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'Methodist By J- MICHELLE SCHOHN g< Staff Writer I It wasn't religious intolerance ^ that made a young man leap out of the bushes and stab Methodist ^ Bishop Joseph Bethea. He just wanted the bishop's car. ^ Bethea said that when he was & attacked in November, the assailant I grabbed his keys and jumped into " his 1991 Cadillac. When the still ? unknown attacker was unable to start the car, he ran from the scene a cursing. ^ "He didn't bother my wallet or anything else," Bethea said. "If I J had been driving the other car (a 1986 Buick), it might not have happened." It has been almost nine months j since the attack. According to ^ Columbia spokeswoman Gwen Fouchee, there are no new develop- ( I ments in the police investigation of j the incident and no suspects in the c case. r The attack has not stopped the bishop, who is the first African- \ American bishop to preside over ] the S.C. Conference of the United <t Methodist Church. He said he { believes he will soon be back at ( 100 percent. i i esumate mat i am somewucic between two-thirds and three- i fourths back to full activity," j Bethea said, adding that he was ] | well enough to preside over the 1 church's annual conference held ' the last week in May. "I had asked the Council of 1 Bishops to ask one of the retired bishops to come assist me," he said. "As the time drew near, I was NEWS: 777-7726 Student Media Russell House ??? J.T. WAGENHEEV Office Hours Monday, Wednes< CARSON HENDERSON * r\ j r I'^opyuesK uniej % JAY KING City Editor LEE CLONTZ Carolina! Editor ERIC GLENN Photo Editor % RENEE GIBSON Advertising Manager TODD SHEVCHIK Asst. Advertising Manager ERIK COLLINS Faculty Advisor The Gamecock is the student newspapt and is published Monday, Wednesday anc semesters, with the exception of universit Opinions expressed in The Gamecock i not those of the University of South Caro The Board of Student Publications and The Gamecock. The Department of Stud< %' . CAMPUS-PECPE GET-OUT-OF-THE-ST ONE i 777-5! \ Zefc Congratulates Kathy Aboe m w tt 11 tr 1 Kelly barnwell Kern i Zoe Caulder Misty ^ Kristen Cavalier Lea A Carey Clark Mimi Virginia Edwards Kim R Krisin Mack Jennif Wendi Moore Mind^ G bishop st stting stronger and stronger, and presided over the conference hth very little assistance." It is not surprising that Bethea 'as able to come back from the early fatal wound. A veteran of le Civil Rights Movement, he has rown accustomed to struggling. Bethea's father was a Methodist linister in a time when the ifrican-American and white Methodist churches were still seprated. Bethea said he knew from small age that he would follow n his father's footsteps. He reached his first sermon when he /as only five. "I was called the little boy reacher," Bethea said. When Bethea was 12 or 13, he lecided he would become a teacher ather than a minister. It was not intil his senior year at Clafton College, where he was studying English and social studies, that he >nce again felt drawn toward the ninistry. Bethea said his father, who died ate in the summer of 1953, did not ive to see his son accept his first ippointment to a church but did ;ee Bethea begin studies at jammon Theological Seminary in \tlanta. Bethea graduated from Gammon n 1956 and decided to seek an tssignment in North Carolina. Bethea said he did not want to Degin his work in South Carolina, where his father was still relatively well-known. North Carolina, which had received only two seminary graduates in the previous ten years, was in desperate need of Methodist ministers. ADVERTISING: 777-4249 track non - /"??i u:? o/"? inino UOL. " \^UlUlIlUid, OV. i7Z,UO 1, Editor in Chief day 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. SHAYLA STUTTS Viewpoints Editor GORDON MANTLER University Editor ROB RODUSKY Sports Editor CHRIS MULDROW Graphics Editor LAURA DAY Production Manager JIM GREEN Asst. Production Manager BRIAN McGUIRE Graduate Assistant :r of the University of South Carolina I Friday during the fall and spring y holidays and exam periods, are those of the editors or author and lina. Communications is the publisher of ent Media is its parent organization. AflON-SAYS-AGE-AND-WOPKOUTH 261 i Tau 0tl Their New 1992 vletts Ann Schwartii Moungcr Alex Scott nnc Perry Susan Shelley Plexico Robin Streetm ang Erin Watson er Kroft Sandra Lardi f Romosca Amy Lucas We Love You O ZTJ ruggles to "We need to redouble our efforts to increase inclusiveness in the church...We have seen the re-emergence of hate groups, and I think that's dangerous. Joseph Bethea Methodist Bishop So desperate, in fact, that the t( young Bethea was initially t assigned to four churches in Elkin y and Jonesville and had to preach twice each Sunday. u Within nine years, he was superintendent of the Richmond district, ^ and after three more years, he was j assigned to St. Matthew's in e Greensboro, N.C. q "I consider that to be my finest pastorate," Bethea said. t During his four years at St. j Matthew's, he assisted the church / in relocating and building a new t facility. i "I took that appointment the ^ same week Martin Luther King Jr. r was assassinated," Bethea said. "It was explosive and exciting times in \ Greensboro." I During this time, the Methodist 3 Church was beginning to take steps I toward uniting the black and white < churches, a prospect that did not please many who were accustomed 1 Btt Sunday's Foi Final score contest for 1pi games of the1 Don't Forget... Mond; $500 Give: 711 Saluda Ave. 5 .41 & ^ Plan a future Take your scien< into the Air Force, a officer in the Biome Corps. You'll learn i faster-you'll work w professionals in a qi where your contribi In short, you'll gain that matters most to Air Force. Launch i TOLL FRE 1-800-423-US pha I 1 Pledge Class | Anne Rowland ? ~ig Stephanie Miner ? Karen Condra ? Katherine Flesher ? an Stephanie Huggins Nikki Fitzgerald ? Andrea Bennett ? Missy Davis m M keep civi ), and comfortable with, segregaion. The process of merging, /hich he said began in 1968, did ot culminate in South Carolina ntil 1972. "The Methodist church looked at tie black church as an appendage," lethea said. "The mainline churchs were the keepers of the status |UO." *1* < ? I* #K DCUlCd UCUllS Uiis diuiuut vriuj be increase of the Muslim religion n this country, which many African-Americans viewed as a nore African religion. Bethea said nany blacks believed Christianity vas the religion of the white slavenasters. Bethea said that integration, vhile trying to serve as a response o the call for black power and the growth of Islam, denied the validity of anything not white, middle:lass American. "There were many black institutions that went out of business," fx 5 Pxixtt otball Giveaway 7i, 4pm, and night week. ay Night Football iwayl! Points 256-7733 CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS CLINICAL SOCIAL WORKERS PHARMACISTS that soars, x-related degree nd become an :dical Sciences iiore, you'll grow 'ith other dedicated Liality environment itions are needed, more of everything you. You and the low-can E ;ae ^ ssssssssssssssssssssssss Con 1993 Ashlie Bagwell Jennifer Benjamin Kelly Breyare Jennifer Cannon Blair Clement Therese Coad Angela Coleman Christen Corning Candice Herring Amanda Hill Ashley Hill Susannah Hobbs Jennifer Johnson Julie Johnson Kristen Jurgens ^^^Kristi Knight 5SSSSSSSSSSSS5S5S?s???ee??i forefront Bethea did not know whether he was more disturbed that the African-American man had assumed that if there was a white man in the room that he must be the bishop or that the superinten-! dent did not correct the old man. ' | Bethea said he believes the civil; rights movement has stood still 'or even lost ground. "We need to redouble our efforts to increase inclusiveness in the church," he said, "inclusiveness hi the community, inclusiveness in the workplace and inclusiveness "in society as a whole. We have sebn the re-emergence of hate groups, and I think that's dangerous. "I still have high hopes for this administration," he said. "It's higher than I had for the last two to move us to a more humane society." The Dillon, S.C., native said'he no longer experiences much discrimination. "I don't experience discrimination as much as I might if they (South Carolinians) didn't know who I was," Bethea said, adding that media attention to his attack has increased the level of recognition he receives. 1 rights in Bethea said, "thinking they were no longer needed." It was during this time that Bethea was invited to establish the Black Church Studies program at Duke Divinity School in an effort to attract more African-American seminary students and develop courses. After five years with Duke, Bethea spent nine of the next 12 years as a district superintendent in Rockingham and then Raleigh. In July 1988, he was elected bishop. There are only ten AfricanAmerican bishops of the 113 bishops in the conference. "I was the first AfricanAmerican to serve this merged conference," Bethea said. Acceptance of Bethea as bishop was not always easy, even among African-Americans. Bethea related a story of a visit to a primarily black Methodist church a few years - ago. Bethea was scheduled to visit the church, and, as is customary, he was accompanied by his white district superintendent. There was an elderly, nearly-blind man who seldom attended church, but had come that day because he had never met a bishop. During a dinner following the church service, the man came to the table where the bishop and the superintendent were seated, exclaiming that he must shake the hand of the bishop. "He walked right past me and shook the white superintendent's hand," he said, "and went oui thanking God he had seen a bish i ? op. Compli ACour mmmm m tms in For Ju: Take a mental break for so spaghetti dinner with our $3.95. Or, savor one of c Italian dinner entrees priced fro $4.10 to $5-95^?^ you can eat! ffiW BP Spa^ietti Warehous " 5SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS igratulat aaFFa * fou're the Best Bethea said he is overwhelmed by the expressions of prayer and i concern he has received from around the world. He said he feels the attack has given him a greater appreciation for life and has pro-' vided a sense of commonality with' 1 in his church. ; ; Ironically, it has united bis t church in much the way he had - attempted to unite it throughout die civil rights movement. ite se fefik St S3'5. me comfort food. Enjoy a classic tomato sauce for just e 8 1310 Gadsden Street 256 5252 ions I ledges I Sharon Krumwiede Alison Liebert Susanna Litt Christie Merwarth Melissa Munn Leigh Ann Myers Nicole McCabe Carrie McClure Sarah McComb Kimberly McCorkle Jennifer Pearson Leigh Powers Jennifer Stevenson Felice Toole Leigh Wilkie