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Offering a new perspective on the reality of aging denominations, The United Methodist Church studied the death rates of Methodists and the general American population and found that the church is dying faster. The death rates for members of the nearly 8 million-member denomination are about a third higher than the national average, according to the "Pockets of 'Youthfulness' in an Aging Denomination" report. In 2005, the United Methodist death rate was 134 percent of the U.S. death rate among those 15 years and older. Among UMC's 62 annual conferences, or regional bodies, in the United States, 34 of them...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A coalition of mainline Protestant churches have authored a letter to members of Congress asking them to make certain the health care bills they are considering contain taxpayer funding for abortions. The letter comes from a group of churches that have long advocated the pro-abortion position. Under the umbrella of the Religious Institute, the church denominations and more than 1,100 pastors and church staff from the denominations endorsed the letter. The letter calls abortion a “morally justifiable decision” and opposed any amendments to the House and Senate bills, which current contain massive abortion funding, to strike...

A youth minister at a Stafford County church was indicted yesterday on charges that she had sexual relations with a 15-year-old boy. Jennifer Michelle Brennan, 36, of Spotsylvania was charged by a Stafford grand jury with 10 counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and 10 counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. According to court records and sources, Brennan met the boy through her position as youth minister at Saint Matthias United Methodist Church in Stafford. The boy's mother said that among other things, Brennan counseled her son and his girlfriend against premarital sex. An affidavit...

Lutheran ministers who are in same-sex relationships will not be allowed to serve as clergy in United Methodist congregations despite the new full communion agreement between the two denominations. Bishop Gregory Palmer, president of the United Methodist Council of Bishops, made clear on Wednesday that UMC's ban on noncelibate gay clergy still stands. "Our Book of Discipline on that subject did not become null and void when they took that vote," said Palmer, according to the United Methodist News Service. "It still applies to United Methodist clergy." Palmer was referring to the highly publicized vote last week by the chief...

Offering a new perspective on the reality of aging denominations, The United Methodist Church studied the death rates of Methodists and the general American population and found that the church is dying faster. The death rates for members of the nearly 8 million-member denomination are about a third higher than the national average, according to the "Pockets of 'Youthfulness' in an Aging Denomination" report. In 2005, the United Methodist death rate was 134 percent of the U.S. death rate among those 15 years and older. Among UMC's 62 annual conferences, or regional bodies, in the United States, 34 of them...

"What if church wasn't just a building, but thousands of doors?" asks a new website launched by the United Methodist Church. "Each of them opening up to a different concept or experience of church. . . . Would you come?" After watching its membership drop nearly 25 percent in recent decades, the United Methodist Church, which is still the nation's largest mainline Protestant denomination, thinks it knows the answer. So it's pouring $20 million into a new marketing campaign, including the website, television advertisements, even street teams in some cities, to rebrand the church from stale destination to "24-7 experience."...

Shrinking mainline Protestant denominations are turning to marketing to help stem decades of membership losses and stay afloat. The United Methodist Church recently unveiled a $20 million rebranding effort aimed at attracting younger members to the large but diminishing Protestant group. The new ads will appear over the next four years as part of the denomination's "Rethink Church" campaign. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has invested nearly $1.2 million over the past two years launching a similar branding effort based on the theme, "God's Work, Our Hands." The denominations are trying to bounce back from losses that began...

The United Methodist Church's top court recently ruled that clergy, both active and retired, cannot perform same-sex marriages or civil unions. Performing such services is "a chargeable offense," Bishop Beverly J. Shamana ruled last Friday. UMC's Judicial Council affirmed her decision. The council further ruled that an annual conference, or regional body within the UMC, "may not negate, ignore, or violate provisions of the Discipline with which they disagree, even when the disagreements are based on conscientious objections to the provisions." The council’s ruling was on a resolution passed by the California-Nevada Annual Conference last year, months after the California...

WASHINGTON - Aides to President Obama are quietly checking out local churches to find his new spiritual home, a delicate, complex task that must balance Obama's public profile, security needs, and personal beliefs against a discreet but intense competition among ministers to bring the first family to their pews. Less than a year after a painful, controversial split with his longtime Chicago church over sermons by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the president's search is being guided by a group of close friends and advisers who have quietly visited some of the congregations - and a low-key vetting operation by White...

Having rejected anti-Israel divestment of its pension funds last year, the 7.9 million United Methodist Church is courting new controversy involving anti-Israel bias again this year. Starting February 3, the Methodist Building on Capitol Hill, from which the denomination conducts its political lobbying, will commemorate the nakba, as Palestinians refer to the "catastrophe" of Israel's creation. The opening reception on Tuesday, February 3, will kick-off a three-week exhibition in the Methodist Building lobby called "Our Story: A Photo Exhibit Commemorating 60 Years of Dispossession." Friends of Sabeel Canada, an advocate of Palestinian Liberation Theology among left-leaning Christians, has produced the...

OCEAN GROVE, N.J. — A Christian camp meeting community here is being forced to accommodate same-sex ceremonies. Are Catholics next?Ocean Grove, a tiny seaside village on the Jersey Shore, is in many ways like something out of another time. With its wood frame Victorian inns, small family-run cafes and restaurants (no alcohol served in this “dry” town with a long history of temperance), Ocean Grove might have been lifted out of the 19th century.But a distinctly 21st-century controversy has rudely intervened in this Methodist Church-owned village, which began as a place for Protestant tent revival meetings. Ocean Grove has come...

"For most of his presidency, he was beset by critics on all sides. He found himself operating in a perpetual cross fire from congressmen, governors, generals, office seekers, ordinary citizens - all dissatisfied, and many sincerely convinced that he was incompetent and leading the nation down the path of destruction."[1] - Douglas Wilson, Lincoln's Sword "Towards all this external evil, the man within the breast assumes a warlike attitude, and affirms his ability to cope single-handed with the infinite army of enemies. To this military attitude of the soul we give the name of Herosim." - Ralph Waldo Emerson Years,...

The Episcopal Church has been at the forefront of baptizing active homosexual lifestyle as God-blessed. Since 1960, that denomination has decreased in membership by 48%. The United Methodist Church has been roiled by those adamant on establishing homosexual lifestyles as Christian legitimate. In the fight for one side or another that denomination has decreased in membership by 25%. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has likewise been embroiled in the tussle. That denomination has decreased in membership by 44%. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) has also been riddled with in-house fighting over homosexual lifestyles as anti-God or pro-God. That denomination's membership...

A High Point pastor faces misdemeanor charges after being accused of soliciting sex online. Randleman police said they arrested Otis Durham outside the Wal-Mart here at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Durham, 55, is pastor of the Sandy Ridge United Methodist Church in High Point. He was charged with solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of crimes against nature and is free on a $1,000 bond. Det. R.K. Hardy said today that a Randleman woman contacted police Friday after getting an unwanted sexual solicitation online. Hardy said he posed online as the woman and arranged for a time and place to meet the...

Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, the minister who presided over the recent marriage of President Bush’s daughter Jenna, has launched a pro-Barack Obama Web site sharply critical of conservative stalwart James Dobson. Caldwell, leader of the largest Methodist congregation in the country, launched his “James Dobson Does Not Speak For Me” site a day after Dobson’s Focus on the Family radio program aired a statement charging that Obama distorted the Bible to fit “his own confused theology.” The site urges readers to sign a statement declaring that Dobson does not represent them. The statement reads in part: “James Dobson doesn't speak for...

A recent article on OneNewsNow featured comments by Methodist pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell, a Barack Obama supporter. The pastor took issue with James Dobson's contention that Obama distorts the Bible with his theological views. Caldwell, who is affiliated with the website JamesDobsonDoesntSpeakForMe.com, initially told OneNewsNow that the website was operated by Matthew 25, a political action committee working with Obama supporters. However, upon investigation, it was found that the site was actually registered to Alyssa Martin, an intern in the Obama campaign's "religious affairs" department. The domain registration has since been changed to Pastor Caldwell's name. In an earlier interview, Caldwell...

A campaign worker for Barack Obama and the Texas Methodist pastor who advises President Bush have been linked to a website that bashes prominent Christian leader and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson. The site, called "jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme," appeared just days ago after Dobson criticized Obama's interpretation of the Bible during a 2006 speech and Obama responded essentially by calling Dobson a liar, accusing him of "making things up." Now a report from OneNewsNow, a division of the American Family Association, said the website originally was registered to Obama campaign worker Alyssa Martin, but the registration later was changed to...

Contact: Loralei Coyle, 202-905-6852 cell, lcoyle@TheIRD.org; Radio Interviews: Jeff Walton, 202-413-5639 cell, jwalton@TheIRD.org; both with the Institute on Religion and Democracy FT. WORTH, Texas, May 3 /Christian Newswire/ -- The United Methodist General Conference, the Church's governing body that meets every 4 years, overwhelmingly adopted several petitions affirming the sanctity of life during its quadrennial meeting in Fort Worth. Conference delegates voted to: "Affirm and encourage the Church to assist the ministry of crisis pregnancy centers and pregnancy resource centers that compassionately help women find feasible alternatives to abortion." "Respect the sacredness of the life and well-being of the mother...

FORT WORTH, Texas | Representatives of the United Methodist Church turned back attempts to liberalize its policy on homosexuality Wednesday. Almost 1,000 delegates to the church’s General Conference rejected a proposal from a legislative committee, leaving in place the position that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible with Christian teaching.” The General Conference, which meets every four years, is the only assembly that can set policy for the 7.9 million-member church. It includes delegates from all 50 states and 66 overseas regional jurisdictions. The question of the status of gays was likely the most contentious one delegates will deal with...

FORT WORTH, Texas, April 30, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The United Methodist pro-life ministry Lifewatch recently hosted a free luncheon featuring former abortion clinic owner Carol Everett.Everett spent six years working in the abortion industry in the early 80s, before experiencing a profound conversion. In 1995 she founded the Heidi Group - a group of inner-city crisis pregnancy centers named after one of Everett's own children that she aborted in 1973."We are an injured nation, for many of us are unwilling to admit or deal with our pain," Everett told her audience.Everett has testified in the past that while she...

United Methodists declared Monday a "banner day" as they approved a full communion agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The new relationship between the two major Protestant denominations is not a merger but a recognition of each other's ministry and mission. Full communion recognizes that each church has "the one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith" expressed in the Scriptures and confessed in historic creeds and the core teachings of each denomination. The two churches also recognize the authenticity of each other's baptism and eucharist and the full interchangeability of all ordained ministers. "It's not merger," said Bishop Melvin...

Yesterday, 29 April 2008, at 3:32 PM, the United Methodist Church formally and explicitely rejected it's long held and Biblically-based mission to make disciples of Christ by saving souls, and declared officially that its mission is to transform the world. This codifies in the Book of Discipline of the UMC, its book of law, what was already the de facto case in practice. Here's the new text: The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.Here's the previous text: The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ....

Methodists are being asked to single out Israel as sufficiently wicked to join the Sudan as a target of economic sanctions. While Barak Obama and John McCain have had to answer for the statements of their church leaders, neither Hillary Clinton nor George Bush have had to do the same, despite the fact that their church - the Methodists - are gathering in Fort Worth to take action that has real, rather than merely rhetorical, significance. During this week's General Conference, the United Methodist Church will be reviewing a number of resolutions urging divestment from companies doing business with Israel...

"Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., waves as he is introduced during a church service at St. Luke's United Methodist Church in Indianapolis."

Several U.S. mainline Protestant denominations are about to face their latest showdowns on one of the most vexing issues since slavery: whether to break from biblical morality as traditionally understood to allow clergy with homosexual partners and to sanction blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples. "Mainline" groups (predominantly white, with early American roots, and affiliated with the National Council of Churches) contain vocal, well-organized liberal and evangelical combatants. The resulting dispute "certainly has taken a big toll," says Jack Haberer of Presbyterian Outlook, an independent magazine that airs varied views. "For some, it's the total compromise of all things moral. For...

Divestment: Coming to a Denomination Near You   By Dr. Earl TilfordFrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, April 03, 2008 For a generation after World War II, particularly given revelations of the Holocaust, most American Protestant denominations embraced a more tolerant attitude toward Jews. Since the 1980s, however, there has been a marked shift, evident in the anti-Israeli positions adopted by more liberal denominations like the United Methodist Church (UMC); the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA); the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (ECUSA); and the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. (PCUSA).At its April meeting in Fort Worth, the National Conference of...

The pastor of the Methodist church that Bill and Hillary Clinton attended during his presidency is now defending Obama’s retiring pastor Jeremiah Wright. This intervention will perhaps serve to remind that the Clinton’s own church was once a source of national controversy. "The Reverend Jeremiah Wright is an outstanding church leader whom I have heard speak a number of times,” proclaimed the Rev. Dean Snyder in a statement he posted on the website of his Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. “He has served for decades as a profound voice for justice and inclusion in our society. He has...

Dean Snyder, senior pastor of the liberal Washington church Hillary Clinton attended for eight years while her husband was president, is praising and defending Barack Obama's former pastor and controversial spiritual mentor Jeremiah Wright.

The pastor of the Methodist church that Bill and Hillary Clinton attended during his presidency is now defending Obama’s retiring pastor Jeremiah Wright. This intervention will perhaps serve to remind that the Clinton’s own church was once a source of national controversy. "The Reverend Jeremiah Wright is an outstanding church leader whom I have heard speak a number of times,” proclaimed the Rev. Dean Snyder in a statement he posted on the website of his Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. “He has served for decades as a profound voice for justice and inclusion in our society. He has...

The Jewish State of Israel may not be perfect, it is however a flowering garden of civility, democracy and human rights in a desert filled with Arab-Muslim oppressive dictatorships, who deny their people basic human and religious rights and fundamental freedoms to its minorities-such as freedom of speech, press, and assembly. Given Israel's circumstances - being surrounded by hostile Arab states (and Arab-Palestinians) who seek its destruction through war and endless cycles of terrorism, Israel's record of maintaining its democracy and working to insure human rights and freedoms for all is remarkable. For the United Methodist Church (UMC) and other...

According to Franklin County Sheriff Ewell Hunt, this morning's lockdown at Ferrum College began with an incident around 7:30 a.m. Hunt said a white male carrying a handgun was seen by a housekeeper walking into Bassett Hall. The man told the housekeeper not to say anything. There was no shooting incident, Hunt said, but two people were detained and questioned as persons of interest. Officials are still looking for the suspect now, Hunt said, and they are searching dorms and buildings on campus.

The Methodist Child Indoctrination League   By Mark TooleyFrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, February 19, 2008 Among the latest exploits of the United Methodist Women’s Division is a children’s book intended to instill anti-Israel themes among Methodist younsters. Innocuously called, “From Palestine to Seattle; Becoming Neighbors and Friends,” the booklet portrays Israel as an oppressor of Palestinians while omitting all mention of terrorism. It was written by Mary Davis, a former United Methodist missionary in “Palestine,” where she led “study tours,” whose political content no doubt was predictable. The United Methodist Women’s Division, with over $60 million in assets, $30 million...

Among the latest exploits of the United Methodist Women’s Division is a children’s book intended to instill anti-Israel themes among Methodist younsters. Innocuously called, “From Palestine to Seattle; Becoming Neighbors and Friends,” the booklet portrays Israel as an oppressor of Palestinians while omitting all mention of terrorism. It was written by Mary Davis, a former United Methodist missionary in “Palestine,” where she led “study tours,” whose political content no doubt was predictable. The United Methodist Women’s Division, with over $60 million in assets, $30 million in annual income, and nearly 700,000 members, is one of the most powerful women’s groups...

The United Methodist Church is poised to become the next U.S. church to consider divestment from a company or companies operating in Israel, a strategy that has embroiled the Presbyterian Church (USA) and other denominations in controversy. At the church's quadrennial General Conference in April in Fort Worth, the Methodists, with more than 8 million U.S. members, will debate whether to pull church holdings in Caterpillar, which provides the Israel Defense Forces with bulldozers. The proposal from the Methodists' General Board of Church and Society comes as the church's women's division offers a 224-page study guide on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict...

The United Methodist Church has recently published Israel-Palestine: 2007-2008, an adult "study guide" written by the not impressed: The pattern of presenting biased opinions against Israel repeats itself over and over again in the mission study....Take, for example, the mission study's bibliography, which is available for downloading from the board's Web site. The first item listed is an article titled "Remember the Liberty." Published by a group called Americans for Middle East Understanding, the article claims Israel deliberately attacked an American Navy ship during the Six-Day War in 1967. No countervailing view is included. Indeed, in his book Goldstein describes...

A Chicago church is again in the spotlight in the debate over immigrant rights. Illegal immigrant Elvira Arellano (el-VEE'-ruh ah-ray-AH'-noh) took sanctuary in the Adalberto United Methodist Church for a year before she was arrested on a visit to Los Angeles and deported last August. Now, another illegal immigrant, Flor Crisostomo (floor kree-SOHS'-toh-moh), has defied a deportation order and taken refuge in the same church. Crisostomo is an illegal immigrant from Mexico arrested at a workplace raid at a Chicago site of IFCO Systems in 2006. The 28-year-old told reporters at the church Monday that she chose to defy authorities...

Paul warned us about times like this and the way people – including those claiming to be professing Christians – would act. I strongly believe Paul had in mind the kind of people who run major Protestant denominations like the United Methodist Church. Today, at an event in Fort Worth, Texas, leaders of the denomination, which boasts membership by President Bush and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, will consider divesting from all companies that do business with Israel. To say that even considering such an action is hateful, unbiblical, anti-Christian and evil would be an understatement. It's not even understandable except...

from the Christian News Wire release: Methodist Lobbyist Takes Anti-Israel Divestment Agenda to Doorstep of Caterpillar Tractor "The United Methodist Board of Church and Society apparently believes that the roadmap for Middle East peace leads through Peoria, Illinois. Does anyone really think that punishing Caterpillar will help create a peace in the Middle East?" -- Mark Tooley, Executive Director UMAction Contact: Loralei Coyle 202-682-4131, 202-905-6852 cell, lcoyle@ird-renew.org; Radio Interviews: Jeff Walton, jwalton@ird-renew.org; both with the Institute on Religion and Democracy WASHINGTON, Jan. 10 /Christian Newswire/ -- The chief of the United Methodist Church's official lobby office is meeting tomorrow in...

Methodist renewal advocate Mark Tooley says United Methodist Church officials are urging church agencies and members to divest their holdings in Caterpillar Incorporated, for doing business with Israel. Tooley, who directs the United Methodist Committee at the Institute on Religion and Democracy, says the UMC has about $15 million of Caterpillar stock in its pension fund. But he says the United Methodist General Board of Church and Society has unveiled a proposal to divest from Caterpillar ahead of the church's governing General Conference in April. Several United Methodist regional conferences have endorsed anti-Israel divestment, according to Tooley. "It's another example...

"Grace Notes" for February 2008, by United Methodist Church Bishop Charlene Kammerer: Why we should care about God’s creation The psalmist has declared in Psalm 8: "When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet..." My Christian...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-life organization for members of the Methodist Church says it hopes the Protestant Christian denomination will reform its long-standing pro-abortion views. The group hopes Methodists will be open to the message of Bishop William Willimon of Birmingham, who will be delivering a pro-life speech on Tuesday before the March for Life. LifeWatch, the unofficial United Methodist pro-life caucus, says Bishop Willimon will address the group in the chapel of the United Methodist Building, headquarters of the pro-abortion United Methodist Board of Church and Society. LifeWatch will urge the governing United Methodist General Conference this spring...

HOUSTON — An influential Houston minister who has long been a spiritual adviser to President George W. Bush says he will endorse Barack Obama's bid for the presidency. The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, senior pastor of Windsor Village United Methodist Church, said Saturday that he's backing the Illinois senator because of Obama's "character, confidence and courage." Obama, a Democrat, is electable and "would do a wonderful job to bring people together to pursue a common vision we all have," said Caldwell, who said his support is personal and not connected to his role as pastor of the 14,000-member church. However, Caldwell...

For much of Hillary's youth, [her father] Hugh was the only male influence on her life that had any real bearing. Her views, her political ideas, her religion—all this was filtered through Hugh, as he helped shape her sense of the world and her sense of self. But all that changed dramatically when she was thirteen, and the Reverend Don Jones, a Methodist minister, entered her life. She began dropping by Jones's office after school or during summer afternoons, eager to talk about ideas or insights she culled from the youth minister and his sermons. According to Roger Morris, biographer...

DES MOINES, Iowa—Members of the Iowa Interfaith Immigration Coalition are urging presidential candidates of both parties to conduct the debate over immigration policy in a civil manner “that respects human dignity.” In a Dec. 4 news conference, Connie Ryan Terrell, executive director of The Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, led a group of speakers who gathered to “change the negative, public attitudes and rhetoric which demonize and dehumanize our immigrant friends and neighbors.” Ms. Terrell said this “destructive attitude has permeated our nation,” making the discussion about immigration a more “complex and difficult debate.” In a four-week period, more than 3,600...

NEW TAMPA - The pastor of a leading New Tampa church is stepping down because of his addiction to online pornography. The Rev. Brian James, pastor of St. James United Methodist Church, is taking an indefinite, voluntary leave of absence, said Erik Alsgaard, director of communications for the Florida Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, the Methodists' Lakeland-based governing body for most of Florida. Alsgaard said James disclosed the problem to a church committee early this week. The committee consulted the hierarchy of the Methodist conference, leading to James' leave of absence, he said. Alsgaard said the church had...

He doesn't speak Spanish and has no idea what America should do about illegal immigration, but Rev. Larry Kreps knows he's now on a list somewhere of people willing to help illegal immigrants in a time of crisis. It started out small enough. Months ago, a member of Kreps' suburban Ohio congregation was looking for a place where local Hispanics could meet, and Kreps offered some space at John Wesley United Methodist Church. A Sunday school lesson on immigration followed in August. Days later, with just a phone call for warning, dozens of desperate immigrants fleeing a massive raid on...

Washington, DC—Fighting to keep its doors open, a struggling United Methodist congregation in Baltimore has partnered with a collective of radical anarchists in a space-sharing agreement. The tiny St. John’s United Methodist Church, still not fully restored after a 1981 fire, now hosts meetings of Red Emma's collective, a self-described anarchist group. Payments from the anarchists have allowed the church to continue paying its utility bills. Red Emma’s speakers at the church have included a former Black Panther imprisoned for armed robbery and the Northeast Federation of Anarchists-Communists St. John’s garnered attention earlier this year when its pastor, Ann Gordon,...

Panelists discuss climate changes, peak oil By Jake Palmateer Staff Writer http://www.thedailystar.com/local/local_story_340040035.html ONEONTA _ "Kill your lawn." That was one of the recommendations from a panel discussion based around peak oil and climate change held Wednesday night at the First United Methodist Church. Angelika St. Laurent of Cornell University promoted growing more vegetables and fruits locally _ including on lawns _ as a way to mitigate food-supply problems related to peak oil and climate change. ... ...Hubbert [in the 1950's] accurately predicted that American petroleum production would peak in less than two decades. ... a global peak, which Fleisher said...

In recognition of World AIDS Day, President & Mrs. Bush traveled to the Calvary United Methodist Church in Mount Airy, Maryland where they met with faith-based groups and thanked them for their efforts in fighting the disease around the world.(Transcript) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Virginia. Shultz served as secretary of state under President Reagan. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

Declaring war "incompatible with the teachings and example of Christ," the bishops of The United Methodist Church called on leaders of all nations to begin an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. The bishops also urged against deploying additional troops to Iraq and against establishing permanent military bases in the Middle Eastern country.