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Persuading Western Muslim leaders to repudiate Shari'a-sanctioned violence against apostates can be a frustrating exercise, as Prince Charles discovered in 2004. Troubled by the treatment of Muslims who convert to Christianity in Islamic nations, the prince convened a summit of senior figures from both religious communities. It ended in disappointment. The Islamic representatives failed to issue a declaration condemning the practice, which the Christians had requested; they also cautioned non-Muslims not to discuss such matters in public, arguing that moderates would be more likely to make progress if the debate were kept internal. Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, the outspoken Anglican prelate...

James Tramel went from convicted murderer to priest while in prison, a transformation that the Episcopal Church used to successfully lobby for his parole and celebrate him before politicians and the press. But the church is now grappling with the sexual abuse of a parishioner under his care. Tramel has been suspended for sexual misconduct, temporarily stripped of his priestly authority and left searching for a new job. The San Francisco-based Episcopal Diocese of California now faces questions of whether, in its haste to proclaim Tramel's story, it redeemed and promoted him too quickly. Convicted of second-degree murder in a...

I can't decide if Gene Robinson should be made an honorary member of Herman's Hermits (second verse same as the first) or just be named Crybaby of the Decade. Sure does a lot of book tours for someone who wants to just be a simple country bishop. Can't you just hear the heavy sigh? Robinson is in London to promote his new book, In The Eye of the Storm. It is a spiritual memoir aimed, he says, at showing that he is more than "a one issue guy". The last of its five sections, however, sets a course for the...

No joke: NYC couple wed by Kathy Griffin Mon Mar 10, 7:44 AM ET She has been a sitcom character, a sometime talk show host and the centerpiece of her own reality show. Now Kathy Griffin has appeared in an unlikely new role — minister. The often provocative comedian — who raised some Christian groups' hackles by joking about Jesus while accepting an Emmy Award last September — became ordained through an online church to officiate Saturday at the New York wedding of two fans, Brian Anstey and Elka Shapiro. "The request came in, and how could I say no?"...

To speak very generally, there are two kinds of left apostate: there are those who break with the left in order to move elsewhere (usually to the right, though not always) and there are those who repudiate certain beliefs or modes of thinking within the left in order to strengthen other competing traditions within the left, which they see as more authentic and valuable. Among the former, one can instance Norman Podhoretz, David Horowitz, Paul Johnson and, more recently, Christopher Hitchens. Among the latter, Rosa Luxemburg, Victor Serge, Arthur Koestler, C.L.R. James, and George Orwell are prominent. Since the terror...

Former Episcopal Priest Explores Christianity and Druidry in New Novel http://www.bloggernews.net/112455 December 17th, 2007 by suzanne evans On March 22nd 2005, The Rev Walter William Melnyk was forced out of the priesthood of the US Episcopal Church after facing charges of “holding private opinions inconsistent with the teachings of the Church.” This allegation, effectively a heresy charge, ended his 23 year-strong vocation as a priest, even though his only transgression was to look into Celtic Christianity and its connection with pre-Christian Druidry. Now, Walter William Melnyk has delved further into those links in a new novel written with Druid priestess...

US Episcopal report highlights concerns over church attendance drop http://www.christiantoday.com/article/us.episcopal.report.highlights.concerns.over.church.attendance.drop/15084.htm http://tinyurl.com/3d37yq by Lillian Kwon, Christian Today US Correspondent Posted: Saturday, December 1, 2007, 12:26 (GMT) An Episcopal Church committee has released an interim report that reveals positive trends as well as concerns in declining membership and church conflicts. In a brief assessment of facts and trends in the Episcopal Church, the 'State of the Church' report – issued by the House of Deputies Committee in November – indicated the need for a "plan for action" at all levels of the denomination in response to membership drops. In 2006, the number...

Jim McGreevey to begin Episcopal seminary classes http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2007/09/01/2007-09-01_jim_mcgreevey_to_begin_episcopal_seminar.html http://tinyurl.com/2p469w BY CHRISTINA BOYLE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Saturday, September 1st 2007, 4:00 AM Jim McGreevey, the nation's first openly gay governor, is returning to the classroom Tuesday as a seminary student. The former New Jersey governor will begin full-time studies at the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in Chelsea, where he will pursue a three-year Master of Divinity program. McGreevey, 50, switched denominations from Roman Catholic to Episcopalian earlier this year and has expressed an interest in becoming a priest. "I hope that Jim McGreevey finds some contentment and...

The Episcopal Diocese of Chicago included an openly lesbian priest among five nominees for bishop Tuesday, as fellow Anglicans demand that the church bar gay bishops. The Rev. Tracey Lind, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, who has a female partner, will be on the November 10 ballot. If she wins, she would be the second bishop living with a same-sex partner in the Episcopal Church. New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson, who has a male partner, was consecrated in 2003, pushing the world Anglican Communion to the brink of schism.

Porn star now seeks priesthood instead http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2007/07/15/2003369673 http://tinyurl.com/2wv9qm NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE, OAK PARK, CALIFORNIA Sunday, Jul 15, 2007, Page 7 Some people have their midlife crisis in reverse, like Ronald Boyer, who for most of his professional life has been better known as a star of pornographic films, Rod Fontana. After 30 years of sowing the wildest of oats, Boyer, 54, has searched his soul and chosen, to the surprise of family and colleagues, to seek a priesthood in the Episcopal Church. From his work in the rented villas of the San Fernando Valley, where hard-core sex films...

The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, a local Episcopal priest who announced she is both Muslim and Christian, will not be able to serve as a priest for a year, according to her bishop. During that year, Redding is expected to "reflect on the doctrines of the Christian faith, her vocation as a priest, and what I see as the conflicts inherent in professing both Christianity and Islam," the Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf, bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island, wrote in an e-mail to Episcopal Church leaders. During the next year, Redding "is not to exercise any of the responsibilities...

A Left-Wing Priestess for Allah http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070630/28250_A_Left-Wing_Priestess_for_Allah.htm http://tinyurl.com/33pmot By Mark D. Tooley Christian Post Contributor Sat, Jun. 30 2007 11:57 AM ET A Seattle priest has become a Muslim while also retaining her clergy status in the Episcopal Church. Her local bishop has described the development as “exciting.” "I look through Jesus and I see Allah,” explained the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding to the “Seattle Times”, which reported that Redding puts on her Islamic headscarf on Fridays and her clerical collar on Sundays. She has denounced Christianity as a "world religion of privilege.” But she still sees Jesus as her Savior,...

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) On the other hand: "Jesus is not the only way to God . . ." Rev. Ann Holmes http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/reader_feedback/reader_feedback.php?id=171 http://tinyurl.com/36ss36

Episcopal Panel 'Dodges' Response to Moratorium http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070615/27991_Episcopal_Panel_'Dodges'_Response_to_Moratorium.htm http://tinyurl.com/35qes6 By Lillian Kwon Christian Post Reporter Fri, Jun. 15 2007 07:13 AM ET An Episcopal panel of clergy and lay people indicated on Thursday they will not give a response to the moratorium Anglican leaders requested for by September, arguing that only the General Convention has the authority to respond. The next General Convention – The Episcopal Church's primary governing and legislative body – however, meets in the summer of 2009. After a four-day meeting that ended Thursday, the Executive Council said that no governing body other than General Convention can agree...

Executive Council prepares for communiqué response http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_86791_ENG_HTM.htm Two committees hear experience of gay Nigerian activist By Mary Frances Schjonberg June 11, 2007 [Episcopal News Service] The Executive Council, the Episcopal Church's governing body between General Conventions, began its four-day meeting June 11 in New Jersey learning that a draft of a response to the Anglican Communion Primates' latest communiqué was ready for their consideration. In a public plenary session, House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson said that Executive Council members would discuss during private conversation later in the day a draft report of the EC008 Task Group, requested by the...

Williams Not 'Absolutely Confident' Anglicans Can Get it Together http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070608/27856_Williams_Not_'Absolutely_Confident'_Anglicans_Can_Get_it_Together.htm http://tinyurl.com/2om7ed By Lillian Kwon Christian Post Reporter Fri, Jun. 08 2007 10:56 AM ET The spiritual leader of the Anglican Communion is hopeful, but not "absolutely confident" that the global church body, which many say is on the brink of division, can stay together. "Anglicans should remain Anglicans ... I don't think schism is inevitable," said Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in an interview with Time magazine. The Anglican head added, however, "If you're asking am I absolutely confident that we can get it together after the Lambeth Conference? No....

Breakaway Anglican Groups Invited to Form New Alliance http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070604/27766_Orthodox_Anglicans_to_Initiate_Talks_on_Forming_'Anglican_Union'.htm http://tinyurl.com/37dsm9 By Lillian Kwon Christian Post Reporter Mon, Jun. 04 2007 07:09 AM ET The head of a conservative Anglican network in the United States has invited major breakaway Anglican groups to up the level of their partnership for a united Anglicanism in North America as some predict a split in the Anglican Communion. Bishop Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh, moderator of the Anglican Communion Network, called for a Sept. 25-28 meeting to initiate discussion of creating an "Anglican Union" among the partners. The creation of the union would be a step...

Anglican Conflict: A Battle with 'Eternal Significance' http://www.christiantoday.com/article/anglican.conflict.a.battle.with.eternal.significance/10915.htm http://tinyurl.com/2ndbyg by Lillian Kwon, Christian Today Correspondent Posted: Saturday, May 26, 2007, 12:39 (BST) The recent non-invitation of two wayward bishops to a decennial global Anglican meeting produced a media frenzy this week. But what does all this mean? "First of all, it is clear that the Archbishop of Canterbury faces an impossible task – he is confronted by two irreconcilable truth claims," stated Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, newly installed missionary bishop of CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America) – an orthodox Anglican splinter group and offshoot of the Church of...

Mitt Romney Was A Conservative Republican Governor In The Bluest Of The Blue States: The Economist, On Governor Romney: "Being The Republican Governor Of Such A Liberal State As Massachusetts Must Be Like Swimming Through Sugary Sludge." "Being the Republican governor of such a liberal state as Massachusetts must be like swimming through sugary sludge. Everywhere he looks, he is surrounded by sweet-talking liberal legislators, judges and citizens." (Editorial, "Mitt Romney And Gay Marriage," The Economist, 6/30/05) There Are Almost 3 Times As Many Registered Democrats As Republicans In Massachusetts: - Registered Democrats: 1,526,711 - Registered Republicans: 532,319 (Massachusetts Secretary...

President James E. Faust Second Counselor in the First Presidency If we can find forgiveness in our hearts for those who have caused us hurt and injury, we will rise to a higher level of self-esteem and well-being. President James E. FaustMy dear brothers and sisters and friends, I come before you humbly and prayerfully. I wish to speak on the healing power of forgiveness. In the beautiful hills of Pennsylvania, a devout group of Christian people live a simple life without automobiles, electricity, or modern machinery. They work hard and live quiet, peaceful lives separate from the world. Most...

Episcopal break up? http://www.catholic.org/views/views_news.php?id=24184 5/23/2007 Our Sunday Visitor One could argue that the Episcopal Church in the United States has been on the brink of disaster for years. Thomas Reeves, in his book The Empty Church: The Suicide of Liberal Christianity, quoted an observation made about the Episcopal Church in 1994 that seems no less true today: “The Episcopal Church is an institution in free fall. We have nothing to hold on to, no shared belief, no common assumptions, no agreed bottom line, no accepted definition of what an Episcopalian is or believes.” The Episcopal Church has been divided by...

No Lambeth Invitation for Bishop Robinson http://www.livingchurch.org/publishertlc/viewarticle.asp?ID=3366 http://tinyurl.com/yoerxw 5/22/2007 The Bishop of New Hampshire will not be invited to participate in the 2008 Lambeth Conference, according to the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary of the Lambeth Conference. Invitations to the conference were mailed May 22 to more than 800 bishops of the Anglican Communion by the conference’s host, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns, Bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) and the Rt. Rev. Charles Murphy and his suffragans, the bishops of the Anglican Mission in North America (AMiA) will not receive...

Katharine Jefferts Schori on the future of the Episcopal Church http://www.statesman.com/life/content/life/stories/faith/05/19/0519schori.html http://tinyurl.com/2vknks First woman to preside as bishop talks with Statesman religion reporter By Eileen Flynn American-Statesman Staff Saturday, May 19, 2007 The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, addressed the graduates of the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest on Tuesday in Northwest Austin. After the commencement, Jefferts Schori, the first woman to lead the national church, sat down with an American-Statesman reporter to talk about her denomination's challenges, including tensions within the 2.4 million-member American province and with Anglicans worldwide and her recent...

Orthodox Anglicans Take 'First Step' Away from Episcopal Church http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070507/27269_Orthodox_Anglicans_Take_'First_Step'_Away_from_Episcopal_Church.htm http://tinyurl.com/ywlc4m By Lillian Kwon Christian Post Reporter Mon, May. 07 2007 06:43 AM ET WOODBRIDGE, Va. – The installation of a local minister who recently broke with the Episcopal Church and will now oversee other breakaway congregations was a unique and historic event and one that the Nigerian Anglican leader called "just the first step." "The journey ahead is long, the road ... rough, rugged," said Archbishop Peter J. Akinola of the Church of Nigeria, who defied top church leaders on Saturday and installed the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as...

The nation's first openly gay governor has become an Episcopalian and been accepted into a seminary, according to a published report. Former Gov. James E. McGreevey, who was raised as a Roman Catholic, was officially received into the Episcopal religion on Sunday at St. Bartholomew's Church in New York, said the Rev. Kevin Bean, vicar at the church. McGreevey has been accepted to study at the General Theological Seminary in New York, the oldest in the Episcopal Church, school spokesman Bruce Parker said Wednesday. Parker did not know whether the former governor wants to become a priest. ''Mr. McGreevey has...

McGreevey mulling Episcopal priesthood Posted by The Star-Ledger May 02, 2007 12:08PM Categories: News Patti Sapone/The Star-Ledger Former Gov. James E. McGreevey appears during custody proceedings in the Union County Courthouse last week.Former Gov. James E. McGreevey has started the process to become a priest in his newly adopted Episcopal faith and hopes to begin a three-year seminary program in the fall. McGreevey, who often described himself as a devout Catholic while in public office, was officially received into the Episcopal religion on Sunday, at St. Bartholomew's Church in Manhattan, and is now part of the church's "discernment" phase that...

Church History: America once an Episcopalian nation http://www.thedailycitizen.com/articles/2007/04/28/news/features/features05.txt http://tinyurl.com/383b4f Friday, April 27, 2007 8:43 PM CDT Statistically no group of Christians held a greater influence over the founding and initial direction of the United States of America than the Episcopal Church. According to the website www.adherents.com, fifty-five percent of the founding fathers were Episcopalian. In addition, Episcopalians comprised thirty-two percent of all Supreme Court Justices and more than twenty-five percent of all presidents in the past two and a quarter centuries of American history. The Revolution may have been a “Presbyterian Parson's War,” as King George referred to it, but...

Episcopal Bishop says few leaving over same-sex issues http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=123562&ran=89412 By STEVEN G. VEGH, The Virginian-Pilot April 26, 2007 Last updated: 12:16 AM VIRGINIA BEACH - The Episcopal Church's presiding bishop on Wednesday downplayed the notion of a denominational schism over homosexuality, saying only a tiny fraction of congregations have moved to break away. In an interview, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said the congregations had "gotten a lot of attention and been very noisy," but accounted for less than 1 percent of the country's total number of parishes, which she put at 7,500. "The Episcopal Church is alive and well,"...

Gay Bishop Will Make Union with Partner Official http://www.beliefnet.com/story/217/story_21727_1.html Associated Press Concord, New Hampshire - The Rev. V. Gene Robinson became the Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop. Now, he and his partner want to be among the first gay couples in New Hampshire to officially unite under a soon-to-be-signed civil unions law. New Hampshire is set to become the nation's fourth state to offer civil unions for gay couples after legislation approved by the state Senate on Thursday was sent to Gov. John Lynch, who has said he would sign it. "I think this moves us one step closer...

Archbishop of Canterbury announces plans to visit the Episcopal Church http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_84949_ENG_HTM.htm By Mary Frances Schjonberg and Solange de Santis April 16, 2007 [Episcopal News Service] The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, announced April 16 that he intends to visit the United States this autumn in response to the invitation from the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church. Speaking in a news conference in Toronto, Williams said he would make the visit together with members of the Standing Committee of the Primates, of which Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is a member, and the Anglican Consultative Council. "I look...

Episcopalians Begin Considering Response to Moratorium http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070412/26840_Episcopalians_Begin_Considering_Response_to_Moratorium.htm http://tinyurl.com/2mzvet By Lillian Kwon Christian Post Reporter Thu, Apr. 12 2007 09:19 AM ET Episcopal leaders have begun considering a potential response to requests from Anglican leaders to not consecrate another openly gay bishop. An appointed Executive Council work group convened for the first time early this month to begin discussion on a report responding to the communiqué that was issued by the Anglican Communion's Primates in February. The Episcopal Church was given a Sept. 30 deadline to respond to a moratorium on the consecration of gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex...

Fate of Episcopal Church Left to Anglican Leaders, Not Head http://tinyurl.com/3dn5pf An Episcopal bishop recently revealed that the latest Anglican conference, while publicly centered on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, had a hidden agenda - concern over the issue of homosexuality. Tue, Apr. 10, 2007 Posted: 13:08:34 PM EST An Episcopal bishop recently revealed that the latest Anglican conference, while publicly centered on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, had a hidden agenda - concern over the issue of homosexuality. More than 400 people had convened in Boksburg, South Africa, last month for the Towards Effective Anglican Mission (TEAM)...

Primates push U.S. on sexuality http://www.anglicanjournal.com/issues/2007/133/apr/04/article/primates-push-us-on-sexuality/ http://tinyurl.com/3auuwb Americans given deadline to comply Marites N. Sison, staff writer Apr 1, 2007 Primates of the Anglican Communion have given the U.S. Episcopal Church until Sept. 30 to “make an unequivocal common covenant” that its bishops will bar same-sex blessings in their churches and that it would not consecrate another gay bishop “unless some new consensus on this matter emerges” across the Anglican world. Failure to comply would mean that “the relationship between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole remain damaged at best, and this has consequences for the...

Williams: Church appears 'obsessed with sex' http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/27/nchurch27.xml http://tinyurl.com/2ox4ax By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent Last Updated: 1:19am GMT 27/02/2007 The Anglican Church appears to the outside world and to many of its own members, to be "obsessed with sex", the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, admitted to the General Synod yesterday. But the Archbishop argued that its bitter and prolonged dispute over homosexuality touched deeper issues, such as the way the worldwide Communion dealt with profound differences, which could not be easily avoided. It was "folly" to think a split in the Church over gays would leave a "neat and...

In the order we’ve come across it. Please post any links you come across in the comments Anglican Mainstream (also posted below)Peter Ould Jim Naughton (posted below)Ruth Gledhill (posted below)Inclusive ChurchSusan RussellKendall’s commentary is below and at Stand FirmMark HarrisFather Jake Posted in Dar es Salaam 2007 | 5 Comments »

Facing a possible churchwide schism, the Anglican Communion yesterday gave its Episcopal branch in the United States less than eight months to ban blessings of same-sex unions or risk a reduced role in the world’s third-largest Christian denomination. Anglican leaders also established a separate council and a vicar to help address the concerns of conservative American dioceses that have been alienated by the Episcopal Church’s support of gay clergy and blessings of same-sex unions. Although the presiding American bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, agreed to the arrangement, some conservatives described it as an extraordinary check on her authority. The directive, issued...

The first thing I want to say is that people have no idea of how much sacrifice it took by those involved for the document to reach this point. This really was a contract negotiation (look at the appendix/Foundations section). I have said a number of times that I thought the most important piece written in the Episcopal Church in the last year was by Michael Smith, Bishop of North Dakota. He basically said this: When I got home from General Convention 2006, I thought even though TEC had not satisfied the letter of the Windsor Report, we had satisfied...

Former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have proposed the establishment of a broadly inclusive alternative Baptist movement to counter what they called a negative image of Baptists and to address poverty, the environment and global conflicts. Carter and Clinton kicked off their plans with a news conference Jan. 9 at the Carter Center in Atlanta, flanked by leaders of moderate Baptist groups including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, a breakaway group of an unverified number of churches that objected to the election of conservative leaders in the Southern Baptist Convention. Carter and Clinton announced a “Celebration of a New Baptist...

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. — The Rev. Ted Haggard this week formally begins his long journey toward recovery from a drugs-and-gay-sex scandal that forced him to step down as one of the most influential evangelical leaders in the nation. Haggard, 50, has turned himself over to a team of counselors who are "assessing his spiritual, emotional and mental condition," said the Rev. H.B. London, who is helping to guide Haggard through the process. London and two other pastors will then set out a rigorous "restoration plan" requiring Haggard to spend hours each week in counseling, Bible study, prayer and soul-baring talks...

Plano parish will pay to leave Episcopal Churchhttp://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_77847_ENG_HTM.htm Christ Church Plano, Diocese of Dallas reach 'godly judgment' Episcopal News Service Mary Frances Schjonberg Friday, September 15, 2006 The vestry and rector of Christ Church in Plano, Texas announced September 15 that the parish will pay the Diocese of Dallas $1.2 million for its title to the parish property and disassociate themselves from the Episcopal Church. Bishop James Stanton said, in one of two statements posted on the website of Christ Church in Plano, that he had come to the conclusion that there are "irreconcilable differences between Christ Church and the...

IUKA, Miss. -- In April, 150 members of Iuka Baptist Church voted to kick Charles Jones off the deacons' board. The punishment followed weeks of complaints by Mr. Jones and his friends that the pastor was following the teachings of the Rev. Rick Warren, the best-selling author and church-growth guru. After the vote, about 40 other members quit the church to support Mr. Jones.

Church and state face similar issueshttp://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/wb/xp-76903 Sunday, August 06, 2006 Donald Nuechterlein Early in 2003, before the Pentagon launched the invasion of Iraq, American liberals chastised the Bush administration for ignoring the United Nations and world opinion by pursuing a unilateralist foreign policy on Iraq. When key allies -- France, Germany, Belgium, Canada and Turkey -- refused to join the U.S.-led intervention to oust Saddam Hussein's regime, the NATO alliance was seriously split on a major international issue. In the same year, the U.S. Episcopal Church incurred the wrath of its conservative members and opposition from the worldwide Anglican Communion...

TESTING THE FAITH: New top Episcopal bishop challenged on her resumehttp://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51325 Tuesday, August 1, 2006 School of theology, priestly experience questioned, but same-sex marriage advocate will lead U.S. church Posted: August 1, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern The newly elected presiding bishop of the U.S. Episcopal Church lists as her major qualifications for office positions at two institutions shrouded in mystery and without any formal accreditation – if they exist at all. That's the finding of an investigation of the rise of Katharine Jefferts Schori, 52, a pilot and oceanographer and strong advocate for same-sex marriage and homosexual ordination by Virtue...

U.K. Anglican Group Calls for 'Imperative Action' Against U.S. Episcopal Church http://www.christianpost.com/article/20060727/23296.htm By Joseph Alvarez Christian Post Reporter Thu, Jul. 27 2006 08:25 AM EST A conservative evangelical group in the Church of England has called on the heads of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion to take “imperative” actions to “formally break” ties with the Episcopal Church, USA. Thu, Jul. 27, 2006 Posted: 08:25:36 AM EST --- LONDON – A conservative evangelical group in the Church of England has called on the heads of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion to take “imperative” actions to “formally break”...

Episcopal Churches in Arkansas Get Green Light To Perform Same Sex Marriage Ceremonieshttp://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=5204093 July 27, 2006, 07:40 AM St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas sent out letters to the members of the congregation letting them know the church will now be performing same sex marriages. Although same sex marriages are not legal in the state of Arkansas, all of the Episcopal churches in the state have been given the green light to perform ceremonies for same sex couples. Only two churches have come forward to offer the service and St. Paul's is one of them. Although the church went...

How To Fight The Religious Righthttp://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/26/opinion/main1837172.shtml http://tinyurl.com/jhs6f July 26, 2006 --------------------------------------------------------------------- (The American Prospect) This article was written by Adele M. Stan. --------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a modest and, I thought, obvious proposal that I put forward two weeks ago on this page: That liberals give up the notion of creating a cohesive religious left movement that could act as an effective counterforce to the animus of the religious right. Instead, I argued, liberals would do well to claim our own moral agency by virtue of our own humanity and the essential values of liberalism, which encompass the most admirable tenets...

Division looms for Episcopal Churchhttp://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=2216 http://tinyurl.com/kr9gt July 25, 2006 Signs of a full-blown split between the Episcopal Church and most of the worldwide Anglican Communion appeared only days after the U.S. church's General Convention refused to renounce the election of gay bishops. The 2.2-million-member Episcopal Church would be reduced to nonvoting "associate" status in a proposed two-tiered membership policy for the 77-million-member communion that was announced June 27 in London. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said those national churches that sign a covenant affirming Anglicanism's traditional stance on homosexuality could be full members of the communion, while other churches would...

In the three weeks since Joan Clark Houk's plans to be ordained as a Catholic priest became public, the McCandless woman's media baptism has involved six interviews and one letter writer's claim that she was well educated in witchcraft. Joan Clark Houk, shown near the parish offices of St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland, is part of an international movement to ordain Catholic women. She plans to be ordained July 31. But Mrs. Houk, who celebrated her 66th birthday last weekend, remains resolute. On July 31, the cradle Catholic will join 11 other female candidates in an ordination ceremony aboard a...

The accelerating fragmentation of the strife-torn Episcopal Church USA, in which several parishes and even a few dioceses are opting out of the church, isn't simply about gay bishops, the blessing of same-sex unions or the election of a woman as presiding bishop. It also is about the meltdown of liberal Christianity. Embraced by the leadership of all the mainline Protestant denominations, as well as large segments of American Catholicism, liberal Christianity has been hailed by its boosters for 40 years as the future of the Christian church. Instead, as all but a few die-hards now admit, all the mainline...