c. 1999 Religion News Service
Protests scheduled ahead of second Creech trial
(RNS) Two protest actions have been planned by opponents to an upcoming United Methodist Church trial resulting from the Rev. Jimmy Creech’s officiating role in a same-sex union ceremony.
Creech, who was acquitted in a 1998 church trial on the same issue, plans to participate in a re-enactment of a same-sex union ceremony of the couple whose original rite led to the new trial scheduled for Nov. 17-18 in Grand Island, Neb. The re-enactment is to be held Nov. 16, the evening before the trial date.
In addition, Soulforce, an interdenominational gay rights group led by the Rev. Mel White, is planning an “intervention” protest.
In a separate, but related development, the United Methodist bishops issued a letter to church members across the globe urging them not to be “distracted” by issues such as homosexuality, but rather to focus on the church’s general purpose and mission.
The bishops also urged sensitivity when the controversial issue is discussed at the quadrennial General Conference, the denomination’s highest legislative body, in 2000.
“In the midst of these discussions of the issue surrounding homosexuality,we need to remember that there are real people whose lives are being victimized when the debate becomes hateful, mean-spirited, and shows a lack of concern,” the bishops wrote in the pastoral letter dated Nov. 5. “We ask the whole church to respond in Christian love to those who are pained by the church’s struggle with the issue of homosexuality.”
In a statement released Tuesday (Nov. 9), Creech said he views the upcoming trial as an issue far wider than himself and his denomination.
“This trial belongs to everyone: to all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families against whom this trial is an act of violence,” he said.
The trial concerns the April 24 ceremony officiated by Creech that celebrated the same-sex union of Larry Ellis and Jim Raymer in Chapel Hill, N.C. Creech currently is on leave of absence from the Nebraska United Methodist Annual Conference and is living in Raleigh, N.C.
Soulforce supporters plan to attend the re-enactment of the couple’s same-sex union ceremony and hold vigils outside the church where the trial is to take place.
In an open letter to trial participants, White urged those scheduled to serve on the trial to forgo the legal procedure.
“Whatever your verdict, this trial will declare that people like Jimmy Creech who believe that our loving, committed relationships are ordained and blessed by God are no longer welcome in the United Methodist Church,” wrote White.
In 1998, the Judicial Council, the denomination’s highest legislative body, ruled that the prohibition in the church’s Social Principles against clergy performing same-sex union ceremonies had the force of church law. That decision came after Creech was acquitted in his first trial.
Next step in Baptist-Jewish debate: an invitation for dialogue
(RNS) Southern Baptist Convention President Paige Patterson has invited eight Jewish leaders to meet with eight Southern Baptist leaders in response to an ongoing dispute about Baptist evangelism of Jews.
Patterson sent two letters to a coalition of leaders of the New York Jewish Community Relations Council and several Jewish seminaries in response to a letter he received from them urging him to end his denomination’s “deceptive” and “offensive” claims that one can be both a Jew and a Christian.
“As kindly as I know how to say this, let me say again that your attempts to repress the religious liberties of `Messianic Jews’ are hardly becoming for a people who due to centuries of victimization at the hand of suppressive religious authorities should always be at the head of the line as champions of unfettered freedom of religion,” Patterson wrote in his Nov. 9 letter.
In a letter dated Nov. 10, he proposed a one-day conference with Baptist and Jewish leaders to move beyond the debate that has occurred in letter form.
He said such a conference could “enhance understanding and encourage absolute integrity of religious expression as we relate each to the other.”
But Patterson’s invitation came with two caveats: “first that our Jewish friends would have to understand that Baptists cannot abandon the proclamation of our faith, and second, that two of our eight representatives would be, in the interest of maximum understanding, `Messianic Jews.”’
Officials of the Jewish Community Relations Council could not be reached for comment Thursday (Nov. 11).
Jewish leaders have been outraged that the SBC, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, distributed a prayer guide to its members timed to the Jewish High Holy Days that urged them to pray for Jews to accept Jesus as the Messiah.
They are also upset that Southern Baptist leaders have embraced Messianic Jews _ Jews who accept Jesus, say they are still Jews and worship in a style they consider to be Jewish. Mainstream Jewish leaders say that accepting Jesus as the Messiah amounts to conversion to Christianity.
Prosecutors: Insufficient evidence against former bishop in Calif.
(RNS) Authorities who investigated allegations of sexual and financial misconduct in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa, Calif., have not found enough evidence to file charges against former Bishop G. Patrick Ziemann.
The former spiritual leader was accused of sexual assault by the Rev. Jorge Hume Salas. Ziemann has said they had a consensual relationship.
Ziemann removed Salas in 1996 from a church in Ukiah, Calif., after Salas acknowledged stealing church money. Salas alleged that the former bishop forced him to participate in sex acts and demanded sex in exchange for silence about the thefts.
Police and prosecutors issued a statement Wednesday (Nov. 10) saying evidence “suggests inappropriate measures were applied to cover up” the theft of money from the church and that “there has been gross mismanagement of diocese funds,” the Associated Press reported.
But diocesan officials told legal authorities they could not prove Ziemann had criminal intent, according to the statement. The church officials also said the bishop’s authority to manage the church’s money was “highly discretionary and without stringent checks and balances to prevent abuses,” the statement added.
Individual Catholic churches and schools in the diocese are still dealing with the $16 million debt discovered after Ziemann’s resignation July 21, but they legally cannot be considered victims, prosecutors said.
Authorities said there was no point in filing charges until the diocese demonstrates “willingness to fully cooperate as a victim of a crime.”
Maurice Healy, a diocese spokesman, denied stonewalling investigators. He added that an internal investigation into the misspent money is under way.
Adrienne Moran, Ziemann’s lawyer, said Salas’ lawsuit is basically dead with the completion of the criminal probe. She said the former bishop, who is “in intense therapy” at an undisclosed East Coast location, was pleased with the determination of the authorities.
Irma Cordova, Salas’ attorney, plans to pursue a civil claim against Ziemann.
More radio and TV stations carrying Christian programming
(RNS) The number of radio and television stations broadcasting Christian programs has increased for the third year in a row.
Radio stations carrying Christian programming increased from 1,616 in 1998 to a record 1,731 in 1999, reports the 2000 NRB Directory of Religious Media, published by the National Religious Broadcasters.
The number of TV stations airing Christian programs increased from 242 in 1998 to 285 in 1999.
“This record growth is a sign that more broadcasters and their audiences value the Gospel, the most powerful message in the world,” said Brandt Gustavson, NRB president. “People are searching for God. We are so thankful for the broadcasters who are dedicated to pointing their audience to Christ.”
The previous record for radio stations was in 1996, when NRB counted 1,648. The highest number of TV stations was counted in 1989, when there were 346.
Catholic bishop of East Timor calls for international tribunal
(RNS) The influential Roman Catholic bishop of East Timor has called for an international tribunal to determine who was responsible for the politically motivated violence that has devastated his homeland.
Bishop Carlos Belo, winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, made the request Thursday (Nov. 11) at an emotion-filled Mass for priests and nuns killed in the aftermath of a referendum for East Timorese independence.
Belo estimated that as many as 1,000 people had been killed in the southwestern town of Suai in the violence. That figure far exceeds confirmed death tolls for all of East Timor that have been cited by other observers, the Associated Press reported.
After East Timorese voted to break away from Indonesia in the Aug. 30 referendum, there was a rampage by pro-Indonesian forces. Military-backed militia groups destroyed public and private property, forcing much of the population into exile or hiding.
Condemning the violence, Belo said the responsible Indonesian generals and their local allies should be brought to justice.
“They must go before a tribunal because the crimes that they committed are not acceptable,” he said. “Justice has not been done.”
The Indonesian military has acknowledged that many units and soldiers took part in the violence but it has denied that its hierarchy orchestrated the violence.
Pope to celebrate Vespers with Swedish Lutherans, royal family to attend
(RNS) Less than two weeks after the Roman Catholic and Lutheran churches signed a document ending a key theological dispute, Pope John Paul II will celebrate Vespers with a group of Lutheran prelates in the presence of Sweden’s royal family.
Twenty Lutheran bishops from Sweden and Finland, four of them women, will take part in the ecumenical service Saturday (Nov. 13) in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, along with the pope and the Catholic bishops of Stockholm and Copenhagen.
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Silvia and Crown Princess Victoria will attend the service, and the queen will read a psalm, the Swedish Embassy in Rome said.
The service follows the signing in Augusburg, Germany, on Oct. 31 of a document asserting that the two churches now hold similar views on salvation, the dispute that led Lutheran reformers to leave the Catholic church in the 16th century and begin the Reformation.
The Vatican said the Vespers will honor St. Bridget of Sweden, founder of the order of nuns that bears her name and one of three women whom the pope proclaimed co-patron saints of Europe Oct. 1 at the opening of an assembly of European bishops.
In naming Bridget a patron of Europe, the pope called her a force for ecumenism. “Because the Scandinavian countries from which Bridget came were separated from full communion with the See of Rome during the tragic events of the 16th century, the figure of this Swedish saint remains a precious ecumenical bridge, strengthened by the ecumenical commitment of her order,” he said.
After the Vespers service, the pope will unveil a white marble statue of the saint by Italian sculptor Antonio Boldoni, which will stand outside the Paul VI Audience Hall. Her order commissioned the statue to mark the 550th anniversary of Bridget’s arrival in Rome in 1349.
Bishops taking part in the service and unveiling will include Archbishops Karl Gustav Hammar of Uppsala, the Lutheran primate of Sweden, and Jukka Paarma of Turku, the Lutheran primate of Finland, Catholic Bishops Anders Arborelius of Stockholm and Czeslaw Kozon of Copenhagen, the Vatican said.
Eds: The name “Jock” in the sixth graph below is cq.
Baptist Foundation of Arizona to close, new entity to continue work
(RNS) The troubled Baptist Foundation of Arizona will go out of business as part of a restructuring plan that was designed after the organization became the subject of a fraud investigation. The plan calls for a new entity to continue some of its work.
More than 13,000 investors out more than $483 million had been awaiting word on the plan since the Phoenix-based foundation was ordered in August to stop taking investors’ money after the Arizona Corporation Commission determined it was violating state securities law.
Under the reorganization plan, which was announced Nov. 5, the foundation will reorganize under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code and will be consolidated into a new for-profit corporation.
The affected investors will have a choice of receiving 20 percent of their investments or stock from the new company, foundation officials announced.
The cash-out option has a cap of $40 million. The new company would hold the foundation’s existing assets, which officials estimated to be worth between $160 and $200 million. A litigation trust of up to $5 million also will be used to pursue claims against firms and third parties previously employed by the foundation.
Jock Patton, chairman of the restructuring committee, said the restructuring is expected to conclude with distributions made to investors by early 2000. The plan must be approved by investors and the bankruptcy court.
The foundation, which remains under investigation by state authorities, cited several factors that led to the financial problems, including investments that did not generate sufficient cash flow, high overhead, expensive “transactions with certain third parties,” and losses from real-estate investments.
“BFA failed to write down the value of such under-performing real estate assets, and effectively shielded such assets from scrutiny by transferring them to affiliated companies in a complicated series of transactions,” the foundation said.
The foundation, created in 1948, has been unusual among Baptist foundations, most of which handle investments of Baptist state convention agencies but do not offer services for individual investors.
“The new charitable organization will be involved in traditional Baptist charitable activities, including, for example, ministries, education and providing routine trust and estate planning,” the foundation said. “The new Baptist charitable organization will be expressly prohibited from selling debt securities.”
The foundation is now the subject of several lawsuits, some of which have sought a quicker payout to investors. In September, more than half of its 133-member staff was laid off. Three officers of the foundation were fired in late August.
Oklahoma committee requires labeling evolution as “controversial theory”
(RNS) An Oklahoma committee has voted to require a disclaimer in new biology textbooks that says evolution is a “controversial theory.”
The Oklahoma State Textbook Committee’s Nov. 5 decision makes Oklahoma the latest state to make an official challenge to the way evolution is taught.
The Kansas Board of Education passed new testing standards this summer that minimize the importance of evolution. In October, the Education Department in Kentucky deleted the word “evolution” from its standards and replaced it with the words “change over time.”
The Oklahoma committee screens textbooks for the state’s public school districts, which can only buy books approved by it.
John Dickmann, a member of the committee who introduced the disclaimer, said it was added because biology books do not give enough attention to alternate explanations of how life developed, the Associated Press reported.
“Some of us on the committee wanted to send a strong statement to the publishers that we are fed up with textbooks that only present one side of the story,” said Dickmann, who teaches at the middle school level.
According to the theory of evolution, today’s species evolved from more primitive ones. Some people support the teaching in schools of creationism _ the belief that a divine power created the universe in six days.
State Superintendent Sandy Garrett said of the committee’s action: “We are concerned … and are looking into it further.”
The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, sent a letter to Oklahoma Secretary of Education Floyd Coppedge saying the committee’s action raises constitutional questions and could provoke a lawsuit if it is not reversed.
“Christians have different views on the validity of creationism and how the Bible ought to be interpreted,” Lynn wrote Thursday (Nov. 11). “It would be inappropriate and illegal for the public school system to alter its curriculum to appease adherents of one segment of Christianity.”
Virginia Southern Baptists loosen ties with University of Richmond
(RNS) Southern Baptists in Virginia have decided to end their annual contributions to the University of Richmond because of what one leader calls “tacit approval” of homosexuality.
The Baptist General Association of Virginia approved a “new relationship” with the private university on Wednesday (Nov. 10). The group also will no longer have a role in appointing university trustees.
Reginald McDonough, executive director of the Baptist association, said the university’s new anti-discrimination policy, which prohibits discrimination against homosexuals, gives “tacit approval” to homosexuality.
At its 1993 meeting, the Baptist association passed a resolution declaring homosexual behavior “sinful and unacceptable for Christians.”
In a statement, University President William Cooper thanked the Baptists for their support in the past and promised to continue to work with them on a Baptist heritage center scheduled to open next year on campus.
Quote of the Day: Presidential hopeful Gary Bauer
(RNS) “Apparently, if those impermissible nativity scenes were decorated with dung, then they would be constitutional.”
_ Republican presidential hopeful Gary Bauer, commenting in New Hampshire Wednesday (Nov. 10) on attempts by some to ban on constitutional grounds religious displays on public property, while backing the Brooklyn Museum of Art exhibit containing a painting that featured the Virgin Mary encrusted with elephant dung.
IR END RNS
