Split on mandate Americans are split on a federal man- date requiring nearly all employ- ers—including those with religious objections—to provide insurance covering contraception. The poll by the Pew Research Center for the Peo- ple & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life was con- ducted in February, including the day President Barack Obama changed the mandate by requiring insurers, not religious groups, to offer the coverage. Of those familiar with the issue (62 percent), 48 percent of respondents support an exemption for religiously affiliated institutions that object to providing contracep- tion coverage; 44 percent said the institutions should provide it.
For the record
According to the ELCA Office of the Secretary, 904 congregations have as of Jan. 31 taken first votes to leave the denomination. These 904 congre- gations have taken a total of 974 first votes. Of the first votes taken, 680 passed and 294 failed. There have been 650 second votes, 617 passed and 33 failed. Of those congregations in which second disaffiliation votes have passed, 613 have completed the termination process and are no lon- ger on the ELCA roster. Most of the votes came in reaction to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly’s votes on sexuality. A list of withdrawals since Nov. 1, 2011, is on page 46.
An apology for Obama Evangelist Franklin Graham apolo- gized to President Barack Obama for questioning his Christian faith Feb. 28. The apology came one day after leaders of several traditional African-American denominations and the NAACP issued an open letter calling Graham’s remarks “harmful to the Christian witness,” aligned “with those who use faith as
Task force to ‘re-envision and restructure’ the NCC
T
he National Council of Churches executive committee created a 15-member task force to “re-envision and restructure” the 62-year-old ecumenical body. The appointment of the task force came at a gathering Feb. 22-24 of more than 30 denomina- tional leaders who have been lay- ing the groundwork for change over the past several months. In September 2011, and again in November, the council’s gov- erning board—facing chronic financial shortfalls and the Dec. 31 departure of Michael Kinnamon as general secretary for health rea- sons—appointed three task forces to address the NCC’s financial sustainability, the current ecumeni- cal landscape in the country, and the NCC’s transitional leadership needs. NCC President Kathryn Lohre
a weapon of political division,” and a possible encouragement for racism. The NAACP statement said: “We can disagree about what it means to be a Christian engaged in politics, but Christians should not bear false witness.”
Theologian Danker dies Frederick W. Danker, 91, Christ Seminary-Seminex professor emeri- tus of New Testament, died Feb. 2. For 20 years he taught at Concordia, a Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod seminary in St. Louis. In 1974, Danker and his brother, William, were among 45 others fired from Concordia in a controversy over bib- lical interpretation. He became a pro- fessor of Christ Seminary-Seminex
of the ELCA called the work of the task forces to date and the appoint- ment of the new group “a signal of the rebirth of the NCC.”
The new group is scheduled to bring a final report to the governing board’s September 2012 meeting. Those gathered reaffirmed the
NCC’s commitments to “visible unity in Christ and to justice and peace,” adding that “the work of justice and peace is integral to the manifestation of visible unity in Christ.” Mark S. Hanson, ELCA presid- ing bishop and chair of the transi- tional leader search committee, said the group hopes to present a candidate to the governing board by June 30. Clare Chapman, NCC deputy
general secretary and general coun- sel, has been serving as interim general secretary.
in St. Louis until he was deployed to the Lutheran School of Theol- ogy at Chicago. Known as one of the world’s premier classicists and Greek lexicographers, he was the editor of A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature and The Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. (See also page 47.)
Bergquist honored In February, retired ELCA pastor James Bergquist was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Univer- sity of Serampore, a Calcutta institu- tion that bestows theological degrees from 90 Christian seminaries in India. Bergquist spoke at the gradu-
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