European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 20, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday november 20, 1993 religion the stars and stripes Page 9 some Church Headquarters might be forced to close. From wire reports Indianapolis a decline in contributions to protestant churches May Lead to the closure of the National offices of congregations within 55 years anew study suggests. From 1968 to 1991, Church members reduced Byone third the percentage of personal income Given to denominational Headquarters and other cause outside local Church Walls a study by the Lilly endowment inc. Of Indianapolis found. The end for protestant Church hierarchies could come in 2048 if denominational leaders fail to reverse the decline said Sylvia Ronsvalle who helped conduct the study for empty Tomb inc., a Christian research and service organization i Champaign Iii. Unaltered this trend could mean the end of National Church structures As we know them she said. We Don t want that to happen but we do want to sound the alarm and make people aware of the consequences if we stay on this  her findings Are based on financial reports that28 denominations filed with the yearbook of american and Canadian churches. The study found that giving As a percentage of personal income for those denominations was less in 1991 than in 1933 during the height of the depression. From 1968 to 1991, the percentage dropped from 0.65 percent to 0.44 percent. Ronsvalle blamed the financial decline of Church hierarchies in part on America s religion shift from a global vision to a local one. Part of the vision of the National Church used to make that global need very real to people. I have a real concern that global Justice will be lost if Wedon t retain that vision she said. Ordination dissent allowed London in a blow to the movement for the ordination of women the Church of England governing body blocked a move to penalize members who reject women priests. A Large majority of general Synod member rejected the nov. 9 amendment to Synod Law that proposed the Church should not ordain or promote any person who holds that it is impossible for a woman to be a priest in the Church of  the Synod s decision a year ago to allow women into the Priesthood has split England s state Church although efforts were made to accommodate the dissenters. Under last year s legislation women May no become Bishops parishes May refuse to accept a woman As priest and Bishops now in office cannot be compelled to ordain women or accept them As priests in their dioceses. The Synod also approved Severance pay arrangements for any full time priest who decided to resign rather than accept women. The governing body with its houses of laity clergy and Bishops is devoting much of its november session to measures designed to close remaining cracks and to Stem defections to other churches before the first ordinations of women expected next year. Parliament recently confirmed the ordination measure and it needs Only the formality of an assent from Queen Elizabeth ii spiritual head of the state Church. Homosexuality sinful Richmond a. Virginia Southern Baptist approved a statement condemning homosexuality As sinful and unacceptable for  the sept. 9 statement also says practising homosexuals should not be in Church leadership positions. The measure was overwhelmingly approved on Ashow of hands by delegates to the Baptist general association of Virginia s annual meeting. The declaration is nonbinding for the state approximately 600,000 Southern baptists. The Rev. Henry Langford a retired pastor fro Richmond said speaking out against homosexuality unfairly paints it As a More severe sin than others. Several of the approximately 2,500 Church members attending the two Day Assembly said the vote should put to rest the association homosexuality debate which started last year As the body discussed a measure calling for redemptive ministry for All people including homosexuals. Harvard professor charting another Type of landscape Cambridge mass. A Diana Eck s office at Harvard University attempts to bring perspective to the changing religious makeup of America. In color coded file folders arc notes about the nation s 1,100 mosques and islamic centers 1,500 Buddhist centers and 800 hindu temples. The shelves Are lined with three ring notebooks stuffed with research about Bahai Jainism and zoroastrianism. Eck is a professor of comparative religion and director of the pluralism project a three year Effort to inventory and examine american religious life. Each summer Harvard students fan out across the country and collect the kind of information the . Census does t tally. The researchers have studied cambodians in califor Nia muslims in Massachusetts hindus in Houston and religious diversity in Denver. Even a City like Denver has a religious landscape that most people in Denver Don t know about Eck said. In fact the transformation has been invisible in Many places. There s a certain amount of concern about acceptance Eck said. But some of it is a practical matter a Muslim group will buy a former school and use the gymnasium As the prayer room so you drive by and Don t notice  in addition to indexing these religions the project ultimately will attempt to answer How they will change America and How being in America changes them. What will buddhism Start to look like when it s planted in the soil of Arizona Eck asked. Some signs Are evident. Hindus sikhs and muslims have started religious summer Camps earlier pioneered by jews. Many also have pieced together National advocacy organizations. One the islamic society of North America says there Are 8 million muslims. Other estimates put the number at 1.4 million. Eck said 5 million is a reliable figure. This is a very sensitive Issue to some extent she said. What if there Are More muslims than jews in the we re not talking about the sort of Western gurus and Cults of the 70s. We re talking now about new americans who have brought distinctively asian and islamic traditions to this country Diana Eck religion United states for example that could have very serious  the heavy influx of religions from outside the Judco Christian culture started with the immigration act of 1965, which eliminated National origins quotas. Since then the number of asian americans has skyrocketed from 1 million to 7.3 million. Immigrants from the mid dle East latin America the Caribbean and Eastern Europe also flock to the United states. We re not talking about the sort of Western gurus and Cults of the 70s," Eck said. We re talking now about new americans who have brought distinctively asian and islamic traditions to this  Eck wrote about her own search for meaning in her Book encountering god a spiritual journey from Bozeman to Banaras. She also is working with we by to on a Public Tele vision documentary about the american religious metamorphosis. It will focus on buddhists in los Angeles muslims in Houston hindus in Pittsburgh jews in Denver and chinese and vietnamese evangelical christians in Boston. Eck said americans Don t realize their nation is evolving from its Judco Christian roots. Many Appeal for prayer in school for instance in areas where the Christian majority is tenuous. I Don t think it has Ever occurred to them that if there is prayer in the schools in Many places it might turn out to be Buddhist prayer or hindu prayer and not a prayer from the Christian tradition Eck said. There s a very real sense in which we americans Don t know who we  High tech religion a state of the Art Rosary an electronic device that guides the faithful smoothly through prayers is on Sale at the divine love Sanctuary in Rome. Suitable music accompanies the High tech Rosary. Gambling is a reckless bet clergy say Boston a Massachusetts is in danger of be coming addicted to gambling As a Means of solving its budgetary woes warn some of the state s religious Lead ers. This state is on a Slippery slope of increased dependence on gambling revenues and we Are careening downward with increasing recklessness said 16 protestant and orthodox leaders in a statement released by the Massachusetts Council of churches. The state has a lottery and is considering off track betting video poker and Casino gambling. The Rev. Bennie e. Whiten or. Of the United Church of Christ one of the 16 clergy who signed the statement said Church leaders also Are concerned that More legalized gambling will hit the poor and the work ing class disproportionately and that the risk of compulsive gambling will increase especially As gambling is mixed with the serving of alcoholic beverages. Virginia Buckingham a spokesman for gov. William f. Weld said the administration is simply responding to competitive pressures from other states in support ing some expansion of gambling