c. 2000 Religion News Service

Americans United Asks IRS to Investigate Prominent Church

(RNS) Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether a prominent New York City church violated tax law by supporting Democratic candidate Al Gore for president.

The Rev. Floyd Flake, pastor of Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jamaica, in the borough of Queens, welcomed the vice president at a worship service at his church on Sunday (Feb. 13).

“I don’t do endorsements from across the pulpit because I never know who’s out there watching the types of laws that govern separation of church and state,” Flake, a former Democratic congressman, said according to news reports. “But I will say to you this morning and you read it well: This should be the next president of the United States.”

The Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Washington-based Americans United, wrote to the IRS about what he called “improper partisan political activity” at Flake’s church.

“This statement indicates that Flake is aware of the provisions in the Internal Revenue Code that bar houses of worship from endorsing or opposing candidates for public office but chose to ignore them,” Lynn said in the letter dated Monday. “Such a flagrant violation of the law cannot be ignored.”

Lynn cited a portion of the Internal Revenue Code that bars churches and other nonprofit organizations from intervening in political campaigns for or against candidates.

“I urge you to conduct an investigation into the actions of Rev. Flake at Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church and take whatever steps you deem appropriate to make certain that this church obeys the law,” Lynn wrote.

Flake could not immediately be reached for comment.

In 1995, the IRS revoked the tax exemption of the Church at Pierce Creek, a Vestal, N.Y., congregation that paid for full-page newspaper ads in the fall of 1992 that declared that voting for Bill Clinton was a sin. Americans United had filed a formal complaint with the IRS about the church’s activities. The church later sued unsuccessfully in federal court to regain its tax exemption.

Bishops’ Leader Urges Federal Death Penalty Moratorium

(RNS) Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, has called on President Clinton to propose a suspension of all federal executions.

“As you know, the Catholic bishops in the United States have long called for an end to the death penalty,” the Galveston-Houston prelate said. “Today I want to add my voice to others who have called for a suspension of federal executions.”

White House officials said earlier this month that Clinton was mulling a moratorium on federal executions in the wake of a similar decision by Illinois Gov. George Ryan to impose a capital punishment moratorium in his state.

Currently, 21 people are on federal death row. The last federal execution was in Iowa in 1963.

The Illinois moratorium was prompted by several wrongful convictions of death row inmates that have come to light in recent months.

Fiorenza’s call to Clinton for a federal moratorium was sent in a Feb. 7 letter to Attorney General Janet Reno in which he called attention to recent actions and statements by Pope John Paul II spelling out the church’s aversion to capital punishment.

“The pope has said that because of our ability to keep society safe from aggressors, the need to execute individuals has become `rare if not practically nonexistent,”’ Fiorenza said.

Pope Names New Leader for Britain’s Catholics

(RNS) Pope John Paul II has named 67-year-old Bishop Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of Arundel and Brighton to succeed the late Cardinal Basil Hume as Archbishop of Westminster, the Vatican announced Tuesday (Feb. 15).

At a news conference in London, Murphy-O’Connor said he learned he would be appointed by reading about it in the newspapers. Westminster is the major archdiocese in Britain and its archbishop is considered the top leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican also announced that 54-year-old Bishop Vincent Nichols, auxiliary to Hume, will become the new bishop of Birmingham.

Murphy-O’Connor, one of Britain’s leading ecumenists, was rector of the English College in Rome from 1971 until he was appointed bishop of Arundel and Brighton in 1977.

In 1982, the new archbishop became the Roman Catholic co-chairman of the second Anglican/Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC II). He was also the chief Catholic observer at the 1988 Lambeth Conference, the meeting of all the world’s Anglican bishops held every 10 years.

Murphy-O’Connor’s appointment was warmly welcomed by the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, who last year conferred on him a Lambeth Doctorate of Divinity, making him the first Roman Catholic bishop since the Reformation to be so honored.

“Bishop Murphy-O’Connor has worked tirelessly for many years for better ecumenical relations, and I value and appreciate his stamina, his tenacity, and his shrewd ability to find a constructive way forward,” Carey said.

At his news conference, Murphy-O’Connor rejected being labeled either liberal or conservative.

“If by liberal you mean, am I free and easy, am I open to any new things that come along, the answer is no,” he said. “I’m not that way. I think I’m open. But I am rooted in the tradition of the church.”

“Am I a conservative? If by conservative you mean am I rigid, someone whose view is fundamentalist, no.”

House Votes to Honor O’Connor with Gold Medal

(RNS) The House voted Tuesday (Feb. 15) to honor Cardinal John O’Connor of New York with the Congressional Gold Medal.

By a vote of 413-1, representatives decided the ailing O’Connor should receive Congress’ highest honor. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was the sole opponent. The Senate is likely to approve the honor in March, the Associated Press reported.

The spiritual leader of more than 2 million Roman Catholics in the Archdiocese of New York had surgery last August to remove a brain tumor. He turned 80 in January and is expected to retire when Pope John Paul II appoints a replacement.

International Bible Society Names New President

(RNS) The International Bible Society has named a former executive of American Bible Society as its new president.

Peter J. Bradley, a former executive vice president for American Bible Society in New York, is now the president of the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based IBS.

Bradley has more than two decades of Christian and secular publishing experience and has been involved in domestic and international ministries.

He replaces Lars Dunberg, who resigned in July 1998.

“I can’t think of a more important mission than making God’s word available to people who don’t have it,” Bradley said in a statement. “The world is, in many ways, at a spiritual crossroads, and I believe IBS is uniquely suited to help point the way. I am delighted and humbled by the opportunity to lead this ministry.”

The IBS, which began in 1809 as the New York Bible Society, translates, publishes and distributes the Bible across the globe.

Quote of the Day: Republican Presidential Nomination Hopeful Alan Keyes

(RNS) “There are folks who told me I shouldn’t come here because I am a black man and, I say it with pride, a Roman Catholic Christian, and I would not be received in that place on that account. I have, thankfully, put the lie to that by coming.”

_ Alan Keyes, a candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. president, speaking Monday (Feb. 14) from the pulpit at Bob Jones University, a Greenville, S.C., school that bans interracial dating. Keyes, whose wife is from India, urged an end to religious and racial intolerance. He was quoted by the Associated Press.

DEA END RNS