February, 2001 (Vol. 16, No. 4)

The divorce rate for Israeli Jewish couples has reached about 38 percent and projections are that the trends can reach 50 percent within a few years, reports the Jerusalem Post newspaper (Jan. 11).

In the year 2000 there were 9,153 couples divorced compared to 8,773 in 1999, an increase of about 4.5 percent, which is in keeping with the trend over the past few years. Rabbi Eliahu Ben-Dahan, the director-general of the rabbinical courts from where these figures are taken, adds that an increasing number of couples divorce by mutual consent.

Traditionally, the husband has been the sole authority in granting a “get” or writ of divorce among Orthodox Jewish couples. There has been considerable criticism and even protests among Orthodox Jewish women on the cases where their husbands refuse to give them a get, creating situations where women stay involuntarily in bad marriages or give up custody of their children to get a divorce.

Corruption in rabbinical courts is reported to be widespread and further aggravates the situation. The Jewish Week (Jan. 19) reports that “In a development likened to the creation of a Code of Ethics for an industry some call corrupt, last month a Brooklyn-based organization issued professional standards for rabbinical courts that handle divorce settlements.”

The standards, endorsed by the main Orthodox organizations, have been hailed as giving Orthodox women the right to fair procedures in the get process. However, others say that in the majority of divorce cases, the husband refuses to follow traditional avenues and becomes non-observant and therefore immune to community standards.

The chastity movement started by evangelicals in the U.S. is spreading to Africa and gaining an ecumenical following.

The Long Island Catholic (Jan. 31) reports that young Africans are signing strict chastity pledges to avoid AIDS and the promiscuity of their peers. True Love Waits Kenya is a non-denominational movement, although it has received substantial funding from the Catholic Church in Kenya.

The movement stated among Southern Baptists in the U.S. and has been hailed as preventing and delaying teenage sexual involvement. Because contraception is ruled out, Catholic leaders have eagerly endorsed the movement. In Kenya, where promiscuity is prevalent and AIDS is threatening to wipe out an entire generation, the True Love Waits message is “finding increasing resonance among some young people.”

Yet others are skeptical. One 24-year-old says it’s a good idea but “not very realistic. If you’re having a relationship with someone in Kenya, it almost goes without saying that you will have sex.”

There has been much talk about GenX and their different approach to faith and worship in the U.S., but it is in Europe that this generation is reported to be starting many small informal fellowships removed from traditional churches and denominations, according to Religion Today.com.

With ministry names such as Tribal Generation, Jesus Freak, 24-7 [see July-August 2000 RW for more on this movement], and Culture Shift, these fellowships meet in homes, coffee shops, industrial complexes, parks and other unconventional places. These fellowships tend to spawn other worship groups, creating “clusters” throughout a region.

These small groups stress personal relationships, and avoid the formality associated with traditional services and denominational hierarchies. These new churches appear to be spreading in Western Europe. The missions news service Dawn estimates that there are about 2,000 such fellowships in Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Similar groups are sprouting up in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

These groups are invisible to clergy and established churches as they can’t “see any [way it] fits with their services on Sunday morning,” says Wolfgang Fernandez of DAWN.

The movement to channel welfare through faith-based organizations that has been so prominent in the U.S. is also gaining support and generating controversy in Britain.

The British charismatic magazine Renewal (January) reports that Prime Minister Tony Blair and Conservative Party leader William Hague have pressed for new partnerships with the voluntary sector to deal with problems such as drug addiction, teen pregnancy and other effects of poverty. The Conservative draft manifesto was the most explicit on the subject, declaring that “the next Conservative government will support the institutions that keep our communities together — families, charities, and places of worship.

But Steve Chalke writes that the “rhetoric is one thing, the reality another. Churches often find themselves discriminated against purely on the grounds of their religious convictions. For a whole host of reasons — from the groundless suspicion that all Christian care is really a covert attempt at proselytism to straightforward anti-Christian prejudice — a great many churches and Christian charities find themselves constantly having to  `hide their light under a bushel’ in their dealings with statutory bodies [in order to receive funding].”

There is a widespread practice of excluding what is “regarded as the  `subjective element’ of faith from funded community work.” In the British magazine The Tablet (Jan. 20), Margaret Harris writes that such U.S. proponents as Marvin Olasky have influenced the current drive for welfare reform in England. And as in the U.S., the regulations and other qualifications coming with government assistance have led some British faith-based social services, such as Catholic charities, to “question or reject such funding of their work.”

(Renewal, Broadway House, The Broadway, Crowborough, East Sussex TN6 1HQ, UK)

A recent violent attack against a Catholic Church in the Caribbean island of St. Lucia by Rastafarians points to a more militant mood among Rasta believers, reports the Los Angeles Times (Jan. 7).

In early January, Rastafarians attacked a church in Castries, St. Lucia, torching a dozen parishioners that resulted in two deaths, and setting fire to a priest and the altar. The attack has come at a time when Rastafarians throughout the Caribbean are becoming more visible, and, some rival religious leaders say, a potentially violent social force.

Encouraged by thousand of new believers from a more rebellious generation plagued by unemployment and poverty, “Rastafarians have begun to contest elections, protest policies that have discriminated against them for decades and lobby for decriminalization of marijuana, which adherents smoke as a religious sacrament,” writes Mark Fineman.

The growth of a more militant brand of Rastafarianism, which can be found on every Caribbean island, is also seen in the new reggae music, such as the Jamaican rapper Sizzler. His incendiary incantations include references such as “Burn the Babylon, Burn down the Vatican, Burn down the pope.” Ras Ipa Isaac, an old guard Rastafarian leader in St. Lucia says that the younger members are taking symbolic images literally. Such  imagery that appears to be feeding anti-Catholicism (Rastafarian teachings say Catholics had changed the Bible) can easily be applied to wider society, since white power structures are also considered “Babylon.”

These speculations have led to fears among Christians and law officials that other attacks are being planned. For their part, young Rastafarians say the new vigilance may be part of a backlash and fear new restrictions against their group.

The Asian influx in Canada is working to counteract secularism in the nation’s three largest cities, according to a recent government survey.

The Washington Post (Dec. 30) reports that as Asian immigrants have gravitated to Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal, they have maintained, and in many cases, taken up new devotion to the Buddhist, Sikh, Muslim, Hindu and Christian faiths. The report found that 50 percent of the Asian immigrants who came to Canada during the 1990s regularly attend religious services.

In contrast, 20 percent of recent European immigration to Canada and 31 percent of Canadian-born adults regularly attend services. The number of Canadians attending regular worship has dropped in the country’s smaller cities since 1988, but has remained stable, at about 32 percent, in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. Many of these immigrants have increased their devotion, viewing congregations as important social centers in their new lives.

The religious factor among immigrants is important, since Canadian cities are among the most multicultural in the world. For instance, immigrants, most of them Asian, make up 42 percent of Canada’s population. Canada’s multicultural makeup is leading to some unique coalitions fighting for more traditional values, reports the Canadian newspaper, the National Post (Jan. 26). The paper reports that “Canada’s Sikhs, Muslims, Catholics and evangelicals have joined forces to fight the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples.”

The group, called the Interfaith Coalition on Marriage and Family, is going to court to block an attempt to legally recognize a church conducting the “world’s first legal same-sex marriage. The predominantly gay Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto sought to beat the Netherlands to the punch by officiating at the first legal gay marriage. Aside from the Toronto case, the coalition is targeting other attempts to redefine marriage in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses may be changing their approach to blood transfusions, as different branches of the movement allow their members to remain in fellowship with the group after undergoing the once-taboo medical procedure.

The Christian Research Journal (Volume 23, Number 2) reports that the leadership of the Jehovah’s Witnesses was quick to deny that they were making a substantial change in their teachings that condemned blood transfusions and disfellowshipped (or excommunicated) members who receive transfusions after news reports alleged that the group had loosened its prohibitions. The Watchtower — the JW’s leadership — said that no change had occurred, only a minor revision in procedural language. But observers and critics note that while the organization still condemns the practice, “several of the ways in which the doctrine is lived by Jehovah’s Witnesses have changed dramatically,” according to the magazine.

Members who do receive blood transfusions have a greater possibility of avoiding disfellowshipping. Most of the changes were ignited by a case in Bulgaria when the Watchtower Society agreed to allow members the choice in accepting transfusions without any “control or sanction on the part of the society” in order to be recognized by the government.

Although the society was quick to say that its doctrine had not changed, various branches have followed the Bulgarian lead. The Watchtower spokesman in Sweden told the press that “To receive blood is a question of personal conscience. Earlier members were disfellowshipped if they accepted a blood transfusion. This is not the case now.”

(Christian Research Journal, P.O. Box 7000, Rancho Santa Magarita, CA 92688-7000)

The members of Fulan Gong in the West are mainly wealthy, educated Chinese immigrants, suggesting that the movement is far from a refuge for the superstitious and poor.

Much has been written on Fulan Gong, especially on the group’s persecution by the Chinese government, but there has been little research on the meditative movement’s large following in the West. Writing in the current issue of the journal Nova Religio (October) Susan Palmer and David Ownby find that the movement has few Western followers, at least in North America, even though Fulan Gong has welcomed non-Chinese members. From preliminary interviews and observation, Palmer and Ownby find that the large Chinese membership is highly educated, with fully two-thirds holding at least a university degree.

Close to 30 percent have incomes of over $40,000. Most of the Western followers can be described as “spiritual seekers,” having joined several spiritual groups in their past. The Chinese members had also sampled other kinds of Chinese meditative groups and practices (broadly known as “qigong) before joining Falun Gong, with 20 percent holding previous membership in a Christian or Buddhist congregation.

The most noteworthy finding for Palmer and Ownby is the wealth and high education of the Chinese members [which, judging by recent news reports, also applies to the movement in China]. “This finding suggests that one must treat carefully Chinese government claims that Falungong practitioners are  `ignorant’ victims of clever charlatans.”

(Nova Religio, Seven Bridges Press, LLC, P.O. Box 958, Chappaqua, NY 10514-0958).

“Wouldn’t it be easier just to switch to a more congenial congregation or denomination rather than fighting?”

It was a question that frequently crossed this writer’s mind after interviewing people involved in efforts to reform their particular denomination or church body. The concern to renew and reform a religion from within is almost as ancient as the religious impulse itself. But the endeavor to enact desired change in a religious institution — whether it be conservative, liberal or mystical — has more likely floundered or resulted in the birth of  new denominations than met with much success.

Yet, if anything, renewal and reform groups have increased rapidly in the last decade. For instance, in the Presbyterian Church (USA), there are at least 15 evangelical renewal groups and five liberal organizations working for church-wide change that have emerged in the last decade.

Renewal and reform groups come in all shapes and sizes. A new book by RW’s editor, Trusting The Spirit studies six such groups: the Catholic charismatic renewal, the evangelical Biblical Witness Fellowship in the United Church of Christ, the “high church” or evangelical catholic caucuses in Lutheranism, the ecumenical community Taize, the liberal, dissenting Catholic Call to Action movement, and Jewish Renewal. While not necessarily representative of the many renewal and reform organizations, the six case studies are among the most prominent in their respective traditions. Some of these organizations are small, shoestring operations, while others have taken on the trappings of institutions.

Attempting to gauge the effectiveness of renewal and reform organizations can be difficult. As noted above, when it comes to actually changing the structure of religious institutions, there are not many real successes. The Catholic charismatics have gained acceptance in most dioceses, as well as by recent popes; many charismatic participants have become key leaders in parishes. Yet renewal leaders can point to few charismatic parishes and not much influence in the leadership and structure of Catholicism.

The evangelical Biblical Witness Fellowship in the UCC and Call to Action are marginal in the life of their respective church bodies. They have taken on the roles of the gadflies to officialdom as well as countercultures where alternative theologies and practices (even liturgies in the case of Call to Action) are cultivated.

Although there are exceptions (the evangelical renewal groups in the United Methodist Church, for instance, have had a good deal of influence in the recent conservative turn in that denomination),  renewal and reform groups may have only modest influence in their institutions. But they have succeeded in creating distinct identities and resources for their participants that are discouraged or ignored in the wider denomination.

One of the values that participants appreciate about renewal and reform groups is the high level of trust they generate. Because of the lack of bureaucracy and intimate bonds of fellowship found in these groups, participants say they can trust the leaders and, in turn, feel they are trusted to carry out important tasks in the organization. This heightened sense of responsibility may not be found at the more impersonal denominational level or even within congregations where working for a particular cause may result in  divisions.

Aside from their obvious differences in theology and ideology, renewal and reform groups tend to follow two strategies. The first strategy is found in what can be called affilation fellowships, in which the renewal or reform group forms a close-knit group and usually has a membership. Members of Call to Action and the conservative Catholic renewal order Opus Dei, derive much of their religious identity from their participation in these groups. In situations where members feel shut out of the mainstream of denominational life — such as Call to Action — the affiliation fellowships serve as refuges that may keep members from leaving their church.

The other model of renewal and reform group, called  “resource centers,” provide information, services — pastor referrals, and alternative ways of giving money and receiving benefits — and means of protest and addressing concerns to the larger institution, and generates new forms of cooperating with like-minded believers. Congregations can use the services of this kind of organization — subscribing to its newsletter, or finding a pastor through its referral network — without necessarily joining or accepting its agenda.

The ecumenical community Taize is one example of a resource center. Even though it is actually a monastic community, its services, music and literature are used by a diversity of believers with little interest or knowledge of the community’s beliefs and mission. Both strategies will continue to play a role in renewal and reform, but resource centers seem to fit in best with today’s more decentralized and consumeristic religious environment. This model is flexible enough to allow space for the multiple loyalties and attachments evident among leaders and members of congregations today.