epiScope

Shadow side

Pope's visit is full of potential for non-Catholics
By The Rev. Timothy E. Schenck
Westchester (NY) Journal News
April 18, 2008

He's the closest thing we Christians have to a rock star. With Pope Benedict XVI on American soil and headed to Westchester, complete with ecclesiastical entourage, he will be hard to ignore. And not just because of the road closures. Even from a non-Roman Catholic perspective, the pope's visit is a compelling narrative. As The Journal News religion writer Gary Stern wrote in a recent article, the pope transcends denominational lines as a "living embodiment of Christian history."

But there is also a shadow side to the pope's visit for many of us. We can be inspired by his call to compassion and love and generosity of spirit. We can be stirred by his bold and prophetic stance on issues of social and economic justice. We can be encouraged that representatives from Protestant and Orthodox denominations will take part in an ecumenical prayer service with the pope in Manhattan. We can even respect his profound thoughtfulness and theological reflection on points of Catholic doctrine with which we disagree. We just can't share Communion with him. The spiritual arrogance of the "one true church" doctrine divides us one from another at God's altar. And that's a painful reminder of just how far we have to go to achieve any semblance of Christian unity.

It’s all here …

Connections

Nicholas F. Benton: Obama is Better For ‘Bitter’
by Nicholas F. Benton   
Falls Church News-Press
17 April 2008

What, exactly, is so wrong with Sen. Barack Obama suggesting that struggling, working-class families are susceptible to bitterness?
…
The Washington Post’s newest dissembler, right-wing columnist Michael Gerson, is a man who’s been fixated in his twice-weekly opinions on Obama’s candidacy for a year. With a long arch-conservative pedigree, including stints at Wheaton College and the Heritage Foundation, and as an exaggeration-prone, provocative speechwriter in the Bush White House, Gerson is hardly interested in Obama’s well-being, except as Obama were a slavish puppet of a thinly-disguised so-called “non-partisan agenda.”
...
Gerson is among those arch-conservatives who like the idea of couching their ideas and agendas in racially-diverse contexts, such as by promoting abstention while funding AIDS relief in Africa. He is active with the breakaway group that left the Episcopal Church, U.S.A., in protest of an openly-gay priest being named a bishop. That group is now aligned with the menacing Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, who argues that gay people belong in jail just for being gay, among other extremist things.

It’s all here …

Conflict avoidance

Bringing up Mommy
By DEBRA-LYNN B. HOOK
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
April 15, 2008

For almost two decades, I scrambled to get my kids in a pew and looking presentable and awake on Sunday mornings.
...
When infighting broke out in the national Episcopal church over the consecration of a gay bishop, the ugly name-calling and self-righteous accusations in the name of God were more than I could reconcile emotionally and spiritually.

And so I quit.

As an adult, I know I'm not alone: The modern American church is undergoing a historic decline in attendance partly because of disillusioned and wounded "refugees" like me. According to the American Church Research Project, regular attendance is down to an unprecedented 18 percent.

It's all here ...

Africa update

Uganda: Bishop Tells Acholi to Leave Camps
Dennis Ojwee
New Vision (Kampala)
24 March 2008

ALL internally displaced people in Acholi should leave the camps and return home, the outgoing Anglican Bishop of Northern Uganda has said, reports Dennis Ojwee.

"I am commanding you the IDPs still clinging to the camps to burn all those grass-thatched huts and go back to your old homes in the villages," said Onono-Onweng. "There is no more war. So, what are you still doing in the camps?"

He was giving an Easter sermon in Gulu town.

It’s all here …

Zimbabwe: Kunonga Resists Anti-State Stance in Zim
OPINION
DR Obediah Mukura Mazombwe
The Herald (Harare)
25 March 2008

"we are not going to have the remains of the pioneers interred in the cloisters trampled upon by the feet of terrorists," said the Dean of the Anglican Cathedral in the then Salisbury. This was in response to a request by the Zimbabwean nationalists to hold a thanksgiving prayer at the cathedral following the end of the war of independence.

Yet the same Anglican Church had previously, at its mission stations in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, nurtured and encouraged young upcoming nationalists, some of whom later joined the armed struggle and became "terrorists".

Therein lies the duplicity of the attitude of the Anglican Church towards the liberation of Zimbabwe by its indigenous people, and the role it has played in that struggle over the years. In the immediate sense this equivocation is attributable to the personalities and psyches of specific persona in control at a given time and place. It has little to do with the Anglican Christian doctrine per se.

It’s all here …

Nigerian gay leader violently attacked
PlanetOut
March 24, 2008

The leader of a Nigerian gay rights group was violently attacked Thursday while attending a funeral, according to Changing Attitude England, an activist organization.

The man, who was the director of the Port Harcourt chapter of Changing Attitude Nigeria, said a man approached him while the congregation sang a hymn, asking him to speak with him outside. He said he was then attacked with slapping, punching, kicking and spitting by a group of six men.

"While beating me they were shouting, 'You notorious homosexual, you think can run away from us for your notorious group to cause more abomination in our land?'

It’s all here…

Bigger picture

Let's keep the peace in the Anglican family
Lucia Lloyd
Fredericksburg (VA) Free Lance-Star
March 20, 2008

TAPPAHANNOCK--When a gay family member comes out of the closet, relatives often have a wide range of responses. One shrugs and says, "Sure, I've known for years he was gay." Another shouts, "It's wrong! Kick him out of the family!" Others might never have thought that a member of their own family could be gay, but they want to keep family relationships going with as much love as they can.

When the Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop more than four years ago, it got a similar range of responses. The Episcopal Church is the American part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, so it has relatives around the globe. Anglican bishops in places such as Canada have been largely supportive; some African bishops have said the Episcopal Church should be immediately excluded from the Anglican Communion. The majority of the Anglican Communion, however, simply wants to keep the family relationships with the Episcopal Church going with as much love as they can. A new document, the St. Andrew's Draft of the Proposed Anglican Covenant, makes it more likely they will be able to do so.

It’s all here …

Church must adopt new way of thinking
The Rev. William C. Lutz
Elmira (NY) Star Gazette
March 23, 2008

In the past few months, the Elmira area has seen two mainline churches announce that they were closing their buildings. One church merged with another church of their denomination, and the other is still in the discerning process for their future. The reality is that aging congregations and buildings along with declining membership have forced these churches into decisions that have been difficult at best for both their memberships and the community at large.

Like the two previously mentioned churches, Trinity Episcopal Church is confronting the same realities. I believe that the traditional churches of Elmira must think with the bigger picture in mind, because context is everything. The demographics of our area, which are declining and stagnating, are also a part of this bigger picture.

It’s all here …

For the least of these

Toms River should fund its affordable housing, not Lakewood's
By THE REV. JOAN ANDERS and MONSIGNOR SEAN FLYNN
Asbury Park (NJ) Press
March 19, 2008

In December, the Press reported on an agreement between Toms River and Lakewood in which, for $5.8 million, Lakewood would assume part of Toms River's state-mandated affordable housing obligation. Several days later, the Press editorialized that Toms River was using this regional contribution agreement (RCA) "to shirk its affordable housing responsibilities by . . . paying Lakewood $5.8 million to provide them."

In a Jan. 2 op-ed piece in the Press, Jay Lynch, Toms River's township planner, took issue with the characterization of the RCA as an effort by Toms River "to shirk its responsibility." He offered "comments and perspectives" to explain and defend Toms River's affordable housing efforts.

The Clergy and People of Conscience for Workforce Housing in Toms River agree with the Press editorial. The need for workforce housing in Toms River is so obvious as to make the proposed RCA with Lakewood — which would use the money to build a 72-unit complex and rehabilitate 72 others for low- and moderate-income residents — indefensible from an economic, civic and moral perspective. And it also will serve to perpetuate the unfortunate economic and racial segregation that permeates so much of New Jersey and Ocean County.

It’s all here …

Shadows...and fog

'Shadow' of litigation overcasts both houses
Opinion
Fredericksburg (VA) Free-Lance Star
3/18/2008

FAIRFAX--The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia recently completed its Annual Council amid raging controversy over the biblical teachings of the church and vicious litigation. A lot of people are getting hurt in this strife. So I read with interest the press releases and statements in the newspapers and blogs regarding what took place at the DOV Council.

Given what was said and what has been written about a group of churches known as the Anglican District of Virginia, I must spend a moment correcting the record. I must defend the members of ADV, as any shepherd would defend his flock against attack.

It’s all here …and if you'll excuse your editor...

What they're saying

Show Me the Money
by Frank Kirkpatrick
RELIGION IN THE NEWS
Trinity College
Winter 2008, Vol. 10, No. 3

In November 2003, shortly after Gene Robinson was confirmed as the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, the conservative Anglican website Classical Anglican Net News ran an article by a sometime priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh named Stephen Noll entitled “It’s the Property, Stupid!”  Noll, Vice Chancellor of Uganda Christian University in Mukono, Uganda, argued that since many conservative Episcopal parishes had now been recognized by Anglican churches in other countries, the only major outstanding issue was how to retain their property when leaving the Episcopal Church.

Two months later, the Washington Post’s Alan Cooperman turned up the “Chapman Memo,” in which another Pittsburgh priest, Geoff Chapman, outlined a strategy for conservative withdrawal from and eventual replacement of the Episcopal Church. Chapman proposed, among other things, “negotiated property settlements affirming the retention of ownership in the local congregation.” While acknowledging that “recent litigation indicates that the local diocesan authorities hold almost all the cards in property disputes,” he contended that “the political realities are such that American revisionist bishops will be reticent to play ‘hardball’ for a while.”
…
How will the outstanding cases turn out? If history is any guide—and in legal cases it is sometimes a poor one—then the principle of deference to hierarchical authority will generally prevail over local deeds of trust, and most parish property will remain in the hands of the dioceses. Those interested in transferring their allegiance from the Episcopal Church to a diocese of some overseas Anglican province—or in constituting themselves as a new Anglican province of America—will simply have to buy themselves some new properties and build themselves some new places to worship.

It’s all here …

What's a middle-of-the-road Anglican to do?
By CONNIE WOODCOCK
Toronto SUN (Canada)
March 10, 2008

These are tough times for church goers.

Not only do they have to contend with the vast bulk of the population who never go near a church and look on Christians as having two heads, they have to deal with internal division so vitriolic, they're beginning to think they have two heads themselves.

Just ask any Anglican.

The Anglican church of Canada's many problems have been much in the headlines lately as a small number of congregations have voted to leave ostensibly over the issue of same sex marriage, but really because the evangelicals within the church don't want to deal with more liberal views of Christianity itself.

The same struggle is going on in other mainstream churches, but nowhere is the animosity so public as in the Anglican church globally where the division is between the vast majority of Anglicans who live in developing nations and are largely fundamentalists versus the smaller number of Anglicans in western countries like Canada, the U.S. and Australia who are largely more liberal in outlook.

It’s all here …

Fertile religious terrain in U.S.
Impressive data but flawed conclusions
David C. Steinmetz
Orlando (FL) Sentinel
March 9, 2008

The Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life is the latest research institute to tackle the daunting task of mapping the religious terrain of America. Its conclusions, released last week in the first of two detailed reports, rest on impressive data, but are flawed by their failure to understand the nuanced boundaries that exist between and among Christian churches.
…
Denominational labels decline daily in importance as they have become increasingly devoid of meaning. A century ago, a Presbyterian was a Protestant Christian who stressed predestination and the absolute sovereignty of God, while a Methodist rejected predestination and opted for the priority of human freedom.

Today the situation is far more diverse. A conservative Methodist parish may have far more in common with a conservative Episcopalian parish around the corner than with a liberal Methodist parish downtown.

Changing churches in a new city from evangelical Methodist to evangelical Episcopalian may be less a sign of religious "conversion" (or even fickleness) than an example of intense loyalty to one's original vision of Christianity. In each case, the relatively stable mind-set ("evangelical") trumps the relatively unstable brand name ("Methodist").

It’s all here …

Go in Peace, Church Dividers

This Anglican says get lost to anti-gay wing.
By Rafe Mair
The Tyee (Canada)
March 3, 2008
…
When I'm asked what my religion is, I borrow a line from the American wit Will Rogers and say, "I belong to no organized church, I'm an Anglican." This branch of the Mairs became Anglican when my Presbyterian great great grandfather, being one of the first white settlers in New Zealand around 1818, and finding no Presbyterian church, hooked up with an Anglican priest named Henry Williams, with whom he also became a business partner. The two of them brought the first two swarms of honey bees to New Zealand. But I digress.

Time and space don't permit a long discourse on how the new church fared under Catherine's daughter Mary I (otherwise known as "Bloody Mary"). Suffice it to say that the unpleasantness between Church of Englanders and Roman Catholics remains to this day and, indeed, no Catholic can be monarch.

The problems of the Church of England, and of the Anglican Church especially, are now internal and involve doctrine. Specifically, the proper interpretation of the Bible with respect to homosexuals.

It’s all here …and on the opposite side...

Gay marriage is taboo to God
Rev. J. Katungwensi
Daily Monitor (Uganda)
March 3, 2008

The human need of man and woman for each other springs from an original relationship embedded in God's creative act. In Christian teaching, three reasons are given as God given purposes for sex, but I will focus on the first one; that marriage is for procreation of children.

Sex, like some many other good things in this world is sometimes corrupted by being misused by men and women. "Physical appetites" which are used as an end in themselves are being abused and they become dangerous. If alcoholic desires become so great that someone cannot function without it, it means one's legitimate thirst has become a temptation to the sin of drunkenness and in some cases it has become a sickness called alcoholism.

Also sex is good because it involves a welcome responsibility under God. But if it is corrupted by being abused by men on same-sex relationship, it becomes the sin of homosexuality thereby violating the scriptures and the entire Christian Church of which Church of Uganda Bishops were put in charge. For this reason, homosexuality in the Episcopal Church of America is a shame and unheard of in the Anglican Communion. It can’t be tolerated.

It’s all here …

Render unto Caesar

Tax exemptions for churches? Sure, but only on campus
Anchorage (AK) Daily News
March 2nd, 2008

The Alaska Civil Liberties Union wants a state court to toss a 2006 law that exempts church-owned religious teachers' housing from property taxes anywhere in the state.

The court should.

The law was passed in 2006 at the behest of a Republican activist and leader at the Anchorage Baptist Temple. The issue arose when critics complained that too many off-site church-owned properties that house teachers and other employees were being subsidized by the rest of the city's taxpayers.

It’s all here …

Choices

Reverend Carl Reid: A 30-year-old problem
National Post (Canada)
February 20, 2008

In Chapter 16 of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, Jesus tells His disciples that He will be put to death by the chief priests and elders in Jerusalem. This was repugnant to his disciple, Peter, who took hold of Jesus, telling Him that such a thing was not going to happen. Jesus's response? "Get thee behind me Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."

Sometime in the 1990s, Pope John Paul II reminded the Church in the West of the dangers of cafeteria style Christianity -- the idea that "I will choose to believe or accept the things that sit well with my current worldview, and reject the rest, even if they come from the mouth of God Incarnate." While he aimed his comments at Roman Catholics, they resounded in the minds of all orthodox-minded believers, regardless of denominational affiliation.

Was the episode with St. Peter the first example of cafeteria-style Christianity?

It’s all here …

O Canada (cont.)

Breakaway Anglicans asked to hand over keys
Stuart Laidlaw
Toronto Star (Canada)
Feb 20, 2008

Breakaway Anglicans who voted over the weekend to split with the national church over same-sex marriage are being asked to hand over the keys to their church or face legal action to have them removed from the property.

"If they don't turn in the keys, we are planning to go and physically try to take possession of the parishes by showing up and asking them for the keys," Reverend Dr. Richard Jones, secretary of synod for the Anglican church's Niagara diocese, told the Star.

Parishioners at seven churches in Ontario and British Columbia have voted to split from the national church in the past week, including two in the Niagara diocese.

It’s all here …

Clergy at two Anglican churches suspended
Move follows controversial votes on same-sex unions
UNNATI GANDHI
Globe and Mail (Canada)
February 20, 2008

The clergy of two Anglican churches in Ontario have been suspended with pay in the wake of several congregations voting last weekend to put themselves under the authority of a South American archbishop over theological issues that include the blessing of same-sex unions.

The diocese of Niagara yesterday informed St. Hilda's Anglican Church in Oakville and St. George's Anglican Church in Lowville that it was appointing new administrators to the parishes.

Archdeacon Michael Patterson could not be reached for comment, but in an open letter to the parishes, Bishop Michael Bird said both church buildings belong to the diocese, and that new clergy and wardens "loyal to the Anglican Church of Canada" will be placed in the churches.

It’s all here …

Anglican split could spread worldwide
Canadians will not be last to leave: Archbishop
Charles Lewis
National Post
February 20, 2008

The battle taking place inside the Anglican Church of Canada is a microcosm of a larger problem that could see the worldwide Anglican Communion end in division, said the South American archbishop who has been taking dissident churches under his wing.

In the past week, seven Canadian parishes in five dioceses have split from the national church and have put themselves under the authority of Archbishop Gregory Venables, head of the Province of the Southern Cone, which encompasses parts of South America. This week, the Diocese of Niagara in Ontario said it will replace the clergy at its two churches that voted to separate and went on to say that breakaway parishes "are no longer considered officially Anglican." Two ministers in British Columbia have also been suspended.

Archbishop Venables, speaking from Buenos Aires, said he is not happy about the potential for a global division, or what is happening in Canada, but he believes the worldwide Anglican Church has been on this course for more than 100 years, and he is becoming less hopeful for a resolution.

It’s all here …

Parish exodus accelerates Anglican rift
Gay Rites Issue
Zosia Bielski
National Post
February 18, 2008

Seven more parishes voted to officially separate from the Anglican Church of Canada this weekend, widening a rupture that opened in June after the national Church decided to support same-sex blessings.

In Ontario, St. Hilda's in Oakville and St. George's in Lowville voted decidedly to leave over the issue. In a much closer vote, the small Toronto parish of St. Chad's also voted to break off.

Two parishes in Abbotsford, B.C., voted to leave: the small Holy Cross parish and the larger St. Matthews. On Saturday, St Alban's Ottawa parish also voted to separate.

It’s all here …

It’s time to return to the fold
Susan Martinuk
Opinion
National Post
February 19, 2008

Last week, Vancouver's St. John's Shaughnessy, the largest Anglican congregation in the country, overwhelmingly voted to separate itself from the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC).

Since then, seven congregations across Canada have followed its lead. Another 10 opted out long ago and are considering their options. For many others, the "what to do" conversations are just beginning.

Conservative Anglicans are taking this drastic step to separate themselves from a national Church that has increasingly rejected Biblical teachings and core Anglican doctrine. The last straw was when the Church began to bless same-sex unions in 2002.

It’s all here …

Four choose to remain in ACPC
By Cait McIntyre
The News

STELLARTON – St. George's Church in New Glasgow is ready to break free from the Anglican Churches of Pictou County.

Meanwhile, the four other churches of the ACPC have all voted to remain with the group.
Dave Harrison, the senior warden at Christ Anglican Church in Stellarton and the chairman of the ACPC, says the remaining churches can survive without St. George's.

Part of the reason, he says, is that the ACPC used to operate with two priests, Rev. Peter Armstrong and Rev. Kathy Laskey. Rev. Laskey left last fall, but Harrison says one priest can oversee the remaining four churches without conflict.

It’s all here …

Consequences in Connecticut

Church Must Live With Consequences
David G. Haines
Hartford (CT) Courant
January 26, 2008

I am truly sorry that the people of Bishop Seabury Episcopal Church in Groton decided to sever their 132-year ties with the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut [Page 1, Jan. 21, "Church Faces Hard Road After Split"].

They are upset about the direction the Episcopal Church is being led by the national church, the issues of homosexual clergy and the election of a gay bishop in 2003.

They have a right to a contrary position. However, the Seabury community was also well aware of the consequences of their actions and there are now hard feelings about the notice to vacate the church building.

It’s all here …

The way things work

epiScope's raison d'etre is news coverage, although your editor reserves the right to point to anything that will assist reporters and observers in getting the story right the first time. Occasionally, though, elsewhere in cyberspace is something that clarifies everything at the metalevel...like this essay from Bishop Alan Wilson, area bishop of Buckingham in the UK...

Ten Rules for cooking up a Gay Schism
Wednesday, 23 January 2008

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Are we wobbling off piste? Reporting the same Lambeth Conference launch, Riazat Butt in the Guardian concludes “Gay Climate of controversy clouds Anglican gathering” whilst, probably more accurately, Ruth Gledhill of the Times reports “Sexuality will barely be on the Lambeth Conference agenda.” The blue train is wobbling on the tracks, friends. Entirely as an exercise in communications studies (and not theology, you understand) may I humbly propose a facetious little something to help keep this thing rolling, along the lines of Fr Ronald Knox's Ten Rules for Writing Detective Fiction?

It’s all here …h/t Thinking Anglicans...

Face to faith

The Church of England's gay crisis makes clear that that liberal Anglicanism is finished
Theo Hobson
January 19, 2008
Guardian Unlimited

This year Anglicanism will define itself with new clarity - the once-a-decade Lambeth conference will confirm the anti-liberal mood of the last five years. The humiliation of liberal Anglicanism will be complete. Its demand for equality for homosexuals has been thrown out in the most decisive possible way.

I think it's time to admit that the tradition of liberal Anglicanism is finished. Those Anglicans who carry on calling for an "inclusive church" are relics of a previous era. They should face the fact that the religious landscape has changed utterly. Liberal Anglicanism has become oxymoronic. For the first time this church has defined itself in opposition to liberalism, taking a decisively reactionary stance on a crucial moral issue.

An institution that discriminates against homosexuals is without moral credibility - and moral credibility is rather important in religion. Furthermore, it contravenes the spirit of Jesus's teaching. His commandment "Judge not" could almost have been invented for the problem of homosexuality, which most straight people find challenging on some level, but must learn not to condemn. Tolerance seems the only moral response, and a rule against gay priests obviously falls short of tolerance. It institutionalises prejudice.

It’s all here …

New normal

Online Worship?: Alternative online communities speak out about science, creationism and Intelligent Design
By Hilary Matheson
Freeport (IL) Journal Standard
January 18, 2008

There are many reasons why science and faith conflict, as well as creationism and evolution. Dissenters often have few places to share their beliefs, which is why many go to the Internet.

The Internet has provided a free forum to many who might not have otherwise found an outlet to voice their alternative ideas within their own communities.
…
Maryann Hill, pastor at Grace Episcopal Church in Freeport, said it probably would not be a good idea to teach creationism in the classroom because of separation of church and state and that the Bible doesn't need to be taken literally.

"We believe that God created the world, but we don't have to believe it was seven, twenty-four hour days, at least not at my church," Hill said.

It’s all here …

Chandler: Embracing change as the new normalcy
By The Rev. Susan Esco Chandler/Thinking Aloud
Amesbury (MA) News
Jan 17, 2008

There’s a lot of talk about change right now. And I do believe that our era is a turning point. What shaped past centuries is yielding to a new set of impulses and perspectives.

Many believe there is no parallel for the change happening in the 21st century. For one thing, the tempo is faster and it is occurring on a global scale. Even more, change is happening in less predictable ways.

Throughout history, civilizations considered continuity to be the norm. The overriding, fresh fact of history is living with constant, radical change. No society has had to live with such sweeping, pervasive change. And the pace is not going to cease. People won’t be able to say, “Is the change over? Is it time to stop?” We will have to come to the understanding that change will be a continuous process, even the new normalcy.

It’s all here …

Two views from San Joaquin

Submitting to a greater authority
Community Voices
Bakersfield (CA) Californian
Jan 7 2008

When I was preparing for my recent wedding at the former St. James Episcopal Cathedral, I had to search through a trunk full of old documents to discover the exact date of my baptism.

To my surprise, I found the yellowed bulletin from St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Rockport, Mass., recording my baptism on Nov. 11, 1973.

In light of my diocese's decision to leave the Episcopal Church in December, I find it ironic that the cover of the old bulletin proclaims: "This is the will of God: that you abstain from immorality."

It’s all here …

Church remains open to everyone
Jan 7 2008

"The Episcopal Church Welcomes You." This sign is a heartwarming reminder throughout the nation of a denomination called to Gospel mission.

It well represents a church that embraces people of different backgrounds and theological approaches who worship and pray together. Since we "see through a glass darkly" as humans, I hope we can continue to labor for the Gospel with fraternal affection, whatever denominational arrangement prevails.

The Episcopal Church is a multinational body that is unusual even compared to the 39 other Anglican provinces. Most Anglican provinces have remained more authoritarian, while the Episcopal Church has followed our country in becoming quite democratic, such as in creating a very important role for lay leadership. This structure does occasionally create situations that are difficult for those outside our province to understand. Not being a theologian, I can only say that the Holy Spirit seems as likely to move through a democratic process as an authoritarian one.

It’s all here …

Separatists

Va. Diocese opens $2 million line of credit
By Julia Duin
Washington Times
January 8, 2008

The Diocese of Virginia, embroiled in the largest property dispute in the history of the Episcopal Church, is taking out a $2 million line of credit to finance lawsuits against 11 churches that left the denomination a year ago.

The announcement, made in the pages of this month's Virginia Episcopalian, is the latest in a series of legal battles that is draining the Episcopal Church of millions of dollars. The denomination has filed lawsuits in at least 12 states against churches leaving over disputes on biblical authority and the 2003 election of New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who lives with a homosexual lover.

The diocese says it will sell off "non-strategic" diocesan properties to raise the money needed to win back $30 million to $40 million worth of real estate and assets.

It’s all here …

Diocese bishop saddened by split
By Doug Davis
Murfreesboro (TN) Daily News Journal
1/8/2008

The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee is saddened by news that the priest and the majority of Holy Cross Church members have left the diocese to form Faith Anglican Fellowship in Murfreesboro.

"I am very sad about it," said the Right Rev. John Bauerschmidt, bishop of Tennessee. "It's a terrible thing when people separate themselves from the church."

Citing differences with the direction the national Episcopal Church is headed on issues such as church doctrine, interpretation of the Bible and homosexual priests, the Rev. Frederick Richardson and five church council members submitted their resignations to Bauerschmidt.

It’s all here …

Courageous schism
Opinion
Waterbury (CT) Republican American
1/8/2008

The history of the Christianity is replete with separations arising from doctrinal disputes. The Protestant Reformation challenging Roman Catholic teachings ultimately gave rise to the Lutherans, Presbyterians, Calvinists and Anglicans.

The Pilgrims' differences with the Anglican Church of England drove them to seek religious freedom on these shores. They coexisted in Colonial America with the Puritans who were faithful to the Anglican Communion; eventually, some Puritans who broke with the Church of England over theological differences organized the Episcopal Church.

It’s all here … but talk about “revisionist”! Where was the editorial writer when the rest of the class was learning American history—especially the part about the Puritans (who morphed into the Congregationalists, now the United Church of Christ)? No surprise that this piece veers into fantasy fiction from there on…

Over the top in Cowtown

We've received the following communication from the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.

Ad Clerum: A Comment from the Standing Committee
To the Clergy and 2007 Convention Delegates,

The members of your Standing Committee thought you should be aware of this.

The Presiding Bishop has done something which defies explanation. This is the Christmas card she sent to Bishop Iker and presumably other TEC bishops. Given the increasing polarization in TEC (and the Anglican Communion) today, the only reason we can see for her to make this choice is that she is only interested in pushing the polarization just that much further.

The Presiding Bishop is an intelligent woman, so this re-interpretation of Scripture to exclude masculine images must be intentional. This card illustrates in many ways the core problem of the General Convention Church. Scripture cannot be made to conform to us, we must conform our lives and our faith to Scripture. We will continue to stand for the traditional expression of the Faith.

The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth

The light of knowledge

Anglicans need deep learning not cheap victory
By Savi Hensman
Ekklesia
18 Dec 2007

‘Anyone of discretion acts by the light of knowledge,’ wrote the ancient author of Proverbs. Many people of faith highly value study and work diligently to deepen their understanding, in a spirit of humility and compassion. However others are less open, either because they are supremely confident that their own views are superior to any alternatives or because they fear that too much questioning will undermine faith or offend the Almighty. They may indeed undertake some learning, but within tightly restricted boundaries. Some even try to silence or expel dissenters.

Current tensions among Anglicans to some extent reflect these differences of approach. Until quite recently in this denomination, the quest for knowledge tended to be rated highly. Even if there was vigorous disagreement on particular matters, there was some measure of trust that the church, if open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, would be led towards truth and justice. Yet some leaders now not only refuse to consider scholarship which does not conform to their own perspective but also demand the right to prohibit others from acting on the fruits of study.

This is a sharp break with mainstream Anglicanism.

It’s all here …

To take a stand

Fresno Episcopal diocese splits from church
by Seth Hemmelgarn
The Bay Area Reporter
20 December 2007

Rebelling against the national Episcopal Church's support of gays, lesbians, and women, members of the Episcopalian Diocese of San Joaquin voted December 8 in Fresno to split from the national church.

The overwhelming 173-22 vote marks the first time an entire diocese has broken off from the national church. The results, by orders were: 70-12 clergy and 103-10 of laypersons. The diocese, which consists of about 9,000 members in 47 churches, encompasses a 14-county area in the Central Valley.

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One-sided reporting in Episcopal split
Opinion
Modesto (CA) Bee
December 20, 2007

Recent articles in The Bee discussed quite fully the views of those who have chosen to separate from the national Episcopal Church and align with the Southern Cone and, quite frankly, gave no account of the views and feelings of those in the Diocese of San Joaquin who disagree. I read the articles with sadness and chagrin, feeling the views presented were a distortion of the mission of the Episcopal Church in the United States and in this diocese. A number of us love the Episcopal Church and are proud of its 400-year heritage in America. Voice should be given to us, too.

It’s all here …

Katharine Jefferts Schori for President
She's among our most committed allies in the battle for LGBT inclusion and equality -- and she happens to wear a clerical collar.
By Teresa Morrison
The Advocate
December 19, 2007

It used to be that the gays merely caused popular disgust. Then in the Bush-Cheney era -- made possible by the Republicans’ ability to capitalize on our potential to incite the aforementioned popular disgust -- Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and their conservative Christian minions blamed us in quick succession for 9/11, the Southeast Asian tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the U.S. military’s mounting death toll in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Accustomed as we are to being fingered by religious leaders for all manner of secular cataclysm, it seems an extraordinary turnabout that now, even as we figure prominently in an ecclesiastical crisis, Episcopal leaders, far from ringing us up for the damages, either downplay our role in the fight or stand up for our honor.

It’s all here …

Gay marriage panel hears from supporters
By DANIEL BARLOW
Rutland (VT) Herald
December 20, 2007

MONTPELIER — A packed room of eager gay marriage supporters came out to testify Tuesday night as a Vermont Legislature-backed commission considering expanding marriage rights held its first public hearing in the state capital.
…
[Rt.] Rev. Thomas Ely, the bishop of Episcopal Diocese in Burlington, talked about the disagreement within his church over same-sex rights, adding that "although we are not of one mind on this," he personally supports same-sex marriage.

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Not so long ago

Readers react to Episcopal schism
By Michael Fitzgerald
Stockton (CA) Record
December 17, 2007

A column lamenting the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin's fateful decision to leave the U.S. church because it abhors gay rights brought mail ranging from sad to self-righteous.

» Lois Corbett: "I am the daughter of an Episcopal priest. ... God made us all. How can a band of bigoted, prejudiced people condemn what God has set out? And that's just exactly what they're doing. My father, were he alive today, would feel very similar to me."

» Carol Johnson: "Christians are standing up for God's word, and pastors are trying to lead their churches in the way of the Lord, not the way of the world, and we are the MOST discriminated people in the world today. But you are wrong to attack anyone who says the Bible is against homosexuality."

It's all here …

Strong opinions

Anglicans to worship or disco?
BAME PIET
Mmegi Online (Botswana)
December 15, 2007

Some members of the Anglican Church of Botswana could celebrate Christmas in court or at disco bars holding parties following the sacking of their priests.

They would either have no priest to lead them into the celebrations, or the available one may not be their favourite.

The sacking of seven priests has left the church in disarray with some members threatening to form their own congregations.

Among the disappointed is the Molepolole congregation whose priest, it is alleged, was fired for enquiring about certain church activities and financial transactions.

It’s all here …

Opinion: Sentamu’s theatre of the absurd
By Stephen T. Maimbodei
Zimbabwe Herald
December 15, 2007

CHIPEMBENENE kupinda munzeve yemwana, Changa chawaridza bonde kare kare, Wagara wakazvironga iwe, Wagara wakapurana kare, Oliver Mtukudzi’s yesteryear hit song seems to be an apt commentary on the Rt Reverend Archbishop John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu’s theatrical grandstanding gesture on the British Broadcasting Corporation.

At best, Sentamu’s mutilation of his dog collar can be described as the theatre of the absurd.

Unfortunately as Africa makes inroads in its relationship with Europe, it still has to deal with "house niggers" like Sentamu who hide behind a dog collar to mask their shameless actions.

It’s all here ...

Say what?

Zimbabwe: Shame On You, Sentamu
The Herald (Harare)
OPINION
12 December 2007
Joseph Chiteza
Harare

UGANDAN-TURNED-BRITON, John Sentamu, the Anglican Archbishop of York, who cut his dog collar live on BBC claiming he would only wear it if President Mugabe is no longer President of Zimbabwe is a foolish and idiotic African.

He has an identity crisis.

He is not Zimbabwean and has no right to speak on behalf of Zimbabweans because that is a very unAfrican practice - interference.

It's all here …

...and views

What would Jesus rue?
By Michael Fitzgerald
San Joaquin Record
December 09, 2007

The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin voted Saturday to split from the main U.S. church because it ordains gay priests. Homosexuals being an "abomination."

Thank Leviticus, undoubtedly one of the scriptures in the Bible that inspired the revolt of San Joaquin Bishop John-David Schofield of Fresno and his conservative flock.

Leviticus, calling homosexuality an "abomination;" Paul's letter to the Romans calling it a "perversion;" the cautionary story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

It's all here …

Staying true to the Scripture
San Joaquin Record
December 09, 2007

St. Vincent of Lerins, in 434 A.D., devised a method for evaluating truth claims in the Christian church.

He believed truth begins and ends with holy Scripture. Even in the fifth century, everyone didn't agree on what holy writ said or meant.

He wrote about what is taught everywhere, what has always been taught and what everyone teaches.

It's all here …

Matters of opinion

Far from madding crowd and fascism of function
Giles Fraser
The Guardian (UK)
November 29, 2007

The headlines were grabbed by the Archbishop of Canterbury's attack upon US foreign policy. But the deeper point, widely missed, was his attack upon Western modernity in general. "There is something about Western modernity which really does eat away at the soul," Dr Rowan Williams insisted in his interview with the Muslim magazine Emel. And his argument was simple: our brand of modernity turns people into things defined by their function. All too often we are what we do.

This was the sort of thing that used to be said by Marxists back when they were a more potent cultural force. In the world of efficiency savings, productivity and league tables, human beings are more and more treated as tools in some vast machine-like system. We all too easily cede our humanity to the impersonal workings of the day-to-day routine.

Which is why for the archbishop, as for a great many religious leaders, the key battleground is time. He wants us to slow things down, to resist the frantic fascism of the diary. He calls on us to fight back with a battery of practices: art, prayer, holidays. Not art to make us more sophisticated, not prayer to lobby God, not holidays to get us ready for yet more work - for all this is to render them in overly functional terms, as if they always must have some further purpose. Rather, we must learn from our children and, specifically, from their play: something that is both joyous and yet wholly without deeper purpose.

It’s all here …

God and country: What it means to be a Christian after George W. Bush
Charles Marsh
The Boston (MA) Globe
11/27/07

EARLY ONE SUNDAY morning in the spring of 2003, in the quiet hours before services would begin at the evangelical church where I worship in Charlottesville, Virginia, I opened files compiled by my research assistant and read the statements drafted by Christians around the world in opposition to the American invasion of Iraq.

The experience was profoundly moving and shaming: From Pentecostals in Brazil to the Christian Councils of Ghana, from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East to the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, from Pope John Paul II to the The Waldensian Reformed Church of Italy and the Christian Conference of Asia, the voices of our brothers and sisters in the global ecumenical church spoke in unison.

Why did American evangelicals not pause for a moment in the rush to war to consider the near-unanimous disapproval of the global Christian community? The worldwide Christian opposition seems to me the most neglected story related to the religious debate about Iraq: Despite approval for the president's decision to go to war by 87 percent of white evangelicals in April 2003, according to a Pew Charitable Trusts poll, almost every Christian leader in the world (and almost every nonevangelical leader in the United States) voiced opposition to the war.

It’s all here …

++Williams “just too damn Christian”

Offending his audience
The Archbishop of Canterbury was right to attack American imperialism - but wrong to think he could get away with it
Andrew Brown
The Guardian (UK)
November 27, 2007

Very early in his tenure, Rowan Williams, or his advisers, concluded that the press was an enemy. He has remained friendly with individual journalists, but he talks to the press in public and on the record as little as he can. Even so, he can't quite rid himself of the belief that somewhere out there he will find a sympathetic interviewer with whom he can talk without being overheard by malevolent idiots, and in Sarah Joseph, from the Muslim magazine Emel, he seems to have thought he had found one.

I don't mean she was out to shaft him. It's obvious from the interview that she admired and was charmed by him. But this led him to talk to her as if she had no readers, whereas in the modern world it is certain that anything any public figure says will be read - and spun - by their enemies; and Rowan has plenty of those.

To say that the British Empire was a better model of imperialism than what the Americans have done in Iraq is absolutely guaranteed to offend almost everyone in the US, whether or not they oppose the war. It is a remark made more forgivable because it's something that almost everyone in Britain has thought. In context, there is nothing to argue with about what he said: to smash the country up and then abandon it is "the worst of all possible worlds." This was the conventional wisdom even among the liberal hawks before the war started. It is horrible bad luck on Rowan that the one time he says something that could command wide support, it is presented as a gaffe; but it is luck he has made for himself.

It’s all here …

Crises of faith

Uganda: Gay, Clergy Clash At People's Space
Josephine Maseruka
New Vision (Kampala)
23 November 2007

PEOPLE advocating for the rights of homosexuals and those against the practice are using the People's Space at Hotel Africana in Kampala to air out their views. Drama ensued on Thursday when the Catholic and Anglican clergymen, who were condemning gays, sat next to pro-gay people who were watching a film on homosexuality.

The film, which attracted several youth, showcased the various countries which have embraced gays, particularly Egypt.

As homosexuals and lesbians gave testimonies on how they were attracted to each other in the movie, the clergy were addressing a press conference to express their disappointment at Commonwealth member-states that were advocating for gay rights.

Whereas the youth mischievously cheered at the gays' testimonies in the film, the clergy were defending the Church's stand on what they referred to as 'evil and unnatural behaviour.'

It’s all here …

Turks accused of killing Christians go on trial
Three died in brutal attack during Bible study group
Case begins amid growing intolerance to minorities
Helena Smith
The Guardian (UK)
November 24, 2007

Seven months after a German and two Turks were murdered in a Bible publishing house in eastern Turkey, the five men accused of the crime filed into court yesterday for their long-awaited trial.

The case is seen as a test of how the country will handle mounting intolerance towards non-Muslim minorities. It began at a time of draconian security and heightened nationalist fervour after attacks by Kurdish separatists.

The members of a Protestant missionary group were killed during a Bible study class in Malatya on April 18. Their attackers tied the men to their chairs, targeting Tilmann Geske, a German father of three, before turning to Pastor Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel. By the time police arrived, the Turkish converts had been virtually decapitated, with their buttocks, testicles, stomachs and backs repeatedly stabbed, their fingers sliced and throats slashed from ear-to-ear. The accused, all between 19 and 20, allegedly filmed clips on their mobile phones.

It’s all here …

Hindu, Episcopal divides continue
By SUE NOWICKI
The Modesto (CA) Bee
November 23, 2007

While an officer in the British army, John Bowker was sent to control a riot over a donkey between religious factions in a northern Nigerian marketplace.

"I did everything by the book," Bowker said. "You had to blow a trumpet, you had to have an interpreter, you had to say, 'Go home,' three times or, 'I'll fire.' "

It was no use. The crowd could not be calmed and soon pulled the donkey limb from limb. While witnessing the spectacle, Bowker had an epiphany.

"I suddenly realized I wanted to understand why religious people hated each other so much," he says. His career has included Anglican priesthood and editing The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. He also has written several books, including "Licenced Insanities: Religions and Belief in God in the Contemporary World."

"My answer is that religions are so dangerous because they matter so much," he said.

It’s all here …

Pluralism is part of gift from creator
Youngstown  (OH) Vindicator
November 24, 2007

Pilgrim Governor William Bradford of the Plymouth Colony surely did not intend a pluralist feast when he proclaimed a three-day Thanksgiving celebration in October 1621.

Nonetheless, that first Thanksgiving brought together the 50 (of 102) Mayflower Pilgrims who survived their first year in America and 90 or so Wampanoag Indians. The celebration was built on a relationship with the Indians that had begun only in March. The Wampanoags outnumbered the Pilgrims nearly 2 to 1. They enhanced the feast with their abundant food, including four wild turkeys and pumpkins, but probably not with their faith.

Whatever Gov. Bradford's intent, the first Thanksgiving was in fact a pluralistic celebration. The Wampanoags were not Christian. They were one of numerous tribes in the Plymouth Bay area (Massachusetts, Punkapogs, Narragansetts, Nipmicks, and others) belonging to the Algonquin language group that stretched from Canada to South Carolina and as far west as today's Wisconsin.

It’s all here …

CARY MCMULLEN: Even religion reporters have crises of faith
Tuscaloosa (AL) News
November 24, 2007

One of the stereotypes of popular fiction is the hardboiled, cynical reporter. He’s seen it all, heard it all, nothing surprises him or gets to him.

Stereotypes have at least one foot in the truth. If you report on enough crimes or hang around city hall long enough, it certainly can foster a jaded view of human nature, although very few of my colleagues over the years fit the stereotype. Even the tough ones have had soft spots.

That’s true, too, for my fellow religion reporters. We are affected by what we write about. So my attention was caught by a recent report that for the second time within the past four months, a religion reporter for a major newspaper had not only left the beat, he had given up his faith as well.

It’s all here …

Progressive

Leader of St. Francis worked to be 'inclusive, progressive, liberal'
By Kerry Wills
Stamford (CT) Advocate
November 23 2007

STAMFORD - After nearly 30 years as pastor of St. Francis Episcopal Church in North Stamford, the Rev. Richard Mayberry retired Sunday.

Mayberry, 62, led the congregation to be a model for inclusive church practices, hiring female priests decades before they were widely accepted and, in 2000, adding a Lutheran minister to the staff. A series of forums this fall invited congregants to voice their views on gay unions and marriage.

The church's motto is "Inclusive: Because Diversity was God's Idea."

It’s all here…

Susan Carter: To society, just one key question: 'Ain't I a human?'
Sojourner Truth's challenge still applicable today
Lansing (MI) State Journal
November 23, 2007

In November 2003, V. Gene Robinson was consecrated bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, having been elected by church members to serve as their spiritual leader. The election left the worldwide Anglican Communion divided over the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop; in the U.S. four dioceses have begun the process of leaving the national church.

The question has been four-square in the news. Members of many faiths, often facing their own questions about gay clergy, are carefully watching the issue in the Episcopal Church.

As a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church who is gay, and a postulant for ordination to the priesthood, I was struck by Sojourner Truth's call for justice. She has inspired my perspective on efforts to diminish others.

"Ain't I a woman?"

It’s all here …

Progress

Home for the holidays takes on new meaning
Gulfport (MS) Sun-Herald
Nov. 23, 2007

It's looking good. It's looking really, really good.

My church's rebuilding is coming along well. Every morning when a friend and I walk, I get to see a little more of what's going on at St. Peter's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church's beachfront site.

For the past two years, we've jokingly called ourselves St. Peter's in-the-Sea. Bishop Duncan Gray calls us St. Peter's by-K-Mart because the kind folks at Handsboro Presbyterian Church are letting us borrow their building when they're not using it.

It’s all here …

Opinionated

Guerry: Litigating Christ Church mess is a lose-lose proposition
Opinion | Editorial
Herbert Guerry
Savannah (GA) Morning News
November 21, 2007

Just when I was about to commend our Episcopal Bishop of Georgia for his moderate stance in agreeing that our orthodox friends over at Christ Church continue to hold services on the property during the dispute over its ownership, I read that, contrary to Biblical warnings against Christians going to court with fellow Christians, he has decided to litigate his differences with Christ Church.

His initial position was especially to be commended because The Episcopal Church's (TEC's) Presiding Bishop and other radical TEC bishops have been quick to urge the very strongest measures against those parishes that leave TEC.

It's all here ......and as you read, remember what Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously remarked: "You’re entitled to your own opinions. You’re not entitled to your own facts."

Why religion doesn’t have a monopoly on morality
RUTH WISHART
The Herald (UK)
November 21 2007

Let us take our text this morning from the Most Reverend John Sentamu, the charismatic Archbishop of York. Speaking in the Lords debate on the latest Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, he said this: "Now the law is regarded purely as an instrument of regulating our personal affairs completely separate from morality and religion."

The Anglican Archbishop, in common with leading Roman Catholics and more-fundamentally-inclined Presbyterians such as former Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay, has been leading the charge against this Bill principally because it acknowledges the right of same-sex couples to have and raise test-tube babies. Note his phrase "completely separate from morality and religion".

In the first instance you might find it strange that within a constitutional tradition where church and state are rightly separate, he should expect that religious belief should determine legislation. But I would take further issue with John Sentamu, who in many other regards has been a welcome breath of unstuffy air blowing through the church establishment. Because his statement also implies that morality and religion are one and indivisible; that there cannot, in essence, be any meaningful secular morality, only that rooted in faith and belief and subject to the supposed will of his God.

It's all here ...

Boundary issues

Falling off the fence
Andrew Brown
The Guardian (UK)
November 17, 2007

If you balance your episcopal throne on the fence, you will look rather silly when the fence is knocked down. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams looks silly all right as he contemplates the collapse of the boundaries that structured the Anglican communion, the group of notionally 80 million (actually, perhaps 50 million) Christians that he notionally leads and actually just exhorts, like a rugby referee without a whistle whom the scrum ignores. But looking silly is not his most serious problem.

Two statements