ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP)--The Re-Imagining Community, a group that
developed out of a controversial 1993 meeting of radical Christian
feminists, appears to be dissolving.
The group's seventh gathering last weekend, held at a University
of Minnesota campus, drew about 200 devotees, compared with 2,200 at
the original Re-Imagining conference.
The organization has no plans to hold future meetings and
indicated its small office at the Minnesota Church Center is likely
to shut down.
At the Re-Imagining conferences, all held in Minnesota, mainline
Protestants and Roman Catholics celebrated feminine images and names
for God, and challenged Christianity's patriarchal traditions.
Conservatives organized to fight such concepts within the United
Methodist Church and Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), denominations
that aided the original conference.
The intensity of the Re-Imagining movement has subsided, some
participants said, or has diffused into other expressions of radical
feminism in congregations, seminaries and organizations around the
country.
``I know Re-Imagining will always be with us. It will re-emerge
and bubble up all over the place,'' said Mary Bednarowski, who
teaches at a United Church of Christ seminary in New Brighton, Minn.
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http://www.reimagining.org
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Operation Rescue leader moves office from Texas to North Carolina
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)--The leader of Operation Rescue/Operation
Save America has moved from Dallas to Concord, N.C., to continue his
fights against abortion and homosexuality.
The Rev. Philip ``Flip'' Benham, 55, has staged many publicized
anti-abortion events in the past decade. The conservative Protestant
minister won fame in 1995 by baptizing Norma McCorvey, the anonymous
``Jane Roe'' in the Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion.
Benham is now a common figure outside Charlotte abortion clinics.
At the group's annual conference in Charlotte July 12-20,
participants plan to hold a funeral for aborted fetuses and read the
Bible in front of churches and mosques.
Benham, who operates from a two-room office, says local pastors
give little support. ``The evangelical church has been asleep here
in Charlotte,'' he said. ``It's as if they've got this awkward peace
with the abortion industry.''
In addition to his anti-abortion activism, Benham disrupted a
recent gay and lesbian festival in Charlotte, screaming throughout a
commitment ceremony for more than a dozen couples.
Still, he said he cheered last month's capture of Eric Rudolph,
who is accused of bombing two abortion clinics, a gay nightclub and
an Olympics event.
``This man was no anti-abortionist,'' he said. ``This man was mad
at the world.''
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http://www.operationsaveamerica.org
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Cabinet ministers meet Hindu leader over India's disputed Muslim
site
NEW DELHI, India (AP)--Two Indian cabinet ministers met a Hindu
religious leader Sunday, attempting to settle a bitter dispute over
the site of a 16th century Muslim mosque that was destroyed by Hindu
hard-liners, the Press Trust of India reported.
Hindu activists tore down the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya in 1992.
Afterward, some 2,000 people were killed in nationwide Hindu-Muslim
clashes.
Newspaper reports say an unreleased compromise would have Muslims
give up their claim to the Ayodhya site, which Hindus consider the
birthplace of the god Rama. Muslims say there's no proof of that. In
return, Hindus would give up sites claimed by Muslims in Varanasi
and Mathura.
Muslim leaders are scheduled to consider the proposal July 6.
Meanwhile, the High Court in Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh
state, has given government archaeologists until next week to
determine whether a temple existed at the site of the Ayodhya
mosque.
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Evangelical group sues to hand out fliers in Maryland school
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP)--Montgomery County school officials are
fighting an attempt by Child Evangelism Fellowship to distribute
fliers to students at two elementary schools, with the Justice
Department's civil rights division supporting the religious group.
The fellowship sponsors after-school meetings with Bible-based
activities. It is appealing a ruling that temporarily blocks their
meetings, and the county--in turn--is challenging the appeal with
arguments due in September.
A federal district judge barred the fellowship from sending home
permission slips with students at elementary schools in Rockville
and Damascus, Md. The forms invited students to ``Good News Clubs''
offering ``Bible adventures, missionary adventures, games, singings
and much more!''
The case is one of several the fellowship has taken to court to
promote its Good News Clubs in public schools. The group won a 2001
U.S. Supreme Court ruling that schools must give the clubs equal
access to school space on the same basis as other voluntary
meetings.
The schools' attorney said the Constitution's ban on
``establishment of religion'' would be violated if schools ``forced
teachers to pass out proselytizing materials'' or ``recruitment
fliers.''
A spokesman said the Justice Department regards the forms as
informational, not recruiting tools.
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Louisiana court dismisses ACLU bid to end church sales tax
exemptions
NEW ORLEANS (AP)--An American Civil Liberties Union fight against
Louisiana's sales tax exemption for churches and other religious
groups is a state tax matter and doesn't belong in federal court,
the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.
A U.S. district judge earlier struck down the exemptions, saying
they were given for a religious purpose and violated separation of
church and state.
The three-judge appeals panel said the ACLU could pursue the
matter in state court.
Three exemptions are at issue. A 1996 law exempts churches and
synagogues from paying sales taxes on purchases of Bibles, song
books and religious textbooks. Exemptions were added in 1998 to
cover religious camps and retreats, and purchases by the Little
Sisters of the Poor, a Roman Catholic order.
Citing U.S. Supreme Court principles, Pennsylvania's Supreme
Court in 1999 threw out sales tax exemptions for religious
publications. The U.S. Supreme Court did not review the case so
there is no nationwide precedent.
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Maryland inmates study to go from prison to pulpit
HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP)--About 30 inmates at the Maryland
Correctional Training Center are studying to go from prison to the
pulpit.
They are taking a two-year course for master's degrees from
Covenant Theological Seminary of Tallahassee, Fla. (which is
unconnected to a Presbyterian Church in America school of the same
name based in St. Louis).
The idea for the program, launched last November, came from
former inmate Tony Pavlo, who was released in 2001 after serving
time for armed robbery. He was taking Covenant classes under the
tutelage of an evangelical Protestant pastor in Rockville, Md., and
said he wished the same opportunity were available to those behind
bars.
The Rev. Gerald Banks, chaplain at the medium-security prison,
took the idea to warden Michael Stouffer, who approved.
``It is great to be able to be a blessing to your community,
rather than a curse,'' Pavlo said.
Since tuition is beyond the reach of most inmates, Rockville
church members give donations and sponsor fund-raisers to defray the
students' expenses.
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http://members.tripod.com/trinityreform/seminary.htm
___
Hundreds line up to see Juan Diego relic in Wisconsin
LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP)--A tiny scrap of cloth from a cloak worn by
a man who said he saw the Virgin Mary centuries ago attracted
hundreds of Roman Catholics last weekend eager to glimpse the relic.
The ``Tilma of Tepeyac,'' on loan from the Los Angeles
Archdiocese, is on a 20-city tour. The La Crosse display occurred at
the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The tilma, or Aztec Indian cloak, was said to be worn by Juan
Diego at the time of the Virgin Mary's appearance to him in 1531
that led to Mexico's Guadalupe shrine. He was canonized a saint last
year.
Mexico City's archbishop sent a small piece of the cloak, encased
in a blue locket, to the Los Angeles archbishop in 1941.
AP-NY-06-26-03 1325EDT
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