c. 2008 Religion News Service

Baptist Covenant leaders meet, set 2011 gathering

(RNS) After gathering some 15,000 people in Atlanta early this year, moderate Baptist leaders say they do not want to form a new denomination but they do plan to meet again in three years.

Leaders of the New Baptist Covenant held a follow-up meeting at the Carter Center with former President Jimmy Carter on March 12 to map out the future after the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant that was held in late January.

“An earlier decision was reconfirmed that we would not form a separate official organization, but would continue to build upon the excitement and inspiration that was shared by more than 15,000 of us who attended the Atlanta assembly, and work harmoniously with other Baptists,” reads a statement released Wednesday (March 19).

The January meeting brought together moderate-minded Baptists from several denominations, many of whom disagree with the conservative bent of the 16 million-member Southern Baptist Convention.

About 70 Baptists at the follow-up meeting agreed to another major gathering of Baptists in 2011.

In the meantime, they hope smaller gatherings will occur on the local and regional level. They expect to address issues such as poverty, global warming, health care, human rights, criminal justice and religious liberty.

“The pre-eminent commitment of the New Baptist Covenant should always be winning souls to Christ _ by word and example _ locally and globally,” reads a statement of “possible actions.”

The Rev. David Goatley, one of the co-chairs of the January gathering, said the leaders hope there will be new networks of Baptists, including young Baptists, collaborating on a range of issues.

“It is not a denomination,” said Goatley, president of the North American Baptist Fellowship. “It is an opportunity for networking, for collaboration, for coalition building.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Bin Laden targets pope over Muhammad cartoons

VATICAN CITY (RNS) A new audio recording by Osama bin Laden accused Pope Benedict XVI of participating in a “new crusade” against Islam, including the publication of cartoons that depict the Prophet Muhammad.

A Vatican spokesman quickly responded, calling bin Laden’s accusation “totally unfounded,” and stressing that Benedict himself had condemned the offending images.

“Your publication of these drawings, part of a new crusade in which the pope of the Vatican has a significant role, is a confirmation on your part that the war continues,” bin Laden said in the recording, which was released late Wednesday (March 19) and addressed to “the wise persons of the European Union.”

The drawings in question are evidently the 12 cartoon portrayals of Islam’s founder published by a Danish newspaper in September 2005, and subsequently reprinted in newspapers in other countries. Protests by Muslims around the world in February 2006 led to outbreaks of violence that are estimated to have left at least 50 people dead.

Last month, several Danish newspapers marked the second anniversary of those clashes by reprinting one especially controversial cartoon, which depicted Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb.

Bin Laden’s claim that Benedict has participated in an effort to denigrate Islam is “totally unfounded,” said the top Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi on Thursday (March 20), according to the Italian news agency AGI.

The pope and the Vatican office responsible for inter-religious dialogue, Lombardi said, “have condemned the satirical campaign against Islam on more than one occasion.”

_ Francis X. Rocca

Court rejects arranged marriage of mentally challenged man

LONDON (RNS) The English court of appeal has ruled that a marriage of a mentally challenged British man and a Bangladeshi woman, which was recognized in Bangladesh under Sharia law, is illegal.

The marriage was conducted in August 2006 over a telephone link between a 26-year-old British bridegroom with the mental capacity of a 3-year-old and a young Bangladeshi woman chosen for him by his parents.

The marriage was challenged by the social and community services department of Westminster City Council, which provides care for the young man.

Lawyers for the young man’s parents argued that since the marriage was valid in Bangladesh and approved under Islamic law, it should also be recognized in the United Kingdom.

But the three appeals court judges ruled that the young man was unable to give valid consent to the marriage. They described the marriage as “potentially if not actually abusive.”

The bride had intended to get a visa and join her new husband in Britain. But the three judges ruled that the marriage would likely destroy the man’s equilibrium or destabilize his emotional state.

Noting that physical intimacy was “an ordinary consequence” of marriage, the judges said that if the man’s parents were to permit or encourage sexual intercourse between the pair, the bride “would be guilty of the crime of rape” under a 2003 law.

_ Robert Nowell

Quote of the Day: Filipino priest Rev. Alfred Crespo

(RNS) “There is really no reason to repeat what happened to Christ in Golgotha 2,000 years ago, because salvation happened then. One needs belief more than good works to be saved nowadays.”

_ Filipino priest Rev. Alfred Crespo, on self-flagellation and crucifixion, popular practices among Catholics in his country during Holy Week. He was quoted by the Gulf News, a Dubai-based newspaper.

KRE/RB END RNS