Religion Briefs

Last updated Friday, April 13, 2007 9:20 PM CDT in Religion

In November, city officials caused an uproar when they declined to allow advertising for the film "The Nativity Story" to be shown during the annual German Christkindlmarket in Daley Plaza.

Officials initially said they didn't want to appear to endorse one religion over another and potentially offend non-Christians. Then they explained that the film display would be too commercial for the market because the movie studio sponsored it. The studio's sponsorship deal was later dropped, and the film's trailer was shown with city approval.

While proponents of the Easter service and cross said the moves were about religious freedom, at least one non-Christian religious leader thought the display outside a government building was inappropriate.

"We separate church and state in this country for good reason, and to me this crosses the line," said Emily Soloff, executive director of the American Jewish Committee's Chicago chapter.

New Pastor Accepts Gay Member

SOUTH HILL, Va. -- The new pastor at a Methodist church that had barred a gay man from membership two years ago has reversed that decision and allowed the man to join.

The Rev. Barry Burkholder, the new leader of South Hill United Methodist Church, told the congregation to accept the man's transfer from a Baptist church. The denomination has not released the name of the gay congregant.

The former pastor, the Rev. Edward H. Johnson, said in 2005 that he could not accept the man as a member because he would neither repent nor seek to change. Johnson has since been appointed pastor at another Virginia church, Dahlgren United Methodist Church.

The case led to a showdown in church courts between Johnson and the denomination's Virginia Conference, which oversees congregations and pastors in the region.

The conference tried to bar Johnson from ministry for a year for his decision.

The Methodist Book of Discipline declares gay relationships "incompatible with Christian teaching," and bars sexually active gays from ordination. However, the denomination has no rules on church membership for openly gay congregants. The mainline Protestant denomination advertises itself as an open and welcoming church.

Johnson appealed his punishment to the highest church court -- the Judicial Council -- and won. The high court concluded that pastors have the authority to decide who becomes a member of a local church and ordered Johnson reinstated to ministry.

Burkholder told United Methodist News Service last week that the gay man professed that Christ was his savior and that Jesus died for his sins, so he was ready to become a member of the church.

New York Cardinal Edward Egan Nears Retirement

NEW YORK -- New York Cardinal Edward Egan has turned 75, when Roman Catholic law directs bishops to submit their resignations so the pope can decide whether they should stay on the job.

It is common for bishops to put off retirement for several years with the pope's blessing, and Egan has said nothing publicly about exactly when he'd like to retire.

His spokesman said Egan doesn't expect his resignation to be accepted by Pope Benedict XVI.

Speculation within the U.S. church began long ago about who would succeed Egan at the helm of the Archdiocese of New York. It is the nation's second-largest diocese, serving 2.5 million Catholics, and is one of the highest-profile Catholic posts in the country.

Egan's office said April 2 that the cardinal has submitted his offer to resign. He has been archbishop of New York since 2000, when he replaced the late Cardinal John O'Connor.

"He (Egan) has joked with the priests that they can expect to have him around for another 150 years or so, but he leaves all such things up to Pope Benedict XVI," spokesman Joseph Zwilling said.

Egan has worked to shore up the shaky finances of the archdiocese but has drawn criticism in the process. In October, a group of priests claimed Egan was arrogant in his treatment of some clergy and the letter they sent him about it was released publicly. Egan has also upset some parishioners with his plan to close some parishes and combine others to reflect the movement of Catholics from the city to the suburbs.

Brazilian Rabbi Charged With Shoplifting

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- A prominent Brazilian rabbi who was charged with shoplifting last month in Florida says he still plans to meet with Pope Benedict XVI at a meeting of all of Latin America's Roman Catholic bishops.

In an interview with Estado de S. Paulo newspaper published April 6, Rabbi Henry I. Sobel said he would "ask for God's forgiveness, if I am given the opportunity" during his time with the pontiff in May.

"I am not Catholic, so I cannot ask for the pope's forgiveness," he said. "But I will ask the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Israel to forgive me.

"Perhaps in the pope's presence I could feel his humility and have some of it enter my soul."

Sobel, 63, championed human rights during Brazil's dictatorship in the 1960s and is well-known in the nation for improving relations between Jews, Christians and Muslims. He temporarily resigned last month as head of South America's largest Jewish synagogue, the Sao Paulo Jewish Congregation, which he led for more than 30 years.

Sobel was charged in March with three counts of theft for allegedly stealing ties worth a total of $680 from several upscale stores in Palm Beach, Fla. He was released after posting $3,000 bail. He has since been hospitalized at Sao Paulo's Albert Einstein Hospital, where doctors said he was admitted after taking large quantities of sleeping drugs.

"I've never had the intention in my life of stealing anything," Sobel said in a statement, when news of his arrest surfaced in Brazil last month. "I'm used to facing crises and accusations, and I can defend myself."

Churches Warned To Follow Campaign Rules

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- A lawyer for the United Methodist Church is cautioning clergy against getting caught up in the presidential race as the 2008 election heats up.

The Internal Revenue Service has been warning churches and nonprofits that they risk losing their tax-exempt status by backing a candidate or engaging in partisan activism.

"Churches should take stands on appropriate issues, but it cannot be a substantial part of their ministry," said Jim Allen, general counsel of the Methodist Council on Finance and Administration.

To protect themselves, Allen said congregations should not invite candidates to speak from the pulpit and avoid statements at any church function that could be interpreted as endorsing or opposing a candidate. Churches, however, are allowed to distribute voters education guides and encourage people to vote.

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