Free Republic

I have been to the outpouring in Lakeland twice with my family. I was wondering if any other Freepers have been as well. We went when it was still in Ignited Church which holds 700. It has moved to a church in Auburndale that holds 3,000, they then moved it to the Lakeland Convention Center that holds 9,000 and then to Lakeland Tigers Baseball stadium that holds nearly 12,000. Tonight it will be at Lakeland/Linder Airport, Sun and Fun Grounds. We have seen lots of healings and miracles. It has been going on for over 35 days and will be...

Four Japanese bishops have travelled to Rome for a meeting with Pope Benedict to seek Holy See intervention to resolve what they describe as a "serious problem" with the methods of the Neo-Catechumenal Way movement and its seminary in a Japanese diocese. UCA News reports it was the third time Japanese bishops visited and brought up the matter in five months. "We hate to come so often but we had to give the serious nature of the problem that needs to be resolved", Archbishop Okada of Tokyo, president of the bishops' conference, told UCA News in Rome. During their ad...

Ancient writings unearthed in the last century and a half, primarily in Egypt, are lending support to doctrines and teachings of Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Brigham Young University professor of antiquities said Sunday. C. Wilford Griggs, who has written extensively on Egypt and is working on excavating Christian burial grounds in Egypt, said scholars are now admitting that "Joseph Smith got into the antiquities" before experts in the field began their discoveries, but they won't accept his explanation. Smith, an uneducated farm boy, claimed he translated the Book of Mormon...

Why I left the Episcopal Church by Dr Moheb Ghali April 22nd, 2008 Occasionally I am asked why I found it necessary, after four decades of committed service, to leave the Episcopal Church. My answer is: I had to choose whom to believe. On many issues central to my faith what Jesus and the Apostles say and what the leaders of the Episcopal Church say are incompatible. I chose to believe in what Jesus and the Apostles say, and that made it necessary to leave the Episcopal Church. The Bishops of the Church, who are the Ecclesiastical Authorities in their...

One of the fundamental principles of Christianity is that nothing is sacred. No thing. No part of creation is God. God is separate from the creation. Creation is only to be respected (made holy) as the handiwork of our God. It is never to be worshiped. This is why western civilization holds nothing sacred. Not king, not country, not flag, not clergy. This is the basis of our freedoms. The first ammendment rights are based on this idea. This is where the founding fathers got this stuff. Fundamentalist evangelicals violate this basic principle every time the put the printed Bible...

"Mother" Teresa was born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu of Albanian parents in what is now Yugoslavia/Bosnia on August 27, 1910. She died of a heart attack on September 5, 1997. The diminutive nun arrived in India on January 6, 1929, where she started assisting the needy and eventually established the now-global "Missionaries of Charity" organization. ... Yet, "Mother" Teresa, and those who worked with her, never tried to convert to Christ the dying people for whom they cared. Instead, "Mother" Teresa declared: "If in coming face to face with God we accept Him in our lives, then we are converting. We...

VIENNA (Reuters) - They knew it would be risky to exhibit a homoerotic version of Christ's Last Supper, but curators at museum of Vienna's Roman Catholic Cathedral weren't ready for a barrage of angry messages and calls to be shut down. The source of the dispute, which Austrian media has dubbed Vienna's version of the Mohammad caricature row, is a retrospective honoring Austria's cherished artist Alfred Hrdlicka, who turned 80 earlier this year. But not everyone has been wishing Hrdlicka a Happy Birthday. And the Cathedral Museum's director and Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna, have both come under...

Chapter 4 (Pages 1 to 6 of the manuscript, containing chapters 1 - 3, are lost. The extant text starts on page 7...) . . . Will matter then be destroyed or not? 22) The Savior said, All nature, all formations, all creatures exist in and with one another, and they will be resolved again into their own roots. 23) For the nature of matter is resolved into the roots of its own nature alone. 24) He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 25) Peter said to him, Since you have explained everything to us, tell us this...

From the Globe&Mail, H/T John Hetman That triumphal barnburner of an Easter hymn, Jesus Christ Has Risen Today - Hallelujah, this morning will rock the walls of Toronto's West Hill United Church as it will in most Christian churches across the country. But at West Hill on the faith's holiest day, it will be done with a huge difference. The words "Jesus Christ" will be excised from what the congregation sings and replaced with "Glorious hope." Thus, it will be hope that is declared to be resurrected - an expression of renewal of optimism and the human spirit -...

That triumphal barnburner of an Easter hymn, Jesus Christ Has Risen Today – Hallelujah, this morning will rock the walls of Toronto's West Hill United Church as it will in most Christian churches across the country. But at West Hill on the faith's holiest day, it will be done with a huge difference. The words “Jesus Christ” will be excised from what the congregation sings and replaced with “Glorious hope.” Thus, it will be hope that is declared to be resurrected – an expression of renewal of optimism and the human spirit – but not Jesus, contrary to Christianity's central...

BELLEVILLE -- Voice of the Faithful, a national Catholic lay organization, has issued a statement supporting 46 Belleville Diocese priests who have asked Bishop Edward K. Braxton to resign. A list of the 39 active and seven retired priests was made public Monday. Their letter calling for Braxton to step down because of misuse of donated funds and failure to communicate with priests was made public Friday.

Senator Barack Obama is not a Muslim, contrary to invidious rumors. But he belongs to a Christian church whose doctrine casts Jesus Christ as a "black messiah" and blacks as "the chosen people". At best, this is a radically different kind of Christianity than most Americans acknowledge; at worst it is an ethnocentric heresy. What played out last week on America's television screens was a clash of two irreconcilable cultures, the posture of "black liberation theology" and the mainstream American understanding of Christianity. Obama, who presented himself as a unifying figure, now seems rather the living embodiment of the clash.

James Cone was born in Fordyce, Arkansas in 1939 and grew up in the small town of Bearden. There he experienced the life-affirming community of the black Church alongside the soul-crushing reality of white racism. Through sermons, songs, and prayers that called on God's concern for their well-being, the Macedonia African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church taught Cone "how to deal with the contradictions of life and provided a way to create meaning in a society not of [his] own making." Bearden, Arkansas had a population of 400 blacks and 800 whites. The whites in Bearden, as Cone explains, "tried...

The Times March 6, 2008 That Martin Luther? He Wasn’t So Bad, Says Pope Richard Owen in Rome Pope Benedict XVI is to rehabilitate Martin Luther, arguing that he did not intend to split Christianity but only to purge the Church of corrupt practices. Pope Benedict will issue his findings on Luther (1483-1546) in September after discussing him at his annual seminar of 40 fellow theologians — known as the Ratzinger Schülerkreis — at Castelgandolfo, the papal summer residence. According to Vatican insiders the Pope will argue that Luther, who was excommunicated and condemned for heresy, was not a heretic....

Slowly Strangling America's Golden Goose© 2006 J. Marvin HerndonTransdyne Corporation   Imagine: You wake up tomorrow and find that America’s judicial system has changed. Now, prosecutors can present secret witness testimony and only provide their own brief excerpts or summaries to the defense; judges are no longer independent, they have been replaced by the prosecutor’s boss. Your first thought, “Now, we will get much needed criminal convictions.” Then, “Ohmygosh! Are we in deep yogurt! We have seen all that before, in the Spanish Inquisition and in virtually every totalitarian regime on Earth, so we know what will happen. Soon...

A bishop described as "one of the most formidable figures in the world of Christian thought" is now challenging the widely held belief that Christians go to heaven when they die. N.T. "Tom" Wright, the fourth most senior cleric in the Church of England who has been praised for his staunch defense of the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ, has published a new book in which he says people do not ascend to God's dwelling place. Instead, God will be coming back to Earth. "Never at any point do the Gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we...

I have a Christian brother who keeps insisting that the Gospels are more authoritative than the Epistles of Paul, John, and Peter. I know this is an error because of 2 Peter 3:16: As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 2 Peter 3:16 Peter, who walked with Jesus, is calling Paul's writings scripture. This couldn't be the first time this error has been mentioned in the Christian...

ST. JOHN'S Newfoundland, January 22, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The deep fissures in the Anglican Communion are increasing as the sides line up in the fight over the "blessings" of homosexual partnerings. A diocese of the Anglican Church of Canada in Newfoundland has announced it will attempt to force its clergy to assent to the blessings, even as the rest of the Worldwide Anglican Communion continues to fracture over the issue.  Clergy were called to a mandatory meeting in the cathedral of St. John's and told that if they supported a breakaway movement that objects to the formal blessing of...

This is the first in a series of analyses by correspondent Justin Peters. These special articles were first printed in the Baptist Record each week from September 25, 2003, to October 16, 2003. Analysis: Word of Faith crosses heresy lineFirst in a series (originally printed 9/25/03) “Satan conquered Jesus on the cross.” “He died spiritually! …Jesus Christ understood that spiritual death is union with the satanic nature.” “Man was created on terms of equality with God, and he could stand in God’s presence without any consciousness of inferiority.” “He [God] doesn’t even draw a distinction between Himself and us. …I...

What would things look like if Satan actually took over a city? The first frames in our imaginative slide show probably depict mayhem on a massive scale: Widespread violence, deviant sexualities, pornography in every vending machine, churches closed down and worshipers dragged off to City Hall. Over a half-century ago, Donald Grey Barnhouse, pastor of Philadelphia's Tenth Presbyterian Church, gave his CBS radio audience a different picture of what it would look like if Satan took control of a town in America. He said that all of the bars and pool halls would be closed, pornography banished, pristine streets and...

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...

This is so blatantly false and blasphemous that we immediately paused to pray for Paula White when we first uncovered it. The soon to be divorced, 'pastrix' Paula White's latest money scheme demonstrates her clear lack of Biblical understanding and it also is an affront to the core doctrine of the Christian faith, Christ's atoning sacrifice for sins on the cross. 1. Christians do not observe the Jewish Day of Atonement. Our Atonement day is Good Friday. 2. Asking for an 'Atonement Offering' flies directly in the face of Jesus' atonement for our sins on the cross of Calvary. Offering...

BOSTON — Republican presidential hopeful Gov. Mitt Romney answered rival Mike Huckabee's upcoming published comments about Mormonism, declaring Wednesday that "attacking someone's religion is really going too far." In an article to be published Sunday in The New York Times, Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?" Romney, vying to become the first Mormon elected president, declined to answer that question during an interview Wednesday, saying church leaders in Salt Lake City had already addressed the topic. "But I think attacking someone's religion is really going too far. It's just...

Hi. Chuck here. Hope you're not too stressed as the semester begins to wind down. Here's what's up at St. Paul's this week. This evening (Monday December 3) is our final Understanding Catholicism of the semester. Our topic for this evening is "Christian Sexuality." We'll give a little glimpse into Pope John Paul II's "Theology of the Body." In some ways it is a very new way of looking at ourselves and God. The pope maintains that sex is not only good, it is, in fact, the meaning of life. Dinner will be ready at 6 p.m. We'll start the...

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...

Hollywood producers are to film a movie about Jesus as a mystic travelling across India living in Buddhist monasteries and fighting injustice. They drew on revisionist scholars to flesh out the "missing years" of Jesus, between the ages of 13 and 30, which are untouched in the Bible. "The Aquarian Gospel," a $20 million movie, portrays Jesus as a holy man and teacher inspired by eastern religions in India. It takes its name from a century-old book that examined Christianity's eastern roots and is in its 53rd reprint, the Guardian reported Monday in a story carried on BuddhistChannel.tv. Producers say...

Vedic Recitations in a Christian Church on Thanksgiving http://newsblaze.com/story/20071101085222tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-Stories.html http://tinyurl.com/2kmxfe Nov 1, 2007 Judyth Piazza, News Blaze Recitations from ancient Sanskrit scriptures will reverberate in a Christian church in Nevada on the occasion of coming Thanksgiving eve service. Rajan Zed, the prominent Hindu chaplain, will read from Rig-Veda (oldest existing scripture of the world dated from around 1,500 BCE), Upanishads (Hindu scriptures containing mystical teachings), and Bhagavad-Gita (famous philosophical and spiritual poem) in Trinity Episcopal Church in Reno (Nevada) during Twenty-second Annual Thanksgiving Service of Northwestern Nevada to be held on November 21 evening. Despite conflicts around the world, various...

How to determine when Joel Osteen is speaking heresy:

When I was in the eleventh grade I decided to study Latin. I don’t remember what it was that compelled me to study the language, but I suspect it had something to do with the small class size. Where most classes in my high school had twenty five or thirty students, Latin usually had only seven or eight. And so it was that for a year I studied Latin. The teacher, Dr. Helder, quickly became my favorite teacher and grade eleven Latin stands out as my favorite class in all my years of high school. Dr. Helder was faced with...

Sometimes you just have to laugh. The Houston Chronicle ran a lengthy article in the Religion section on Oct 13, discussing the liberal Baptist General Convention of Texas as they prepare to elect a female president. She is credited with a precious quote that is shockingly true. The next day, the Chronicle published a piece on Joel Osteen as he prepared for the launch of his second book (the title doesn't matter). They ran a BIG picture of Joel & Victoria and published HUGE caption right on the photo that - well you simply have to see to believe. Get...

Not only is Mormonism a Christian faith, it is the truest form of Christianity, said speaker after speaker on the first day of the 177th Semiannual LDS General Conference. LDS authorities were responding to the allegation that Mormonism isn't part of Christianity. Made by different mainline Protestant and Catholic churches and repeated constantly during coverage of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, the claim is based on Mormonism's beliefs about God, its rejection of ancient ideas about the Trinity still widely accepted, and the LDS Church's extra-biblical scriptures. "It is not our purpose to demean any person's belief nor the doctrine of...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Knights Templar, the medieval Christian military order accused of heresy and sexual misconduct, will soon be partly rehabilitated when the Vatican publishes trial documents it had closely guarded for 700 years. A reproduction of the minutes of trials against the Templars, "'Processus Contra Templarios -- Papal Inquiry into the Trial of the Templars'" is a massive work and much more than a book -- with a 5,900 euros (4,125 pounds) price tag. "This is a milestone because it is the first time that these documents are being released by the Vatican, which gives a stamp...

Blessed Are the Shack-Ups September 2007By James F. Csank James F. Csank is a retired attorney living in Seven Hills, Ohio. His writings have appeared in The St. Croix Review and The Human Life Review. The June 2007 issue of U.S. Catholic magazine contains an article titled "A Betrothal Proposal." It is written by Michael J. Lawler and Gail S. Risch, who are described as "two respected family ministry researchers" at the "Center for Marriage and Family at Creighton University, Nebraska, where they also teach theology." The article's headline asks, "Are cohabiting Catholics always ‘living in sin'?" Lawler and Risch's...

John Hugh Gilmore, guest column: Mob rule, not academic freedom, at Baylor http://www.wacotrib.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2007/10/07/10072007wacgilmore.htmlSunday, October 07, 2007 To its proponents, intelligent design is nothing more than a sophisticated, comprehensive critique of the theoretical and scientific foundations of Darwinism and its progeny. In other words, the theory of evolution should be put to the test. Like Marx. Like Freud. To the opponents, intelligent design — ID — is an intellectual crime. Or so we must assume by the actions of Baylor University. As counsel for Baylor Distinguished Professor Robert J. Marks II, I was amazed and discouraged by the controversy surrounding his...

Tara Little Msgr. J. Gaston Hebert, administrator of the Diocese of Little Rock, speaks in a press conference Sept. 26 about the excommunication of six religious sisters in Hot Springs for membership in the schismatic Army of Mary. By Malea HargettEditor Six sisters from the Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge in Hot Springs were excommunicated by the Catholic Church for their involvement in a schismatic association based in Quebec, Canada. It is believed to be the first time anyone in the Diocese of Little Rock has been formally excommunicated. The excommunicated sisters are Mary Gerard Lalancette,...

 The Rev. J. Gaston Hebert, Little Rock diocese administrator, speaks during a news conference Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007, in Little Rock, Ark. Hebert announced Wednesday that six Arkansas nuns have been excommunicated from the Catholic Church for heresy. (AP Photo/Mike Wintroath) 6 Ark. nuns excommunicated for heresy   By ANDREW DeMILLO, Associated Press Writer 11 minutes ago   LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Six Catholic nuns have been excommunicated for heresy after refusing to give up membership in a Canadian sect whose founder claims to be the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary, the Diocese of Little Rock announced Wednesday. The Rev....

Vicki Curtis has been a member of St. Benjamin's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Westminster since 1981, but when her denomination appeared to be softening its stance on homosexuality, she didn't hesitate to act. She left her church. Now she's doing what she calls "search the church Sundays" by visiting congregations with convictions closer to her own."The Bible says in Leviticus 18:22 that homosexuality is a sin and its penalty is death. My faith is built on what the Bible teaches, and I will not go where it isn't being followed," she wrote in an e-mail. She was responding to the...

The Proper Role of Government On the question of the proper size and scope of government, a strong majority of Muslim Americans (70%) say they prefer a larger government that provides more services rather than a smaller government providing fewer services, a preference nearly identical to that of black Protestants. Among evangelicals (as well as white Catholics and white mainline Protestants), majorities express a preference for smaller government. Despite their relatively liberal political orientation, Muslims by no means take liberal positions on all issues. On social issues, they are more similar to white evangelicals. About 60% of Muslim Americans, for...

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...

Though global Anglican leaders have urged the U.S. church to unequivocally exclude gay bishops by next month, an openly lesbian Episcopal priest is among the five nominees for bishop of the Chicago diocese announced Tuesday. Rev. Tracey Lind, who followed Chicago Bishop William Persell as dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland, is one of three women named as finalists to replace Persell, who plans to resign after his successor is installed. It is the first slate of candidates in the diocese to include women. "Since the day last winter when I was asked to make myself available to this nominating...

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.

The mere fact that the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson is the Episcopal Church's first openly homosexual bishop ensures that he will be a media celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic. To a great extent, he has become a symbol to both conservatives and liberals in contemporary Christianity. To conservatives, Bishop Robinson represents a near-total theological meltdown. An entire universe of the theological principles and doctrines of orthodox Christianity must be jettisoned or redefined before an openly homosexual bishop becomes imaginable. In order for this to happen, the tradition of the church must be sidelined and the authority of Scripture...

The Rt. Rev. Peter Jensen, Australia's Archbishop of Sydney, is making headlines for denying a heretic access to the pulpits of the churches under his care. The heretic is the retired bishop of Newark, New Jersey, The Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong -- a man who has denied virtually every major Christian doctrine.

WAPPINGERS FALLS, N.Y. (CNS) -- In late July, carloads of curious Catholics caravanned north from their church to a mosque in the next county. Three dozen Catholics who regularly attend Mass at the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement's Graymoor Spiritual Life Center in Garrison accepted a Muslim visitor's invitation to attend services at Masjid Al-Noor, his mosque in Wappingers Falls. Entering the two-story white frame building, the visitors placed their shoes alongside their host's on wire racks lining one wall of the foyer. The women, already modestly covered from chin to ankle, pulled on scarves to cover their hair. The...

Breda - The Dutch Roman Catholic bishop Tiny Muskens is urging the faithful of all religions to call God Allah in order to foster mutual understanding. The bishop of the city of Breda says God does not mind what he is called and points out that Allah is the Arabic word for God. The bishop, who is retiring in a few weeks, added he did not expect his ideas to find immediate acceptance. He expects it could take 100 or 200 years. Bishop Muskens has previously defied the Vatican by calling for the acceptance of married priests and the use...

Homosexual Lutheran clergy who are in sexual relationships will be able to serve as pastors, the largest U.S. Lutheran body said on Saturday. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) passed a resolution at its annual assembly urging bishops to refrain from disciplining pastors who are in "faithful committed same-gender relationships." The resolution passed by a vote of 538-431. "The Church ... has just said 'Do not do punishments'," said Phil Soucy, spokesman for Lutherans Concerned, a gay-lesbian rights group within the church. "That is huge." The ELCA, which has 4.8 million members, had previously allowed gays to serve as...

We worshiped. A glorious worship service. See the Order of Service on lcna.org or goodsoil.org. My words are not adequate to describe it. First, we were in a very large dining room in the hotel. The color of the day was red, Vigil of Pentecost texts. Banners of red, paraments too. Soloists with crystalline voices. Flute, piano, organ (a wonderfully full throated organ – did not know that something that powerful could be portable, … well, moveable). A choir put together from amongst us – clearly knew what it was doing. There were 650 people for the service. There were...

The photo above purports to show (Lutheran) Church of Sweden clergy demonstrating yesterday in Stockholm to "break the conspiracy of silence regarding homosexuals, bisexuals, and transsexuals." Few of us, perhaps, would have noticed a great deal of silence on the issue, but I suppose these ministers are specially trained to listen for it. But my interest was tweaked by a side issue: the marchers' use of the roman collar. In standard progressivist polemic, the roman collar is deplored as a token of clericalism, and more particularly of the hierarchical subordination typified by the Church of Rome. We might expect...

Speaker: Process is in its sixth year now, needs to be continued until it's finished. To change things now would rush the process. Speaker: In favor of full inclusion; God calls and we now preclude gifted people from service. (Time-keeping problems corrected so time appears on screen and speakers can tell how much time they have.) Speaker: Respect the bishops' recommendation for the process and the memorials committee's decision to refer. Speaker: In favor of memorials originally passed by a number of synods. Wants to open a window and create a little space to see where the Spirit is leading....

In the past few months, our church has been involved in conversations and decisions that continue to reveal the differing viewpoints among us about the role of gay and lesbian persons in the ELCA. However, we still seek to live together faithfully despite our disagreements and to work prayerfully to discern God's will for our church. We are called to obey the policies of the ELCA, yet we are also called to consider possibilities for change. Within this difficult tension, we are committed to respect one another's faith-bound beliefs while we disagree about policy related to the ways in which...