RELIGION BRIEFING

Saturday, June 14, 2008

GAY MARRIAGE

Calif. Episcopal Dioceses Split on Issue

As California clerks prepare to issue civil marriage licenses to same-sex couples starting Tuesday, some Episcopal dioceses say they will marry gays and lesbians, while others are urging caution.

In San Francisco, Bishop Marc Handley Andrus has asked his flock to serve as deputy marriage commissioners to help handle the expected flood of applications.

The Episcopal Church is arguably the most prominent of the mainline Protestant denominations struggling with gay marriage issues. Like other faiths, it has no official rite for same-sex marriages; some bishops allow clergy to bless same-sex unions.

Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno said his diocese approved blessings of same-sex unions in 2003 if pastors determined that they are "pastorally necessary." That policy now will be followed for gay and lesbian couples who have state marriage licenses.

Sacramento Bishop Barry Beisner told his clergy last month that "this change in civil law does not change our policy or practice in the church. . . . There has been no authorization -- from me or from my predecessors -- for same-sex blessings in this diocese."

-- Religion News Service

CAMPAIGN AGAINST TORTURE

300 Congregations Are Displaying Banners

About 300 houses of worship are displaying anti-torture banners this month in an initiative by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture.

Most of the banners are a stark black-and-white and read "Torture is Wrong" or "Torture Is a Moral Issue." Congregations participating in the month-long campaign include Methodists, Presbyterians, Jews, Muslims, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Quakers and Roman Catholics.

The anti-torture group is lobbying for a congressional investigation of U.S. treatment of suspects and prisoners since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Government lawyers who drew up the legal basis for the Bush administration's use of harsh interrogation methods against terror suspects argued that the president had broad wartime authority that could not be limited by domestic law or international bans on torture.

One government legal memo defined torture, as recognized by U.S. law, as covering "only extreme acts" causing pain similar in intensity to that caused by organ failure or accompanying death. An internal Justice Department investigation is considering whether such advice was improper.

-- Associated Press

COMBATING TERRORISM

Vatican Creates Teams to Help Police

The Vatican has formed two anti-terrorism teams that will work with police to prevent attacks, the Holy See's security director said.

The rapid-intervention and anti-sabotage groups will be subunits of the Vatican's gendarme corps, said corps director Domenico Giani. The Vatican also has begun closer collaboration with Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, according to a June 7 report in L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper.

The Vatican and Pope Benedict XVI have been named as potential terror targets in recent years. An al-Qaeda leader recently accused the pope of leading a campaign against Islam.

Although the Vatican has downplayed the threats, it has also strengthened security, adding metal-detectors at St. Peter's Basilica and papal events.

-- Associated Press

CHEATING AT CHURCH

Ohio Man Convicted in Blackjack Scam

A jury has convicted a sports bookmaker in central Ohio of cheating during a church-sponsored game of blackjack.

Witnesses say 67-year-old Roland Chapa palmed cards from the deck at a fundraiser last July at St. Timothy Catholic Church in Columbus. One witness described seeing a 2 of spades fall from Chapa's pants when he stood up to empty his pockets.

He was convicted Monday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court of possession of criminal tools and cheating -- a felony because Chapa has a previous conviction for gambling. He faces up to two years in prison when sentenced Aug. 6.

-- Associated Press