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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!

Lay Committee responds to Theological Task Force and calls for dialogue – by Gene TeSelle / Witherspoon Society
	"The Presbyterian Lay Committee on June 21, 2005, released a publication entitled "Can Two Faiths Embrace One Future?" The next day a discussion guide was issued. "It contends that "pluralist" or "inclusivist" approaches to denominational unity, which it associates with the Theological Task Force and the Office of the General Assembly, are "both irrational and unfaithful." That's why "plural" really means "two" – the right way and the wrong way. That's also why the question of "schism" is raised, though it is not fully answered. "If you are serious about dialogue in the church, this is not the way to engage in it..."

Former National Presbyterian Mariners board seeks dissolution
	A meeting of the membership of National Presbyterian Families, formerly National Presbyterian Mariners, for the purpose of voting on the recommendation of the Board to dissolve the organization and redirect the remaining assets is called to meet at Noon on August 19, 2005, in the First Presbyterian Church of Branson, Missouri.

Scripture lessons for today from the lectionary Today in the Yearbook for Mission and Study: Czech Republic
	In the fourteen years since the collapse of the communist regime, the ongoing transformation of Czech society continues to present the PC(USA)’s partner church with opportunities for outreach and service. A revitalized Czech church wants to let the whole world know about the exciting ventures that God has prepared for its members. And for Sunday: Minute for Mission: Access In spite of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the full inclusion of persons with disabilities remains a challenge and is difficult to enforce.


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

A last crusade in a career that reshaped American religion By Harry Bruinius / The Christian Science Monitor
	Graham came of age when evangelists were seen more as Elmer Gantry figures – traveling hucksters, hypocrites out to make a buck. Evangelical Protestants, too, bruised after decades of battles with Darwinism, liberal Christianity, and academic critiques of the Bible, had mostly withdrawn from public life, retreating into a defensive "fundamentalism" that could only react to culture, not shape it. "Billy Graham, for evangelicals, put us on the national stage in a light that reflected well on us, maybe for the first time in a long time," says Larry Lyon, professor of sociology and dean of the Graduate School at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He persuaded repressive regimes in China, Hungary, and the Soviet Union to allow giant gatherings for his sermons – events normally never allowed.

Thousands flock to see Billy Graham By Julia Duin / The Washington Times
	Evangelist Billy Graham began his final American crusade last night with a multi-ethnic extravaganza translated into 21 languages and supported by 1,424 churches nationwide. More than 85,000 people attended the revival, filling five overflow sections, jamming the Long Island Expressway and swamping the local transportation systems to get here. "I have stars in my eyes," Mr. Graham said in opening his 30-minute speech. "It's great to be back in New York." The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's decision to locate its last crusade in polyglot Queens, home to speakers of some 130 languages, was a strategy crafted on the understanding that evangelism's future is multicultural by necessity.

Jesus and justice – by Harold Myra and Marshall Shelley / CT How Billy Graham tactfully led evangelicals on race at his first New York City crusade.
	Graham chose to make his stand in the heart of the segregated South. He initially agreed to segregate the audience during his 1952 campaign in Jackson, Mississippi, but rejected Governor Hugh White's suggestion to conduct separate meetings for blacks. Meanwhile, Graham prepared to make a much bolder statement. Holding segregated events had always struck him as wrong, but he'd never chosen to take decisive action – until now. Walking toward the ropes that separated blacks and whites, Graham tore them down. Mystified and uncomfortable ushers tried to put the ropes back up. Graham personally stopped them. This symbolically powerful gesture marked a major ministry watershed. He never again led a segregated campaign. "There is no scriptural basis for segregation. It may be there are places where such is desirable to both races, but certainly not in the church," Graham told his Mississippi audience. "The ground at the foot of the Cross is level, and it touches my heart when I see whites standing shoulder to shoulder with blacks at the Cross." Graham's 1957 New York City campaign illustrates just what he faced and the tactics he employed...

The New York experiment – by Howard O. Jones with Edward Gilbreath When Billy Graham called me to be his first African-American evangelist, I was honored – and totally unprepared for the backlash that followed.
	"I was sitting on the platform at Madison Square Garden before 18,000 New Yorkers who had come to hear Billy Graham preach. Seated with me on the stage were a dozen other pastors and civic leaders. We were all people of faith – Christians who loved the Lord. However, one thing set me apart from the other men on the platform: I am black... "I had a call from God to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That was my priority. Soon, though, I was forced to look at the matter through the American social prism of black and white..."

Mounting a Billy Graham crusade takes prayers, mailings and many, many chairs – by Andy Newman / The New York Times
	A Billy Graham sermon is a model of simplicity and directness. A Billy Graham crusade, like the one that got under way last night in Queens, is a decidedly more complex undertaking, requiring, oh, several million painstakingly assembled ingredients. However lofty the three-day crusade's spiritual goals, the worldly preparations for a huge religious event can be mighty impressive, too. Of the 12,000 churches, 1,400 agreed to participate, the highest number of congregations in the history of the Graham crusades, Mr. Bailey said. They represent 80 denominations. The Greater New York Crusade costs $6.8 million to put on. 3.2 million people have pledged their lives to Jesus at Graham crusades over the years. Related: Billy Graham has long been a friend to Jewish community By Rabbi A. James Rudin "...I met Graham in 1977 in Atlanta when the American Jewish Committee presented him an interreligious award. Many Christians were surprised by my organization's action, and some Jews were critical. After all, Graham's single message was, is, and will always be the Gospel. But Graham deserved the AJC award..."

Central Africa Anglican Primate: "Talk is over" An interview with Archbishop Bernard Malango, Primate of Central Africa. By David W. Virtue
	The Archbishop of Central Africa says that an exit strategy from the Anglican Communion has been drawn up and schism will occur before the next Lambeth Conference, with a new world headquarters for Anglicanism in Alexandria, Egypt, because the North American churches will not repent of their actions condoning "immoral sexual behavior". In a wide-ranging interview with VirtueOnline, the Most Rev. Bernard Malango said the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA) and the Global South bishops have had enough of talking about homosexuality and when they meet in Alexandria in October they will bring finality to the situation. "If there is no resolution and solution of this situation, the Global South will go it alone and we will form a church – a true Anglican Church – and those in the West who believe in the authority of the Scriptures only would be admitted... "It will all be resolved before the next Lambeth Conference. It will all be done within the next three years because we are fed up with talking..." Related: Global South Anglican leaders rip North Americans By David W. Virtue Leaders of four Anglican Communion provinces ripped the Episcopal and Canadian churches today and said in no uncertain terms that the actions by two North American provinces "embracing unholy sexual practices" was hurting evangelism, promoted ostracism and was a salvation issue.

China and Vatican make no secret of thaw – Both would gain by establishing ties, though complete religious freedom is unlikely. By Mark Magnier / LATimes
	The so-called patriotic Catholics number 4 million, according to government figures. Underground church members are estimated at two to three times that number. In recent months, relations between the Vatican and Beijing have thawed, with some seeing the death of Pope John Paul II as a catalyst. Rome, with its worldwide flock of 1 billion, and the Chinese Communist Party, overseeing a nation of 1.3 billion, have been doing an uneasy dance driven by self-interest. The main elements of a compromise are now in focus, religious leaders and analysts say. The Vatican would probably end its official recognition of Taiwan and Beijing would allow Rome greater say in church affairs.

Bush Christian backers campaign for North Korean human rights
	Members of the Midland Ministerial Alliance, a network of more than 200 churches from Bush's Texas hometown, are in Seoul this week to win support for their latest push for improved human rights in the communist North.

A call to speak out / National Council of Churches A Fourth of July proclamation
	"...The time has come to say: "NO to leaders who have sent many honorable sons and daughters to fight a dishonorable war.. NO to the violence... NO the abuse of prisoners... No to the price tag... NO to theologies that demonize other nations and religions... "YES to foreign policies that seek justice... YES to an early fixed timetable for troop withdrawal... YES to the honoring of human rights even for our enemies...YES to spending and taxing priorities that put the poor first... "The freedom promised in the toppling of a dictator has been replaced by the humiliation of occupation and the violence of a civil war..."

Europe reacts to Turkey’s missionary phobia Protestants call government rhetoric ‘active disinformation.’ By Barbara G. Baker / Compass
	For the past six months, both Islamist and nationalist circles in Turkey have launched strident broadsides against what even state officials are calling “dangerous” Christian activities. In the context of a conservative backlash against the secular but overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey’s push to join the “historically Christian” European Union (EU), the campaign is not surprising. For decades, charges that Christian missionaries have a political agenda have been a staple of the Turkish media, often fueled by self-serving political circles. But until now, the government itself has rarely given these claims such open backing. Even secularists have taken up the cause, with public complaints from Rahsan Ecevit, the outspoken wife of leftist ex-prime minister Bulent Ecevit, that “Turkish citizens, sometimes by persuasion and sometimes for their own material benefit, are becoming Christians. “We cannot ignore this activity,” Ecevit warned on January 2. “At the time we say that we are entering the EU, we’re losing our religion.”

Promoting and uniting European Evangelicals Swimming against the current makes the European Evangelical Alliance's liaison to the E.U. feel alive – Interview by Agnieszka Tennant
	At the beginning of this month, former Pentecostal pastor, TV producer, and Danish politician Tove Videbaek assumed her role as the European Evangelical Alliance's representative to the European Union in Brussels. Her daunting task is making sure that Europe's evangelicals are heard by E.U.'s governing bodies and that the implications of EU's decisions register with the evangelicals. She spoke about her new job by e-mail with Christianity Today associate editor Agnieszka Tennant.

Interfaith Alliance apologizes for comparing Christian group to Gestapo and Taliban / AP
	The letter of apology released Thursday by the president of The Interfaith Alliance said the comments made in May about the group Focus on the Family were inappropriate for public dialogue. Rev. Peter Morales, head of the public policy commission of The Interfaith Alliance, called Focus on the Family's stance "the actions of an American Taliban, of reactionary, religious zealots." "This, my friends, is the Gestapo," added the Rev. Bill Kirton, a United Methodist minister, referring to the secret Nazi police during World War II.

FTE announces $1.2 million in fellowships and support for aspiring pastors and scholars
	To encourage a new generation of gifted young people to consider vocations in ministry and theological scholarship, The Fund for Theological Education (FTE) will award $1.2 million in fellowships and other support to more than 170 students nationwide named as 2005 FTE Fellows.


Letters from readers – email us
•	John A. Lyckman "...All of the problems identified cited by the Moderator [Rick Ufford-Chase] can be traced to the nature of this fallen world, estranged from God and disobedience to God’s word. The cure is salvation in Jesus Christ.... Without the power of God and the saving grace of our Lord all of our human plans and schemes, no matter how well intended, will come to naught... So, I heartily encourage the Church to “be Church” by praying ceaselessly, spreading the good news of our Lord and Savior to every corner of the earth and encouraging and teaching the faithful to become ever more obedient disciples, servants and students of the Lord..."