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2001-51

News Briefs

Conference releasing results of study on Public Role of Mainline Protestants

     (ENS) The Aspen Institute will host a March 15-17 conference on the role of 
mainline Protestantism in American public life in Washington, D.C. About 150 
denominational leaders, policymakers, scholars, media and lay advocates will 
participate in a series of workshops exploring what works for mainline 
institutions in the current political context.

     Prof. Robert Wuthnow, director of Princeton University's Center for the 
Study of Religion and editor of the forthcoming, "Quietly Influential: The Public 
Role of Mainline Protestantism," will present the results of a major, three-year 
study on the topic, funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Implications of the 
study are particularly timely, given President George W. Bush's initiative on the 
role of faith-based organizations in providing social services.

     The Episcopal Church participated in the study, along with the United 
Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church 
in America, the United Church of Christ, and the American Baptist Churches.

     The study contradicts the assumption that mainline churches have lost their 
clout, especially since the rise of evangelicals in the 1980s and 1990s. The 
financial, moral, institutional and political resources of the mainline churches 
are still enormous, the study concludes. The conference will discuss ways the 
mainline churches continue to bring their perspectives to bear on moral and 
ethical issues of national importance, including efforts to strengthen family 
commitments, overcome racial discrimination, and promote the debate about 
business ethics and social responsibilities--greater economic justice. Mainline 
churches and other faith-based groups, for example, contributed to a successful 
campaign to reduce the debt burden facing the world's poorest nations.

     For further information go to www.aspeninstitute.org or call David Devlin-
Foltz at 202-736-5812.

Alban Institute reports decline in clergy 35 and younger

     (RNS) A recent survey conducted by the Alban Institute, a Bethesda, 
Maryland-based organization that supports congregational life, reported that the 
number of clergy ages 35 and younger has dropped dramatically, especially among 
Episcopalians and Presbyterians.

     In 1999, about 7% of clergy in the Presbyterian Church (USA) were 35 and 
younger, compared to 24% in 1975. In 2000, about 3.9% of Episcopal clergy were 35 
and under, compared to 19.4% in 1974.

     Statistics in the March/April issue of Congregations, a magazine of the 
Institute, showed that fewer young professionals are making the ministry their 
career choice. The magazine also noted that, in comparison, the number of young 
attorneys has hardly changed in 25 years.

     "When someone is young and is thinking about entering into a field as a 
professional, and they compare being a pastor with being a schoolteacher or even 
other modest-paying occupations, it just doesn't stack up very well," said 
Cynthia Woolever, associate for congregational research with the Presbyterian 
Church.

     

Ten African-Americans file bias suit against Christian Coalition

     (Washington Post) Ten African-American employees at the Christian Coalition 
of America's Washington, D.C. headquarters filed a racial discrimination suit 
against the organization on February 22 in U.S. District Court, alleging that the 
office bars African-American workers from using the front door and maintains 
segregated eating facilities.

     The lawsuit, which named the coalition and its executive director, Roberta 
Combs, as defendants, also alleges that African-American employees were excluded 
from two dinners and a prayer breakfast that the coalition sponsored in honor of 
President Bush's Inauguration. Additional allegations include a charge that the 
coalition provides health insurance for some white employees but none for 
African-American workers.

     Combs issued a statement denying the allegations. "Christian Coalition has 
not been served with any legal document, so I cannot comment on the details of 
this accusation," she said. "But let me categorically state that Christian 
Coalition vehemently denies any accusation of discrimination of any kind."

     Marion Wilson, one of the 10 plaintiffs, answered her phone only to decline 
to comment.

     The suit also alleges that Combs "has stated that the African-American 
employees cannot use the kitchen facilities because they are talkative and waste 
too much time in the kitchen." Combs instead arranged for African-American 
employees to have a segregated break area consisting of tables shoved against the 
wall of the remittance/data entry room, the suit said.

    
 

India's churches charge census ignores low-caste Dalits

     (ENI) India's churches have threatened to take legal action against the 
government unless the discrimination against low-caste Christians and other 
minorities in the national census "is set right."

     "We demand that the classification related to castes and tribes be delinked 
from religious categorization if the categorization does not include all 
religions," the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) said in a statement 
on February 23.

     From February 9 to 28, 2.4 million "enumerators" visiting 200 million 
households conducted the census, which is taken once every 10 years. The protest 
was generated by a question on the census form that stated that "Scheduled Castes 
can be only among Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists."

     The source of the churches' anger is the government's refusal to recognize 
that among the total population of 250 million Dalits and low-caste Indians, 
there are about 14 million Christians. Also, Muslim Dalits, who account for most 
of India's 130 million Muslims, were also ignored in the census.

     Church officials believe that the root of this discrimination is prejudice 
towards Christianity which many powerful Hindus detest as a "videshi" (foreign) 
religion.

     Expressing the concern of its 29 Orthodox and Protestant member churches, 
the NCCI said it was "appalled at the manner in which the present census is being 
conducted [excluding] Dalits who do not belong to the Hindu, Sikh and Buddhists 
faiths."

     The NCCI executive committee will hold an emergency meeting in New Delhi in 
late March to plan the churches' response to the census "manipulation."

    
 

Report sounds alarm on political situation in Mozambique

     (ENI) Religious groups and human rights advocates presented an alarming 
picture of political tensions in Mozambique in a hard-hitting report published in 
January. The report contains the first eyewitness accounts of last year's "black 
November" when street violence broke out in the north and the police suffocated 
at least 88 people who had been detained for allegedly supporting the opposition. 
Tensions have been running high since the 1999 when the political party in the 
impoverished north refused to accept the results.

     The report represents unprecedented cooperation between the Christian 
Council of Mozambique, headed by Anglican Bishop S. Sengulane, and the country's 
Islamic Council, bar association and Human Rights League.

     During the November confrontation, police jammed up to 133 prisoners in a 
cell designed for nine people, denying prisoners food or water. "On the first day 
there were seven deaths in the cell," said one survivor. "Then the police 
commander came and ordered his men to close all the shutters to prevent any air 
from coming in." The outside temperature was about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. "By 
the end of the second day, more than 80 people were dead," due to suffocation. 
Authors of the report expressed concern that such "barbaric" acts could threaten 
to escalate and destabilize the country just as it has been dramatically moving 
from Marxism to one of the world's fastest growing free-market economies.

    

 

Pope presides at ecumenical celebration during Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

     (ENS) Pope John Paul II presided at an Ecumenical Celebration of the Word, 
held at Rome's Basilica of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls at the close of the Week of 
Prayer for Christian Unity. The service included delegations from 23 churches and 
ecclesial communities. The pope said that the ecumenical movement of the 20th 
century had "the great distinction of clearly reaffirming the need for witness." 
"After centuries of separation, misunderstanding, indifference and even 
conflict," the pope added, "there has been a rebirth among Christians of the 
realization that faith in Christ unites them, and that this faith is capable of 
overcoming all that separates them."

     The pope said that the differences still exist and "must not and cannot be 
downplayed. True ecumenical commitment is not a search for compromise, nor does 
it make concessions where the truth is concerned. It knows that divisions between 
Christians are contrary to the will of Christ; it knows that they are a scandal 
that weakens the voice of the Gospel. Its efforts," he concluded, "are aimed not 
at ignoring divisions but at overcoming them."

     Pointing out that the second millennium of Christianity was marked by 
hostility during which "we condemned and fought one another," the pope said, "We 
must forget the shadows and wounds of the past and strain forward towards the 
coming hour of God." He added, "We need to live and practice that communion 
which, though not yet full, already exists between us. Leaving behind distrust, 
we must meet, know one another better, learn to love one another, and work 
together fraternally as much as possible."

  
   

Anglicanism and early Christianity explored

     (ENS) The Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest will hold a continuing 
education program from June 3-7 that will explore similarities between historical 
traditions and contemporary issues in Anglicanism and early Christianity. 

     The Rev. Mark Harris, author and executive director of the Global Episcopal 
Mission (GEM) Network, and the Rev. Cynthia Kittredge, Seminary of the Southwest 
New Testament professor will lead complementary sessions titled "Organic 
Anglicanism" and "Conversation in the Canon" respectively.

     For further descriptions of both sessions visit the seminary's web site at 
http://www.etss.edu/ConEd01.html

     Deadline for registration is May 15. Session cost for this week-long program 
is $225. An additional $150 room and board charge includes three daily meals and 
on-campus housing at the seminary. Contact Nancy Busbey at the seminary for more 
information. Her e-mail address is nbusbey@etss.edu and her phone is 512-472-4133, 
ext. 322.