c. 1997 Religion News Service

Researcher: New”lost gospel”sheds light on Jesus

(RNS) A University of Kansas professor says he and a colleague have identified an ancient document that contains portions of conversations between Jesus and his disciples.

The manuscript, written in Coptic, an ancient Egyptian language that uses Greek letters, was probably produced in the first or second century, said Paul Mirecki, an associate professor of religious studies, in an interview with Reuters.

Mirecki has been editing and translating the document with Charles Hedrick, a professor of religious studies at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo.

Mirecki, a specialist in ancient modes of writing, said the 15-page document appears to be a fragment of a larger manuscript. Based on its unorthodox themes, he speculated the larger document might have been burned by protectors of the emerging Christian faith.

The manuscript recounts a conversation between Jesus and his disciples that is said to have taken place following Jesus’ resurrection, according to Mirecki.

The document emphasizes individual faith and knowledge over institutional religion, Mirecki added. He said it was probably written by a group of Gnostics, a term applied to members of various non-orthodox, early Christian sects.

Mirecki told Reuters he came across the manuscript at Berlin’s Egyptian Museum in 1991. Hedrick independently found the document at the museum. The two have collaborated since 1995.

In addition to the New Testament’s four recognized gospels _ accounts of Jesus’ words and teachings _ a fifth, so-called”lost gospel,”was found in 1945 and is known as the Gospel of Thomas.

Group finds evidence of conspiracy in church fires

(RNS) The Center for Democratic Renewal, an Atlanta-based national hate crimes research organization, released a report Tuesday (March 11) arguing there is evidence of a conspiracy to burn black and multiracial churches”for the purposes of starting a race war.” The report was issued after a yearlong investigation into the recent rash of church burnings. The center monitored church burnings and kept track of other hate crimes to determine possible connections and patterns.”Our findings are so troubling that it is going to take all of us, not just government alone, to challenge the purveyors of hate who are determined to tear this country apart,”the Rev. C.T. Vivian, the center’s chairman of the board, said in releasing the report.

Among the reports findings are that perpetrators of the fires are often”ordinary people that may not look the traditional part of hatemongers and make up a mixture of occupations, religions and social classes.” The report also said the majority of burned houses of worship are in the South and the black Baptist church, regardless of affiliation, is the primary target.

Center officials said white male supremacists between the ages of 45 and 80 form”the backbone of the conspiracy,”and have a mission to teach a younger generation their ideologies and methods.

The center’s report also said some local police and fire officials refuse to address racism as a factor in the fires and are reluctant to investigate the possibility of a larger conspiracy. The report urges more aggressive action by government officials.

As recently as January, officials of the National Church Arson Task Force, a cooperative effort of the U.S. Departments of Justice and Treasury, said they had not found evidence of an overall conspiracy, but rather a variety of reasons for the arsons, including racial and religious hostility.

The report acknowledged that”white churches are burning nearly five times as often as black churches,”but said that fires at white churches are often motivated by anti-religious sentiment or personal reasons rather than by racism.

The center is a co-sponsor of”A Call to Action: A March of Solidarity to Challenge Hate in America,”a series of events that includes an update on the church burnings, a march and a rally in Columbia, S.C., April 11-12.

Gambling issue prompts rare Reed visit to White House

(RNS) The Clinton White House may be a favorite political target of the Christian Coalition, but that did not stop the group’s leader from going to Pennsylvania Avenue to discuss gambling with the administration.

Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition, met last Thursday (March 6) with Erskine Bowles, the White House chief of staff, to discuss appointments to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission established last year by Congress.

Reed was invited to the White House after the Christian Coalition sent Clinton a letter raising concerns about who was being appointed to the commission. “It wasn’t a big deal,”an unnamed administration official told the Associated Press. The official described the 15-minute meeting as cordial and businesslike. The official also said Reed presented Bowles with the names of Democrats the Christian Coalition feels would be appropriate for the commission.

A Christian Coalition spokeswoman declined to identify the Democrats and the White House has not released their names.

Reed said he initiated contact with the White House to express his view that the nine-member commission should be an unbiased body that would thoroughly investigate the gambling industry’s impact on society. There have been reports that two of the three appointees Clinton is scheduled to name to the commission represent the casino industry.

Religious leaders have been among the most vocal supporters of the commission. Last year, 16 Protestant, Orthodox and Muslim groups issued a statement saying compulsive gambling is becoming increasingly common because of the promise of instant riches held out by state lotteries and other forms of gambling.

WCC getting its financial house in order

(RNS) The World Council of Churches (WCC), the Geneva-based Protestant and Orthodox ecumenical agency, is on its way to overcoming a severe financial crisis and is about $13 million closer to balancing its budget, council officials say.

According to the Rev. Konrad Raiser, WCC general secretary, the organization should reach “some degree of consolidation and equilibrium” by the end of 1997.

During 1996, the WCC reduced its deficit from about $13.6 million to just $680,000, according to a March 10 report by Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news service.

Phil Jencks, the U.S. spokesman for the WCC, said the organization has benefited from returns on investments and good exchange rates since late 1996. He said most members pay their dues in U.S. dollars, and when the WCC makes payments with Swiss Francs on its deficit, it comes out ahead.

But the WCC may face other financial problems in the future. Payments from German churches, which constitute 40 percent of the WCC’s income, would drop significantly if the German parliament passes proposed income tax reform legislation that would cut the amount of taxes given to churches.

“We have to find a financial policy that is flexible enough to react to changing situations, to anticipate risks and to have sufficient safety built in,” Raiser said.

The WCC’s financial crisis last year led to major staffing cuts, reducing the number of employees from 237 full-time staff at the beginning of the year to 189 at the beginning of this year.

With an estimated $15 million available in its general fund for 1998, the WCC said it would be able to employ 175 to 180 full-time.

Roman Catholics to join Canadian Council of Churches

(RNS) The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has voted to become a full member of the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC), the Protestant and Orthodox counterpart of the U.S. National Council of Churches.

Robert Mills, the Canadian council’s interim general secretary, said the Catholic application for membership was unanimously approved at a meeting of the CCC’s governing board in February.

The bishops conference has been an associate member for the past 10 years.

According to Ecumenical News International, the Geneva-based religious news agency, the negotiations resulting in full membership for the bishops took three years to complete.

A concession by the bishops to have only as many members on the CCC’s governing board as the two major Protestant bodies _ the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada _ was key to the negotiations. The bishops, whose church membership is 12.5 million or nearly half of Canada’s population, would have been entitled to half the seats on the board.

At the same time, the bishops will contribute about $74,000 annually to the council, about 25 percent of its budget.

Quote of the day: John Cosgrove of the Lutheran World Federation

(RNS) John Cosgrove, the Lutheran World Federation’s representative in Kigali, Rwanda, on the deteriorating security situation in the country that has forced relief agencies to cut back their work:”Before, the murders were at night and deep in the bush. Now they attack in the daytime and on public roads.”

MJP END RNS