Methodists Canadians Finding Loopholes for Gay Marriages and Unions

Plus: Russia says Salvation Army is trying to overthrow the government.

Church says loophole allows it to perform gay marriages The Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto, a predominantly (85 percent) homosexual congregation in a predominantly homosexual denomination, says it has found a way to perform legal homosexual marriages. The Ontario Marriage Act allows couples to marry one of two ways: the traditional obtaining of a marriage license from City Hall marriage by a justice of the peace or pastor, or though marriage banns: publishing the names of the couple on three consecutive Sundays preceding a marriage. One thing the Ontario Marriage Act doesn’t do is say “man” or “woman”—just “person.” The church says that’s a big enough loophole. “Until now we have felt restricted from acting on our beliefs by what we thought was a legitimate impediment regarding same-sex weddings,” says Brent Hawkes, pastor of the church. “Being called by God to marry same-sex couples, we recently sought legal advice, and as a result we have changed our position on the legality of same-sex marriages.” Hawkes says he hopes to beat Dutch churches in being the first to perform the world’s first legal gay marriage. But, he tells The Toronto Star, he’s had to turn away “scores” of homosexual couples from the U.S. and Canada who want him to marry them—he’ll only marry members of his church. Barbara McDowall and Gail Donnelly—whose union has already been blessed by the church—will be the first. Federal officials have responded that the marriage still won’t be legal (if you follow that last link, you’ll have to scroll down to the fourth item).

Meanwhile, U.S. Methodists make steps toward gay unions in Chicago … South of the Canadian border, United Methodists in Chicago and North Carolina are also looking for loopholes to allow gay unions. Gregory Dell, who was suspended in April 1999 for performing a same-sex holy union ceremony, is back on the job and presiding over more unions. He says church law allows for same-sex unions if they happen outside the church. So now both gay and heterosexual couples at the church go outside for the ceremony, then back inside for a celebration. Hmmm. If Dell keeps this up, he might find himself outside the church in more ways than one … (See more coverage from the Associated Press.)

… and North Carolina Meanwhile, Methodist-affiliated Duke University has announced it will allow same-sex unions in the famous Duke Chapel. A committee of faculty, staff, students, and trustees recommended that the policy banning such ceremonies be changed, noting that Duke Chapel is more than a Methodist building. Duke University President Nan Keohane and Dean Will Willimon agreed. “Our major rationale for this change is our conviction, in agreement with your committee, that Duke has a wonderful tradition of rich religious diversity,” they said in a letter to the committee (reprinted in large part in a Duke press release). “It is not, in our opinion, a matter of the chapel approving or disapproving of this liturgical innovation, but rather a question of how much religious diversity we should accommodate. We now feel, as a result of the discussion on campus during the past three months, and the work of your committee, that we ought to allow these unions to be celebrated by those clergy who are allowed, by their religious communities, to officiate at such ceremonies.” Bishop Marion Edwards of the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church says that Duke isn’t a church, so it’s not bound by church policies. But he reiterated what those church policies are: “While acknowledging the sacred worth of homosexual persons and calling for their basic human rights and civil liberties, I uphold the teaching of the church that marriage is between one man and one woman. The clear affirmation of the Scripture calls us to that standard.”

Salvation Army, deemed threat to government, may have to shut down in Russia The Moscow City Court has ruled that the Salvation Army cannot register with local authorities—which it would have had to do to comply with a controversial law requiring churches and religious organizations to register with the state by the end of the year or face expulsion. “Since we have the word ‘army’ in our name, they [the court] said we are a militarized organization bent on the violent overthrow of the Russian government,” said Colonel Kenneth Baillie, commander of the Salvation Army’s Russian operations. And since the ruling comes so close to the December 31 registration deadline, the church may not have time to appeal to the Supreme Court before being expelled. “There’s a general wariness and suspicion of foreigners. That’s part of Russian culture and certainly part of the religious culture. But we do know that we have been specifically targeted and it’s unclear why,” Baillie tells The Moscow Times. (See more from the London Telegraph, a May Christianity Today piece about the Salvation Army in Chechnya, a 1997 story by Radio Free Europe on how the religion law might affect the Salvation Army, and a 1998 Chicago Tribune story about the Salvation Army’s work in Russia.) Meanwhile, the Salvation Army is also facing a fight in Chicago, as it tries to renovate and expand its facilities in a regentrifying neighborhood. “The Salvation Army was there first. Get over it,” says a ChicagoTribune editorial. “If an organization such as this has the rare good fortune to be able to renovate, the only issue should be how to get out of its way fast enough to let it happen.”

Related Elsewhere

See our past Weblog updates:

December 6 | 5 | 4

December 1 | November 30 | 29 | 28 | 27

November 22 | 21 | 20

November 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13

November 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6

November | 3 | 2 | 1 October 31 | 30

October 27 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 23

October 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16

- More from Ted Olsen

Turkmenistan Police Torture Four Christians

Barbara G. Baker

Crackdown on Protestants includes beatings, interrogations, and electric shocks.

During the past two weeks, Turkmenistan’s political police have launched another harsh crackdown against its Protestant Christian citizens. At least four known believers in the capital of Ashgabad have been subjected to repeated beatings, electric shocks, partial suffocation and other forms of torture while under interrogation, prosecution and ongoing harassment.

The four Turkmen Christians were identified as Batir Nurov, 23; Babamurat Gaebov, 27; Shokhrat Piriyev, 27; and Umit Koshkarov, 25. Although Gaebov is single, the other three men are married and have children. All are members of a Protestant house church group in Ashgabad pastored by Piriyev.

According to accounts relayed to Compass from several sources, the crackdown was triggered on the morning of November 22 when police officers of the National Security Committee (KNB) investigating a car wreck found a box of Christian videos dubbed in the Turkmen language.

The previous evening, Nurov, Gaebov and Koshkarov had been driving from Tejen to Ashgabad with an American visitor when two tires blew out, flipping the car over. They all climbed out of the overturned car unharmed, except for a minor head injury sustained by Koshkarov, and flagged down a passing vehicle to return to their homes in Ashgabad.

When Nurov and Gaebov returned with Piriyev to the wrecked car the next morning to assess the damage, they were promptly put under arrest and taken to the nearest KNB offices for questioning. Later that day, the police traced Koshkarov from his treatment record at a local hospital the night before and arrested him at his home.

For three days the men were subjected to what one source described as “repeated sessions of beatings, electric shock and suffocation to the point of blacking out.” They were allowed to return home each evening, In a judge’s decision handed down on November 24, the four were excused from prison terms in exchange for oppressive fines, which they were forced to state in writing were “voluntary” donations of everything they owned as a “gift to the president of Turkmenistan.”

All the identity documents of the four, as well as the ownership papers of their homes and cars, were confiscated by the authorities. Under threat of deportation, they also had to sign papers promising to leave Ashgabad and go back to their towns of official residency. Piriyev, who had recently bought a house, commented the night of the verdict, “I can stay in my house for now, but I don’t know for how long.”

They were released, one source said, with “a promise of harsher treatment in the future,” which they admitted left them fearful for their families. Nevertheless, they walked out of the KNB building “telling their interrogators that they loved them,” the source said.

Meanwhile, the American passenger in the car, a resident of Kazakhstan named Linda Buckley, was questioned the night after the wreck by eight KNB officers who came to Nurov’s home where she was staying. Buckley told Compass they accused her of bringing in the banned Christian videos and distributing them, neither of which she had done.

Along with Bibles and any other Christian literature in the Turkmen language, “Jesus” videos are contraband in Turkmenistan and subject to confiscation.

“They accused me of spying, and they threatened me with trial and imprisonment,” Buckley said from her home in Almaty, where she is a volunteer with the Spiritual Life Center, a registered organization with the Kazakh government.

Buckley, who was also present when the KNB questioned Nurov’s wife, said they tried to intimidate her. “It was pretty clear that they were just trying to make her afraid, saying things like, ‘We’re beating up your husband now.'”

After she returned to Almaty on November 25, Buckley said the Turkmen Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked the tourist agency that had arranged her trip to supply them with a copy of her passport.

Compass has confirmed that some if not all of these believers were again summoned on November 30 and subjected to another extended session of torture and intimidation. “We have been promised more of the same,” one said the next day. “We do not know how long we can withstand such treatment,” he admitted.

The house church that Piriyev pastors was raided last February by KNB agents, who enforce the government policy criminalizing all unregistered religious groups. The police temporarily seized Piriyev’s car as well as his Ashgabad residency permit.

The pastor had previously been labeled a “criminal” in a press attack in Adalet, an Ashgabad newspaper. He was listed in a September 24, 1999, article as being one of several religious minority leaders “involved in such criminal activities as illegal delivery and distribution of (imported religious books and videos) and conducting regular meetings in private flats.”

Turkmenistan has the most repressive religious policy of any of the Central Asian republics. Only the Russian Orthodox Church and government-sanctioned Sunni Islam have been permitted to obtain official registration.

During the past two years, all foreign Christians known to be involved in religious work in the country have been expelled. One Protestant church and two Hare Krishna temples have been destroyed and members of the Baptist, Pentecostal, Seventh-day Adventist and Baha’i faiths subjected to police raids and large fines.

Related Elsewhere

Previous Christianity Today stories about religious persecution in Turkmenistan include:

Turkmenistan Refuses To Register Bible Society | Government confiscating Turkmen, Russian Scriptures. (March 16, 2000)

Turkmen Secret Police Deports Baptist Couple | More expulsions expected as efforts continue to stop ‘illegal’ religious activity. (March 15, 2000)

Turkmen Baptist Pastor Threatened with Prison | Two church members in Turkmenabad fired from jobs. (Feb. 8, 2000)

Turkmenistan Deports Two Baptist Pastors | Christians arrested last week sent to Ukraine (Dec. 29, 1999)

Pastor Faces Thursday Trial In Turkmenistan | Baptist minister accused of teaching children religion without parental consent. (Dec. 10, 1999)

The U.S. Department of State Annual Report on International Religious Freedom examines Turkmenistan religious freedom from political and societal perspectives, and remarks on what the U.S. government has done in response to human rights infringements in the country.

- More from Barbara G. Baker

Church of England’s Bioethics Leader Says Human Cloning Is Okay

Compiled by Ted Olsen

Plus: Violence in Egypt, and the troubling statistics of Dr. Kevorkian’s murders

Church of England paper gives support to human cloning A briefing paper for the Church of England’s Board for Social Responsibility suggests that experiments on cloning human embryos research “may be thought to be as morally acceptable,” and is akin to a heart transplant or fertility treatments. It is not yet official Church of England policy, but was written John Polkinghorne, chairman of the Board’s Science and Medical Technology Committee. Meanwhile, Roman Catholic bishops from England and Wales are taking the opposite view. “We believe that research on cloned human embryos is both immoral and unnecessary. It is immoral because it involves the deliberate creation of new human lives for the sole purpose of extracting stem cells for research,” the bishops said in a statement. Polkinghorne says he only supports cloning for therapeutic purposes, and that actually allowing cloned embryos to mature would be “ethically unacceptable.”

Muslims, Christians stab each other in Alexandria After evening prayers in an Alexandria, Egypt, mosque, several Muslims headed over to a nearby Coptic church to stop work on a church. Reportedly, the Egyptian Interior Ministry had ordered the church to cease its renovations, but the church hadn’t been told. A fight broke out and three Coptic Christians and five Muslims ended up injured, most of them stabbed.

Kevorkian preyed on vulnerable, says study Of the 69 suicides Jack Kevorkian assisted in Oakland County, Michigan, 75 percent would have lived for at least another six months. The vast majority—67 percent—were divorced, widowed, or never married, suggesting they had no social or family support. Only 35 percent were in pain, and 7 percent—five patients—had no evidence of disease at all. The findings, by Oakland County medical examiner and longtime Kevorkian critic L.J. Dragovic, were published in the letters section of The New England Journal of Medicine. Kevorkian is serving a 10- to 15-year sentence for second-degree murder. (See more coverage of the study by The Boston Globe, The Detroit News, The Globe and Mail, National Post, and Associated Press)

Related Elsewhere

See our past Weblog updates:

December 7 | 6 | 5 | 4

December 1 | November 30 | 29 | 28 | 27

November 22 | 21 | 20

November 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13

November 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6

November | 3 | 2 | 1 October 31 | 30

October 27 | 26 | 25 | 24 | 23

October 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16

- More from Ted Olsen

Why December 25?

Elesha Coffman

The month and day of Christ’s birth have been hotly disputed for centuries.

It’s very tough for us North Americans to imagine Mary and Joseph trudging to Bethlehem in anything but, as Christina Rosetti memorably described it, “the bleak mid-winter,” surrounded by “snow on snow on snow.” To us, Christmas and December are inseparable. But for the first three centuries of Christianity, Christmas wasn’t in December—or on the calendar anywhere.

If observed at all, the celebration of Christ’s birth was usually lumped in with Epiphany (January 6), one of the church’s earliest established feasts. Some church leaders even opposed the idea of a birth celebration. Origen (c.185-c.254) preached that it would be wrong to honor Christ in the same way Pharaoh and Herod were honored. Birthdays were for pagan gods.

Not all of Origen’s contemporaries agreed that Christ’s birthday shouldn’t be celebrated, and some began to speculate on the date (actual records were apparently long lost). Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215) favored May 20 but noted that others had argued for April 18, April 19, and May 28. Hippolytus (c.170-c.236) championed January 2. November 17, November 20, and March 25 all had backers as well. A Latin treatise written around 243 pegged March 21, because that was believed to be the date on which God created the sun. Polycarp (c.69-c.155) had followed the same line of reasoning to conclude that Christ’s birth and baptism most likely occurred on Wednesday, because the sun was created on the fourth day.

The eventual choice of December 25, made perhaps as early as 273, reflects a convergence of Origen’s concern about pagan gods and the church’s identification of God’s son with the celestial sun. December 25 already hosted two other related festivals: natalis solis invicti (the Roman “birth of the unconquered sun”), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian “Sun of Righteousness” whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the true deity, church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival.

Western Christians first celebrated Christmas on December 25 in 336, after Emperor Constantine had declared Christianity the empire’s favored religion. Eastern churches, however, held on to January 6 as the date for Christ’s birth and his baptism. Most easterners eventually adopted December 25, celebrating Christ’s birth on the earlier date and his baptism on the latter, but the Armenian church celebrates his birth on January 6. Incidentally, the Western church does celebrate Epiphany on January 6, but as the arrival date of the Magi rather than as the date of Christ’s baptism.

Another wrinkle was added in the sixteenth century when Pope Gregory devised a new calendar, which was unevenly adopted. The Eastern Orthodox and some Protestants retained the Julian calendar, which meant they celebrated Christmas 13 days later than their Gregorian counterparts. Most—but not all—of the Christian world now agrees on the Gregorian calendar and the December 25 date.

The pagan origins of the Christmas date, as well as pagan origins for many Christmas customs (gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year; Yule logs and various foods from Teutonic feasts), have always fueled arguments against the holiday. “It’s just paganism wrapped with a Christian bow,” naysayers argue. But while kowtowing to worldliness must always be a concern for Christians, the church has generally viewed efforts to reshape culture—including holidays—positively. As a theologian asserted in 320, “We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it.”

Elesha Coffman is associate editor of Christian History.

Related Elsewhere

More Christian History, including a listing of events that occurred this week in the church’s past, is available at ChristianHistory.net. Subscriptions to the quarterly print magazine are also available.

See more on how December 25 became Christmas at Britannica.com and U.S. News.

One of the church’s earliest and best Christmas sermons, preached by Gregory of Nazianzus (A.D. 329-389) in Constantinople’s Church of the Resurrection on December 25, A.D. 380, appeared on the Christianity Today Web site last Christmas.

Christian history lovers might also be interested in what C.S. Lewis said about Christmas.

A great, but pricey, resource on the history of Christmas is The Encyclopedia of Christmas.

Christian History Corner appears every Friday at ChristianityToday.com. Previous Christian History Corners include:

One Book Everyone Should Buy | Or at least know about, anyway. (Dec. 1, 2000)

The Saga of St. Chad | A tale of political maneuvers and positioning. Sound familiar? (Nov. 22, 2000)

Accidental Radical | Jan Hus’s ideas seem normal now, but in his age they were revolutionary enough to merit death. (Nov. 17, 2000)

Top 10 Reasons to Read This Book | A list of Christian books that changed the century introduces authors and their impact on evangelicalism. (Nov. 10, 2000)

The Un-Denomination | The Southern Baptist Convention has been historically Un-Conventional. (Nov. 3, 2000)

Soul Crisis at the Conference on Faith and History | Academics gather asking questions like, “What does ‘Christian history’ actually mean?” (Oct. 27, 2000)

Case of the Missing Relic | A piece of Jesus’ cross is stolen from a Toronto cathedral—or is it? (Oct. 20, 2000)

The Politicians’ Patron | Is Thomas More a saintly model? (Oct. 13, 2000)

General Revelations | Reconsidering Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. (Oct. 6, 2000)

Olympia Revisited | Christianity and the Olympic Games were once competitors, but at other times have been on the same team. (Sept. 29, 2000)

Weighty Matters | Gwen Shamblin’s teachings sound an awful lot like some in the early church—and not in a good way. (Sept. 22, 2000)

In Errancy | Want to know what’s wrong with the Western church? Start with a list. (Sept. 15, 2000)

“Kill Them All” | The medieval church was deadly serious about eliminating ‘heretical’ Cathars. (Sept. 11, 2000)

All Together Now | What qualifies as an ecumenical council anyway? (Sept. 1, 2000)

Soviets, Schism, and Sabotage | How the government manipulated division in the Russian Orthodox Church. (Aug. 18, 2000)

- More from Elesha Coffman

Car Accident Takes Lives of Two Indian Bishops and Their Driver

By Anto Akkara in New Delhi

President of the National Council of Churches in India, moderator of the Church of North India killed instantly.

Bishop Vinod Peter, a leading Indian clergyman and president of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), died in a road accident in the Indian state of Rajasthan on December 6, along with a local church leader, Bishop Jerald Andrews.

Sixty-one-year-old Bishop Peter, who as moderator of the Church of North India (CNI) was on an official visit to the state, was killed when the driver of the van in which he was travelling with the CNI’s Bishop Andrews, of Rajasthan, lost control of the vehicle and hit a tree near the roadside. Both bishops died instantly, while the driver died the following morning, officers at Bishop Peter’s diocesan office in Nagpur, central India, told ENI.

Bishop of Nagpur since 1984, Bishop Peter was elected moderator of the synod of the CNI, one of India’s leading churches, in October 1998. In March this year he was elected by a unanimous vote as president of the NCCI, an influential forum of 29 Orthodox and Protestant churches.

Bishop Peter’s wife Rachael is bedridden following a severe accident a few weeks ago. He also leaves behind a son.

Sixty-year-old Jerald Andrews of Rajasthan, who also died in the accident, was consecrated bishop in 1993 and leaves behind his wife and two daughters.

The death of Bishop Peter, the country’s senior ecumenical official, is an especially severe blow to Indian churches as it follows by only six months the death, also in a car accident, in Poland, of Archbishop Alan Basil de Lastic of Delhi, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI).

“This is a great shock to the entire Christian community in India,” NCCI’s senior vice president Mar Geevarghese Coorilos, of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, said of Bishop Peter’s death. Speaking to ENI from the city of Pune in western India, Mar Coorilos, assistant Metropolitan of Bombay, said that Bishop Peter had been “actively involved in ecumenical and inter-religious fields” as well as “down to earth in serving the people.”

In a statement released today, Bishop Peter’s diocese said he “was a unique leader and exceptional man who served the people with humility. … He was a visionary of great ideals, but retained a lifestyle of simplicity.”

V. S. Lal, general secretary of the CNI synod, said the “untimely and tragic death” of Bishop Peter was “a great loss to the churches in India, particularly to the Church of North India.” Lal said Bishop Peter “made a tremendous contribution to the life and work of the churches in India, and has been a member of several ecumenical bodies both in India and abroad, particularly the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion.”

Archbishop Oswald Gracias, secretary general of the CBCI, told ENI this evening as he prepared to go to Nagpur to attend Bishop Peter’s funeral tomorrow morning: “We have lost a very good friend with whom we had total understanding.”

He added that under Bishop Peter’s brief stewardship as NCCI president, the CBCI and the NCCI had reached their “highest point of collaboration.” He was referring to a joint meeting in July to formulate a Christian response to a series of attacks on Christians and churches in India.

In its official message of condolence, the CBCI stated: “God in his infinite wisdom has taken away yet another important leader from the church. This untimely death is no doubt a great loss, but we rely on Divine Providence to fill the gap created by their passing away.”

Related Elsewhere

See also The Hindu‘s brief coverage of the accident.

- More from By Anto Akkara in New Delhi

Norway’s Lutherans Apologize to Gypsies

Bjarke Larsen

Church asks forgiveness for the injustices and infringements committed against the Romany people.

Norway's biggest church, the (Lutheran) Church of Norway, has apologized to the nation's Romanies—once known as gypsies—for its ill treatment of their people in the past.

The apology was made November 16 at the church's general synod after being approved in a unanimous vote by church representatives. It was then accepted by national representatives of the Romany people who attended the synod.

The apology states: "The general synod 2000 apologizes and asks the Romanies for forgiveness for the injustices and infringements [of their rights] committed against their people by the church."

The number of Romanies in this Scandinavian nation is a matter of dispute, but the official representative of the nation's Romanies puts the figure at 20,000 out of a total population of 4.3 million.

Romanies in Norway were persecuted for many decades, particularly early in the 20th century. Laws were passed in an attempt to make these nomadic people settle in one place, and several institutions tried—often using harsh methods—to forcibly assimilate Romanies into Norwegian society and eradicate their cultural heritage, including their language, music, and religion.

Many of the organizations involved in the suppression of Romany culture were run by the church or managed by clergy. The most prominent was the Norwegian Mission among the Homeless which is now believed to have been responsible for at least 40 percent of forced sterilizations of Romany women, mainly in the 1930s and 1940s.

Up to 300 women were sterilized against their will, and about 1,700 children were taken away from their mothers and adopted by other families or placed in children's homes. This process continued until the 1970s.

Erling Pettersen, head of the Church of Norway's national council, told ENI: "We are going further than just giving an apology to the Romanies. We have committed ourselves to helping the Romany people in Norway to reclaim their own culture which has been threatened with extinction."

Pettersen hopes that the action by the church, to which about 85 percent of Norwegians belong, will serve as inspiration for other churches throughout Europe, especially in countries where Romanies are still persecuted or suffer from prejudice and discrimination.

"Together with representatives of the Romanies, we are setting up a framework to carry out ecumenical work in other European countries, based upon the experiences and the expertise we have gathered here in Norway, where we have been more and more engaged in reconciliation and advocacy for the past four years," Pettersen said.

Leif Bodin Larsen, head of the Romany People's National Union, told ENI: "This is a tremendous lift to our people. It shows that we are now respected in Norwegian society."

Of the church's support for the forced sterilizations, Pettersen said: "The church gave its ideological support to the social debate about racial hygiene [eugenics] which took place in Norway as in most other Western countries in the 1930s."

The reconciliation between the Romanies and the Lutheran church follows a much-disputed apology by the church two years ago, which was seen as half-hearted by the Romanies who refused to accept it and walked out of a crucial meeting with church officials. The main reason for the Romany reaction was a last-minute change in the wording of the apology from "we [the church] carry a heavy sin and much shame" to "our people carry a heavy sin and much shame." This was seen as an attempt by the church to avoid responsibility for its own wrongdoings.

The issue provoked a long and heated public debate. However, the Romany People's National Union and the Church of Norway's national council remained in dialogue and eventually reached agreement.

"Without this dialogue, which started in 1996, we would not have been able to heal the wounds from the church's abortive 1998 attempt to apologize," Leif Bodin Larsen told ENI.

In the past two years reconciliatory church services and meetings have been held throughout Norway.

Both Larsen and Pettersen said they were looking forward to working together to improve the civil and cultural rights of the Romanies.

"We have committed ourselves to helping the Romanies, for instance by lobbying the authorities," Pettersen said.

Asked by ENI whether this was a story with a happy ending, he replied: "In a way it is, but it is important to remember that the Romany people in Norway are on the brink of extinction. It will take a lot of hard work for all involved to help the Romanies reclaim their cultural identity."

Related Elsewhere

Read more about the state church's decision to ask Romanies for forgiveness from the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.

Previous Christianity Today articles about Norway include:

Lutheran Church of Norway Appoints Practicing Homosexual | Oslo priest's relationship prompts lively debate in the Norwegian church. (Sept. 19, 2000)

Norwegian Prince's Moving In with Girlfriend Provokes National Debate | Crown Prince Haakon will also be head of state church on death of his father. (Sept. 18, 2000)

Born-again Christians Lead Norway (Jan. 12, 1998)

Rising from the Ashes | Congregations rebuild after Satanist arsons. (Nov. 17, 1997)

- More from Bjarke Larsen

Russian Orthodox Church Approves as Putin Decides to Sing to a Soviet Tune

By Andrei Zolotov in Moscow

Once wary Moscow Patriarchate now supports resurrecting former national anthem.

After initial hesitation, the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church has expressed support for President Vladimir Putin’s proposal to resurrect the musical setting of the communist Soviet national anthem.

President Putin is pushing ahead with the proposal, which is about to be discussed by the Duma in Moscow, despite stiff opposition from liberal politicians and intellectuals. Putin’s plan has caused astonishment in Western capitals.

The president wants Russia to have a range of national emblems combining both tsarist and Soviet symbols, including the tricolor pre-revolutionary flag, the tsarist double-headed eagle and the music of the Soviet national anthem by Soviet composer, Alexander Alexandrov, for which new lyrics are to be written. Putin believes this mix will ensure a sense of continuity with the many strands of Russia’s past.

“I think that the president has made a very worthy decision,” the spokesman for the Moscow Patriarchate, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, told Interfax news agency this week. “It is very important that all the symbols of the country are viewed in a combination: a pre-revolutionary flag and coat of arms, which show the continuity with the pre-revolutionary period of our history, and at the same time Alexandrov’s music, which shows continuity with the Soviet era, in which, of course, there were terrible tragedies, but there were also a lot of good things. Thus the continuity of all Russian history is restored and demonstrated.”

During a heated public debate about the anthem, several Russian media outlets reported, without citing any sources, that the church’s head, Patriarch Alexei II, opposed the return of the Soviet anthem. But Chaplin stressed this week that the patriarch had never publicly expressed his opinion. “His Holiness has never rejected the possibility of the old anthem’s melody returning,” Chaplin said. “He said only that the issue of state symbols should not divide society, but unite it.”

In fact, discussions about the anthem have proved highly divisive in recent weeks. The Soviet anthem, which cleverly combines musical features of both a march and a song, was written by Alexandrov in 1943, originally as the Communist Party anthem. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin approved the music and ordered the lyrics to be rewritten so the song could serve as the national anthem. After Stalin’s death, lyrics praising him were dropped and eventually new lyrics were added retaining praise of Lenin and the Communist Party.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the tricolour was adopted as Russia’s flag. But the Communist-dominated parliament refused to accept President Boris Yeltsin’s proposals to make the double-headed eagle the national emblem and the “Patriotic Song” by the 19th century composer Mikhail Glinka the national anthem.

In 1993, after Yeltsin put down a parliamentary rebellion, he imposed the emblem and the anthem by presidential decree. But the eagle has never been approved by two thirds of the parliament, as required by the Russian Constitution.

The anthem has proved even more problematic. No official lyrics had been adopted for Glinka’s music, which most Russians find complicated, uninspiring and hard to remember.

In October, President Putin raised the matter in public after Russian athletes complained that they had no words to sing when they were awarded medals at the Sydney Olympics.

The president put the issue on the agenda of the State Council – which is made up of regional governors but has limited powers. Various options were discussed, but a public poll taken at the same time showed that Alexandrov’s music, familiar to most Russians, led with 49 percent support.

“Let us not forget that we are talking here about the majority of the people,” President Putin said last Monday in a passionate plea on national television. “It is possible that the people and I are mistaken,” he said, but he added that rejecting all Soviet symbols would suggest that “our mothers and fathers lived a useless life, lived their lives in vain. I cannot agree with this, either in my head, or in my heart!”

A group of 35 prominent intellectuals, including a progressive Orthodox priest, Alexander Borisov, published an open letter to the president warning that a return to the Soviet anthem could cause a national schism. “The attempt to resurrect the music of the Soviet anthem triggers nothing but protest and disgust,” the letter stated. “There is no new text that could hide the immortal [original] words praising Lenin and Stalin.”

Leading Orthodox Church officials appear to have changed their mind during the debate. A prominent church leader, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk, initially expressed support for Glinka’s music in a newspaper article. But late last month he appeared on the state-owned RTR television station to support Alexandrov’s music.

Other religious leaders also contributed to the discussion. A Muslim official, Mufti Talgat Tadzhutdin, said he had no problem with either the double-headed eagle or with the Soviet-era anthem. “It is our past, and you cannot escape it,” Tadzhutdin told Interfax. “For seven decades we and our ancestors lived in the Soviet state, and many recall their youth with warm feelings. It is wonderful that we won’t forget that period.”

More argument is expected when the new lyrics for the anthem are published. A draft by the poet who wrote the lyrics for the Soviet anthem, Sergei Mikhalkov, and another by former prime minister Yevgeni Primakov have appeared in the press in recent weeks. In his new version Mikhalkov, who once composed verses to glorify Lenin and Stalin, writes: “With hope and faith, forward, Russians! And may the Lord safeguard us on the path!”

Some of the drafts were clearly ironic, including one from a liberal party, the Union of Right Forces, stating: “We work honestly and pay our taxes! Glory to you, O private property!”

But despite the opposition and the irony, Putin’s proposal is almost certain to be approved by the Duma.

Related Elsewhere

Other media coverage of the Russian national anthem includes:

Putin Out of Tune With Yeltsin — International Herald Tribune (Dec. 8, 2000)

Bitter feelings as Putin dredges up the past — The Age (Dec. 7, 2000)

Soviet anthem revival stirs Russians — The [Baltimore] Sun (Dec. 6, 2000)

Putin Urges Revival Of Soviet Symbols — International Herald Tribune (Dec. 6, 2000)

The Soviet National Anthem is available in a variety of formats here.

- More from By Andrei Zolotov in Moscow

On Being Human Part 1

John Wilson

Natural History magazine celebrates a milestone.

Earlier this year we took note of the American Museum of Natural History and its superbly produced magazine, Natural History. If you are not a subscriber, check out the newsstand for the current issue (December 2000/January 2001), celebrating the magazine’s 100th anniversary. That milestone alone would be enough to guarantee that the issue will become a collector’s item, but there’s more: the 300th and last essay in Stephen Jay Gould’s column, “This View of Life,” one of the most brilliant sustained achievements in the history of American journalism.

Given the occasion, it is no surprise that this issue also puts forward a manifesto of sorts, in the form of a special section entitled “On Being Human.” And it is no surprise, either, to see how editor Ellen Goldensohn frames that subject. “During the magazine’s past 100 years,” Goldensohn writes,

the natural sciences have altered humanity’s self-image. Discoveries of fossil hominids—from the delicate Lucy to the robust Australopithecus boisei—have undercut the notion of human singularity. The new technology of DNA sequencing has further closed the gap between us and the other primates on our family tree. (That we share 98 percent of our genetic material with chimpanzees is stated so often that it is by now a cliche.) The emergence of sociobiology and behavioral ecology—as well as their controversial offshoot, evolutionary psychology—reflects our growing sense of connectedness with the rest of the animal kingdom. These days, we are perhaps less inclined to see ourselves as fallen angels than as above-average mammals.

Goldensohn’s reference to “fallen angels” (apparently conflating the identity of Lucifer, the fallen angel, with the notion that human beings are a little lower than the angels) suggests that her grasp of the traditional understanding of the human person which “we” have allegedly outgrown is shaky at best, while her glib dismissal of “human singularity” looks like a sleight of hand whereby the very phenomenon that cries out for attention—the astonishing difference between human beings and all other creatures—is made to disappear. It is an odd sort of science that, when faced with such a richly suggestive problem, proceeds to deny that the problem exists.

How easy it would be, then, to indulge in a counter-dismissal, not even bothering to read what the scientists assembled in this issue have to say “On Being Human.” But that would be our loss, as I hope to show in the next installments of this column. Meanwhile, between now and next week, why not read the essays in that special section yourself?

John Wilson is Editor of Books & Culture and Editor-at-Large for Christianity Today.

Related Elsewhere

Visit Books & Culture online at BooksandCulture.com or subscribe here.

See our earlier Books & Culture Corner on the American Museum of Natural History and Natural History magazine, “‘To Know the Universe’ | Well, sort of.” It first appeared on our site March 2, 2000.

The Natural History site includes a preview of the special anniversary issue, including Gould’s article.

Books & Culture Corner appears Mondays at ChristianityToday.com. Earlier Books & Culture Corners include:

Are You Re:Generated? | Inside one of the best religious publications on the planet (that’s not Christianity Today). (Dec. 4, 2000)

The Promise of Particularity Amid Pluralism | A dispatch from the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. (Nov. 22, 2000)

The Horror! | Joan Didion encounters evangelical Christianity. (Nov. 13, 2000)

Election Eve | Why isn’t anyone focusing on those who simply won’t bother to vote? (Nov. 6, 2000)

Three Books and a Wedding | Remembering the good news. (Oct. 30, 2000)

Unintelligent Designs | Baylor’s dismissal of Polyani Center director Dembski was not a smart move.(Oct. 23, 2000)

Crying About Wolfe | Is there a scandal of “The Opening of the Evangelical Mind”? (Oct. 16, 2000)

The Light Still Shines | A Harvard-sponsored conference looks at the future of religious colleges. (Oct. 9, 2000)

RU-486 Uncovers a Lie—And It’s Not Just About Abortion | Think the abortion pill is indicative of postmodernity? You’re wrong. (Oct. 2, 2000)

Pencils Down Part II | Think your vote matters? You poor, misguided fool. (Sept. 18, 2000)

- More from John Wilson

Thousands of Filipino Christians Pray for Estrada’s Swift Resignation

Sophie Lizares-Bodegon in Manila

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila, other church leaders leading impeachment rallies.

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Manila, Cardinal Jaime Sin, led a prayer rally by a broad coalition of Christians and activists in the Philippines capital December 7 to urge President Joseph “Erap” Estrada to resign immediately.

On the first day of impeachment hearings against the president, thousands of protesters, many of them Catholics, crowded into Manila’s Roxas Boulevard to attend an open-air service described as a “protest Eucharist” and “prayer of the people.” Most of those present represented Catholic parish councils and schools, as well as universities, business clubs, workers and women’s groups.

“Mr. President, do not be afraid to resign,” Cardinal Sin said in his homily. He told the president, a former star of action films: “I will take care of you. Resignation is not defeat. Only brave men do that.”

He added: “The truth is you have lost your moral ascendancy to govern us. Face the truth, and be courageous. The country is already suffering.”

Among those on stage with the cardinal were several Catholic bishops, former president, Corazon Aquino, the vice-president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and student representatives from Catholic schools. The protest was organized by a coalition of trade unions, political parties and citizens’ rights groups.

Former president Aquino told protesters that resignation was a “kinder solution” to the crisis that had engulfed the Philippines government. Speaking before the start of the Mass, Aquino said it was not too late for Estrada “to do what is right in the service to the nation.”

Estrada’s refusal to step down had put the country on an “agonizing” track, with the economy spiraling out of control because of his extravagance and incompetence, Aquino said.

Pressure for the president to resign or be impeached has grown since early October when provincial governor Luis “Chavit” Singson, one of Estrada’s closest friends, claimed that the president had received US$8 million in bribes from gambling tycoons.

Other reports suggested that the president had also appropriated US$2.6 million in cigarette excise taxes and acquired mansions for his mistresses. Because of the crisis, the Philippine peso has fallen to record lows since October.

After the Mass, about 80,000 protesters assembled outside the Malate Catholic Church in Manila to walk to the Philippine Senate, where the first impeachment action in Philippines history had just begun.

Estrada is accused of violating the constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust. The impeachment trial is due to finish by 15 January 2001. A two-thirds vote by the Senate is needed to convict Estrada.

Officials from the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) and the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) were present at the rally. The NCCP executive committee said in a statement on 9 November: “The hour has come for President Estrada to confess and repent. This means stepping down from power to pave the way for forgiveness and reconciliation. The president has lost any moral ascendancy to govern.”

The UCCP has spoken out twice on the issue. On November 8, the UCCP Council of Bishops said in a statement that whether “proven innocent or guilty, President Estrada has wreaked [so much] havoc upon his credibility and integrity as a leader that the nation will remain fractured and divided, and the confidence of the Filipino people will be forever lost under his leadership.” The bishops criticized his leadership as “pathetic and detestable.” The present crisis was caused, they said, by the fact that Estrada seemed to be “dominated by the counsel of cronies, crooks and thieves.” They also accused him of flaunting his extramarital affairs, his alcoholism and his association with gamblers.

The UCCP urged all local churches, institutions, church workers and members to support the national campaign for the removal of Estrada. The UCCP also warned that politicians would use the crisis to win political points for the May 2001 elections. “It is the marginalized Filipino who suffers the most in this game of politicking, pre-election gimmickry and alleged toleration of illegal activities,” the church declared.

A daily vigil and marches are continuing in front of the Senate building in Manila. At the same time many Filipinos here and abroad are relaying anti-Estrada messages via mobile phones and the Internet. A Web site has been set up to keep protesters abreast of developments.

The president has welcomed impeachment proceedings saying he wants his name cleared. He added he was happy to entrust his fate “to God and to the sense of fairness and justice of the senators.” During yesterday’s protest, about 10,000 of his supporters held a counter-demonstration outside the Senate, shouting “Erap, Remain.” But one of his staunchest supporters, Mike Velarde, leader of the large El Shaddai charismatic community, stayed away.

Elected president two-and-a-half years ago for a six-year term, Estrada frequently reminds the public that he won the biggest number of votes in Philippine electoral history.

Related Elsewhere

The San Francisco Chronicle recently ran an excellent article on churches’ involvement in the protests.

Recent developments on the impeachment are available through Yahoo’s full coverage.

The Manila Times gives a Filipino perspective on the events.

- More from Sophie Lizares-Bodegon in Manila

Jubilee 2000 Will Disband as Planned But Its Work Will Continue

Cedric Pulford in London

The world will never be the same again.

The Jubilee 2000 coalition, set up to free the world’s poor countries of unpayable debt and described by British social commentator Polly Toynbee as “the most brilliantly successful campaign of our times,” will wind up in Britain at the end of this jubilee year, but its work is to continue in other forms.

Relief agencies including Christian Aid, CAFOD (Roman Catholic), Oxfam, Tearfund, War on Want and the World Development Movement have pledged support for the coalition’s ongoing activities.

Jubilee 2000 was launched in the U.K. in 1996 with the aim of canceling the unpayable debts of the poorest countries by the year 2000. Churches are amongst its strongest supporters. In just four years it has become a huge and powerful international movement, forcing the debt issue to the top of the international economic agenda.

There are now Jubilee 2000 networks in more than 60 countries and more than 20 million people have signed a petition calling for the debt burden on developing world countries to be eased.

Yet in terms of hard cash, progress has been slower than hoped for, and Jubilee 2000 U.K. admitted on December 2 that only about a third of the US$300 billion that needs to be written off has so far been scheduled for cancellation by creditor nations and multilateral lending agencies like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Twenty countries have had some debt relief, but may still end up spending more on debt servicing than on health or education, Jubilee 2000 pointed out. After receiving debt relief, Tanzania, for example, still spends $168 million a year on debt, compared with $87 million on health and $154 million on education. One Tanzanian child in seven dies before his or her fifth birthday, more than a quarter of adults are illiterate and more than 10 million people have no access to safe water.

Ann Pettifor, director of Jubilee 2000 UK, said that the campaign had brought about a worldwide change of attitudes: “Debt cancellation is no longer viewed as an issue of charity, but as one of justice. It has given millions of people the competence and confidence to challenge elites in both the north and the south. The world will never be the same again.”

Next year she will head Jubilee Plus, a long-term global support unit for campaigns on international debt and finance. Her deputy, Adrian Lovett, will lead Drop the Debt, a short-term initiative focused on the Genoa summit next July of the Group of Eight (the leading Western industrialized nations plus Russia).

Lovett said: “We’ve got a fantastic campaign in Italy, we’ve got the Pope on our side, and it’s now clear that debt cancellation efforts so far are simply not enough. The stage is set for a breakthrough in 2001.”

More than 70 leading aid agencies and rights groups have joined forces with One World—an internet site devoted to human rights and sustainable development – to mark the end of the Jubilee 2000 campaign by launching a global Internet portal linking campaigns and actions related to debt. DebtChannel.org is intended to bring together stories and information from around the world to form “the most comprehensive collection of material on debt on the entire web.” The portal is edited at OneWorld Africa in Zambia—one of the countries carrying a devastating debt burden. As well as providing content from organizations based in both the North and the South, the portal will promote voices from the South, “creating a space for them to tell of their experience of this issue and what should be done to address it.”

Related Elsewhere

Previous Christianity Today stories on the Jubilee 2000 campaign include:

Grassroots Activism Delivers Debt Relief | The Jubilee 2000 success is evidence that everyday people can make a difference. (Nov. 28, 2000)

Crushing Debt | Third World debt is as vicious as the slave trade. (June 8, 2000)

Debt Cancellation a Question of ‘Justice’, Kenya’s Anglican Archbishop Tells Japan | Tokyo skeptical toward Jubilee 2000 message (April 19, 2000)

Poor Nations Get Debt Relief | After Congress passes Jubilee 2000 legislation, campaign rolls onward. (Jan. 4, 2000)

Churches Seek Debt Cancellation | (Oct. 5, 1998)

See more information at the Jubilee 2000 Coalition site.

- More from Cedric Pulford in London

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