The Monthly Update

- AgapePress, November 17, 2004; http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/172004h.asp.

+ ...Clay County, West Virginia, will be defended by a Christian law firm following another threatened lawsuit by the ACLU over a Ten Commandments display. It was only one citizen -- an unnamed one, at that -- who the American Civil Liberties Union claims was offended by the display, but evidently that was enough to spur the ACLU to action against the small rural county. Joseph Murray, staff attorney with the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy (CLP), says he is troubled by the ACLU's tactics. "It appears they are picking on a small rural county unable to finance a defense of a costly court battle," he observes. "We will not stand idly by and allow the ACLU to bully Clay County into submission." According to the CLP, the display was erected four years ago to honor the development of the American legal system. The legal group is defending Clay County pro bono -- or free of charge. – AgapePress, October 28, 2004.

+ ...Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor is praising the growing role of international law in U.S. courts -- and she says judges who disregard its importance are negligent. In a speech yesterday to law students, O'Connor said recognizing international law could foster more civilized societies in the United States and help bring about a "more peaceful world." Conservatives have been growing increasingly alarmed by such comments, saying they point to a desire to move the country away from a biblically based society to one based solely on secular values. [Note: This is extremely troublesome and reflects the thinking of justices in the out-of-control court system in the United States judicial system. We in the United States are a nation of law – under our U.S. Constitution.] – AgapePress, October 28, 2004.

+ One of the nation's most respected conservative authors and commentators says there is a fundamental difference between how conservatives and liberals view God. Ann Coulter's new book is called How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must). She says a big reason why liberal elites do not care about loving their own country is because it does not really matter to people "who have that level of money, that level of celebrity" where they are. "America, France, wherever they are, they'll be cool, they'll still have their beachfront property and Juanita the maid serving them bottled water," she says. "It's a way of bragging, of saying 'I don't need America to protect me; my money protects me.'" And Coulter says liberals really believe they are anointed to reign over the less fortunate. "They are doing -- to use a phrase that offends them -- 'the Lord's work,' and they can do anything -- except it is precisely not the Lord's work," she says. "I mean, the fundamental difference between a conservative and a liberal is conservatives think that man is in God's image, and liberals think they are God." But Coulter says when she sees how women are treated in Muslim countries, she thanks God that she was born in Christian America. – AgapePress, October 28, 2004.

+ A Pentagon decision to ban military bases from directly sponsoring Boy Scout troops will not have any significant impact, according to a spokesman for the Boy Scouts of America. The Pentagon acted in response to legal challenges by the American Civil Liberties Union, which claims that the government engages in religious discrimination by supporting a group that makes its members swear an oath of duty to God. Boy Scouts spokesman Bob Bork says the decision affects very few Scout troops, and he says sponsorship of those units has been transferred to non-military organizations. Members of the armed forces can still lead Scout troops unofficially on their own time, and the Boy Scouts can still hold meetings on areas of military bases where civilian organizations are allowed to hold events.

- AgapePress, November 17, 2004; http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/172004h.asp.

+ A South Carolina town will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower federal court's ban on praying in the name of Jesus at city council meetings. The Great Falls town council voted six-to-one for an appeal in the lawsuit brought by Darla Wynne, a Wiccan high priestess. A federal judge ruled in August 2003 that the council could not refer to a specific deity in prayers at the meetings. A three-judge panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court ruling in July. The full appeals court this month refused to hear the town's appeal. Town attorney Brian Gibbons says Great Falls will file its case with the U.S. Supreme Court before its 90-day deadline expires January 29.

- AgapePress, November 17, 2004; http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/172004h.asp.

+ The Salvation Army is looking for ways to make up potential lost income now that a major nationwide retailer is no longer allowing the organization to solicit contributions at its stores. Each Christmas season The Salvation Army's well-known kettle drive collects donations to help the needy. Out of the $93 million collected last year nationwide through the kettle drive, it is estimated that about 10 percent came from stations set up outside Target stores. However, the retailer has announced it will no longer allow nonprofit or free-speech groups to conduct their activities at Target store doors. According to The Salvation Army's Major George Hood, this means no access for kettle drive bell ringers at "pretty close to 1,300 stores, and last year we raised nine million dollars at those stores." Hood says the loss of visibility and income is a hard one, but Target has called it a necessary move toward uniformity of policy. The Salvation Army's strategy to make up for the lost access this year includes fundraising through the mail, putting out kettles earlier than in year's past at remaining locations, and focusing on new corporate sponsorships. Books-A-Million, Michaels, Auto Zone, Big Lots, and Circuit City have all offered to test their stores for the kettle drive this season. Meanwhile, Hood says donations can be made online through the Salvation Army website. [Note: The Target store executives who made this decision have not used common sense. The Salvation Army does tremendous good and to deny this fine organization its place in front of their stores to raise money is a serious lapse in judgment. I predict that the Target stores will suffer for this. Assuredly, I shall not shop there.] - AgapePress, November 15, 2004; http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/152004h.asp

 In his report to the organizing meeting of the General Board of Church and Society, General Secretary James Winkler sought support to study the UM Social Creed in advance of its 100th anniversary and announced plans to discontinue publication of the agency's magazine, Christian Social Action. [Note: This is seen as a positive move. Christian Social Action has been problematic in its espousal of leftist political causes.

Statements adopted by the board include responses to the violence in the Middle East and in Sudan. Regarding the Middle East, the board called for a renewal of peace talks and a cessation of violence on all sides. Members called for the demolition of the separation barrier being constructed by Israel in the West Bank. In Iraq, members called for a withdrawal of U.S. and coalition forces to be replaced by U.N. personnel. Regarding Sudan, the board called for international intervention "to end the terror of civil conflict." The board gave its support to the effort of the Africa Union in sending a monitoring and protection force. There are 63 members of the board; two-thirds are new this quadrennium.

- Linda Bloom; UMNS; New York {04500}; Oct. 27, 2004.

(UM) General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM). [Note: This is of stewardship interest.]

Grants approved through the GBGM program development include:

· $165,000 for the partnership fund program, which strengthens ministry planning among churches in Latin America/the Caribbean and the Philippines.

· $90,000 for continuing work in Haiti, a Caribbean nation devastated by flooding and tropical storms, political violence and extensive poverty.

· $100,000 for a coordinated approach to reconstruction in the African nation of Angola, in consultation with United Methodists there and U.S. churches that have formed partnerships with Angolan churches.

· $100,000 for street children ministries in Latin America - especially, Day said, in the smaller cities where the problem does not receive as much attention.

· $50,000 to strengthen successful, longtime ministries along the Mexico-U.S. border.

· $30,000 to support interaction among Christians and Muslims in insular parts of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. - Linda Bloom; UMNS; New York {04508}; Oct. 29, 2004.

A Dec. 1 trial date is set for the Rev. Irene Elizabeth (Beth) Stroud, a United Methodist pastor who has been open about her relationship with another woman. The date was announced Oct. 26 by the United Methodist Eastern Pennsylvania Annual (regional) Conference. Retired Bishop Joseph Yeakel will preside over the church trial, which will take place at Camp Innabah, a church camp near Pottstown. "Pastor Stroud will be tried before a court of her peers, ordained elders in full connection in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference, on charges of engaging in 'practices incompatible with Christian teaching,' a violation of Paragraph 2702 (1) (b) of the 2000 Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church," wrote Bishop Marcus Matthews in a pastoral letter to the conference. Church law forbids "self-avowed, practicing homosexuals" from being ordained or appointed as clergy in churches. Stroud, 34, has served as associate pastor of First United Methodist Church of Germantown in Philadelphia since 1999.

In April 2003, Stroud talked about being a lesbian during a sermon and said she and her partner "have lived in a covenant relationship for two and a half years." Last July, a conference investigating committee reviewed a complaint against Stroud and agreed there were grounds for a church trial. Yeakel, however, ordered a new hearing by the committee in September because lay people had been counted in the committee vote, which did not conform to church law, he said. That hearing took place Oct. 11 and reaffirmed the first decision.

The trial, which is open to the public, is expected to last between one and three days. For Stroud to be found guilty of the charge against her requires at least 9 votes from the 13-member trial court or jury. If convicted, the trial court would then decide the penalty. - Linda Bloom; UMNS; New York {04499}; Oct. 27, 2004.

The president's recent remarks favoring "civil unions" -- which some conservatives say is just another name for homosexual "marriage" -- have worried some conservatives. But representatives from the other side of the political spectrum see the comments merely as a political ploy to attract voters on the eve of the election. [Note: This is extremely problematic. This needs to be passed as an amendment to the Constitution. If it is "left up to the states" the pro-homosexual activists will bring lawsuits in the various state courts seeking to overturn each state’s prohibitions.]

+ Religious congregations are lining up on both sides of a proposed amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Ohio. Conservative evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics tend to support the amendment, while liberal Christians and Jewish clergy oppose it. The amendment would ban homosexual marriage and prohibit local and state officials in Ohio from granting legal status to any unmarried couple. The University of Akron's John Green says, "The more traditional the church, the more likely it is to define marriage in the traditional way." - AgapePress, October 27 2004.

+ Three people in Kentucky have gone to court to try to nullify that state's pro-marriage amendment which passed overwhelmingly there on Election Day. The suit claims the amendment was flawed because it dealt not only with marriage but also with civil unions. It is similar to a court challenge against Louisiana's marriage amendment, which also passed by a strong majority in mid-September.

- AgapePress, November 17, 2004; http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/172004h.asp.

+ Phone plan offers savings for United Methodist churches, agencies

A new plan negotiated by the United Methodist Publishing House with AT&T provides an opportunity for churches, organizations and agencies to save on long distance and local telephone service. [Note: AT&T is also active in promoting homosexual tolerance among its employees with their "diversity-sensitive" programs. This action is seen as being homosexual-friendly.] - Kathy Gilbert; United Methodist News Service (UMNS); Nashville {04538}; Nov. 17, 2004.

African Anglican bishops are rejecting last week's Lambeth Commission report addressing divisions in the Worldwide Anglican Communion over the decision of the Episcopal Church USA (ECUSA) to appoint and consecrate an openly homosexual bishop. Bishops from parishes all over Africa are attending a conference hosted by Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola, who contends, "The Western world is embroiled in a new religion, which we cannot associate ourselves with." He says the African Anglican church leaders will discuss building their own seminaries to train priests in a biblical theology that is consistent with African culture.

Akinola says he chose to return to Nigeria to host other African bishops instead of remaining in London to discuss the Lambeth Commission's report on reconciling the differences and divisions that have resulted among Anglicans because of the ECUSA's actions. "My absence, of course, may be interpreted to represent my displeasure with the Windsor report," he notes, adding, "To some extent, that would be correct." Akinola says he plans to ignore the report, which the bishops with whom he is meeting unanimously reject. "Personally, from the point of view of our position in Africa and Nigeria in particular," he says, "we're unhappy with the report."

The Nigerian archbishop recently visited the United States, where he offered alternative oversight to American Episcopalians who have been alienated by the ECUSA's consecration of New Hampshire's Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the denomination's first openly homosexual bishop. Akinola points out that, although homosexuality may be condoned by the ECUSA's leaders, men cohabitating with men is taboo in African culture as well as condemned in scripture.

- Jim Brown; AgapePress; October 29, 2004.

- AgapePress, November 15, 2004; http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/152004h.asp

+ Muslims in Iraq and worldwide have spent the weekend celebrating the end of their holy month of Ramadan. An Iraqi sheikh said, "We hope that God will benefit us with peace and with good life and put an end to this killing style in Iraq." In the United States, a new animated film -- Muhammad: The Last Prophet -- is in dozens of theaters nationwide. The feature-length film chronicles Muhammad's early life and teachings. Eid ul-Fitr is one of the two major Muslim holidays. The other major feast follows the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. - AgapePress, November 15, 2004.

+ A pro-family activist and one-time presidential candidate says he cannot understand why President Bush continues to push the idea of a Palestinian state, which will undoubtedly cause problems for Israel. With the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Bush has said he hopes for an "independent, democratic Palestine that is at peace with its neighbors." But Gary Bauer of American Values does not think Bush should continue to pursue that course. "The idea the president had was that if you give the Palestinians a state, you will get a decrease in terrorism," Bauer says. "I think it needs to be the other way around; we'd have to see a decrease, an end of terrorist attacks on Israel, before you would want to reward that movement with any kind of a state. I think it's very likely, if a state is formed, that it immediately will become a gigantic problem in the Middle East." He also suggests, "I continue to be puzzled by why, in one case in Iraq, we would try to destroy a terrorist regime and bring it to freedom and then on the other hand be promoting the creation of a terrorist regime that will end up being a dagger pointed at the heart of Israel." Instead, Bauer says, the Bush administration should insist on seeing an end to Palestinian terrorist attacks before offering the regime any concessions.

- AgapePress, November 15, 2004; http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/152004h.asp

+ Muslim Company Accused of Illegally Evicting Christian School A Christian school in Florida has filed a lawsuit alleging it was wrongfully evicted by a radical Islamic group. - AgapePress, November 17, 2004.

- Source: E-mail received from one of our sources with his accompanying comment. "Information received from the Russian news service about North Korea........not sure what it means but it may be God moving in that country to ease the suffering of our [world-wide Christian] family a little."

A Jewish theologian and media conservative says leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) defame Christianity by blurring God's moral standard, and that Westerners who subscribe to terrorist lies deserve only contempt. A delegation of the PC(USA) recently traveled to Lebanon and met with leaders of Hezbollah, a militant Shiite political party based in that country. Hezbollah, which in Arabic means "Party of God," maintains an active militia called the "Islamic Resistance" and has been designated by the U.S. and other Western nations as a terrorist organization. The delegation sponsored by the PC(USA)'s Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) met with members of Hezbollah at a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon on October 17. Since that meeting, comments attributed to delegation members in the international press have garnered widespread censure, including a firestorm of condemnations from within the denomination and from the wider religious community as well. During their meeting with Hezbollah, the Presbyterian delegates reportedly criticized Israel for having erected a security barrier to protect its citizens from Palestinian homicide bombings and other terrorist attacks. And one delegation member, recently retired Pittsburgh Theological Seminary professor Ronald Stone, was quoted in the press as saying, as an elder of the church, he found relations and conversations with Islamic leaders "a lot easier than dealings and dialogue with Jewish leaders."

Some PC(USA) leaders have tried to distance the denomination from the actions and expressed attitudes of the ACSWP delegation. Three top denomination officials issued a statement last week disavowing the actions of the delegates and saying neither their comments nor their visit with Hezbollah "reflect the official position of the Presbyterian Church (USA) on peace in the Middle East." That disavowal notwithstanding, some observers believe the delegation's words and deeds are quite consistent with their denomination's liberal political leanings. Conservative radio talk-show host Dennis Prager says given the moral confusion that dominates the PC(USA), he is not at all surprised by the pro-terrorist sympathies expressed by the delegation's actions. Prager, who is also a Jewish theologian, says the PC(USA) gives a bad name to God and Christianity by claiming biblical authority for moral inversion. "On all matters, including those not pertaining to Israel," he asserts, "these folks are on the left. They are leftists with a cross, indistinguishable from Michael Moore except that Michael Moore doesn't wear a cross and doesn't speak in terms of Jesus Christ." The radio commentator says it is nothing short of "sickening" to see the PC(USA) single out a humane and democratic country like Israel for economic strangulation and not decry its Arab neighbors that murder in the name of "God," commit egregious human rights abuses, and seek the destruction of the Jewish State. Prager says many liberal Presbyterians in America have bought into Goebbels-like propaganda and swallowed the "big lie" that Israel is an Apartheid state. For this reason, he remarks, "I have actually greater contempt for the person in the Western world who is sympathetic to Hezbollah than for Hezbollah. People in Hezbollah grew up in a hate-filled world of lies, but the people in the West, like that elder, grew up where truth is told and they prefer to believe lies."

The theology expert and talk-show host feels "coherent" Christians need to distance themselves from the PC(USA) because it is, he contends, a morally sick denomination. Prager says he considers the leftist leadership in the Presbyterian Church in America to be the moral relativists of present day society.

- Jim Brown and Jenni Parker; AgapePress; October 29, 2004.

Deep concern for the "rapidly deteriorating situation" in…the "humanitarian catastrophe" in the Darfur region of Sudan has been expressed by members of the United Methodist Church's social action agency – the GBCS. The Sudan statement demands an international effort "to take all necessary steps to end the terror of civil conflict and the violence of hunger, disease and displacement..." - Linda Bloom; UMNS; New York {04500}; Oct. 27, 2004.

A representative of a ministry to the persecuted Church says Christianity is growing at a rapid rate in Vietnam, despite increased harassment from government officials.

- AgapePress, November 17, 2004; http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/11/172004d.asp.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Thank you for your continuing support of Concerned Methodists’ ministry. We appreciate so much both the prayers and financial help making possible the work we do in "contending for the faith" as God has called us to do.

This Monthly Update contains more data of what is happening in the Episcopal Church, the National Council of Churches, Christian persecution, and our own United Methodist Church to include our bishops.

For several months now I have been holding a letter sent to us from a dear Christian lady about her husband The Reverend Ira Dent. It is time to share it with you: