The spike in verbal and physical attacks on Jews around the world is due to “the efforts invested by Iran to delegitimize Israel by denying the Holocaust, and the second Lebanon war,” according to the report released at the Stephen Roth Institute in Tel Aviv, which is funded by the World Jewish Congress.
Some 590 cases of violence and vandalism were reported in 2006, up from 406 the previous year. Physical attacks nearly doubled to 270. Perpetrators included primarily Muslims and right-wing groups.
Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and France saw the steepest rise in anti-Semitism.
Western Europe in general was a hotbed of activity. Germany experienced acts of anti-Semitism almost daily and the highest incidence of desecration of Holocaust memorials. In Rome, 20 Jewish shops were vandalized, their locks glued. Anti-Semitic activity in Norway, including the beating of a 14-year-old girl, prompted the Jewish community to suggest its members stop wearing skullcaps and speaking Hebrew in public. And in soccer stadiums throughout Europe, anti-Semitic chants were heard like “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the Gas.”
The United States saw a 12 percent decrease in anti-Semitic activity, but increased incidents of violence.
Anti-Semitic cartoons permeated the Arab press. “Israeli soldiers were depicted as bloodthirsty, Nazi-like figures; Jews were drawn with hooked noses, long beards and black hats; Israeli leaders were portrayed as greedy and manipulative and drank the blood of Lebanese victims; and the swastika was superimposed over the Star of David,” the report said.
The trend appears to continue and “even escalate,” said Dina Porat, who heads the Stephen Roth Institute. This month, text messages throughout Saudi Arabia carried allegedly government-sponsored warnings against Israeli-imported melons infected with AIDS, according to the Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth.
_ Rachel Pomerance
Church of God in Christ Names New Presiding Bishop
(RNS) The Church of God in Christ has chosen the pastor of a Los Angeles megachurch to be its new presiding bishop.
Bishop Charles E. Blake was appointed April 10 as the seventh presiding bishop of the predominantly black Pentecostal denomination, succeeding Bishop Gilbert E. Patterson, who died March 20 of heart failure.
Blake, 67, is the pastor of West Angeles Church of God in Christ, a Los Angeles congregation with more than 24,000 members.
Prior to being chosen presiding bishop, he served as first assistant presiding bishop under Patterson.
“What a wonderful privilege to serve the church that has nurtured me from my birth,” Blake said in a statement. “I am a third-generation member of the Church of God in Christ. Standing on the excellent foundation laid by my predecessors, we aspire in the centennial year to reach unprecedented levels of service to God, and the people of the world.”
Blake also is the founder and president of the Pan African Children’s Fund, which includes a program that supports orphan care services in 21 countries.
With 5.5 million members, the Church of God in Christ was ranked as the fifth-largest denomination in the U.S.
One of Blake’s upcoming tasks will be to lead the denomination’s 100th annual Holy Convocation in November in Memphis.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Nation’s Largest Mormon Unversity Changes Policy on Homosexuality
(RNS) Brigham Young University, the nation’s largest Mormon unversity, has changed its honor code and will no longer list homosexual orientation or “feelings” as violations.
While gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender activists are claiming victory, the Provo, Utah-based school says it has merely “clarified” a section of the honor code.
The amended code says: “One’s stated sexual orientation is not an Honor Code issue” and that “Brigham Young University will respond to homosexual behavior rather than to feelings or orientation and welcomes as full members of the university community all whose behavior meets university standards.”
Acting on one’s homosexuality through sexual intimacy, giving expression to homosexual feelings and advocating for homosexual behavior are still violations of the code and grounds for expulsion, according to a university spokeswoman.
Members of the Soulforce Equality Ride, a gay-rights group of 50 young adults traveling by bus to religious colleges and universities _ including several visits to BYU and satellite branches _ hailed the change as a significant victory.
“The energy around this issue and the pressure provided by our presence were certainly a factor in changing this policy from being the worst in the nation to being on par with most other anti-gay schools,” Soulforce’s Haven Herrin said in a statement Tuesday (April 17).
BYU spokeswoman Carrie Jenkins said Wednesday (April 18) that the code “has been rewritten to clarify that the university will only respond to a student’s behavior, not their sexual orientation.” Jenkins said the “clarification” had nothing to do with the Soulforce group’s campus demonstration.
_ Philip Turner
Southern Baptists Fall Far Short of Baptism Campaign Goal
(RNS) Southern Baptist churches fell significantly short of a campaign to baptize one million people and saw a slight drop in baptisms from 2005 to 2006, statistics show.
Baptisms in 2006 totaled 364,826, down 1.89 percent from the 2005 total of 371,850, according to the denomination’s Annual Church Profile.
Former Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch led an “Everyone Can!” campaign seeking 1 million baptisms between October 2005 and October 2006. Specific figures for baptisms from all Southern Baptist churches during those dates are not available, since the denomination tallies baptisms on a calendar-year basis.
In a commentary in Baptist Press, the denomination’s news service, Welch said the 1 million goal was a “target that would challenge everyone to do their very best.” He said there have been “life-changing” results from some congregations that broke “recent history records in baptisms,” but the overall results show the need for a more unified effort.
“The 2006 decline in baptisms in SBC churches likely will disclose that while many did their very best, many others did about the same or less than before,” said Welch, who traveled across the country by bus to encourage Southern Baptists to work toward the campaign goal.
Overall, the denomination reported a 2006 total membership of 16,306,246, an increase of .22 percent from the previous year. The number of churches totaled 44,223, a 1.2 percent increase from 2005.
_ Adelle M. Banks
College for Christian Home-Schoolers Gains Accreditation
(RNS) Patrick Henry College, the Virginia institution known for preparing Christian home-schooled students for careers in public service, has received full accreditation.
The Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools granted the accreditation Tuesday (April 17), the Purcellville, Va.-based college announced.
“We are thrilled that we were able to get accreditation from TRACS on our first vote upon our application for full accreditation,” said Chancellor Michael Farris, who founded the college in 2000.
The accrediting agency, which has also recognized Bob Jones University and the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, is approved as a national accrediting body for Christian colleges, universities and seminaries by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.
Graham Walker, the college’s president, said the school did not seek accreditation so it could qualify for federal funding. The school wanted instead “to submit itself to peer review and professional accountability,” he said in a statement.
The accreditation status lasts five years and the college must provide progress reports periodically.
Last spring, five faculty members left the school after charging that their academic freedom was violated. Farris said two professors have announced plans to resign at the end of this school year for similar reasons.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Unbaptized Infants No Longer in Limbo, Vatican Says
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Clarifying Catholic thinking on one of the most perplexing theological enigmas, Pope Benedict XVI has endorsed a Vatican report offering hope that unbaptised infants can reach heaven.
In a report published Friday (April 20), the International Theological Commission concluded that the medieval concept of limbo _ an intermediate zone between heaven and hell whose denizens enjoy natural happiness but not the “beatific vision” of the creator _ represents an “unduly restrictive view of salvation.”
Limbo, which has fallen out of favor since the 1950s and is not mentioned in the current edition of the Roman Catholic catechism, was originally posited by theologians as a way to reconcile belief in divine mercy with the doctrine that there is “no salvation outside the church.”
Catholic theologians long taught that babies who died without the benefit of baptism would reside in limbo permanently on account of original sin. The name “limbo” also referred to a place where virtuous Jews and pagans who had lived before the time of Christ would reside temporarily until Christ’s Second Coming.
The 41-page report reaffirmed that “there is no salvation which is not from Christ and ecclesial by its very nature,” but explained that God can “give the grace of baptism without the sacrament being conferred,” particularly in cases when conferring it is impossible.
Rising numbers of infants born to non-Catholic families and the widespread practice of abortion made it urgent to address the question, the report said.
The commission, which advises the Vatican’s highest doctrinal body, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, does not have the same teaching authority as the pope or bishops. But it published this report with the explicit approval of Pope Benedict XVI.
Benedict himself has expressed views similar to the report’s conclusion. “Limbo was never a defined truth of faith,” then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger told Italian journalist Vittorio Messori in 1985. “Personally … I would abandon it, since it was only a theological hypothesis.”
_ Francis X. Rocca
Religious Groups Seek Reforms As Congress Considers Farm Bill
(RNS) More than a dozen religious groups are calling on Congress to reduce hunger and help rural farmers as the House holds hearings on the reauthorization of the U.S. farm bill.
“Passing a new farm bill is an important opportunity to reshape our agricultural policies to build a more just framework that better serves rural communities and vulnerable farmers in the U.S., overcomes hunger here and abroad, and helps poor farmers and their families in developing countries,” said Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, chairman of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ Domestic Policy Committee.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has joined 15 other groups to form the Religious Working Group on the Farm Bill, which has developed a list of legislative principles for members of Congress. The campaign includes visits to Capitol Hill and speaking tours and lobbying on the state level.
“As people of faith who are also constituents, we must let our members of Congress know that we support broad reforms in the farm bill,” said the Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, an anti-hunger advocacy organization.
Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said the U.S. government has made “unprecedented” commitments to reduce world poverty in the past decade.
“Reforming U.S. agricultural policy to help farmers in poor countries sell their crops is a way to follow through on that moral commitment while also improving the financial livelihoods of farmers in our own country,” she said.
The group hopes the bill will protect the safety of farmworkers, promote land conservation and improve nutrition in this country.
Other members of the Religious Working Group on the Farm Bill include the United Church of Christ, Church World Service, Catholic Charities USA, Lutheran World Relief, the National Council of Churches, Progressive National Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Eleven German Churches to Recognize Each Other’s Baptisms
(RNS) After several years of negotiations, 11 of Germany’s Christian churches have agreed to recognize baptisms performed by each other.
The change, to be celebrated Sunday (April 29) in a ceremony in east German Magdeburg, will mean that if an adult Christian decides to switch from one member church to another no new baptism will be required.
The change may have little practical effect on Germans lives, says the Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Southern German Newspaper). The German Catholic church has forgone conversion baptisms since the end of the World War II. Other churches have struck bilateral agreements, although sometimes only at a community level.
But it will codify the practice at a federal level. Additionally, it will allow German churches to claim an ecumenical step forward. Sunday’s statement will declare that, despite each church’s different approach to faith, they all recognize and celebrate baptism performed by the other churches.
The ceremony will be conducted at the Magdeburg Cathedral, home to a baptismal font that has been linked to Emperor Otto the Great. The font has been in use since well before the schism of the Catholic and Orthodox churches in 1054.
The agreement will be signed by churches ranging in size from the Roman Catholic and Evangelical (predominantly Lutheran) Church to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Church.
Some smaller churches, however, have chosen to remain outside the agreement since they hold that the decision to have a baptism can only be made by an adult.
_ Niels Sorrells
Quote of the Week: The Rev. Jim Shirlena, pastor of Global Mission Church
(RNS) “You have nothing to apologize for. A deranged individual acted on his own, not on behalf of any group. … We are all victims. We all suffer together. This is a time of grief and mourning, not a time of shame and apology.”
_ The Rev. Jim Shirlena, pastor of Global Mission Church, a predominantly Korean Baptist Church in Silver Spring, Md. He was quoted by The Washington Post (April 23).
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