c. 2003 Religion News Service

Southern Baptist Church Expelled for Baptizing Gay Men

(RNS) A Southern Baptist church was expelled Monday (April 28) from a regional group of churches after its pastor baptized two gay men and welcomed them into the congregation.

Delegates to the closed meeting of the Cabarrus Baptist Association in Concord, N.C., voted 250-11 to withdraw McGill Baptist Church’s membership, the Associated Press reported. Seven people abstained.

The regional group of about 80 churches is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Rev. Randy Wadford, missions director for the association, read a statement after the vote in which he said, “The homosexual lifestyle is contrary to God’s will and plan for mankind.”

“To allow individuals into the membership of a local church without evidence or testimony of true repentance is to condone the old lifestyle,” he said.

The Rev. Steve Ayers, pastor of the 800-member church, said his congregation had contributed to the association’s food and clothing projects but would find another way to help the poor.

“The kingdom of Christ is about love, about God’s grace and mercy,” he said. “When a church becomes so judgmental that it can’t accept people into their fellowship, it is a sad, sad day.”

He said the two gay men, one in his 40s and the other in his 60s, have declined to comment on the matter. Although they are upset about the furor, Ayers said they were happy to have found a church and both attended worship the Sunday before the vote.

Boston Archdiocese Considers Lower Settlement Offer

(RNS) After a state Supreme Court ruling that upheld liability caps for charitable groups, Catholic officials in Boston are said to be considering a scaled-back settlement offer on hundreds of sex abuse cases.

The Boston Herald reported that church lawyers will propose a $25 million offer to settle some 400 abuse cases. Church officials considered declaring bankruptcy last year when the potential price tag for settling the abuse cases reached $100 million or more.

“The $25 million would be a compromise the (church’s) insurance companies could live with,” an unnamed source told the Herald.

Attorneys for the archdiocese and victims are currently engaged in a 90-day litigation moratorium in hopes of reaching a settlement. The $25 million offer would apply to some 400 victims represented by attorney Roderick MacLeish. Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents an additional 108 victims but did not agree to the moratorium, would not be included in the settlement.

Both sides are dissecting a recent Supreme Judicial Court decision that capped damage awards for charitable groups at $20,000. Church officials deny, however, that the low figures have affected negotiations.

“We never intended to rely on the charitable immunity cap,” said church spokesman Rev. Christopher Coyne. “We want to give people what they deserve.”

Meanwhile, the interim leader of the scandal-scarred archdiocese, Bishop Richard Lennon, has set a fund-raising goal of $9 million this year _ far short of the $17.4 million goal it set last year when it collected only $8.6 million.

Because of a drop-off in donations, church officials will have to cut the next fiscal year budget by $4 million, according to The New York Times. A separate $300 million capital campaign is projected to fall short by $100 million. Lennon said no money from either appeal will be used to settle abuse cases.

Report: Intermarried Jews Will Soon Be the Majority

(RNS) Intermarriage rates in the Jewish community are leading to a time when there will be more intermarried households than “in-married” households, a new report has found.

The report, “The Coming Majority: Suggested Action on Intermarried Households for the Organized Jewish Community,” analyzes data from the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey and concludes that even if the intermarriage rate is lower than the controversial 52 percent reported by the NJPS, intermarried Jewish households will soon be the majority.

The findings were released by the New York-based Jewish Outreach Institute on Monday (April 28) as researchers anticipate the 2000-2001 NJPS’ release in the coming months.

The 1990 NJPS reported that 52 percent of American Jews are intermarried, a finding some other surveys challenge. The JOI based its report on the more conservative estimate of 40 percent, but it asserts the two figures produce similar projections to the larger Jewish community.

The JOI report argues that if roughly half of all Jews are marrying each other, then two intermarried households are being created for every one in-married household.

Using this logic, the JOI states that any intermarriage rate above 33 percent would mean more intermarried households than in-married _ and a rate that low hasn’t been reported since the late 1960s.

The JOI, which describes itself as “engaged in outreach to the unaffiliated with a special emphasis on intermarried families and their children,” suggests steps Jewish institutions can take to try to ensure that intermarried families are involved in Jewish life.

Training programs for Jewish professionals are recommended in the report, as are community-building suggestions like identifying role models of “successful” intermarriages and publicly thanking non-Jewish spouses who commit to raising children Jewish.

The JOI urges Jewish communities to focus on the percentage of intermarried families who choose to raise their children Jewish instead of the overall intermarriage rate when the 2000-2001 NJPS comes out. The goal should be, JOI states, to increase that percentage from the 30 percent figure of 1990 to 50 percent.

_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi

Iraq’s Christian Leaders Appeal for Religious and Political Freedom

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Iraq’s Christian patriarchs and bishops have appealed for full religious, social and political freedom for the Christian descendants of the prophet Abraham in Iraq’s new regime, the Vatican said Wednesday (April 30.)

The Vatican issued the text of a joint statement made in Baghdad on Tuesday by the leaders of the Chaldean, Assyrian, Syrian, Armenian, Greek and Latin rite churches in Iraq where Muslims make up 90 percent of the population of 23 million.

The leaders said they hoped that “all the Iraqi people, who have known a long history marked by conflicts and successes, may live without distinction of religion or race in liberty, justice and respect in inter-religious and multiethnic coexistence.”

Emphasizing Iraq’s ancient culture, the leaders referred to the code that Hammurabi, king of Babylon, etched in stone, making law “the basis of the development of civilization,” and to Abraham of Ur, who became “the father of a multitude of peoples.”

It was in Iraq, they said, that Christianity and Islam met in “a respectful reciprocal coexistence.”

“By virtue of our origins as part of the most ancient people of this Earth, we demand for us and for all those who today inhabit it _ constituting a majority or minority, united by a long history of coexistence _ to live as full members in a state of law in peace, liberty, justice and equality according to the Charter of the Rights of Man,” the leaders said.

Iraq’s new constitution must recognize Christians’ “religious, cultural, social and political rights,” allow all citizens to take part in government, give Christians full citizenship and guarantee them full religious rights, the statement said.

The leaders said they wanted specific guarantees of “the right to profess our faith according to our ancient traditions and our religious norms, the right to educate our children according to Christian principles, and the right to organize freely, to build places of worship and, when necessary, other spaces for cultural and social activities.”

_ Peggy Polk

Virginia Military Institute’s Prayers Ruled Unconstitutional

(RNS) An appellate court has ruled that the Virginia Military Institute’s tradition of prayer before evening meals is unconstitutional.

“In establishing its supper prayer, VMI has done precisely what the First Amendment forbids,” a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday (April 28).

The decision upheld a lower court ruling, the Associated Press reported.

The panel rejected arguments that the prayer is voluntary because the cadets are adults. It emphasized that the high level of obedience expected from VMI cadets doesn’t give them the freedom to choose whether to take part in what has been called a voluntary, nondenominational dinner prayer.

“Put simply, VMI’s supper prayer exacts an unconstitutional toll on the consciences of religious objectors,” Judge Robert B. King wrote in the opinion.

Virginia Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore said Monday the prayers are “part of the fabric of our country” and he plans to appeal the decision to the entire appeals court.

In a statement, the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, welcomed the ruling.

“No Americans should be forced to sing for their supper or pray to get it either,” said Lynn, whose organization filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the two cadets who sued.

“It’s a sweeping decision that means public universities have no business promoting religion at mealtimes, bedtimes or any other times.”

In light of the ruling, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland said Tuesday that the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., should review its practice of leading students in lunchtime prayer, the AP reported. Academy officials did not comment immediately, but a Navy official said the service will review the decision.

Holy Politics: Five Clerics Toss Collars Into Election Ring

LONDON (RNS) The historic city of Stirling, the city almost plumb in the middle of Scotland, is seeing a remarkable number of clergy standing as candidates in the local and Scottish national elections taking place May 1.

It is believed to be the most clergy ever to seek seats in one place, according to the Scottish Episcopal Church.

Standing as Liberal Democrat candidate for the Stirling seat in the Scottish Parliament is Episcopalian priest Canon Kenyon Wright, a leading campaigner for devolution (returning power to Scotland from London) in the 1980s and 1990s. He was chairman of the executive committee of the Scottish Constitutional Convention, which drew up plans for a devolved Scottish parliament.

Four other clergy _ one Episcopalian and three ministers of the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland _ are standing as candidates for Stirling council, the local authority for the region.

Once again the Episcopalian, the Rev. Kelvin Holdsworth, rector of Bridge of Allan, is standing as a Liberal Democrat, while the three Presbyterian ministers _ the Rev. Maxwell Craig, the Rev. David Bowker and the Rev. Ian Fraser _ are all Labor candidates.

_ Robert Nowell

Quote of the Day: United Methodist Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher

(RNS) “I believe our human family is scared to death. Fear has found us, and we are not prepared. Our fear is jeopardizing our faith.”

_ United Methodist Bishop Sharon Brown Christopher of Illinois, outgoing president of the church’s Council of Bishops, in her last address to other bishops. She was quoted by United Methodist News Service.

DEA END RNS