The pressure is off Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia to add a woman to its all-male board of directors. Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges, which has accredited the seminary since 1954, had threatened to remove its endorsement if the seminary did not name a woman to the board (CT, Oct. 22, 1990, p. 51). However, the accreditation agency reversed its course in late June, saying Westminster had satisfied the agency’s criteria by putting more women on board subcommittees.
Westminster is run by a board of clergy and ordained elders, which, in accordance with the seminary’s understanding of biblical church leadership, have been males only. Constitutional attorney William Bentley Ball, representing the school, said Middle States’s action represented “a distinct threat to religious liberty and an equally severe denial of academic freedom.” Westminster had filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education body that oversees Middle States, and the department had begun investigating Middle States’s newly developed criteria for cultural diversity. Education Secretary Lamar Alexander had deferred reauthorizing Middle States as an accrediting body until the issue was resolved.
Meanwhile, Westminster named Samuel Logan, formerly the school’s academic dean, as its new president.
IN COURT
Suit Names Swaggart
A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a $750,000 settlement that drops some defendants from defrocked preacher Marvin Gorman’s $90 million defamation suit against evangelist Jimmy Swaggart. Swaggart, his wife, and the Assemblies of God General Council, however, are still listed as prime defendants in the case, which is scheduled for court this month. Gorman’s personal bankruptcy case claims debts of $1 million, and his Louisiana-based ministry claims debts of $3 million.
CHURCH/STATE
Regent U. Challenged
Pat Robertson has become tangled in a squabble over whether his university can qualify for government tax-free bonds, much like the controversy faced earlier by Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University (CT, May 27, 1991, p. 57).
Robertson’s Regent University recently came under fire from the Washington, D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State for seeking nearly $10 million in tax-free industrial development bonds from the Virginia Beach, Virginia, city council. Americans United executive director Robert Maddox said his group would urge the city to vote down the bonds because Regent is primarily a religious institution.
“Pat Robertson is free to operate Regent University and other aspects of his religious ministry in any way he chooses,” Maddox said, “but he must not try to force citizens to support that ministry through government action.”
The Virginia Supreme Court recently ruled that Falwell’s Liberty University was primarily a religious institution and therefore did not qualify for similar development bonds, totaling about $60 million.
OPERATION RESCUE
Police Reverse Policy
The Los Angeles Police Department announced it will discontinue using nunchakus, a martial-arts device, when arresting antiabortion protesters. Operation Rescue (OR) had filed suit to force the department to quit using the instruments, two-foot-long sticks joined by several inches of cord, to haul rescuers from sit-in sites. The announcement came after three days of trial testimony in a U.S. District Court.
Operation Rescue leader Randall Terry called the announcement “a face-saving measure.” “We felt that the fact that they were willing to negotiate it before the judge ruled was really an admission of guilt,” Terry said.
An attorney for the police department said public outcry, over the beating of motorist Rodney King by police affected the decision to settle the case. The new policy deals only with treatment of antiabortion activists, according to the police department announcement.
In addition, assistant chief of police Robert Vernon (CT, Apr. 29, 1991, p. 42) has come under criticism from the Los Angeles homosexual community and a city council member for comments made in a series of messages he delivered several years ago at Grace Community Church. In the series, entitled “The True Masculine Role,” Vernon, a teaching elder at the church, allegedly condemns homosexuality and advocates women’s submission to men and corporal punishment of children.
PEOPLE AND EVENTS
Briefly Noted
Paroled: Richard Dortch, former aide to PTL leader Jim Bakker. Dortch’s parole was approved because of his declining health. He was originally sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to mail fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy.
Delayed: The opening of New Heritage USA, due to lawsuits between its principal stockholders and business partner Morris Cerullo (CT, Apr. 29, 1991, p. 40). After purchasing the South Carolina theme park that once belonged to Jim Bakker, the new owners announced plans for a July 4 opening. No new date has been set.
Named: As chancellor of Asbury College, Dennis Kinlaw, who has served as president of the Wilmore, Kentucky, school for 18 years. Edwin Blue, former executive vice-president, was named president.
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