Iowa Public Television

Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

Episode #251

This week, the organization representing the nation's largest group of Lutherans elected to form an alliance with the Episcopal Church. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted during their annual national convention to recognize and share each other's clergy and sacraments as well as cooperate in mission projects and make joint decisions on important issues. A similar resolution was barely rejected at the Lutherans' previous national meeting two years ago. The final vote was 716 to 317, which was more than the two-thirds needed for passage. RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY reports on this controversial partnership and what it will mean in the new millennium.
Link: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - http://www.elca.org NEWS: A new archbishop for the Orthodox Church of America was appointed this past week. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I named Metropolitan Dimitrios to replace the controversial Archbishop Spyridon, who resigned on August 19. Spyridon, who was the first American-born Archbishop, has held the post since 1996. An organized campaign by Greek Orthodox American Leaders (GOAL) had been ongoing to force the ouster of Spyridon, who was accused of being out of touch with his constituents along with financial and administrative mismanagement. RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY reports on the new leader of the Orthodox Church in America and talks to Dean G. Popps, spokesperson for GOAL about Spyridon's resignation and the church's new leadership. COVER STORY: The Centurions - "I am innocent and I've been locked up for 17 years for something I didn't do," said Ellen Reasonover, who was recently released from the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri after a judge determined that she had been unfairly convicted of murder in 1983. The Centurion Ministries, a prisoner advocacy group founded in 1983 by Jim McCloskey and headquartered in Princeton, New Jersey, was the principal organization responsible for Reasonover's release. RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY takes a look at McCloskey's ministry that has been instrumental in obtaining freedom for Reasonover and 19 other prisoners so far. R & E contributing correspondent Steve Delaney talks to McCloskey about his mission. PROFILE: Rodney Howard-Browne - The Big Apple was recently the site ofa major evangelical undertaking. On August 13th, the Reverend Rodney Howard-Browne, who claims being inspired by a vision of the Reverend Billy Graham, completed the New York Good News Crusade, a 24-night revival held over a period of six weeks, at Madison Square Garden. Graham held a similar event in 1957 at the Garden with capacity crowds over a 16-week period. RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY correspondent Kim Lawton reviews this ambitious project. She talks to Howard-Browne about the dream that inspired the crusade and his controversial ministry and speaks to an opponent that accuses Howard-Browne of "psychological manipulation." [26 minutes]

This episode has not aired in the past few months on Iowa Public Television.