A longtime member of San Antonio’s First Presbyterian Church, Baskin served on virtually every committee of his congregation and rose to prominence in the Presbyterian Church (USA) through many years of service. He was an ardent proponent of Presbyterian reunion in 1983.
Two Church of England clergymen assaulted Anglican Church of Kenya Bishop Simon Oketch in London for opposing Gene Robinson...
Two days before the assault on Bishop Oketch, vandals attacked and set fire to the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Graham, Texas...
The Rev. Steven R. Randall, 52, received a standing ovation Sunday after telling his 200-member congregation at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church here that he would no longer obey his bishop nor would his congregation send its monthly $5,000 pledge to the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland.
Comparing the denomination to a hijacked airliner, Mr. Randall said the Episcopal Church "will carry more people to hell than it will save. It is a flying coffin doomed to destruction and despair."
"I am following God's call as best I can. I don't have a golden parachute. I will lose my pension, insurance, paycheck and all my benefits," Randall said.
"In the space of 10 days, the Episcopal Church plotted a course for the next quarter century, rejuvenated its mission philosophy, and got a lot of free publicity...
"Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold has seen "an incredible strength and joy despite the difficulties of some of the decisions"...
"Dean George Werner, president of the House of Deputies, urged clergy and congregations to make the most of the evangelistic potential that lies ahead...
"Looking at the vast collection of [media] coverage this church has been getting," he said, "this Sunday may be one of the greatest if not the best missionary Sundays in the history of the church."
Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman of the Catholic bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, said the Episcopal decisions "reflect a departure from the common understanding of the meaning and purpose of human sexuality and the morality of homosexual activity as found in sacred Scripture and the Christian tradition."
"...Western Christians have since the 1960s expected that the religion of their Third World brethren would be fervently liberal, activist and even revolutionary, the model represented by liberation theology," writes Jenkins Philip in his book The Next Christendom.
In this vision (or delusion), the future inevitably belongs to the tastes of educated WASPs, who with much grace, tact, consideration and compassion must guide their backward, more primitive black and brown brethren step-by-step down the path toward the new moral righteousness.
Instead of obeying this "progressive" script, the black church, both here and in Africa, is beginning to speak authoritatively on behalf of Christian moral tradition.
Many in the mainstream media have revealed a fundamental misunderstanding of [the Episcopal Church] and its members. Advocates of the gay bishop and the blessing of gay unions are regularly portrayed as progressive, inclusive and conciliatory, while the other side is described as infuriated, intolerant and, worst of all, schismatic.
Lifelong Episcopalians who feel their church should change with the times far exceed their counterparts who want it to stay the same – according to news coverage. Judging by the preliminary and final votes on the core issues, however, feelings are more evenly divided. Stories about gay clerics and how they share their spirituality with their congregations abound. Absent are feature stories on churches that emphasize a traditional understanding of marriage, and the families who flock to those. And one can regularly read about the experience of gay clergy and parishioners coming out. But what about the stories of those who acknowledge homosexual inclinations but believe that their faith calls them to celibacy?
Rev. Ndaba Mazabane, president of the Association of Evangelicals in Africa (AEA), was named Chairman of the International Council of World Evangelical Alliance. The appointment took place during WEA's recent Council meetings.
Prime Minister Jean Chretien said on Tuesday he would proceed with legislation to legalize gay marriage, despite concerns raised by some members of his Liberal government and despite warnings from clerics about his salvation.
He rebuffed calls from within his Liberal caucus to soften plans that would redefine marriage to include homosexuals, a decision brought on by two recent court rulings that the heterosexual definition of marriage was unconstitutional.
A spokesman for Canadian Catholic Bishops Tuesday said he was encouraged by news that nearly 50 liberal Members of Parliament (MPs) were opposed to legislation to legalize homosexual marriage throughout the nation.
BreakPoint with Charles Colson One night in a driveway – Reflections on thirty years of faith
"...when I got in the car that night, I couldn't drive it out of the driveway. Ex-Marine captain, White House tough guy, I was crying too hard, calling out to God. I didn't know what to say; I just knew I needed Jesus, and He came into my life..."
“...Mel Gibson would be wise to ignore the ADL’s politicized attack on ‘The Passion'... “The movie is not anti-Semitic and does not need to be changed. Revisionist history is dishonest history and must be resisted.”
Christian Christ-killers – by Gene Edward Veith
Critics of Mel Gibson's passion play don't realize that the crucifixion of Christ was a good thing
"...The controversy over the Mel Gibson movie is a testimony to the failure of Christians to communicate effectively what they believe. Secularists, by and large, think Christianity is all about moralism, with good people going to heaven and bad people going to hell. They have no idea that Christianity is really all about grace, forgiveness, God becoming flesh, Christ giving His life and rising again for the salvation of sinners.
"Maybe a movie on the centrality of the cross can set the record straight."
A brave new worldview – by Ruth E. Van Reken
How we can live confidently in uncertain times
"...I've come to believe there is a way to live with confidence – but it's not a confidence based on the worldly arrogance that somehow I can control my own destiny. Rather, it's a Christ-centered confidence, the kind the Bible calls "an anchor for our souls" (Hebrews 6:19, NAS)..."
“Parents tell us over and over how quickly their kids take to biblical reconciliation,” says Ken Sande, president of Peacemaker Ministries. “[Children] become better peacemakers than the parents. I know that’s been true of our family. My wife, Corlette, and I didn’t know how to resolve conflict correctly until we were in our 30s. By then, we had years of pride and stubbornness to overcome, and we’re still not always as quick as we should be to reconcile. But our kids have been taught since they were in diapers. They’re 11 and 8 now, and they are much quicker to make relationships right.”
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), which formed in 1991 as a result of Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) controversy, first voted in 2000 to apply for membership in the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), a worldwide fellowship of Baptists. A BWA membership committee denied the group's first application last year, saying the Fellowship did not appear to qualify as a traditional Baptist convention or union for membership.
Leaders of the Fellowship insisted the group is not a denomination.
"We have chosen... to define ourselves as a 'fellowship,' which means that we are a 'Baptist association of churches and individuals' in partnership for the advancement of God's kingdom."
A coalition of philosophers, scientists and religious thinkers has started sponsoring a series of talks about how their fields interact.
The Kansas City Religion and Science Dialogue Project, which began in 2002, is designed to be a "conversation" on what new scientific discoveries – covering everything from stem-cell research to black matter – mean to age-old beliefs, organizers say.
The meetings are not debates, though, organizers said. It's an opportunity for both groups to learn more about the other's studies...
The Second Presbyterian Church has provided local matching money.
The partnership just seemed like a natural idea, said the Rev. Edward Thompson, senior pastor at Second Presbyterian.
The great obstruction in the path of homosexual activists in the church is the Bible. This is not really a limitation on the thinking of the theological elites within liberal churches, but it is a problem at the grassroots. Liberal theologians long ago decided that the Bible is hopelessly homophobic, hostile to women, and that it presents a judgmental deity with all kinds of hang-ups.
But those unsophisticated laypersons (and their enablers, the conservative clergy) still harbor that quaint notion that the Bible is God's Word, bearing His full authority, and is therefore binding on all Christians. There are only two options for liberal theologians in dealing with the Bible's unconditional rejection of homosexual behavior in any form. The first option for neutralizing the Bible is simply to reject its authority...
...The second option is to find a way to make troublesome biblical texts appear to mean the opposite of what they really mean.
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