News from the North American Scene: March 07, 1994

MEDICAID FUNDING

Casey Defies Abortion Directive

Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey is refusing to comply with a Clinton administration order forcing state Medicaid programs to pay for abortions in cases where women say they were impregnated because of incest or rape.

The Department of Health and Human Services on December 28 directed states to pay for abortions when pregnancy is the result of rape or incest. States are to comply by March 31 or risk losing Medicaid funds, even though the order conflicts with policies in 37 states.

The Pennsylvania governor, in a January 14 letter to fellow Democrat Clinton, said the President had exceeded his authority. “Implementing this directive would require me to disregard a validly enacted state statute serving important policy goals on the unfounded legal interpretation of a federal official.”

Douglas Johnson, legislative director for the National Right to Life Committee, says if state laws are invalidated, it could force states to pay for all abortions. “This is a tiny sample of what’s in store for unrestricted abortion coverage if the President’s health care bill passes.”

PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Senate Supports Voluntary Prayer

The U.S. Senate voted 75 to 22 February 3 to deny federal funds to any public school that bars “constitutionally protected” voluntary prayer. The Senate adopted a provision by Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) as an amendment to an education bill, “Goals 2000: Educate America.”

“The balance of power is now moving to the side of Americans who have long sought a level playing field in the school prayer debate,” says Martin Mawyer, president of the Christian Action Network.

Though Americans United for Separation of Church and State warned that the “redundant and unnecessary” Senate vote would confuse people because voluntary school prayer is not forbidden, Helms raised the contradiction of the government forbidding Bible reading but paying for condom distribution in schools.

Helms says America’s moral decline can be traced to the 1962 U.S. Supreme Court decision that banned state-sponsored prayer in public schools.

PLYMOUTH BRETHREN

Ministry Fund Ruling Issued

A circuit court in Illinois has issued a ruling in a dispute between two Plymouth Brethren organizations regarding control of a $30 million ministry fund. In July 1992, Stewards Foundation (SF), a nonprofit organization that provides loans to member congregations, filed suit against Stewards Ministries (SM), which provides money to found new congregations and supports other Brethren-related ministries. The suit claimed a 1989 decision that separated the two groups and gave SM control of the $30 million was illegal and unfair, and asked the court to freeze assets (CT, Aug. 17, 1992, p. 51).

In January, Circuit Court Judge S. Keith Lewis denied SF’s motions for summary judgments and granted those of SM. In effect, the ruling denied SF’s claims that the action was illegal and unfair and left the assets unfrozen. The court decision, however, appears not to have settled the dispute.

Following the ruling, SF president Barry Mahloy indicated the SF board will meet later to decide whether to continue with the suit. In a letter sent to member assemblies, he wrote that the unresolved aspects “will now have to be determined through a trial.”

By Ken Sidey.

HIGHER EDUCATION

Court Upholds Conduct Rules

A judge has upheld Messiah College’s expulsion of a student the school said failed to live up to an agreement to seek reconciliation with his estranged wife. Christian Colletti had appealed, arguing that Messiah forbids divorce, not separation.

Ron E. Long, communications director at the Brethren in Christ-affiliated school in Grantham, Pennsylvania, says the student’s separation did not cause the expulsion. “What it really boiled down to was a matter of integrity. Mr. Colletti reneged on his agreement to keep working on his marriage,” says Long. “The court’s decision was important in that it upheld the principle that private schools and private organizations have the right to set their own rules of conduct.”

The school allowed him to complete the fall semester, but the ruling meant he could not return for spring.

TELEVISION

Ads Rankle Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood is considering a national campaign against what it calls “pro-life advocacy ads,” specifically targeting the Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation’s “Life. What a Beautiful Choice.” campaign.

Alex Sanger, president of New York’s Planned Parenthood, calls the ads “extremely deceptive” and says such “advocacy” does not belong on television. The Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation says the ads merely “deal with family values and treat a delicate subject in a kind and gentle way.”

Sanger especially criticizes a commercial showing a wriggling newborn next to an ultrasound video of a ten-week-old unborn baby moving in similar fashion. “The only difference,” the ad says, “is that the baby on the left is already born, and the baby on the right would very much like to be.” Sanger says, “This ad only gives half the story. The baby on the left is big. The fetus on the right is only a few inches long. There’s no comparison. It’s deceptive.”

But the DeMoss Foundation responds, “What could be more important than the right of someone to be born?”

TAX CHANGES

Churches Face More Paperwork

Individual donations to churches of cash or property totaling $250 or more no longer may be claimed as tax deductions without a detailed receipt from the church stating the amount and nature of the donation. The IRS changes, intended to curb abuse, became effective January 1.

People who give in amounts under $250 will not be affected. A family donating $100 a week to a church still may use canceled checks to prove deductions to the IRS. The main headache for churches may be the need to notify donors of the change.

Churches now must provide the acknowledgment before the donor files a tax return for the year, or before the due date of the donor’s return, whichever is earlier. Though many churches already provide written acknowledgment of gifts, consultation with a lawyer or tax preparer might be needed to ensure proper compliance.

MISSIONARIES

Insurance Firm Indicted in Scam

The leaders of a company that sold health and life insurance to missionaries have been indicted by a Texas grand jury for misapplication of property.

Paul Belcher Gelatt, executive director and owner of International Benefit Association Insurance Company, Ltd. (IBA), was indicted with his sons, Gary Paul Gelatt and Mark Andrew Gelatt, who are both vice presidents of International Benefit Companies, the administrator for the insurance firm.

They are accused of unauthorized use of their customers’ money and buying themselves homes while claims went unpaid.

“Our investigation revealed that they had over $800,000 in claims pending,” says Mark Lane of the Travis County District Attorney’s office. The Texas Attorney General’s office obtained a temporary restraining order against IBA in December.

PEOPLE AND EVENTS

In Brief

Canada’s first Christian AM radio station, CKBD in Vancouver, British Columbia, went on the air in January following relaxation of religious broadcasting rules by the country’s Radio and Television Commission. The station, owned by Christian Jim Pattison, features an all-contemporary Christian music format.

• The United Methodist Church has forgiven Colorado, thanks to the December ruling by Denver District Judge Jeffrey Bayless that Amendment 2 is unconstitutional (CT, Feb. 7, 1994, p. 44). The amendment, approved by voters in 1992, would have struck down existing homosexual-rights ordinances. The church had threatened to boycott the state and shift its 1996 denominational assembly.

• Kenneth M. Meyer will resign in August 1995 as president of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Trinity College. Enrollment has tripled at the Deerfield, Illinois, seminary in the 20 years since Meyer became president. Meyer will continue as chancellor for both the seminary and college, where he has been president for 12 years.

• John D. Hull, who has pastored Mountain View Church in Atlanta, will be installed as senior minister of the People’s Church in Toronto on May 15, replacing Paul D. Smith. Smith, who since 1959 has pastored the church—which has an annual $2 million missions budget—will become minister of missions.

• A dozen major Dead Sea Scrolls fragments and related artifacts are on a third and final leg of a U.S. tour. The pieces will be at the M. H. de Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco through May 8 before returning to Jerusalem. The exhibit is on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority.

• The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled January 14 that it is Roman Catholic Bishop Timothy Harrington who owns Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Worcester, not the 45 parishioners who staged an around-the-clock occupation of the building for 13 months before being escorted out by police last June (CT, Aug. 16, 1993, p. 44). Harrington said the church needed to be closed because $700,000 in repairs were needed. The defiant parishioners haved vowed to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

• The Richardson, Texas-based Minirth-Meier Clinic merged in January with New Life Treatment Centers of Laguna Beach, California, forming the world’s largest Christian psychiatric-care provider, Minirth-Meier New Life Clinics. Frank Minirth and Paul Meier founded their clinic—now with branches in 33 cities—in 1976. Stephen Arterburn started New Life Treatment Centers, now in 16 cities, in 1988.

• Samuel H. Sutherland, the person responsible for the 1959 move of Biola University to La Mirada, California, from Los Angeles, died January 21 at age 93. Sutherland became Biola dean in 1942 and president ten years later. He retired in 1970. During his presidency, enrollment rose to 1,120 from 400. Enrollment now stands at 1,850.

• Byron Williamson is the new president of Dallas-based Word Publishing. He had been executive vice president of Word’s publishing division for five years.

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