The Church of Jesus Christ?

Mormons: Don’t call us Mormons The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “will step up efforts to discourage use of the term Mormon Church and instead emphasize the name Jesus Christ in references to the church,” The New York Times reported yesterday. Instead of using “Mormon” as shorthand, the new shorter way to refer to the church should be “the Church of Jesus Christ.” Really. “We haven’t adopted a new name of the church,” says Dallin H. Oaks, one of the church’s highest officials. “We have adopted a shorthand reference to the church that we think is more accurate.” Still, the church won’t change names like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Mormon Trail and the Book of Mormon. Times reporter Gustav Niebuhr also talked to Jan Shipps, a non-Mormon expert on the church from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Shipps, who recently wrote an article for Beliefnet on why Mormons are discouraging use of the term, summarized the efforts as representing “the desire of Latter-day Saints—and not just the leadership—to be understood as a Christian tradition.” Meanwhile, Mormons are gearing up for massive evangelistic efforts next year when the Winter Olympics comes to Salt Lake City. Brigham Young University will even shut its doors so students and faculty can volunteer and evangelize. Meanwhile, however, some controversy is brewing over the limits the church is putting on alcohol consumption.

Other Mormon-related news:

Religious rift rattles University of Utah | The anti-Mormon controversy has enduring history (The Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah)
Mormons won’t take federal funds | “I am in favor of complete separation of church and state, and while we appreciate the offer of federal funding, we like to do ours on our own. Once the government is involved, regulations follow,” Gordon Hinckley, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, tells Larry King (USA Today)

More news:

Obituaries:

Richard Wurmbrand, founder of The Voice of the Martyrs, dies at 91 | Activist against religious persecution had been victim in Bucharest (The Voice of the Martyrs)
Christian Reconstructionist leader R.J. Rushdoony dies at 84 | Led postmillennialist movement to implement biblical law in U.S. (Chalcedon Foundation)

Bush’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives opens today:

Bush’s call to church groups attracts the untraditional | As President Bush’s new Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives officially opens for business, leaders of some of the nation’s religious groups long considered to be on the fringe—including Scientologists and Hare Krishnas—already are preparing proposals for the grants. (The New York Times)
Churches get seatbelt grant | Two Memphis churches have been awarded a $12,000 federal grant to promote seatbelt use among blacks in a pilot project that could lead to similar grants on a national scale (Associated Press)

The new cardinals:

Reward for faithful service | When asked about the role of a Catholic theologian these days, the Rev. Avery Dulles, who will be appointed as a cardinal on Wednesday by Pope John Paul II, insisted it must be to protect the church’s traditions. (The New York Times)
Scholarly Dulles heir called by God, not politics (Chicago Tribune)
Egan plans sermon for Albany pols | After being named to College of Cardinals, New York’s archbishop will lobby legislators on the pending women’s health bill. (Rod Dreher, New York Post)
New York Catholics say red hat fits him | Egan a worthy successor to beloved John Cardinal O’Connor. (New York Post)

Vicious vicar gets off easy:

‘Reign of terror’ vicar escapes jail | A vicar who bullied, kicked, and even used a fork to stab his two teenage daughters yesterday received a nine-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, after a court heard that his short temper and misery at the death of his wife had left him ill-equipped to be a single parent. (The Guardian, London)
Vicar kicked his daughters with metal toe-caps (The Independent, London)
Vicar punched and kicked his two daughters (The Times, London)

Other stories on Christians and lawsuits:

Much ado about a Temple play | A student who protested “Corpus Christi,” which portrays Jesus as gay, has filed suit. He claims ill treatment. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Federal lawsuit: College committed student after dispute over religious protest | Temple University senior was involuntarily committed for organizing protest (Associated Press/Freedom Forum)
Abortion protester tries to void judgment | David Crane and 11 other abortion activists to pay $109 million to four doctors whose names and addresses were published on wanted-style posters and a Web site called The Nuremberg Files. Now Crane is trying to file for bankruptcy. (The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Virginia)
Earlier: $109 Million in Damages Against Pro-life Web Site (Christianity Today, Mar. 1, 1999)
Former chaplain hopes suit against Navy will lead to reinstatement | Former U.S. Navy chaplain sues for reinstatement after allegedly being forced to resign for preaching ‘nonpluralism’ (Religion News Service/Beliefnet)

Australia’s Catholics ordered to reinstate priest:

Vatican steps in to allow back priest in sex case | Rome overrules Australian bishops by ordering the reinstatement to pastoral duties of a priest whose conviction for molesting a former altar boy was overturned on appeal. (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Rome’s decree weakens church leaders | A Vatican ruling undermines the courage of Australian bishops in confronting clerical sexual abuse (Chris McGillion, The Sydney Morning Herald)

Are Russia’s new tax codes a sign of the end?

Tax numbers spark devil of a row in Russian Orthodox Church | Senior clerics and theologians meet in conclave to discuss whether changes to Russia’s tax system heralded the coming of the Antichrist. (The Daily Telegraph, London)
Russian Church does not oppose Individual Taxpayer Numbers (NTV/Russia Religious News – fifth item)

Pop culture:

Faith through the eyes of TheSimpsons | Author of recent Christianity Today cover story publishing book on show’s depiction of religion (New York Times News Service/Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Earlier: Saint Flanders | He’s the evangelical next door on The Simpsons, and that’s okily dokily among many believers. (Christianity Today, Jan. 26, 2001)
A backlash against indecency | That the continued adventures of Hannibal Lecter can sell so many tickets speaks volumes about the grossed-out state of popular culture today. But tomorrow could be different because social trend lines have a way of zigzagging, even reversing. (James P. Pinkerton, The Boston Globe)

Episcopalians reach out:

A new voice for Episcopalians | The induction of the church’s first Latino provost signals a growing embrace of a surging minority membership, particularly in the Southland. (Los Angeles Times)
Generation X urged to log on to religion | Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio launches churches aimed at 18- to 30-year-olds (The Cincinnati Post)

Other stories of interest:

Church debates same sex unions | ELCA ponders reading Bible plainly, in context (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
When the saints go up for auction | A one-man crusade against online relic sales is met with unholy indifference (Salon.com)
Bill to post godly motto defeated | Va. Senate Panel Kills School’s “In God We Trust” Plan (The Washington Post)
Mob attacks evangelical church in Sri Lanka, several wounded | Three arrests reported so far (Reuters)
Connell insists he stands over comments | The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin Dr Connell insisted in Rome last night he stood over his controversial comments on inter-church communion although he never intended to offend Church of Ireland members. (The Irish Times)
Public-school-sponsored baccalaureate service poses problem | Under current court rulings, school sponsorship of a religious service is unconstitutional, but communities can keep baccalaureates that are privately sponsored (Charles Haynes, The Freedom Forum)
Social taboos force couple to commit suicide | In Pakistan, Christian teen and her 22-year-old Muslim boyfriend kill themselves because parents would not let them marry (UPI)
Seeking to save place where the Pilgrims prayed | Some symbols—even when they exist as physical structures—may go unrecognized as having a special, sacred value by all but a limited number of people (Gustav Niebuhr, The New York Times)

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