Lebanon Bus Bombs Target Christians

Today’s Top Five

1. Lebanon gets worse as Christians targeted Two commuter buses were bombed Tuesday in the small Christian village of Ain Alak (photos). “Many residents simply shrugged over the culprit’s identity, a seeming gesture of weariness over a crisis that has brought Lebanon perilously close to civil war,” The Washington Post reports. But everyone agrees that the target was Lebanon’s Christian community, and the victims were among the poorer members of that community.

“The buses were packed with students, blue-collar workers, Sri Lankan maids and women making their way to Christian theology lessons,” the Los Angeles Times notes.

“The attacks, spaced 10 minutes apart … appeared to mark a new chapter in Lebanon’s months-old crisis, with the aim shorn of any apparent political objective beyond killing civilians,” says the Post.

If you haven’t read our recent coverage of the Lebanon crisis from the perspective of two Lebanese evangelicals, be sure to read Martin Accad’s “The ‘Jesus Manifesto’ for Lebanon” and Riad Kassis’ “The Colors of Lebanon.”

2. Coptic Christians attacked again in Egypt It seems not to take much for Muslims in southern Egypt to attack Christians in the area. Reuters reports that “rumors of a love affair between a Muslim woman and a Coptic Christian man” set off a riot in Armant, with Muslims attacking Christian shops and a minivan. Eight Muslim men (who are permitted to marry Christian women, but whose daughters are not allowed to marry Christian men) were arrested.

3. Anglicans, Presbyterians face splits The big Anglican primates’ meeting is underway in Tanzania. Despite truckloads of predictions and analysis (the Anglican blogosphere seems both ablaze and weary), there’s very little to report so far. We’ll let you know when something actually happens.

Meanwhile, it looks like 130 or so of the 151 Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregations in the New Wineskins Association of Churches are taking steps to leave the denomination, likely for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The EPC may create a new, non-geographic presbytery for the New Wineskins group. Will it really happen? We’ll see. But we’ve learned to be cautious about these realignment / breakaway / exodus stories.

4. ELCA disciplinary committee criticizes but follows policy on gay pastor In another of these almost-a-real-decision stories, a disciplinary committee of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted to remove Bradley Schmeling from the ministry because he engages in homosexual behavior. But the committee also said that the rules barring gay ministers “are at least bad policy, and may very well violate the constitution and bylaws of this church” and urged the denomination to “initiate a process” at its August assembly to remove the prohibitions against gay clergy. Hoping to see such changes made, the committee didn’t make Schmeling’s removal effective until after the assembly.

5. Is KDKA to blame in pastor’s suicide The story of the Rev. Brent Dugan, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon, Pennsylvania, is a tragic one. After a lifelong struggle with homosexual desires, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported last year, in 2002 Dugan “became close friends with a man who claimed to love him, and with whom he had occasional sexual encounters. That man cajoled him into leaving specific kinds of sexual fantasies on his answering machine, and then betrayed him by setting up a meeting at an adult bookstore, where KDKA-TV recorded him.”

In November, a sweeps month, KDKA repeatedly aired promotions for its expose of Dugan, but didn’t mention him by name. Reporter Marty Griffin said his investigation “uncovered illicit, possibly illegal, activity by a local minister, activities which, at the very least, violated the rules of his denomination.”

KDKA never aired the report. It canceled its broadcast plans when it heard that Dugan was “considering doing harm to himself.” The next day, Dugan committed suicide by overdosing on aspirin and alcohol. That set off a wave of criticism of the station.

“It’s the use of key words — possibly illegal, at the very least — that call into question whether the report was worth doing in the first place,” Post-Gazette TV columnist Rob Owen said. “If the best Griffin could dig up was a trip to an adult bookstore (not illegal) and violation of church rules, then there’s not much in it to serve the public interest. It comes off looking like another ‘gotcha’-style story designed for no benefit except the TV station’s ratings.”

“What kind of culture (individual+church+politics+press+commercialism) sets the stage for this sort of pain after a lifetime of service, sacrifice and silent struggling? What kind of people patiently plan and then wait for such a person’s failure?” Grove City College psychology professor Warren Throckmorton asked on his blog. “Brent Dugan apparently led an honorable, commendable and generous life. He deserved much better than treachery for the sake of commercialism.”

James Mead, pastor to Pittsburgh Presbytery, told members in December, “It is the view of many, including me, that KDKA may well be said to have crossed boundaries of acceptable journalistic practices in its development and treatment of this story, and its treatment of our pastor who was its subject.”

This week, Pittsburgh’s main ecumenical body filed an official complaint with the FCC as the station seeks renewal of its broadcast license. While Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania says it doesn’t want KDKA’s license revoked, it does want an apology “for the misleading promos and unfortunate lapse in journalistic reporting that led to the Rev. Brent Dugan’s unfortunate death.”

The Post-Gazette‘s Ann Rogers reports:

[The letter to the FCC] says the promos “sentenced” the Rev. Dugan before the presbytery had time to look into the situation, which could have produced a church process that “provided for repentance, rehabilitation and forgiveness.” It says that the promos violated the Code of Broadcast News Ethics, and the letter deplores “the exploitation of religious leaders and issues for increased ratings at the expense of journalistic integrity and the truth.” Mr. Mead said they were not asking to stop coverage of clergy who commit crimes, but to refrain from sensationalistic stories that would not be considered news if they were about someone in a different profession.

You might wonder why Weblog is covering this now, instead of on November 3, when Dugan committed suicide. We probably would have given this more attention, but we were busy. On November 2, Ted Haggard resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals amid news reports that he had been involved with a male prostitute. So far, Weblog has seen no comparisons of media coverage of those two cases. But one wonders: What made the Haggard case such an acceptable story that we’re still seeing articles and commentaries about it (Haggards to leave Colorado Springs! Mike Jones to auction his massage table on eBay!), while the Dugan case is a sensationalistic “gotcha” story “with no benefit” that “would not be considered news if it was about someone in a different profession”?

Quote of the day “When you’re a Christian and a middle linebacker for the Colts, you still hit people when they come over the middle. You just make sure it isn’t a cheap shot.” —Political strategist Ralph Reed, on why he uses negative campaign ads. He added, “In politics, you try to make sure it’s not personal. I’ve never felt comfortable with a family situation, even a divorce. … You also have to make sure that the negative information is true. … We’re all going to make a mistake. I think about Peter and the ear of Malchus, how after he severs his ear Christ heals it. … If we’re willing to say, I went too far, I think we have to trust Christ to heal it.” He was speaking at a symposium at Yale Divinity School and quoted by Huffington Post blogger Chris Meserole.

Special note We had trouble getting the Weblog put together last week, but we’ve compiled stories under the “better late than never” principle. Unfortunately, some of the stories from last week are a bit outdated, and some of the links may be broken. To help you find the most recent and relevant stories, then, we’ve split the links below into two sections. The first are articles that have been published since last Friday. The second are older articles published last week. Sorry for the delay.

Anglican meeting in Tanzania | More Anglicanism | ELCA verdict | Ted Haggard and New Life Church | Homosexuality | Sexual ethics | Church life | Presbyterians | Catholicism | Abuse | Lebanon attacks | Crime | Remnant Fellowship murder trial | Funding prison ministry | Church and state | Politics | Mitt Romney | Other Republican candidates | Democratic candidates | Environment | Life ethics | Death penalty | Religious freedom | India | Fiji | Sudan | Israel and Judaism | Blood libel | History | Evolution | Education | Sexual education | Higher education | Research | Books | Media | Entertainment | People | Money and business | Missions & ministry | Islam | Other stories of interest

Last Week’s Articles

Ted Haggard | Homosexuality | Marriage | Spring Arbor’s transgender prof | Evolution | Education | University of Sydney | Life ethics | Parental notification | HPV | Healthcare | Adoption | Church and state | China | Malaysia | Religious freedom | Religious displays | Property disputes | Anglicanism | Baptists | Eastern Orthodox | Catholicism | Robert Drinan | People | Dungy and Smith | NFL vs. churches | More on Super Bowl and churches | Media, art, and entertainment | Books | John Edwards’s bloggers | Barack Obama | John McCain | Mitt Romney | Other 2008 candidates | Politics | Environment | Fiji | War and terrorism | Crime | Abuse | Remnant Fellowship murder case | Arson | Theft | Money and business | Church life | Florida tornadoes | Judaism | Islam | Other stories of interest

Anglican meeting in Tanzania:

Anglican leaders under pressure to prevent schism | At Wednesday’s meeting, 38 church leaders will grapple with how to avoid a split between traditionalist and liberal factions (The Christian Science Monitor)
Anglican conference opens in Tanzania | A conference of Anglican leaders opened Wednesday as the 77 million-member church struggles with a potentially disastrous fight over the Bible and sexuality (Associated Press)
Williams faces fresh effort to stop Anglican split over gay clergy | Archbishop handed letter from church conservatives warning that Canterbury may lose central position (The Guardian, London)
Archbishop faces Church split | The Archbishop of Canterbury arrived at a critical Anglican summit yesterday looking increasingly likely to back a “parallel” Church for conservatives, a move that will appall liberals (The Telegraph, London)
Archbishop faces boycott at gay summit | The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, could find himself “excluded” from the meeting after protests from African and Asian archbishops representing the conservative Global South (The Times, London)
Archbishop battles to ward off final Anglican split on homosexuality | Rival faction plots tactics before Tanzanian meeting; conservatives refuse to meet US pro-gay bishop (The Guardian, London)
Archbishop’s peace talks threatened | The Archbishop of Canterbury flies into the biggest Anglican crisis since the Reformation today without even knowing whether his fellow Church leaders will sit in the same room together (The Telegraph, London)
Last bid to stop Anglican split | Archbishop Williams enters ‘pivotal’ battle to find a compromise in homosexuality row (The Observer, London)
Why is the Anglican Church facing a schism, and can it be prevented? | A Q&A on the meeting in Tanzania (The Independent, London)
Tanzania bishop breaks ranks in gay Anglican row | Tanzanian Bishop Mdimi Mhogolo says it is with a clear conscience that his diocese of Central Tanganyika continues to accept money from its liberal counterpart in New York (Reuters)
No pain, no gain | Worldwide Anglicans, facing split, prepare for key meeting that’s all about losing (World)
New Episcopal leader braces for gay-rights test | Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori may face hostility at a meeting in Tanzania with Anglican bishops (The New York Times)
Blunt bishop at the center of a schism | How Archbishop Peter Akinola’s rejection of liberal “sins” and the ordination of gay clergy could push the Anglican Church to split (Time)
The real Mr Big? | The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, is the nominal head of the world’s 78 million Anglican Christians. But he now faces a challenge from Nigerian archbishop Peter Akinola, whose fiercely anti-gay stance could tear the Communion apart (The Guardian, London)
Njongonkulu Ndungane invites Africa’s Anglicans to gather under a bigger tent | A global meeting of Anglican leaders in Tanzania will focus on the issue of homosexuality, which currently threatens to break the church apart (The New York Times)
The Episcopal Church’s struggles concern us all | If you care about the erosion of civility and general polarization going on in America, you might think of the Episcopal Church as a canary in the mine shaft (Barry L. Beisner, San Francisco Chronicle)
Gays, marriage and Rowan Williams | Neither side sees homosexuality as the most important factor in a Christian life. It is just a focus for differences on Scripture and authority. Schisms have turned on lesser matters—the date of Easter, say. Fallen mankind tends to break up (Christopher Howse, The Telegraph, London)
Blathering bishops | Some of them say the silliest things, at the worst possible moment (Stephen Bates, The Guardian, London)
Church must confront this clash of convictions | We must be welcoming, but we cannot embrace indifference about doctrine and hope to survive. (Peter Jensen, The Sydney Morning Herald)
It is time for the Anglican Luthers to divorce | An obsession with unity is blinding Anglican leaders from seeing the truth now facing them (Ruth Gledhill, The Times, London)

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