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Gay pastor breaks barrier Don Speich In 1984 Presbyterian minister John Scott, married and a father of two, walked out of the closet and into the arms of his church's struggle with homosexuality - little knowing that 21 years later he would become a watershed in its history. This month Scott, 61, became pastor of the San Geronimo Presbyterian Community Church, the first gay to head a parish of the 500-year-old Protestant denomination that traces its lineage to 16th Century Reformation leader and rigid moralist John Calvin. As a result of one breakthrough Scott is on the eve of another:...

The pastor of Fourth Presbyterian Church has sent a letter to Chicago's 50 aldermen formally distancing himself from the decision of a denomination leader to meet with representatives of Hezbollah, an anti-Israeli group with terrorist ties. The City Council last week passed a resolution condemning the meeting and expressing "dismay" with Rev. Bob Reynolds, head of the Chicago Presbytery. Reynolds was part of a church group that met with Hezbollah leaders during a trip to the Middle East last month. During the debate on the resolution, two aldermen also threatened to oppose a zoning change sought by Fourth Presbyterian Church...

Hezbollah official Nabil Qawuq is undoubtedly a busy man. As Hezbollah’s commander in Southern Lebanon, Qawuq is responsible for leading the bulk of the Shi’ite terrorist group’s combat forces, while frequently overseeing attacks on Israeli positions and attempts to kidnap Israeli soldiers or civilians. A confidante of Hezbollah General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah, Qawuq is also a fixture on Al-Jazeera and Lebanese television, his appearances generously mottled with calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. Nevertheless, Qawuq recently found the time in his busy schedule to meet with -- of all things -- a church group. On October 20th, a...

December 14, 2005) Alderman Edward M. Burke (14th) joined fellow colleagues today in introducing a City Council resolution that won approval condemning the Reverend Robert Reynolds, the head of the Chicago Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church USA, for his recent controversial meeting with a Hezbollah commander in the Middle East. Hezobollah is a terrorist organization which has attacked American embassies, hijacked an American airliner, kidnapped American hostages and is responsible for "innumerable assaults on innocent people," the resolution noted.

First rule of getting out of a hole: quit digging. Now that Jewish groups have stepped up their criticism of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick has been forced to defend the denomination in the wake of its latest delegation to visit Hizballah. ironically enough, on the front of the PCUSA website is an article for the "Say NO to torture" Epiphany gathering and an article where Kirkpatrick restates PC(USA)'s opposition to capital punishment. However, the largest Presbyterian denomination in the United States can only find weasel words to condemn a foreign terrorist organization with an unambiguous track...

The Democratic National Committee came out against efforts to divest from Israel or the Palestinian areas. The DNC executive, meeting Monday in Phoenix, passed a resolution declaring “its opposition to efforts to boycott, divest from, or otherwise single out companies for their work in Israel or the Palestinian Authority, and commends members of the Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other faiths who courageously continue to work together to attain a peaceful negotiated settlement to any conflict in the Middle East.” The resolution called efforts to divest from Israel “counterproductive.” Susan Turnbull, a DNC vice-chairwoman, told JTA that the initiative arose out...

In a letter to presbyteries and synods, Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick contends that a Presbyterian delegation that met recently with Hezbollah, a terrorist group, was not sanctioned by the Presbyterian Church (USA). "We have been in contact with the leaders of the trip and have learned that it was not a delegation representing the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), but rather a study trip for individuals, under the auspices of the Middle East Task Force of Chicago Presbytery," Kirkpatrick said. Kirkpatrick did not mention that Nuhad Tomeh, the regional liaison of the PCUSA for Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Gulf, helped arrange...

Now, let's meet Rev. Dr. Nuhad Tomeh, an employee of Presbyterian Church USA. It looks like his main mission is to be full Representative and Ambassador to Hezbollah (Party of God). Whenever Presbyterians have a contact with the terrorist organization Nuhad Tome is always listed as a facilitator: EMEU in May 2002 SFTS in June 2004 Ron Stone in October 2004 Worley in October 2005 More, October 20, 2005 ADL's press release is a correct first step. This is good but not nearly enough. We are demanding from ADL a full-scale attack on the pro-terrorist activities of the mailine liberal...

The top Presbyterian church official in Chicago has angered Jewish leaders in this city who say a meeting he and other Presbyterians had with Hizbullah last month was "unconscionable." The Rev. Bob Reynolds, head of the Chicago Presbytery, said the meeting in southern Lebanon took place in early November and was part of a tour of the Middle East. "The goal of my trip was educational," Reynolds said. "I think one way people can learn from one another is to learn the way people talk about themselves and describe their own reality. In some small measure that did happen on...

Scrambling to maintain fragile friendships with Jewish groups, local and national officials of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are distancing themselves from a meeting in Lebanon between a Hezbollah commander and a Presbyterian delegation that included the denomination's Chicago leader. Jay Rock, the church's national coordinator for interfaith relations, promised Jewish leaders in a letter this week that Presbyterians would develop guidelines for members traveling in troubled regions, saying those at the Hezbollah meeting should have made clear the church's positions "against terrorism in any form, and for the security and vitality of Israel." At the same time, the Rev. Robert...

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) joined today with four other leading Chicago Jewish organizations to denounce a recent meeting with the terrorist group Hezbollah attended by leaders and members of the Presbytery of Chicago of The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). ADL Regional Director Lonnie Nasatir issued the following statement on the terrorist group Hezbollah: It is unconscionable that Presbyterian leaders would meet with Hezbollah, which our government designates as a foreign terrorist organization. Hezbollah (Party of God) has a track record of terror that is unambiguous. It pioneered the use of suicide bombing in the Middle East. It is committed to the...

This past week, Hizbullah invaded Israel with the intention of kidnapping Israeli soldiers. Make no mistake, Hizballah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah vowed Friday that attempts to abduct Israeli soldiers would continue, saying Hizballah has no intention of laying down its arms. They are not considered the world's most dangerous terrorist organization for nothing. Now, operations to kidnap Israelis take a lot of planning. An operation as large as this, which used every type of weapon in the terrorist organization's arsenal, must have been in planning last month, when a group from the PCUSA visited southern Lebanon at the invitation of...

The continuing decline of the historic mainline denominations is much more than just a matter of losses from aging and growing secularization. A recent analysis by the Washington-based Institute for Religion and Democracy, an evangelical think tank, suggests that large numbers of disaffected members are switching to conservative churches. Between 1965 and 2003, the latest year full figures were available, membership declined by the following percentages: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) shrank by a whopping 57.2 percent, to 770,793; Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), 43.5 percent, to 2.4 million; United Church of Christ, 37.4 percent, to 1.3 million; Episcopal Church, 35.8 percent,...

The head of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. has endorsed a call for McDonalds to improve working conditions and raise the pay of its tomato pickers. In a letter released on Wednesday, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the two-million-member denomination, challenged the fast food chain giant to “put an end to human rights violations” by bringing an “adequate solution to the grievous conditions and sub-poverty wages of farmworkers.” "Farmworkers are explicitly excluded from the National Labor Relations Act, which denies them the right to organize, the right to negotiate with their employers, and the right to appeal grievances to...

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has denounced renewed contact between the U.S. branch of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) and Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terror organization. According to the Middle East Research Institute, Lebanese media confirmed that a PCUSA delegation headed by Robert Morley, a retired professor from McCormick Theological Seminary and Father Nihad Tomeh, the Church’s Mideast liaison met with Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, Hezbollah’s commander in Southern Lebanon. The Church delegation reportedly wanted to learn more about Hezbollah’s charitable works and its "concern" for people. "The people of Lebanon struggle mightily to reassert their independent democracy, Israel evacuates Gaza and continues negotiations...

DISGUSTING Presbyterian Church USA & Families of 9/11 Victims Delegations Meet with Hizbullah MEMRI On October 20, 2005, the Lebanese press reported that a delegation from the Presbyterian Church USA, headed by Father Nihad Tu'meh and with Robert Worley as its spokesman,[1] visited southern Lebanon at the invitation of Hizbullah, and met there with the terrorist organization's commander in southern Lebanon, Nabil Qawuq. During the meeting, Qawuq expressed his doubts about U.S. actions in the region and the intentions of the Bush administration. Worley, on his part, assured Qawuq that he was not defending the U.S. administration, that all delegation...

With the Presbyterian Church (USA) already under fire for its one-sided policy calling for divestment of funds in corporations that do business with Israel, another delegation from the PCUSA met recently with the leader of Southern Lebanon's Hezbollah, a reputed terrorist organization. The meeting had a highly partisan political flavor, with the Hezbollah leader criticizing the policies of President George W. Bush and the spokesman for the Presbyterian delegation assuring his host that none of the members of the delegation had voted Democratic or supported the U.S. policies in the Mideast. The PCUSA delegation was led by the Rev. Nuhad...

Presbyterian Church USA & Families of 9/11 Victims Delegations Meet with Hizbullah On October 20, 2005, the Lebanese press reported that a delegation from the Presbyterian Church USA, headed by Father Nihad Tu'meh and with Robert Worley as its spokesman,[1] visited southern Lebanon at the invitation of Hizbullah, and met there with the terrorist organization's commander in southern Lebanon, Nabil Qawuq. During the meeting, Qawuq expressed his doubts about U.S. actions in the region and the intentions of the Bush administration. Worley, on his part, assured Qawuq that he was not defending the U.S. administration, that all delegation members had...

Monograph Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society Press Release, November 17, 2005 The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs is proud to offer the following link is to Professor Justus Reid Weiner's new Monograph Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society. It is a 1.4 megabyte PDF file. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the file, but it is available online without charge. www.jcpa.org/christian-persecution.htm Following is a short thumbnail sketch of the Monograph: On the heels of the Gaza disengagement, which was intended to empower the Palestinian Authority to improve the lives...

Presbyterian Congregation Ordains Gay Minister November 15, 2005 8:00 a.m. EST Hector Duarte Jr. - All Headline News Staff Reporter Dobbs Ferry, NY (AHN) - A Presbyterian congregation ordains a gay man who refuses to embrace celibacy despite the denomination's ban on sexually active homosexuals joining the clergy. A complaint will be filed with a regional panel in the Presbyterian Church, just one of a number of several Protestant denominations involved in a bitter debate over what role gays should have within their churches. Raymond Bagnuolo was ordained Sunday at South Presbyterian Church in Dobbs Ferry. During the ceremony, when...