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Pastors warn Christian food and clothing bank not to be too Christian
It is called Lebanon County Christian Ministries, and it is operated by a coalition of churches in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. But as the food and clothing bank's board has tried to address people's spiritual needs along with their physical ones, it has run into trouble. And it seems that much of the trouble is from the pastors of the sponsoring churches.

The Harrisburg Patriot-News explains, "The organization's bylaws state that its ministry 'is a witness to our Christian faith,' but also says it welcomes 'the cooperation of others who wish to share in these ministries as an expression of their own faith commitment.'"

Commitment, however, may be too strong a word.

"A proposed 'faith statement' drawn up as part of a plan to meet clients' spiritual needs drew fire this summer from some ministers and church members," The Patriot-News reports. The statement was scrapped, and now the board is moving more slowly in its efforts.

"The Rev. Richard Luciotti of St. Mark's United Church of Christ said he's pleased the agency is rethinking the policy," says the paper. "He said the first faith statement was 'extremely narrow' and would have excluded some religions."

Excluding some religions from "Christian ministries"? Oh no!

Dwight Hein, pastor of Salem United Church of Christ said the member churches "believe LCCM's purpose 'is to serve those in need, not to proselytize or convert those in need.'"

Who's to say what kind of spiritual direction one should give, asks John Binkley of Trinity United Church of Christ. "What is the right spiritual direction of an organization that purports to be diverse and ecumenical?"

It's not like we want to prevent God-talk, explains Philip Guistwite of Zion Evangelical Congregational Church. But we want to be careful about "violating others' religious freedom."

Weblog doesn't know anything about this ministry, these churches, or these pastors. It may be that they have much more biblical convictions than The Patriot-News stories indicate. (A reminder: Weblog is a feature rounding up what's on the Web, so we don't do original interviews or reporting.) But it sure sounds like these pastors think offering people bread is only good if you're not offering the Bread of Life.

NPR station warns against advocacy, abortion group screams censorship
WUNC, the National Public Radio station in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is partially underwritten by Ipas. What's Ipas? Here's how the group described itself in its on-air announcement of the underwriting: "a Chapel Hill-based nonprofit that protects women's reproductive health and rights at home and abroad."

Radio station officials recently became concerned about that description, saying the term "reproductive rights" is loaded language that would suggest the station is taking a position in the abortion debate. "The FCC prohibits public radio stations from airing underwriting announcements that advocate political, social, or religious causes," notes The News & Observer of Raleigh.

Ipas, predictably, is crying censorship. "We disagree with WUNC's decision and regret that they have taken such a reactionary position," executive vice president Anu Kumar says in a press release. "What concerns me is the chilling effect of the world we're living in."

Besides, says Kumar, reproductive rights doesn't mean abortion. "Among other things, it means the right to infertility treatments, the right to contraception, the right to information, the right to live free of rape and violence. In global forums, those meanings are universally understood."

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November (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48