Dartmouth Christian group "intolerant" for barring Mormon student leaders
It's almost amazing to link to a religion-on-campus controversy not involving homosexuality. Weblog regulars may remember the controversy at Tufts University last fall, when Tufts Christian Fellowship was chastised for denying a lesbian student a leadership position. Now Dartmouth's Summer Christian Fellowship is facing similar charges of discrimination for barring a Mormon student from club leadership. The club, which is sponsored by the school's Asian Christian Fellowship, Campus Crusade for Christ, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Navigators, and a nondenominational Christian group called Provision, receives no college funding. Nevertheless, it is officially recognized by the school, and the college's official spiritual life department has launched an official investigation. "Believing that Jesus is our savior who saved us by grace and believing in the Holy Trinity, by prescribing to those beliefs and holding onto that is not intolerant because that is truth," Kari Limmer, one of the club's leaders, told The Dartmouth. "But I can understand … that it was perceived as intolerance, and I think it wasn't handled well by all of us."
Smashing iconoclasm
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." That commandment has caused an awful lot of trouble over the centuries. Around 726, Byzantine Emperor Leo III started ordering his soldiers to smash icons of Christ. This caused bloody riots and protests, but didn't end the controversy. The Seventh Ecumenical Council tried to settle the issue, but debate continued. Protestants were particularly against images in church. "Not a statue has been left, in the churches … or in the monasteries; all the frescoes have been whitewashed over," wrote Erasmus of the Protestant purging. "Neither value nor artistry prevailed to save anything." Perhaps the tide is turning. At the request of Salvadoran immigrant members of the church, Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles is housing a lifesize statue of the Divine Savior of the World. (The original statue, which depicts Jesus on top of a globe, stands in San Salvador's Plaza of the Americas and is El Salvador's national symbol.) "We are receiving the symbol not as an image of the Roman Catholic faith but in solidarity with the Salvadoran people and all immigrants of the world," pastor Frank Alton tells the Los Angeles Times. Most Protestants can embrace that, Weblog believes, but they'll still be disturbed by the response of one Salvadoran congregant, 10-year-old Byron Alerrera. "This figure makes God real," he said. "We can't see him, but we want to see him: what he looks like, what he does." Yeah, that's pretty much what the iconoclasts were afraid of.
France upholds 'right not to be born' | France's highest court of appeal has ruled that disabled children are entitled to compensation if their mothers were not given the chance of an abortion. (BBC)
Also: French abort law does Nazis proud | This is not about the rights of the handicapped. This is about society wishing to establish a right—by any means necessary—not to be burdened with caring for them. (Rod Dreher, New York Post)
Changing conceptions | You'd be amazed at who thought what about life ethics and when and why. (The Washington Post)
Bush 'agonizing' over funding of embryo research | President has become so absorbed in the subject that he has become almost preoccupied with it, say lawmakers and aides. (The Washington Post)
Family:
Hard-hitting debate | Two parents think teachers need more disciplinary authority — something paddling would provide. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
In court, a priest reveals a secret he carried for 12 years | A Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. Joseph Towle, testified that in 1989 a man, now dead, confessed to him that he had killed a man whom two friends were convicted of murdering. (The New York Times)
Being a wallflower at the religious dance | In Paonia, Colorado, 26 churches for 1,600 people means that competition for members is fierce—but the closest synagogue is 100 miles away. (Rebecca Clarren, The Denver Post)
Crystal Cathedral to cut staff | $50 million ministry, which has about 600 staffers, has frozen or eliminated about 37 positions. (Associated Press)
Eager preachers waiting in wings | Ah, summer, those lazy, hazy, crazy days of blueberries, fireflies, and guest preachers in the pulpit. (Charles W. Bell, New York Daily News)
'Narrow' pastor, wide audience | Colorado Community Church's Mark Brewer has brought many churches together without compromising his beliefs. (The Denver Post)
Presbytery takes back invitation | PCUSA moderator Jack Rogers was to speak at a meeting when commissioners will vote on whether to allow gay ordination. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Lutheran leader urges growth ideas | Many see Kieschnick's three-year term as an opening for more experimentation in the doctrinally oriented synod. (The Washington Times)
Putin wants better church relations | Russian president praises Pope John Paul II and expressed hope that Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches can heal divisions. (Associated Press)
An immigrant church comes of age | The Antiochian Orthodox faith came to the U.S. in 1895 as a small Syrian mission. Now it is poised to seek autonomy, and other Orthodox groups may follow suit. (Los Angeles Times)
American enthroned as Greek Orthodox leader | Appointment seen as a step by church leaders to maintain ties between Greek Orthodox communities in North and South America. (Associated Press)
Catholicism:
'Loyalty oath' divides Catholic theologians | As the nation's Roman Catholic bishops prepare to implement the mandatum after more than a decade of debate and their recent approval of procedural guidelines, Catholic theologians are wrestling with how to respond. (Los Angeles Times)
Vatican 'saves priest' from genocide trial | Rwanda's Athanase Seromba reportedly ordered his own church to be bulldozed, crushing and killing up to 2,500 parishioners. (The Sunday Times, London)
Prison clergy to seek support | Catholic leaders from U.S., Mexico will ask bishops to boost efforts for inmates. (Los Angeles Times)
Churches help Edison aid the poor | With an assist from the pulpit, a program to provide discounted electricity to those in need flourishes. (Los Angeles Times)
Money and business:
Sorting the saints from the sinners | First U.K. attempt at a measure for ethical investors hits controversy over what is included and excluded. (Scotland on Sunday, Edinburgh)
Parent cons U.S. cleric | Aid fraud reportedly bilked American Christians out of thousands of dollars. (New Vision, Kampala, Uganda)
Theology:
Speak of the devil | Is Satan alive and well and roaming the suburbs? If so, does he look like your neighbor? (The Sydney Morning Herald)
A unique portrait of Jesus by Jefferson | The Jefferson Bible's Jesus was a figure fitted for the Enlightenment, rational but not divine. (The New York Times)
How the creation of a monumental work came to pass | A review of Alister McGrath's The Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language and a Culture (Los Angeles Times)
The biology of belief | You'd think a high-tech snapshot of God would answer a lot of questions about the convergence of science and religion. You'd be wrong. (Los Angeles Times)
Twenty years ago, Republicans, Democrats, evangelicals, gay activists, and African leaders joined forces to combat AIDS. Will their legacy survive today’s partisanship?
One formed me. The other entertained me.
Twenty years ago, Republicans, Democrats, evangelicals, gay activists, and African leaders joined forces to combat AIDS. Will their legacy survive today’s partisanship?
Unless seminaries leave the ivory tower for local leaders in the public square. Like these ones have.
