Uproar in Boston as Police Are Told to Ignore Sex at Public Rest Areas

Pardon the lack of discourse and commentary today. Weblog will be back to its regular format on Monday. In the meantime, here’s an overwhelming number of links to keep you busy …

Boston tells police to ignore gay sex at public rest areas:

• Cops ordered to look away from public sex, what next? | Why does every gay spokesman have to be a champion for irresponsibility? Are there any who’ll say the police were right in keeping rest areas free of predators, free of exhibitionists, free of anxieties for law-abiding citizens who simply wanted to be left alone? (Joe Fitzgerald, Boston Herald)
• Public sex ruling stirs hot debate along highway | Our Supreme Judicial Court now says public sex is not illegal unless there’s a good chance passers-by will see it. It’s an enlightened view, it seems to me. Don’t fret over what you can’t see, or hear. (Margery Eagan, Boston Herald)
• New rules alter line drawn on public sex | Massachusetts State Police will not automatically roust people meeting at roadside rest areas – even people believed to be engaging in sexual activity, according to new guidelines (The Boston Globe)
• Cellucci: State won’t allow sex in public areas | Despite police order, public sex will be prosecuted, says Massachusetts governor (The Boston Globe)
• Cellucci vows enforcement of ban on sex at rest areas | “Public rest areas are not a place for sex, whether it’s heterosexual (or) homosexual,” says Massachusetts governor (Boston Herald)

Sexual ethics:

• Georgetown helps to keep pregnant students in school (The Washington Times)
• The next big challenge for clergy | The temptation of online sex sites seduces evangelicals (Lauren F. Winner, Beliefnet)
• Priest says TV station should apologize for ‘ill-conceived’ Kiss-a-Thon | “It has dehumanized our young married couples, reducing them to slaves for material gain at any cost, belittling them to slurppers and dribblers,” says Father Sebastian Campbell (The Nassau Guardian, Bahamas)
• Anti-homophobia curriculum draws criticism (Albuquerque Journal)
• Penn State under fire after controversial sex-education fair | Gov. Tom Ridge wrote university officials yesterday, saying they should have considered community standards in addition to students’ First Amendment rights (Associated Press/Freedom Forum)

Anglican primates meet in North Carolina:

• Church leaders gather in a divided communion | Although it is playing host a meeting of Anglican primates in North Carolina, the Episcopal Church is under fire from the leaders of some Anglican churches in Africa, Asia and Latin America who accuse their Episcopal counterparts of straying beyond the bounds of Christian tradition. (The New York Times)
• Episcopal dissidents find African inspiration (The New York Times)

The Unification Church:

• Rev. Moon talks of U.S. decline | The controversial cleric spoke in North Philadelphia, saying the U.S. should not have tried to discredit him. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Local clergy join Moon’s mission | Controversial minister brings “family values” movement to Chicago (Chicago Tribune)

Holy Land theme park:

• Dispute over a theme park brings unexpected publicity | Florida park received a needed jolt from protesters(The Wall Street Journal/MSNBC)
• Finding the faith in Marv’s Holy Land | Why not include some of the Bible’s more visually graphic stories? (Mordecai Richler, National Post)

Catholicism:

• Changing attitudes of Ireland’s Catholics | “If the proper measures of faith are acceptance of church authority and adherence to the church’s sexual and reproductive ethic, then the Irish are no longer Catholic” says Andrew Greeley (BBC)
• Pope to pray in mosque (BBC)
• John Paul first pope to visit mosque (Associated Press)
• A popular temperament | Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels is in a moderate minority favoring less concentration of power in the Vatican. But his upbeat attitude attracts conservatives too. (Los Angeles Times)
• An American cardinal who works to help the world | Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick, the new archbishop of Washington, insists that his focus on human rights overseas and against sweatshops and homelessness in the United States are as much a part of his job as saying Mass. (The New York Times)

Resist the devil, and others will flee from you:

• Cardinal damned for reviving Satan | Frontrunner for pope writes 10 rules to resist temptation (The Guardian, London)
• Archbishop aims to ‘cast out the devil’ | But some leaders in the Catholic Church say his activities cross the line. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Other religions:

• Buddhists protest increasing Christian conversions in Sri Lanka (The Times of India)

Supreme Court:

• Good News after class | The combination of the group’s highly proselytical message directed at very young children on school property and in close proximity to official school activities raises church-state separation concerns at least as serious as the free-speech concerns raised by the group’s exclusion. (Editorial, The Washington Post)
• U.S. Supreme Court to rule on L.A. adult bookstore case | Issue is fairness of zoning law (Associated Press)

Zambia, a “Christian nation”

• Former Zambia President Kenneth Kaunda nods ‘Christian nation’ moniker (The Times of Zambia, Lusaka)
• Cometh the man, cometh the hour | We rejoice with exceedingly great joy that at long last, former President, Dr Kaunda, is now playing his patriarchal role in the nation. (Editorial, The Times of Zambia)
• Earlier: Eight years after Zambia became Christian nation, the title is not convincing | Immorality and corruption on the rise, say church leaders (Christianity Today, Jan. 18, 2000)

Monks evicted from monastery in Israel:

• Monks mourn eviction from monastery (Associated Press)
• Monks had decided to leave monastery on their own (The Jerusalem Post)
• Israeli court workers evict monks (Associated Press)
• Monks elude eviction by Israelis (Associated Press)
• Israel monks defy court (BBC)
• Monks barricade selves to avoid eviction (The Jerusalem Post)
• Police to evict monks from Holy Land monastery (The Independent, London)
• Unholy war over a piece of Holy Land paradise | Israel’s last seven Melkite monks to be evicted today from their monastery near Jerusalem (Ha’aretz)
• Jerusalem property battle pits monks vs monks (The Jerusalem Post)

Race:

• Racism ruled out in church flap | U.S. mediator to reduce role in Long Grove, Illinois (Chicago Tribune)
• Black churches step up anti-AIDS efforts | Marking a special week of prayer for the healing of AIDS (The Boston Globe)

Church disputes:

• Illegal churches to be demolished in Uganda | Neighbors complain of the noise made by night worshipers (New Vision, Kampala)

Persecution:

• Vietnam punishes priest who spoke about oppression | Father Tadeus Nguyen Van Ly submitted evidence to a hearing of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom last month. (Radio Australia)
• Harare priest survives road-ramming | Tim Neill says a government-owned vehicle deliberately tried to run him off the road as he was returning home after giving a speech criticizing the government (The Times, London)
• Death of a missionary | Was a crusading American priest murdered for taking on Kenya’s elite? (U.S. News & World Report)
• Priest involved in Colombia war told to ‘get out of town or die’ (The Miami Herald)

Obituaries:

• The Rev. Rousas John Rushdoony; advocated rule by biblical law (Los Angeles Times)
• The Rev. Richard Wurmbrand; evangelist (Los Angeles Times)

Exhibitions:

• Graven images, figurative art | Exhibition of 380 objects at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni tells tale of the environment Christianity encountered in the capital of the Roman Empire, and how Christians came to express themselves there in figurative terms (International Herald Tribune)
• Cross culture gets graphic at Gardner Museum | Seeing 16 versions of essentially the same subject at a Boston museum makes you notice the differences (The Boston Globe)

Pope hosts showing of 2001:A Space Odyssey:

• Pope hosts a relaunch of agnostic 2001 (The Times, London)
• Faith and freedom | The Pope’s cinema choice is one of thought over orthodoxy (Editorial, The Times)

Missions & ministry:

• Traveling ministry helps racers cope in extraordinary times | Motor Racing Outreach ministers after Earnhardt’s death (The Miami Herald)
• Churches become partners in faith education | Episcopal diocese, Vineyard church team up for Alpha course (The Cincinnati Post)
• More college students have been embracing altruistic vision of spring break | Half of Wheaton College’s football team off to mission in Senegal (Chicago Tribune)
• ‘God’s top gun’ has big plans | Robert “Dr. Shine” Freeman’s treatment center, ministry growing in Charles County (The Washington Post)

Other stories of interest:

• Methodists of two voices on new hymnal | Critics say referring to God as a feminine being who gives birth from a womb, they say, veers away from scriptural authority and traditional Christian teaching, but supporters like inclusive language (Chicago Tribune)
• Egyptian monastery flourishes in mix of tradition, modern era | St. Macarius grows from crumbling status (Associated Press/Chicago Tribune)
• For son of slain atheist, a close call | Weeks after the discovery of O’Hair’s remains, Murray speaks again for faith (The Washington Post)
• Europeans ‘have more faith in police than the Church’ | Only 44 percent polled by Reader’s Digest survey of 18 countries say they have confidence in the Church as an institution. (The Telegraph, London)
• Church widens definition of what constitutes abuse | Australian Catholics consider emotional and physical abuse (Sydney Morning Herald)
• Prophecy conference crowd shrinks (The Tampa Tribune)

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