December 4  Holiday Open House

January 22  5:30 PM, Social Hall

January 29, 2000

June 2000

June 24-July 1, 2000

August 3-6, 2000

An ecumenical gathering of Welcoming Churches and their allies in the U.S. and Canada. August 3-6, 2000 at Northern Illinois University, outside Chicago.

They hope to have between 1500 and 2000 people there. Speakers and workshop leaders will include: Steve Charleston, Jimmy Creech, Chris Glaser, Carter Heyward, Mary E. Hunt, Grace Imathiu, Michael Kinnamon, Eric Law, Melamie May, Virigina Mollenkott, Melanie Morrison, Jeanne Audrey Powers, Janie Spahr, Mel White and Walter Wink.

For more information, call 1-800-3318-5581, or check out the website http://www.wow2k.org.

Unity in Diversity Conference

At the November 13th meeting, the chapter decided that this event is our priority concern for the near future, since reports on this conference are expected to be presented at General Assembly in Long Beach in June 2000. Several members are working on making the Los Ranchos Presbytery aware of the conference materials available from Clifton Kirkpatrick's office and try to work with other congregations to support the event. You can view the conference materials online at http://horeb.pcusa.org/oga/diversity/. You can also order the hardcopy version for free at the same URL.

Commentary

The Knight Initiative

By Linda Malcor

Named for the initiative's chief sponsor State Senator Pete Knight (R-Palmdale), this thirteen-word item will appear on the March 7, 2000 ballot in California. The initiative reads: "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in the state of California." A "yes" vote on this ballot question would change the state Constitution to allow the state Legislature to limit marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

Formerly called the "California Defense of Marriage Act," the measure was recently ordered to change its name to the "California Limitation on Marriage Act." If this initiative passes, analysts say that the resulting law can be used to strip people in same-sex relationships of hospital visitation rights, domestic partner benefits and even local laws that protect people against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Regardless of how you feel about same-sex marriage or the other issues raised by the initiative itself, something far scarier happening in this campaign. So far both the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), the California Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Muslim-American Voter Assn. and several Baptist, Nazarene, Pentecostal congregations, several fundamentalist congregations--including the Assemblies of God and the Assemblies of God Northern California/Nevada District--and other religious organizations have already donated hundreds of thousands of tax-exempt dollars to see that this measure passes. This is expected to be a very expensive campaign battle, running into the $20 million range or higher. By federal law, any church can give up to 10% to 15% of its annual budget to a political campaign and still maintain its tax exempt status. So ask yourself, "What's 10% to 15% of the annual budget of the Catholic Church? Of the Mormon Church?" The answer is frightening. The potential is there for religious institutions to buy this election and legislate their doctrine to everyone else in the state. Think about it. This is money that eventually traces back to offering plates, funds that could be used to feed the hungry or help the poor or care for the sick. It's being used to turn the doctrine of specific religious institutions into state Constitutional law. This time the issue happens to be same-sex marriage. But if the initiative passes, think of the precedent that is set. What election will religious institutions buy next? What if the Catholics decide to turn their doctrine on abortion or divorce into state Constitutional law? What if the Mormons want to see their doctrine on chastity made a part of California's Constitution?

Local Chapter News

As a help for those of you wanting to study the whole homosexuality issue in your congregation, we have available to us Claiming the Promise, An Ecumenical Welcoming Bible Study Resource on Homosexuality by Mary Jo Osterman available for $5 per Study Guide. This has a dialogue base with references to scripture and how we interpret them from several points of view. Most importantly, no one is right or wrong. It is designed to get everyone talking, listening and being heard. Contact Linda Malcor for information about how to obtain your copy.