March, 2003 (Vol. 18, No. 5)

The Coptic Church of Egypt may have gained new recognition and freedom by the government, but the church body is experiencing internal turmoil over issues of centralization and the power of the hierarchy over the laity.

The Tablet (Feb. 15), a British Catholic magazine, reports that a split between a segment of the laity and the bishops and the presiding Pope Shenouda is evident in a row over the disciplining of popular monks for teaching theological error. Under Pope Shenouda, the Coptic Church has cultivated cordial relations with the state, which is demonstrated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak recently declaring Jan. 7, Coptic Christmas, a national holiday.

But critics maintain that in the process of courting the government, Shenouda and his hand-picked bishops have usurped the laity’s role in governance of the church as well as seeking to limit the wide appeal of the monks. Coptic monasteries have stressed theological education of the laity and personal spirituality, hoping to stem the loss of members to evangelical churches.

The split is personified by Shenouda and Father Matta (also under theological investigation for unspecified reasons), a popular monk who has been instrumental in building a Sunday school movement in Egypt. Both leaders are revered among the laity, but there is the fear that Shenouda is abusing his power. Paul Schemm writes that “The number of excommunications of lay people has risen dramatically, as well as the defrocking of priests.”

Few efforts at Christian evangelization have been directed toward the burgeoning Muslim populations of Europe, but that may now be changing, according to an article in Charisma magazine (February).

The  traditional low response rate of Muslims to Christian missionary efforts (partly due to government restrictions on proselytizing in Islamic nations) seems also to be true of Muslim immigrants in European cities. Most churches, even those in areas with large Muslim populations such as France and England, have made few efforts in evangelizing European Muslims due to the difficulties of  gaining access and acceptance in these ethnic communities, writes Tomas Dixon.

Because most European Muslims believe Christianity is strictly for Westerners, the small but growing number of churches having any success in this area use “national workers” (or fellow immigrants) rather than European or American missionaries. Most of the pastors and evangelists to European Muslims have had confrontations with Islam in their native lands hand have fled because of restrictions and Islamic law. In London, exiled Egyptian pastor Sameh Mety’s congregation gathers Iraqi, Egyptian, Palestinian, Lebanese and other believers in a congregation where the worship songs and culture are distinctly Arabic in tone.

Most of these churches’ success comes through “making friends and networking families” rather than through mass evangelism efforts, according to one Turkish pasor of a new church. The pastors and evangelists featured in the Charisma article tend to have a strongly negative view of Islam. Mety says that “Islam is not just `another’ religion in Europe. The Western church is so ignorant. Many think that Islam is peaceful. It is not!”

Even right after Sept. 11, religion reporters and other observers were noting that religion coverage was being curtailed by newspapers, often for financial reasons.

But in the long run, the events of September 11 seem to have reignited the determination to improve and expand religion coverage, reports David Shaw in the Los Angeles Times (Feb. 23). One example Shaw cites is the San Antonio Express-News, whose editor Robert Rivard wrote that “In the wake of September 11, we have learned once again that religion and faith can be powerful forces of conflict as well as communion.”

The paper has expanded its coverage to include Islam and other issues involving religions around the world. There is also a continuing growth of educational and research institutions involving religion and the media  The Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California recently established an endowed chair in media and religion with a $1.5 million grant from the James L. Knight Foundation.

More ambitious is New York University’s new Center for Religion and the Media. Funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the center will conduct research and run a Website on the interaction of religion, the media and public life.

American seminaries are becoming more religiously pluralistic yet at the same time more tied in with their respective denominations, reports the Christian Century (Feb. 22).

In an interview, Daniel Aleshire of the Association of Theological Schools says that one of the biggest challenges of today’s seminary is the new pluralism they face. “It is easier to educate students for ministry when they all come from and will stay in the same denominations. It is more complex to educate mainline Protestants, black Pentecostals and Unitarians in the same [Masters] of Divinity Program.” Because seminaries are among the last institutions that many mainline denominations control (having closed or deinstutionalized publishing houses, social ministries and colleges), they are being called upon by denominations to participate in committees, provide adult education and offer services that once were shared by other groups.

“As a result, seminaries have more to do on behalf of the denominations, even though they are not as well funded by the denominations,” Aleshire says. He forecasts that the long-range trend of seminaries educating second-career, older students will likely have an effect on ministry in larger churches. The complex functioning of  large congregations require pastors with at least a decade or so of experience by mid-career. By the time older graduates can gain that kind of experience, they will be close to retirement age.

Long-standing divisions and controversies in the Church of Christ Scientist is moving the church to the brink of schism judging by a new document issued by dissenters.

The Religion & Ethics Newsweekly Website (Feb. 14) reports that a letter being circulated by Christian Science members called “Matters of Conscience” charges the church with decades worth of alleged  abuses, from misusing member money to changing church teachings to find a place in the spirituality marketplace and opening dialogue with mind-body-spirit and other alternative spirituality groups  . These issues couldl be church-dividing as the two Christian Science practitioners who wrote the letter were stripped of teaching authority.

The discipline against the two authors has prompted an outcry from a segment of members. Church leaders dismiss the protests, saying they represent resistance by a few to the new approach by the church to engage spiritual seekers with Christian Science teachings. Stephen Simurda, a specialist on Christian Science, says that while there is only a small number of people involved in the Matters of Conscience effort, “there are a large number  of people who are very sympathetic with the message that the `Matter of Conscience’ group is putting forth.”

(Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandthics/week624/cover.html)

There has been growing Jewish recognition of evangelical support of Israel and now that acknowledgment is becoming more official and may take new shape in a working coalition between the two groups.

The Baltimore Sun (Feb. 26) reports on a recent national meeting of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs where a call was made for Jewish communities to work with evangelicals on issues of mutual interest. The council’s resolution calls for American Jews to harness the pro-Israel sentiments and activities of evangelicals, such as the October Day of Prayer for Israel, which is a project of the evangelical International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ).

Other issues of mutual concern on which evangelicals and Jews might work include religious accommodation in the workplace, social services and legislation protecting the rights of religious organizations. The endorsement is a sign of  American Jews’ concern about increased threats to Israel’s  security and tensions over international isolation on the issue, says Hanah Rosenthal.

George Mamo of the IFCJ adds, “I think [the resolution’s] biggest effect is that the communities that just weren’t sure about working with evangelicals now will have a comfort level to reach out to a community that has been reaching out to Israel for a long time.” But the conference also acknowledged that evangelism targeting Jews could damage such a coalition and called  “clear and consistent” opposition to the practice.

Christian “rave” and dance parties that combine fellowship, evangelism, entertainment and worship are growing throughout the U.S., reports Charisma magazine (February).

The phenomenon is the evangelical Christian counterpart to the widespread secular rave culture of the 1990s that spread from Europe to the U.S. Though some raves have encouraged the use of drugs, such as ecstasy, they have also generated a strong sense of belonging and experiential spirituality — something Christian raves are attempting to tap into, writes Sandra Chambers.

Christian dance parties with names like the Palace Cincinnati, Club Worship (Reading, Penn.) and Fusion (Jacksonville, Fla.) are run along the lines of secular raves, though the music’s lyrics are Christian and testimonies of salvation may be heard. The organizers for these Christian raves say that most attending are not Christians and like the “pure and clean” approach of these gatherings.

As with Christian rap and other new forms of music, the Christian rave phenomenon is drawing criticism from pastors and parents given its secular and hedonistic origin. But others are predicting that Christian dance music will follow in a similar trajectory as Christian rock and find acceptance in the churches.

(Charisma, 600 Rhinehart Rd., Lake Mary, FL 32746)

A faith-based approach to AIDS prevention is gradually making itself felt in the politics and programs involved in the fight against the disease in Africa.

Even before President George Bush made the fight against AIDS in Africa a national priority during his state of the union address in January, the issue had taken hold among religious groups. The Christian Century (Feb. 22) reports that American evangelicals have particularly taken to the  AIDS relief cause because of their ties to mission work in Africa. In fact, it was at the urging of evangelical Wheaton College,  through its alumnus and Bush  speech writer Michael Gerson, that Bush put the spotlight on the African AIDS issue in his speech calling for $15 billion in aid over the next five years.

The abstinence-based approach to sex education and AIDS prevention that evangelicals have championed in the U.S. is particularly likely to gain a greater hearing throughout Africa, reports the National Review (Feb. 10). Rod Dreher writes that without much international assistance African nations such as Uganda, Zambia and Senegal had dramatically lowered the AIDS infection rate in the 1990s through home-grown prevention programs that stressed sexual abstinence (although in many cases also allowing for condom use).

Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni invited Christian and Muslim clergymen and other community groups to be an integral part of his prevention program, asking them to “preach even more forthrightly to Ugandans about the need to abstain from premarital sex and be faithful to their partners.” The international drive for prevention through condom use did not take off until the mid-1990s — well after the prevalence of HIV had begun to decline in these countries. The AIDS and medical establishment has, until recently, ignored these African programs, sometimes even viewing religious faith as an impediment to prevention and treatment (as is the case when AIDS was initially stigmatized by some religious groups as being a sign of God’s punishment).

But with the African AIDS crisis worsening in sub-Saharan Africa, secular researchers are confirming the value of these local programs along with the use of condoms, particularly as demonstrated by the Ugandan case. Officials open to these ideas and programs “have taken charge of significant public-health agencies,” writes Dreher. The Bush administration and USAID are openly embracing what is called the “A.B.C. strategy” (Abstain, Be faithful to your partner or use a Condom).

Some fear that the Bush administration may emphasize abstinence to the exclusion of condoms, instead of taking the more balanced approach suggested by the data. Ray Martin, formerly of USAID, is trying to build bridges between church organizations in the West and various governments on the issue. “Churches have powerful tools that really can do something about the problem. Early on in the epidemic, a lot of churches were interested, but didn’t want to get involved in pushing condoms.

USAID said if you won’t distribute condoms, we can’t give you money. Well, ideally I’d like the churches to include condoms too, but if their theology or morality won’t permit that, for God’s sake let them do what they’re willing and able to do.”

(Christian Century, 407 S. Dearborn, Chicago, IL 60605)