Religion Today Summaries – October 13, 2003
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world. In today's edition:
- Critical Time for Persecuted Christians in Iraq
- Update: Judge Rules Home Prayer Meetings in Conn. Home Are Legal
- US Anglican Group Repudiates Episcopal Church's Homosexual Policies
- Baptist Church Expelled for Baptizing Homosexual Couple
Critical Time for Persecuted Christians in Iraq
Allie Martin, Agape Press
A spokesman for a ministry to the persecuted Church describes the situation in Iraq as "a time of strategic importance for Christians" in the war-torn Middle Eastern nation. Jerry Dykstra, a spokesman for Open Doors International (opendoorsusa.org), says although now is a time of difficulties and instability for the Church in post-Saddam Iraq, it is also an "open door" of opportunity for western Christians to reach out to fellow believers there. He says now that the war has ended, U.S. Christians must not forget their Iraqi brothers and sisters, who face many dangers and uncertainties. "During the Saddam era, there was a degree of stability, even though it was a torturous time; but now there is much uncertainty," Dykstra says. He notes that many Iraqi Christians are wondering "what's going to happen tomorrow, and [whether they can] attend church in freedom, so there are a lot of concerns there. This is why we must seize the opportunity now." The U.S.-based Open Doors ministry is working in Iraq, providing meals for more than 1,500 Christian families who have been displaced by the war. Dykstra urges Christians in the U.S. and elsewhere to pray that the food, medicine, and materials being distributed will get to those needy families, and that "Muslim extremists in Iraq will not take control of that country."
Update: Judge Rules Home Prayer Meetings in Conn. Home Are Legal
Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service
A federal judge has ruled that a New Milford, Conn., family can legally hold prayer meetings in its home. The Sept. 30 decision by U.S. Magistrate Judge Holly Fitzsimmons came three years after the American Center for Law and Justice filed suit in U.S. District Court in Hartford, Conn., on behalf of Robert and Mary Murphy. The couple had held weekly prayer meetings and Bible studies in their home since the mid-1990s. After neighbors complained about traffic from the gatherings, the zoning enforcement officer for the town ordered the family to halt the sessions. Fitzsimmons had issued a preliminary injunction against town officials in 2001, which permitted the meetings to continue. "By issuing a permanent injunction, the court clearly ruled that the cease and desist order issued by the town is not only wrong, but unconstitutional," said Vince McCarthy, senior counsel of the law firm founded by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, in a statement. "We're grateful that our clients will now be able to use their private residence for prayer without the fear of governmental interference." Zoning Commission Vice Chairman Brooks Temple said Oct. 3 that the commission had been reluctant to block the family's prayer sessions but commission members felt obligated to protect their neighbors' rights, the Associated Press reported. "Even if we had won, we would have lost," he said.
US Anglican Group Repudiates Episcopal Church's Homosexual Policies
Steve Brown, CNS News
A group of American Episcopalians late last week issued a near unanimous backing of a statement repudiating the church for its position on homosexuality and requesting the global Anglican Church leadership to "intervene in the Episcopal Church." The American Anglican Council's declaration, issued at its meeting in Dallas, Texas, rejects the elevation of Rev. Gene Robinson, who is homosexual, to the position of bishop. "These actions directly contradict Holy Scripture, the traditions of the Church, and our own (Episcopalian) Constitution," the declaration states. "They also imperil our relationship with the worldwide Anglican Communion." The American Anglican Council (AAC), according to its mission statement, "is a network of individuals, parishes, specialized ministries and Episcopal bishops who affirm Biblical authority and Anglican orthodoxy within the Episcopal Church." AAC members are calling on the worldwide leaders of the Anglican Communion, which includes the U.S. Episcopal Church, to punish Episcopal bishops who "departed from biblical faith and order" by electing Robinson as bishop and allowing homosexual marriages in and by the Episcopal church. It also asks the primates of the Anglican Communion's 38 worldwide branches to "guide the realignment" of Anglicanism in North America.
Baptist Church Expelled for Baptizing Homosexual Couple
Jenni Parker, Agape Press
The Baptist State Convention of North Carolina has expelled a Cabarrus County church for failing to repudiate the lifestyles of two homosexual men the church had accepted as members and subsequently baptized. While the Convention has previously ejected three of its churches for ordaining homosexual clergy or blessing homosexual unions, the decision to kick McGill Baptist Church out of the state's largest religious body marks the first time the Convention has targeted a church for discipline simply for choosing to tolerate openly homosexual individuals in its congregation. The Convention's action was based on a 1992 policy that forbids churches to exhibit "public approval, promotion or blessing of homosexuality." In a comment to Associated Press, the Convention's leader, James Royston, called an openly homosexual lifestyle "un-Biblical and therefore un-Christian." But according to AP reports, Rev. Steve Ayers of McGill Baptist claims his church never asked the men if they were homosexual. "Jesus told us to fish for people," Ayers says, adding, "It's not our job to sort the fish. He'll take care of any sorting."
Originally published October 13, 2003.
