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The Newsletter of the Interfaith Working Group
May 1998
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Life Partnership Hearings
Philadelphia City Council heard testimony on the three
proposed Life Partnership bills from 10:00 am to
10:00 pm (with two one hour breaks) on April 22.
Council ultimately voted the bills out of committee.
The final vote will be on Thursday, May 7. Most
local media coverage did not adequately convey the
grueling, intense, contentious, and angry atmosphere
of the debate, nor its intensely religious nature.
Almost all of the opposing testimony was religious
in nature, from
Cardinal Bevilacqua,
Bill Devlin of the
Urban Family Council,
and Rev. Benjamin Smith, Sr., plus many concerned
citizens speaking of their religious opposition to
homosexuality. However, the supporting testimony
included many non-sectarian organizations such as the
ACLU,
the Bar Association,
city unions,
PFLAG,
the Lesbian and Gay Task Force,
and the
Center for Lesbian and Gay Law and Public Policy,
as well as individuals who discussed how they had
been effected by current policy. On top of this,
the amount of positive testimony from religious
organizations and clergy was overwhelming. Testifying
in favor were the
American Jewish Congress,
IWG supporter Rabbi Sue Levi Elwell
representing the
Union of American
Hebrew Congregations,
Episcopal Bishop
Charles E. Bennison Jr.;
Rev. Barry Harte, from IWG supporter
University Lutheran Church of the Incarnation,
who read a letter from
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Bishop Roy Almquist;
Chestnut Hill
Friends Meeting;
Marie Summers, President of
Dignity/Philadelphia;
Rev. Jeff Jordan of
Metropolitan Community Church
of Philadelphia;
Rabbi Yael Levy of
Congregation Mishkan Shalom;
Rev. Dwight Lundgren of
First Baptist Church of Philadelphia;
Father Isaac Miller from the
Church of the Advocate;
and
IWG supporters
Rabbi Rebecca Alpert, Rev. Dr. Beverly Dale, Rev.
Nina Grey, Rev. Paul Huebner, and Rev. Benjamin
Maucere. In addition, several individuals testifying
for themselves or secular organizations noted that
they were Roman Catholic, blunting the Cardinal's
claim to speak for all 500,000 members of the
archdiocese.
Television news coverage neglected the overwhelming
religious support; most stations managed to show
some clergy in favor (but one station mislabeled
Rev. Maucere as Rev. Jordan). The Inquirer
coverage included an article with a color picture of
the Cardinal and a black & white crowd photo, and
a Melissa Dribben column focusing on the debate's
religious nature. But between the article and the
column, only Marie Summers, Rabbi Levy,
Rev. Maucere, and Rev. Jordan were mentioned.
A Daily News article began with "dueling
clergy," but only mentioned Bennison. However, their
April 24 editorial stated that there was a theological
disagreement between the two sides, with Cardinal
Anthony Bevilacqua and "many Protestant ministers"
strongly opposed to the legislation, and Episcopal
Bishop Charles E. Bennison, Jr. and "other Protestant
and Jewish clergy" supporting it. The editorial also
said "Much of the testimony...was theological in nature,
representing a wide spectrum of moral beliefs,"
but that it's inappropriate to base legislation on
religious teachings, and the bills must be "considered
only as an issue of equal compensation for equal work
and equal treatment under the law." We thanked the
Daily News.
Other Life Partnership Maneuvering
The Archdiocese of Philadelphia
purchased a quarter-page
advertisement in the March 29 Review and Opinion
section of the Sunday Inquirer, with
this definition of marriage: "A voluntary union for
life of a man and a woman; the union is solemnized
in accordance with local law by a wedding ceremony
and the filing of a certificate of marriage." The
definition was printed three times, each time smaller
and in a paler shade of gray. Following this was
the statement: "If City Council has their way, marriage
will be just a faded memory." Catholic parishioners
throughout Philadelphia asked the archdiocese to stop
using their donations for political advertising, but
the same ad was later printed in neighborhood weeklies
around the city.
The
Urban Family Council
also made plans to have petitions passed around churches
in the area to protest the legislation; Action News
(WPVI-Channel 6) called the IWG to ask us about their
interviewing a pastor who would not give out
such petitions at his or her church. Many thanks
to IWG supporters Rev. Jim Littrell and the congregation
of
St. Mary's Hamilton Village Episcopal Church.
The Action News crew filmed their service, reported
on the story from in front of the church, and spoke
to Rev. Littrell and some of the members about their
belief in justice and equality.
Our intended April 2 rally, which turned out to be
more of a press conference for the TV cameras, also
gave folks an opportunity to respond to that ad. Our
thanks to all who came. The television coverage was
fairly good; Melina Waldo of
PFLAG
and Marie Summers of
Dignity
were both interviewed, and IWG supporter Rev. Stephen
Snider was shown holding one of our new signs:
My Faith Makes Me a Gay Rights Activist (which
subsequently became the title of an Integrity conference
in Northern California, thanks to the internet).
On April 21 (the day before the testimony) the
Urban Family Council
of Philadelphia bought a full-page
ad in the Daily News signed by thirty-two
individuals and organizations including the Archdiocese.
The ad said the only real life partnership is
one-man-one-woman marriage.
Our statement now has
ninety-three endorsers (eight congregations, eight
religious organizations and seventy-seven clergy from
sixteen religious traditions).
Jimmy Creech Aftershocks
The United Methodist News Service reports that the
highest UMC
judicial body will hold a special session August 7-8
in Dallas to discuss the denomination's prohibition
of gay unions. Over 150 UMC pastors have stated
publicly that they will continue doing same-sex
union ceremonies. An April 17 New York Times
story about an increased willingness of clergy in
many denominations to perform ceremonies sadly made
almost no distinction between religious and civil
marriage. Gubernatorial candidates in Nebraska used
the Creech case in campaign ads, decrying the possibility
of same-gender marriage.
An April 19 Sunday Oklahoman opinion piece
by Mark Tooley
(Institute on Religion and Democracy,
dedicated to discrediting and defunding the
denomination) used the Creech case to list the
Institute's usual litany of complaints, urging all
churches to follow the example of
First UMC of Marietta, GA
and withhold funding. The Omaha World Herald
reports that three churches in Georgia and one each
in Iowa and Nebraska are withholding or redirecting
denominational giving.
The Modesto Bee, Sacramento Bee and
Omaha World Herald, among other papers,
reported that evangelical pastors and lay leaders
in California and Nevada had asked to separate from
the regional conference of the denomination, though
a subsequent letter from a pastor in the Modesto
Bee said his church had voted to establish
procedures for congregations to leave, not to actually
leave, contradicting quotes from the Sacramento article.
Omaha World Herald activity:
March 29--an ad signed by local churches
critical of Creech: "We also affirm our commitment
to Holy Scripture as interpreted in the historic
Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and Jewish
traditions;"
April 9-- letter of support for Rev. Creech
from
Beyt Shalom Reconstructionist Synagogue of Omaha;
April 12--"Gays Find Community of Faith in
Church" (article);
April 16--letter says the April 12 piece was
a case for censorship;
April 18--long article: "Black Churches and
Gays" (the March 29 ad was signed by more than a
dozen black churches);
April 25--letter from
Reform Jewish,
Lutheran (ELCA),
Baptist,
Catholic,
Disciples of Christ,
MCC,
UCC,
PCUSA,
United Methodist,
Unitarian Universalist,
and
Unity
clergy and lay leaders
objecting to the March 29 ad, saying in part,
"The statement clearly does not reflect the thought
of all faith groups. Our interpretations of scripture
are not uniform, and we cannot claim to speak for
each other without consultation. No members of the
Catholic, Orthodox or Jewish traditions signed the
statement. We cannot find representatives from these
traditions who were even consulted."
CCAR and Religious Same-Gender Marriage
The
Central Conference of
American Rabbis (CCAR)
meets in Anaheim, CA June 21-24, and may vote on the
sanctification of same-sex marriages. A resolution
has also been submitted calling for the issue to be
left to each rabbi. CCAR has endorsed civil
same-sex marriage, but has not yet addressed religious
same-sex marriage. An April 24 New York
Jewish Week story said that Rabbi Eric Yoffe,
President of the
Union of American
Hebrew Congregations, favors passage of a
same-sex resolution, and that some rabbis have
threatened to leave and start a separate organization
if such a resolution passes. The article also included
remarks about similar debates in the
United Methodist
and Episcopal churches.
Reggie White
Near the end of March, remarks by the Green Bay
Packers' Rev. Reggie White to the Wisconsin state
legislature concerning ethnicity and sexual orientation
became a major story. Since then, White's remarks
have joined the
Boy Scouts
and the
United Methodists
as national topics for columns, letters, and editorials.
Channel 29 (WTXF) asked the IWG for clergy to comment
on White's speech; our thanks to Rev. Dr. Beverly
Dale for appearing on the Ten O'Clock News. On April
22 the Ann Arbor News reported that White will
join Alveda Celeste King and gospel singers Debbie
and Angie Winans in Ypsilanti for an
anti-non-discrimination-ordinance rally:
"Upholding Christian Values." An April 26 AP
story reported that in a 20/20 interview
Sara White said CBS didn't hire her husband because
they are "too scared of the Sodomite community."
Alabama School Board Settles Religion Suit
In a conclusion to a story from the September
newsletter, the Pike County (AL) School Board
has settled a lawsuit with the Willeses, a
Jewish family who alleged that their children were
religiously harassed by teachers, administrators and
a Bible distributor, according to a statement from
Americans for Religious Liberty,
which said, in part, "This is a classic case of why
we don't want our schools to get into the religion
business. It causes a lot of hurt feelings and
wastes taxpayers' money that could be used to buy
text books and patch leaking school roofs. It is
not a coincidence the incident occurred in the same
state where a judge openly shows his contempt for
the First Amendment principle of separation of
church and state by posting the Ten Commandments
on his courtroom walls."
Growth Spurt
Welcome to our new supporters: Rev. Douglas Holder,
St. Luke's United Church of Christ in Dublin, PA;
Rev. Dr. Holly Horn,
First Unitarian Church of Philadelphia;
the congregation of
St. Mary's Hamilton Village Episcopal Church in
West Philadelphia;
the Methodist Federation for Social Action,
Eastern PA Conference; and the
Delaware Valley Area Council of Unitarian
Universalist Congregations.
Americans United Sues SE Delco School District
The Southest Delco (PA) School District approved
a voucher plan by 7-0, despite a conflict of interest
for board members with children in private schools.
The state constitution forbids use of public school
money "for the support of any sectarian school."
Rev. Barry Lynn (Exec. Dir.
Americans United)
says" "Taxpayers should never be forced to pay for
religious indoctrination. This plan clearly
violates the separation of church and state... I am
confident that the courts will strike it down."
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