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Wednesday,
November 19, 2008
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All the National UMC news
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| Pro-Abortion
religious groups lobby Obama / IRD |
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The
letter, signed by the Religious Coalition for
Reproductive Choice (RCRC) and several RCRC member
Jewish and Mainline Protestant bodies, including
the United Methodist General Board of Church and
Society, calls for Obama to support the Freedom
of Choice Act, which would remove all restrictions
on abortions passed by state legislatures. Catholics
for Free Choice, another RCRC member, also signed
on. Related: Religious
Groups Want Obama to OK Tax-Funded Abortion, Zap
Pro-Life Laws |
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| Economy
threatens 'Cokesbury checks' for clergy pensions
outside United States – by
Linda Green / UMNS |
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Publishing
House sales were off 12 percent for the first
three months of the new fiscal year, which began
on Aug. 1, and the agency also has seen reductions
in values of long-term investments. For the last
two years, the publishing agency has drawn from
its reserves to pay $1 million to the annual conferences.
The economic downturn
also has affected investments for the Central
Conference Pension Initiative, resulting in a
$125,000 loss, said Dan O’Neill, managing
director for central conference pension at the
United Methodist Board of Pension and Health Benefits.
But he noted that "investing by the pension
board tends to be long term, and we believe that
the loss will be offset by future earnings." |
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| United
Methodists celebrate partnership, lives saved
in Côte d’Ivoire health campaign
– by Tim Tanton / UMNS |
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The
Nov. 11-15 campaign distributed some 855,000 bed
nets to children between the ages of 9 months
and 59 months in areas of Côte d’Ivoire
where the need has been great. In addition, children
in that age range all over the country received
free measles vaccinations, doses of vitamin A
and de-worming tablets. |
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| Celebrating
the volunteer experience / GBGM |
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The
new book by Dr. Betty Whitehurst and Rev. Walter
Whitehurst is about the values and joys of volunteering.
'Individual Volunteers' is a mission service avenue
linked to the General Board of Global Ministries,
the international mission agency of the denomination.
The book quotes dozens
of volunteers, who sent letters and emails to
the Whitehursts from 1995 to 2006. The volunteers
were troubled, surprised, and mostly grateful.
Offering a rich kaleidoscope of experiences from
the mission field, Following God's Call is practical,
inspiring, and extremely readable. One can devour
it from cover to cover or flip to any page to
find meaning. |
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| Scripture
lesson from the lectionary: |
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25:37
Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when
was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food,
or thirsty and gave you something to drink?
25:38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger
and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing?
25:39 And when was it that we saw you sick or
in prison and visited you?'
25:40 And the king will answer them, 'Truly I
tell you, just as you did it to one of the least
of these who are members of my family, you did
it to me.'
25:41 Then he will say to those at his left hand,
'You that are accursed, depart from me into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;
25:42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food,
I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,
25:43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome
me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick
and in prison and you did not visit me.'
25:44 Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when
was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a
stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did
not take care of you?'
25:45 Then he will answer them, 'Truly I tell
you, just as you did not do it to one of the least
of these, you did not do it to me.'
25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment,
but the righteous into eternal life." |
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| Methodists
in their local news: |
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Va.
woman creates ministry from prison experience
By Annette Spence / UMNS
SALTVILLE, VA — Former inmate Sarah Taylor
says she felt God’s love after receiving
cookies from a volunteer with Kairos Prison Ministry,
compelling her to start a cookie ministry at Quarry
United Methodist Church in Saltville, Va., following
her release. |
| • |
Worship
services, free meals offered to celebrate Thanksgiving
By Cassie Tarpley / Shelby Star
SHELBY, NC — Thankful for what they have,
members at Pine Grove United Methodist Church
in southern Cleveland County will share with the
homeless community and others in the neighborhood. |
| • |
Osage
Beach man arrested after driving car into church
/ News-Leader
SPRINGFIELD, MO — An Osage Beach man
was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated
and careless and imprudent driving after allegedly
driving a car into Cornerstone United Methodist
Church. |
| • |
Methodist
president takes scenic ride / Whitby Gazette
[UK]
THE president of the Methodist Church was
given a ride on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway
as part of a whistlestop tour of the region. |
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| The
abortion president – by
Nat Hentoff |
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During
a July 17, 2007, speech before the Planned Parenthood
Action Fund, then Sen. Barack Obama pledged: "The
first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom
of Choice Act." That is a bizarre way "to
bring us together," another goal of his as president.
When Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., reintroduced the
FOCA in 2007, her press release triumphantly explained
that this draconian definition of "Freedom of Choice"
would mean:
"Women would have
the absolute right to choose whether to continue or
terminate their pregnancies before fetal viability,
and that right would be protected by this legislation.
The Freedom of Choice Act also supersedes any law, regulation
or local ordinance that impinges on a woman's right
to choose."
There's more. The restrictions
on "the absolute right to choose" would also
apply even after "viability" if a woman wanted
to abort for reasons of her health.
But the Supreme Court
in 1973, the same year as Roe v. Wade, in Doe v. Bolton
defined very broadly "health" as justification
for aborting a viable human being, as "physical,
emotional, psychological, familial and the woman's age."
Nearly a blank check to dispose of that aborted person. |
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Last-minute
Bush abortion ruling causes furor
By Robert Pear / International Herald Tribune
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WASHINGTON
– A last-minute Bush administration
plan to grant sweeping new protections to health care
providers who oppose abortion and other procedures on
religious or moral grounds has provoked a torrent of
objections, including a strenuous protest from the government
agency that enforces job-discrimination laws.
The proposed rule would
prohibit recipients of federal money from discriminating
against doctors, nurses and other health care workers
who refuse to perform or to assist in the performance
of abortions or sterilization procedures because of
their "religious beliefs or moral convictions."
Officials at the Health
and Human Services Department said they intended to
issue a final version of the rule within days. Aides
and advisers to Obama said he would try to rescind it,
a process that could take three to six months.
The proposal is supported
by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic
Health Association, which represents Catholic hospitals. |
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Cardinal
calls for broad-based legalization plan
Church activists at summit take aim at U.S. policies
By Allan Turner / The Houston Chronicle |
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In
arguments rich in biblical allusion, church and social
activists Monday took aim at the nation's immigration
policies — laws they contended split families,
criminalize undocumented workers and undercut America's
reverential self-image as a land of opportunity.
"There are 200 million
migrants," Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Catholic
Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston told those gathered
for The Metropolitan Organization's Clergy Summit: Welcoming
the Stranger and Immigration Reform. "War, famine,
economic collapse drive them, and it's unstoppable.
In our own country, 12 million undocumented people work
and live in the shadows."
Borrowing language from
a 2002 Catholic Conference of Bishops policy statement,
DiNardo called for legalization of undocumented workers
already in the country.
"The problem was
in the House," Ernesto Cortes Jr. said, alluding
to the U.S. House of Representatives. "The mail
they were getting was 100-1 against, and that's not
going to go away." |
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Is
Obama the Antichrist? – "The
winning lottery number in Illinois was 666, which, as
everyone knows, is the sign of the Beast."
By Lisa Miller / Newsweek |
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"...According
to a 2006 study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public
Life, a third of white evangelicals believe the world
will end in their lifetimes. These mostly conservative
Christians believe a great battle is imminent. After
years of tribulation – natural disasters, other
cataclysms (such as the collapse of financial markets)
– God's armies will vanquish armies led by the
Antichrist himself..." |
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| WARC
calls for "new global economic order"
/ ENI |
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The
World Alliance of Reformed Churches says a new global
economic order that puts people first is urgently needed
to help the poor, following a meeting of the G20 nations
about the worldwide financial turmoil. |
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Inaugural
meeting of the Jesus Project to take place in Amherst,
New York – Scholars
will investigate the Sources of the Gospel
Press release |
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"The
Jesus Project" is devoted to examining the case
for the historical existence of Jesus based on a rigorous
application of historical critical methods to the gospels
and related literature. Unlike the "Jesus Seminar,"
founded in 1985 by the late Professor Robert Funk of
the University of Montana, the new Seminar regards the
claim that Jesus of Nazareth was an historical figure
as a "testable hypothesis." R. Joseph Hof
said that the project has been called for by a number
of scholars who felt that the first Jesus Seminar may
have been – for political reasons – too reluctant
to follow where the evidence led.
"The Jesus Project"
is an initiative of the Committee for the Scientific
Examination of Religion (CSER), housed at Center for
Inquiry/Transnational, a secularist think tank. |
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Breakaway
Episcopalians to unveil constitution
By Julia Duin / The Washington Times |
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Leaders
of 100,000 disaffected former Episcopalians will unveil
a proposed constitution for a new 39th province of the
Anglican Communion at a Dec. 3 ceremony at the evangelical
Wheaton College in west Chicago.
The new province, which
will contain significant portions of four breakaway
Episcopal dioceses plus about two dozen churches in
Northern Virginia, will be launched in early 2009.
"This is a huge
step," said Anglican Bishop Martyn Minns, one of
the leaders who will sign the constitution as the head
of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.
"The constitution
will create a new Anglican church in North America that
will have all the necessary features to be recognized
as a province," said Robert Lundy, a spokesman
for the American Anglican Council, one of the constitution's
signatory groups. "Then it'll be out of our hands." |
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Doctors
transplant windpipe with stem cells
By Maria Cheng / AP |
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LONDON
-- Doctors have given a woman a new windpipe with tissue
grown from her own stem cells, eliminating the need
for anti-rejection drugs. "This technique has great
promise," said Dr. Eric Genden, who did a similar
transplant in 2005 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.
That operation used both donor and recipient tissue.
Only a handful of windpipe, or trachea, transplants
have ever been done.
If successful, the procedure
could become a new standard of treatment, said Genden,
who was not involved in the research.
The results were published
online Wednesday in the medical journal, The Lancet. |
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| Proposition
8 opponents release blacklists / UPI |
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Opponents
of California's Proposition 8 have released blacklists
with confidential information regarding donations in
support of the ban on same-sex marriage.
The release of the blacklists
comes as a number of California businesses have been
targeted by same-sex marriage advocates for boycotts
in the wake of the initiative's passing. |
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from readers – email
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