c. 2006 Religion News Service
Leaders of Struggling Holiness Tradition Issue `Manifesto’
ASUZA, Calif. (RNS) National leaders from 10 denominations have released a “Holiness Manifesto,” pledging to get back to the basics of their historical roots _ the Holiness tradition _ to recover their zeal, overcome lagging attendance and increase their influence in society.
The manifesto said pastors have lost the ability to lead because they have “no compelling message to give, no compelling vision of God.”
“Therefore, in this critical time, we set forth for the church’s well-being a fresh focus on holiness. In our view, this focus is the heart of Scripture concerning Christian existence for all times _ and clearly for our time.”
The denominations, which recently completed the Wesleyan Holiness Study Project at Azusa Pacific University, represent about 20 million adherents worldwide and include the Salvation Army, Church of the Nazarene and Foursquare Gospel.
The three-year study project resulted in the Holiness Manifesto, a document completed Feb. 8. The manifesto, calling church members to Christlike living, was written because Holiness churches face a crisis, leaders said.
“In many cases they have left the passion for the message aside in search of a method,” said Kevin Mannoia, who was on the project’s steering committee and is former president of the National Association of Evangelicals and a former bishop in the Free Methodist Church.
The Holiness movement was born out of the Methodist Church in the 19th century. It is difficult to determine how many Christians have historic ties to the movement, but many consider the Holiness tradition the foundation of the Pentecostal movement _ which today numbers more than 500 million worldwide.
Generally speaking, Holiness embraces modest dress, caution toward popular culture and the rejection of “secular” activities like drinking, gambling and smoking. “Holy Rollers” is a pejorative term sometimes used to describe the group.
Holiness denominations have also been leading advocates against slavery and for women’s rights and ordination. And they are well-known for their ministry to the poor.
The Holiness Manifesto was created by about three dozen American and Canadian leaders, with the consultation of hundreds of pastors. Participants are now editing a book based on the project.
_ Marshall Allen
U.S. Muslim Groups Demand Release of Funds Held by Suspect Charities
(RNS) Muslim organizations demanded Thursday (March 16) that the U.S. Treasury Department release millions of dollars in donations held by charities whose assets have been frozen because of suspected ties to terrorism.
“If the government obstructs the purpose of charitable giving, then the government must provide a remedy that ensures that the money goes to those who need it,” said Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
The demand was made after a Thursday meeting in Washington of representatives of 10 charities, advocacy and civil rights groups who discussed the closure of KindHearts, a Toledo, Ohio, charity. The Treasury Department shut it down while it investigates allegations that the group’s money went to terrorists.
“The donors’ rights are not being honored when the government seizes the assets of a Muslim charity. The (KindHearts) money was intended to go to feed and help the victims of the Pakistan earthquake,” Al-Marayati said, “and now these intended recipients are going o suffer from the decision of the Treasury Department.”
According to MPAC, more than 25 Muslim-American nonprofits have been shut down since Sept. 11, 2001, because of what it described as “vague allegations” of providing support to terrorists. Critics add the government still doesn’t have any convictions against employees or board members of the shuttered charities, and that it has never uncovered a money trail linking the charities to terrorists.
A Treasury Department spokeswoman rejected those criticisms, asserting that the government has made the evidence public.
“Those designations have stood up to legal scrutiny and all legal challenges,” said Molly Millerwine.
She added that the Treasury Department, which was not invited to the meeting, has been in frequent contact with Muslim organizations about charitable giving, resulting in the creation of the National Council on American Muslim Nonprofits last March.
But the government has not adequately advised Muslim charities how to comply with government guidelines, said Al-Marayati, adding that closure of the charities hurts America’s image in the Muslim world.
_ Omar Sacirbey
U.S. Government Outlines Ways Churches Could Battle Avian Flu Pandemic
WASHINGTON (RNS) As troubling reports continue to surface of the possibility of the avian flu virus jumping to humans, the federal government has released a list of ways religious groups can prepare to help in the event of a widespread outbreak of the lethal virus.
“The collaboration of faith-based and community organizations with public health agencies will be important in protecting the public if and when a pandemic occurs,” Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a statement.
The avian flu virus has so far spread to humans primarily through contact with infected birds, but scientists fear that the virus will mutate into a form that could spread easily from human to human, potentially killing millions of people.
“(Faith-based) organizations provide vital support services and can help build awareness of the pandemic influenza threat,” Leavitt said. “By working together now, we’ll be better equipped to serve communities in the future.”
The two-page checklist for faith-based groups, developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, includes suggestions such as obtaining regular flu shots, identifying religious rites and practices that could facilitate the spread of the virus, and addressing the “rumors, misinformation, fear and anxiety” that a widespread outbreak could produce.
An outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu virus in Turkey _ the first case of the disease spreading outside East Asia _ has concerned heath officials worldwide. More than 100 people have died of bird flu since late 2003, most of whom lived in China and Southeast Asia.
The federal government has set aside $100 million for state governments to assist community groups in preparing for a flu outbreak, and Health and Human Services is planning “Pandemic Planning Summits” in each of the 50 states in coming months.
_ David Barnes
Catholic Bishops Endorse Constitutional Change Banning Same-Sex Marriage
(RNS) An influential committee of Roman Catholic bishops has renewed support for a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage even though some Congress watchers say the initiative appears doomed _ at least in the near term.
On Tuesday (March 14,), an administrative committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reiterated its 2003 endorsement of the proposed Federal Marriage Amendment. USCCB President William Skylstad promptly pledged to “communicate the administrative committee’s endorsement to every diocesan bishop in the country,” according to a USCCB statement.
“What are called `homosexual unions,’ because they do not express full human complementarity and because they are inherently non-procreative, cannot be given the status of marriage,” the committee said.
The bishops once again vowed to fight “any legislative and judicial attempts, both at state and federal levels, to grant same-sex unions the equivalent status and rights of marriage _ by naming them marriage, civil unions or by other means.”
Efforts to thwart the emergence of gay marriage took off in 2004 after the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that gays were entitled to marry under that state’s constitution. That fall, 11 states passed their own constitutional amendments banning gay marriage.
But on the federal level, even conservative supporters of a constitutional amendment don’t see momentum building in the run-up to election 2006.
“We don’t see great energy on (Capitol) Hill for this, not anything like what we see on the state level,” said Patrick Fagan, research fellow in family and culture at the socially conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington. “For something this big, they would need to get going if we’re going have the national debate.”
With support from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the Senate is scheduled to vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment in early June.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Presbyterians Say They Must Cut National Staff
(RNS) The Presbyterian Church (USA) must cut $9.15 million from its budget and may be forced to lay off as much as a quarter of its 600-person national staff, most of whom work at denominational offices in Louisville, Ky.
The denomination’s General Assembly Council (GAC) will vote on the budget cuts at an April 26-29 meeting. Budget reductions must be made by 2008 and resulting staff cuts will probably be announced May 1, the denomination announced on Tuesday (March 14).
No final decisions about exact positions to be cut have been made.
The denomination has approximately 2.4 million members, 11,100 congregations and 14,000 ordained and active ministers. The cuts would follow $7 million in cuts that were made in 1993 during a major restructuring. The 1993 cuts eliminated approximately 140 jobs from a workforce of about 700.
Denominational officials say the cuts stem from reduced amounts of giving to national programs by local congregations and presbyteries because Presbyterians are giving more to their local churches.
“This is clearly part of a longer trend in the church and probably most churches,” John Detterick, the executive director of the General Assembly Council, told Presbyterian News Service.
He said national programs will remain important for the denomination, but said work coordinated by the GAC is likely to be “smaller, less resource-producing and more networking, less programmatic and more enabling of the presbyteries and congregations.”
Joey Bailey, the denomination’s chief financial officer, told the Presbyterian News Service that the national denominational programs actually underspent their budgets by $2.1 million in 2005.
“If we could do that again in 2006, most of this year’s problem would be solved,” he said.
However, he said contributions for non-designated programs by congregations and presbyteries are expected to decline even further in 2007.
_ Chris Herlinger
Vatican, Russian Orthodox Church Try to Mend Relationship
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican appeared to thaw Friday (Mar. 17) as Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow expressed hope for more collaboration in promoting Christian values worldwide.
The gesture occurred through an exchange of messages between the two leaders in late February, which the Vatican released on Friday.
In a letter carried to Moscow by Cardinal Roger Etchegaray on Feb. 17, Benedict wished Alexei a happy birthday and called for the two churches to undertake “more intense collaboration in truth and charity that increases the spirit of communion.”
Benedict wrote, “The contemporary world needs to hear voices that indicate the path of peace and respect for everyone and condemn all acts of violence.”
Alexei responded to the message saying that Catholics and Russian Orthodox shared “a common vision of the current problems of the contemporary world” and that the “defense of Christian values in society must be one of the priorities for our churches.”
“I hope that this will contribute as well to the rapid resolution of problems that face our two churches,” Alexei wrote without elaborating.
Since Benedict’s election in April, relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church have at times appeared to be on the mend. In recent years, Alexei has repeatedly accused the Catholic Church under John Paul II of supporting proselytism, or conversion, of Orthodox Christians to Catholicism in Russia.
Alexei’s opposition ultimately prevented John Paul from fulfilling his long-held wish of visiting Russia.
Tensions between Catholic leaders and the Orthodox have also been high in Ukraine, which Alexis considers Orthodox territory.
_ Stacy Meichtry
Two More Episcopal Bishops Enter Race for Presiding Bishop
(RNS) The race to become the next presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church has gotten more intense with the entrance of two new nominees _ Bishop Charles Jenkins of New Orleans and Bishop Francisco Duque-Gomez of the missionary diocese of Bogota, Colombia.
The nominations of Jenkins and Duque bring the total number of candidates to seven. The church’s new top leader will be elected to a nine-year term by the denomination’s General Convention meeting in Columbus, Ohio, on June 18.
Jenkins and Duque were added to the mix by petition. A third candidate, Bishop Stacy Sauls of Lexington, Ky., was also nominated by petition. Church leaders have set an April 1 deadline for nomination petitions.
The four original candidates _ Bishop Neil Alexander of Atlanta, Bishop Edwin Gulick of Louisville, Ky., Bishop Henry Parsely of Birmingham, Ala., and Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori of Las Vegas _ were named by a 29-member nominating committee.
All seven candidates addressed the church’s House of Bishops on Sunday (March 19) during a meeting in Hendersonville, N.C.
Jenkins, 54, has served as bishop of New Orleans since 1997. He was originally thought to be a strong contender for the top job until Hurricane Katrina devastated his diocese last year and forced him to focus his energies there.
Jenkins said 12 bishops asked to put his name in nomination. “These 12 bishops who asked me were from across the spectrum of the church and included liberal and conservative, male and female, and are of various colors. I am humbled by and conflicted by their request,” he wrote to his diocese on Sunday.
Jenkins voted against the election of the church’s first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2003 and in 2004 was elected president of the Presiding Bishop’s Council of Advice, an informal advisory group.
Duque, 55, became bishop of Bogota in 2002. He is a practicing attorney and the fourth Episcopal bishop to lead the church’s missionary outreach to Colombia’s 1,200 Episcopalians. In 2003, he voted to confirm Robinson as a bishop.
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Delay in Katrina Aid Blasted By National Clergy Group
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Clergy from more than 100 cities have called on Washington lawmakers to stop squabbling over $4.2 billion in federal money earmarked to rebuild hurricane-damaged housing in Louisiana, and to direct more money to evacuated residents trying to return to the New Orleans area.
“We stand here in solidarity in New Orleans to say that something has to be done to change things,” said Monsignor Robert McDermott of St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Camden, N.J.
McDermott decried recent reports that U.S. Senate leaders might hold up consideration of the housing assistance until June. “What’s wrong with today or tomorrow? It’s too late in June. It has to happen now,” he said.
The clergy members, representing 30 church denominations, gathered Friday (March 17) on the steps of Mount Moriah Baptist Church in New Orleans’ 9th Ward following a three-hour bus tour of flooded neighborhoods in the city. They were in New Orleans for a summit organized by People Improving Communities through Organizing, or PICO, a national network of interfaith organizations that work to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods.
Wrecked houses line the street around Mount Moriah, and the surrounding neighborhood that used to be home to the church’s 500 members remains largely abandoned. The church suffered about $500,000 in damage and remains closed, said its pastor, the Rev. Donald Robinson.
The clergy members said Congress has moved too slowly to put money into the hands of evacuees for repairing their homes and reviving their communities.
“Not a penny of federal aid has reached families to help them rebuild,” said the Rev. Heyward Wiggins III, pastor of Camden (N.J.) Bible Tabernacle.
Others said the personal needs of hurricane victims are getting lost in Washington deal-making. “What is happening in New Orleans is not about morality or spirituality,” said the Rev. Timothy McDonald of Atlanta’s First Iconium Baptist Church. “It’s about politics.”
The religious leaders promised to use their congregations to launch grass-roots lobbying efforts supporting more federal aid for housing reconstruction in New Orleans.
_ Keith Darce
Hindu Group Files Lawsuit to Stop Sixth-Grade Textbooks That `Demean’
(RNS) A group claiming to represent 2 million American Hindus has sued the California State Board of Education to block publication of sixth-grade textbooks that “demean, stereotype and reflect adversely upon Hindus.”
In superior court in Sacramento, the Hindu American Foundation is seeking a temporary restraining order to keep the proposed textbooks from going to press. In a lawsuit filed Friday (March 17), the HAF claims the board failed to hold sufficient deliberations after a public hearing on the textbook and failed to abide by a state open meetings law.
“Today Hindu Americans have taken a stand against not only the illegal machinations of the SBE and unfair treatment Hindus received during the textbook adoption process, but also the inaccurate and unequal portrayal of their religious tradition in school textbooks,” said Nikhil Joshi, a member of the HAF Board of Directors. “This is about treating Hindus in America and their religion with the same level of sensitivity and balance afforded to other religious traditions and their practitioners.”
The California State Board of Education declined to comment.
At issue in the case is the text’s portrayal of ancient Hinduism.
Harvard University Sanskrit scholar Michael Witzel intervened in the editorial process last year, he said, to make sure the textbook didn’t “whitewash” the history of ancient Hinduism. The state school board last month voted to adopt most of his recommendations, which included linking Hinduism to women’s inferior social status and to India’s caste system.
HAF said it is concerned that “Hinduism not be unfavorably compared with other religions or made to appear as a more regressive or archaic belief system,” according to a statement released Friday.
But Witzel says the integrity of history is at stake.
“We cannot allow right-wing groups to rewrite textbooks according to political games being played in India,” Witzel says.
_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald
Church Volunteer Finds Stack of $100 Bills in Post-Hurricane Rubble
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) As Trista Wright dragged a rake through the dusty pile of moldy Sheetrock Wednesday (March 15), she noticed the corner of a faded piece of green paper poking out of the rubble.
Wright, a college student in New Orleans on a spring break church mission, reached into the pile and dusted off the slip of rectangular paper. A portrait of Benjamin Franklin stared back at her.
That grubby piece of paper was a $100 bill.
Wright quickly picked through the pile at her feet and found another just like it. Then another. And another.
“I was shocked,” said Wright, who attends Armstrong Atlantic State University in Savannah, Ga. “I thought it was Monopoly money.”
The small three-bedroom brick home in Arabi was the third house Wright and her church group had gutted.
She immediately peeled back the Sheetrock from around an air-conditioning vent in the closet wall where she’d been working. Wedged between the drywall near the base of the vent sat a stack of bills almost six inches high.
It was more money than Wright had ever seen. By unofficial count, it was more than $30,000.
Unsure of the legal responsibilities and ramifications of the find, the students called the organizers of the church mission, who, in turn, notified the St. Bernard Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Deputy Gary Adams responded. He verified the identity of the woman who owned the home, which she said previously belonged to her father and had been in the family for generations. When the succession papers checked out and a call to a local lawyer who handled the transaction confirmed her story, Adams handed the money over to the homeowner.
“She was speechless,” said Wright, 19, one of 175 Georgia college students who spent a week gutting homes in the area.
“They were elated, but they didn’t know what to do with it,” Adams said. “It’s good to see someone find something like that and turn it over to proper authorities and the rightful owner.”
The lucky woman, an Arabi native in her 50s who asked to remain anonymous, said she suspects the money belonged to her father, who grew up in the Depression and was wary of keeping his money in a bank.
_ Jeff Duncan
Descendant of Jonathan Edwards May Face Gay Wedding Trial
(RNS) A Presbyterian minister who is a distant relative of famed Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards could face a church trial on charges that she officiated at a wedding for two women.
No formal charges have yet been filed against the Rev. Janet Edwards of Pittsburgh, but a church investigation committee will meet March 29 to consider whether she should face trial for marrying two women last year.
If church leaders decide to pursue a trial and Edwards is found guilty, she could face a range of penalties, from censure to defrocking. The Presbyterian Church (USA) allows same-sex unions as long as they are not equated with traditional marriage.
At least five complaints have been filed against Edwards for officiating at the June 25, 2005, wedding of Brenda Cole and Nancy McConn in Pittsburgh. The two women were legally married in Vancouver, British Columbia, several days later.
“Marriage is a sacred union between people who are committed to each other, without regard to gender,” Edwards told Presbyterian News Service.
A lesbian minister who married a gay couple was acquitted on similar charges March 3. A church court in California ruled the Rev. Janie Spahr was acting out of her conscience. Edwards said it is “unpredictable” what role Spahr’s trial might play in her own.
Puritan preacher Edwards is best known for his famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.”
_ Kevin Eckstrom
Danish Parents Can Soon Name Their Kids Jesus Without Breaking Law
(RNS) Beginning in April, parents in Denmark can legally name their children Jesus.
The country’s parliament voted last June to add the biblical name of the Christian messiah to the approved register. A century-old name law restricts what Danish parents can call their kids. They are required to select the first names of their infants from the government’s roster.
Danes whose families immigrated from Spain or Latin America are most likely to call their sons Jesus because it was their persistent requests that prompted the approval, according to Jorgen Engmark, information officer at Denmark’s Ministry of Ecclesiastical Affairs. Engmark said the name had been disallowed because it is not a traditional Danish name.
“Now we have a lot of people, mainly those from Spain and Latin America, coming and saying that they want to name their children Jesus so we decided to add it to our list,” he added. “It is a traditional name in those countries, so why not accept it here?”
Engmark added that other non-Danish names, including Muslim ones, had also been approved.
The law is intended to protect children against indecent names, according to Michael Lerche, who teaches Danish language history at the University of Copenhagen. He said when the ruling was passed in 1904 it referred only to surnames and was enforced by local councils. But a revision in 1961 centralized enforcement and included first names because “some surnames could become first names.”
Lerche, a member of the university’s Institute of Name Research, noted that violators of this law must pay a monthly fine until they choose a name from the list and that children without an approved name are denied official documentation.
But Lerche averred that it is unlikely that native-born Danes will christen their sons Jesus because “Danes will find it odd to meet another Scandinavian with such a name.”
In neighboring Sweden, where a couple recently named their son Google (after the U.S. search engine), one does not need permission to be called Jesus. About 420 Swedes, including women, bear the name Jesus, according to the Swedish Bureau of Statistics.
_ Simon Reeves
Quote of the Week: Evangelist Franklin Graham
(RNS) “If people think Islam is such a wonderful religion, just go to Saudi Arabia and make it your home. Just live there. If you think Islam is such a wonderful religion, I mean, go _ go and live under the Taliban somewhere. I mean, … you’re free to do that.”
_ Evangelist Franklin Graham, in an interview aired on ABC News’ “Nightline” on Wednesday (March 15).
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