c. 2003 Religion News Service
Committee Recommends Southern Baptist Withdrawal From World Alliance
(RNS) A study committee has recommended that the Southern Baptist Convention withdraw its membership and funding from the Baptist World Alliance.
Its report cited the alliance’s “leftward drift” and concluded that “it is no longer wise stewardship to lend monetary support to an entity whose participants openly oppose many of our most cherished beliefs.”
If the committee’s recommendation is approved by the denomination’s Executive Committee during a February meeting, it would be considered by messengers, or delegates to the annual meeting of Southern Baptists in June. If approved by that body, the relationship would end effective Oct. 1.
“Continued emphasis on women as pastors, frequent criticisms of the International Mission Board of Southern Baptists, refusal to allow open discussion on issues such as abortion, and the funding of questionable enterprises through Baptist World Aid provide just a surface sampling of what has transpired in recent years,” reads the three-page report released Friday (Dec. 19). Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Denton Lotz, reacted to the report by saying it would bring schism to the world’s Baptists. “Of course the BWA rejects categorically this false accusation of liberalism,” he said in a statement that compared it to McCarthyism. “Of course there is a spectrum of theological thought in all of our conventions, just as in local churches, but we belong to one another because we belong to Christ!” In June, Southern Baptists voted to reduce funding of the alliance from $425,000 to $300,000. The nation’s largest Protestant denomination has been the biggest contributor to the alliance, which has 210 member bodies. A month later the alliance accepted as a new member the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, which originally formed to counter the conservative direction of the Southern Baptist Convention. After that vote, Charles Kelley, a regular participant in alliance meetings and the president of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, said it could be “the last straw” for the strained relationship. _ Adelle M. Banks Chicago Priests Blast `Vile and Toxic’ Gay Rhetoric (RNS) Nearly two dozen Catholic priests in Chicago blasted the Vatican for its “vile and toxic” references to homosexuality, which Cardinal Francis George acknowledged “can seem lacking in respect.” In an open letter sent Friday (Dec. 19), the priests called church references to homosexuality “divisive and exclusionary” and “increasingly violent and abusive,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “As priests and pastors we are speaking out to make clear that our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters are all members of God’s family, brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus and deserving of the same dignity and respect owed any human being,” the letter said. Official church teaching describes gay sex as “intrinsically disordered” but says gays must be “accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity.” On July 31, the Vatican found “absolutely no grounds” to support gay marriage and called homosexual acts “deviant behavior.” That document also said allowing gay couples to adopt would do “violence” to children by depriving them of a mother or father. George, the archbishop of Chicago, said in a rare response that the church’s “exact” language “does not help us in welcoming men and women of homosexual orientation. It can seem lacking in respect. This is a pastoral problem and a source of anxiety for me as it is for you. It would be good to discuss together.” But George said, if pastors “do not accept the church’s moral teaching on the moral use of the gift of sexuality, it would be all the more important for us to talk,” the Sun-Times reported. Mayors’ Conference Survey: Hunger, Homelessness on the Rise WASHINGTON (RNS) Requests for emergency food and shelter assistance increased over the past year in the 25 cities surveyed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The new 2003 survey found that requests for help with food increased by an average of 17 percent over 2002 and requests for shelter increased by an average of 13 percent. The findings were released Dec. 18 by the conference and Sodexho, a food and facilities management services company. “This survey underscores the impact the economy has had on everyday Americans,” said James A. Garner, president of the Conference of Mayors and mayor of Hempstead, N.Y., in a statement. “The face of homelessness has changed and now reflects who we least suspect. During this holiday season, I urge all Americans to recognize their obligation to help their neighbors in need.” Unemployment and various employment-related problems were cited by the most cities as the leading causes of hunger. Fifty-six percent of the cities surveyed reported that people in need of food were turned away because of a lack of resources. A much larger percentage of participating cities _ 84 percent _ said emergency shelters had to turn away homeless families due to a lack of resources. The Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism said the report should be viewed as a call for action on the part of the Bush administration and Congress. “It is our hope that Congress and the administration will become engaged in this issue, ending these problems and reversing these trends so that in future years, the release of these annual statistics will be cause for celebration rather than shame,” said Rabbi Marla Feldman, director of the commission, in a statement. _ Adelle M. Banks New Jersey Imam Making Move to Head Black Muslim Group NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) Confident he can help revive the nation’s most prominent African-American Muslim group, a Newark imam presented himself Sunday (Dec. 21) as a capable leader who is prepared for a tough job. Mustafa El-Amin, the 46-year-old imam of the small Masjid Ibrahim mosque, said he wants to lead the American Society of Muslims, an organization in turmoil after its leader, W. Deen Mohammed, resigned in August. “We will transform (the American Society of Muslims) and make it better, more appealing and attractive,” El-Amin, the author of nine books about Islam and a history teacher at Montgomery High School in Newark, said in a speech at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center at Rutgers University in Newark. El-Amin would be the latest American Muslim leader to tackle the question that has long faced African-American Muslims: whether to focus their religion mainly around black people or to embrace a more inclusive and traditional Islam. It is not clear whether black Muslims across the country will take to El-Amin _ who said he has an “excellent relationship with (W. Deen) Mohammed” and hosted him at his fledging mosque last spring _ as the society’s leader or if they will wait for someone else to emerge, perhaps from a city larger than Newark, Muslim observers have said. But El-Amin is not awaiting formal approval from anyone, and plans to travel around the country to gain support of imams and Muslims. “(Mohammed) resigned. He left it open for someone to step up. That’s what we’re doing,” said El-Amin, who announced his intentions in the Muslim Journal. Mohammed stepped down as leader of the American Society of Muslims in August, later saying that too many imams did not support his vision of integrating black Muslims into the broader Islamic community. Scores of imams have since resigned from the group. Mohammed, 70, is viewed as among American Islam’s most important figures. The son of the late Elijah Mohammed, who founded the Nation of Islam, W. Deen Mohammed rejected his father’s militant views. After his father died in 1975 he transformed the Nation of Islam into what became the American Society of Muslims and sought to focus more on religious aspects of traditional Islam. Louis Farrakhan later resurrected the Nation of Islam. El-Amin favors W. Deen Mohammed’s brand of Islam and seeks to incorporate all Muslims in the country, even those now in the Nation of Islam, into the American Society of Muslims. “The American Society of Muslims represents another stage in the growth, development and evolution of Islam in America,” he said. About 175 people listened to the speech and greeted El-Amin with warm applause. _ Jeff Diamant Jews Praise Moroccan Embassy for Hanukkah Celebration WASHINGTON (RNS) A prominent Jewish group praised the ambassador of Morocco for hosting what is thought to be the first Jewish holiday party at an Arab nation’s embassy. Ambassador Aziz Mekouar and his wife, Felice Mekouar, planned to host a “special Hanukkah celebration” for about 60 people at their residence in suburban Washington on Monday (Dec. 22). Jason Isaacson, director of the American Jewish Committee’s Washington office, said his office is in “close contact” with both Mekouar’s office and the long-standing community of between 4,000 and 6,000 Jews in Morocco.. The ambassador was “very forthcoming and is very interested … in reaching out to the Jewish community and showcasing Morocco’s history as a tolerant country that has had a vibrant Jewish community,” said Isaacson, director of governmental and international affairs. Isaacson said this is the first Jewish holiday reception he was aware of at a Muslim ambassador’s home, although the ambassador of India has hosted similar parties for the past two years. The eight-day festival of lights, which began Friday (Dec. 19), commemorates the victory of a band of Jewish resistance fighters over their Syrian-Greek occupiers in 165 B.C. President Bush was scheduled to host a Hanukkah party at the White House on Monday and said in his annual Hanukkah proclamation that the holiday “brings a message of hope and freedom to the Jewish people.” “It’s unusual to have such a celebration in the home of an Arab ambassador, but Morocco’s interest in tolerance and serving as a meeting place for different cultures and faiths is well-established,” Isaacson said. _ Kevin Eckstrom Quote of the Day: Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson (RNS) “As long as I’ve got the attention of the world’s media, I’m going to use it for the church and I’m going to use it for God.” _ Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who was consecrated Nov. 2 as the church’s first openly gay bishop, after being named “Person of the Year” by the Advocate magazine. DEA END RNS
