Maria Sung No Longer Mooning For Archbishop Milingo

Milingo mess may be over “My commitment to the life of the Church, including celibacy, does not allow me to be married,” Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo said in a letter to Maria Sung, whom he “married” in a May ceremony officiated by Unification Church leader Sun Myung Moon. “The call from my church to my first commitment is just.” After a brief meeting between Milingo and Sung yesterday, the Korean acupuncturist said she accepted the breakup. “For the great love for my husband, I’ll respect his decision,” she told reporters. “But that doesn’t change the feeling I have for him in my heart.” (Weblog feels it necessary to point out an important distinction that most media aren’t making: the Vatican doesn’t recognize Moon’s mass weddings—and thus Milingo’s marriage—as legitimate.) This seems to brings to a close one of the strangest (and most media-saturated) battles between two churches in the recent years. Some media have portrayed the tale as a soap opera. Indeed, it has included some spicy plot points, including accusations of drugging, kidnapping, brainwashing, and whispers of pregnancy. But The New York Times was able to see through the fog. “Though the language of romance has been used to describe their peculiar melodrama, the continuing saga of Archbishop Milingo and Ms. Sung seems less a love story than an interfaith firefight,” Melinda Henneberger wrote in yesterday’s edition. “In religious circles, the spectacle is widely seen as a straightforward and highly successful public relations attack on the Vatican by an outfit that the Curia does not even deign to consider its spiritual competition.” Now that it’s over, who won the public relations battle? It’s hard to say, but Weblog thinks the Unification Church’s efforts may at least cause both Protestants and Catholics to think twice before joining Moon in political and other nonreligious efforts.

Israel withdraws from Beit Jala Under pressure from the U.S. and Europe, Israeli soldiers early this morning left the West Bank town of Beit Jala, which is mainly populated by Christians. “The withdrawal of the army forces comes after the Palestinians promised to keep the area quiet and stop the firing on the neighborhood of Gilo,” says an Israeli army statement. The army says it will reoccupy the town if shooting at the Jerusalem suburb continues.

Money and business:

Survey: Religion affects investing | Faith and personal values guide more than a third of investors, but few use faith-based mutual funds (Associated Press)
Also: Putting their faith in investment choices | Though religious funds are scarce, many people say they apply personal beliefs in financial decisions. (Los Angeles Times)
Irish church fears euro short change | Parishioners who now put a £1 coin in the collection plate may reach instead for a €1 coin—worth 20% less than the currency it is replacing (BBC)
Amway fights back in court against soap rival | Amway says Procter & Gamble is harassing distributors with lawsuits and chasing away customers; P&G says Amway distributors are calling them Satanists (Pete Waldmeir, The Detroit News)
Preacher lifting hopes, profits for ailing mall | High-tech ministry anchor for center in Forest Park (Chicago Tribune)
Bishop fights to keep shoppers out of church | Dutch church leader would rather see buildings demolished than turned into a supermarket (Ananova)
Can you love Jesus and journalism? | Life for a committed Christian working in the Street of Shame is difficult but not completely impossible (Rob Brown, The Daily Telegraph)

Billy Graham scheduling Cincinnati crusade for next June:

Plea for healing touched Graham | Official announcement won’t come until Sept. 26, but Graham has unofficially accepted the invitation (The Cincinnati Post)
Billy Graham visit looks possible | Still no official word, but ball is rolling (WLWT)
Billy Graham invited to Cincinnati | Church leaders hope a crusade would help heal racial tensions (WLWT, Cincinnati)

Evangelism and missions:

Get thee to the house of God—please? | Day-to-day Bible-bashing won’t do much to bring modern people to Christianity (Chris McGillion, The Sydney Morning Herald)
The violence of evangelism | We have been alarmed by recent rumors of people being “beaten over the head with the Bible.” (Andy Crouch, re:generation quarterly)
Missionary impossible: Azerbaijan tackles religion | New state committee will monitor religious organizations for evangelism (Asia Times)

Other religions:

Children seduced by forces of Satanism on the Internet | Teachers’ groups are worried that nobody is monitoring the effect this fascination with the occult is having on its teenage followers. (The Times, London)
Student suspended for wearing pentacle | Dress code prohibits disruptions in class, but student likens symbol to cross (KOCO, Oklahoma City)
Occult caper is eyed as bias | Broken crucifix was found lying on top of what appeared to be two occult symbols on the front steps of Catholic Church (New York Daily News)
Slovakia’s churches exercise their clout against yoga plan | Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy decry plan to include “path to total atheism” in schools (The Boston Globe)
Also: Education minister bends to church pressure on yoga (Ananova)

Education:

Supreme Court likely to hear vouchers case | Justices could say by late September whether it will consider Cleveland case (Associated Press)
Religious freedom sought in public schools | Michigan and Wisconsin school districts change policies on distribution of religious literature after suits by Christian students (The Washington Times)
Canadian teachers’ union to fight ‘homophobic,’ ‘racist’ private schools | Ontario’s Education Ministry immediately spoke out against remarks (Canadian Press)
Students convert to bag Bachelor of Education seats | Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education complains that minority colleges are exploiting rules (The Times of India)
Church schools deny loss of morality | Report accuses the schools of losing their nerve in the face of growing secularism since the 1960s (The Times, London)

Displays in the Alabama Supreme Court:

King display blocked from Ala. court | Black lawmaker wants “I have a dream” speech posted next to Roy Moore’s Ten Commandments monument (Associated Press)
Also: Alabama court refuses plaque for Dr. King (The New York Times)
Poll shows ‘Ten Commandments judge’ has wide support | Three-quarters of Alabamans approve of monument (Religion News Service)

Politics:

Faith and funding simplified | Distinguishing between faith-linked, faith-filled, and faith-based programs (John A. Calhoun, The Washington Post)
After DiIulio, where is faith-based initiative? | As one who initially supported this proposal, I hereby register my disdain for the hash that is being made out of it in Washington (David P. Gushee, Religion News Service)
Chilean president warns Vatican | Cardinal backs conservative senate candidate (BBC)
Vatican Radio transmissions to comply with Italy’s emissions law | Italian government had threatened to pull the plug on the broadcaster (Associated Press)

Greek Orthodox Church still fighting new ID cards:

Greek church in ID card hassle | More than 3 million signatures on petition for referendum, but government says ID cards will still omit religion (Associated Press)
Archbishop deflated | President says there are ‘no grounds’ for referendum on ID dispute (Kathimerini)
Greek church causes fresh identity crisis (The Guardian)
Greek church demands ID referendum (BBC)
ID-day today in church war against state (Kathimerini)

Eastern Orthodox:

A guarded pilgrimage in Macedonia | Shielded by NATO, Slavs make tense return to village since taken by rebels (The Washington Post)
Eastern Orthodox monasteries rise once more | Where only an estimated 16 monasteries existed in the Soviet Union under communist rule, about 500 have reopened in the decade since perestroika (USA Today)
As a rare cathedral crumbles, two rival nations point fingers | Turks blame Armenian quarry blasts for damaging church in Ani. The dispute is but one legacy of countries’ bloody, bitter history. (Los Angeles Times)
Orthodox head willing to meet Pope | Russia’s Orthodox patriarch is only willing to meet if there are assurances a meeting would bring progress in the disputes between the churches (Associated Press)

Women in the pulpit:

Lobbying for women as priests | A group paid for a billboard. Roman Catholic officials cited tradition. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
‘I’m not sure I see myself in a mitre’ | If the opposition can be silenced, Vivienne Faull could be Britain’s first woman bishop. It’s a daunting prospect, she says (The Daily Telegraph, London)
Why much of the alleged fuss about women ministers is a fraud | There is no ugly undercurrent of prejudice in the Church of Scotland over women ministers, who are an equal and accepted part of the scene (Stewart Lamont, The Scotsman)

Related Elsewhere

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