The Return of the Amnesiac Pastor

“Amnesiac pastor” wants his money Remember Barre Cox? He’s the minister from San Antonio and former Abilene Christian University staffer who disappeared in 1994, then reappeared in December 2000 as James Simmons, preaching at a predominantly gay church in Dallas. Cox/Simmons claimed he had amnesia after waking up in a Memphis hospital, and had forgotten all about his wife and daughter. There have been questions about the truth of that claim.

Now Cox is trying to retrieve a bit of his past. He says he’s under the care of a neuropsychologist and can recall “bits and pieces” of his former life. But what he really wants, reports the Abilene Reporter-News, is the August 1991 declaration of his death overturned and his estate returned to him.

The problem, says Cox’s widow, is that there isn’t much of an estate left—she spent it all raising their daughter. “It would mean total bankruptcy” if he wins the case, she says.

Tom DeLay apologizes for saying Baylor isn’t Christian “Don’t send your kids to Baylor,” House Majority Whip Tom DeLay told a conservative Christian group in Houston. “And don’t send your kids to A&M. There are still some Christian schools out there—good, solid schools. Now, they may be little, they may not be as prestigious as Stanford, but your kids will get a good, solid, godly education.”

After the comments appeared in the Houston Chronicle (they were secretly taped by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State), DeLay was forced to do some backtracking. “My response to a concerned parent has created a misunderstanding,” he said. “Let me be Texas clear. I’ve been a longtime supporter of Baylor and Texas A&M.”

Meanwhile, Baylor supporters continue to defend the school. “Tom DeLay must have been taken out of context,” Baylor alum and former Republican congressman Jack Fields told The Dallas Morning News. “I know unequivocally that Baylor is committed to the Christian faith.”

And Baylor spokesman Larry Brumley suggested the whip (who was kicked out of Baylor in 1967 for misbehaving) visit the school again. “Apparently Congressman DeLay’s perceptions of Baylor have been influenced by people who are uninformed or misinformed about the Christian character and mission of Baylor University,” he said.

Sinéad on scandal Since Weblog knows you’ve been dying to know what singer Sinéad O’Connor has to say about the clergy abuse scandal, here it is:

All pedophiles, whether in church or street or home, should be dealt with by the laws of man and God in unison. All who protected them should admit their mistakes and step down from their jobs. All of us who are in deep grief about these scandals must be careful to learn the lessons within them. It is now our job, as I see it, to teach the teachers forgiveness and true Christianity.

Clergy abuse:

Law saw pope, discussed quitting | Made secret Rome trip; says he’ll address crisis (The Boston Globe)
The rules of abuse | Canon law helps explain how American bishops have handled priests who prey on underage youths (Associated Press)
Upside of convicting molester priests | Experts believe it purges church, gives victims credibility (San Francisco Chronicle)
The Pope steps in | Can he save the American church from the sex-abuse scandal? (Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal)
Homosexuality in priesthood is under increasing scrutiny | The Catholic faithful are asking whether there is a closeted culture of homosexuality in the priesthood. (The New York Times)
Legal Games | How dioceses can still withhold the truth. (Rod Dreher, National Review Online)
Judge: Cardinal Must Answer Questions | Man claims Cardinal Law and the Boston Archdiocese failed to protect him from being sexually abused (Associated Press)
Sinead O’Connor: Forgive the priests | “All pedophiles whether in church or street or home, should be dealt with by the laws of man and God in unison. All who protected them should admit their mistakes and step down from their jobs. All of us who are in deep grief about these scandals must be careful to learn the lessons within them. It is now our job as I see it, to teach the teachers forgiveness and true Christianity.” (Jeannette Walls, MSNBC)
Church Abuse Prosecutors Check Limits on Cases | There’s even talk among the nation’s prosecutors of circumventing statutes of limitations, with a theory that the legal clock shouldn’t start ticking if church officials kept allegations from law enforcement (Associated Press)

Life ethics:

Bush on human cloning | Basically the issue boils down to life and death (Editorial, The Washington Times)
Church funds adult stem cell study | Australia’s Catholic Church offered to co-fund research on the use of adult stem cells as part of its ongoing campaign against embryonic stem cell research. (AAP)
Abortion first | Leaving all the kids involved behind. (Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review Online)
Anti-abortion group fails to halt sale of ‘day after’ pill in Britain | Group claimed the practice amounted to “procuring a miscarriage”, a crime under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (The Daily Telegraph, London)
Judge rejects ban on morning-after pill (The Guardian)
Australian court OKs fertility treatment for single women, lesbians | Roman Catholic Church strongly opposed decision (Associated Press)
Abortion-consent law rejected | Parent-notification rule held unconstitutional (The Denver Post)
Also: Federal appeals court rejects Colorado parental notification law (Associated Press)

Sex & marriage:

Celibacy has history beyond priests | It’s actually been followed in many cultures since ancient times: by secluded monks, Rome’s Vestal Virgins, and powerful leaders such as Mohandas Gandhi and Queen Elizabeth I (Associated Press)
Altared states | Catholic Church facing increased pressure to let priests marry, as they do in related denominations (The Hartford [Conn.] Courant)
Three priests oppose ban on gay marriage (The Boston Globe)

Politics & law:

Faith in the system | The possibility that a Jew might run against a Mormon in a heavily Catholic state makes religious issues hard to avoid in this year’s race for governor (The Boston Phoenix)
Ball now back in politicians’ hands: Church | Catholics want law blocking single women and lesbians using IVF (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
Govt. may change sex discrimination laws (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
‘Missing minister’ pursues lawsuit | James Simmons wants to rescind Barre Cox’s death certificate (Abilene [Tex.] Reporter-News)
Also: Minister presumed dead is alive and seeking estate (Associated Press)
Jewish, evangelical and civil liberties groups denounce ‘referendumb’ | Ballot measure asks whether “Aboriginal self-government should have the characteristics of local government, with powers delegated from Canada and British Columbia” (Vancouver Sun)

Church and state:

Satanic student group seeks funding at University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh | Obsidian Enlightenment will ask student government for thousands in student funds to promote its programs. (Oshkosh Northwestern)
Judge rules on Virginia church ban | In a lawsuit brought by the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a federal judge has ruled that an 18th-century Virginia law banning the incorporation of churches unconstitutionally restricts the free exercise of religion. (Associated Press)
Falwell wins half of battle | Pastor laments that ruling does not solve the acreage limitations. (The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.)
Federal judge backs school in spat over ‘God Bless America | Artist, 12, wanted elementary school to use her yearbook design with patriotic message; school said no. (Associated Press)
Ten Commandments amendment dies in Alabama Legislature | House failed to vote on constitutional amendment before Senate adjourned. (Associated Press)
Ten Commandments posting draws suit in Rutherford County | ACLU filed suit less than eight hours after Tennessee county employee hung display on courthouse wall (The Tennessean)
Louisiana governor signs school prayer bill | New law reinstates protections that previously existed in the state but were altered in 1999 when Louisiana amended its law to include prayer spoken aloud (UPI)
Delay Urges More Religion in Texas Schools
Stanford right to pass on Christian coach | Gridiron and religion should be separate (Mark Simon, San Francisco Chronicle)
It’s God they thrust | In search of ‘moral clarity’ through prayer in school (Bill Berkowitz, WorkingForChange.com)

Persecution:

11,000 slaves freed in Sudan (News24, South Africa)
One lone voice fights for human rights in China | Of the known human-rights cases in China, about two-thirds first come to light from Frank Lu’s Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy (The Christian Science Monitor)
Hateful words foster hate | The increasingly caustic rhetoric denigrating the religions of others serves no purpose (The Bakersfield Californian)

War in the Holy Land:

Christian donations to Israel feted | Tens of millions of dollars have been donated by Christians to some 70 humanitarian causes in Israel (The Jerusalem Post)
Is nothing sacred? | The Mideast violence and the Catholic Church’s crisis only seem unrelated (Patti Davis, Newsweek)
Christian right steps in on Mideast | A strong, new pro-Israeli voice muscles into the traditional Jewish-Arab political dynamic in Washington. (The Christian Science Monitor)
Bethlehem mayor appeals to pope to end church standoff | Wants pontiff to visit the city himself (The Jerusalem Post)

Church life:

He lives what he preaches, despite a few setbacks | John Cochran took people in need into his home. Then the home was burned by an arsonist (Brian O’Neill, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Church of Scotland faces extinction in 50 years | “Many people are so far removed from the Church that several generations have passed without any family member having seen the inside of a church building far less having taken part in Christian worship,” says report (The Scotsman)
Kirk’s uncertain future | For anyone favouring a diverse and vibrant civil society, this decline should be of deep concern (Editorial, The Scotsman)
Church faces ‘divorce’ over female bishops | Forward in Faith, the umbrella group for clergy who cannot accept women priests, has said its members will leave the Church of England if, as is expected within the next decade, it consecrates women bishops (The Daily Telegraph)

Money & business:

More business owners advertising their faith | Others say religious ads, names put off customers (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
British government wants to close shops at Christmas | Trade and Industry Secretary has been persuaded that shopping on December 25 not only sends out a materialistic signal but deprives check-out staff and shelf stackers of a precious holiday. (The London Independent)
Auditor Doubts Crosswalk.com Can Keep Going | Ernst & Young cites company’s recurring operating losses and its limited working capital (Dow Jones)

Theology:

‘Female God’ prayer gets clergy hot under collar | Official Anglican publication’s “insipient feminism” calls Holy Spirit a “she” (Yorkshire Post, U.K.)
Theologian stresses need for accountability, foundations | Ravi Zacharias speaks in Flint, Michigan (The Flint Journal)
Wise move by Metropolitan Ministries | Metropolitan Ministries’ decision to open its board of directors to people of all faiths who profess a commitment to help this area’s hungry and homeless is a welcome change of heart that promises to make the organization better able to fulfill its mission (Editorial, The Tampa Tribune)
Metropolitan Ministries dumps Christianity rule (WTSP-TV)

Pop culture:

Beam me up, Rev. Scotty | Star Trek’s religious themes boldly go where no TV show has gone before (The Christian Science Monitor)
Joshua needs saving | Bringing the Savior to a small town doesn’t guarantee salvation. (Westword, Denver)
Also: Holy Hollywood | Billionaire Philip Anschutz is poised to become a PG-movie mogul. (Westword, Denver)
Also: Phil’s big scores | Anshutz’s domain stretches from kids’ theater to pro sports. (Westword, Denver)

Catholicism:

These waters run deep | Baptism by immersion, for centuries nearly unknown to Roman Catholics, is being revived. (Los Angeles Times)
Pope names six potential saints | John Paul now has beatified 1,288 candidates for sainthood in his 23 years as pontiff (Associated Press)
Pope sympathizes with the elderly | Says he is urging more appreciation of the elderly, “not only out of pastoral care, but also because I personally share the condition.” (Associated Press)
The Mission is on a mission | And Cardinal Mahony has been its target for years (LA Weekly)
A pie in the face of the Catholic hierarchy | As a woman, I feel marginalized by the church. But a bake-sale revolt led by elderly church ladies near Chicago has given me hope. (Celeste Arbogast, Salon.com)
Russian Catholics See Change Soon | Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II said he was ready to meet with Pope John Paul (Associated Press)

Other stories of interest:

2 couples turn lives around in program | Pastor Shirley Holloway’s House of Help-City of Hope program in Southwest Washington helped them get off drugs, they say (The Washington Times)
The real heal? | Does televangelist Benny Hinn work miracles? (Religion News Service)
Local man aims to help free people from porn addiction | Terry Ermoian runs Pure Freedom Ministry out of his home (Waco [Tex.] Tribune-Herald)
Mexico’s mysterious saint | Did Juan Diego even exist? (Associated Press)
In Boston, resolve trumps ‘the race card’ | There are any number of ways to measure the Rev. Eugene Rivers’ effectiveness in curtailing Boston’s gang wars. (The Cincinnati Post)
Archbishop brings ‘an aura of goodness’ | Greek Orthodox leader visits Baltimore to mark charity’s 10 years of work. (The Baltimore Sun)

Implantable chips ahoy | ‘Mark of the beast’ or sign of the times? (Bill Berkowitz, WorkingForChange)
A Bible for the Inuit | After 23 years, the huge task of translation into Inuktitut is complete (The National Post, Canada)