Zoning
No Jews Allowed?
Hasidic Jews are prohibited by Jewish law from driving to a synagogue on the Sabbath. But because of new municipal zoning laws, Hasidic Jews in Airmont, New York, may also be prohibited from meeting in their own neighborhood.
The Hasidim began moving into Airmont three years ago. In April 1991, the village seceded from the town of Ramapo, incorporated as a separate municipality, and redrew zoning laws to prevent construction of synagogues in residential neighborhoods.
“It’s the first time we’re aware of when a city has formed a municipality with the express purpose of using zoning laws to exclude religious groups. The officials ran on that platform,” said Larry Crane of the Rutherford Institute, which monitors threats to religious freedom. The institute has filed a lawsuit on behalf of a Hasidic rabbi and four of his congregants, charging Airmont with violating the Fair Housing Act and requesting the dissolution of the municipality.
The Justice Department, which was also filing suit against Airmont, has agreed to consolidate its case with that of the Rutherford Institute. It marks the first time the Justice Department has ever intervened on behalf of Orthodox Jews or any other religious group, Crane said.
Airmont officials deny charges of religious intolerance. They told the Chicago Tribune that the Hasidim do not participate in the community’s cultural life and are “maligning the village to advance their own development plans.”
Capital Currents
Court Bars Grad Prayers
Church/state observers were surprised late last month when a deeply divided U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that invocations and benedictions offered at public high-school graduation ceremonies violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
In a scathing dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia, joined by three other justices, criticized the decision, calling the majority’s reasoning a “bulldozer of … social engineering.”
In other action, the high court ordered that a key abortion protest case, Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic, be reargued next fall. Speculation is that the justices may need the tie-breaking vote of Clarence Thomas, who had not been confirmed last fall when the case was argued.
Canada
Officials Shut Down Unlicensed Broadcasters
The National Christian Broadcasters (NCB) and Canada’s federal communications officials are locked in a battle for access to Canada’s television airwaves, according to a report by Christian Week.
In late May, the NCB voted to support its members’ efforts to gain 24-hour access to television airwaves, even by operating unlicensed broadcasting centers. Two days later, Canadian federal communications officials raided five Christian centers and began blocking access to 24-hour television.
The Department of Communications seized what it said were transmitters used to broadcast unlicensed evangelical programming. The system was operating out of a church in Winnipeg and was run by Ken Greening, NCB’s vice-chairman.
Department of Communications spokesman Gerard Desroches said in Christian Week that the raid was meant to be more than a warning. “The parties involved were duly informed, there were warrants executed, unlicensed equipment seized as evidence, and there could be prosecution.”
Groening, however, said that the laws restricting access to Canada’s airwaves are invalid when interpreted through Canada’s Charter of Rights. “We have a scale of laws, and under that scale the Constitution and the Charter of Rights are pre-eminent, and other laws have a lower status,” he said. “So if you have to choose between one or the other, you operate by the higher law.”
Under Investigation
Irs Eyes Church-Tax Expert
H. Michael Chitwood says in his Tax and Nonprofit Lifeline magazine that he is “the man that has been ordained by God to protect and uphold the ministers and clergy in America today.” But the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Abundant Living Church in Kingsport, Tennessee, say Chitwood’s Tennessee-based Clergy, Tax, & Law organization may not be what it claims.
Chitwood says in his seminars that he is a Harvard-trained tax-law expert who helps pastors comply with IRS regulations. But the IRS is investigating Chitwood for allegedly promoting his for-profit accounting and legal-services business, Chitwood & Chitwood, during his lectures to church groups. The promotions could violate IRS regulations for nonprofit organizations, IRS official Rechey Davidson said in the Dallas Morning News.
The Morning News also reported that, contrary to his assertions, there is no record Chitwood ever appeared on “Night-line” and “Larry King Live” or testified before a U.S. House subcommittee, or that he enrolled at Harvard.
Attorney David Epstein is filing a suit against Chitwood on behalf of Abundant Living Church, where Chitwood once lectured. The suit claims intentional fraud, extortion, and false and fraudulent misrepresentations sent by U.S. mail.
Philip Haney, Chitwood’s attorney, says the church’s allegations are unfounded, adding that his client has been “misunderstood” and “teaches by utilizing hyperbole a lot.”
Church State
A Bad Impression
A California federal judge has refused to ban the “Impressions” series of elementary-school reading books from that state’s public classrooms. He ruled that the series does not violate the right to religious freedom of the children of conservative Christians, who have been fighting to have the books banned. Some Christian parents believe the books promote the occult through stories about witches and goblins.
• A coalition of 21 religious and civil-liberties groups has asked the California Supreme Court to rule in favor of a landlord, who, on religious grounds, refused to rent to an unmarried couple. John and Agnes Donahue of Downey, California, refused to rent an apartment to an unmarried couple, citing their belief as Roman Catholics against adultery. The Donahues were charged with discriminating against the unmarried couple. At press time, the case was unsettled.
On behalf of the Donahues, the National Association of Evangelicals, the American Jewish Committee, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs, Concerned Women for America, and the National Council of Churches all signed a friend-of-the-court brief, which was filed in late May.
• Rulings by a Jewish tribunal in civil disputes cannot be challenged in secular courts, according to a decision issued by the New York State Court of Appeals. The ruling came after a Jewish businessman challenged an arbitration decision by a court of three rabbis.
• Street evangelist David Henderson can pass out gospel tracts on public sidewalks near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, said an appeals court judge in the District of Columbia. Henderson had been restricted by a lower court judge from distributing evangelistic literature during the June 1991 Operation Desert Storm parade.
Preaching
A Whale Of A Tale
Have you ever heard the story of James Bartley, the man who was swallowed by a sperm whale off the Falkland Islands one hundred years ago and lived inside it for 36 hours? If so, you are not alone. Edward Davis, associate professor of science and history at Messiah College, tracked down the tale, which has been cited in numerous biblical commentaries, including the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.
“I was prepared for the story to be true, but it wasn’t,” says Davis, whose findings were published recently in the Journal of the American Scientific Affiliation.
Davis’s search began when he came across a copy of addresses called Winona Echoes delivered at the Winona Lake Bible Conference in 1934. The book contained a copy of a sermon titled “Jonah and the Whale,” by Harry Rimmer, a prominent early twentieth-century itinerant preacher. The book also contained an article on the same subject published in the Moody Bible Institute in 1930, as well as a tract that proclaimed in large type: “A SAILOR SWALLOWED BY A WHALE.”
Davis tracked the origins of the story through old newspapers, the British library, and through the history of the South Atlantic and New Zealand; he found that the man, James Bartley, on whom the story was based, was never lost overboard. According to the wife of Bartley’s captain, “The sailor has told a great sea yarn.”
People And Events
Briefly Noted
Dropped: Televangelist Pat Robertson’s bid to purchase United Press International for an estimated $6 million. Robertson has said he may create his own news service, though Robertson spokesperson Frankie Abourjilie told CHRISTIANITY TODAY, “As far as a wire service or a news service, there are no plans under way.” She said Robertson will concentrate on “the strengthening of the news we do currently.”
Accused: John Finch, the 78-year-old psychologist for whom Fuller Theological Seminary’s psychology building was named, of violating his profession’s code of ethics by allegedly having sex with several clients. The Washington State Examining Board of Psychology held a hearing on June 12 on whether to revoke Finch’s license to practice, but at press time had not released its decision. Finch has not spoken publicly about the charges; an attorney for Finch did not return CT’s phone call. Fuller Seminary president David Allan Hubbard said the school’s psychology building was named John Finch Hall at the request of an anonymous donor, but that “Dr. Finch has no official relationship with Fuller.”
Discovered: Thirteen handwritten letters from evangelist Dwight L. Moody, by Robert Shuster of the Billy Graham Center archives at Wheaton College. Shuster found the letters in a box among papers that had belonged to missionary L. Nelson Bell.
Ordained: Tim Stevenson, 46, as the first openly homosexual pastor in the United Church of Canada. The denomination has allowed ordination of homosexuals since 1988.
Agreed: Joint operations between John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, and Crichton College in Memphis, Tennessee. John Brown will provide administrative services to Crichton, and the two campuses will exchange faculty, students, and staff.
Chosen: Dal Shealy, 53, as the new president of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), replacing Dick Abel. Shealy has been FCA’s executive vice-president.
Named: Richard Mouw, as the new president of Fuller Theological Seminary, to replace David Allan Hubbard upon his retirement July 1, 1993. Mouw, widely known as an evangelical philosopher and theologian, has been a senior vice-president at Fuller since 1989 and professor of Christian philosophy and ethics since 1985.
Elected: Jane Holmes Dixon, 54, as the second female bishop in the Episcopal Church. Dixon was elected May 30 as suffragan bishop of the Diocese of Washington.
