c. 2004 Religion News Service
Presbyterians Vote to Maintain Policy on Late-Term Abortions
RICHMOND, Va. (RNS) The Presbyterian Church (USA) voted Thursday (July 1) to maintain its position on late-term abortions, defeating a resolution that would have urged the “live delivery” of babies instead of abortion.
Delegates to the church’s General Assembly meeting defeated, 260-256, a resolution that would have made a statement adopted by last year’s assembly more conservative.
Last year’s statement, which remains intact, calls late-term abortions “a matter of grave moral concern” that should be undertaken only to save the life of the mother, because of “untreatable life-threatening medical anomalies” of the fetus, or in cases of rape or incest.
The statement says late-term abortions “may be undertaken only in the rarest of circumstances and after prayer and/or pastoral care and counsel.”
Delegates directed the church’s stated clerk and moderator to write a “pastoral letter … on the issue of problem pregnancy” that includes last year’s statement and other church pamphlets on pregnancy and abortion.
In other business, delegates soundly defeated a resolution sent by churches in the Upper Ohio Valley that called on the denomination to “publicly confess and repent” for its general support for abortion rights.
Since 1983, the 2.5 million-member church has affirmed a woman’s right to abortion, but has moderated its position over the years to encourage adoption and oppose abortion as a means of birth control or gender selection.
In other health-related votes, delegates voted 419-62 to endorse “fetal tissue and stem cell research.” Supporting documents with the resolution said support for stem cell research “can result in many lives being improved through this applied research and future medical advancements.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Religious Groups Urge Action on Sudan
WASHINGTON (RNS) As Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan made high-profile visits to Sudan, a coalition of religious groups added their voices to the effort to focus attention on the violence wracking the African nation.
On Tuesday (June 29), the group held a demonstration at the Sudanese embassy timed to coincide with Powell’s visit. Demonstrators expressed their concern for residents of the country’s Darfur region, whose crops have been destroyed by a militia backed by the Sudanese government, according to news reports.
Religious organizations _ from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism to Christian Solidarity International _ have long pressured the U.S. government to get involved in Sudan. They say that the Sudanese government, which is mostly run by Arabs, is enslaving and murdering its black population.
At the Sudanese embassy, former congressman the Rev. Walter Fauntroy and radio talk-show host Joe Madison were arrested after they handcuffed themselves to light fixtures on the front of the building.
“I stand here today to condemn the government of Sudan and its … militiamen for committing genocidal acts and feeding the scourge of slavery and oppression,” said Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
The United States currently imposes economic sanctions on Sudan because it is designated as a “state sponsor of terror.”
Evangelical groups in the United States have called on President Bush to tighten those sanctions until a peace is achieved between the country’s diverse groups.
_ Daniel Burke
WCC Elects Bernice Powell Jackson as Regional President
(RNS) The World Council of Churches has elected Bernice Powell Jackson, a 25-year activist on behalf of women’s and human rights, the North American regional president.
Powell Jackson is currently serving as the executive minister of the justice and witness ministries of the United Church of Christ in the USA. She will join seven other regional co-presidents of the WCC.
According to the WCC, their presidents are “traditionally chosen for their widely recognized ecumenical experience and standing.” As ex officio members of the WCC’s Central Committee, their role is to “promote ecumenism and interpret the work of the Council, particularly in their respective regions.”
“This is a wonderful honor, an exciting challenge and an opportunity to share the ecumenical vision of the WCC in our world today,” Powell Jackson said.
“Especially in 2004, as the WCC focuses on the Decade to Overcome Violence in the United States, I look forward to finding new ways of connecting justice advocacy with ecumenical partners,” she added.
Powell Jackson has been a member of the WCC’s Central Committee since 1998. She also serves as one of the five officers of the United Church of Christ, through which she works on a wide range of social justice issues.
Powell Jackson served for three years as the director of the Bishop Tutu Southern African Refugee Scholarship Fund and was on the staff of New York Gov. Hugh Carey.
_ Daniel Burke
Pope and Ecumenical Patriarch Agree to Reopen Theological Dialogue
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope John Paul II and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople agreed Thursday (July 1) to demonstrate a renewed commitment to dialogue between their long-divided churches by reactivating Catholic-Orthodox talks on theology.
The pope and the patriarch said in a “common declaration” concluding Bartholomew’s four-day visit to Rome that the Mixed International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church would resume work “as soon as possible.” The commission last met in 2000 and adjourned without issuing any statement or making plans for a new round of talks.
The two religious leaders acknowledged that new “problems and misunderstandings” had arisen between the churches following the fall of Communism, most recently a bitter dispute over the proposed establishment of a Ukrainian Catholic Patriarchate.
But, they said, “Facing a world that suffers every kind of division and disequilibrium, today’s meeting seeks to recall in a concrete and forceful way how important it is for Christians and churches to live together in peace and in harmony to mutually testify the message of the gospel in a more credible and convincing way.”
The commission on theological dialogue, they said, is the “suitable instrument to study ecclesiological and historical problems that are at the base of our difficulties and to single out hypotheses of solutions.”
John Paul invited Bartholomew to Rome to mark the 40th anniversary of the “embrace” between Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Atenagora I at a historic meeting on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem Jan. 5-6, 1964. That meeting marked the start of concerted efforts to end the “great schism” that divided the churches in 1054.
Dialogue has been soured in recent years by disputes over property and alleged proselytizing by Catholics in traditional Orthodox territories previously under Communist control.
“Despite our firm will to follow on the path toward full communion, it would be unrealistic not to take note of obstacles of various natures: doctrinal above all but also deriving from conditions of a difficult history,” the joint statement said.
“Moreover new problems arising from profound changes happening in the European politico-social context have not remained without consequences in relations between the churches,” it said. “With the return of freedom to Christians in Central and Eastern Europe old fears reawakened, making dialogue difficult.”
John Paul and Bartholomew, meeting for the third time, said they hoped that the enlargement of the European Union to the east would encourage Catholic-Orthodox collaboration.
They listed as challenges the churches could “face together for the good of society” such items as fighting terrorism and armed conflicts, reminding Europe of its “Christian roots,” building dialogue with Islam, defending humanity’s “divine spark” from unethical scientific advances and protecting the environment.
_ Peggy Polk
U.S. Advocacy Group Denounces European Court Head Scarf Ruling
WASHINGTON (RNS) An American religious advocacy group denounced this week’s ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that found a ban on Muslim head scarves in state schools does not violate freedom of religion.
Joseph K. Grieboski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, said in a statement Tuesday (June 29) that the ruling in the case of a Turkish woman prohibited from attending an Istanbul college undercuts the right of religious freedom by denying a person of faith the right to wear religious clothing in keeping with his or her religious responsibilities.
“By denying the right to wear religious garb in public schools, the court opens the way to ban the wearing of religious garb in all public arenas,” Grieboski said. “… The court has unduly equated the wearing of religious garb by anyone as a political act and not a religious one.”
The human rights court, based in France, ruled Tuesday on a case involving Leyla Sahin, a Turkish woman who was not allowed to attend medical school at Istanbul University in 1998 because the school’s dress code did not permit head scarves.
The seven-member court’s decision takes precedence over national court judgments in the 45-nation Council of Europe, of which Turkey is a member. The court said democratic states could order such a ban under the principle of keeping church and state separate and that the ban is a valid way to combat Islamic fundamentalism.
“Measures taken in universities to prevent certain fundamentalist religious movements from pressuring students who do not practice the religion in question or those belonging to another religion can be justified,” the ruling said, according to Reuters.
The ruling was a victory for Turkish, French and German officials who want to ban head scarves amid fears that radical Islamist factions within those secular nations will seek to impose their religious symbols on others.
_ Jonah D. King
Bishop T.D. Jakes Plans Movie on `Woman, Thou Art Loosed’ Theme
(RNS) Bishop T.D. Jakes is taking his “Woman, Thou Art Loosed” theme to the big screen in a movie by that name that is scheduled to be released this fall.
The Dallas megachurch leader held counseling sessions on the theme before developing it into seminars, stadium events, a play and a CD.
The movie, which was honored earlier this year at the Santa Barbara Independent Film Festival, tells the story of a female sexual abuse victim. It features Jakes as a visiting pastor.
The film stars actresses Kimberly Elise, who appeared in “John Q” and “Beloved,” and Loretta Devine, who was featured in the movie “Waiting to Exhale” and the television show “Boston Public.”
Jakes, pastor of the Potter’s House, introduced the movie Tuesday (June 29) to Atlanta-area pastors, Christian retailers and child advocacy workers during the annual convention of CBA International, the trade organization of the Christian retail industry.
The movie is directed by Michael Schultz and distributed by Dallas-based Magnolia Pictures.
Jakes hopes the film will be used by churches to address the issue of child sexual abuse.
“More than 60 percent of women in prison were abused as children by people they should have been able to trust,” he said in a statement.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Quote of the Day: Bishop Paul S. Loverde of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Va.
(RNS) “I am sorry, and I apologize with all my heart for the pain inflicted on you because of their abuse. I ask you to forgive us … for not seeing more deeply and fully the horrendous evil.”
_ Bishop Paul S. Loverde of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Va., at a healing Mass for victims of sexual abuse, held Wednesday (June 30) at St. Thomas More Cathedral. Quoted by The Washington Post, he particularly sought forgiveness from those who had been molested by a priest or other representative of the church.
DEA/PH END RNS
