c. 2007 Religion News Service
Methodist Churches Say Merger Not an Option
(RNS) Bishops from six U.S. Methodist denominations pledged to work together on common social justice goals but said a merger or union among them is not likely to happen any time soon.
Representing the United Methodist Church and the historically black African Methodist Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion and Christian Methodist Episcopal churches, the bishops gathered in Atlanta March 11-13 for their quadrennial meeting.
Two new members also joined the meeting: the Union American Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Union Methodist Protestant Church.
Noting that the gathering’s goals do not include a “union” of the churches, the bishops agreed to change its name from “Commission on Pan-Methodist Cooperation and Unity” to “Pan-Methodist Commission,” according to United Methodist News Service.
Bishop William Oden, the ecumenical officer for the United Methodist Council of Bishops, said there are several obstacles blocking a merger, including pension structures, how bishops are elected and concerns that the smaller denominations would be “swallowed up” by the 8-million-member United Methodist Church.
Still, Oden said that “we have more in common than we do differences. … We have the same services of ordination, Communion and baptism.”
The Methodist denominations have been working towards greater cooperation recently, with representatives from African-American churches serving on boards in the United Methodist Church, according to the UMC.
The bishops also appointed a committee to draft a statement calling for an end to the Iraq war; agreed to write letters in support of groups working on wage, health care and HIV/AIDS issues; and asked for research on AIDS in the U.S.
_ Daniel Burke
Christianity Today International Names New Editor-in-Chief
(RNS) Christianity Today International, the Illinois-based publisher of evangelical magazines and online periodicals, has named a new editor-in-chief.
Harold B. Smith, the publishing company’s former executive vice president, has succeeded the leadership team of Harold Myra and Paul D. Robbins. Myra, most recently executive chairman and CEO, and Robbins, the former president and publisher, retired after three decades with CTI.
“With the publishing industry in such transition, grappling with the relationship of print to the Web to an ever-changing array of electronic delivery systems, I’m grateful our strong past has positioned us to take advantage of exciting new possibilities in the days ahead,” Smith said.
“We will build on that strength as a multimedia communications ministry, resourcing churches and reaching people around the globe.”
Smith first joined the company as a special projects editor for Christianity Today magazine in 1984. He started his new post March 1.
Myra was named publisher in 1975 when the company published a single magazine. Robbins was named executive vice president in 1977 when the ministry moved to the Chicago suburb of Carol Stream, Ill.
Christianity Today magazine, which was founded by evangelist Billy Graham, was first published in 1956. CTI now publishes 13 print magazines including Today’s Christian Woman and Leadership journal, operates a Web site and produces dozens of electronic newsletters.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Britain Allows Schools to Ban Full-Face Veils
LONDON (RNS) Amid growing debate over religious tolerance, the British government said Tuesday (March 20) that schools will now be allowed to ban pupils from wearing full-face Muslim veils if teachers believe they affect security, safety or student’s ability to learn.
Government ministers issued the decree as part of new guidance on uniforms _ a move criticized as “simply shocking” by one leader of Britain’s 1.8 million Muslims.
After a wave of court cases challenging school decisions that rejected some forms of Islamic dress, the Department for Education said in a statement that while school administrators in Britain “should make every effort to accommodate social, religious or medical requirements, the needs of safety, security and effective learning … must always take precedence.”
The government’s action was seen as targeting the wearing of the Muslim full-face veil, the niqab, which conceals all but the eyes. In February, a 12-year-old Muslim girl lost her court battle to be allowed to wear the niqab in classes.
The Department of Education insisted the move was not an attempt to impose a blanket ban on veils, but that schools should have the power to bar “certain items.”
Some teachers have complained that full-face veils made it almost impossible to make eye contact and “read” pupils’ faces to determine if they were learning. Other school officials have suggested the veil could provide cover for dangerous outsiders trying to enter classrooms.
Earlier this year, an adult Muslim man wanted for questioning as a terrorist bomb suspect escaped from London by wearing full Islamic dress, including the niqab.
Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, told journalists he was “dismayed” and that “to now proceed to issue guidance against Muslim communities is simply shocking.“
Britain’s highest appeals court last year ruled that a school could refuse to allow a student to wear a jilbab, an Islamic flowing gown that covered her entire body except for the face and hands.
_ Al Webb
Quote of the Day: Minister and Singer CeCe Winans
(RNS) “Just because my name is on a CD or I just got a Grammy, that don’t matter. ‘Cause when I stand before the Lord, God is not going to say, `Cece, how many Grammys do you have?’ That’s not the requirement. But when I stand before him, he’s going to be looking for a reflection of himself.”
_ Minister CeCe Winans, speaking at the recent Praise & Worship Conference sponsored by Gospel Heritage Foundation in Washington.
KRE/LF END RNS
