c. 2004 Religion News Service
Democratic Members of Congress Seek Dismissal of Military Official
(RNS) Eleven Democratic members of Congress have written to President Bush urging him to dismiss Lt. Gen. William G. “Jerry” Boykin, a defense undersecretary who was investigated after comparing the war on terrorism to a religious battle.
“While General Boykin is obviously entitled as a citizen to whatever religious views he wishes to hold, we believe that his remarks demonstrate a serious lack of the objectivity that should be accompanying military intelligence,” reads the Thursday (Sept. 2) letter.
The letter follows recent press reports that a Defense Department investigation of Boykin found that he failed to get proper clearance for his remarks at churches and didn’t make it clear that they were not official. A department spokesman told Religion News Service at that time that it is up to acting Army Secretary Les Brownlee to determine if the report’s recommendations will be acted upon. The report recommended that he take “appropriate corrective action” regarding Boykin.
In one speech to a church group, Boykin said that terrorists were trying to destroy the United States “because we’re a Christian nation.”
Signers of the letter are Reps. Barney Frank and Martin Meehan of Massachusetts, Rep. James McDermott of Washington, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio, Reps. Jose Serrano and Gregory Meeks of New York, and Reps. Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee and Rep. Fortney “Pete” Stark of California.
_ Adelle M. Banks
American Baptists Face Shortfall That Could Prompt Missionary Recall
(RNS) Leaders of the American Baptist Churches USA say they must close a $1.5 million budget gap to avert the recall of missionaries.
“In July, International Ministries sent a series of letters to all of our missionaries,” said the Rev. Charles H. Jones, acting director of the denomination’s International Ministries division, in a statement.
“The letters updated missionaries about our budget shortfall, the need for an extraordinary effort in this year’s World Mission Offering promotion, and the potential of missionary recalls.”
At a recent World Mission Conference at Green Lake, Wis., leaders of the division discussed how, despite cuts already made, the mission offering must increase by 36 percent from $4.2 million to $5.7 million to keep all missionaries in their assignments and maintain existing ministries. The division has already approved reductions in home office staff, programs and national partner grants and operating costs.
The offering is promoted every September and October and directly supports more than 130 American Baptist missionaries.
The Rev. Ken Fong, pastor of Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles, challenged those attending the conference to double their donations to the offering this year. His church is producing a DVD that International Ministries will duplicate and make available for congregations as a promotional effort for the offering.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Breakaway Priests Defy Canadian Anglican Church Over Property
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (RNS) Two Canadian priests at breakaway Anglican parishes are defying their former bishop’s request to vacate their church properties, which are together worth more than $1 million.
The two Vancouver-area conservative priests _ who recently left the Anglican Church of Canada because they vehemently oppose same-sex blessings _ say their congregations have no intention of saying goodbye to the buildings in which they have worshipped for years.
“We own the premises and we’re carrying on as usual,” said the Rev. Ed Hird of the parish of St. Simon’s, which has about 200 members.
“We’re not going to leave,” said the Rev. Barclay Mayo of the newly named Christ the Redeemeer Church in Pender Harbour. It has about 120 members.
Both priests say their lawyer, Bob Kuhn, a prominent evangelical Christian, believes the conservative parish members have legal title to the properties and predicts they would win their cases in court.
Hird and Mayo said they will leave their longtime church buildings only if forced out by legal means.
“Of course, we’d follow the law. We’re good Canadians,” Hird said.
A spokesman for the Vancouver-area Diocese of New Westminster said he hopes the dispute with the two parishes doesn’t end up in court. He criticized the protesting clergy for being “confrontational.”
“I think it’s unfortunate. It’s not of our choosing,” Chancellor George Cadman said in an interview.
Cadman said he respects the parishes’ decision to opt out of the Canadian church and operate under the authority of an Anglican archbishop in Rwanda, a move similar to that made in recent years by a number of parishes of the Episcopal Church USA.
But Cadman said there is no legal precedent for the congregations to take control of church property since they were asked in July by Vancouver-area Bishop Michael Ingham to find somewhere else to worship.
The two activist priests are among more than a dozen in southwestern British Columbia who have grown furious over the past few years as Ingham and a majority of members in his diocese began favoring rites to bless committed homosexual relationships, thus becoming the focus of an international Christian furor.
Cadman, legal adviser to Ingham, said he has not seen a single case in the United States or Canada in the past five years in which a congregation that has broken away from the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox or Episcopal church has been able to take its property with it.
_ Douglas Todd
Catholic School Teachers in St. Louis Appeal to Vatican
(RNS) Catholic school teachers in St. Louis have filed a grievance with the Vatican, alleging that Archbishop Raymond Burke has violated church law by refusing to allow elementary school teachers to unionize.
The Association of Catholic Elementary Educators said a 20-member representative committee set up in 1998 is not good enough because it can only make recommendations on salaries and benefits and has little real power, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
The teachers filed a “canonical recourse” to the Vatican’s Congregation for Catholic Education, asking church leaders to force Burke to allow elementary teachers to organize.
High school teachers are employed by the archdiocese and are allowed to unionize, but elementary teachers have no central employer because they are paid by local parishes. In June, Burke said he would be willing to expand the 20-member committee but ruled out another teachers union.
“Neither the archdiocese nor individual parishes will recognize or bargain collectively with any organization as a representative of teachers,” he said.
Observers say the elementary school teachers may have an uphill battle. The Rev. Michael Moodie, a canon lawyer in Los Angeles, told the Post-Dispatch that the Vatican will intervene only if a bishop has broken church law.
“But if it falls under the discretionary authority of the bishop, they they would rarely or never overturn something like that,” he said.
_ Adelle M. Banks
National Groups Working to Defeat Oregon Gay Marriage Ban
PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) National gay-rights groups are spending heavily to defeat a measure banning same-sex marriage in Oregon, a state they say has the best chance of defeating such measures.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force has given $500,000 to the Oregon group opposing Measure 36, which is on the Nov. 2 ballot. It would amend the state Constitution to say that marriage only between a man and a woman is legal.
The Human Rights Campaign, the largest gay and lesbian rights group in the country, also has pledged $100,000 to the opposition group, called No on Constitutional Amendment 36.
Glenn Stanton, analyst on marriage for Focus on the Family, a Christian group in Colorado Springs, Colo., said the money flowing into Oregon to defeat Measure 36 reflects “desperation.” Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, a national group that champions marriage, family and Judeo-Christian values, say they have no plans to send money to the Defense of Marriage Coalition, the group leading the campaign for Measure 36. But both national groups may provide help with materials, mailings, phone banks, voter registration and other services.
No on Constitutional Amendment 36 also has received contributions from Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, Service Employees International Union and about 2,000 individual donors, said Rebekah Kassell, press secretary.
“We think we’re going to spend between $2.5 million and $3 million, most related to television ad buys,” she said.
The Defense of Marriage Coalition does not expect to raise that much money, and it expects a tougher battle than other states face, said Georgene Rice, communications director.
“I’m not anticipating we’ll win by a large margin,” Rice said, “but I think we can win.”
National gay and lesbian groups say they are concentrating their spending on Oregon because they see it as the state with the best prospects for defeating a measure to ban same-sex marriage.
Polls show a majority of voters support similar measures in 11 other states this fall, said J. Smith, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign.
But a poll conducted for opponents of Measure 36 in Oregon show “Oregon is a statistical dead heat, with neither side above 50 percent,” Smith said. “It is a good place to put resources. … We know there is a very good chance to defeat the measure in Oregon.”
_ Bill Graves
Quote of the Day: Presbyterian Church (USA) Official Jay Rock
(RNS) “I think (Andrew Sparks) doesn’t seem to understand that his presenting himself as both a Christian and a Jew is problematic for both Jews and Presbyterians. He doesn’t pay attention, or he doesn’t care, that this is very abrasive and unhelpful to both communities.”
_ The Rev. Jay Rock, director of interfaith relations for the Presbyterian Church (USA), on an offer by Andrew Sparks, a messianic Jewish pastor, to mediate talks between Jews and Presbyterians. Jewish groups are angry over the Presbyterians’ support for Sparks’ congregation in suburban Philadelphia that looks and feels like a synagogue. Rock was quoted by The Forward newspaper.
DEA/PH END RNS
