c. 2008 Religion News Service
Vatican rejects France’s new gay ambassador
VATICAN CITY (RNS) France has reportedly withdrawn its nomination of an openly gay man as ambassador to the Holy See, following objections from the Vatican.
According to French and Italian press reports, the Vatican has refused the required diplomatic approval of several candidates proposed by Paris for the job, which has been vacant since the previous ambassador died in December 2007.
“The first candidate was divorced … another Protestant, and the last not only homosexual but … stably united with an official companion” in France’s form of domestic partnership, the Italian daily La Repubblica reported on Monday (Sept. 29).
According to the paper, citing unnamed diplomatic sources, the Vatican recently agreed to the appointment of Stanislas de Laboulaye, who is currently France’s envoy to Russia.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, head of the Vatican press office, declined to comment on the matter, as did a spokesman for the French embassy to the Holy See.
The hiatus in diplomatic representation contrasts with generally warm relations between Pope Benedict XVI and France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has questioned his government’s long-standing policy of strict secularism and called for greater recognition of France’s Christian heritage.
However, the Vatican’s rejection of ambassadorial candidates on account of their personal lives is hardly unprecedented.
Earlier this year, Argentina reportedly withdrew its nomination of former Justice Minister Alberto Iribarne as ambassador to the Holy See after the Vatican objected that Iribarne had been divorced and remarried, in violation of Catholic teaching.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Four students suspended at Quaker school over Obama stunt
NEWBERG, Ore. (RNS) Four students at George Fox University confessed to hanging an effigy of Sen. Barack Obama from a tree on campus and were suspended for up to a year, school officials announced Tuesday (Sept. 30).
The students names were not released.
Other sanctions include community service and multicultural education, which must be completed before the students can return to campus, said Brad Lau, vice president of student life.
The students were singled out during a campus investigation late last week as those responsible for hanging a life-size cardboard cutout from a tree on campus with a sign saying “Act Six reject.”
Act Six is a scholarship and leadership program for Portland students, many of whom are minorities.
“These students were very sorry and deeply grieved by the impact of this event,” Lau said. “Regardless of their intentions, the image of a black man hanging from a tree is one of the most hurtful racist symbols of our history.”
Lau declined to give any details about the investigation or the possible motivation of the four students.
The 3,355-student Christian university, which was founded by Quaker pioneers in 1891, stopped short of dismissing the students permanently. The campus is “a redemptive community, and we allow for the possibility of change,” Lau said.
The FBI is continuing its investigation into possible civil rights violations, including whether the display intimidated minority students in exercising their federal rights, FBI spokeswoman Beth Anne Steele said.
_ Suzanne Pardington
Muslim worker files complaint over handling alcohol
LONDON (RNS) A Muslim worker has launched legal action against Britain’s largest supermarket chain because his warehouse job required him to lift cartons of alcoholic drinks, which he said violates his religious beliefs.
Muhammed Ahmed told an employment tribunal in Birmingham, England, that he was treated unfairly when his employers at Tesco put him to work loading alcoholic beverages on fork-lift trucks last Christmas.
“It’s against our religion, that we are not allowed to handle alcohol,” Ahmed testified. “I was asking for my rights.”
In Britain, he added, “there’s equal opportunities that should protect me and my beliefs.”
“I am not saying I am a perfect person,” the 32-year-old worker insisted, “but there was a conflict with my beliefs.”
The dispute mirrors similar fights in the United States, where Muslim cashiers at Target objected to handling pork products (which Islam deems unclean) and taxi drivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport refused to accept passengers returning from trips with alcohol.
Tesco lawyers claimed that Ahmed was told at the start of his employment that he would be handling alcohol as a routine part of the job, and that it insisted that its managers “are trained to be culturally sensitive.”
The supermarket said in a statement that it has an “open-door policy” for such issues because “everyone is welcome to work” at Tesco.
_ Al Webb
Presbyterian minister cleared in gay wedding case
(RNS) A Presbyterian court in Pittsburgh ruled Thursday (Oct. 2) that a minister did not violate Scripture or church law by wedding two lesbians because the ceremony was not a marriage under church or state law.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) permits ministers to preside over same-sex unions as long as they are not purported to be marriages.
The Rev. Janet Edwards of Pittsburgh did not perform a marriage when she wed a lesbian couple in 2005 because Pennsylvania and the PCUSA define marriage as heterosexual unions, ruled the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Pittsburgh Presbytery.
“Whatever ceremony the accused presided over,” the nine-member commission said in an unanimous ruling, “it was not, and could not have been, a marriage ceremony.”
The court also said that there is “no evidence” that Edwards presented herself as a Presbyterian minister when she performed the wedding.
In April, the PCUSA’s highest court issued a similar ruling in a different case, finding that, by the church’s definition, a same-sex union can never be a marriage.
Over the course of the two-day trial, prosecutors presented eight scriptural passages to support the charge that Edwards violated Scripture. But they failed to prove Edwards’ actions were violations, the court said.
Edwards and the couple she wed have maintained that the 2005 ceremony was indeed a marriage.
“I think (the court) struggled to find a way to hold those who disagree in my church together,” said Edwards, “and I’m grateful to them for that.”
Edwards, who is a direct descendant of the fiery Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards, also said she will continue to celebrate such ceremonies.
“I was acquitted and that says that I did not offend the Scriptures or the constitution of my church,” she said. “It gives me the freedom of conscience to engage in my calling of reconciliation and responding pastorally to all couples who come to me.”
_ Daniel Burke
Pittsburgh diocese votes to leave Episcopal Church
(RNS) The Diocese of Pittsburgh voted Saturday (Oct. 4) to split from the Episcopal Church, becoming the second diocese to leave the national church over differences on homosexuality and the Bible.
A wide majority of clergy and lay people _ 240 voted for succession, 102 against _ favored aligning the diocese with the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.
“We deeply value our shared heritage and years of friendship with those still within that denomination,” said the Rev. Peter Frank, a spokesman for the diocese. “But this diocese could not in good conscience continue down the road away from mainstream Christianity.”
Last December, the Diocese of San Joaquin, based in Fresno, Calif., became the first diocese to secede and join the more conservative Southern Cone. Two more dioceses _ Quincy, Ill., and Fort Worth, Texas _ are scheduled to hold similar secession votes next month.
Conservatives form a majority in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion, but a minority in its U.S. branch, the Episcopal Church, which has 2.2 million members and 110 dioceses.
Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said there is room in the church for dissent, and schism has “frequently been seen as a more egregious error than charges of heresy.”
“I believe that the vast majority of Episcopalians and Anglicans will be intensely grieved by the actions of individuals who thought it necessary to remove them(selves) from the Episcopal Church,” Jefferts Schori said.
Conservatives have long lamented what they see as the denomination’s drift away from traditional Christianity, especially on matters of sexuality and biblical interpretation. Episcopal leaders say those charges are overblown.
At least 17 of the 74 congregations in the Pittsburgh diocese want to remain part of the Episcopal Church, according to the denomination.
Jefferts Schori said the national church will help to rebuild the diocese in Pittsburgh, as it has in San Joaquin. A lengthy battle over church property and assets is expected.
Next month, Pittsburgh conservatives are expected to return Bishop Robert Duncan to office. He was defrocked by the Episcopal Church last month for advocating secession.
_ Daniel Burke
Atheists file suit over National Day of Prayer
WASHINGTON (RNS) A Wisconsin-based group of atheists and agnostics has filed suit against President Bush over the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which urges a strict separation of church and state, also names White House Press Secretary Dana Perino, Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, and National Day of Prayer Task Force Chairwoman Shirley Dobson in the lawsuit filed Friday (Oct. 3).
“The point is to stop the National Day of Prayer,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the foundation, in an interview Monday.
The law, created in 1952 by Congress and signed by President Harry Truman, establishes an annual prayer day. In 1988, President Reagan amended the law, permanently setting the day as the first Thursday of May.
“Designations of an official Day of Prayer by presidential and gubernatorial proclamations … create a hostile environment for nonbelievers,” the complaint says.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation maintains the law violates the First Amendment’s prohibition against an official establishment of religion.
“We hope to buttress the wall of separation of church and state,” Gaylor said.
Last year, the Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit by the same group that criticized Bush’s faith-based initiative.
The recent suit charges that the National Day of Prayer Task Force has ties to James Dobson’s Focus on the Family, a nonprofit evangelical organization. Shirley Dobson is James Dobson’s wife. The task force also rents office space in the Focus on the Family headquarters.
“Presidents throughout our history have called for a national day of prayer,” said the task force’s vice chairman, Brian Toon. “This is an act of Congress.”
“They can sue if they want to, but they’re going to go against some pretty heavy people in our nation,” Toon said.
The foundation, which is based in Madison, Wis., is also suing Doyle as one of 50 governors to issue a proclamation for the prayer day.
Blair Jones, a White House spokesman, said U.S. presidents since George Washington have invoked God’s “continuing protection and favor … without offense to the Constitution.”
_ Brittney Bain
Parents plead not guilty in faith-healing death
OREGON CITY, Ore. (RNS) The parents of an Oregon City boy who died during attempts to heal him with prayer pleaded not guilty Friday (Oct. 3) to criminally negligent homicide.
Jeffrey Dean Beagley, 50, and Marci Rae Beagley, 46, quietly entered their pleas in Clackamas County Circuit Court. They made no statements and were released on bond.
A grand jury indictment accused them of “failing to provide adequate medical care to a child, in violation of the duty of a parent.”
Several of the Beagleys’ relatives attended the arraignment, including their daughter, Raylene Worthington, and her husband, Carl, whose 15-month-old daughter died under similar circumstances in March. The Worthingtons are awaiting trial on charges of manslaughter and criminal mistreatment.
Family members declined comment as did Wayne Mackeson, who represents Jeffrey Beagley. Marci Beagley appeared without an attorney.
The Beagleys belong to the Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City, a nondenominational congregation that favors spiritual healing and prayer over medical treatment.
The Beagleys’ 16-year-old son, Neil, died in June from complications of a urinary-tract blockage. An autopsy found that the boy became unable to urinate. His kidneys stopped extracting urea from his bloodstream and triggered heart failure.
The autopsy also showed that he had suffered repeated episodes of blockage and pain with no apparent medical intervention. A simple procedure such as catheterization _ inserting a tube into his bladder _ could have saved his life, according to a deputy state medical examiner.
At the time of Neil Beagley’s death, the boy was surrounded by dozens of church and family members who were praying for his recovery. Some of those present told police that the teenager chose faith healing over medical care.
If convicted, the Beagleys face a maximum of 10 years in prison. State sentencing guidelines, however, are likely to result in a sentence of 18 months or less in prison or probation.
_ Steve Mayes
Supreme Court declines case involving Bible reading in jury room
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Supreme Court on Monday (Oct. 6) refused to hear an appeal from a death row inmate who says a jury foreman improperly read the Bible to fellow jurors during deliberations.
The justices declined to comment on the appeal, letting stand the death sentence of Jimmie Lucero of Amarillo, Texas, who was convicted of murdering three neighbors in 2003.
During the penalty phase of Lucero’s trial in 2005, the jury foreman read a passage from Romans 13, in which St. Paul writes that a servant of God is “an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.”
Lucero’s lawyers argued that the Bible reading violated his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals called the Bible reading a “harmless error.”
Lower courts have been split on whether introducing the Bible into jury deliberations violates a defendant’s constitutional rights.
_ Daniel Burke
Study: Religious people more generous, helpful only with conditions
(RNS) Religious people are more helpful and generous than others _ but only on two conditions, according to a new study published in the prestigious journal Science.
University of British Columbia psychology researchers Ara Norenzayan and Azim Shariff concluded that religious people act more kindly than atheists on condition they believe their acts will enhance their reputations among their peers. The second condition is being freshly reminded, in a subconscious way, of the existence of a morally tinged God or supernatural being, the researchers said.
Religious people are inclined, under these conditions, to be more giving and honest than others because their belief in God assumes the existence of an all-knowing “supernatural police” force that monitors their behavior, Norenzayan said in an interview.
But once researchers remove the two conditions, Norenzayan said, “all of a sudden you don’t find any differences between the moral behavior of religious people and non-religious.”
Emphasizing that he is not out to either defend or attack religion, Norenzayan said the Science article goes beyond mere anecdotes about religion and looks at the “hard scentific evidence” that anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists, economists and others have gathered during the past 30 years.
“The debate has been so polarized in the past,” Norenzayan said. “All I want is for scientists to set aside their likes and dislikes and look at the empirical data.”
Norenzayan, who has gained international attention for his psychological experiments into how religion affects the way humans act, said the five-page Science article does not necessarily contradict those who argue religion exacerbates conflict between cultures.
That’s because the UBC researchers discovered in their survey of all the research available that religious people are often more generous and helpful (or “pro-social”) to members of their own religion, not necessarily to outsiders.
The scholarly article, titled “The Origin and Evolution of Religious Prosociality,” shows that, while it has helped create moral behavior, religion has no monopoly on producing honest and empathic people.
The beneficial role that belief in an all-knowing, morally concerned God has played in history, Norenzayan said, is in some cases being replaced by non-religious mechanisms _ such as effective policing, courts and social surveillance.
Still, Norenzayan said, religiously motivated virtuous behavior has played a vital role throughout history _ by encouraging cooperation among large groups of genetically unrelated people.
_ Douglas Todd
Quote of the Week: “Golden Compass” author Philip Pullman
(RNS) “In fact, when it comes to banning books, religion is the worst reason of the lot. Religion, uncontaminated by power, can be the source of a great deal of private solace, artistic inspiration and moral wisdom. But when it gets its hands on the levers of political or social authority, it goes rotten very quickly indeed.”
_ Philip Pullman, author of “The Golden Compass,” writing in London’s The Guardian newspaper during “Banned Books Week” about the controversy his book attracted in the Catholic Church.
END RNS
