c. 1998 Religion News Service
Spong apologizes for calling Africans’ Bible views `superstitious’
(RNS) Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong of the diocese of Newark, N.J., has apologized for statements he made characterizing African views on the Bible as”superstitious.” Spong, an outspoken liberal both on matters of biblical interpretation and the rights of gays and lesbians in the church, has been involved in an escalating dispute with a number of Anglican bishops from Africa who oppose homosexuality on biblical grounds.
The human sexuality issue is being debated at the Lambeth Conference, the worldwide gathering of Anglican bishops in Canterbury, England, which is about to enter its third and final week.
Spong, in an interview with Lambeth Conference Communications, the official news agency of the conference, said his comments on African bishops’ understanding of Scripture as out of touch with modern scholarship and scientific theory were not intended to offend.”Religion is a deeply emotional thing,”he said.”It gets into the very fiber of our soul.” The point he was trying to make, he said, was that cultural differences between the church in the developed and developing worlds require the gospel to be communicated using different language and symbols.”In the process of saying that, I’ve been heard to insult Africans, for which I am really sorry,”he said.”That is certainly not my intention.” He added that”superstitious”was”an unfortunate word and I think it communicated an unfortunate message.”
Sudan relief effort called largest in history
(RNS) Operation Life Sudan, a U.N.-sponsored food aid effort that will provide 15,000 metric tons of food per month to help ease the famine in southern Sudan, has been described by a State Department official as the biggest such effort ever.”The current food delivery system program will be the largest of its kind in history, surpassing the Berlin Airlift,”Susan Rice, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, told a congressional hearing on Wednesday (July 29).
During the 1948 Berlin Airlift planes landed or took off every 90 seconds to deliver food to the Soviet-blocked German city.
Still, on Tuesday the U.N. World Food Program issued an urgent appeal for funds to increase the food aid to southern Sudan, where some 2.6 million people face starvation.
The famine is blamed largely on a 15-year civil war between the Islamic-led Khartoum government in the north and Christian rebel forces in the south, with a three-year drought bringing the crisis to a head.
Since 1989, the United States has given more than $700 million in humanitarian aid to the east African nation and has pledged an additional $78 million in 1998, Reuters reported.
Christine Bertini, director of the U.N. World Food Program, told the congressional committee that tens of thousands already have died of starvation and that many southern families have stopped feeding the old, the sick and the weakest children.
Meanwhile, Church World Service, the relief arm of the National Council of Churches, is working with Action by Churches Together, an international ecumenical emergency response network, to step up its efforts in Sudan.
The consortium, which includes the Roman Catholic relief agency Caritas, Lutheran World Federation and Norwegian Church Aid, already have delivered some 1,400 metric tons of food and 185 metric tons of seeds to Sudan. Another 200 metric tons of food is in transport, but infrastructure problems have hampered their delivery.
In addition, the church groups hope to raise another $3 million in public and denominational support for Sudan.
Messianic Jews voice concern over loss of younger generation
(RNS) Messianic Jewish leaders, who find themselves at odds with mainstream Jews over theological matters, say there’s at least one problem the two groups have in common _ keeping the younger generation within the fold.
For years, the 5.6-million member mainstream Jewish community has bemoaned the loss of younger Jews to secularization, their adoption of New Age and Eastern religious beliefs, and intermarriage with non-Jews.
Now, Messianic Jews say they have a similar problem _ but for different reasons.
Mainstream Jewish leaders blame the attrition on the lowering of barriers that previously kept Jews a distinctly separate group in the United States and society’s generally secular bent.
Marty Waldman, president of the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, said the relatively small number of Messianic Jews combined with antagonism from both mainstream Jews and some Christians appears to be why increasing numbers of young Messianic Jews are leaving the community.
Messianic Jews believe Jesus was the Messiah but say they remain Jews and tend to follow a Jewish worship style and holiday schedule. Mainstream Jews say that by accepting Jesus, Messianic Jews have abandoned the faith and are Christians. While some Christians embrace Messianic Jews, others view them as”different”and”outsiders to Christianity,”said Waldman.
Estimates of Messianic Jews in the United States range from 25,000 to 100,000.
Waldman, speaking at the UMJC’s annual convention Friday (July 31) in Arlington, Va., said an unknown number of young Messianic Jews appear to be leaving the community for mainstream Christian churches, others have returned to mainstream Judaism. Some have simply rejected religion and become secular, said Waldman, a Dallas resident.”The smallness of our community is a big problem for some young people who see us as isolated and insular,”Waldman said.”Some end up saying our world is too small and want to leave.” Russell Resnik, UMJC vice president, noted that most Messianic Jews are”first-generation believers”in Jesus as the Messiah.”It’s different for our kids. It’s much more exciting when you come across this on your own then when it’s your parents’ thing,”said Resnik, who is from Albuquerque.
About 1,000 people attended the UMJC convention. Most were Messianic Jews, although a sizeable number of Christians attracted to the movement were also on hand.
The UMJC, based in Albuquerque, is one of two main Messianic umbrella groups. The other is the Messianic Jewish Alliance of America, based in Philadelphia. The groups will co-sponsor a youth conference in Dallas in December.
GMA creates definition for gospel music
(RNS) The Gospel Music Association, in an effort to tighten the criteria for its annual Dove Awards, has created its own definition of what constitutes gospel music.
Gospel Music, according to the Nashville-based GMA, is any style of music whose lyrics are:
_ Sustantially based upon historically orthodox Christian truth contained in or derived from the Holy Bible; and/or
_ An expression of worship of God or praise for his works; and/or
_ Testimony of relationship with God through Christ; and/or
_ Obviously prompted and informed by a Christian worldview.”This statement is not intended to be the definition of gospel music for all time, nor is it meant to characterize music made by Christians that may not fit the criteria,”GMA President Frank Breeden said in announcing the new definition.”It is merely the initial development of a guideline for an awards process to ensure that all future work is subjected to the same standards in terms of Dove Awards eligibility.” In the past, the only criteria for Dove Award consideration is if the music had been sold in Christian retail outlets.
The GMA, founded in 1964, represents more than 5,500 gospel vocalists, musicians, songwriters, producers and record company executives.
Report: 12-year-old at center of controversy has late-term abortion
(RNS) The lawyer for the parents of a 12-year-old Michigan girl has announced the pre-teen has undergone a late-term abortion in Kansas.
The lawyer, Laureen Tomayko, would not say when the abortion occurred and gave no other details but it was believed to be about 29 weeks into the girl’s pregnancy, the Associated Press reported. The girl was allegedly raped by her older brother.
The case ignited a national ethical and legal debate over late-term abortions and the role of the courts and crossing state lines for the procedure. Abortion is illegal in Michigan after the 24th week unless the mother’s life is endangered but Kansas permits it under certain other situations.
Anti-abortion protesters have been picketing the Wichita clinic hoping to stop the girl from going through with the procedure, but the lawyer said the unidentified 12-year-old arrived shielded from onlookers and”wasn’t harassed at all.”
Church’s Jesus star upsets local business group
(RNS) A Los Angeles church has drawn the ire of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for honoring Jesus with a pink terrazzo star similar to those found along Tinsel Town’s legendary Walk of Fame.
The star, which reads”Jesus Christ, Son of God,”was set in the sidewalk outside the Oasis Christian Center on Wilshire Boulevard, Reuters reported.
But officials say the church acted improperly because the stars are registered trademarks.”There is nothing wrong with creating a Walk of Faith or with the church honoring Jesus,”a Chamber of Commerce statement said.”The question is whether they should have created a star similar to ours without first checking with us.” The business group, which administers the Walk of Fame dotted with hundreds of stars honoring entertainers, has not threatened legal action but quickly wants to resolve the issue privately.
So, it seems, does the church.”We don’t want to make any enemies,”Oasis Pastor Phillip Wagner told the Los Angeles Times.”The issue could be partly because we’re a church and because we talk about God. That seems to be a sensitive issue.”
Edinburgh gets new $5.7 million mosque, cultural center
(RNS) A mosque and Islamic cultural center for Edinburgh’s Muslim community was opened in the Scottish capital Friday (July 31) by Prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd, son of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd, in a ceremony attended by Scotland’s Secretary of State Donald Dewar and Home Affairs Minister Henry McLeish.
The mosque, which cost $5.75 million, was funded by King Fahd and is named in his honor. The site, near Edinburgh University, was acquired in 1981, but building only began in 1989. Progress was slow until the Saudi king injected funds into the project two years ago.
The new mosque and cultural center will provide a focal point for Scotland’s Muslim community, which now numbers over 10,000 families.
Quote of the day: sign at the Ferris Avenue Baptist Church in Texas
(RNS)”Hell is hotter” _ A sign at the Ferris Avenue Baptist Church in Waxahachie, Texas, photographed by the Dallas Morning News as the state continues to suffer a sweltering, record-breaking heat wave.
END DEA RNS
