European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes religion saturday january 29,1994 invocation of Sophia v " T As god called heresy by George w. Cornell a religion writer a theological dispute has broken put Over an ecumenical conference on women that invoked Sophia creator god and used other feminine images of the . The juror is the latest round of conflict Over attempts to modify pervasively male references to god As he or father and to bring out biblical indications that god also has Motherly qualities. However some unusually graphic feminizing of the divine at a re imagining women s conference in min Neapolis last november produced some unusually Sharp denunciations. United methodist Bishop Earl g. Hunt of Lake Junaluska n.c., said deifying Sophia is an attempt to reconstitute the godhead. No comparable heresy has appeared in the Church in the last 15  this is material which must be eradicated from Christian thinking now he told an evangelism Confer ence this month. When the Church seems to be losing its struggle with Powers and principalities weird things begin to happen. Sophia is the greek word meaning Wisdom and is portrayed by female pronouns in the Bible. Some groups historically have personified Sophia invoking her in prayers. United methodist news service said a Liturgy at the conference read in part our maker Sophia we Are women in your image. With the hot blood of our wombs we give form to new life. ,. With nectar Between our thighs we invite a Lover. We birth a child with our warm body fluids we remind the world of its pleasures and sensations. We celebrate the sweat that pours from us during our labors /. But participants in the conference defended the use of Sophia. We wanted women speakers who were doing Cut Ting Edge theology said the Rev. Kathi Austin Mahle of St. Paul minn., co chairwoman of a steering com Mittee that planned the event. She said it was definitely in a Christian context not interfaith. We wanted to set it within a biblical context both the old testament and the new Testa ment. I think we achieved what we set out to do to provide women a place to enter into theological Dia " " critics also charged that the conference included self identified lesbians As speakers used bodily images to express the divine. Held a workshop on belly dancing. Downgraded the doctrine that god and humanity Are reconciled through Christ s sacrifice on the Cross. And used rites from other religions such As an american Indian tobacco ritual. Restaurant series up tapes that nourish people s souls by Glenn Adams the associated press Eastport Maine the first menu that comes into View in the Happy landings restaurant in t what you would expect to see. Instead of hamburger and Haddock the choices Are i might Stop using drugs and my teen Ager May be  they Are topics of cassette tapes that offer counselling for problems confront ing teen agers and parents. The tapes Are neatly Hung along a Wall entering the tidy Seaside diner. Those who want to take a tape and leave without drawing attention to themselves Don t have to go All the Way inside. There s no need to leave Money because the tapes Are free. And there Are plenty of takers i be seen a lot of tapes go so some body s doing something with them said Cook waitress Doreen Johnson. I think it s a great  the tapes Are provided by the Bible and prayer educational association a local nondenominational religious group that is More dedicated to social services than sunday services. The Rev. Roger Asselin who Heads the ministry got so Many Folk will say we had 300 tapes picked up the idea from a publication that featured the Southern. We had 500 tapes picked up those kinds of re. An in ports come in routinely said Ross who is also a a Doreen Johnson stands next to the tape rack that offers soul food to customers of the Happy landings restaurant in Eastport Maine. Baptist convention s creative approach to reaching troubled souls. The convention based in Nashville tenn., Sells packages of master tapes to churches of any denomination. The churches Are free to reproduce As Many cop ies As they need said Richard Ross who picked the topics and lined up the professional Counselor for the "24-hour Counselor series offered at the Happy landings. Despite Eastport s clean Small town atmosphere the 2,000 residents who make up this close knit Community Are not without their problems. Between last april and the end of. 1993, Asselin said he had distributed 1,700 tapes in the town alone at the Passamaquoddy Indian tribe s nearby pleas ant Point reservation 200 tapes were taken from the teen tape Board within the first two months it was put up. Stories Are similar in Many of the other places where 17,000 volumes of the six tape package have been Dis tonal spokesman for the teen age celibacy movement True love Waits. In one mall where a Batch of tapes had been set up groups of teen agers joked and poked fun at some of the titles. But later Ross was told some of the same youths returned alone to take copies. Part of their allure is that the tapes provide counsel ing to an age group whose members often avoid Dis cussing sensitive subjects with adults Ross said. They also enable youths to help one another by making co pies for troubled friends. They Are really powerful. They really work Asse Lin said. An expert in psychology of religion at the University of Denver agreed. It s very possible they be gotten onto something that has considerable meaning to listeners said professor Bernard Spilka. It certainly sounds creative and Dif Ferent from anything i m familiar  we Don t cram religion Down their throats said tribute by 5,000 churches around the country Ross Asselin adding that the tapes Only offer god As an said in a Telephone interview from Nashville. Option. Mormons asked to help rid . Of child abuse neglect from wire reports Salt Lake City mormon leaders have called on Church members to work to eliminate the abuse and neglect suffered by millions of . Children. During a children s fireside program sunday night attended by 6,000 in the Tabernacle on Temple Square Gordon b. Hinckley said the abuse and neglect result from anger and abject selfishness and evil of the worst kind. Surely it is time to awaken within people everywhere an increased awareness of this terrible offence toward god our eternal father that is Given whenever a child suffers said Hinckley first Counselor to Church president Ezra Taft Benson. The devotional also was beamed by the Church s satellite system to thousands of viewers nationwide. Elder m. Russell Ballard said mormon scriptures declare children to be holy when we truly behold our Little ones we behold the glory wonder and majesty of god he said. All children Are his spirit offspring. We have no More eloquent testimony that our heavenly father lives and that he loves us than the first Raspy cry of a Newborn  town s Only Church to close /. Marquette neb. The congregation that attended sunday s service at the unite methodist. Church heard last rites but not for a relative or loved one. It was the final service at the 77-year-old Church the Only one in Marquette i Don t like it myself said Lucille Hutsell a member since 1946. But we be got no younger ones coming no sunday school in the basement and some who think bigger is  the population of Marquette located about 18 Miles East of grand Island decreased from 303 to 211 Between 1980 and 1990, census figures show. The Community is going Down you see said the Rev.  Samuel the minister at Aurora methodist Church who preached three sundays a month in Marquette. The town recently voted to close its High school and lost its Only cafe run for four years by volunteers. The decision to close the Church came in november with a vote by its 59 members. The Marquette Church had its origins among Pioneer families who settled the area before the town was founded in 1889. For Many years the town had its own minister and a parsonage just South of the Church. In the 1970s, Marquette began to share ministers with the Church in Aurora. Japan urged to Export gospel new York the Rev. Billy Graham called on japanese christians to make the gospel Japan s greatest Export. The Church Here has the authority it has the message and it has the resources to touch All of the asian rim with the gospel Graham said during his recent Mission 94 crusade in Tokyo. You have businessmen All Over the world Selling japanese products. You can do the same with the gospel. Japanese ability japanese know How can take this message to the world. There is no greater Export than the gospel of  the Billy Graham evangelistic association said there was an average attendance of 31,250 people during the four Day crusade. Pope Calls for clean to Vatican City Pope John Paul ii is urging the television Industry to adopt a code of ethics. In a written message monday the pontiff also said governments should enforce reasonable ethical standards for programming that will Foster the human and religious values on which family life is built and will discourage whatever is  television can enrich family life but also can harm it by propagating degrading values and models of behaviour by broadcasting pornography and graphic depictions of brutal violence the Pope said. Parents have a particular responsibility to Monitor use of the television set he said. Parents who make regular prolonged use of television As a kind of electronic baby Sitter surrender their role As the primary educators of their children the Pope said. He said parents should express their concerns to Industry executives and suggested that they join associations to lobby the Media advertisers and the government