c. 2000 Religion News Service

Duke to Allow Same-Sex Unions in Campus Chapel

(RNS) Duke University has decided to allow same-sex unions in its chapel, even though its historic church sponsor, the United Methodist Church, officially prohibits such ceremonies.

The decision by Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane and the chapel dean, the Rev. William H. Willimon, comes after three months of discussion on the Durham, N.C., campus between the chapel, administration and campus religious groups.

The university had prohibited same-sex unions because the United Methodist Church has said that “ceremonies that celebrate homosexual unions shall not be conducted by our ministers and shall not be conducted in our churches.” Keohane and Willimon noted that the chapel is university property and does not belong to the church.

“It is not, in our opinion, a matter of the Chapel approving or disapproving of this liturgical innovation, but rather a question of how much religious diversity we should accommodate,” Keohane and Willimon wrote in a letter.

The University noted that while Methodists do not condone such ceremonies, other campus faith groups _ notably the United Church of Christ and Unitarian Universalists _ do allow same-sex unions and both groups use the campus chapel. In addition, Keohane and Willimon noted a similar decision by the campus’ Jewish center to allow same-sex unions after Reform rabbis voted in March to allow the blessing of same-sex relationships.

The chapel will be available for union ceremonies for university staff, alumni, students, faculty and their adult children. All the rules and fees for heterosexual marriages will still apply, and clergy who do not agree with same-sex unions will not be forced to officiate.

“No one has suggested that we ask any clergy to perform these unions if that person, by reason of conscience, conviction or church tradition, does not wish to do so,” Keohane and Willimon said.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Couple Sues After Town Prohibits In-Home Prayer Meetings

(RNS) A Connecticut couple has sued the zoning commission in the town of New Milford for prohibiting them from holding prayer meetings in their home.

The American Center for Law and Justice, a law firm founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, filed suit Dec. 1 on behalf of Robert and Mary Murphy, who have held weekly prayer meetings and Bible studies in their home since 1995. As many as 25 people attend the gatherings, they said.

After receiving complaints about traffic from the Murphys’ neighbors, New Milford’s Zoning Enforcement Officer Kathy Castagnetta sent a Nov. 29 letter to the couple informing them that the meetings and “the use of a rear yard as a parking lot for attendees of these meetings” were not permitted at single-family residences in the town.

She ordered them to halt the activities and said if they did not, she would take legal action.

The Murphys, who are Catholic, sued, stating their constitutional rights of free speech, peaceable assembly, privacy and free exercise of religion have been violated. In response to the letter, the suit states that they have “no intention to use their rear lot as a parking lot.”

Vincent McCarthy, senior counsel of the ACLJ, said the zoning authorities have exceeded their authority in the matter.

“To issue an order prohibiting a family from using their private residence for prayer is not only one of the worst forms of religious discrimination, it represents a direct assault on our client’s constitutional rights,” McCarthy said in a statement.

Castagnetta declined to comment on the suit Tuesday, saying she had not yet received it, but she furnished a written explanation of the zoning commission’s decision that she should issue a cease-and-desist order.

“The purpose of the meetings is immaterial to the decision of the commission in its determination of whether this particular use is a permitted principal use or a permitted accessory use in an R-40 zone,” the document reads.

Neighbors living in four houses near the Murphys have written letters to town officials complaining that as many as 30 or more cars entered the area of their small cul-de-sac each Sunday afternoon and that bright lights on the property were flooding their homes with unwanted light.

“If we had wanted to live next to a parking lot complete with parking lights we would have built next to Kmart,” wrote James and Deborah Nonenmacher. “In essence we have the same scenario _ traffic, noise, lights and unknown persons walking around.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Tutu, Mandela and de Klerk Urge Stronger Efforts Against AIDS

(RNS) Retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu joined former South African presidents Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk at a Johannesburg prayer service Wednesday (Dec. 6) to urge the South African government to do more to combat the country’s crippling AIDS epidemic.

“The three of us in the past have had our war of words,” said de Klerk, who served as the last apartheid-era president and was succeeded by Mandela in 1994. “It is wonderful that on the biggest challenge facing the country the three of us can speak with one voice.”

Though countries such as Uganda, where infection rates have dropped about 7 percent in the past decade, and Senegal, whose rate of infection is lower than 2 percent, have found success in their battle against the deadly disease, South Africa has been hit hard.

About 4.2 million of the country’s 42 million people have been infected with the HIV virus, de Klerk said, Reuters reported.

“We need a national commitment to mobilize all our resources to defeat AIDS,” he said, questioning the government’s commitment to do so. “ How many condoms can we buy for the price of a Corvette?”

Tutu stressed the need for a change in the way people living with AIDS are viewed, likening their situation today with that of lepers years ago.

“We treat them like pariahs,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “We wish we could take all of them away from our societies.”

Pope Says Unbelievers Will be Saved if They Live a Just Life

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Tempering a controversial Vatican declaration on salvation, Pope John Paul II said Wednesday (Dec. 6) that all who live a just life will be saved even if they do not believe in Jesus Christ and the Roman Catholic Church.

The pontiff, addressing some 30,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly general audience, strongly reasserted the liberal interpretation of the Bible’s teaching on salvation that emerged from the Second Vatican Council.

“The gospel teaches us that those who live in accordance with the Beatitudes _ the poor in spirit, the pure of heart, those who bear lovingly the sufferings of life _ will enter God’s kingdom,” John Paul said.

“All who seek God with a sincere heart, including those who do not know Christ and his church, contribute under the influence of grace to the building of this kingdom,” he said.

The pope appeared to take a far more inclusive approach to salvation than the declaration “Dominus Ieusus” issued Sept. 5 by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which serves as the Vatican’s guardian of doctrinal orthodoxy.

“Dominus Ieusus” caused dismay among non-Catholics involved in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue by asserting that their rituals, “insofar as they depend on superstitions or other errors, constitute an obstacle to salvation.”

“If it is true that the followers of other religions can receive divine grace, it is also certain that objectively speaking, they are in a gravely deficient situation in comparison with those who, in the church, have the fullness of the means of salvation,” the document said.

While giving his full support to the declaration, John Paul has been at pains since it was issued to reiterate his commitment to dialogue and his respect for members of other religions.

_ Peggy Polk

Irish Anglicans Question `Dominus Ieusus’

LONDON (RNS) In an official response to “Dominus Iesus,” the Vatican document on salvation and other churches and faiths, the (Anglican) Church of Ireland said that, though it might be “strictly correct” to say the new statement changes nothing in the Roman Catholic Church’s official stance, it does, nevertheless raise the question of “the adequacy of the use of doctrinal statements as effective tools for ecumenical relations.”

The Anglican statement said churches with confessional statements and historical formularies dating from the Reformation often find the terminology and the tone of their own statements “unhelpful” to modern theological dialogue.

Thus, the Anglicans said, it should be asked whether the documents of Vatican II, framed in the “very early days” of the Roman Catholic entry into the modern ecumenical movement, really provide an adequate basis for dialogue 30 years later “in the light of the way that the Roman Catholic Church has moved in its relationships with all major Christian traditions, especially at the local level.”

It said another disturbing element was the way in which the term “church” was denied to some Christian communions and given to others.

“Ecumenical study in ecclesiology (church structure) involving all our churches approaches ecclesiology from an understanding of the whole people of God rather than with definitions of hierarchy,” the Irish statement said.

“The basis for this work is the sacrament of baptism rather than the validity of ordained ministry,” it added. “`Dominus Iesus’ reverses this process by its negative conclusions based entirely on issues of holy orders and the eucharistic theology of one tradition.”

In conclusion, the Irish statement said the tone of the “Dominus Iesus” reflected little of the journey on which Anglicans believe God is bringing the two churches together. “Though we can understand it from a merely academic point of view, we would wonder what it will achieve for the healing of the divisions of the church,”it said.

_ Robert Nowell

Minorities Do Better at Ggiving to Charity Than Others

(RNS) African-Americans and Hispanics are more likely to contribute to charity than whites, but are asked to do so less often than their white counterparts, according to new national reports.

“Mainstream philanthropy has paid relatively little attention to people of color,” concluded “Cultures of Caring,” a report funded by the Ford Foundation, the Council on Foundations, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Their findings were echoed by a report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“If solicitations serve to increase giving, then organizations are overlooking an important resource by not soliciting donations from African-Americans and Hispanics at great rates,” the White House report said, agreeing with the foundations’ conclusion that non-white donors most often “give large gifts primarily to organizations they know and trust.”

“They are less likely to contribute to endowment campaigns, and instead focus their giving on religious institutions and organizations, or on efforts that meet pressing needs,” the White House report said.

Most charitable organizations do not focus attention on issues important to many people of color, the report noted. In 1997, some 8 percent of all foundation grants went to issues important to many people of color.

In addition, the foundations’ report found that few non-white people are on the staffs or governing boards of charitable groups and nonprofit organizations. Of the community foundations surveyed in the report, non-white people held 32 percent of staff positions and 24 percent of board of trustee positions.

Update: Tibet Leaders Say Chinese Studying Dalai Lama Overture

(RNS) Chinese officials have said they are considering an offer to discuss autonomy for Tibet with a delegation sent by the Dalai Lama, a member of the Tibetan spiritual leader’s government-in-exile said Tuesday (Dec. 5).

The Dalai Lama’s Minister for Information told the Associated Press that China notified him of the news earlier this week.

During celebrations Monday (Dec. 4) to mark his 50 years of political service in Tibet, the Dalai Lama said his request to send a delegation to Beijing came in response to a message for him that Chinese officials had given his brother Gyalo Thondup during a visit to Beijing in October. Thondup’s visit had come at the invitation of Chinese authorities, the Dalai Lama said.

Though some advocates of independence for Tibet have discouraged the Dalai Lama from responding to any overtures from China, others offer wary support.

“We support negotiation with Beijing,” said Karma Lekshey, general secretary of the only political party of exiled Tibetans, the National Democratic Party of Tibet. “But negotiations should be without preconditions.”

On Tuesday (Dec. 5) a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman told Reuters that any talks with the Dalai Lama _ who fled from Tibet to India with thousands of supporters in 1959 after an unsuccessful attempt to fight against Chinese rule _ hinge on his acceptance of China’s authority over Tibet and Taiwan.

China has accused the Dalai Lama of supporting Taiwanese autonomy from Beijing, and criticized his efforts to secure Tibet’s freedom from Chinese authority.

Quote of the Day: The Rev. John McCullough

(RNS) “The senseless use of land mines and cluster bombs turns fertile land into killing fields.”

_ The Rev. John McCullough, executive director of Church World Service, the humanitarian arm of the National Council of Churches, in a statement in support of a faith-based effort to urge the government to ban land mines and cluster bombs.

DEAEND RNS