When does an evangelistic tract become contraband?
A Denton, Texas-based evangelistic ministry and the U.S. Secret Service are locked in a legal dispute over that question after agents seized dozens of packs of tracts resembling million-dollar bills.
In the past three years, the Great News Network has distributed tens of thousands of the tracts, which feature “1,000,000,” a picture of President Grover Cleveland and, in small type, the words “This is Not Legal Tender” and “Department of Eternal Affairs.”
On the back, wording around the edge of the tract begins: “The million-dollar question: Will you go to heaven?” The tracts are the same size as a standard dollar bill.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis of Dallas denied the network's request for a preliminary injunction that would have said the “Million Dollar” tracts do not violate U.S. counterfeiting laws.
The tracts came to the Secret Service's attention after a North Carolina resident tried to deposit one in a personal bank account.
The lawyer representing the ministry said he was “very disappointed” with the judge's ruling. “I guess I couldn't disagree more,” said Brian Fahling, the senior trial attorney with the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy. “It's like the reasonable American is an idiot. What about the 5 (million) or 6 million who haven't gone running to their banks?”
– Religion News Service
Cults are subject of weekend forum
There will be plenty of talk about religious faith turned into deadly dogma at a forum on the occult this weekend.
Other topics include the influence of hate groups like the White Aryan Resistance and the National Alliance, the whereabouts of polygamous leader Warren Jeffs and the problems faced by gay and lesbian Jehovah's Witnesses.
About 200 people signed up to attend the International Cultic Studies Association conference in Lakewood, Colo., to learn the latest about cult and hate groups from a list of experts that includes police, former cult members and therapists. The conference started Thursday and runs through today.
The 25-year-old association is an interdisciplinary research and education foundation based in Florida aimed at studying cultic phenomena.
– Denver Post
United Methodist membership dips
A United Methodist Church report says church membership dipped to a new low last year, dropping to less than 8 million in the United States for the first time in almost 80 years.
The church's General Council on Finance and Administration estimated U.S. membership at 7.98 million members in 2005. The church's global membership is estimated at about 9.86 million.
Membership among the United Methodists – like most mainline Protestant churches – has been dropping slowly but steadily since the formation of the denomination in 1968.
– Religion News Service
Regional unit splits from United Church
CLEVELAND – The United Church of Christ announced that an assembly of one of its regional units, the United Evangelical Church of Puerto Rico, voted by 75 percent to leave the denomination due to its liberal policies on homosexuality.
The Rev. John Thomas, president of the 1.3 million-member United Church, said “theological differences” had worsened for years, especially “regarding the membership and ministry of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians.” The end came when last year's United Church synod endorsed same-sex marriage.
Before the Puerto Rico decision, the United Church reported that 49 U.S. congregations had quit over the same-sex marriage decision, though dissenters count at least 77.
– Associated Press
Big donor reported deeply in the red
The Denver man who pledged $150 million to help the Presbyterian Church (USA) start new churches has a house in foreclosure and mountains of debt and legal bills, according to a Denver Post investigation.
Stanley W. Anderson made the pledge – the church's largest one-time gift ever – to the church's new Loaves and Fishes Church Growth Fund to help start new churches, reinvigorate existing ones and expand multicultural ministries.
Anderson told the Post that the $150 million would come from his Trinity Foundation, and would be paid by “offshore investments” that he and business partner Edwin A. Smith “have been working on for quite a period of time.”
But public records examined by the Post reveal a history of financial problems for Anderson and his companies, including a suit that charges he failed to repay a $100,000 loan; unpaid rent payments; an outstanding dentist's bill for almost $1,200; a back tax bill of $54,069 that was eventually settled; and liens against his house from his local homeowners association.
Anderson, who founded a commercial credit card processing company, said he was confident he could meet his pledge.
– Religion News Service
