c. 2004 Religion News Service

Presbyterians Move to Divest in Israel, Urge U.N. Role in Iraq

RICHMOND, Va. (RNS) The Presbyterian Church (USA) took steps on Friday (July 2) to begin divesting in companies doing business in Israel, the first such move since the denomination divested in South Africa during the anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s.

A resolution passed 431-62 by delegates to the church’s General Assembly asked the church’s Mission Responsibility Through Investment committee to recommend steps to remove church assets from U.S. companies operating in Israel.

“Horrific acts of violence and deadly attacks on innocent people, whether carried out by Palestinian `suicide bombers’ or by the Israeli military, are abhorrent and inexcusable by all measures, and are a dead-end alternative to a negotiated settlement of the conflict,” the resolution said.

The 2.5 million-member denomination also forbids investment in alcohol, gambling, tobacco, large military contractors and the Talisman oil company, which does business in Sudan.

The measure was passed along with a separate resolution that called for an end to the construction of an Israeli security barrier that has been criticized for separating Palestinians from their jobs, schools and land.

In related business, delegates approved a resolution that called on the United States to “demilitarize its anti-drug policies in Colombia, (and) that it speak against the violation of human rights” in the war-torn country. Presbyterians in Colombia have asked for U.S. help in ending American involvement in that country.

Delegates also called for greater United Nations involvement in Iraq and condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the recent torture of Iraqi prisoners at the hand of U.S. soldiers.

“From the beginning, it has been the judgment of many church leaders, both in the United States and elsewhere, that an invasion of Iraq has been unwise, immoral and illegal,” said the resolution, adopted 381-107. “(This assembly) concurs with that judgment.”

A separate resolution on “Violence, Religion and Terrorism” urged the U.S. government to address the root conditions of poverty and injustice that fuel terrorists’ violence.

It also called on the church to confess “that our support for military responses to acts of terrorism has too often been motivated by a desire for vengeance and not a desire for justice,” said the statement, adopted 396-81.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Amid Controversy, Gay Priest Installed in England

ST. ALBANS, England (RNS) An openly gay Anglican priest who was forced under pressure to decline an appointment as bishop last year was installed Friday (July 2) as dean of St. Albans Cathedral.

The Rev. Jeffrey John, who is celibate, said, “I hope that from this moment on normal Christian service may be resumed,” just after he had formally been installed, to prolonged applause, by Bishop Christopher Herbert.

“I hope we can now get on with what really matters _ God and his gospel,” said John, who will oversee the cathedral that before the Reformation had been the abbey church of St. Alban _ Britain’s first martyr.

Last year John was appointed _ and then forced to resign _ as suffragan bishop of Reading in the Diocese of Oxford. Herbert commended John for his courage in accepting the post “knowing what the reactions in parts of the church and parts of the media might be.”

“There are very, very many who are absolutely thrilled, and there are some of my fellow Christians who have been _ and remain _ deeply upset, angry and dismayed.”

Hundreds of letters had poured in from both sides. “What we have to commit ourselves to doing is to learn from, understand, respect and love each other, as brothers and sisters in Christ _ and that will take patience and time, grace and truthfulness, but above all it will take love and faith, both of which are rooted in and are growing out of Christ.”

Anglican Mainstream, the group opposed to the acceptance of homosexuality in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion, described the installation as a “provocative action” that means that neither the abbey nor the bishop could serve as the diocese’s focus of unity.

“Parishes and ministers who cannot accept this deviation from orthodox Anglican teaching will sadly now need to consider the extent to which they can involve themselves in the structures of the diocese,” it said.

_ Robert Nowell

Baptist Groups Start `First Freedoms Project’

(RNS) A new cooperative effort by three Baptist groups intends to encourage congregations to focus on religious liberty and freedom of the press.

The First Freedoms Project was announced by Associated Baptist Press, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs and Baptist Today news journal during the late June meeting of the moderate Cooperative Baptist Fellowship in Birmingham, Ala.

The project, whose theme is “Free to Worship, Free to Know,” will urge churches to emphasize the freedoms for which early Baptist leaders advocated at the time of the founding of the United States. It is also designed as a fund-raising effort for the three national ministries.

Organizers plan to host a national conference focused on religious liberty and freedom of the press next April in Washington.

Associated Baptist Press is an independent news service based in Jacksonville, Fla. The Washington-based Baptist Joint Committee advocates for religious liberty. Baptists Today is an autonomous news journal with offices in Macon, Ga.

_ Adelle M. Banks

`Adventures in Odyssey’ Moves to Interactive Game Arena

(RNS) The popular “Adventures in Odyssey” radio program will be featured in interactive computer games in a collaboration between the Focus on the Family ministry and Digital Praise, a new developer and publisher of Christian games.

Two game titles were announced June 28 during the annual convention of CBA International, the trade association for the Christian retail industry, in Atlanta. They will be released in the fall.

The games will feature characters from the program heard on more than 2,000 daily broadcasts worldwide. The characters, based in the fictional Midwestern town of Odyssey, have previously starred in 16 animated videos and 20 novels.

Designed for children ages 8 and older, the interactive games will highlight values such as cooperation, kindness, forgiveness and tolerance.

Focus on the Family, a Colorado Springs, Colo.-based ministry, has granted Digital Praise the rights to publish interactive game versions of its programs on a variety of platforms, including personal computers, video game consoles and mobile devices.

“Focus on the Family is excited about offering our loyal fans a series of interactive computer games set in Odyssey,” said Paul McCusker, vice president of the ministry, in a statement.

Digital Praise, a new company based in Fremont, Calif., formally launched with the announcement of the products.

“Digital Praise is founded on the principle that fun, exciting computer games don’t need to be flooded with violence, sex, hate or images of horror,” said Tom Bean, president and CEO, in a statement.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Sojourners Editor in Chief Jim Wallis

(RNS) “Religion should not be the exclusive possession of the Republican or Democratic Party, the right or the left, but must be able to critique and challenge both. And clearly, in this election, Christians will be voting both ways, because of their faith.”

_ Sojourners Editor in Chief Jim Wallis, writing in Sojomail, the weekly e-mail newsletter of his Christian ministry.

KRE/PH END RNS