c. 1997 Religion News Service

Methodist pastors launch gay rights”conscience campaign” (RNS) Supporters of the ordination of gays to the ministry in the United Methodist Church are asking pastors to sign a”statement of conscience”saying they disagree with the denomination’s ban on gay ordinations and same-sex unions.

The statement,”In All Things Charity,”has been sent to an initial 2,000 of the 38,000 ministers in the nation’s second largest Protestant denomination.”We believe that public dissent from a teaching of the church must be done only prayerfully and with humility,”the statement says.”However, we also believe that when we are confronted with an injustice we must not remain silent.” The 8.6 million-member denomination has been deeply divided on the issue of gays in the life of the church for more than two decades. At its most recent General Conference last April, delegates rejected efforts to overturn the church’s teaching on gays.

During the general conference, however, 15 bishops of the church issued a statement dissenting from the teaching.

Echoing the bishops’ views, the statement says the signers will continue to recognize and enforce the church’s ban on gay ordinations and same-sex unions but said the bans sometimes cause”tension”for ministers.

It also says signers will”pray and work for ordination of gay men and lesbians”and will support”covenant commitments”between same-sex couples.”Many of us were encouraged by the bishops daring to speak out and felt we needed to step out, too,”said the Rev. Gilbert Caldwell, pastor of St. Mark’s United Methodist Church in New York City’s Harlem.”I am an African-American, and though the struggle African-Americans have had are distinctive from the struggles of gays, we, too, know what marginalization means,”he added.

The statement says that signers do not agree with the church’s current teaching that homosexual behavior is”incompatible with Christian teaching”and says that clergy should be allowed to officiate at same-sex unions because”to withhold rituals of support for committed relationships is unconscionable.” The Rev. Gregory Dell of Chicago, one of the writers of the statement, said it is”a kind of coming out of the closet for people of conscience.”It’s not a radical statement but it takes courage to sign it,”he said.

Mother Teresa to step down as head of Missionaries of Charity

(RNS) Citing health reasons, Mother Teresa has chosen to step down as leader of the Missionaries of Charity religious order.

A successor to the Nobel Peace laureate, who founded the order in 1950, will be elected in February, the Associated Press reported.

The announcement came after a longtime friend, Sunita Kumar, said the nun confided in December that she wanted to leave the position because of her health problems.”This time Mother has finally decided to leave the post of superior general, as her health is coming in her way,”Kumar said.

Mother Teresa attempted to step down in 1990, but the other nuns re-elected her against her wishes. Kumar said Mother Teresa expects her followers will yield to her desires now.

The order will attend a retreat starting Jan. 20 to discuss who will be the next mother superior. Archbishop Henry D’Souza, the Roman Catholic leader of Calcutta, said a vote on Mother Teresa’s successor is scheduled for Feb. 2.

According to the order’s constitution, leadership elections are supposed to be held every six years. But the 1996 vote was delayed repeatedly because of Mother Teresa’s health problems.

The 86-year-old nun continues to suffer spinal pain due to arthritis and osteoporosis. Dr. Devi Shetty said Monday (Jan. 13) that the pain was not uncommon for someone of her age and was not a cause for concern.

The Rev. Edward Le Joly, a priest for three decades at the order’s headquarters in Calcutta, said Mother Teresa’s successor would probably be drawn from among four of her top aides.

The Missionaries of Charity operates homes for the poor, AIDS hospices, orphanages and other charity centers across the globe. About 100 nuns were elected as representatives of the order’s 4,000 to participate in the vote for superior general.

School board members mostly conservative, most oppose prayer amendment

(RNS) A recent survey of U.S. school board members shows that although more than half describe themselves as religiously and politically conservative, less than one-third favor a constitutional amendment permitting prayer in public schools.

Likewise, 31 percent support tax voucher plans that allow parents to select religious and private schools in addition to public schools.

The survey results were reported in the January 1997 issue of the American School Board Journal. It was conducted by the Journal and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.”Our survey results clearly show that a traditionally conservative education agenda finds its strongest support among those school board members who describe themselves as religiously or politically conservative,”said the Journal.”But our results also strongly suggest that, overall, board members’ public actions are not automatically tied to their personal philosophies and beliefs.” Fifty-four percent of the 1,247 respondents described themselves as religious conservatives, while 36 percent said they were religious liberals.

Sixty-five percent consider themselves to be political conservatives, more than double the percent of those who view themselves as political liberals (28.5 percent).

The survey found that school board members’ views on church-state issues did not always mirror traditional conservative attitudes. It found, for example, that just 31.2 percent thought the United States should have a constitutional amendment permitting prayer in public schools.”All students may pray in school now _ silently,”wrote one board member siding with the majority that oppose such legislation.

Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed oppose giving tuition tax credits to parents who send their children to religious or private schools.

The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 1 percent.

Vietnamese government steps up pressure on Buddhists

(RNS) Vietnam’s communist government has stepped up its pressure on the state-recognized Vietnam Buddhist Church (VBC), ordering it to strive for”closer Buddhist solidarity and national unity”and to cease”causing disorder and disunity.” The latest government action follows reports of resignations by top VBC officials upset with Hanoi’s attempts to interfere in church affairs.

The International Buddhist Information Bureau in Paris said in a Friday (Jan. 10) statement that the Ven. Thich Tu Man and the Ven. Thich Tam Thanh had resigned from their posts as chairman and vice chairman of the VBC’s Lam Dong Province executive committee.

Their resignations, according to the statement, followed government destruction of a Buddhist temple near Dalat in Lam Dong Province. The statement also reported the arrest of the temple’s head monk and the expulsion of 34 other monks and nuns who had lived there.

The government, however, claimed that Thich Tu Man had not resigned and that Thich Tam Thank had quit for health reasons only, Reuter news agency reported Monday (Jan. 13). The government also claimed that the razed temple was built on public land and was a front for illegal and sexual activities.

A top Vietnamese official Monday issued a warning to the VBC to”overcome failings and negativeness such as superstition … committing immoral acts, violating commandments and the law, causing disorder and disunity or causing harm to religious and non-religious unity and national unity.” The VBC was established by the government in 1981 to replace the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), the official Buddhist religious body in South Vietnam until Hanoi’s victory in the Vietnam War in 1975. Buddhists were forced to join the VBC, however many regard it as a tool of the government and remain loyal to the UBCV.

Ursula Niebuhr, founder of Barnard College religion department, dies

(RNS) Ursula Niebuhr, founder and longtime chairwoman of Barnard College’s religion department, died Friday (Jan. 10) in Stockbridge, Mass.

Niebuhr, 89, was the widow of theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, who died in 1971. She died from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

A native of Southampton, England, Ursula Niebuhr was the first woman to win a fellowship to Union Theological Seminary in New York.

She retired in the 1960s after two decades at Barnard in New York City. Although she and her husband had some theological differences, they reached a point where Reinhold Niebuhr said it was hard to differentiate between their ideas.

After her husband’s death, Ursula Niebuhr edited two collections of his writings.

Quote of the Day: Reggie White of the Green Bay Packers

(RNS) Washington Post sports columnist Michael Wilbon wrote Monday (Jan. 13) about Green Bay Packers football great Reggie White, who came to Green Bay, Wis., four years ago. White, an associate pastor of the Inner City Church in Knoxville, Tenn., was laughed at by cynics when he said it was God’s will that he join the Packers and that the team would once again make it to the Super Bowl. Wilbon quoted White on his feelings about the Packers’ fans:”None of these people were sarcastic about my talking about Jesus. And our hearts bonded when my church burned down. I didn’t ask for money and they gave it anyway. They set up funds to help us rebuild. A lot of churches in a lot of places burned down, but these people took it upon themselves to help without being solicited. This is why God meant for me to be here.”

MJP END RNS