wfn.org | Bishop calls on Clinton to seize 'unique opportunity'

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 15, 1999        Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71BP{085}

NOTE:  A file photograph of Bishop Felton E. May is available with this
story.

By United Methodist News Service

President Clinton has an opportunity to "call a world from selfishness to
Christ-like love and service of others" following his acquittal in a Senate
impeachment trial, according to the leader of the United Methodist Church's
Washington Area.

"An entire global culture, intertwined by commerce, media and technology,
has been on trial, and, today, has been offered another chance," said Bishop
Felton E. May, head of the church's Baltimore-Washington Annual (regional)
Conference. 

May issued his statement on Feb. 12, after the Senate acquitted Clinton on
two articles of impeachment brought by the House of Representatives. The
House had impeached Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice
for trying to cover up a relationship with a White House intern. He was
tried in the Senate, where conviction would have led to loss of office.

"We live in a world where consumption, hedonism and self-gratification have
increasingly become normal and even celebrated," May said. "Addictive
behaviors are only one consequence of such misplaced values.

"I believe President William Jefferson Clinton now has a unique opportunity
to call a world from selfishness to Christ-like love and service of others,
especially the poor and the children.

"By every indication, the president has grown spiritually as a result of
this moral defeat and devastation," the bishop stated. "While some
governmental leaders have thought of political advantage, others have asked
and debated important questions of meaning and purpose.

"We must now leave behind politics as usual and use the next years to
practice true justice for all the world's children of all races, classes and
religions. Let us call upon President Clinton, and work with him, to feed
the hungry, educate the children, end violence, heal addictive diseases,
initiate employment opportunities for everybody and restore hope to the
world."

______________
United Methodist News Service
http://www.umc.org/umns/
newsdesk@umcom.umc.org
(615)742-5472