Keywords by David Yonke

I just chatted with a journalist friend in Detroit who's working on an article about a transgender person who's being kicked out of a Christian & Missionary Alliance church.
The church leaders say the woman (formerly a man) chose to pursue a homosexual lifestyle, which is against their teachings on the Bible and morality. The woman says no, that's wrong. She is straight, not homosexual. She had her birth certificate changed to show she's female.
I'm glad my church has not run into this scenario -- one that could not have happened a few years or decades ago. It's only through modern medicine that such a dilemma could occur.
Science and technology are moving faster and further than our culture's morals and ethics.
What would you say if you were on a church board and had to make a decision on her membership and/or attendance?
Obviously, a lot depends on which church and denomination. For some, it would be automatic expulsion. For others, it would hardly raise an eyebrow.
I'm glad this hasn't come up at my church ... yet.

Toledo, Ohio
April 22, 2008

Got a note from Dottie Zimmerman, the Toledo woman who channels dead Italian Saint Padre Pio. She liked my article but was braced for repercussions.
She teaches religion at a local Catholic school and sure enough, she was asked politely to "check out" the possibility of retirement.
If you haven't read the article about her, I highly recommend it. Here is a link.
Stay tuned...
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Toledo, Ohio
July 17, 2008

The Episcopal Church is not the only denomination being torn apart over homosexuality. This well-written press release from the United Methodist News Service shows how emotionally charged the debate can be. -- David.

Pastor is church's first openly gay bishop candidate
Jul. 22, 2008

NOTE: Photographs, audio and related coverage are available at http://umns.umc.org.

By Marta W. Aldrich*

PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)-Standing before an assembly that would elect two bishops, the Rev. Frank Wulf shared his problem as a candidate for one of the top clergy positions in The United Methodist Church.

"The problem is that I come as a gay man, and I know where our church stands on the issue of same-sex orientation," Wulf said in his candidacy address before the Western Jurisdictional Conference, which represents United Methodists in the western United States, Guam and other U.S. territories in the Pacific.

The delegates, who later approved four statements challenging the denomination's position on homosexuality, listened intently as Wulf continued: "And I know that the church says … a practicing self-avowed homosexual shall not be ordained or appointed within our church."

By extension, Wulf noted that his candidacy created a quandary for jurisdictional delegates in a denomination that consistently has declared homosexuality "incompatible with Christian teaching."

"I know that if, by some chance, I were ever to be elected as a bishop within this jurisdiction or any jurisdiction, that all hell would break loose …," he said, explaining later that he would anticipate church judicial charges, threats and hate mail.

He challenged them: "If in fact you feel this is what God is calling you to do … then I would be willing to be your bishop. But if the Western Jurisdiction is not at the point where it is willing … to deal with the maelstrom that will occur, then I am certainly not the person you should elect as bishop in this jurisdiction."

Wulf then left the podium-the only one to receive a standing ovation for a candidacy address among more than a dozen clergy members asking that July 16 to become bishop. In so doing, he became the first openly gay candidate for the United Methodist episcopacy. (During his 2004 candidacy, Wulf had not openly shared his sexual orientation.)

Two days later, in the late-night hours of July 18, as delegates struggled to elect their second and final bishop, Wulf went to the podium again-this time to withdraw his name from consideration. For the previous two days, he had consistently finished sixth in the balloting among 19 clergy members receiving votes. At this hour, it was apparent that he would not be elected.

"I am withdrawing from this race for the episcopacy, but I'm doing so with the hope that a gay man or a lesbian will be able to be elected bishop of The United Methodist Church. … I know that day is coming," Wulf said to applause and another standing ovation.

Mixed reaction

As word of Wulf's openly gay candidacy spread elsewhere, reaction was mixed but passionate on all sides.

"Even though he was not elected, I think it was a significant milestone for The United Methodist Church," said Mary Larson, chairperson of the pastor parish committee at United University Church, a United Methodist/Presbyterian congregation that Wulf leads in Los Angeles.

"He made the decision to run as an openly gay man, and it was a challenge to the whole church to deal more directly with this issue. … He was not a token candidate just to make a point; he was a serious candidate," said Larson, who attended the conference in support of Wulf.

Others countered that the Western Jurisdiction, which historically has supported the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the church, is not of one mind on the issue. They noted that a large number side with the denominational stance on human sexuality as passed by General Conference, the church's top legislative body, which met last spring in Fort Worth, Texas. They said church law is based on Scripture and longstanding Christian tradition, and that it serves as a covenant for the entire denomination, including Wulf and others advocating for change.

Such advocacy is a perplexing statement to the world at best and a subversive act of teaching at worst, according to the Rev. David Parker, senior pastor of Central United Protestant Church, an 1,100-member United Methodist congregation in Richland, Wash.

"To change our official stance and even advocate for that change is both harmful and subversive, not only to The United Methodist Church but to the larger global Christian church and our commitment to understanding holiness in every dimension of life," said Parker. "…I haven't run into any self-avowed homosexuals willing to remain celibate and teach and advocate that God has a different and healing vision for sexual practice."

The Rev. Maxie Dunnam, a well-known United Methodist speaker, author and educator, said the fact that an openly gay person would run for bishop shows the depth of division with United Methodism.

"It also shows how far removed the leadership of the UM Church in that jurisdiction is--not only from the consistent witness of United Methodism but from the church universal and the vast majority of Christians around the world," said Dunnam, chancellor of Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky.

Dunnam said bishops are to be both symbols of unity and defenders of the faith.

"What bothers me most is that our bishops in that jurisdiction (and some in other jurisdictions), while not openly violating the law of our church on the issue of the practice of homosexuality, are pastorally and prophetically supporting persons and positions that do violate our stand on this issue," he said. "I am deeply troubled that they seem oblivious to the fact that their failure to lead prophetically and pastorally in support of the church's doctrine and discipline contributes greatly to division and the threat of schism."

Jurisdictional duty

The Western Jurisdictional Conference's primary tasks during its July 16-19 gathering were to elect two bishops and then to assign all of its bishops to geographical areas of responsibility for the next four years, starting Sept. 1.

Wulf had agreed to be nominated from the floor at the urging of members across the jurisdiction's gay/lesbian/bisexual/transsexual community.

"There's no question that he is recognized as the community's natural leader," Larson said.

As for Wulf, he believes his candidacy represented "a growing movement within the church to understand another way."

"When General Conference ends and questions related to the Book of Discipline have been voted on, it looks like it's all settled and done. But what that uniformity of the Discipline really does for us is to disguise a disunity that exists in our church," he said in an interview with United Methodist News Service.

"I think my running provides an opportunity for us to talk across those boundaries-to listen to each other, read Scriptures together, pray together, fast together-and hopefully not just to shout insults at each other. I feel that God called me to this moment."

*Aldrich is news editor of United Methodist News Service.

News media contact: Marta Aldrich, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.

********************

United Methodist News Service
Photos and stories also available at:
http://umns.umc.org

The Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights is campaigning against a University of Minnesota professor who intentionally descrated the Holy Eucharist -- the Communion wafer that according to Catholic doctrine literally becomes the body of Christ.

Here's what the Catholic League reported on its website last week (here's a link to the site):

University of Minnesota professor Paul Z. Myers made good on his pledge to desecrate the Eucharist today. According to his statement on the subject, “I pierced it [the Host] with a rusty nail (I hope Jesus’s tetanus shots are up to date). And then I simply threw it in the trash.”

Saying he did not want to “single out just the cracker,” Myers also tore pages from the Koran along with a few pages from Richard Dawkins’ "The God Delusion" and nailed them to the Host. He then said, “They are just paper. Nothing must be held sacred. Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your lord, you are not disciples of any charismatic prophet.”

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The University of Minnesota's response? Again, this is from the Catholic League, which I'm am assuming is accurate:

The Chancellor of the University of Minnesota, Morris (UMN) released a statement today regarding the intentional desecration of the Eucharist by Professor Paul Z. Myers. “I believe that behaviors that discriminate against or harass individuals or groups on the basis of their religious beliefs are reprehensible,” said Jacqueline Johnson. Importantly, she added that the school’s Code of Conduct prohibits such behavior. However, she also stressed that academic freedom allows faculty members “to speak or write as a public citizen without institutional discipline or restraint….” Nowhere did she say Myers would be disciplined.

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(Note: An interesting parallel case in Toledo occurred in May when a University of Toledo administrator, Crystal Dixon, was fired for saying in a public forum, written as a private citizen and not as a university employee, that homosexuality is wrong according to her religious beliefs and the Bible. I genuinely wonder what would have happened to Ms. Dixon if she had worked at the University of Minnesota. Would the university have supported her "academic freedom" ... "without restraint"?)
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Here is the Catholic League's response to the U of Minnesota's statement:

Catholic League president Bill Donohue responded as follows:

“It is a sure bet that UMN would not tolerate a white professor who worked a comedy club on weekends trashing blacks. Indeed, it would say that such behavior disqualifies his ability to be objective. In many respects Myers is worse, and that is why sanctions are warranted.”

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As a citizen and a journalist, I strongly support free speech, even though it can be distasteful at times.
Even so, there are limits. That's why we have libel and slander laws, and laws against making threats against others. There are considerations that our legal and judicial system must weigh in each individual case.
Sometimes, unfortunately, free speech can be used as a smokescreen to espouse bigotry, and used as an excuse to bully and insult others.
It may be within his legal rights to descrate a Eucharist, Qur'an, and atheist's best-selling book, but it irresponsible for a professor at a public university to promote hatred and insult millions. Despite Myers' assertion, some things really are sacred.

Toledo, Ohio
July 28, 2008

Dottie Zimmerman, the Toledo woman who channels dead Italian Saint Padre Pio, called me yesterday to say she has officially retired as a teacher in the local Catholic school system.
She is at peace with the move and so is Padre Pio, she said.
Dottie is not looking for any controversy and is genuinely fine with the outcome, but she just wanted to let me know how things developed since I was concerned from the start for her job. She acknowledged it was the publicity generated by my reporting that led to her early retirement. The first few weeks after the article ran, she was in a panic, she said. But in the end, church officials offered a fair economic deal and she is OK with everything.
Dottie said church officials told her she had done a fine job as a teacher for 40 years and actually said it was okay for her to channel a canonized Catholic saint. But she had gone too far, she said she was told, because she also channels her dead mother and her late husband.
Isn't that interesting.
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Sylvania, Ohio
July 29, 2008

Here's a recount of the controversy straight off the Wikipedia entry about Paul Z. Myers:

Eucharist controversy

A controversy arose in July 2008 over a blog entry written by Myers expressing amazement at news reports of death threats issued to University of Central Florida Student Senator Webster Cook. On June 29, 2008, Cook attended a Catholic Mass being held in the student union at UCF by a Catholic student group that receives funding from the student government. Cook received the Catholic Eucharist host but did not consume it immediately. He said later that he wanted to take it back to his seat to show a friend, but when stopped he put it in his mouth until back at his seat, then a church leader made forcible attempts to take the host from him.[19][20] Cook stored the host at his home, then returned it one week later after receiving e-mail threats and pleas.[21][19] Bill Donohue, President of the Catholic League, described the student's actions as "beyond hate speech" and said that "All options should be on the table, including expulsion."[22]

In his July 8 blog entry, Myers criticized the reaction to Cook's act. Myers described the level of harassment leveled against the student, which included multiple death threats, and the accusations which included hate crime, kidnapping, and intent to desecrate the wafer, which Catholics consider a mortal sin.[20][23] Myers expressed outrage that Fox News appeared to be inciting readers to cause further problems for the student, and ridiculed reports that armed guards would attend the next mass. Myers suggested, as a fitting response, that if any of his readers could acquire some consecrated Eucharistic hosts for him, he would treat the wafers "with profound disrespect and heinous cracker abuse, all photographed and presented here on the web."[24]

A number of Roman Catholics immediately reacted strongly. Donohue's Catholic League accused Myers of anti-catholic bigotry,[25] described his proposal as a threat to desecrate what Catholics hold to be the Body of Christ, and sent a letter asking the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota State Legislature to take action against Myers.[26][25]. According to Donohue, as the Pharyngula website was accessible via a link from the University of Minnesota website, it should be bound by the institution's code of conduct which requires faculty to be "respectful, fair and civil" when dealing with others.[26]

Myers explained to the Star Tribune that his blog entry was "satire and protest" rather than any actual threat. Myers also reported that he too had received death threats regarding the incident but was not taking them too seriously.[25]

In a talk show featuring Myers on Catholic Radio International, hosted by Jeff Gardner, Myers confirmed that he had been sent an unspecified number of consecrated hosts and said that he intended to “subject them to heinous cracker abuse.” When asked by Gardner to explain why he must do so, Myers said that Donohue of the Catholic League was insisting that he acknowledge the Body of Christ in the Eucharist. Gardner pointed out that Donohue had no authority to insist that anyone acknowledge the body of Christ in the Eucharist. When Gardner asked Myers who, having the Magisterial authority of the Catholic Church, had insisted that he recognize the Body of Christ in the eucharist, Myers said that no one from the Catholic Church had contacted him.[27]

On July 24, 2008, PZ Myers, in his post, "The Great Desecration," wrote that he had pierced the "cracker" with a rusty nail and simply threw it in the trash together with old coffeegrounds and a banana peel. He added a few ripped-out pages of the Qur'an and The God Delusion, and included a photograph of these items in the garbage. He wrote that nothing must be held sacred and encouraged people to question everything.[28]

The University of Minnesota, Morris (UMN) Chancellor on July 25, 2008 addressed the matter, stating: “I believe that behaviors that discriminate against or harass individuals or groups on the basis of their religious beliefs are reprehensible,” but that the school "affirms the freedom of a faculty member to speak or write as a public citizen without institutional discipline or restraint."[29]

The debate over Dottie Zimmerman, the Toledo woman who channels St. Padre Pio, still goes on.
I'm glad to see people discussing the issue but I hope they realize that I don't necessarily agree with or condone everything I write about.
It's a big world of religion out there and I write for a mainstream newspaper, not a Christian periodical. I think I need to cover topics occasionally that are controversial and/or offbeat, although I wouldn't do so too frequently. All in perspective.
The practice of channeling dead people is as old as humanity; the real point of contention for most people about the article is that Mrs. Zimmerman was teaching religion at a Catholic school (she just retired).
Incidentally, in a sidebar article, I quoted a Toledo priest, who was speaking for the diocese, who said that each case of channeling would have to be reviewed individually before any pronouncements were made. So he did not immediately condemn Mrs. Zimmerman for channeling and I think that irked many people.
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Here's today's letter:

Church does not condone divination
This is in response to the writer of "Talking with spirits is devilish practice" in the July 28 Readers' Forum. Divination is not a practice that the Catholic church accepts or promotes. The catechism of the Catholic church clearly states, "All forms of divination are to be rejected." It goes on to say, "They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone."

The writer assumed too much from the article and should have done a little more research before he wrote. I believe that his wrath should have been directed more toward Blade religion editor David Yonke for thinking that this was something worth printing. He cast his story in a way that it is legitimate religion. I, as a Catholic, would not condone such practices (divination or channeling), and neither would anyone who is in a "Jesus-centered church."

The church speaks for itself. All one has to do is listen.

Thomas E. Rawlins

Glenbrook Drive

I went to Lima, Ohio, yesterday to cover an appeals court hearing in a lawsuit by members of the closed St. James Parish in rural Kansas, Ohio, challenging the Toledo diocese over the right to access their former church building.
Here is a copy of the article that ran today.
As a synopsis, the unusual, if not unique, legal angle the ex-parishioners are taking is to argue that Bishop Leonard Blair was a trustee of the parish who failed to act in their best interests. They want the court to remove him as trustee and replace him with someone or some entity that will protect their interests. They are arguing strictly on civil law terms and say Canon Law does not apply in this case.
The ex-parishioners have spent well over $100,000 in legal fees and if they win, they'll have access to their old building but they don't know what they'll do with it.
All they know is they can never go back to being a Roman Catholic parish.
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Sylvania, Ohio
October 8, 2008

This story is almost unbelievable, but it has been widely reported by the world's media. The people responsible for this should be brought to justice and face punishment.
The punishment for this poor girl appears to have been ordered by Islamic militants based on their twisted interpretation of Sharia law, or a law based on Islamic teachings.
As I've said before, religion can bring out the worst in people.
Fortunately, it also can bring out the best. Here is a worst-case scenario.

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- A 13-year-old girl who said she had been raped was stoned to death in Somalia after being accused of adultery by Islamic militants, a human rights group said.

Dozens of men stoned Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow to death Oct. 27 in a stadium packed with 1,000 spectators in the southern port city of Kismayo, Amnesty International and Somali media reported, citing witnesses. The Islamic militia in charge of Kismayo had accused her of adultery after she reported that three men had raped her, the rights group said.

Initial local media reports said Duhulow was 23, but her father told Amnesty International she was 13. Some of the Somali journalists who first reported the killing later told Amnesty International that they had reported she was 23 based upon her physical appearance.

Calls to Somali government officials and the local administration in Kismayo rang unanswered Saturday.

"This child suffered a horrendous death at the behest of the armed opposition groups who currently control Kismayo," David Copeman, Amnesty International's Somalia campaigner, said in a statement Friday.

Somalia is among the world's most violent and impoverished countries. The nation of some 8 million people has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991 then turned on each other.

A quarter of Somali children die before age 5; nearly every public institution has collapsed. Fighting is a daily occurrence, with violent deaths reported nearly every day.

Islamic militants with ties to al-Qaida have been battling the government and its Ethiopian allies since their combined forces pushed the Islamists from the capital in December 2006. Within weeks of being driven out, the Islamists launched an insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians.

In recent months, the militants appear to be gaining strength. The group has taken over the port of Kismayo, Somalia's third-largest city, and dismantled pro-government roadblocks. They also effectively closed the Mogadishu airport by threatening to attack any plane using it

I wrote that article on Bob Larson and his new reality TV show, The Real Exorcist, before the show premeired on the Sci-Fi channel Oct. 30.
There have been some interesting developments, as you can see in the video above.
For one, I've gotten lots of emails from people who say they are suffering from demonic oppression or possession and need help. I try to connect them with Bob Larson's ministry.
I did get one nasty email from someone who loathes Larson and claims he's a charlatan using his ministry to enrich himself. I expected more. He is definitely a controversial figure and attracts critics like a lightning rod attracts lightning.
While I was on vacation last week, I got a call at work from the Rev. Roger Miller, pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Maumee, saying he was going to be on CNN thanks to my including him in my article on Larson/ (It's not the first time one of my stories led to CNN coverage.) Unfortunately, I didn't check my voice mail in time and missed Rev. Miller's call and the CNN segment, but I sure hope it went well.
Thanks to Pastor Miller for passing along this link to the segment, which is also posted above.
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Sylvania, Ohio
November 12, 2008