News from the North American Scene: March 09, 1992

Cults

Scientology Sues Cult Watchers

The Worldwide Institute of Scientology Enterprises has sued other critics in the past, but now they are taking on a religious group for the first time.

“I just don’t think they realize potentially what kind of Pandora’s box they are opening here,” says Craig Branch, southeast director of Watchman Fellowship (WF), one of the groups being sued.

“One of the questions is whether Christian organizations have the right … to publicly speak out against groups that are in conflict with their faith and/or who fraudulently represent themselves as compatible with Christianity,” says Eric Johnson, a Rutherford Institute attorney for WF.

The suit alleges that WF and the Cult Awareness Network want to destroy Sterling Management Systems, a division of Scientology, “through a malicious antireligious campaign of lies and deceit.” WF has written about Scientology in its monthly Watchman Expositor, and once wrote 1,400 Alabama dentists about “some controversial, and in some cases destructive groups that have adapted their programs to take advantage of [the dental] business market,” among them, Sterling Management. Time magazine last year called Sterling Management a “front group and financial scam” for Scientology.

Television

Prime-Time Religion

Researchers at three universities say their recent data indicate religion is not fairly represented by television’s four major networks.

“The religious sides of people’s lives are rarely included in the fictional world of television,” says researcher Thomas Skill of the University of Dayton.

The researchers said characters rarely acknowledge or reflect a belief in God or Jesus, and when they do, their comments tend to be ambiguous. While the study found that many TV characters pray, the most common prayer was a simple “Thank God!” followed by prayers to “God as last resort.”

Donald Wildmon, director of the American Family Association, which commissioned the study, said it “clearly indicates the bigotry and bias the networks and Hollywood have toward religion and religious people.”

Priest Shortage

Catholic Parish Turns Episcopal

For the first time in 78 years, a Roman Catholic church has become Episcopal. At least half of the 52 families of Holy Trinity Church in Conrath, Wisconsin, met on January 6 as Holy Trinity Episcopal Church after months of unsuccessful attempts to stop the local Catholic diocese from closing their doors due to a shortage of priests.

“We are not abandoning the church, the church has abandoned us,” says Grace Spooner, who is leading the exodus.

The test of Holy Trinity’s resolve will come when they try to buy the church building from the Catholic diocese. If the congregation does become an Episcopal church, it would be the first such switch since 1914 when a Catholic church in Hackensack, New Jersey, broke with Rome, says Notre Dame church historian Jaime Vidal.

Canada

Evangelical In Politics

Preston Manning, leader of Canada’s conservative Reform party, is getting a lot of attention for his outspoken religious beliefs. The former Christian radio broadcaster and member of a Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Calgary has some liberal opponents worried that he might cut social services if elected prime minister. But Manning recently told the Toronto Globe and Mail that he has no “hidden religious agenda.”

Manning said in a National & International Religion report that he quit broadcasting his radio sermons to avoid confusing his political and religious practices.

Evangelism

Touchdown, Jesus

The Washington Redskins were not the only team claiming victory on Super Bowl Sunday at the Minneapolis Metrodome. Several Christian groups mounted evangelistic efforts amid the hype.

Thousands of pamphlets featuring photos and testimonies of 19 Redskins who claim Christ as Savior were given to people entering the Metrodome. Lay evangelist Richard Enrico, a friend of Washington coach Joe Gibbs, produced the tract, which has been widely distributed around Washington, D.C.

Sports Outreach Minnesota (SOM) distributed nearly 300,000 copies of Sports Spectrum, a magazine featuring testimonies of Christian athletes, in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. Some 17,000 copies were distributed on Super Bowl Sunday outside the Metrodome. SOM executive director Chuck Fenrick said that by early February, the ministry had received 500 response cards from people who had read the magazine. Fourteen percent indicated a decision for Christ and 30 percent asked for more information.

In a related effort, SOM team members spoke to more than 53,000 youth in 81 school assemblies, and another 13,500 youth in 18 regional rallies. More than 1,000 youth indicated decisions for Christ.

“Over 300 churches and ministries worked together cooperatively to do one thing, which was to share Jesus Christ,” Fenrick said.

People And Events

Briefly Noted

Appointed: John Aker, as the new president and chief executive officer of Slavic Gospel Association in Wheaton, Illinois. Aker has been pastor of First Evangelical Free Church in Rockford, Illinois, since 1988.

William Shorney, as the seventh president of Hope Publishing Company, in Carol Stream, Illinois. Shorney has been serving as the company’s vice-president.

Robert Neville, as president of the American Academy of Religion. Neville is dean of the Boston University School of Theology.

Ron Wilson, as the new executive director of the Evangelical Press Association. Wilson is a free-lance writer based in Earlysville, Virginia.

Died: James Bere, at 69, a Chicago corporate executive and religious benefactor. Bere served as trustee of Fuller Theological Seminary, the University of Chi cago, the Salvation Army, and Christ Church of Oak Brook, Illinois.

Announced: The planned merger of International Bible Society and Living Bibles International.

Formed: the Seattle Association of Theological Education (SATE—pronounced sah-tay). Founding members include 13 Seattle churches, Seattle Pacific University, Regent College of Vancouver, Canada, and Fuller Theological Seminary of Pasadena, California. The group will provide seminary and theological education to students and integrate their learning into local church experiences.

Corrections

A November 11, 1991, news story incorrectly stated that InterServe USA lets doctors raise extra money to help pay medical-school debts. Doctors must be debt-free before serving with the organization, based in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

A December 16, 1991, North American Scene story incorrectly listed the amount of debt Youth for Christ/USA recently paid off. The correct figure is $4.3 million. YFC/USA executive officer Roger Cross reports that nine workers were laid off due to budget cutbacks

Denominations

Matthew Fox, Go Home

Controversial Dominican priest and creation theologian Matthew Fox says he needs his California environs to stimulate his thinking. But Donald Goergen, head of the Dominican Province of Saint Albert the Great, in January sent Fox an ultimatum saying he should return to Chicago or lose his Dominican status.

Fox, who heads the Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality in Oakland, has stirred controversy with his mystical creation theology, which at points resembles New Age thought. Fox has said he will appeal the ultimatum to Damian Byrne, master general of the Order of Friars Preachers (Dominicans), in Rome.

Methodist Evangelicals

About 80 well-known United Methodist evangelicals have called for their church to affirm traditional sexual morality and each person’s need to make a personal decision for Christ. The statement, called the “Memphis Declaration,” was issued in preparation for the denomination’s general conference this May when United Methodists will consider a proposal to loosen the church’s stand on homosexuality.

Disciples Of Christ

Evangelical leaders in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) say they are being falsely accused of cheating in the defeat of liberal candidate Michael Kinnamon as the denomination’s president (CT, Dec. 16, 1991, p. 58). Richard Bowman, president of Disciple Renewal, wants an investigation into charges that his group stacked the October 1991 general assembly meeting with conservative voters, and that some voted more than once.

“If cheating did occur, then those responsible should be exposed and disciplined,” Bowman said in a statement.

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