| PNS on Sebastian case - revised version |
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"The PJC issued no written decision, but in a letter dated Feb. 20 said it had unanimously sustained all but one of Norman Blessing's complaints. On that issue - his objection to being excluded from a session meeting - the Rev. Dale Heaton, of Titusville, FL, moderator of the PJC, said no ruling was necessary because it has long been "taken for granted" that a session member may not be excluded from a session meeting."
For the background of this story see our Index to the Sebastian case |
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| Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) dispenses $65,000 |
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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has dispatched $35,000 from the One Great Hour of Sharing offering to two African countries to aid families forced from their homes by civil war.
Closer to home, PDA has provided $30,000 to a Kansas presbytery helping residents cope with the aftermath of a recent winter storm. |
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The way, the truth and the life
Outlook guest viewpoint by Shirley C. Guthrie |
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"The truth we seek in interreligious dialogue is not our truth but God's truth, the truth of the triune God revealed in Jesus Christ. It is truth that exposes, judges and corrects the limitations, fallibility and sinfulness of us Christians and our religion as well as those of other people and their religion." |
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| A prayer for the Confessing Church Movement |
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This prayer was offered during the National Celebration of Confessing Churches in Atlanta by Dr. Robert R. Kopp, pastor of Bethany Presbyterian Church in Loves Park, Illinois. |
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Hallmark Channel features Vietnam video produced by
PC(USA) |
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The Vietnam video follows a delegation of women and men from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) as they visit health and education projects supported by Church World Service. In the video,PC(USA) producer Bill Gee gives his commentary as a veteran of the Vietnam War.
The video is scheduled to air Friday, March 15, at 7 a.m. ET on the Hallmark Channel. |
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| The persecuted Church: A baroness serves in the trenches |
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Baroness Caroline Cox of Queensbury, the daughter of an eminent British surgeon, was recommended by Margaret Thatcher in 1982 for a life peerage and appointment to the House of Lords. As the UK president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Lady Cox now spends her days with persecuted Christians in some of the most devastated nations on earth. |
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Ex-cop champions persecuted in Sudan
Maria Sliwa says 'Christians should be yelling, screaming'
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Persecuted Christians in Sudan have an unlikely champion to thank for forcing
their plight onto the Western world's agenda - a feisty former New York cop
whose passion for justice has even seen her end up behind bars.
Running an influential one-woman lobbying group from her New Jersey home,
Maria Sliwa says: "Morning, noon and night I see the persecuted church. Their
cries are always with me." |
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Witness to genocide — Henchmen convert to their victim's religion
By Uwe Siemon-Netto, UPI
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The mass extermination
of Christians in North Korea has an ironic effect on some of this Stalinist
country's henchmen, according to a German doctor who worked there for 18 months.
They convert to their victim's religion.
"I have
spoken with the former commandant of 10 concentration camps, who was so impressed
by the strength of the inmates' faith that he fled the country and had himself
baptized," Norbert Vollertsen told United Press International. |
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Christians were targeted in India
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A leading Christian group on Wednesday
called for a ban on Hindu extremist groups, saying they had also targeted
Christians during last week's religious violence in Gujarat state that left
more than 600 people dead, mostly Muslims.
The All India Christian Council said in a statement that the Hindu groups
have "engaged in a constant hate campaign against the minorities" and are
training hundreds of thousands of people in armed warfare.
The council said it would ask the U.N. High Commission on Human
Rights and other international bodies to investigate the activities and funding
of the World Hindu Council and its affiliates. |
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| Moscow victory for Salvation Army |
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The Salvation Army has won the right to continue operating in Moscow after a long court battle.
The international Christian charity was banned from Moscow last year after a local court ruled it was a "paramilitary grouping".
The Salvation Army commander responsible for Russia, Colonel Kenneth Baillie, welcomed the decision. "We only want to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and serve suffering humanity," he said. |
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Priest: We're being 'fed to the wolves'
"You're convicted and then they try you"
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With the Archdiocese of Boston suspending priests on suspicion of child molestation and turning their names over to prosecutors, some are warning that the church is moving too fast and that priests' rights are being trampled.
"It's almost like a movie -- you're convicted and then they try you," said Michael Higgins, a former priest who is the head of Justice for Priests and Deacons, an organization founded by canon lawyers in 1997 to defend the rights of Roman Catholic clergy. "The bishops are running scared, and the bottom line is they want to protect the diocesan coffers." |
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| Prayer on abortion raises eyebrows in Colorado Senate
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A guest chaplain's
morning prayer asking God's help to outlaw abortion and "stop the killing
and murder" of babies caused a small exodus from the Colorado Senate chambers
Tuesday.
Six lawmakers walked out in protest after hearing
the prayer delivered by Pastor David Meek of the Glad Tidings Assembly of
God Church in Greeley. |
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| Charting the unchurched in America |
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People with no religion now account for 14% of the nation, up from 8% when The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, authors of the American Religious Identification Survey 2001 (ARIS), conducted its first survey of religion in 1990. Today the range stretches from 3% with no religion in North Dakota to 25% in Washington state.
The majority of Americans, 81% according to ARIS, still do claim a religion. They represent a counterargument to the theory that the more developed a country — in education, occupations, science and technology — the more its people move away from religion, says Ronald Inglehart, who heads the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. |
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Just war truths and fallacies
Richard John Neuhaus, First Things
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Commentary on David S. Yeago’s article “Just War: Reflections from the Lutheran Tradition in a Time of Crisis” - in the Fall 2001 issue of Pro Ecclesia. |
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Religion takes several hits
It was a good week for atheists
By Cal Thomas
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":...Had Graham spoken "truth to power" and said of Nixon's derogatory remarks about Jews, Mr. President, those were wicked and sinful things to say about Jewish people," chances are excellent that Nixon would never again have granted the evangelist access. That's the way the game is played between politicians and clergy. And the clergy always lose in the end because it is their principles that must be sacrificed if their proximity to supposed power is to continue and their illusion of influence to be maintained..." |
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The 'Baptist Pope'
By Timothy George |
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W.A. Criswell showed remarkable openness and flexibility when these
traits were rare among evangelicals.
"Most people think of tradition when they think of Criswell, but actually his ministry was incredibly innovative," says Rick Warren, whose call to pastoral ministry was confirmed in an encounter with Criswell. "It only became traditional after everyone copied him." |
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| Italian statue 'weeps blood' |
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Thousands of believers have flocked to the Sicilian city of Messina after a statue of the revered Padre Pio began shedding tears some think are blood.
Police have taken a sample of the liquid coming from the two-meter (seven-foot) bronze statue for analysis. |
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| Japan unearths Christian tombstone
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Archeologists have unearthed what is
believed to be the oldest Christian tombstone in Japan, a granite slab buried
centuries ago to elude persecution by feudal authorities who outlawed the
foreign religion.
Dating to 1581, the pointed plot marker is believed to be that of Tsushima
Tawara, a local warlord whose family apparently hid the stone to erase connections
to the taboo faith, an official said Thursday.
Christianity was introduced to Japan in 1549 by Spanish missionary
Francisco Xavier. But as the religion took on thousands of converts and began
to rival the authority of ruling warlords, the shogun banned the religion
in 1613.
Practicing the faith was made punishable by death. |
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Ten Commandments have to go... |
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A federal judge Wednesday ordered county
officials to remove an 82-year-old Ten Commandments plaque from a Chester County (Pennsylavania) courthouse,
calling it an unconstitutional display of the biblical text.
The ruling came after a two-day trial that included testimony from
theological scholars and members of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia,
which describes itself as a group of atheists, agnostics, humanists and others. |
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...and Ten Commandments can stay |
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U.S. District Judge Alan Sharp ruled yesterday that the city of Elkhart, Indiana, would be allowed to keep the Ten Commandments posted on the lawn at City
Hall, as long as city officials add four other monuments.
The city's proposed remedy included adding excerpts from the Bill of Rights,
the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and
the Magna Carta.
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Let there be websites
Churches build online worship sites
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"I actually use [the website] to watch sermons if I can't attend,
or find out [about] different activities and things that'll be going on within
the church."
Church members can even tithe online.
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| Satanic message scrawled on church |
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The message "Satan is Lord forever" was spray painted in black
across the front of St. Mark's Church on Lyndon Street in Warren, RI.
Similar markings were found on the front doors of St. Michael's Church in Bristol. |
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| Web site offers point-and-click divorce |
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Couples can find a mate, fill out a bridal registry
and plan a honeymoon on the computer. Now they can also divorce online.
A Web site started last year by a Seattle attorney
gives the unhappily wed in Washington, California, Florida and New York
the option of dissolving their marriages online. Texas is next, and several
other states are being considered. |
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The vote on Amendment 01-A: 41 yes - 117 no (6/2)
Details on our acclaimed, fast-loading Vote chart
See Graph: Cumulative Presbytery Votes by month
and the Chart of votes per Synod |
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Results of this week :
YES:
NO: Nevada; Eastern Oklahoma (switch, voted "no" on 96-B, "yes" on 97-A)
If the remaining presbyteries vote on 01-A as they did on 97-A, amendment 01-A will fail by 47 yes - 126 no
(See our analysis "Will results be close to those of 97-A?")
Please,
to us. Thank you!
Official tally on all 8 amendments |
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| Letters from readers |
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Chris Brundage writes "a final response to Dean Waldt." |
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Robert R. von Oeyen, Jr. "...too many nasty remarks in this space serve to indicate that we are truly fallible in both faith and practice..." |
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David Chumney "...If (as Robert von Oeyen argues) the word "infallible" has been repudiated by our church, then why does my copy of the Book of Confessions not have a footnote to that effect?..." |
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Jim Henkel in response to a letter from Robert R. von Oeyen: "... if the doctrine of Scriptural infallibility was the true sticking point for the Central Florida Presbytery PJC, there would be no reason to require Sebastian to rescind their entire statement. A simple revision of language could easily remove the offending word while maintaining the intent of their declaration..." |
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Paul Becker "Chris Brundage is frustrated with people like myself. He asserts that all the doors of reasonable discourse are shut. I believe that there are rooms of discourse that, if opened, should be closed..." |
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Christopher H. Rosik "...I think if I had to point to one statement of Dr. Tenke’s that enlightened me the most, it would have to be the following: "Rosik’s paradox disappears when we recognize that we are called to focus on spiritual and interpersonal fidelity, rather than on sex." This seems to reflect a hermeneutical approach quite different from my own..." |
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