Iowa Supreme Court: Satan's secular connotations mean church member can sue over letter
Is the spirit of Satan at work in Shell Rock United Methodist Church? The Rev. Jerrold Swinton, a district supervisor for the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church, thought so when he visited the congregation in March 1999 to investigate "reports of strife." And he said as much in a letter to the congregation (which also went to members of the Shell Rock community). "A few months ago I attended worship in Shell Rock and I rejoiced to see so many young families in church. I was in despair when Jane Kliebenstein made an effort to whisper scornfully to me that this pastor must leave Shell Rock," he wrote.

Folks, when is enough, enough?  When will you stop the blaming, negative and unhappy persons among you from tearing down the spirit of Jesus Christ among you? … You know whether a person has the spirit of Jesus or Satan by their fruits. … I am distressed and perplexed why people have tolerance and compassion for anyone who habitually tears down the Body of Christ by habitually sowing discord and pain. … When the congregation of Shell Rock is ready to acknowledge they allowed the spirit of Satan to work in their midst, express some contrition and seek help—then help will come.

Swinton recommended that a church conference be called over the matter to "propose that Jane Kliebenstein be stripped of church offices.  It is understood that if she continues to cause dissension, she will next be asked to leave the Shell Rock UMC."

Kliebenstein filed a civil suit, claiming that the letter defamed her integrity and moral character. A district court thew out the suit, saying it didn't have the jurisdiction to adjudicate the impact of a "purely ecclesiastical term" like "spirit of Satan."

Yesterday, however, the Iowa Supreme Court reinstated the suit, saying that because the words "carried secular overtones and were published to non-members of the church," Kliebenstein "has an actionable, albeit limited, claim that cannot be resolved by way of summary judgment."

In her decision (Summary | Full Text HTML | Full Text DOC), Justice Linda K. Neuman noted that the church-related controversy is "an area of discord traditionally considered 'off limits' for civil courts," but "the fact that Swinton's communication about Jane was published outside the congregation weakens this ecclesiastical shield." Furthermore, Neuman wrote, "the phrase 'spirit of Satan' has meaning in a secular, as well as sectarian, context."

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The case has broad implications.

"This case reminds us that as members of congregations, clergy and governing bodies, we always need to be careful about how we use, publish or otherwise disseminate our words," Donn McLellan, interim associate executive for communications and interpretation for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Synod of the Lakes and Prairies, told The Des Moines Register.

Rabbi David Jay Kaufman of Temple B'Nai Jeshurun in Des Moines agreed. "People need to be careful about what they say about people to other people," he told the paper. "In this case, it's an issue of circulating letters. This is a really big problem with e-mail. A person may think the communication is private, only to have it widely circulated."

But others said the Iowa Supreme Court wrongly engaged itself in church matters.

"What [Swinton] did wrong was when he wrote the letter—he didn't just send it to church members," said Russell Osgood, Grinnell College president and former dean of the Cornell University law school. "But I still think the speech itself is entirely ecclesiastical and could not give rise to legal action."

The apostle Paul could not be reached for comment.

The case now heads back to the lower courts for trial.

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Politics and law:

  • Constitution:  Religion in, enlightenment out | After many a heated debate on the Convention floor, the preamble of the E.U. Constitution now reads: "[The E.U.] … Draws inspiration from the cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe, which, always present in its heritage, has embedded within the life of society its perception of the central role of the human person and his inviolable and inalienable rights, and of respect for law" (EU Observer)

  • Also: Constitutional wrangling enters last phase | The most recent text, presented yesterday by Convention president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing has come in for some heavy criticism (EU Observer)

  • Rights debate over Sabbath working | Councilors in the Western Isles have been told they may be breaking human rights legislation by not allowing some businesses to operate on Sundays (BBC)

  • What would Jesus do? Sock it to Alabama's corporate landowners | Alabama's Republican governor thinks he can convince the voters that Christian theology calls for a tax system that is fairer to the poor (Adam Cohen, The New York Times)

  • Promote govt agenda, church told | President Yoweri Museveni has urged the Church to actively promote government programmes for development (New Vision, Kampala, Uganda)

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  • Also: Bishops have right to speak | It is impossible to divorce religion from politics because churches do not operate in a vacuum (Editorial, The Monitor, Kampala, Uganda)

  • Peers' alarm over religious law reforms | Old common law offences, including blasphemy, were examined by the House of Lords Select Committee on Religious Offences to see if they should be scrapped or updated (The Daily Telegraph, London)

Persecution:

Faith-based initiative:

  • Too much faith in faith | Americans aren't as supportive of the faith-based initiative as the Bush administration would have us believe (Susan Jacoby, Newsday)

  • Faith-based talk—where's the action? | Bush still talks about his faith-based initiative. But when the big money is divvied up, almost all of it goes to tax cuts, mostly for the wealthiest Americans (E. J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post)

  • On a crusade: Miami's mayor wants to help poor | Perhaps more than any other mayor in Miami-Dade County, Manny Diaz has embraced President Bush's controversial faith-based initiative by reaching out to religious groups to help Miami deal with its growing social problems (The Miami Herald)

Church and state:

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Billy Graham Oklahoma City mission:

Missions and ministries:

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Life ethics:

  • Abortion stance may be tweaked | Area Methodists offer leaders a resolution weakening support for abortion rights (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)

  • Texas tilts right on abortion and other issues | With three bills that herald sweeping restrictions, one state's debate sheds light on a national struggle (The Christian Science Monitor)

  • What abortion-rights proponents don't want you to know | Warning: What follows is language that may make some people queasy, even though it comes directly from legislation overwhelmingly passed by both houses of Congress (Dennis Byrne, Chicago Tribune)

  • Arguing honestly about stem cells | Those who oppose embryonic stem cell research are all too often faced with disingenuous arguments put forward by research advocates (Gilbert Meilaender, Chicago Tribune)

  • Bush 'killing women' with prolife aid | Thousands of African women are being condemned to death because of America's refusal to give any aid money to health workers giving abortion advice, opponents claim (Scotland on Sunday)

  • Euthanasia Bill clears first hurdle | The House of Lords has agreed to give a Bill, which would give terminally ill people the right to be helped to die, a second reading (BBC)

  • Abortion rights groups call for march | Besides the march, supporters of abortion rights plan to go door-to-door, air television commercials and send millions of e-mail messages to get people to vote next fall (Associated Press)

Sex and marriage:

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Sexual ethics:

  • What the Bible says—and what it means on homosexuality | Comparing evangelical and liberal views on Scripture (The Times, London)

  • Don't treat religion as 'optional extra' | Rowan Williams warned policymakers yesterday against treating religion as a separate and subordinate sphere of life' (The Times, London)

  • Williams pulls out of church gay conference | Earlier this year, Dr Rowan Williams indicated his willingness to attend the Halfway to Lambeth conference, a major international event being organised by the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (The Daily Telegraph, London)

  • Archbishop fuels row with message of comfort to gays | The news that Dr Rowan Williams has sent a warm message of support to organizers of a national conference for lesbian and gay Christians will further enrage evangelicals already furious over the appointment of the homosexual theologian Canon Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading (The Times, London)

  • Also: Archbishop sends message to gay conference (PA News)

  • Bishop of cheap grace | The Christian Church and Judaism teach that the family is an order of creation, and homosexual behavior falls short of the will of God, according to Scripture. Of course all of us do fall short of God's will. But Gene Robinson is not anybody. He aspires to be a bishop, an overseer within the Body of Christ (Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI)

  • Justice to let staff honor gay pride | Department says office events were not barred (The Washington Post)

Clergy sex abuse:

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Church life:

Film:

  • Finding truth at the motion picture show | The connection between spiritual truths and motion pictures is examined in "Praying the Movies: Daily Meditations from Classic Films" by Edward McNulty, a Presbyterian minister from New York (Newton Kansan)

  • Theological science fiction | Why The Matrix matters (Gregory Benford, Reason)

  • Egypt bans 'too religious' Matrix | The country's censorship board said the film's storyline, about the search for the creator and control of the human race, may cause "crises" (BBC)

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  • Mr. Freeman, you look divine | The casting of Morgan Freeman as God in "Bruce Almighty" has provoked both satisfaction and skepticism among black religious figures and film scholars (The New York Times)

  • Religious row over Mel's film | Gibson has threatened a lawsuit against the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Jewish-run Anti-Defamation League over a report criticizing the depiction of Jews in his controversial new film about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (The Herald Sun, Melbourne, Australia)

Television:

Music:

  • God is in the retail | Perhaps the Devil doesn't have all the best tunes after all. Evanescence became the first Christian rock band to top the charts this week. But God and pop go way back (Steve Jelbert, The Independent, London)

  • More Goth than gospel | U.S. Christian rock band Evanescence have stormed to the top of the British charts. But don't expect happy-clappy guitar-strumming - they've kicked up a hell of a row back home (The Guardian, London)

  • Christian bands, crossing over | A new crop of bands has broadened the appeal of Christian rock by emphasizing musical originality rather than a sermonizing message (The New York Times)

Books:

  • Teen novel sales soar as stories get sexier, more timely | Book covers with bare legs, bikini tops, shiny leather handbags -- no, it's not "Sex in the City" but "Gossip Girl," one of the new, definitely grown-up series of novels for the 12-to-18 crowd (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

  • Also: Excerpts from 'Young Adult' books | Here are excerpts from the some of new books written for the "Young Adult" market that are more risque and more tightly roped to contemporary events than in the past. Industry experts say that's why they are so successful (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

  • Sacred mysteries: Is it still the Word of God? | On the Aussie Bible, The Text Bible, the Cockney Gospel, and other recent oddities (Christopher Howse, The Daily Telegraph, London)

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