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The New York
Times
Religion News in
Brief
By AP from
nytimes.com on the Web, June 16, 2007
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Membership
in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) declined again last year, dropping by more
than 46,000 in 2006, the denomination says.
The number of active Presbyterians fell from 2,313,662 in 2005, to 2,267,118 in
2006, according to an annual church survey released June 7. Baptisms in
the same period also declined -- by 946 for adults to 8,297, and by 234 for
children to 30,493.
In addition, the number of congregations fell by 56 to 10,903.
Like other mainline Protestant denominations, the Presbyterians have seen
membership rolls shrink over the last couple of decades. In 2004 and 2005
alone, the denomination lost 48,474 active members.
The latest drop comes as fighting intensifies within the church over how
Presbyterians should interpret Scripture. Congregants are divided over
whether the Bible bars gay relationships, among other theological issues.
The largest congregation in the Pittsburgh Presbytery, Memorial Park
Presbyterian Church in McCandless Township, recently voted to leave the
denomination and join the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a smaller, more
conservative group.
http://www.pcusa.org/
Archbishop of
Canterbury holds out hope
of keeping Anglicans
united
LONDON (AP) -- The spiritual leader
of the world's Anglicans says schism over the Bible and homosexuality within the
fellowship is not inevitable, and he's trying to ''maintain as long as possible
the space in which people can have constructive disagreements.''
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said he doesn't want to be pushed by
''either extreme'' in the debate as he tries to find a way the Anglican
Communion can stay together.
Williams made the comments in a recent interview with Time magazine.
The long-simmering debate among Anglicans over whether gay relationships violate
Scripture broke wide open in 2003 when the Episcopal Church, the Anglican body
in the U.S., consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New
Hampshire.
Williams said the U.S. denomination would have been better off deciding first to
approve ordaining clergy in same-sex relationships before consecrating Robinson.
''As it is, someone living in a relationship not theologically officially
approved by the church is elected to a bishop -- I find that bizarre and
puzzling,'' he said.
Williams does not have the direct authority to force a solution on Anglican
churches. However, he has decided not to invite Robinson to a
once-a-decade global meeting of Anglican bishops, called the Lambeth Conference,
which will be held next year.
Williams also did not invite Bishop Martyn Minns, head of a U.S. network of
breakaway Episcopal churches formed by the conservative Anglican Church of
Nigeria to compete with the American denomination on its home turf.
''I felt we would run the risk of their attendance becoming the subject matter
of the conference,'' Williams said.
Still, some theological conservatives are threatening to boycott the meeting.
''I don't particularly want to be -- I wouldn't say blackmailed, but pressured
by either extreme on this,'' Williams said. ''I think they need to talk to
each other and listen to each other without prejudice.''
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/
Catholic bishops head
to prayer retreat
in New Mexico
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The annual
spring meeting of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops will be a private prayer
retreat with no public events.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which holds national assemblies twice a
year, will gather for a week starting Sunday in Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico --
between Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The prelates hold closed-door retreats
every few years.
The next bishops' meeting with open sessions will be in November.
http://www.usccb.org/
Sikhs sue for right
to wear turbans in ID photos
in France
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Sikhs asked
Europe's human rights court Monday to support their call for the right to wear
turbans in ID photos in France.
France's highest administrative court has ruled that for public security
reasons, Sikhs must remove their turbans when photographed for driver's
licenses. France has also banned wearing conspicuous religious apparel in
schools.
Shingara Mann Singh, a 52-year-old French national, was twice refused a
replacement driver's license unless he removes his turban for the photo.
On his original license, which he said was stolen from him, he was pictured with
the turban.
''I will give up my head but not my turban, which covers my unshorn hair,''
Singh said.
The complaint was filed with the Strasbourg, France-based European Court of
Human Rights on his behalf by the United Sikhs organization.
Sikhs are required by their religion to have their hair covered at all times by
a turban.
''Sikhs wear their turbans throughout the day, when driving and when at work.
Asking them to remove their turbans for a photo ID is absurd and shows an
absolute lack of respect and sensitivity,'' said Neena Gill, a British member of
the European Parliament.
Shanghai bishop
hopeful for Vatican-China progress,
warns of difficulty
in reconciliation
ROME (AP) -- The
government-backed Catholic bishop of Shanghai says he hopes the Vatican and
China can restore ties, but warns that reconciling believers from the official
and underground churches won't be easy.
In an interview with the Italian religious affairs magazine 30 Days, Bishop
Aloysius Jin Luxian said members of China's official church were eagerly
awaiting an upcoming letter from Pope Benedict XVI on the state of the Catholic
church in China.
But members of the underground church were worried, he said.
''The underground faithful cannot help but have some concerns, or the fear of
being repudiated,'' he said, according to the magazine.
China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly
after the officially atheist Communist Party took power. Worship is
allowed only in government-controlled churches, which recognize the pope as a
spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.
Millions of Chinese, however, belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome.
Many unofficial congregations hold services openly, but in some regions they are
routinely harassed and their priests and bishops arrested.
Benedict has been reaching out to Beijing, eager to bring China's estimated 12
million Catholics under Rome's wing. But the two sides have been at
loggerheads over the Vatican's insistence on naming bishops.
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