c. 2008 Religion News Service
Va. church property fight costs $2 million and counting
(RNS) The court battle over church assets between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and 11 breakaway congregations has already cost both sides more than $2 million, according to representatives.
The secessionist Anglican District of Virginia has spent about $1 million on legal fees thus far and anticipates spending as much as $3 million to $5 million on the litigation, said Vice Chairman Jim Oakes.
The money is being raised through donations from the 11 churches, Oakes said, though only five have contributed so far.
Patrick N. Getlein, a spokesman for the Diocese of Virginia, said the diocese has spent “over a million,” on legal fees to date. The diocese recently reported that it has taken out a $2 million line of credit for the litigation.
Financial figures from the national Episcopal Church, which is also a party in the litigation, were not immediately available. Getlein said the national church is not helping the diocese pay its legal fees.
Citing theological disagreements with the national church’s increasing acceptance of gays and lesbians, the 11 congregations split from the diocese and the Episcopal Church last January. They have sinced joined the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, which is headed by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola.
Oakes said the assets in dispute are worth approximately $30 million; Getlein said he could not provide an estimate of their worth.
The Episcopal Church maintains that church assets are held in trust for the national church, and is attempting to block efforts by the congregations to assert ownership of the property.
The first phase of the trial, now being heard by a judge in Fairfax County, Va., is scheduled to wrap up later this month.
_ Daniel Burke
Survey: `Unchurched’ Americans say church is `full of hypocrites’
(RNS) Almost three-quarters of Americans who haven’t darkened the door of a church in the last six months think it is “full of hypocrites,” and even more of them consider Christianity to be more about organized religion than about loving God and people, according to a new survey.
Almost half those surveyed _ 44 percent _ agreed that “Christians get on my nerves.”
But the survey of “unchurched” Americans by LifeWay Research also found that some 78 percent said they would be willing to listen to someone who wanted to tell them about his or her Christian beliefs.
Researchers, affiliated with the Southern Baptists’ LifeWay Christian Resources, defined “unchurched” as Christians who haven’t attended church in six months as well as non-Christians such as Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists.
The findings echoed a previous study by The Barna Group that found the vast majority of young non-Christians view Christianity as anti-gay, judgmental and hypocritical.
Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research, said the finding that 79 percent of respondents thought Christianity was more about organized religion than about loving God and people should challenge individual Christians.
“That really needs to cause the church to check themselves a little bit and to say, `OK, how can we get back to the main thing?”’ he said.
Other findings showed many of those surveyed believed in God but don’t feel the need to express those beliefs within a church building. Almost three-quarters _ 72 percent _ agreed that God “actually exists” and an even larger percentage _ 86 percent _ said they believed they could have a good relationship with God without church involvement.
The study was based on an overall sample of 1,402 adults who were interviewed by phone in 2007, including 900 ages 18-29 and 502 age 30 and older. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
_ Adelle M. Banks
UpDATE: Airline employee to appeal case of cross necklace
LONDON (RNS) A British Airways employee who was barred from wearing a small Christian cross around her neck while at work has lost her claim against the airline for religious discrimination.
An employment tribunal ruled Tuesday (Jan. 8) that Nadia Eweida had brought the problem on herself when she breached British Airways’ dress code regulations, which banned the open wearing of such religious symbols.
Eweida’s attorneys, from the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, announced immediately they would appeal the court ruling on grounds that “Christian employees should not be singled out for discrimination.”
Eweida, 56, works as a check-in worker at London’s Heathrow airport. She argued that she, as a Christian, had been ordered to remove her religious jewelry while Muslim and Sikh employees of the airline were permitted to wear headscarves and Kara bangles, respectively.
“It’s a form of discrimination against Christians,” she claimed, and said she was “very disappointed” by the tribunal’s decision. “I’m speechless,” she told journalists, “because I went to the tribunal to seek justice.”
Benjamin Bull, the chief counsel for the Arizona attorneys, said in a statement that “the airline took no action against employees of other religions who wore jewelry or symbols of their religion. That type of intolerance is inconsistent with the values of civilized communities around the world.”
British Airways, in a statement, contended that “we have always maintained that our uniform policy did not discriminate against Christians,” but it conceded that since Eweida’s case erupted in October 2006, it had revised and eased its dress code.
“Our current policy,” the airline said, “allows symbols of faith to be worn openly and has been developed with multi-faith groups and our staff.”
Eweida testified that she rejected the airline’s offer to settle for about about $17,000, saying, “I cannot be gagged about my faith.”
Meanwhile, the case goes on, and Eweida added, “it’s not over until God says it’s over.”
_ Al Webb
Adventists on trial on fraud charges
LONDON (RNS) Four churchgoers have gone on trial in a London court on charges of conning fellow Seventh-Day Adventists out of about $6.3 million through a series of bogus investment schemes.
Prosecutors said the quartet, themselves Seventh-Day Adventists, used their shared religious backgrounds to lure more than 1,000 of their fellow worshippers into phony investments with promises of returns as much as 25 times their original outlay.
The four posed as traders in the British capital’s financial district and told their victims “that money that was obtained from them was going to be invested on their behalf,” one prosecuting attorney, Stephen Winberg, told Southwark Crown Court.
“It was not,” Winberg said. “Hardly any of it was invested.”
Instead, authorities said, the four went on a monumental escapade of “wild extravagance,” spending their takings from their scams on luxury cars, vacations, money-laundering and a $100,000-a-day spending spree in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East.
While in Dubai, prosecutors said, the alleged con men _ Lindani Mangena, Dean Hinkson, Curtis Powell and Jordan Huie _ put down a deposit on a luxury apartment valued at $9.4 million.
At one point during their seven-month scam, police said, the four were raking in so much money that they had to buy a cash-counting machine to keep track of it all.
“The aim, as with all frauds, was to get victims to part with their money,” said Stephen Winberg. The victims were promised “staggering rates of return” on their investment _ rates “so attractive that people tended to suspend their judgment.”
_ Al Webb
Evangelical leaders say Democratic/GOP polling skewed
WASHINGTON (RNS) Several influential evangelical leaders have called on pollsters to ask Democrats _ and not just Republicans _ if they are evangelicals when future primaries occur.
“Thus far, the National Election Pool’s exit poll surveys have pigeonholed evangelicals, reinforcing the false stereotype that we are beholden to one political party,” wrote nine leaders, including Sojourners founder Jim Wallis and Christianity Today editor David Neff. “No party can own any faith.”
Their Thursday (Jan. 10) letter was sent to polling and political directors of media outlets that are represented by the National Election Pool, which supplies poll data to ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox, NBC and the Associated Press.
An official from the National Election Pool was not immediately available for comment.
Writing as individuals rather than representatives of their organizations, they noted that some evangelicals now have a broad agenda _ including the environment and poverty _ and are increasingly politically diverse. They also said candidates of both parties talked specifically about their faith while campaigning in Iowa.
“By omitting the question of evangelical/born-again identification from the Democratic polls, you prevented the public from seeing the full picture of how the bipartisan courtship of evangelical voters affected the outcome of the first contest of the 2008 campaign and perpetuated the misperception that all evangelical Christians are Republicans,” they said.
Other signatories include the Rev. Joel Hunter, senior pastor of Northland Church in Longwood, Fla.; Redeem the Vote founder Randy Brinson; Paul Corts, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities; professor David P. Gushee of Mercer University; author Brian McClaren; professor Randall Balmer of Barnard College, Columbia University; and professor Glen Stassen of Fuller Theological Seminary.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Ecumenical group decides to sit-out presidential race
BALTIMORE (RNS) Christian Churches Together in the USA, one of the nation’s largest ecumenical groups, decided Friday (Jan. 11) to stay out of the U.S. presidential race but to continue efforts to combat domestic poverty.
The fledgling organization, which formally launched in 2006, comprises 37 national churches from five Christian “families,” and six national Christian organizations.
Because of the group’s ecumenical breadth _ from Orthodox Christians and Catholics to evangelicals and historically black churches _ and because decisions are made by unanimous consent, leaders have forged ahead carefully.
The Rev. Richard Hamm, CCT’s new executive administrator, said the presidential race had sparked intense discussions throughout the group’s second annual four-day meeting near Baltimore.
Ultimately, they decided not to meet with presidential contestants until after the election in November.
“A couple of churches in the mix have gotten bit by being seen as endorsing a candidate or party,” he said. “They’ve had one too many photo ops and been stung by that.”
But several CCT members advocated Wednesday for the group to “seize the moment,” and raise its profile by meeting with presidential candidates now.
“I think some spade work is necessary,” said the Rev. Angelique Walker-Smith, executive director of the Greater Church Federation of Indianapolis. “It’s too late to cold call after the president is elected.”
Others said it was too soon for CCT to step into partisan politics.
“We’re still building trust and understanding with each other,” said the Rev. A. Roy Medley, general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA. “You can’t expect a child to carry what an adult can.”
Cardinal William Keeler, one of the early founders of CCT and its outgoing chief Catholic representative, said each member church may approach the presidential campaign in its own way.
A leader in his church’s ecumenical efforts, the former archbishop of Baltimore also said members must do a better job of spreading the word about CCT in their churches.
“People in the pews don’t even know that it exists,” Keeler said.
_ Daniel Burke
UCC head denouces political “attacks” on Obama’s church
(RNS) Efforts to portray Sen. Barack Obama’s Chicago church as racist and anti-American are “absurd, mean-spirited and politically motivated,” said the Rev. John Thomas, head of the United Church of Christ.
Thomas, the denomination’s general minister and president, said that since Obama won the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3, “countless e-mails … meant to undermine the integrity of Trinity UCC” have flooded the UCC’s national offices in Cleveland.
Obama, a leading Democratic candidate for president, joined Trinity 20 years ago. He has praised the church’s commitment to God and the black community and its commitment to the black work ethic.
Trinity and its pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright, have been criticized by conservatives who disparage their commitment to Africa and to black empowerment. The church’s motto is “Unashamedly Black, Unapologetically Christian.”
One e-mail circulating suggests that UCC Trinity does not accept non-black members, a claim the church says is demonstrably false.
“Not only does Trinity not exclude anyone from membership or attendance based on ethnicity but … the conference minister of the Illinois Conference of the UCC (Rev. Jane Fisler Hoffman) and her husband (both white) are members of Trinity,” a statement from Trinity said.
Thomas said the Chicago congregation is the UCC’s largest, with 8,000 members and is also the largest donor to the church’s national and international missions.
“Contrary to the claims made in these hateful e-mails, UCC members know Trinity to be one of the most welcoming, hospitable and generous congregations in our denomination,” Thomas said.
_ Daniel Burke
British Catholics seek baptisms for school enrollment
LONDON (RNS) Lapsed Roman Catholics in Britain are racing to get their children baptized in hopes of landing them a spot in Catholic schools, where too many students are already chasing increasingly fewer slots, according to new research.
Catholics have traditionally had their offspring baptized before their first birthday, but the Pastoral Research Center Trust now reports that baptisms of children aged to between 1 and 13 years now account for 30 percent of all baptisms, up from 5.4 percent 50 years ago.
Anthony Spencer, a spokesman for the independent research body, attributes the rise in so-called “late” baptisms to lapsed or “marginal” Catholics trying to squeeze their children into parochial schools after learning they would need baptism certificates to get them enrolled.
Spencer said the increase in often last-minute baptisms had been fueled by the improving reputation of Catholic educational institutions over the last half-century.
“Because of that,” he said, “the demand for places increased, not only from Catholics but from the rest of the community” _ a development he described as “a great compliment … to the quality of the Catholic school system.”
Researchers said they found that in 1958, there were 6,925 children between ages 1 to 13 in the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales; by 2005, that figure had soared to 20,141, or 30.3 percent of the total intake.
By contrast, traditional “cradle” baptisms plunged from 108,996 in 1958 to 42,425 in 2005, their figures showed.
The study also suggested that of children born to Catholic parents, 64 percent under age 1 were baptized into the church in 2005, compared to 85 percent 50 years ago.
_ Al Webb
Drug firm claims kosher and halal certification
TORONTO (RNS) A Quebec firm says it has become the first pharmaceutical company in Canada to receive both kosher and halal certification for a prescription drug.
Duchesnay Inc., based in Laval, Quebec, received kosher certification from the Kashruth Council of Canada (COR) and halal certification from the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) for its prescription prenatal multivitamins PregVit folic 5 and PregVit.
“Jewish and Muslim women now have access to a family of prenatal vitamin and mineral supplements that comply with their religious belief and related food standards,” the company said in a statement.
Company spokeswoman Christine Walter said the “very complex process” took more than a year because every one of the products’ 27 ingredients had to comply with both religions’ exacting standards on food.
The ingredients in the two drugs do not contain animal by-products from pork, cattle or chicken. Manufacturing, packaging and handling processes also had to meet the certification standards.
The vitamins are also free of gluten, lactose and tartrazine.
To maintain certification, the manufacturing site is subject to periodic inspections from the certifying agencies, Walter said.
Walter said both products will meet halal standards in the United States. Kosher standards vary in North America, and the company is “looking into” whether the products will be certified kosher in U.S. jurisdictions.
_ Ron Csillag
Protests lead pope to cancel speech
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Facing increasingly vociferous protests, Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday (Jan. 15) canceled a long-announced plan to speak at Rome’s La Sapienza University.
“Following the widely noted vicissitudes of recent days … it was considered opportune to postpone the event,” the Vatican said in a statement quoted by the Italian news agency ANSA. The statement added that the pope would send the text of the speech he had planned to deliver in person.
The pope had been scheduled to address a gathering of faculty and students at La Sapienza, Europe’s largest university, on Thursday morning.
But over the weekend, a group of more than 60 La Sapienza faculty members wrote to the university’s rector objecting to the pope’s presence, citing words from a 1990 lecture in which he seemed to justify the Vatican’s condemnation of the astronomer Galileo Galilei in the 17th century.
“In the name of the secularity of science, we hope that this incongruous event can still be canceled,” the professors wrote.
On Monday, student protesters at the university began a planned four days of demonstrations; on Tuesday morning, a group of some 50 students briefly occupied the rector’s office until granted assurances that they would be allowed to protest on campus during the pope’s visit.
Following the pope’s cancellation, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi “condemned” the protests, which he said had created a “climate that does no honor to Italy’s traditions of civility and tolerance.”
According to the Italian news agency AGI, the Vatican had not canceled a papal visit because of controversy or security concerns since 1994, when Pope John Paul II called off a trip to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the midst of the Bosnian civil war.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Quote of the Week: Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee
(RNS) “I’m going to stick to the things that make it critical for me to be president of the United States. I have deep convictions about who goes (to heaven) and who doesn’t, but as far as who makes that decision, it isn’t me, it’s God. I’m going to leave that up to him.”
_ Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, deflecting reporters’ questions about whether non-Christians can enter heaven. Huckabee preached at First Baptist North Spartanburg in South Carolina. He was quoted by the Associated Press.
KRE END RNS
