c. 2004 Religion News Service

Pope’s Foreign Minister Condemns “Christianophobia”

ROME (RNS) Pope John Paul II’s foreign minister warned Friday (Dec. 3) that the war against terrorism has spread “Christianophobia” in parts of the world where Western policy is believed to be determined by Christianity.

Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, secretary for relations with states, issued the warning at a conference on “Religious Freedom: The Cornerstone of Human Dignity,” organized by U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican James Nicholson.

“It should be recognized,” Lajolo said, “that the war against terrorism, even though necessary, had as one of its side effects the spread of Christianophobia in vast areas of the globe where, wrongly, Western civilization or certain political strategies of Western countries are considered to be determined by Christianity or at least not separated from it.”

The Vatican has asked the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva to condemn “Christianophobia” along with “Islamophobia” and anti-Semitism, he said.

The prelate did not specify the countries to which he referred, but he told reporters after his talk that Christianophobia “manifests itself in various zones of the world as an attitude toward Christians whose presence or actions are interpreted as proselytism or interference in the local cultures.”

This happens “not only in Islamic countries,” he said.

John Hanford II, U.S. ambassador for freedom of religion in the world, cited violations in China, Burma, North Korea, Vietnam, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia and Iraq where Christian churches were bombed in August.

Lajolo said that religious freedom, rather than economic or political interests or “geopolitical ambitions,” is a prime concern of Vatican diplomacy because it is essential for the existence of the Catholic Church and of “an objective moral order.”

_ Peggy Polk

Vatican Official Backs U.N. Reform, Expresses Concern for Iraqi Elections

(RNS) A high-ranking Vatican official has called for sweeping reform of the United Nations but said it is not the role of the Vatican, which is a permanent observer rather than a member, to make specific proposals.

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, also expressed the hope that elections will go ahead in Iraq next month as scheduled. The Vatican opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and has urged the occupying forces to move swiftly to restore Baghdad’s sovereignty.

“I share the anxiety of those who would like elections in Iraq as quickly as possible,” he said. “The elections in Iraq are the first step toward democracy, which means participation and initiatives of all citizens. It is for this reason that we hope that they can be done in decent conditions of participation.”

Martino, who served for 16 years as the Vatican’s U.N. observer, made the comments to reporters Thursday (Dec. 2) in Florence where he spoke about the “Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,” which his council issued in October.

The prelate offered two analogies for the role of the United Nations.

The United Nations, he said, “is similar to a mirror that reflects the world. If the world is ugly and disfigured, the U.N. reflects that, reflects the ugly face of the world.

“The other analogy is that of an emergency room where a sick man, who has urgent need of care, goes. If the patient dies, what do we do? Do we destroy the hospital because the patient is dead, or do we instead see what must be done to improve the services of the hospital?” he asked.

Martino noted that in his statement for this year’s World Peace Day, which the Catholic Church observes every Jan. 1, Pope John Paul II upheld the need for an international organization like the United Nations but also urged reform.

After 60 years of existence the United Nations is ailing and reflects world conditions at the end of World War II when it was established rather than today’s conditions and so needs “many reforms,” he said.

“But,” the cardinal said, “it is not up to the Holy See, which preserves its neutrality, to propose any reform.”

_ Peggy Polk

Church-State Separatists Sue Over Funding of Calif. Missions

(RNS) A church-state separationist group has filed suit to try to halt a new law calling for the distribution of taxpayer funds for the historical preservation of California mission churches.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington-based watchdog group, filed the suit Thursday (Dec. 2) in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, two days after President Bush signed the California Missions Preservation Act into law.

The act authorizes the secretary of the interior to provide up to $10 million in financial assistance over a five-year period to the California Missions Foundation to restore and repair 21 Spanish colonial missions in the state.

Americans United lawyers have asked the court to declare the act unconstitutional because they believe it violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

“Houses of worship must be maintained by their members, not the federal government,” said the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of the watchdog group, in a statement. “All but two of these missions house active congregations and hold regular worship services. They are not museums.”

Americans United sued on behalf of four California taxpayers _ a Unitarian Universalist, a Jew, a freethinker and a Buddhist, all of whom say they are offended by the use of tax dollars “in a non-neutral fashion to support government-designated houses of worship,” the suit says.

Interior Department spokesman Dan DuBray said providing funds to historic religious sites is part of the work of the federal government, which has funded such buildings as Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, and Boston’s Old North Church, which played a role in American independence.

“The protection of historic sites across America is at the very heart of the Department of the Interior and its National Park Service,” DuBray told Religion News Service.

“A number of the key sites of our nation’s historic heritage also richly reflect our nation’s spiritual heritage.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Evangelicals Partner for Nontraditional Missions

(RNS) The Southern Baptist Convention has started a collaboration with three other evangelical organizations in a missions outreach to people who have not heard the gospel through traditional means.

“Epic Partners” is the name of the partnership involving the Southern Baptist International Mission Board, Campus Crusade for Christ, Wycliffe International and Youth With a Mission. The four entities will use an oral presentation known as “chronological Bible storying” to spread the gospel through memorized Bible stories.

The Southern Baptists announced the effort in mid-November, a month after the partnership was highlighted at a commissioning service in Asia.

“We must meet people on their own terms,” said Avery Willis, recently retired International Mission Board senior vice president of overseas operations, in a statement.

“We’ve been handicapped by literacy. We’ve got to lay that aside and communicate in a manner that connects with the people we are trying to reach _ and that is through orality.”

The missions effort is primarily focused on South Asia, where projects will involve teams working on chronological storying, church planting and short-term evangelism efforts.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Jury Defrocks Openly Gay Methodist Minister

(RNS) A United Methodist bishop said Friday (Nov. 3) it’s time for the church to “move on in our ministry” after a gay pastor in his conference was defrocked for violating a church ban on “self-avowed practicing” gay clergy.

Bishop Marcus Matthews of Philadelphia urged the church to accept the guilty verdict against one of his ministers, the Rev. Irene “Beth” Stroud, the second United Methodist clergwoman in 17 years to lose her ministerial license because she is openly gay.

“No matter what our individual views are on the issue of homosexuality, we owe the members of the trial court our word of thanks,” Matthews said in a statement issued Friday.

“Theirs was a difficult task where answers do not always appear clearly or quickly. We must respect the decision of the trial court and move on in our ministry.”

Stroud, 34, was convicted Thursday (Nov. 2) in a 12-1 vote by a jury of her peers for engaging in “practices incompatible with Christian teachings.” The jury later voted 7-6 to revoke her ministerial credentials.

Stroud outed herself in a sermon last year, forcing her bishop to file charges. Her conviction is the first since the church’s highest court tightened rules regarding gay clergy after another lesbian pastor in Washington state was acquitted last March.

The only other Methodist pastor to be convicted and defrocked was the Rev. Rose Mary Denman, in 1987.

The Rev. Fred Day, senior pastor of Philadelphia’s First United Methodist Church of Germantown, said Stroud will continue to oversee youth ministries at the church, but will no longer be allowed to administer church sacraments.

“Beth is deeply disappointed but as always is faithful and grounded in God’s unconditional love,” Day said.

Following the verdict, members of the pro-gay group Soulforce broke into choruses of “We Are a Gentle, Angry People” as Stroud’s family embraced. Soulforce called the trial an act of “spiritual violence.”

“The United Methodist Church’s deceptive marketing slogan is `Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors,’ but the church’s heart, mind and doors are not open to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people,” said Soulforce spokeswoman Laura Montgomery Rutt.

Conservatives welcomed the verdict as a strong defense of church teaching. “In a culture awash with sexual confusion … it is especially important for the church to make a clear witness about sexual ethics,” said Mark Tooley, director of the Methodist program of the Institute on Religion and Democracy.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Quote of the Day: The Rev. Larry Hollon of United Methodist Communications

(RNS) “How ironic that a gentle message of inclusion is considered unacceptable while ads for beer are accepted and programs in which people eat insects and worms are considered entertaining. In a divided and fearful world, this message is not only needed. It could lead to healing.”

_ The Rev. Larry Hollon, general secretary of United Methodist Communications, protesting a decision by CBS and NBC to reject an ad in which the United Church of Christ welcomes gays and lesbians while suggesting other churches keep them out. Hollon was quoted by the United Methodist Reporter.

MO/PH RNS END