c. 1996 Religion News Service
(Following is a collection of news stories compiled from RNS staff, wire and denominational reports).
Black churches want King’s assassination anniversary as day of prayer
(RNS)-The Congress of National Black Churches plans to call for a day of reflection and prayer to mark the April 4 anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1996, April 4 falls on Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, and the second day of Passover.
“We’re going to ask the president and all the leadership of the nation to join us in promoting the day King was assassinated as a day of reflection on nonviolence, on peace and on justice in our society,” said Bishop John Hurst Adams, founder and chairman emeritus of the Congress of National Black Churches and senior bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Adams said the group decided to call for the special day on the anniversary of King’s death in 1968-rather than on his Jan. 15 birthday-because the congress’ agenda relates to violence and peace.
Congress leaders said there were already many celebrations and observances around the federal King holiday, which falls on the third Monday of January.
“We felt that we did not want to intrude upon traditions which have already been well-established,” Adams said.
Adams said leaders of the Congress of National Black Churches hope the King assassination anniversary will become a day of prayer each year.
“We would hope that it would be an opportunity for this nation to take occasion annually to look at where it is regarding violence, peace and justice,” he said.
The congress is a Washington-based coalition of eight historically black denominations: the African Methodist Episcopal Church, African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, Church of God in Christ, National Baptist Convention of America, National Baptist Convention, USA, National Missionary Baptist Convention of America and Progressive National Baptist Convention.
Methodist clergywoman to stop speaking on homosexuality issue
(RNS)-The Rev. Jeanne Audrey Powers, a United Methodist Church cleric who last summer publicly disclosed she is a lesbian, has announced she will decline any further speaking engagements on the issue for fear of breaking rules banning the use of church money to promote homosexuality.
Powers is an associate general secretary of the United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns.
The denomination’s Book of Discipline says that “no board, agency, committee, commission or council shall give United Methodist funds to any `gay’ caucus or group or otherwise use such funds to promote the acceptance of homosexuality.”
In August, shortly after Powers, in a widely publicized speech, announced that she is a lesbian, Good News, an evangelical caucus within the denomination, demanded her ouster on grounds she violated the Book of Discipline ban.
The Rev. Bruce Robbins, general secretary of the Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, has defended Powers’ “right to tell the truth about her sexual orientation.”
Officials with the denomination’s General Council on Finance and Administration, the agency that oversees church spending, have affirmed Robbins’ view. But they have raised a concern that continued public discussion of homosexuality by Powers might be viewed as promotion of acceptance of homosexuality.
In a Jan. 3 statement, Powers said she would stop speaking on the gay issue so that she could promote the United Methodist Church’s work in expanding its ecumenical ties to other denominations.
Interreligious gathering: the extraordinary is now ordinary
(RNS)-The most extraordinary aspect of the gathering was that it wasn’t extraordinary at all.
Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and Protestant religious leaders came together with Israeli and Palestinian diplomats at the Methodist Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew in New York Jan. 3 to pay tribute to Rabbi Marshall Meyer, a Jewish human rights activist who died in 1993.
The relaxed and familiar feeling at the gathering was a mark of just how far respect between historically separate religious and ethnic communities has progressed.
Just a single security agent was visible as Colette Avital, Israel’s consul general in New York, warmly greeted Hasan Abdel Rahman, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s ranking representative in the United States. Rahman returned the greeting as each stood to speak about the future of the Middle East peace process.
Other speakers included Robert Pelletreau, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs and a veteran negotiator between Israel and the Palestinians; the Rev. Joan Brown Campbell, general secretary of the National Council of Churches; Imam Talib Abdur Rashid, spiritual leader of Harlem’s Mosque of the Islamic Brotherhood; Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Sullivan of Brooklyn; and Al Vorspan, a longtime social-action leader of Judaism’s Reform movement.
Meyer would have enjoyed the gathering in his honor, said Rolando Matalon, a student of the rabbi who succeeded him as spiritual leader of the 1,500-member B’nai Jeshurun synagogue.
“The fact that hope and a vision of peace have prevailed over war and violence is just wonderful. It is the result of years and years of work by many people including Marshall (Meyer), and gives more hope,” said Matalon.
“There is a new level of comfort with one another,” he said of the diversity of religious leaders at the event. “Even a couple of years ago this (gathering) wouldn’t have happened. It really is a miracle.”
Nelson Price to leave Faith & Values Channel
(RNS)-Nelson Price, 67, chief executive officer of the Faith & Values Channel, the ecumenical and interreligious cable television operation, will leave his post as soon as a successor is named, the channel announced.
Price was named the first full-time chief executive officer of F&V in 1990. Under his leadership the channel has increased its reach from fewer than 7 million households to more than 25 million on more than 1,500 cable systems.
“Basically, it’s a retirement,” Portia Badham, a spokeswoman for Faith & Values, said of Price’s planned departure. “The network requires a person to be totally committed, full-time, and Nelson is at a point where he wants to pull back from his schedule and spend more time with his family.”
Price said his plans include working as a consultant in the communications area.
Faith & Values was founded in 1987 by a consortium of Protestant, Jewish, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox faith groups. Programming on the channel is a mix of religious, moral, ethical, values-based and family-oriented broadcasts. It prohibits on-air fund solicitation and proselytizing.
Presbyterian seminary receives $55 million bequest
(RNS)-Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., has been named beneficiary of a $55 million trust established more than 60 years ago by J. Bulow Campbell, an Atlanta businessman and Presbyterian layman.
Seminary officials said they believe it was one of the largest gifts ever received by a theological institution.
Campbell, who died in 1940, was long involved in the affairs of the seminary, and the school’s library is named in his honor.
The trust was established to provide for his wife and daughter upon his death. It was bequeathed to the seminary this fall when Campbell’s daughter and sole heir died.
A seminary spokesman said the income from the trust will be used “for strengthening the financial base of the seminary by reducing the draw on its endowment, staffing a Center for New Church Development and increasing scholarships and financial aid to students.” It will not be used to construct new buildings or renovate existing ones.
MJP END
