Religion

Local clergy pulling together in support of same-sex marriage

Submitted by Halley Griffin, KOMO Communities Reporter
Monday, March 5th, 2012, 1:00pm
Local clergy pulling together in support of same-sex marriage

It’s been three weeks since Gov. Chris Gregoire signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage into law.

Gay marriage won’t be legal in Washington until later this year, and even then only if all goes according to supporters’ plans.

But for some in the South Sound support has long been available, from places that many would least expect: area churches. 

Tired of media coverage of anti-gay churches and clergy, a group of local religious leaders have started to organize.

They plan to create a group that will present a united front of churches that publicly and openly support gay rights and same-sex marriage - and have for years, in some cases.

Over the next few months, this “faith-based movement for marriage equality” will pull clergy in the Tacoma area to organize them in support of same-sex marriage legislation.

“Especially gay and lesbian young people need to know that there’s a religious community that’s open to them and that’s encouraging,” says Bob Anderson, a member of Tacoma’s First Congregational Church and the man pushing for the group’s foundation.

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Death of Jew on Rainier fuels fight over autopsy

Submitted by Associated Press
Sunday, December 25th, 2011, 12:35pm

The death of a 54-year-old Jewish man on a snowy slope on Mount Rainier has set the stage for a Pierce County court, fight pitting religious belief against scientific certainty.

The News-Tribune reports Brian Grobois of New Rochelle, N.Y., died on a solo shoeshoe hike, apparently from hypothermia. His body was recovered Dec. 13.Three days later, a judge upheld an appeal barring Pierce County's medical examiner from conducting an autopsy on Grobois' body because of religious objections from the family.

The case has attracted the interest of Gov. Chris Gregoire and Jewish leaders from around the country. Jewish law requires a fast burial and no autopsy, but the Pierce County medical examiner fought for an autopsy because questions remain about the New York man's death.

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Local groups work to build hope, unite faiths in lead-up to 9/11 anniversary

Submitted by Halley Griffin, KOMO Communities Reporter
Tuesday, September 6th, 2011, 9:12am
Local groups work to build hope, unite faiths in lead-up to 9/11 anniversary

Ask anyone over the age of 20 where they were on Sept. 11, 2001, and you can bet they can still describe those moments in vivid detail.

Rebecca Young, who photographed the Interfaith Amigos for this story, was on an overnight camping trip with a group of elementary school students, forced to decide with the other chaperones just how much information to share.

Stadium High School students were on their way to school, only to find that day's lessons plans thwarted for the ongoing, terrifying news. In Sharon Lofton's world cultures class students worked as they did every day, spurred on by their teacher's conviction that there would be no more important task that day than to continue their studies of other cultures and religions.

And Dave Brown, pastor of Tacoma's Immanuel Presbyterian Church, was on the ground in New York City witnessing them firsthand. 

"I watched the plane, watched the smoke come out of the building before they crashed ... I smelled the smoke," said Brown.

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The Three Interfaith Amigos to lead service in Tacoma Sunday

Submitted by Halley Griffin, KOMO Communities Reporter
Saturday, September 3rd, 2011, 10:34am

The Three Interfaith Amigos, made up of an imam, a pastor and a rabbi, will lead an interfaith worship service this Sunday in Tacoma.

Immanuel Presbyterian Church will host the service this Sunday at 10:30 a.m. as part of a series of events titled "Building Hope" leading up to the tenth anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001.

"The Three Interfaith Amigos service will be led by Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon, and Imam Jamal Rahman, authors of the book Getting to the Heart of Interfaith: The Eye-Opening, Hope-Filled Friendship of a Pastor, a Rabbi, & a Sheikh. The three were brought together by the events of 9/11, and since then they have carried their message of hope and healing to audiences in the United States, Israel-Palestine, and Japan," reads an official announcement.

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Groundbreaking ceremony for new synagogue this Sunday

Submitted by Conor Christofferson, KOMO Communities Reporter
Friday, August 27th, 2010, 5:27pm

It’s been 42 years since Tacoma’s Jewish community welcomed a new synagogue, which makes Sunday’s ceremonial groundbreaking for the Chabad Jewish Center a momentous occasion.

Chabad of Pierce County’s Rabbi Zalman Heber has spent the past two-and-a-half years patiently working his way through the city’s building permit process, and his hard work will pay off this weekend when he lays the corner stone of what will soon become Tacoma’s second temple.

“We are so excited,” Heber said. “The Jewish community has been waiting a long time for this.”

The groundbreaking is largely ceremonial and construction on the project will likely not begin in earnest for several months, but Zalman said Sunday is about more than just moving dirt. In fact, the groundbreaking is not even the most exiting aspect of the day’s festivities.

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