Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 9, 1995 TAG: 9507070022
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
I know that's hard for some of you to believe, but it's my observation. Just this year I've been to an Episcopal diocesan meeting, a Lutheran synodical assembly, a United Methodist Annual Conference and the Southern Baptist Convention.
At each of them, participants were noticeably, often vocally, tired of quarreling. We cannot conclude from this new spirituality that all matters of controversy have been settled. There continue to be serious disagreements - sometimes near-schism - in some places.
But at the very least there is weariness at seeing the causes that many members regard as holy being factionalized year after year.
In January, Episcopalians got through their annual meeting without the usual plethora of resolutions condemning the perceived liberality of the denomination.
In May, Lutherans - to their delight - avoided the sexuality issue that many have felt burned by in recent years. In its national assembly next month, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America may avoid that issue once again when a task force that had been charged to help prepare a "social statement" on sexuality will give up that job with a recommendation that no such statement be considered or issued.
In June, Virginia's United Methodists raised their voices a bit over whether racism was raising its ugly head, but they spent a lot more time on celebrations of faith than debating divisive issues.
Even last month's meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, which has been known for almost two decades for its sometimes bloody internal battles, was peaceful. Although one could attribute the calm to the lack of representation from churches in its minority faction and the firm control of the leadership over all debate, the convention nonetheless placed a deliberate emphasis on worship and spirituality.
Everywhere, it seems, activists and leaders in Christian denominations seem to be working to transform necessary business meetings into sessions where spirits and souls get as much attention as budgets and elections.
If this keeps up, we religion writers may have to start writing about good things.
Just in case there's any question, that was sarcasm. I think -I hope - that if someone searched for every story we've written about religion in the last couple of years, there'd be a majority about the positive things religious people and religious congregations have done.
But the negative stories get a lot of attention and they stick in our minds precisely because they are aberrations.
Decisions about what religious events we cover are made in much the same way as other stories. Accounts of people or events are usually gauged by their human interest - individual acts of selflessness or selfishness, the collective charity or greed of a congregation, the power or impotence of religious faith.
Stories about religious meetings have a couple of more specific criteria to help us decide whether to cover them.
One, of course, is size. The more members of a particular denomination there are in our coverage area, the more likely we are to cover the annual meetings of that body. For instance, Southern Baptist congregations in the Roanoke and New River valley areas claim more than 45,000 members. Such a large segment of the total population in these parts will dictate that we devote significant resources to covering Southern Baptists. Smaller groups may be covered less often.
A second key factor is denominational polity - that is, governance and organization. Groups that elect representatives to conduct denominational business are more likely to be covered regularly than those who gather only for worship and inspiration. The internal debates of religious bodies over social issues or even denominational politics often may interest non-members as well as adherents. Inspirational meetings inherently hold greater interest to insiders than outsiders.
Just because the debates have toned down, at least temporarily, doesn't mean we'll let up on coverage. We still may have some lessons to learn from each other.
For instance, sitting in the bleachers at the Bast Center at Roanoke College was as close to getting into the back pew as I could get for the annual meeting of the Virginia Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Near the end of the second day, I was taking in the aerial view of the assembled delegates, hard at work after long hours in their chairs.
All over the floor, and largely unknown to each other, people were stretching an arm out behind the people sitting beside them and gently rubbing or scratching their neighbors' backs.
It was a little gesture, not really religious in nature and probably limited mainly to spouses. But it said something about the tone and nature of that meeting - not a cynical reciprocal "scratch my back and I'll scratch yours," but a touch of comfort, of relief, of friendship, of love.
Who knows, that may be the biggest news of all at some meeting down the road.
by CNB