e-Review archive
Global Connection
December 2004
 

Groups call for debt cancellation to fight AIDS crisis

Dec. 2, 2004     News media contact:   Kathy  Gilbert * (615) 7425470*  Nashville {04566} United Methodist News Service WASHINGTON (UMNS) — Rallying on World AIDS Day, several organizations - including the United Methodist Board of Church and Society - called for full debt cancellation for all impoverished nations and an end to international policies that hamper those countries in fighting HIV/AIDS. The groups rallied outside the World Bank and International Monetary Fund offices Dec. 1. "Statistics make clear that the countries most impacted by AIDS are those countries that are heavily strapped with debt," said Susan Burton, a staff executive with the Board of Church and Society, reading a statement by her agency. "Debt relief would allow countries to transfer funds to those critical programs that would help slow the rate of AIDS, would provide much needed drugs to AIDS victims, would provide educational information on sexuality to young people, and would provide economic opportunities for men and women." Like AIDS, women and children bear the full costs of debt repayment, she said. full story

Stroud holds hope for United Methodist Church, despite verdict

Dec. 3, 2004     News media contact:   Linda Green or Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New York {04568} United Methodist News Service PUGHTOWN, Pa. (UMNS) — Irene Elizabeth "Beth" Stroud may have lost her ministerial credentials, but she has not given up on the United Methodist Church. The former Philadelphia clergywoman, whose sexual orientation led to a Dec. 2 guilty verdict by a church trial court, had not expected to win her case, but she expressed hope afterward "that in time and through God's spirit, the United Methodist Church will change its (Book of) Discipline." full story

Ad furor shows how media filters free speech, church leader says

Dec. 3, 2004     {570} United Methodist News Service NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) — The refusal of CBS and NBC television networks to air a 30-second ad from the United Church of Christ calls attention to the power that major media outlets have to block free speech, said the top executive of United Methodist Communications. The two networks have refused to run the commercial because the all-inclusive message "implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples," according to the United Church of Christ. "This is not about gays and lesbians; this is about the constitutional rights of a responsible organization to exercise the freedom to speak on a medium licensed to serve the public interest," said the Rev. Larry Hollon, top executive with United Methodist Communications, the denomination's communication agency. full story

Faith-based communicators react to nixing of church ad

Dec. 6, 2004     News media contact:   Kathy  Gilbert * (615) 7425470*  Nashville {04572} United Methodist News Service NEW YORK (UMNS) — A nationwide group of faith-based communicators has added their voice to challenge the refusal of the CBS and NBC television networks to air a message from the United Church of Christ. The statement, drafted by Communication Commission of the National Council of Churches USA, calls the networks actions "arbitrary" and contrary to the principals of freedom of speech and equal access to media. The two networks have refused to run the commercial because the all-inclusive message "implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples," according to the United Church of Christ. full story

Churches offer Christmas cheer to river-bound seamen

Dec. 20, 2004   United Methodist News Service While many will be hearing jingle bells on Christmas Day, thousands of mariners will hear the lonely churning of murky waters instead. During the holiday, river crews will travel America's inland waterways from Pittsburgh to New Orleans and the gulf region near Houston. "It's a different life; not everybody can do it," says river pilot Mark Holman. "We're moving a lot of product up and down the river that people use in their everyday lives." Holman is part of a network of towboat crews that haul everything from coal to corn. "We feed America and we fuel America." The job doesn’t stop on Christmas Day. In fact, most crewmen work a month at a time, then take 15 days off. So a confederation of River Friendly Churches exists to help the crewmembers share in a little holiday spirit. More than 100 churches in 11 states participate in the Seamen’s Church Institute, a year-round ministry. full story

United Methodist giving up modestly

Dec. 13, 2004    News media contact:   Linda  Green * (615) 7425470*  Nashville {04586} United Methodist News Service United Methodist giving to churchwide ministry and administration is up modestly compared with last year at the end of November, but totals just 59.5 percent of the year's goal. The denomination, like other churches and charities, receives a disproportionate amount of its annual income during the last weeks of a year. At the end of November, donations to the seven funds that make up the bulk of the general church budget had increased 2.9 percent over 2003, a gain of more than $2.2 million. full story

Fuller, Habitat receive Methodist Peace Award

Dec. 13, 2004    News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New York {04588} United Methodist News Service ATLANTA (UMNS) — The man, Millard Fuller, and the organization he founded, Habitat for Humanity International—which will build its 200,000th house next year for a low-income family—were honored Dec. 8 with the 2004 World Methodist Peace Award. Presented by the World Methodist Council to Fuller and Rey Ramsey of Washington, president of Habitat's international board of directors, the award recognizes contributions to peace, reconciliation and justice. Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church on the campus of Emory University hosted the ceremony. full story

PBS' 'The Congregation' features United Methodist church

Dec. 15, 2004    News media contact:   Linda  Bloom * (646) 3693759*  New York {04593} United Methodist News Service Although Philadelphia's First United Methodist Church of Germantown is most recently known as the church of Beth Stroud—the former pastor stripped of her ministerial credentials Dec. 2 after a clergy trial—the congregation has a long history of activism and social justice ministry. That history, as well as the impact on the church when its pastor of 37 years retired and a new pastor was appointed, is part of "The Congregation," a new documentary produced by Alan and Susan Raymond. The documentary will air Dec. 29 on PBS. full story

Church communicators support petition with FCC over ad

Dec. 15, 2004    News media contact:   * ( ) * {04595} United Methodist News Service CLEVELAND (UMNS) — The United Church of Christ is asking the Federal Communications Commission to deny license renewals for two network-owned television stations in Miami, as a result of CBS and NBC refusing to air the denomination's commercial. The church is challenging the renewal of licenses for WFOR-TV (CBS) and WJVT-TV (NBC) because "there is substantial and material question" as to whether the stations' parent companies, Viacom Inc. and the General Electric Co., have operated the stations in the public interest. full story

Alaska island residents support oil spill cleanup efforts

Dec. 16, 2004 United Methodist News Service United Methodists and others living in the land known as the "birthplace of the storms" are working to stave off the environmental impact of an oil spill in Alaska. A freighter ran aground Dec. 8, spilling oil onto the shores of Unalaska Island. Unalaska is in the Aleutian Islands, about 800 miles southwest of Anchorage. The military and federal and state agencies are involved in the cleanup efforts, which include fighting an oil slick. full story

Tax codes are moral issue, United Methodists say

Dec. 16, 2004  United Methodist News Service United Methodists want to start a moral discussion about state tax codes, a church executive told MSNBC viewers during a Dec. 15 news segment. John Hill, an executive with the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, said the denomination is urging a look at state funding priorities, how revenue is raised "and whether that is, in fact, done in a fair way." The six-minute segment, featuring Hill and Tim Kane, an economist with the Heritage Foundation, was part of the network's coverage of the two-day White House Conference on the Economy at the Ronald Reagan Center in Washington. Last May, the 2004 United Methodist General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body, passed a resolution calling upon each annual (regional) conference of the church to set up a state taxation task force to examine the tax codes of its state. The task force would then prepare a strategy to promote a just tax code. full story

'Value voting' changes political landscape for churches

Dec. 21, 2004   United Methodist News Service For millions of American voters, the 2004 presidential election wasn't decided primarily on the state of the economy or the war on terror, but on a combination of issues that fell under the general heading of "moral values." Values were a driving force in getting many Christians to the polls - and helping produce a record voter turnout for a U.S. presidential election. Churches, special-interest organizations and political parties appealed to people of faith on an unprecedented scale, motivating many dormant or first-time voters around issues such as abortion, stem-cell research and gay marriage. Beyond the issues, many voters quoted in news reports said they simply wanted to support a "godly" candidate. full story

Clergy's role in election was overstated, observers say

Dec. 21, 2004  United Methodist News Service It was unpredicted, yet predictable, as political strategists and campaign advisers worked in different ways to get out the vote. Church attendance became a better predictor of vote choice than income, education, union membership, region or gender. But did pulpit directive affect the turnout of "church voters" - and how they voted? Can that explain the outcome of the 2004 elections? Not likely, said James Matthew Wilson, who teaches political science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and is an expert on church-state issues. full story

Beyond red, blue: the church as post-election healer

Dec. 21, 2004   United Methodist News Service In wide swaths of red and highly populated pockets of blue, the 2004 presidential election map painted a nation with two profoundly different visions of America - two camps caricaturizing and even demonizing each other as either "right wing" or "the cultural elite." The result is a cultural divide far beyond ethnic, geographic or economic differences. As the election closed with President George W. Bush calling for trust and U.S. Sen. John Kerry for healing, the church is left to ponder its role in the political process and, more importantly, respond to its calling as a healer and peacemaker. full story

United Methodist, family, escape tidal wave in Thailand

Dec. 29, 2004    News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470*  Nashville {04615} United Methodist News Service A United Methodist communicator and his family were forced to flee their hotel in Thailand to escape a tidal wave that devastated the coast Dec. 26. Tim McDaniel, 36, associate director of communications for the denomination's North Georgia Annual (regional) Conference, was celebrating Christmas with his family in the coastal town of Phuket when the tsunami struck. The tsunami, born of an earthquake in the Indian Ocean, sent a shock wave into the information office of the North Georgia Conference in the form of an e-mail message later that day from McDaniel. The subject line read, "We are safe." full story

Missionaries in Indonesia urge strong Christian response to quake

Dec. 30, 2004    News media contact:   Tim  Tanton * (615) 7425470*  Nashville {04617} United Methodist News Service United Methodist missionaries Don and Ramona Turman watched the words crawl across their TV screen in Jakarta: "Indonesia Menangis." Translation: "Indonesia is crying." The Indonesian island of Sumatra was near the epicenter of the Dec. 26 undersea earthquake that sent tidal waves crashing into 12 countries around the Indian Ocean. The waves killed at least 117,000 people and washed away entire villages. full story