“Our family are evangelical Christians. This is the reason our church will no longer be chartering our troop or have Scout Sundays. What do gay Boy Scouts grow up to be? Gay Boy Scout leaders.”

– Mari LaCom of Chatsworth, Calif., after the Boy Scouts of America voted to allow gay boys to be members.

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Boy Scouts of America postage stamp image courtesy Shutterstock.com

(RNS) Now that Boy Scout delegates have taken their long-awaited vote and permitted openly gay Scouts, will there be a mass exodus by religious groups?

It depends on who you ask.

The Assemblies of God is certain there will be.

“We believe that the BSA policy change will lead to a mass exodus from the Boy Scout program, as Assemblies of God and many other churches can no longer support groups that are part of an organization allowing members who are openly homosexual,” the Pentecostal denomination declared minutes after 61 percent of delegates to a Boy Scouts of America meeting voted Thursday (May 23) to change the policy.

But R. Chip Turner, national chairman of the BSA’s Religious Relationships Task Force, hopes not. He acknowledged there will likely be fewer units, especially among religious groups, which have comprised about 70 percent of BSA sponsoring organizations.

“We’re absolutely not telling them you have to endorse homosexuality,” he said. “You may not deny that membership based on that one characteristic.”

Other conservative leaders, including Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver and Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land, are using the “mass exodus” terminology about the change that goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2014.

Roger “Sing” Oldham, spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee. Photo courtesy Baptist Press

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“I think there will be an immediate exodus,” said Roger “Sing” Oldham, spokesman for the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee.  “I don’t know how large that immediate exodus will be, but then I think there’ll be a continual attrition over time.”

• READ: Church-based scouting alternatives attract interest

John Stemberger, who led the charge against a policy change as the head of the group OnMyHonor.net, plans to gather supporters in Louisville, Ky., in June to consider starting an alternative “character development organization for boys.”

Both the Assemblies of God and the Southern Baptists have alternative programs that could attract members who are thinking of leaving the Scouts. The Assemblies put its statement on the website of its Royal Rangers, which includes boys in kindergarten through 12th grade. Oldham said some churches have been contacting the Royal Ambassadors program, which is run by the SBC’s Woman’s Missionary Union and includes boys in grades 1-6.

But other prominent religious groups are standing by the Scouts.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors more BSA troops than any other organization, “will continue to sponsor Scout units for its congregations in the United States,” said spokesman Eric Hawkins. He does not expect any to disband.

United Methodist Scouting officials, the BSA’s second-largest sponsor, are continuing to support the BSA after the vote, along with other youth organizations.

The National Catholic Committee on Scouting said it hopes to maintain a relationship with BSA but will be conferring with bishops and diocesan Scouting committees about how the policy change will affect their activities. The committee noted: “Open and avowed homosexuals promoting and engaging in homosexual conduct are not living lives consistent with Catholic teaching.”

• READ: Catholics split on proposed gay Scouts change

Some individuals, on the other hand, already say they are going rather than grappling.

“As of now, I will no longer associate myself with the Boys Scouts and would work to promote the creation of Columbian Squires with every Knights of Columbus Council,” said Albert Bryson, a local leader of the Catholic fraternal group in Parkesburg, Pa., referring to a Scout-like group it sponsors.

“Our family are evangelical Christians,” said Mari LaCom, who attends a congregation of the Evangelical Free Church near Chatsworth, Calif., and expects her son will no longer pursue the rank of Eagle Scout.

“This is the reason our church will no longer be chartering our troop or have Scout Sundays. What do gay Boy Scouts grow up to be? Gay Boy Scout leaders.”

But religious supporters of the BSA vote say they are celebrating — and expecting more progressive congregations to sponsor Scout troops — while holding out hope that the Scouts eventually will approve gay leaders.

GLAAD logo courtesy GLAAD

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“It’s a good message to say youth are youth and can be involved with Scouting, and the difficult part is does someone suddenly become immoral and unable to serve once they turn 18?” asked Ross Murray, director of news and faith initiatives for the pro-gay organization GLAAD.

The BSA did not see that as an immediate agenda item: “There are no plans for further review on this matter,” it said, noting it did not want to “be consumed by a single, divisive, and unresolved societal issue.”

The Rev. Mike Schuenemeyer, the United Church of Christ’s executive minister for gay and lesbian concerns, said he expects more UCC congregations to get involved in Scouting. But he hopes houses of worship with less progressive stances also will continue their Scouting support.

“I think that Scouting is big enough for everyone and I think it’s big enough for people who are conservative to remain in the program as well,” he said.

KRE/YS END BANKS

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Vintage style Oklahoma USA stamp courtesy Shutterstock (http://shutr.bz/Zj6QTW)

“As Oklahomans, we’re part of this community, and our hearts just break for what happened,” said Adam Soltani, executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, one of several Muslim groups collecting donations.

“We want to show the compassion and mercy that Islam teaches us.”

While several states have passed laws forbidding courts from considering Islamic law, or Shariah, in their decisions, Oklahoma is the only one to have done it twice. The Grand Mosque of Oklahoma City has been vandalized twice in the last two years, most recently on April 27.

A police captain in Tulsa even went to court to avoid having to attend a “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” at the Islamic Society of Tulsa.

While Muslim-American organizations have routinely provided emergency aid following natural disasters, the Oklahoma tragedy is special because of the anti-Muslim sentiment in the state. Rather than retreating, however, Muslims increased their outreach, convinced that when Oklahomans meet Muslims, their prejudices will fade.

“I believe this helps break down barriers,” said Saad Mohammed, director of outreach at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City. “But dialogue and interaction are going to have to continue if these barriers are going to stay down.”

Mohammed was at home in suburban Moore, taking cover in a closet with his wife and teenage twin sons when the tornado bore down. Their home was completely destroyed, but the family survived.

Mohammed and his family are now staying with friends, but he’s also been involved with collecting and delivering donations. “It’s a shock, but we have to keep moving forward.”

The evening after the tornado hit, Muslim leaders gathered at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City mosque to start a Muslim community donation drive. In less than two days, they had collected thousands of food items, toiletries, bottled water, and other necessities.

The Islamic Circle of North America, an outreach group from Jamaica, N.Y., dispatched its Disaster Relief Team, which helps with debris removal and patching damaged houses. Soltani and his wife were helping with cleanup efforts less than 24 hours after the tornado struck.

“Anytime people come into contact with people of other faiths or ethnicities, it breaks down the stereotypes people have,” said the Rev. Joshua Leu of New Hope Christian Church in Oklahoma City, and a local interfaith activist. “Whenever you have a disaster like this, people come together and stop caring about those differences.”

Soltani agreed.

“People don’t care if you’re Muslim or not. That’s irrelevant,” Soltani said. “It’s a testament to how Oklahomans come together when things go bad.”

KRE/AMB END SACIRBEY

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It might look that way from the eye-catching headlines this week that made it appear everyone was bound for heaven — “even atheists!” — thanks to Jesus’ death on the cross.

The passage that prompted the reports came from Francis’ brief homily at the informal morning Mass that he celebrates in the chapel at the Vatican guesthouse.

Speaking on Wednesday (May 22), Francis said that as human beings created in the image of God, everyone has a “duty to do good.”

“The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists,” he said, answering his own query. “Everyone! And this blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the blood of Christ has redeemed us all!”

Cue the jaw dropping and head scratching. Atheists were pleasantly surprised, conservative Catholics were dazed and confused, and the pope’s comments raced around the Internet; for a while they were the second-most shared piece on Reddit.

So was Francis preaching a form of “universalism”? That is the unorthodox teaching that says, essentially, that all faiths are equal and all are going to heaven, especially if you are nice to people here on earth. It’s also a heresy that Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, spent a career quashing every time he thought he thought he spied a hint of it in some theologian’s writings.

But the short answer to the question is easy: No. Francis was only affirming the doctrine that Christ redeemed the whole world. Whether people accept that belief is another matter.

In fact, popes going back to Leo XIII in 1891 and up through John Paul II – not to mention authoritative texts from the official Catholic Catechism and the Second Vatican Council – have said the exact same thing Francis did.

The Rev. Thomas Rosica, a Vatican spokesman, confirmed as much in an explanatory note the next day that reiterated these basic points. Even rejecting Christianity, Rosica noted, does not automatically consign someone to hell because Catholics believe God can save anyone, Christian or atheist or a member of another faith – though always through Jesus.

Also, Francis was speaking off-the-cuff, as he likes to do, and not in precise formulations that have magisterial, much less infallible, authority.

In fact, the wide attention given to Francis’ remarks may have as much to do with the popular appeal of his approachable, plain-spoken style and his insistence that Catholics not only help the poor but that they also join hands in respect and humility with others, be they believers or atheists.

The retired pope, Benedict XVI, also made an outreach to atheists a signature issue, and he also preached about making common cause with nonbelievers for the sake of the common good. Yet to the wider public he apparently was neither sufficiently kindly nor convincing to make it sound original.

Still, Francis has managed to rattle more than a few cages, especially among Catholic conservatives who were sending “panicky emails” trying to figure out what is going on in Rome.

Indeed, in the two months since Francis was elected, his broadsides against “savage capitalism” (a remark he made the day before his homily on redemption) have repeatedly unsettled economic conservatives, just as his preference for a low-key pontifical style and simple liturgies have appalled many high-church traditionalists.

Francis’ most recent remarks also tapped into a passionate debate in church circles over a new translation of the Mass that was ordered by Benedict XVI. One of the most problematic aspects of the new translation concerns a crucial Eucharistic prayer in which the priest used to say that Jesus’ blood was “shed for you and for all.” Now the Latin phrase has been translated to read “for you and for many.”

The tweak from “all” to “many” may sound like inside baseball for church geeks, but it actually has profound implications for how Catholics view the nature of salvation, the mission of Jesus and the church’s role in the world.

“Do church leaders want to signal that the grace of Christ is available only to the regular, traditional churchgoer? Is their intention to leave out the rest?” the Rev. Paul Philibert asked in a 2011 essay in America magazine. “More and more it looks as if the covert message beneath the written text is one of effective exclusion rather than antecedent inclusion of all humanity in God’s will for salvation.”

Despite stiff and ongoing resistance from bishops across the English-speaking world, Benedict’s Vatican pushed them to adopt this reformulation as a new orthodoxy. Now Francis seems to have come down on the more expansive side of the debate, giving conservative Catholics another case of agita.

As faux conservative – and genuine Catholic – Stephen Colbert put it in his televised parody of Francis’ recent remarks: “If the Lord redeems atheists all bets are off. What’s next? The Lord redeems Lutherans? It’s madness! … I’m just so glad Jesus didn’t live to see this.”

It was a funny line on Colbert’s cable show, but some are wondering how far the new pope will take it in real life.

KRE/YS END GIBSON

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C. J. Mahaney was named as a defendant in a lawsuit, which charged that he and other leaders of Sovereign Grace Ministries permitted the abuse of children to occur in churches that formed part of the group. Sovereign Grace, an association of 80 Reformed evangelical churches, is based in Louisville, Ky.

Maryland Judge Sharon V. Burrell dismissed the lawsuit ruling that nine of 11 plaintiffs waited too long to sue under the statute of limitations. Their attorney plans to appeal the judge’s decision.

After the dismissal, leading evangelicals are stepping up to defend Mahaney.

“We have stood beside our friend, C. J. Mahaney, and we can speak to his personal integrity,” wrote Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Ligon Duncan, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, Miss.; and Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C.

The trio, who said they did not want to comment on the case while it was still in court, posted the letter on the Together for the Gospel Facebook page. Together for the Gospel is a biennial Christian conference the three founded with Mahaney.

Early Friday (May 24) morning, a string of negative comments had been posted on the Facebook wall, and the post was moved to the Together for the Gospel website.

But not everyone is rushing to Mahaney’s defense. Boz Tchividjian, a law professor and executive director of Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment (GRACE), which has investigated sex abuse allegations, found omissions in the pastors’ statement.

“Why no mention that CJ Mahaney was actually the Senior Pastor at one of these churches where all of this horrific abuse allegedly occurred AND that [he] discouraged these families from bringing this matter to the God ordained civil authorities?” he wrote on the Facebook wall.

“Omitting such a fundamentally important fact from this statement is a fundamental error.”

Tchividjian is the grandson of evangelist Billy Graham and the brother of Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and another leader of the Reformed evangelical movement

“This lawsuit is less about the abuse and more about an institution that took steps to protect itself and its reputation over the victimized souls (and bodies) of little ones,” Boz Tchividjian wrote.

Mahaney also got support from three prominent Reformed evangelical authors, Justin Taylor, Kevin DeYoung and D.A. Carson, who blasted media portrayals of Mahaney as the “face” of the lawsuit against the Sovereign Grace network.

Mahaney took a leave of absence in 2011 after other pastors in the Sovereign Grace network charged him with “expressions of pride, unentreatability, deceit, sinful judgment and hypocrisy.” Six months later, the group reinstated Mahaney, declaring full confidence in him.

Last October, the same month that the lawsuit was filed, Mahaney told the Sovereign Grace board that he would step down to focus on pastoral ministry. Two months later, the flagship church Mahaney started in Gaithersburg, Md., Covenant Life Church, voted to leave the Sovereign Grace network.

Joshua Harris, the current pastor of Covenant Life, referenced the lawsuit in his sermon on Sunday (May 26), and acknowledged that he had been sexually abused as a child.

He said that some church members told him they planned to leave the church over the allegations. Urging them to stay, he said, “Please don’t allow the circumstance to draw you away from faith in Jesus.”

KRE/YS END BAILEY

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Video courtesy Religion & News Ethics Newsweekly

Watch Boy Scouts and Gay Ban on PBS. See more from Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

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“Save Me”, starring Anne Heche as a housewife who talks to God. Courtesy NBC.

The Boy Scouts agreed to allow gay members (but not leaders) in a vote that was 61% in favor, according to The AP. The usual suspects weren’t happy about it, and gay rights groups called it a major — if partial — victory.

The Scouts put out this kind of interesting note about sexual orientation v. sexual behavior:

We are unaware of any major religious chartered organization that believes a youth member simply stating he or she is attracted to the same sex, but not engaging in sexual activity, should make him or her unwelcome in their congregation.

The Mormons, who sponsor more Scout troops than anyone else, say they’re still cool with the new policy. John Stemberger of the group On My Honor, not so much. Mark Silk explains why this is a challenge for (and to) many churches.

When gay Catholics are outed (and losing their jobs) because of wedding announcements and even obituaries, it raises a good question: can gay and lesbian Catholics find a home in the church?

There’s an interesting debate within Reform Judaism about whether to allow rabbis who are married to non-Jews. More here, and a counter voice here.

Thing That Make You Go Hmmm: A new study suggests that WW2 vets who were troubled by their wartime experience are more likely to be in church today than GI’s who had a positive experience.

Neo-Reformed evangelical leader John Piper thought it was a good idea to quote the Book of Job and a verse about a mighty wind blowing down a house in the wake of this week’s tornado. Other evangelicals? Yeah, not so much.

HuffPo’s Paul Raushenbush sits down with actress Anne Heche to talk about the theology behind her new sitcom, “Save Me,” in which she plays a Cincinnati housewife who gets messages from God. Full disclosure: I tried to watch last night and just couldn’t get into it.

Reuters says religion is bringing balm and comfort in deeply religious Oklahoma following this week’s devastating tornado.

The Atlantic breaks down the connection between convicted Philly abortionist Kermit Gosnell and a move on Capitol Hill to ban abortion after the 20-week mark, both in D.C. and across the nation.

And God bless The Atlantic, they also break down President Obama’s weighty speech on drone policy yesterday into one easy-to-read flow chart. Check it out.

The Christian Brothers religious order has agreed to pay $16.5 million to settle abuse lawsuits with 400 victims stemming from the order’s network of Catholic schools.

Our own Jana Reiss takes her fellow Mormons to task for being a smidge too judgmental at folks who don’t look like they came out of Mormon Central Casting.

The woman who confronted the savages who butchered a British soldier on the streets of London says she drew courage from her Catholic faith. U.K. Muslim leaders called the suspects “low vile scum.”

The president of El Salvador made a personal appeal to Pope Francis to put the sainthood cause of slain Archbishop Oscar Romero on the front burner; Francis has already indicated he’s interested.

Speaking of Uncle Frank, atheists like what they see in the pope’s new-found openness to nonbelievers, particularly the idea that you don’t have to be religious to do good in the world.

And with that, it’s off to a long three-day weekend. But between your Memorial Day BBQs and beach getaways, take a minute and thank a vet or, better yet, thank the family of a serviceman or woman who never made it all the way home.

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Pope Francis waves from the pope-mobile during his inauguration Mass at St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday (March 19) at the Vatican. World leaders flew in for Pope Francis’ inauguration Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Tuesday where Latin America’s first pontiff will receive the formal symbols of papal power. RNS photo by Andrea Sabbadini

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In a private homily, Francis described doing good not as a matter of faith, but of “duty, it is an identity card that our Father has given to all of us, because he has made us in his image and likeness.”

Then, referring to non-Catholics and nonbelievers, he said, “if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good.”

Reaction among American nonbelievers ranged from mild surprise to warm welcome. Some say they see Francis’ remarks as a sign that nonbelief — atheism, humanism and other forms of freethought — is being normalized, while others see recognition of what they say they have known all along: Having no faith does not mean having no morality.

“We are a community that is just trying to do good and live good lives, just like most communities are,” said Greg Epstein, Harvard University’s Humanist chaplain and author of “Good Without God.” “His statement is an acknowledgment of that. It is welcome and it is gratifying.”

Epstein was struck by the contrast of Francis’ remarks and Tuesday’s broadcast of an interview by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer of an Oklahoma tornado victim. When Blitzer asked the woman if she wanted to thank God for her family’s survival, she replied she is an atheist.

“You have this small example of this soft-spoken young mother who is recovering from the tornado who by her presence, her quiet dignity, not only exemplified what the pope was saying, but overshadowed him,” Epstein said. “The quiet dignity of her just being a person and so clearly a good and loving person, it makes my reaction, and I would think a lot of people’s reaction (to Francis’ remarks), ‘Well, of course.’”

Dale McGowan is an author and executive director of Foundation Beyond Belief, a nontheistic charitable organization. He was recently enlisted to write “Atheism for Dummies,” the first book about nontheists from the “Dummies” series of books. RNS photo courtesy of Dale McGowan

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Dale McGowan also affirmed the pope’s recognition of nonbelievers. His Foundation Beyond Belief collects funds from nonbelievers and distributes them to charities and relief organizations and organizes teams of secular volunteers. To date, Foundation Beyond Belief has raised more than $35,000 for victims of the Oklahoma tornado.

“Anything that decreases the mistrust and fear between people is a good thing,” he said. “Some people might say it contradicts past statements (of other popes), but I don’t care about any of that. It is terrific when a position evolves to where we can put division behind us, and this is an example of that and I think it is great.”

D.J. Grothe, president of the James Randi Education Foundation, an organization of skeptics, said he hears echoes of the landmark Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) in Francis’ remarks. And while he takes issue with some policies of the Catholic Church — the promotion of miracles, the opposition to contraception — the pope’s address was nonetheless “refreshing.”

Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, was a vocal opponent of secularism and unbelief, even as he approved a new initiative called “Courtyard of the Gentiles” to engage in dialogue with nonbelievers and linked arms with outspoken Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, an atheist who saw trouble in the growth of European Islam.

“I don’t see that disdain for nonbelief that was so apparent before” in other popes, Grothe said. “He is really talking about what I would call humanism — the ethical approach to making the world a better place without recourse to supernatural beliefs.”

In the same homily, Francis said all people, “even the atheists,” are “redeemed” through “the Blood of Christ” — the Christian belief that the sins of humanity are wiped clean through the crucifixion of Jesus. The inclusion of atheists in a belief they do not share seemed to raise few hackles.

“He was using his own language and speaking from his own beliefs,” McGowan said, a statement echoed by others. “That is not the point. The point is he is saying, ‘I don’t fear you,’ and I think that is a lovely thing.”

KRE/AMB END WINSTON

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Screenshot of speaker John Piper’s Twitter feed (https://twitter.com/JohnPiper)

Popular evangelical author and speaker John Piper regularly tweets Bible verses, but two verses he tweeted after the tornado struck some as at best insensitive and at worst bad theology:

“Your sons and daughters were eating and a great wind struck the house, and it fell upon them, and they are dead.” Job 1:19

“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.” Job 1:20

In the Book of Job, God allows Satan to afflict “blameless” Job, killing his 10 children, livestock and servants. While Piper’s tweets didn’t mention the tornado by name, critics said it was too close, and inappropriate.

Piper, who recently retired from the pulpit of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, is a leading theologian of the neo-Calvinist movement that’s sweeping many evangelical churches. In essence, Desiring God staffer Tony Reinke wrote, Piper was highlighting God’s sovereignty and that he is still worthy of worship in the midst of suffering and tragedy.

In response, popular evangelical writer Rachel Held Evans blasted Piper’s “abusive theology of  ‘deserved’ tragedy,” and said Christians have to stop the idea of responding to tragedy by suggesting God is inflicting his judgment.

“The only thing we need to tell them is, ‘I don’t know why this happened but God is good and God loves us,’” she said in an interview.

However, she apologized in a follow-up post. “Piper’s tweet was vague enough that I don’t know that he was necessarily saying this point this time. Maybe it wasn’t the best time to call him out.”

Piper, who has nearly a half a million followers, was unavailable for comment but he tweeted a brief explanation, saying in part: “My hope and prayer for Oklahoma is that the raw realism of Job’s losses will point us all to his God ‘compassionate and merciful.’”

Screenshot of John Piper’s Twitter feed from https://twitter.com/JohnPiper

“John realized last night pretty quickly that what gives him comfort in the wake of tragedy is not what resonates with everyone,” David Mathis, executive director of Piper’s Desiring God ministry, wrote in an email on Tuesday (May 21).

Idaho pastor and blogger Doug Wilson came to Piper’s defense, saying that the theological issues are logically simple but emotionally complex.

“The Christian church has to return to a robust understanding of who God is,” Wilson said in an interview. “If we do, we won’t have to hash through this with every tragedy.”

Author Philip Yancey said that the worst thing Christians could do is to be like Job’s friends, who tried to explain why God allowed tragedy to strike Job’s family.

“God endorses the confusion and even outrage that we feel when mysterious things happen,” Yancey said. “When suffering happens, it forces us to confront life in a different way than we normally do.”

Megachurch pastor Rick Warren tweeted a few days after the tornado, “In deep pain, people don’t need logic, advice, encouragement, or even Scripture. They just need you to show up and shut up.#Love.”

This is not the first time Piper has generated theological debate through Twitter. After blogger Justin Taylor suggested Rob Bell’s “Love Wins” book was universalist, Piper tweeted “Farewell Rob Bell” with a link to the post.

Piper also came under fire after suggesting in a blog post that a small tornado during a conference of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America was a “gentle but firm warning” as it debated its position on homosexuality.

KRE/AMB END BAILEY

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