c. 2007 Religion News Service

Israeli Judge Allows Cremation as Lawmakers Protest

JERUSALEM (RNS) Orthodox Israeli legislators say they are examining a recent landmark decision by a judge that allows cremation, a process banned by Jewish law.

Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Sobol issued the ruling in response to a suit filed by a distant relative of the late Shmuel Rosen, an 80-year-old Holocaust survivor, to prevent his cremation on the grounds that the process is prohibited by Jewish law. Rosen’s widow and two sons favored the cremation.

“We are studying the decision, and although it is a serious ruling that goes against halacha (Jewish law), passing a law against cremation will be difficult,” Yitzhak Levy, a legislator from the Orthodox National Religious Party, said via a spokeswoman.

Levy noted that while “marriage and divorce are under the jurisdiction of the Rabbinate,” Israel’s governing religious body on all Jewish matters, “secular burial societies are not.”

If the religious political parties in Israel’s parliament decide to make their cooperation with non-religious parties conditional on the passage of an anti-cremation law _ something they have done with other religious matters _ it could have wide-ranging consequences for government decision-making.

Sobol’s Dec. 28 ruling is controversial because it pits Jewish law, which prohibits any alternative to burial, against the final wishes of some Jewish Israelis. With few exceptions, Jewish life cycle events in Israel are under the authority of the Orthodox establishment.

Religion aside, the issue of cremation is a highly emotional one around the Jewish world, and particularly in Israel, largely because the process evokes searing images of Jewish adults and children burned in giant crematoria at Nazi death camps during the Holocaust.

The concept is so foreign to Judaism that there is not even a word in Hebrew for cremation.

In his ruling, Sobol relied heavily on a recent statement by Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz that said because parliament has never passed a law forbidding cremation, it cannot be considered illegal.

Since 2005, several dozen Jews have been cremated without fanfare at Alei Shalchevet, the only funeral home in the country that cremates remains. Rosen’s body was cremated in December.

_ Michele Chabin

Critics Say Boston Archdiocese Sold Church to `Hostile’ Denomination

BOSTON (RNS) The recent sale of a former Roman Catholic church in East Boston to a “hostile denomination” has a group of local Catholics accusing the Boston Archdiocese of having “deserted its pastoral and evangelical duties.”

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, a Pentecostal denomination, bought what was formerly the St. Mary Star of the Sea parish in early December for a reported $2.65 million. Three weeks prior, the archdiocese had sold the property to MEE Development LLC for $850,000.

The apparent “flipping” of the church property prompted outcry from the Council of Parishes, an association of 15 local congregations that are resisting the closure of local parishes.

“A hostile denomination whose mission is incompatible with that of our church is now established in the heartland of a traditionally Catholic neighborhood,” wrote Peter Borre, co-chair of the Council of Parishes, in a Jan. 8 letter to Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the pope’s ambassador in Washington.

“The Archdiocese of Boston has deserted its pastoral and evangelical duties in an area of Boston full of Hispanic immigrants (who) are the focus of aggressive evangelizing efforts by other denominations.”

In a written statement, the archdiocese says it rejected early offers on the property in 2005 because they came in at levels well below the appraised value. When it accepted the developer’s offer in February 2006, after nearly a year without any other offers, the archdiocese believed his plans were to establish housing and a photography studio.

“Universal never approached us, and we have no relationship with them,” archdiocese spokesperson Terrence Donilon said in an e-mail Wednesday (Jan. 10). “We also had no idea MEE was already talking with Universal when (the developer) closed with us.”

For the Archdiocese of Boston, the episode marks the latest snafu in a painful budget-tightening process, which has included closure for about 25 percent of parishes. Members of eight parishes slated for closure continue to keep vigil round-the-clock, as they have for months, to prevent the archdiocese from gaining possession of the property. A lawsuit challenging the archdiocese’s authority to sell off local church buildings is also working its way through the courts.

Now, questions of stewardship at the archdiocese have come to include the safeguarding of statues and other religious items.

“We should all wonder aloud what is going on in St. Mary Star of the Sea,” says John Salisbury, a Council of Parishes member, via e-mail, “and how thorough a job the (archdiocese) did in removing sacred objects.”

_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald

German Catholics Warn Against Christian-Muslim Marriage

BERLIN (RNS) Marriage between a Catholic and a Muslim can lead to problems, especially when the wife is the Catholic, according to a pamphlet recently circulated by a German Catholic diocese.

According to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (Frankfurt General Newspaper), the Hildesheim diocese in central Germany has long warned its female parishioners that cross-cultural issues can be especially problematic in Catholic-Muslim relationships. The brochure is an extension of the prior spoken warnings.

According to the head of the diocesan council, too many women are entering such marriages unaware of the possible conflicts that can build up, specifically in areas of personal property, raising children and individual rights for the wife.

The brochure advises women considering marriage to a Muslim man to make sure that property is not merged and that the woman gets written assurances that she will be able to continue working after the wedding. It also advises women that they can refuse to move back to the groom’s home country. Finally, it recommends agreeing before the marriage about the religious upbringing of any children.

There has been little, if any, reaction to the brochure from Germany’s Muslim community since it was announced.

_ Niels Sorrells

Church of the Nazarene Reports Strong Growth Rates

(RNS) While many churches have been losing active members, empty pews are generally not a problem at the Church of the Nazarene, an evangelical denomination whose worldwide membership has increased by one-third during the past decade, according to its recently released annual report.

The church has 1.6 million members, having gained nearly 700,000 members since 1999.

“Each number represents an immensely valuable person, and we rejoice over each man, woman, student, boy and girl who is reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ,” wrote the Rev. Jerry D. Porte, the church’s general superintendent, in the 2006 report to the church’s General Board.

The church’s biggest increases have been outside the U.S. Last year the church grew by 5.7 percent overseas, while domestic growth was less than 1 percent.

The church has experienced a slight decline in service attendance in the U.S. and Canada, although Sunday School participation has gone up 1 percent.

There are nearly 19,000 Church of the Nazarene parishes across the world; about 700 new churches were added in the last year.

“God gives dreams to ordinary people such as you and me,” Porte wrote. “This (growth) initiative is being accomplished through tens of thousands of contagious individuals who are salt and light where they live and work. The Lord is doing extraordinary things through humble, radically available people.”

_ Katherine Boyle

Quote of the Day: Southern Baptist Pastor and Satirist Wade Burleson

(RNS) “It is not uncommon for Christian men and women to progress from tea, to coffee, to 64-ounce colas or Mountain Dews. Where does it stop? How does one know when the line of addiction has been crossed? If caffeine is addictive, then why play with fire?”

_ Wade Burleson, pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Enid, Okla., writing a satirical list of reasons why tea and coffee drinkers should be banned from Southern Baptist leadership positions. Quoted by Associated Baptist Press, he was joking in his blog about recent debates about Baptist views on drinking alcohol.

KRE/PH END RNS