c. 2007 Religion News Service
Christian Reformed Church Votes to Allow Female Clergy
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The Christian Reformed Church quietly made history as the CRC Synod voted June 12 to remove the word “male” from its requirements for church office.
After 37 years of back-and-forth struggle, delegates opened the way for women to become ministers in any of the CRC’s 1,000-plus churches. If other proposed changes are approved as expected, women also will be able to serve as delegates to the Synod for the first time.
“This is the beginning of an opening I think is going to be monumental for the church,” said Carol Rottman, who has been working for women’s ordination since the mid-1970s.
However, the decision allows local church groups called classes to prohibit female ministers and elders from being delegated to their meetings. That was seen as a needed compromise for conservatives.
“There will be many of us who will continue to believe those biblical requirements involve a gender component, and it is impossible for us to surrender that idea,” said the Rev. Joel Nederhood of suburban Chicago. “What we have here is the kind of protection we must have.”
The vote came on the day the Synod recognized 30 candidates for ministry, including three women. However, it does not require any church to hire a woman.
_ Charles Honey
Bush Says Hispanic Evangelicals Key to Immigration Reform
WASHINGTON (RNS) Leaders from both sides of the political aisle thanked Hispanic evangelicals Friday (June 15) for their push for comprehensive immigration reform and urged their continued support as the Congress reopens debate on the controversial issue.
“I thank you for making comprehensive immigration reform your top priority,” President Bush said at the annual National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast, a gathering of politicians with mostly evangelical Protestant leaders. “I share that priority.”
The president drew applause from the crowd of about 700 when he urged Congress to pass a bill “I can sign this year.” Congressional leaders announced Thursday that immigration reform had been revived in the Senate. The plan includes increased border enforcement, steps for immigrants to earn citizenship and a proposed program to allow some temporary workers to come to America legally.
“We must meet our moral obligation to treat newcomers with decency and show compassion to the vulnerable and exploited, because we’re called to answer both the demands of justice and the call for mercy,” Bush said.
The breakfast was sponsored by Esperanza, an Hispanic faith-based organization that works with churches and ministries on advocacy and community development. The breakfast was part of a three-day conference that included visits to Capitol Hill.
Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., told the Hispanic religious leaders that their role in passage of reform was important.
“This is in our national interest,” he said. “And failure is not an option, and to have your support is absolutely crucial, and to have your prayers is absolutely essential.”
_ Adelle M. Banks
Study Says College Graduates More Likely to Keep the Faith
(RNS) It seems that the ivory tower is not undermining the faith after all.
A new study from the University of Texas at Austin indicates that college graduates are far more likely to maintain their religious beliefs and practices than those who never attended college.
Researchers found that four-year college students and graduates are least likely to neglect church attendance, say religion is less important in their lives or abandon their faith altogether. Those who do not pursue a degree are the most likely to leave religion behind.
“Many people assume college is public enemy number one for religion,” said assistant professor of sociology Mark Regnerus, author of “Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers.” “But we found young adults who don’t experience college are far more likely to turn away from religion.”
Jeremy Uecker, a graduate student and lead author of the study, said the findings suggest that the culture of the nation’s campuses is changing.
“Religion and spirituality are becoming more accepted in higher education, both in intellectual circles and in campus life,” he said in a press release. “Religious students are encountering a much less hostile environment than in years past.”
Among those least likely to leave their faith are Jews, Catholics and black Protestants, who often tie religion to cultural heritage. Women, Southerners and individuals whose parents are still married are also unlikely to abandon religion.
Researchers drew from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which tracked more than 10,000 Americans from adolescence through early adulthood from 1994 to 1995 and again from 2001 to 2002. The complete study, titled “Losing My Religion,” appears in the June 2007 issue of the sociology journal Social Forces.
_ Michelle C. Rindels
Churches Push Congress to Ease Cuba Travel Restrictions
WASHINGTON (RNS) A coalition of mainline Christian leaders is pressing lawmakers to lift restrictions that have hampered religious travel to Cuba for two years.
The group, which includes members of the National Council of Churches (NCC) and executives from 11 of the nation’s largest mainline denominations, issued a statement June 7 urging lawmakers to support the Freedom to Travel to Cuba Act of 2007 in the Senate and the Export Freedom to Cuba Act of 2007 in the House.
Because of a Treasury Department policy, local and national religious organizations have been strictly limited in their travel to the communist country. Groups must apply for special licenses to travel and must limit the size of their delegations.
Last month, the Treasury Department dropped a threatened $34,000 fine against the Alliance of Baptists. Government officials had accused the group of using its travel license for improper tourist activities, but an investigation cleared the group.
John McCullough, executive director and CEO of the humanitarian agency Church World Service, called the regulations “unfair and inappropriate,” saying they “restrain religious freedom.”
“It’s a policy that has substantially restricted our ability to work with our ecumenical partners in Cuba on matters of spiritual and communal support,” McCullough said.
Church World Service was not the only group impeded by the policy. In the two years before the regulations took effect, the NCC took 33 delegations to Cuba. Under the current policy, the group could license no more than four trips per year.
The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), is part of the faith coalition backing the bill.
Kirkpatrick told Presbyterian News Service he didn’t understand why officials “place so many roadblocks in the way of people from the churches in this country being able to visit and support the churches there” and vice versa.
_ Michelle C. Rindels
Baptists Pass Resolutions on Global Warming, Sex Abuse
SAN ANTONIO (RNS) Southern Baptists overwhelmingly passed a statement Wednesday (June 13) on global warming which questions findings that climate change is primarily human-induced.
The resolution, which is a non-binding declaration of the sentiments of Baptists at the annual meeting, urges “Southern Baptists to proceed cautiously in the human-induced global warming debate in light of conflicting scientific research.”
Evangelical Christians, including some Southern Baptists, have been involved in an ongoing debate about appropriate responses to environmental concerns, with some believing climate change is mostly human-induced and others saying the science is inconclusive.
“We consider proposals to regulate (carbon dioxide) and other greenhouse gas emissions based on a maximum acceptable global temperature goal to be very dangerous, since attempts to meet the goal could lead to a succession of mandates of deeper cuts in emissions, which may have no appreciable effect if humans are not the principal cause of global warming,” the statement reads.
Baptists also expressed their “moral outrage” over child sexual abuse, calling on churches to take steps to help prevent “heinous acts against children.”
“We renounce individuals, churches or other religious bodies that cover up, ignore, or otherwise contribute to or condone the abuse of children,” reads the resolution, passed on the second day of the two-day meeting. “We strongly recommend that Southern Baptist churches and Convention entities respond to any suspicions or allegations of child abuse in a timely and forthright manner.”
In the past, Baptist officials have said their decentralized structure and autonomous congregations prevent them from complying with some reforms demanded by victims’ advocates.
The non-binding resolution followed Tuesday’s action asking the denomination’s Executive Committee to report back next year about the feasibility of creating a database of known sex offenders.
Christa Brown, who coordinates Baptist activism for the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), said she appreciates Wednesday’s statement, even if it may be less powerful than specific action.
“It’s a good statement, but ultimately what will make kids safer is deeds and not words,” said Brown, reached at her Austin, Texas, office.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Mass. Lawmakers Defeat Gay Marriage Bill
BOSTON (RNS) Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday (June 14) voted to kill a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, leaving gay marriage opponents shocked and discouraged.
The state Legislature, meeting in a joint session, voted 151-45 to block the proposed amendment from going to the 2008 ballot. The citizens-backed measure needed 50 votes to make the ballot.
The vote came quickly and with no debate, after Gov. Deval L. Patrick, Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray felt there were enough votes to assure defeat of the proposal. Nine legislators changed their votes to oppose the proposed referendum.
Patrick, a Democrat who took office in January, said the vote was a victory for equal rights. “In Massachusetts today, the freedom to marry is secure,” Patrick told a cheering crowd of supporters at the Statehouse after the vote.
Kristian M. Mineau, president of Massachusetts Family Institute, said he was stunned and disappointed by the vote.
“The politicians have spoken, but the people have been denied the opportunity to speak,” Mineau said.
Thursday’s vote killed the amendment proposal. Mineau said opponents of gay marriage may try again to amend the state constitution.
Mineau’s group collected the signatures of 170,000 voters to place the proposal on the ballot. The proposal sought to define future marriages as the union of one man and one woman.
In order to qualify for the ballot, the proposal needed to be approved by at least 50 legislators in two successive sessions; 62 legislators had voted to place the proposal on the ballot during the last day of the prior session.
More than 9,000 gay and lesbian couples have married since the state Supreme Judicial Court in 2003 legalized gay marriage.
Roman Catholic Bishop Timothy A. McDonnell of Springfield said “the real outcome of the vote was to silence the voice of the people _ to show a political distrust of the people.”
_ Dan Ring
Watchdog Group Files IRS Complaint After Bishop Blasts Giuliani
WASHINGTON (RNS) Two weeks after the Catholic bishop of Providence, R.I., wrote a stinging editorial against Rudy Giuliani’s abortion stance, a watchdog group has asked the IRS to investigate the diocese for improper politicking.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed a complaint Wednesday (June 13), claiming the diocesen newspaper, the Rhode Island Catholic, violated IRS regulations barring tax-exempt organizations from making partisan comments in official publications.
IRS tax law prohibits non-profit organizations from “directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective office.“
The diocese said the claim has no merit. According to church spokesman Michael Guilfoyle, the newspaper is a separate, for-profit entity owned by the Visitor Printing Company.
Joe Conn, a spokesman for Americans United, countered that even if the paper itself is independently owned, it is the official paper of the diocese and thus the bishop’s comments can be attributed to his tax-exempt organization.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, on its Web site, seems to back up that point. “Organizations act through individuals. Thus, when officials of a Catholic organization engage in political campaign activity … through the organization’s official publications, e.g., parish bulletin or (arch)diocesan newspaper, the political campaign activity will be attributed to the Catholic organization.”
The question is whether the newspaper can be called an “official publication.”
The controversy began when Giuliani invited Bishop Thomas Tobin to a campaign fundraising dinner. Tobin responded by criticizing Giuliani, a Catholic, for holding a “weak-kneed” position on abortion.
Writing in the diocesan newspaper, Tobin called Giuliani’s position on abortion “pathetic,” “confusing” and “hypocritical,” comparing him to Pontius Pilate who washed his hands of guilt at Jesus’ trial.
_ Michelle C. Rindels
Muslims Say Assaults, Civil Rights Attacks Up in 2006
(RNS) Physical assaults, sniper attacks, vandalized mosques and unusually long delays in immigration and citizenship applications are among the rising number of cases of discrimination and harassment reported by U.S. Muslims, according to a report released Thursday (June 14) by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
According to the report, which covers 2006, complaints by Muslims in America increased by more than 25 percent, from 1,972 in 2005 to 2,467 last year.
Nearly 30 percent of the complaints had to do with delays in immigration and citizenship applications, while another 15 percent were classified as “due process” cases, such as unreasonable arrest, detention, surveillance and interrogation.
Hate mail and Internet incitement comprised nearly 13 percent of complaints, followed by denial of religious accommodation in work or other environments, and employment discrimination, both accounting for about 9 percent of complaints. More than 5 percent of cases involved physical attacks and 4 percent involved verbal harassment.
A CAIR spokeswoman said the rise in complaints was likely because of a combination of more incidents but also because more Muslims are stepping forward to complain.
Given the increase of discrimination against Muslims, CAIR said it wants Congress to hold hearings on the rising level of Islamophobia in America, and also urged elected officials and other public figures to condemn acts of discrimination against Muslims.
_ Omar Sacirbey
Interfaith Group Pushes for Reforms at Peru Plant
NEW YORK (RNS) An interfaith coalition from Peru, with the support of some U.S. religious groups, is pressuring a U.S. corporation to control pollution at a Peruvian smelter plant that they say is endangering public health.
The delegation of Roman Catholic, Protestant and Jewish representatives say they do not want the plant in La Oroya, Peru, to close but want U.S.-standard equivalent pollution controls to be installed at the Peruvian smelter operations.
The campaign turned its attention to the United States because the plant’s holding group, the Renco Group, is based in New York and an affiliated plant, run by a Renco subsidiary, Doe Run, is based in Missouri.
However, when the interfaith group visited St. Louis last week, they learned there are now unanswered questions about who now owns the Peruvian plant.
The religious representatives say their efforts are rooted in the Judeo-Christian prophetic tradition. “It’s a defense of life,” said Roman Catholic Archbishop Pedro Barreto of Huancayo, Peru, during an interview Thursday (June 14) at the Church Center for the United Nations.
So far, the coalition members have not succeeded in meeting with Ira Rennert, a New York businessmen who heads Renco. The delegation said it wanted to appeal to Rennert on ethical and moral grounds, noting that Rennert is the chairman of the prominent Fifth Avenue Synagogue in Manhattan.
“Money and ethics need to go together,” said Elias Szczytnicki, a member of the Israeli Union of Peru and the secretary of Peru’s national interfaith commission.
“We don’t want an argument with him, and we don’t want the plant to close or for investment to go away,” said Dominican Sister Mila Diaz Solano, noting that the plant is the only industry in La Oroya. “We want to work with him.”
The coalition said that La Oroya has been named one of the 10 most polluted cities in the world by the Blacksmith Institute, an international environmental watchdog group, while Doe Run publicly declared profits of between $125-150 million in 2006.
“With these profits Mr. Rennert has the opportunity to significantly reduce contamination in La Oroya and improve the health of thousands of children and families,” the group said.
Chris Deri, a spokesman for a public relations firm that represents Renco, said the company “would not be issuing any immediate statement.”
_ Chris Herlinger
Italian City Mulling Charges Against `Da Vinci Code’ Filmmakers
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Italian prosecutors have reportedly opened an investigation that could lead to criminal obscenity charges against makers of the movie “The Da Vinci Code.”
According to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, the public prosecutor’s office in the city of Civitavecchia is investigating charges that the movie’s references to Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary violate the Italian penal code’s prohibition against the “publication of obscene spectacles.”
Director Ron Howard and nine other persons, including the film’s Italian importer and distributors, will be required to answer investigators’ queries, the paper reported.
The Civitavecchia prosecutor’s office would neither confirm nor deny the reports Monday (June 18), explaining that the status of pending criminal investigations is not public information.
The investigation was reportedly initiated in response to complaints from local clergy. Particularly offensive, according to lawyers who filed the complaint, are the film’s assertion that Jesus Christ fathered a child and its suggestion that the Holy Grail, in Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of “The Last Supper,” symbolizes the Virgin Mary’s womb.
An aggravating factor, one of the lawyers noted, was that the film was shown to audiences of all ages in Italy. “Content so strong must not be offered to kids 12 or 13 years old, who go to catechism class and learn something completely different,” Giacinto Canzona told La Repubblica.
“The Da Vinci Code,” based on the best-selling thriller by Dan Brown, portrays the Roman Catholic Church as supported by an ancient and murderous conspiracy to conceal the true teachings and nature of Jesus Christ.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Quote of the Week: The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding of Seattle
(RNS) “I am both Muslim and Christian, just like I’m both an American of African descent and a woman. I’m 100 percent both.”
_ The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, an Episcopal priest in Seattle, explaining to The Seattle Times that she is also a practicing Muslim.
KRE/PH END RNS
