c. 2008 Religion News Service

Iowa GOP: Grassley probe didn’t impact delegate spot

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Christian activist who will lead the Iowa delegation to the Republican convention said Sen. Charles Grassley’s probe into televangelists’ finances was not the reason he was denied a delegate’s seat.

Steve Scheffler, president of the politically powerful Iowa Christian Alliance, dismissed reports that linked Grassley’s investigation and his lack of a delegate seat as “rumor-mongering and falsehoods.”

“His not being a delegate has nothing to do with his investigation of these ministries,” Scheffler said.

Iowa Republicans elected their slate of delegates at a July 12 convention, when Scheffler was elected as the state’s national committeeman, unseating a 20-year GOP veteran. Delegates also elected Kim Lehman, president of Iowa Right to Life, as GOP committeewoman.

Grassley has been investigating alleged lavish spending and tax exemptions of six high-profile evangelical ministries, including several well-known televangelists.

A few Washington insiders and columnists painted Grassley’s failure to gain a delegate’s seat as payback for his probe, which has been unpopular in some evangelical circles.

But Scheffler said Iowans “revere and honor ” the 28-year senate veteran,who is still expected attend and influence the GOP nomination convention in St. Paul, Minn., Sept. 1-4.

Having a voting delegate besides Grassley gives Iowa more sway over the party platform, Scheffler said.

Scheffler would not comment on Grassley’s investigation, saying it has nothing to do with the state’s GOP delegates. Grassley’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

_ Daniel Burke

Fourth-century Bible to go online

LONDON (RNS) The Codex Sinaiticus, thought to be one of the world’s oldest Bibles, is going online this week in a project led by the British Library to reconnect all its 1,600-year-old parts that are spread across Europe and Egypt’s Sinai desert.

A preview of the manuscript, which dates from the 4th century and includes what’s believed to be the oldest surviving copy of the New Testament, will be available free Thursday (July 24) at http://www.codex-sinaiticus.net, the library said.

The Codex is a “unique treasure” that “only a few people have ever had the opportunity to see more than a couple of pages,” says Scot McKendrick, the British Library’s head of Western manuscripts.

Until now, anyone lucky enough to get a first-hand peek at the ancient book would have to approach the British Library “on bended knee,” Oxford University scholar Christopher Tuckett told journalists. Even then, they would be limited to only two pages at a time.

“To have it available just at the click of a button is fantastic,” Tuckett added.

The project is aimed at bringing together in digital form all the pages of the Codex Sinaiticus that are presently kept in Leipzig, Germany; St. Petersburg, Russia; St. Catherine’s Monastery in Egypt’s Sinai; and the 347 vellum pages that the British Library bought from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in 1933.

Leipzig library curator Ulrich Johannes Schneider told France’s AFP news agency that Thursday’s preview would include more than 100 pages, 67 of them from the British collection and including the Codex’s complete Book of Psalms and parts of the Gospel of Mark.

Another part of the manuscript is scheduled to go online in November. By next July, all 800-odd existing pages in handwritten Greek, and more than 40 fragments, are expected to be online, complete with transcriptions, translations and search functions.

_ Al Webb

Dobson elected to Radio Hall of Fame

(RNS) James Dobson’s 32-year “Focus on the Family Daily” radio show will become the first religious program inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.

Voting for Dobson’s program outpaced fellow nominees Bob Costas, Laura Schlessinger and Howard Stern.

This year’s winners were the first chosen through online voting, where votes were cast by the public, members of the Museum of Broadcast Communications and a select list of 2,000 radio historians and industry leaders.

Nominated in the “national active” category, contenders had to be currently broadcasting and have “at least 10-year history of significant contributions to the industry on a national level.”

Dobson’s broadcast first went on the air in 1977, “calling for a return to conservative, Christian values,” according to the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Today, the internationally syndicated radio program can be heard on more than 4,000 stations worldwide in 27 languages.

“To have `Focus on the Family’ honored in this manner means we’ve made a difference in families all over the world,” said Jim Daly, Focus on the Family president and chief executive officer. “That Dr. Dobson’s listeners recognized the excellence and relevance of the content of the daily broadcast, and voted to give him a much-deserved win, shows Dr. Dobson’s influence is as strong as ever in the hearts of his fans, as well as in the culture.”

Dobson is set to be inducted at the Radio Hall of Fame Awards Dinner Nov. 8, but not without some controversy. The pro-gay group Truth Wins Out vowed to protest the induction ceremony.

The group, which aims to “expose the `ex-gay’ myth and educate America about gay life,” has tangled with Focus’ Love Won Out program, which maintains that homosexuality can be “overcome” through prayer and counseling.

_ Ashly McGlone

Methodist bishop warns Calif. clergy on gay marriages

(RNS) Calling it “incompatible with Christian teaching” and at odds with church policy, a United Methodist bishop in California warned ministers who perform same-sex marriages that they could face disciplinary charges.

Last month, the Methodists’ California-Nevada Conference commended a group of 82 retired clergy who volunteered to perform same-sex marriages in the state, in an attempt to protect active ministers from facing sanctions.

“It is not within the power or prerogative of an annual conference to offer the services of its clergy to perform acts which the General Conference has declared to be chargeable offenses against the law of the United Methodist Church,” Bishop Beverly J. Shamana wrote in a letter to the United Methodist Judicial Council.

Conservative groups denounced the conference’s resolution as a betrayal of church values, while members of the church’s Northeastern Jurisdiction voiced their support for the retired clergy at their annual meeting last week.

United Methodist teachings prohibit ministers from performing same-sex marriages, a ban that was upheld at the church’s national convention last April.

But the retired clergy argue that they are simply standing up against an injustice. Don Fado, a retired minister from Sacramento who led the group’s efforts, called Shamana’s ruling “a sad day for the denomination.“

“She may be right, disciplinarily speaking, but I hope not,” Fado said. “I hope our denomination hasn’t come to the place where we do not even allow the expression of dissent when it comes to a resolution of the annual conference.”

Shamana will retire from her post on Sept. 1, but her successor, Bishop Warner Brown, affirmed Shaman’s ruling.

“Bishop Shamana in my opinion has correctly interpreted church law for the United Methodists on how practices in term of our discipline should be applied,” he said in an interview Tuesday (July 22).

The Judicial Council will review Shamana’s ruling at its meeting in October in Minneapolis. The retired clergy have the option of filing a brief in defense of the resolution, but have not made a decision yet. Fado said the group will continue to make themselves available to perform the ceremonies if needed.

_ Tim Murphy

Quote of the Day: Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias

(RNS) “From a political standpoint, why would they let go an evangelical, Hispanic veteran? I represent three major voting groups.”

_ Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico, writing in his recent book, “In Justice: Inside the Scandal that Rocked the Bush Administration,” about the Justice Department’s decision to fire seven U.S. attorneys _ including himself _ in one day. He was quoted in the Opinion blog of dallasnews.com.

KRE DS END RNS