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The national PC(USA) news —official and unofficial, from left to right— Come here first, it is the quick and easy way to miss nothing Something we may have overlooked? Please, tell us!

‘Forever long and just a blink’ – by Whitney Wilkinson A young adult volunteer missionary letter from Northern Ireland
	"...They walk up to the memorial on the side of the shop. The wrought-iron Celtic cross guards a gathering of silk and plastic flowers, and the plaque above lists the names of those who died there. The light-hearted mood suddenly turns somber. "Ciaran, from this Catholic Lower Ormeau community, explains to the others that this is where five people were killed for being Catholic by Loyalist paramilitaries. One of them was his friend’s uncle. Ciaran tells the story of a mother whose daughter was killed here..." "This is no normal Saturday afternoon. This is Belfast, and these kids are a cross-community group I work with. Half are Catholic, half are Protestant. Most of these kids have never even set foot in the other’s communities before today... "Last Saturday, I watched God break down the hatred, violence, and sectarianism of generations of conflict in one day. If God can do so much in one day, what can be done in a lifetime? I am humbled and amazed that God would allow me to take part in His work in Belfast..."

MRTI questions Intel’s record on diversity Underemployment of women is subject of on-site visit in Arizona
	Computer chip–maker Intel Corp. had some explaining to do at one of its facilities recently when a committee charged with monitoring Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) investments paid the company a visit. Among the issues raised by the Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee (MRTI) during the Feb. 4 visit was Intel’s record on diversity. In fact, one of the biggest things on MRTI member Bernice McIntyre’s mind was why only 24 percent of Intel’s 2003 U.S. workforce was female. That’s 11,602 female workers out of 48,181 total domestic workers.


News of and for all churches, in the USA and around the world, and their interaction with their cultures. Included: opinions, resources Voices from the entire spectrum

Churches in Sudan challenged on future work after civil war By Fredrick Nzwili, ENI
	A meeting of Sudanese Christian leaders in Nairobi has ended with a warning that churches risk being marginalized if they cannot draw up a clear strategy after an agreement by the Sudanese government and rebels to end a two-decade-long civil war. “Sudan is at the most dangerous stage now,” said the Rev. Mvume Dandala, general secretary of the Nairobi-based All Africa Conference of Churches, which hosted the two-day meeting that ended on Feb. 8. “The churches must unite to fortify the peace.”

U.S. drops criminal inquiry of C.I.A. antidrug effort in Peru Says shooting down plane killing American missionary Veronica Bowers and 7 month-old daughter was result of language and communications problems
	After a secret three-year investigation, federal prosecutors have decided to end a criminal inquiry into whether at least four Central Intelligence Agency officers lied to lawmakers and their agency superiors about a clandestine antidrug operation that ended in 2001 with the fatal downing of a plane carrying American missionaries, Justice Department officials said this week.

Graft permeates all society say Latin American church leaders By Manuel Quintero, ENI
	The publication of a report naming Argentina and Ecuador among the nations with the world's highest perceived levels of corruption in politics has prompted church leaders in those countries to denounce graft and sleaze which they say are infiltrating all of society.

WCC partners announce plans for a new global alliance against poverty and injustice
	Ecumenical agencies and churches working in the field of relief and development have called for the creation of a new international alliance of church-related organizations to address issues of poverty and injustice. The alliance is provisionally named “ACT Global.” A consensus on the new international ecumenical initiative – which would eventually cover humanitarian relief, economic development cooperation and advocacy work – emerged during a consultation convened by the World Council of Churches (WCC) at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey Feb. 4-5. Concluding the meeting, WCC General Secretary the Rev. Sam Kobia underlined the historic nature of the agreement: “This meeting is a turning point in ushering in a new era of collaboration between churches, ecumenical agencies and the WCC.”

Vatican tries to curb U.S. 'divorce mentality' By Margaret Ramirez, Chicago Tribune
	Alarmed by the rising number of annulments granted in the United States, the Vatican Wednesday released new instructions for tribunals that encourage them to uphold existing church law and avoid falling into contemporary society's "divorce mentality." The document "Dignitas Connubii," or "Dignity of Marriage," disappointed some American bishops and canon lawyers who had hoped to make the annulment process easier and faster. Instead, observers said, the instructions are the most recent example of Pope John Paul II's displeasure at the large number of American annulments and desire to protect the sacrament of marriage.

New York: Anger simmers among clergy over gay rites By Meghan Clyne, New York Sun
	Not consulted, for the most part, by politicians or the press, many New York religious leaders expressed anger at a state Supreme Court judge's decision redefining marriage and frustration at receiving the cold shoulder from Mayor Bloomberg on the issue of gay marriage.

Picking gay or nay – by Kenneth Lovett, New York Post
	Legalization of gay marriage in New York could come down to just one man — brainy, moderately conservative Court of Appeals Judge Albert Rosenblatt, legal scholars told The Post. If the explosive case reaches the state's sharply divided top court, as Mayor Bloomberg and others expect, court watchers say Rosenblatt – a Harvard Law School grad and longtime jurist who was appointed to the state's top court by Gov. Pataki in 1998 – could hold the key. "He's very intellectual and moderately conservative, but it wouldn't surprise me if he went either way," said Albany Law School professor Vincent Bonventre. "It will be hard to prevail on either side without getting Judge Rosenblatt," agreed Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law professor Stewart Sterk.

Abortion in the crosshairs – by Tina Susman, New York Newsday Supporters of Roe v. Wade fear a rollback of rights is just a matter of time
	Asked if Roe v. Wade would outlast Bush, the president of the National Organization for Women, Kim Gandy, responded, "I don't know," and described its future as "bleak." Four months after Scott Peterson's arrest for the killing of his wife, Laci, and their unborn son, Conner, Bush last April signed into law the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, making it a crime to harm a fetus during a federal offense. Conservatives, who had tried for five years to pass the law, acknowledged that the Peterson case provided the momentum to overcome opposition.

Division in the Episcopal Church – PBS NewsHour
	Episcopalians throughout the United States are deeply divided over the church's decision to ordain its first homosexual bishop and many are looking for support overseas. Transcript plus video and audio links.

Bible-belt Catholics – With spirited preaching and conservative teaching, the South is giving the faith a new flavor By Tim Padgett, Time
	Catholics in places like Charlotte say the church is being born again in the cradle of born-again Christianity – the South. The Catholic population in Charlotte is growing almost 10% a year, and the ratio of newly ordained priests to parishioners there is more than seven times as high as Chicago's. Catholics still make up only about 12% of the South's population, vs. 22% of the total U.S. population. But Southern Catholics saw growth of almost 30% in the 1990s, compared with less than 10% for Baptists, who make up the area's largest denomination. Southern Catholics, influenced in no small degree by their morally hard-line Protestant neighbors, as well as the strong piety of Latin America, are decidedly more orthodox in their faith. Their explosive growth could eventually reverse national polls in which a majority of Catholics say they can disagree with church teachings, even on abortion, and remain good Catholics. Indeed, many Sunbelt Catholics say their mission is to rescue the church from what they consider to be the murky faith of liberal Catholic figures like former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry. "Here you're not Catholic because your parents came from Italy or Slovakia. It's because you believe what the church teaches you is absolutely true." Southern Catholics say their real strength is not in the influx of co-believers coming into the region but in the rising number of native converts.

Their idea of a university – by Charlotte Allen, The Wall Street Journal America's religious colleges are growing in popularity and quality
	The number of students attending the 100 schools of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities – an organization of four-year liberal-arts schools dedicated to promoting the Christian faith – rose 60% between 1990 and 2002. In those same years the attendance at nonreligious public and private schools stayed essentially flat. The number of applications to the University of Notre Dame, the nation's premier Catholic college, has risen steadily over the past decade, with a 23% jump last year alone. But numbers don't tell the whole story. Many religious schools, traditionally regarded as second-tier or worse, have improved the quality of their students and of their academic offerings, sometimes dramatically.

Sex on the religious campus – by Stanley Kurtz, National Review God on the Quad is a fascinating study
	Naomi Schaefer Riley's God on the Quad is one of the most interesting books about sex I've read in some time. God on the Quad appears to be a prim study of religious institutions of higher learning. In fact, it's a fascinating account of how the problem of sex gets resolved at colleges where "anything goes" doesn't go. Sex is part of life, in Christian schools no less than anywhere else. But as Riley shows, the sexual pressures experienced by students at secular schools are transformed at religious colleges into the pressure to find a spouse. Religious students who come to these colleges from secular high schools are shocked and excited by all-of-the-sudden being surrounded by attractive and eligible mates. As a woman interviewed by Riley put it: "The guys think, 'Wow, there are Christian girls here. And they're actually cool.' They haven't seen that. The tendency is, "I have to go get that right away.'" So at every religious college Riley visited, the mantra was, "Ring by Spring" (i.e. get engaged by spring of senior year). There's a rash of weddings after every graduation. Click here to order God on the Quad

Baylor's civil war – by Terry Mattingly
	Baylor, the world's largest Southern Baptist school was a "university with a Christian atmosphere," but not a "Christian university" that blended ancient faith and modern learning. This worked for decades, until reports about sex, drugs and nihilism pushed millions of parents to hunt for distinctively Christian campuses.. Recently, Baylor has steered toward "Christian university" status, led by its regents and an academic team headed by a brash president named Robert Sloan.

'Heart-renewing' cells discovered – by Roxanne Khamsi, Nature Until now, scientists believed that heart cells were non-renewable.
	The heart contains cells that can divide and mature after birth, which might allow the organ to regenerate itself. This surprise discovery raises the possibility of transplanting these cells into hearts crippled by heart attack to mend the damage. Unlike stem cells, which have a seemingly unlimited capacity for self-renewal, progenitor cells undergo a finite number of divisions. But both types of cells have potential for use in repairing heart damage. And according to the researchers, cardiac progenitor cells have one considerable advantage over stem cells: scientists can easily coax them into becoming fully specialized heart-muscle cells, without chemical or hormonal stimuli. Therapeutic use of these cells is many years away.

University of Toronto team discovers stem cell jackpot
	University of Toronto researchers have discovered a treasure-trove of stem cells that could one day help repair broken limbs and ease bone marrow transplants. The source: a region of the umbilical cord that holds an abundant supply of connective-tissue stem cells – the basic building blocks for the body's bone, fat and ligament tissues. The implications include a range of possible new treatments to repair torn ligaments and fractured bones, or to enhance the effectiveness of bone marrow transplants for leukemia patients. The findings may also spur greater efforts to preserve the umbilical cords of newborns as a source of treatment in later years for the child, or possibly others.

Spirits of the age – Sensing a yen for the offbeat and spooky, the networks are trading normal for paranormal By James Poniewozik, Time
	The network schedules have been littered with failed attempts at spooky, paranormal series. But this season, with the Top 10 debut of ABC's eerie Lost, there are signs that viewers are ready for less naturalism and more supernaturalism.


Letters from readers – email us
•	Ray McCalla "Sometimes I wonder what the folks at the *Layman* are up to. We all know that Dr. Achtemeier is a solid, biblical theologian and one of the brightest stars in our communion. We know that the accusations against him are false. So why would they publish material clearly designed to divide us evangelicals into the ready-to-pull-out-ers and the hang-in-there-till-the-end-ers?..."
•	Rus Howard "...The Layman acted responsibly. First, they interviewed several individuals who were present in the class. Second, they gave Mark Achtemeier an opportunity to respond..."
•	John McNeese "...God help conservative evangelicals on the [PUP Task Force], like Achtemeier and Jack Haberer, if they do not toe the line of orthodoxy laid down by Parker Williamson and the Lay Committee."
•	Art Seaman "...I am given to believe the professor, a man of integity, and not the Layman."
•	Bill Pawson "I could hardly believe what I was reading in the report of the RCRC meeting of January 21... The story actually DID say: "The gathering drew about twenty people, nearly half of whom were speakers." "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. Can you believe this non-event made the news? "Yet the organizers of this fraud claim to speak for 20 million pro-abortion proponents..."