  |
||||
|
Breaking News from America's Progressive Community... 1999
Releases
The press releases posted here have been provided to NewsCenter by the one of the many progressive organizations we have selected to participate. If you would like more information about this press release, you should contact the organization directly. |
||||
| FEBRUARY
18, 1999 12:20 PM FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Americans United for Separation of Church and State Joseph Conn or Rob Boston |
||||
| Bible Requires Death By Stoning For "Rebellious" Teenagers, Says PA Preacher; Mercersburg Activist Insists Bible Mandates Execution | ||||
| WASHINGTON
- February 18 - The Bible mandates death by stoning
for rebellious teenagers, according to a Pennsylvania preacher and Religious
Right activist.
The Rev. William O. Einwechter's article, "Stoning Disobedient Children," appeared in the January issue of Chalcedon Report, a monthly journal published by the Chalcedon Foundation in Vallecito, Calif. In the article, Einwechter cites Deuteronomy 21:18-21, which advises parents to take "a stubborn and rebellious son" before city elders to be stoned to death if he will not change his ways. Einwechter's viewpoint drew criticism from church-state separationists. "Rev. Einwechter reminds us all of why we need a clear separation between religion and government," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group. "I doubt if most Americans think we should turn America into a fundamentalist Christian version of Iran." Einwechter says the death penalty should be applied to "a grown son (and by extension to a daughter as well) who, for whatever reason, has rebelled against the authority of his parents and will not profit from any of their discipline nor obey their voice in any thing." Writes Einwechter, "[T]he execution of the rebel in view is just, merciful, and preventive. Just, in that the transgressor deserves to die; merciful, in that his quick death prevents the destruction of the family, society, and others; preventive, in that it strikes fear in the heart of other would-be rebels and restrains them from taking a similar ruinous course." The Chalcedon Report is the leading publication of the "Christian Reconstructionist" movement, the most extreme contingent of the Religious Right. Reconstructionists reject democracy and believe Christians should take "dominion" over American society. Under their version of "biblical law," the death penalty would be required for over a dozen offenses, including adultery, homosexuality, witchcraft and spreading "false" religions. Although the movement's numbers are relatively small, its ideas have often filtered into other Religious Right groups. Einwechter, a Mercersburg, Pa., resident, is vice-moderator of the Association of Free Reformed Churches. He also serves as vice president of the National Reform Association, a Pittsburgh-based group that advocates Christianity in government. -30- |
||||