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A lesbian couple claims a Church of England vicar refused to baptize a baby after they both insisted on being registered as the mother, according to the UK Telegraph. Aimi, from Gosport, Hants, said: "Rev Gebauer sat there and told us no child could have parents of the same sex, no child could have two mothers. "There was no way one of us was going to be listed as the Godparent. We are both Alfie's mum. "He did all this for about 10 or 15 minutes and was asking us why we want Alfie brought into the church. "I'm baptised...

Rachel Maddow loves this, and of course she would, but as for me . . . know what? It's Saturday. I'm going to let you do the analysis. Scriptural ignorance. Cultural wimpiness. Downright blasphemy. They're giving you lots to work with.

Christine Leigh Heyrman http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/chureng.htm TEACHER SERVE August 2013 Although the Church of England (also known as the Anglican Church, and, today, as the Protestant Episcopal Church) commanded the loyalties of a great many churchgoers in early America, its history has received relatively little treatment from historians-especially compared with the attention lavished on the Puritans. True, the Church of England in the colonies suffered from a sluggish rate of growth and a shortage of clergymen throughout much of the seventeenth century. But in the century before the American Revolution, that communion's fortunes prospered: Anglican churches spread along the length of the...

A Virginia Anglican congregation that traces its founding to the colonial era has announced that they will file an appeal over a property case to the United States Supreme Court. The Falls Church Anglican stated earlier this week their intention to file an appeal over whether they or the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia controls the historic Falls Church property. "Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we achieved a broad degree of unity in our decision to bring these matters forward to the Supreme Court, believing that God has uniquely positioned TFCA to do so," reads an email sent out...

American churches are losing their young people. This trend was evidenced most recently in a 2012 Pew Forum study titled “‘Nones’ on the Rise: One-in-Five Adults Have No Religious Affiliation.” The summary of the 80-page report posits, “The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public—and a third of adults under 30—are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.” Researchers use the label of “nones,” or “religiously unaffiliated,” to clarify that these young people are not falling into hardened agnosticism or...

Coming soon to an American court room near you. Wealthy gay dad, Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, says he and his civil partner Tony will go to court to force churches to host gay weddings. He told the Essex Chronicle that he will take legal action because “I am still not getting what I want”.A Government Bill legalising gay marriage passed Parliament recently but it included measures to protect churches from being forced to perform same-sex weddings.Mr Drewitt-Barlow said: “The only way forward for us now is to make a challenge in the courts against the church.“It is a shame that we...

South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu on Friday said he'd rather go to "the other place" than worship a "homophobic" God, according to BBC News. The Nobel peace laurete's comments came during the Friday launch of "Free & Equal," the United Nation's (UN) first global public education campaign on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. Violence toward these communities is relatively common in South Africa, even though same-sex partnerships have been legalized, said the BBC. An anti-apartheid hero in South Africa, Tutu told listeners in Cape Town: "I am as passionate about this campaign as I ever was about apartheid," reported...

When Father Patrick Allen lay prostrate before the bishop for his diaconate ordination on June 29, Allen’s son, Henry, ran up to join his dad. It was barely a week into Father Patrick Allen’s new ministry when, in the course of taking his two children to activities in his nonreligious clothes, at least five people asked:So, what do you do for a living?Allen smiles graciously, sometimes bringing his hand to his chest in a humble gesture, one that coincidentally shows his wedding band.“This might begin a long conversation,” the James Island father says.“I’m a Catholic priest.”When his daughter, Lucy, goes...

It was not so long ago, in 2008, that Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, welcomed Islam into the United Kingdom. He now speaks of having to adapt further to the growing Muslim population, now numbering two million, with 85 Islamic courts in the UK, where women are unequal to men and remain unprotected from the violence of their fathers and husbands. At least one cleric, Suhaib Hasan, is advocating stoning and amputation (one more adaptation to national acceptance of One Law for All). Apparently, English law has already evolved and adopted some aspects of Sharia law, yet Williams...

Demonstrating the role of Anglican Ordinariates in the new evangelization, baptized Catholics can now join the groups set up for Anglican converts, according to a change in rules made by Pope Francis. Those who were baptized Catholic but have not received Confirmation and First Communion are now allowed to join the ordinariates. Previously, baptized Catholics were not eligible to join the groups unless they had family who were ex-Anglicans. “This confirms the place of the Personal Ordinariates within the mission of the wider Catholic Church, not simply as a jurisdiction for those from the Anglican tradition, but as a contributor...

(Vatican Radio) Caritas Internationalis President Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga has released a statement backing Pope Francis’ call to welcome refugees as our brothers and sisters. Cardinal Maradiaga issued his statement on Monday 8 July, the day in which Pope Francis journeyed to the Island of Lampedusa, the landing point of tens of thousands of migrants trying to reach Europe in hope of a better future. Please find below the full text of the statement issued by Caritas Internationalis: “The Pope’s visit to Lampedusa reminded us of the plight of millions of refugees around the world. Religious leaders and faith based...

Israel is the center of the world “in so many ways,” the archbishop of Canterbury said Thursday in Jerusalem. He stressed Israel’s legitimacy and right to security, and also spoke, in the context of persecution of Christians by Islamists in the Middle East, about the Christian imperative to “love our enemies.” It was his maiden visit to the region since being appointed to one of the highest positions in the Protestant Church. The Most Reverend Justin Welby, who has a Jewish father, is the leader of the Church of England and of 80 million Anglicans worldwide. He was enthroned in...

The church is training ministers to create “a pagan church where Christianity [is] very much in the centre” to attract spiritual believers. Ministers are being trained to create new forms of Anglicanism suitable for people of alternative beliefs as part of a Church of England drive to retain congregation numbers. Reverend Steve Hollinghurst, a researcher and adviser in new religious movements told the BBC: “I would be looking to formulate an exploration of the Christian faith that would be at home in their culture.” He said it would be “almost to create a pagan church where Christianity was very much...

Bishop Ross Bay New Zealand became the 13thcountry to legalise same sex marriage two weeks ago. This week the Anglican Bishop of Auckland is being taken to the Human Rights Tribunal over allegations he is discriminating against a gay man who wants to become a priest. Right Reverend Ross Bay (pictured) has been accused of preventing a gay man entering the Anglican Church's training or discernment programme for priests because he is unmarried and in a sexual relationship with his male partner. Bay denies the allegation. The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he had been signalling his desire to train...

It took me fifty years to find my way home (to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church), though only twenty-three to get pointed in the right general direction. This is my tenth year “inside,” corresponding thus to my sixtieth biological. My question for today: What takes people so long?One begins, naturally, by answering for oneself. But I can’t coherently answer. Starting just after my Christian conversion, then moving forward patiently through memory, I recall many occasions when the idea of being received into the Catholic Church occurred to me. Several of these were somewhat dramatic.But the drama was for...

The Church of England yesterday gave a green light to wedding-style services for couples in civil partnerships despite its official opposition to same-sex marriage.A report from the Church’s doctrine watchdog urged priests to devise “pastoral accommodations” for gay couples” and to be “flexible”. It said the aim was to enable them to enjoy a “closer approximation” to marriage. The senior bishop who drafted the missive to priests insisted that it did not amount to a policy u-turn and that an official ban on formal "blessings" for civil partnerships remained in place. But he said it was clear there was a...

Within moments of Pope Benedict’s announcement that he was abdicating the Chair of St. Peter, secularists began demanding that the College of Cardinals choose a less rigid, more progressive pontiff; in other words, a pope who would repudiate Church teachings on chastity, same-sex “marriage,” divorce, contraception, abortion, and priestly celibacy.Leading the charge was The New York Times, which devoted plenty of front page, above-the-fold space to castigating the Church and Benedict. The op-ed editor published, ad nauseam, the usual tired-old Catholic critics, including Garry Wills and Hans Küng.And the moment secularists realized that Pope Francis is not a South American liberation theologian, but...

What a difference a decade makes. In 2002 the BBC broadcast a documentary on the Virgin Mary characterizing her “as a poor and downtrodden girl, who might have conceived Jesus as a result of being raped.” This Life of Brian view of the birth of Jesus prompted outrage -– letters, editorials, statements from church leaders leaders condemning the broadcast.A documentary broadcast on Good Friday by the BBC entitled “The Mystery of Mary Magdalene” that suggests Mary Magdalene and Jesus were sexual partners has provoked a complaint from a retired bishop but little else. The Telegraph reports: The Rt Rev Michael...

Acts such as showering the Princess’s hearse with flowers show that the public is reverting to a “Catholic” approach to death after centuries of protestant reserve, the Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols suggested. He said that the Princess’s funeral in 1997 marked a watershed in British history and would be remembered as the “end of the Reformation in England”. Catholic practices such as prayers for the souls of the dead and a belief in saints, which were dismissed by protestant reformers in the 16th Century, are now being rediscovered, he said. The recent growth in unofficial roadside...

Bishop Labels Church of England 'Hypocritical’ Over Civil Partnerships The Church of England is facing fresh divisions over same-sex unions. Its leadership has come under attack from one of its own bishops over its refusal to bless homosexual couples. By Edward Malnick 23 Mar 2013 The Bishop of Buckingham, the Rt Rev Dr Alan Wilson, said the Church’s ban on offering blessings for civil partnerships was being flouted by several parishes across Britain. He said this was because some felt the blessings were “logical, natural and compassionate”. His comments come amid tensions within the Church over its opposition to the...