Religion Briefs
Star-Bulletin staff &
Associated Press
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HAWAII
Smoothie shop has weekly praise night
The Tropical Smoothie Cafe will be the scene of a midweek Christian Praise and Worship Night beginning Thursday.
Radio talk show host Tiny Tadani of AM 1080 will be master of ceremonies at the event beginning at 6 p.m. in Suite 2 of the Hawaiki Tower, 88 Piikoi St., near Waimanu Street.
The Rev. Koa Siu and a worship team from New Hope Christian Fellowship will lead the service, and Dawn O'Brien of radio station FM 95.5 "The Fish" will speak.
The Praise and Worship Night will continue every Thursday evening.
NATION
Spiritual court ousts ex-official
NEW YORK » A former chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America who has been accused of longtime financial wrongdoing has been ousted from the priesthood.
The verdict by an OCA spiritual court against Robert Kondratick took effect July 31. Kondratick has said he is innocent. He held the second-highest job in the denomination.
Financial controls in the church had been "circumvented" at least since 1998, said church leaders, and auditors uncovered a "pattern of personal use of church money" for years.
Ban on gift Bibles for pupils stands
ST. LOUIS » A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court ruling that prohibited the distribution of Bibles to grade-school students in a southern Missouri school district.
At issue was a long-held practice at South Iron Elementary School in Annapolis, 120 miles southwest of St. Louis, in which Gideons International representatives came to fifth-grade classrooms and gave away Bibles. A U.S. district judge issued a temporary injunction, and a three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis agreed the classroom distribution should be prohibited.
Parents of some students first raised concerns about the Bible distribution in 2005. The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in February 2006 on behalf of four sets of parents.
Megachurch duo announces divorce
TAMPA, Fla. » Randy and Paula White, co-pastors of a fast-growing megachurch that has come under financial scrutiny in recent months, have told their congregation they plan to divorce.
The Whites, who have been married nearly 18 years and lead the 23,000-member Without Walls International Church, described the split as amicable and blamed two lives going in different directions.
Of the two, Paula White's profile is much larger. While Randy White, 48, said he would remain at the church as senior pastor, Paula White, 41, said she would concentrate on her ministry. Her work includes a TV show on Black Entertainment Television and other national networks, conferences and book and video sales.
The Tampa Tribune has published a series of reports about the Whites' financial dealings. Those included the couple's failure to repay a $170,000 loan from an elderly widow, money borrowed in 1995 as a down payment on a house. The couple sold the house in 2006, but still had not repaid the loan to Ruth McGinnis by May.