China activist arrives in America with his family to study at university.
May 20
On arrival in New York City, activist Chen Guangcheng said, "We should link our arms to continue in the fight for the goodness in the world and to fight against injustice." He spoke publicly to a crowd at New York University late on Saturday. The lawyer who fought forced abortion and received strong support from the Christian community will study at NYU under a student visa.
Here's the You Tube video of his comments:
Many American groups, faith-based and secular, have campaigned for Chen's release from house arrest, including Women's Rights Without Frontiers. In 2005, Chen published his research that there were 130,000 forced abortions in Shandong Province. This report resulted in a four-year prison sentence. WRWF President Reggie Littlejohn, on April 30 in a statement to a congressional panel, said "Chen may be safe for the moment, but the women for whom he risked everything are not. Forced abortion is not a choice. It is official government rape."
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May 19
According to Bob Fu of ChinaAid and updated by the Washington Post and other media, Chen Guangcheng, the blind activist against forced abortion in China, departed Beijing early this morning (EDT).
Bob Fu reported on his website:
ChinaAid just learned that blind activist Chen Guangcheng's was told to pack and get ready to get leave China today (May19). Bob Fu talked with Chen an hour ago. Chen said Chinese official informed him that he would leave today, though he had not yet received his passport. Chen was not told which city in the US he was going. ChinaAid and Chen family deeply appreciate the international community's tireless efforts to gain his freedom, including Church’s passionate prayers, both the efforts of the US Embassy and the US Congress, who held two timely hearings on his behalf. Chen also wanted to express his gratitude to the Chinese government who fulfilled one of its promises to allow his family to leave.
Earlier in May, Chen captured the world's attention when he escaped house arrest from his village and fled to the safety of the US Embassy in Beijing. After days of high drama and diplomacy, Chen left the embassy for a Beijing hospital and China's leadership agreed to allow Chen to study at an American university. (Chen is a self-taught lawyer who took up human rights cases.)
The Washington Post reported early today:
Chen said U.S. diplomats arrived at the airport around 2 p.m. Chen’s wife, Yuan Weijing, reached by telephone while waiting for the flight, said Chinese officals gave the family their passports after they arrived at the airport. U.S. diplomats readied the visa papers.Speaking by phone from the airport earlier, Chen said, “I feel all sorts of emotions and feelings right now.”
Chen said the move was so sudden that he regretted that he never had a chance to meet with his mother and other family members left behind in Linyi city, in Shandong province. He called that “a pity.” His wife also appeared to feel mixed emotions at the sudden departure. “We haven’t decided how long we want to stay in the U.S. We’ll see,” she said. United Airlines Flight 88 to Newark took off several hours behind schedule. The delay was likely caused, among other things, by a thunderstorm. The news of Chen’s impending departure for the United States was first announced by Bob Fu, founder of ChinaAid, a Texas-based Christian rights group. Fu spoke with Chen Saturday morning when he was being driven to the airport by Chinese officials. “He was very excited and very glad to tell me. He said, I’m looking forward to seeing you,” Fu said in an interview. Chen has been offered a visiting fellowship at New York University.
Christianity Today will update this story as events develop.
Posted by Tim Morgan at May 19, 2012 6:40AM | Comments (1)
Second Circuit overturns New York town's appeal of legislative prayers because selection process of speakers was insufficiently random.
In its first case addressing legislative prayer, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that a New York town board's tradition of opening monthly meetings with prayer is unconstitutional because the town should have tried harder to find non-Christian speakers--even if that required recruiting beyond the town's borders.
The Town of Greece has opened board meetings with prayer since 1999. Two residents challenged the practice in 2008 because all the prayers had been offered by Christians. The town then had representatives of Judaism, Wicca, and the Baha'i faith offer prayers, but the residents filed suit once the prayers reverted to Christian-only in 2009 and 2010.
A lower court sided with the town, but three Second Circuit judges reversed its ruling, concluding "an objective, reasonable person would believe that the town’s prayer practice had the effect of affiliating the town with Christianity." Not because the prayers were sectarian per se; but because the town's "process for selecting prayer-givers virtually ensured a Christian viewpoint" because the town didn't actively solicit non-Christian speakers or -- given that the town has no non-Christian congregations within it -- go beyond its borders to recruit them.
Posted by Jeremy Weber at May 18, 2012 3:26PM | Comments (0)
Governors’ proclamations 'undermine the premise' that believers and nonbelievers are served equally, Colorado Court of Appeals rules.
Proclamations by Colorado governors for a state Day of Prayer are unconstitutional, the Colorado Court of Appeals recently ruled.
The three-judge panel ruled on state Day of Prayer proclamations issued from 2004 to 2009 after the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) challenged them. The court unanimously agreed that Colorado’s Day of Prayer is “predominantly religious,” thereby violating nonbelievers’ constitutional rights.
“[The proclamations] reflect an official belief in a God who answers prayers,” the court wrote. “At the same time, for those who do not believe in such a God, the proclamations tend to indicate that their nonbelief is not shared by the government that rules the State. In doing so, they undermine the premise that the government serves believers and nonbelievers equally.”
The court did not make any judgment on the National Day of Prayer, and it was quick to point out that its decision did not affect anyone’s right to pray.
Instead, the court wrote, the decision centered on the idea that “religious liberty protected by the Constitution is abridged when the State [sic] affirmatively sponsors the particular religious practice of prayer.”
In 2010, a U.S. District Judge ruled the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional after the FFRF filed suit. The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later overturned that ruling, stating the FFRF did not have standing because “a feeling of alienation cannot suffice as injury in fact.”
But the Colorado court ruled the FFRF had standing for this case, noting, “Unlike the narrower federal test for standing, plaintiffs in Colorado benefit from a relatively broad definition of the concept.”
The case was sent back to a trial court, which will consider whether a permanent injunction should be issued to prevent further proclamations for a Day of Prayer.
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 17, 2012 4:18PM | Comments (2)
Maine church says yes; City of Rockland says no.
A Methodist church in Maine has sued its city, claiming that it should be taxed the same as other local nonprofits.
Aldersgate United Methodist Church argues that its parsonage and parking lot should be exempt from almost $7,000 in property taxes because the City of Rockland exempts other charitable organizations from such tax on all their properties.
Rockland officials have exempted only the church's main property from taxes, which Aldersgate alleges is discriminatory treatment compared to local secular nonprofits. The city argues that Aldersgate cannot claim tax exemptions as both a church and a nonprofit under state law, and claims that it has already taxed the church generously.
Maine's tax exemption statutes distinguish between nonprofits and houses of worship.
Posted by Jeremy Weber at May 17, 2012 3:40PM | Comments (0)
Community Inn says yes; City of Lexington says no.
A Kentucky homeless shelter will have to close or relocate if city officials have their way.
Lexington's Community Inn, jointly run by Emmanuel Apostolic Church and the Catholic Action Center, inherited the building -- and thus the conditional-use permit -- of a failed church. But zoning officials say the shelter's activities, which have concerned neighbors, do not qualify to use the church permit.
"It's our opinion, it is not fundamentally a church, but is fundamentally a homeless shelter," Chris King, director of the division of planning, told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
"The problem is we have a different idea of what church really is," countered church elder James McDonald to the Herald-Leader. "The Community Inn is not a church as society sees it. But the presence of the Lord is in this place."
A revocation hearing will take place Friday.
CT recently covered a similar debate in Tennessee where the City of Chattanooga evicted a church which hosted concerts as an outreach to gangs, claiming it was "a business masquerading as a church."
Posted by Jeremy Weber at May 17, 2012 2:53PM | Comments (0)
The parsing of the most-popular baby names of 2011 has begun.
The list of most-popular names for babies born in 2011 has been released by the Social Security Administration, and the parsing has begun.
Four of the top ten names for both boys and girls have biblical roots, notes the Washington Post. Popular biblical names have shifted from the New Testament to the Old Testament, "baby name wizard" Laura Wattenberg told the Associated Press.
CT recently charted trends in biblical names and examined whether giving children biblical names enhances their spiritual development.
Posted by Jeremy Weber at May 17, 2012 2:31PM | Comments (0)
Changing market and difficult economy prompt "Jesus' Woodstock" to call it quits this July.
Cornerstone Festival, the long-running Jesus People USA festival described as "Jesus' Woodstock," has announced that this July's festival will be its last, citing "changes in the market and a difficult economy."
Christianity Today profiled the festival's rise to prominence after drawing 5,000 people to its first festival in 1984.
Posted by Jeremy Weber at May 16, 2012 4:01PM | Comments (0)
Oregon woman's blog alleges her former church commits spiritual abuse.
An Oregon woman’s online critiques of her former church could cost her $500,000.
The pastor of Beaverton Grace Bible Church (BGBC) sued Julie Anne Smith, her daughter, and three other former church members for $500,000 in damages, alleging that Smith’s blog, Beaverton Grace Bible Church Survivors, amounts to defamation.
Smith and her family left the church a few years ago and were subsequently shunned by their church friends, she told KATU News.
"If I went to Costco or any place in town, if I ran into somebody, they would turn their heads and walk the other way," she told KATU. "All we did was ask questions. We just raised concerns. There's no sin in that."
Smith posted critical reviews of the church on Google that were later removed. In February, she started her blog, which accuses BGBC of spiritual abuse and its pastor, Charles O’Neal, of “narcissism in the pulpit,” ABC News reported.
Within days of starting the blog, BGBC filed its lawsuit. The suit goes before a judge later this month, though Smith has filed a motion to dismiss it. Her attorney, Linda Williams, told KGW News that it’s rare for cases like this to go to court.
The church has not made a statement regarding the case. On her blog, Smith wrote she has no plans to back down.
“The story of spiritual abuse needs to be told,” she wrote. “People are being hurt emotionally and spiritually by pastors who use bully tactics and we need a place to learn, to talk freely, and to heal. I will not be silenced.”
In 2010, Christianity Today reported a similar legal tussle between a Baptist church in Florida and its online critics.
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 14, 2012 5:15PM | Comments (13)
Sole survivor is daughter of Ron Luce, founder of Teen Mania Ministries.
The daughter of the founders of Teen Mania Ministries remains hospitalized after a plane crash that killed four others.
The plane was headed to Council Bluffs, Iowa, for Teen Mania’s Acquire The Fire youth event when it crashed Friday afternoon. Three graduates from Oral Roberts University—Luke Sheets, Garrett Coble, and Stephen Luth—were killed at the scene.
The remaining passengers—Austin Anderson, also an Oral Roberts Graduate, and Hannah Luce, daughter of Teen Mania founders Ron and Katie Luce—managed to escape the wreck and get help, though both suffered serious injuries. Anderson died the following morning; Luce is recovering at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City.
In a statement on their blog, the Luces credited Anderson, a former Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq, with saving their daughter’s life.
“We believe [Anderson] helped Hannah out of the plane and to the roadside,” the Luces wrote. “Not only is he a hero for serving our nation, we probably owe our daughter’s life to his courage and strength.”
Anderson and Luth had recently been hired to Teen Mania’s marketing team, the organization said in a statement, though all those involved in the crash “were friends of Teen Mania.” Coble was a professor at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, The Kansas City Star reported.
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 14, 2012 4:43PM | Comments (0)
Wisconsin pastor convicted of conspiracy to commit child abuse had argued his conviction violated his right to religious freedom.
A Wisconsin trial court judge denied a motion to dismiss charges against a convicted pastor who instructed his church members to use wooden rods to spank misbehaving children, some as young as two months old.
Philip Caminiti, pastor of Aleitheia Bible Church in Black Earth, Wisconsin, was convicted of eight counts of conspiracy to commit child abuse in March. He faces up to six years of prison time; his sentencing hearing is scheduled for later this month.
Caminiti argued the convictions violate his right to religious freedom. But Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi disagreed, stating that though Caminiti had “a sincerely held religious belief” to use a rod to discipline young children, he failed to prove Wisconsin’s child abuse statue “places a burden” on that belief.
“Scripture doesn't specify how and when the rod should be used,” Sumi ruled.
In January, Christianity Today examined arguments for and against corporal punishment, as the misuse of biblical teaching on discipline can have deadly consequences.
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 14, 2012 3:44PM | Comments (2)
Canadian federal judge says a religious refugee’s knowledge “cannot be equated to faith.”
Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) is under fire once again for its treatment of applicants for religious refugee status.
Haixhin Zhang applied for refugee protection in 2008 after coming to Canada from China the year before on a traveler’s visa. He claimed he was first introduced to Christianity in China in 2005; he first joined a church while he was in Canada.
At Zhang's hearing, IRB adjudicator Leonard Favreau ruled Zhang joined a church in Canada to support a fraudulent refugee claim because Zhang only knew the names of two of Jesus’ apostles, two of the gospels, and one prayer—the Lord’s Prayer, which he recited incorrectly.
Federal judge Douglas Campbell recently ruled the IRB should abandon its policy of testing the religious knowledge of applicants like Zhang. Campbell called the policy “fundamentally flawed” and sent Zhang’s case back to the IRB to be reviewed by another adjudicator.
“First, religious knowledge cannot be equated to faith,” Campbell said at the hearing. “And second, the quality and quantity of religious knowledge necessary to prove faith is unverifiable.”
Campbell also pointed out the IRB’s questioning allows adjudicators to be their own experts, making the practice “highly subjective” and open to abuse.
This is far from the first time the IRB has been rebuked for its religious quizzes. Last September, the IRB was rebuked by the Federal Court of Canada after another adjudicator denied refugee status to a Catholic Chinese immigrant in part because the applicant did not know the name of Jesus’ grandmother and said the Communion elements were a representation of Jesus’ body (instead of the actual body). His case was also sent back for a hearing in front of another adjudicator.
Recently the Federal Court also twice chastised the IRB for its questioning of two separate refugee claimants who said their practice of Falun Gong would lead to persecution if they returned to China. Both cases were given new hearings.
Such cases have not been limited to Canada. Last year, Christianity Today reported a ruling from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that stated an immigration judge cannot quiz asylum seekers on religious doctrine to test the credibility of their faith. The case in question was a Chinese Christian who was denied asylum because he said Thanksgiving was a Christian holiday and “knew little about the difference between the Old and New Testaments.”
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 11, 2012 3:13PM | Comments (1)
Also: Atheist groups divided on whether Rhode Island memorial cross should stay put.
A 10-year battle over a cross in the Mojave Desert has come to an end thanks to a federal judge’s final approval of a land swap.
The World War I memorial cross, erected in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), was at the center of a long legal conflict that eventually went to the Supreme Court.
The plan gives the acre of land where the cross has been located to two veterans’ groups in exchange for five acres of private property in the Mojave National Preserve. Congress had originally ordered the land swap in 2003, but opponents brought the case to the courts, arguing that the exchange amounted to preferential treatment.
However, in 2010 the Supreme Court sent the case back to the lower courts, allowing the cross to remain because the transfer would resolve any constitutional concerns. The cross was stolen less than a month later; VFW has promised to replace it.
Meanwhile, another cross at the center of potential litigation will likely be moved. Last month, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter to Leo Fontaine, the mayor of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, arguing that a cross erected in 1921 as a World War I memorial violates the separation of church and state since it is located on city property.
John Ward, president of the city council, told the Associated Press that though he believes the cross is more of a historical symbol, the city can’t afford a lawsuit. Fontaine said the cross may be moved to a more prominent location on private property.
However, another Rhode Island atheist group says the cross ought to stay. Jason LaRose, a Woonsocket resident and the co-founder of Ocean State Atheists, told WJAR news the cross “only represents the soldiers who were killed, who were most likely Catholics.”
Christianity Today has spotlighted the Supreme Court’s tangled view of public crosses. CT also asked evangelical leaders whether the Supreme Court should consider memorial crosses as secular.
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 9, 2012 11:54AM | Comments (1)
Ministry cites the economy as main factor in the decision; critic cites conflict over leader C. J. Mahaney.
Sovereign Grace Ministries (SGM), which has weathered controversy over its leadership and discipline practices, will relocate its offices and pastor-training program to Louisville, Kentucky.
Currently based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, SGM cited the economy as the main factor in its decision. It also hopes to expand its Pastors College and collaborate with Louisville-based Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS).
“In short, our mission is to serve Sovereign Grace churches, and being located in the DC area was placing limitations on our ability to do so,” John Loftness, chairman of the SGM board, said in a statement.
SGM currently has no churches in Kentucky or Indiana, but Loftness said SGM president C. J. Mahaney will plant a church in Louisville. Albert Mohler Jr., president of SBTS, told The Courier-Journal he welcomed the church plant and SGM’s move.
“I think the Sovereign Grace churches are a demonstration of the revitalization of Christianity in the early 21st century,” Mohler said.
Last July, Christianity Today reported that Mahaney was taking a leave of absence after former SGM pastor Brent Detwiler raised concerns about “various expressions of pride, unentreatability, deceit, sinful judgment and hypocrisy" committed by Mahaney.
That month, SGM installed an interim board of directors and established three separate review panels to determine if Mahaney should remain as president. It reinstated Mahaney in January.
Though Loftness asserted in his statement that SGM had been planning the move to Louisville years before last summer’s conflicts, Detwiler told The Courier-Journal SGM was moving because of its “fractured relationships” with Covenant Life Church, SGM’s flagship congregation where its headquarters is currently located.
During its review of Mahaney, SGM enlisted the services of the Ambassadors of Reconciliation (AOR), a Lutheran conflict mediation group. Early last month, AOR released a report of its findings, citing SGM for, among other issues, overemphasizing sin.
“We recommend that Sovereign Grace Ministries intentionally develop a culture of proclaiming God’s forgiveness to those who express repentance or confess their sins,” AOR said in its report.
In response to the AOR’s recommendations, SGM’s Board of Directors released a statement pledging to “commit by God’s grace to correct the failures identified in this report and to do all in our power to shepherd the precious people of God with grace, patience, humility, and love.”
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 9, 2012 10:52AM | Comments (3)
The "Painter of Light" had been troubled in recent years, family members said.
Christian painter Thomas Kinkade died of a drug and alcohol overdose, according to an autopsy report released Monday.
Kinkade's April 6 death was ruled accidental by the Santa Clara County Coroner's office, which found high levels of alcohol and the anti-anxiety medication Diazepam in his body, according to Reuters.
The artist had struggled with alcoholism, according to his family. Kinkade, 54 when he died, was one of the most commercially successful artists in history, selling millions of light-infused scenes of cozy cottages nestled in fairytale-like valleys.
Raised in the Church of the Nazarene, he called himself the "Painter of Light," and spent much of his career depicting churches and biblical themes. Critics panned his work as treacly kitsch. But Kinkade's artistic empire, which included a chain of national galleries and an association with the Disney, made him a beloved figure in conservative Christian circles.
His brother Patrick Kinkade, a professor at Texas Christian University, told the San Jose Mercury News that the artist had been troubled in recent years by a separation from his wife, business problems, and critics' low opinions of his work.
In 2010, the year he filed for bankruptcy, Thomas Kinkade was arrested for drunk driving. In 2006, Kinkade was accused of fraud by art gallery owners, and in 2002, Kinkade faced slumping sales amidst growing criticism of his work.
Christianity Today previously reported on Kinkade's death. CT also profiled Kinkade in 2000.
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 8, 2012 4:20PM | Comments (2)
A 2009 accident left a 13-year-old boy dead after a youth minister let him drive.
A Kentucky jury found a church liable for the death of a boy killed in 2009 after a youth minister let the boy drive his vehicle, and awarded more than $2 million in damages to the boy's parents.
Derek Coulter was a youth minister at Big Springs Assembly of God in 2009 when he let Jamie Mitchell, 13, drive after a camping trip that included 10 youth group members. Mitchell lost control of the vehicle and was killed in the crash.
Coulter initially lied to police and said he had been driving; a passenger later came forward and said Mitchell had been driving. Coulter was later convicted of reckless homicide and sentenced to five years in prison.
Mitchell’s parents, Rebecca Coleman and James Mitchell, sued Coulter and the church, arguing the church was responsible for Coulter’s misconduct. Their lawyers argued that a church has a “sacred duty” to protect children and that Big Springs failed in that duty.
The church (which left the Assemblies of God and is now known as Open Door Christian Center) argued that it was not liable because the trip was not an official church trip, and it could not have predicted Coulter would let Mitchell drive.
The church will consider an appeal, a lawyer for the church told the Louisville-based Courier-Journal. J. Dale Golden said there were “inconsistencies” in the verdict, adding that the jury ruled Coulter wasn’t acting in his role of employment but the church was still negligent in supervising him.
Last year, Christianity Today reported on a “chilling verdict” in a similar case. A Florida jury awarded a $4.75 million judgment against Tampa-based Idlewild Baptist Church after a 14-year-old-boy was severely injured on a church-sponsored ski trip in 2003. The case prompted churches to reassess their risk management policies. The jury's decision was later overturned.
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 8, 2012 12:25PM | Comments (0)
Proposal could provide a compromise to First Amendment case at a Virginia public high school.
A federal judge in Virginia has proposed that two parties involved in a dispute over the display of the Ten Commandments at a public high school should consider modifying the display by removing the four Commandments that mention God.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia sued the Giles County School Board on behalf of a student over a Ten Commandments display at Narrows High School, arguing that it violated the First Amendment’s protection against endorsement of religion. The school board said the Commandments were part of a larger display of historical documents and therefore not religious.
The Commandments were already removed once from the school, but the school board voted 3-2 last summer to reinstall them after pressure from the community—a move that the ACLU argued was religion-based.
U.S. District Judge Michael Urbanski sent the case into mediation this week. “If indeed this issue is not about God, why wouldn’t it make sense for Giles County to say, ‘Let’s go back and just post the bottom six [commandments]?’” Urbanski said during the hearing.
Giles County hopes to resolve the issue without a trial, as it could face huge legal costs if the ACLU wins. Both sides will meet with Magistrate Judge Robert Ballou for mediation sessions in the coming weeks, The Roanoke Times reported.
Christianity Today has covered many Ten Commandments cases in the past, including extended coverage of the landmark case in Alabama. A 2005 editorial also highlighted the Supreme Court's inconsistent stance on the display of the Ten Commandments.
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 8, 2012 11:13AM | Comments (11)
The amendment bans the use of public money for religious groups.
Florida voters will have a chance to change the religious freedom section of their state constitution this year.
If passed, Amendment 8 would remove the state’s “Blaine Amendment,” a ban of state money for religious or sectarian groups that critics say is a legal remnant of anti-Catholic bias. Currently, 37 states have Blaine Amendments; both the Florida and Georgia legislatures failed in their attempts to repeal their states’ amendments in 2010.
Later that year, Christianity Today reported on the ongoing battle over Blaine Amendments—specifically, a Florida court battle where two state-contracted Christian nonprofits were sued for using state funds to proselytize to residents at their halfway homes for substance abusers. (The state Supreme Court denied a review of the case in 2010; the case was on a circuit court’s docket as of March 2011.)
Amendment 8 will be on the November 6 ballot.
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 8, 2012 10:45AM | Comments (1)
Report says religious websites are three times more likely to infect computers with viruses than porn websites.
A recent report from an anti-virus software vendor Internet Security Threat Report said religious or ideologically themed sites were three times more likely to infect a computer with a virus than sites with adult content.
“We hypothesize that this is because pornographic website owners already make money from the internet and, as a result, have a vested interest in keeping their sites malware-free—it’s not good for repeat business,” Symantec stated in its report.
Viruses are downloaded in “drive-by attacks” when users visit a site that has been infected with malware. Symantec reported that it blocked more than 5.5 billion malware attacks last year, up 81 percent from 2010, adding that users are more likely to be infected by malware placed on legitimate sites than by sites created by hackers.
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 8, 2012 7:15AM | Comments (6)
Pact unites largely white United Methodist Church with five historically black denominations.
The predominantly white United Methodist Church and five historically black denominations -- after more than a decade of discussions -- have entered a full communion agreement.
With an overwhelming vote on April 30 at the UMC General Conference, the leaders of the denominations agreed to recognize each other’s churches, share sacraments, and affirm their clergy and ministries.
The move comes a dozen years after the UMC held a repentance ceremony and apologized to African-Americans for racist policies that led to the creation of separate African-American churches. Some historic black denominations date to the 1700s, started by founders who no longer wanted to be relegated to the balconies of Methodist congregations.
Continue reading "Methodists Reach Across Historic Racial Boundaries with Communion Pact"
Posted by Morgan Feddes at May 7, 2012 2:57PM | Comments (0)
Delegates left key votes on gay clergy and same-sex marriage to Friday
Despite emotional protests and fierce lobbying, United Methodists voted on May 2 to maintain their denomination’s stance that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.”
Two “agree to disagree” proposals were soundly defeated during separate votes by the nearly 1,000 delegates gathered for the United Methodist Church’s General Conference in Tampa, Fla.
One proposal would have replaced the "incompatible" phrase in the Book of Discipline, which contains the denomination's laws and doctrines. Both proposals sought to soften the disputed doctrine by adding more ambiguous statements about homosexuality.
Advocates for gay clergy and same-sex marriage in the UMC viewed the compromise proposals as the best chance to advance their cause at this year’s General Conference, which convenes every four years. On Friday, delegates are expected to debate the church’s bans on noncelibate gay clergy and same-sex marriage.
Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey at May 4, 2012 8:43AM | Comments (53)
