c. 2004 Religion News Service

Funeral Planned for Anti-Apartheid Activist

(RNS) An official funeral with full state recognition is planned Saturday (Sept. 18) for the white anti-apartheid activist Beyers Naude, whom former South African President Nelson Mandela called “a true son of Africa.”

That the 89-year-old Naude, who died Sept. 7, would ever receive such an honor would have been unthinkable under a white minority government, which ostracized the onetime general secretary of the South African Council of Churches and limited his public visibility for nearly a decade.

But if Naude was seen as a traitor to white South Africans who supported the apartheid system, he was a hero to South Africa’s black majority.

“This was undoubtedly one of the greatest sons of our soil,” said Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, who will officiate at Naude’s funeral in Johannesburg. “His integrity caused him to obey his conscience whatever the cost. He was truly an agent of reconciliation between black and white. He showed that not all white people were the same.”

In the nearly two weeks since his death at a Johannesburg retirement home, such praise has been common _ stemming in part from the recognition that Naude could have effortlessly chosen a path allowing him to become a pillar of an entrenched, conservative, white Afrikaner establishment.

For a time he was a member of Afrikaner Broederbond, a “secret society” dedicated to the cause of white interests that his father had once chaired. As a young man headed for ordination in the Dutch Reformed Church, Naude knew and studied with men such as Hendrik Verwoerd and John Vorster _ future prime ministers and leading advocates of racial separation.

But the course of history changed Naude. Following the 1960 Sharpeville massacre _ a demonstration in which 69 black protesters were slain by government troops _ Naude became an opponent of apartheid and in 1963 was forced to leave his church.

He enraged Verwoerd and other whites by helping craft a World Council of Churches (WCC) condemnation of apartheid _ a move that prompted the Dutch Reformed Church, which had long justified racial separation as biblically mandated, to leave the WCC.

“If blood runs in the streets of South Africa, it will not be because the World Council of Churches has done something, but because the churches of South Africa have done nothing,” Naude once said.

The government retaliated by harassing Naude _ even to the point of “banning” him from 1977 to 1985, a move that restricted his movements but did not slow his low-key but determined anti-apartheid activism. He eventually succeeded his friend and colleague Desmond Tutu as the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, holding the post from 1985 to 1987.

“Dr, Beyers Naude,” the council said in a statement following his death, “was a courageous servant of the people of this land.”

_ Chris Herlinger

Muslim Player Quits Basketball Team After Making Exemption Request

(RNS) A Muslim convert who wished to wear religiously required clothing while playing on the women’s basketball team of the University of South Florida has quit the team.

Andrea Armstrong, 22, had requested that she wear a scarf, long pants, and a top with long sleeves and the Tampa, Fla., school had asked the NCAA for an exemption to its uniform policy.

But on Wednesday (Sept. 15), Armstrong gave a letter to her coach, Jose Fernandez, saying she didn’t want the issue of her uniform “to cause distraction,” the Associated Press reported.

Earlier in September, the athlete said she had left the team and lost her athletic scholarship after the coach said she could not wear religiously required clothing at practices or games.

But at a later meeting that included a representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, university officials agreed to accommodate her Islamic dress and reinstate her scholarship.

Fernandez said Armstrong requested the Wednesday meeting and said her decision to leave was “final.”

Ahmed Bedier, a spokesman for the Islamic council, said Armstrong had not expected the attention the matter would draw, including hate messages.

“She wanted to put her team first, after her faith, and didn’t want to be the center of the controversy,” he said.

Rapper Removed From Stellar Gospel Awards Consideration

(RNS) Officials of the Stellar Gospel Music Awards have announced that they have removed rapper Kanye West’s CD from its ballot for the 2005 honors because of lyrics that contained profanity.

The CD, “The College Dropout,” which is on the Roc-a-Fella label, includes one title that is explicitly religious, “Jesus Walks.” “The reason for removing the CD from the ballot is that some of the songs on the CD contain explicit lyrics and the CD carries an explicit language warning symbol on its cover,” the officials said in a Tuesday (Sept. 14) statement.

The nominating committee had considered the CD because of the one gospel song on it but decided the CD’s overall selections “were not in the best interest and spirit of gospel music.”

West’s publicist could not immediately be reached for comment.

“The Stellar Awards’ senior management and the nominating committee certainly did not intend to offend the gospel music community by this glaring oversight,” the officials said in their statement. “We have implemented corrective actions to make sure that such an error never happens in the future.”

An addendum to the ballot was scheduled to be sent to voters Friday (Sept. 17). The awards ceremony is set for Jan. 15 in Houston.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Lesbian Pastor Gets New Methodist Hearing Due to Procedural Errors

(RNS) A United Methodist official has ordered a new hearing in the case of a lesbian pastor who was facing trial after publicly declaring her homosexual relationship.

Retired Bishop Joseph H. Yeakel, the presiding officer for the trial, determined that the original church investigation committee that filed charges against the Rev. Irene “Beth” Stroud of Philadelphia was not properly constituted, the United Methodist News Service reported.

The committee of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference voted July 23 that “reasonable grounds exist” for a church trial.

Yeakel said the committee erroneously included two lay people in its counting of a quorum for the vote and wrongly included members who said they “do not believe a self-avowed, practicing homosexual in a monogamous, committed relationship engages in practices incompatible with Christian teachings.”

United Methodist Church law bars ordination of people meeting that description.

“The Committee on Investigation, therefore, was not properly constituted to adopt either the charge or specifications,” Yeakel wrote in a letter to the Rev. Kent E. Kroehler of Lancaster, Pa., chairperson of the committee.

He gave Kroehler permission to begin a rehearing of the investigation once the committee is properly constituted.

Stroud did not give a direct response to the latest development when asked by the Methodist news service.

“I’m in good spirits and just trying to be faithful as a pastor,” said Stroud, associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Germantown. “Nobody ever said it would be easy.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Actor Jamie Foxx

(RNS) “I always say if you believe in God or Allah, whatever you believe in, if you believe there was a creator, that the creator took a little extra time when it came to making Ray Charles.”

_ Actor Jamie Foxx, who plays music legend Ray Charles in the upcoming movie “Ray,” in an interview with the Associated Press.

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