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Distortion and Ignorance of the Confessions at OGA Does truth matter? – by Winfield Casey Jones
	"In an article, "Presbyterians and Separatist Evangelicals: A Continuing Dilemma," published by the Office of the General Assembly in its publication, Perspectives, R. Milton Winter makes erroneous and seriously un-informed statements about Part I of the Church's Constitution, the Book of Confessions. He also distorts the evangelical approach to missions... "Mr. Winter has seriously misrepresented and distorted the confessions, and the OGA should repudiate this distortion and misrepresentation."

PC(USA) delegation shares thoughts, concerns from the Middle East – by Toya Richards Hill / PNS
	Sharing joys, concerns, hopes and prayers was the focus of a letter sent Friday by the members of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) delegation currently in the Middle East. General Assembly Council (GAC) Chair the Rev. Allison Seed, General Assembly Stated Clerk the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick and GAC Executive Director Linda Bryant Valentine are visiting Lebanon, Israel and Palestine in an effort to show their continued support for the region’s Christians and to get a first-hand look at the area’s dynamics.

New Advisory Opinion from the Stated Clerk: Honorably Retired Ministers' ministry must be validated by Presbytery
	"...honorably retired ministers remain under the jurisdiction and direction of the presbytery of membership..."

Injunction issued in Mississippi church property case; attorney hopes to resolve ownership issue next month By Patrick Jean / The Layman
	First Presbyterian Church of Vicksburg and the Presbytery of Mississippi have agreed to a stipulated preliminary injunction in their court case over who owns the church's property. Both sides are due to return to court in April for a hearing on a final declaratory judgment, but the case could be resolved as early as next month, officials said.

Special needs Russian, South Carolina congregations partner to help Down Syndrome kids
	Ellen Smith calls what she and her husband, Alan, do as Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) missionaries in Russia “connecting congregation-to-congregation.” But in the hands and hearts of Immanuel Baptist Church in Vologda — 250 miles north of Moscow — and Westminster Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, the meeting of congregations has reached a whole new level.

Presbyterians in their local news
•	Calvary: 'A pretty bleak future' / The Wichita Eagle Calvary Presbyterian Church is in decline, and its future is uncertain. Its weekly attendance – once at 300 to 400 – is down to 30, most of whom are elderly and live outside the Midtown neighborhood their church is in. There are no programs. No outreach services. Members usually come once a week – for the Sunday morning worship service. About three years ago, it appeared the church was willing to begin outreach to the Hispanic community
•	Fresh spirit infuses services / Delewareonline This Lent, Taize-style services are planned at Concord Presbyterian Church... "I see this as both outreach and as a laboratory to discover how best to meet the needs of those who come to worship," says the Rev. Fritz Ackerman of Concord Presbyterian.
•	Churches look deeper into shared ministry / auburnpub.com There is excitement in the air at both St. Luke's United Church of Christ and Calvary Presbyterian Church as they experience some new beginnings together. Since October 2006, they have been sharing in worship and fellowship, and it has proven to be a joyous growth experience for both churches.
•	Reaching out from Madison, Wisconsin to Rwanda Madison Police Department Detective Jeff McPike and his daughter Noelle, an eighth-grader at Toki Middle School, recently returned from Nyamagabe, Rwanda. They and eight other members of Christ Presbyterian Church spent a week visiting World Vision's Area Development Program there.
•	Pastors to run marathon - and start a club [Hemet, California] "...He is on a mission of sorts, which makes sense considering he is also a pastor: pastor Larry Thorson of First Presbyterian Church, who will run with associate pastor Scott Stolte, also of First Presbyterian. "Both are running for the same reasons most of the participants are running: to raise money for Habitat for Humanity, stay in shape, and meet personal goals. "Thorson ran his last marathon 30 years ago..."
•	Pastor wants pre-inaugural prayer service open to all / The Tennessean Gov. Phil Bredesen and the pastor of the downtown church that will host his inaugural prayer service Saturday morning differ on this subject — who can go. Bredesen and his staff say it's an invitation-only event, and admission requires a ticket. This approach differs with the philosophy of the Rev. Kenneth Locke, pastor of the Downtown Presbyterian Church.

Scripture lessons for today – from the Lectionary
	"...Remember this and consider, recall it to mind, you transgressors, remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, "My purpose shall stand, and I will fulfill my intention..." "...Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil..." "...the unclean spirits begged him..."

Today in the Yearbook for Prayer and Study Washington Presbytery
	"God is doing exciting things on the mission front in Washington Presbytery! And this presbytery is committed to doing God’s work as far as the east is from the west! A ministry in Washington, Pennsylvania, that the presbytery supports is Resurrection Power. Under the direction of the Rev. Robert Hedges, this is a ministry to those broken by addiction..."
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New Amish school rises near murder scene / AP

NICKEL MINES, Pa. – Members of the community are raising a new Amish schoolhouse a few hundred yards from the spot where a gunman shot five girls to death in October.
The new building will have just one room, like the torn-down school where the massacre took place, but will be more secure, with more sophisticated locks and a location reachable only by a private drive.
An Amish-owned business is building the school, but the entire community is pitching in.

Five streams of the Emerging Church – Key elements of the most controversial and misunderstood movement in the church today
By Scot McKnight

"...As a theologian, I have studied the movement and interacted with its key leaders for years – even more, I happily consider myself part of this movement or "conversation." As an evangelical, I've had my concerns, but overall I think what emerging Christians bring to the table is vital for the overall health of the church.
"In this article, I want to undermine the urban legends and provide a more accurate description of the emerging movement..."

The scientist as believer – Science and religion can be reconciled
Interview with Francis Collins / National Geographic

"The often strained relationship between science and religion has become particularly combative lately. In one corner we have scientists such as Richard Dawkins and Steven Pinker who view religion as a relic of our superstitious, prescientific past that humanity should abandon. In the other corner are religious believers who charge that science is morally nihilistic and inadequate for understanding the wonders of existence. Into this breach steps Francis Collins, who offers himself as proof that science and religion can be reconciled. As leader of the Human Genome Project, Collins is among the world's most important scientists, the head of a multibillion-dollar research program aimed at understanding human nature and healing our innate disorders. And yet in his best-selling book, The Language of God, he recounts how he accepted Christ as his savior in 1978 and has been a devout Christian ever since. "The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome," he writes. "He can be worshiped in the cathedral or in the laboratory."
Click here to order: Francis Collins, The Language of God

British Airways drops ban on wearing crosses / BBC
Woman had been suspended for refusing to take off Christian necklace

British Airways is changing its uniform policy to allow all religious symbols, including.
BA had banned crosses on chains, but allowed hijabs and turbans to be worn.
Nadia Eweida, who has been on unpaid leave since September because of her refusal to stop wearing her cross at work, welcomed the decision.

Church dispute headed to court
By Natasha Altamirano / The Washington Times

A property dispute between the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and 11 churches whose congregations voted to leave the denomination took one step closer to court yesterday after the diocese's governing body declared the churches' property "abandoned."

Statue to honor Dutch prostitutes

AMSTERDAM'S red-light district will soon get a new attraction – a statue to honour prostitutes around the world.
The statue, designed by artist Els Rijerse, will likely be unveiled at the end of March.

Church of Presidents priest speaks out
By Ann Sanner / AP

WASHINGTON -- The Rev. Luis Leon may be one of the few people President Bush routinely looks up to.
When Bush looked up to him from a pew at St. John's Episcopal Church one recent Sunday, the message that came down from the chancel steps bore a striking resemblance to one that dominates secular Washington as well....
Was he preaching to the president in the weeks before Bush announced the changes in his Iraq policy? No, Leon said firmly in a recent interview. "I never preach to the president. I preach to the congregation."...

Zeus worshippers demand access to temple
By Derek Gatopoulos / AP

ATHENS, Greece – After all these centuries, Zeus may have a few thunderbolts left. A tiny group of worshippers plans a rare ceremony Sunday to honor the ancient Greek gods, at Athens' 1,800-year-old Temple of Olympian Zeus. Greece's Culture Ministry has declared the central Athens site off-limits, but worshippers say they will defy the decision.

What a friend we have in Hollywood
By Cal Thomas

"...After years of cursing the darkness about profanity, nudity and violence coming out of what collectively is called “Hollywood” -- whether the films are produced there or elsewhere -- evangelicals and others who like quality films are beginning to develop and produce their own. Two of the better ones will be released next month.
     “Amazing Grace” is the account of William Wilberforce, a courageous member of the British Parliament in the latter part of the 19th century who, more than any person, was responsible for ending the English slave trade.
     The other film has the unlikely title, “The Last Sin Eater,” and is based on a novel by Francine Rivers. It is co-produced and directed by Michael Landon Jr. and co-produced and co-written by Brian Bird (his writing credits include the hit CBS series “Touched by an Angel”).
     “The Last Sin Eater” tells the story of 10-year-old Cadi Forbes. While attending her grandmother’s funeral in the Appalachian Mountains of the 1850s, she witnesses a mysterious man “absolve” her grandmother of her sins by eating bread and wine at her gravesite. Cadi decides she wants the same redemption from a deep and dark secret and she seeks out the man in order to be forgiven while she is still alive.
Related: Official web site of the movie Amazing Grace

Christian community can transform homosexuals
By Andrew Comiskey / Kansas City Star

"...I entered into the faith as a practicing homosexual and discovered through the community of faith a clear and loving track of redemption on which I matured into the capacity for heterosexual marriage and family...
     "Freedom came from understanding my same-sex attraction as an unmet need for love from men.
     "Taking that need seriously meant healing from profound early wounds and a strategy for how to relate normally to men as friends. My church helped me with both.
     "In this process, marked by failure and halting progress, heterosexual desire began to stir within me and prompted me to engage with women, including the one I married..."

Temporary 'enjoyment marriages' in vogue again with some Iraqis
By Nancy Trejos / The Washington Post

BAGHDAD -- Fatima Ali was a 24-year-old divorcee with no high school diploma and no job. Shawket al-Rubae was a 34-year-old Shiite sheik with a pregnant wife who, he said, could not have sex with him.
Ali wanted someone to take care of her. Rubae wanted a companion.
They met one afternoon in May at the house he shares with his wife, in the room where he accepts visitors seeking his religious counsel. He had a proposal. Would Ali be his temporary wife? He would pay her 5,000 Iraqi dinars upfront – about $4 – in addition to her monthly expenses. About twice a week over the next eight months, he would summon her to a house he would rent...


Letters from readers – email us
•	James D. Berkley "...What is absolutely missing from Dr. Cejka’s assessment is ANY support for his contentions. If Viola Larson is in error, and as decidedly so as Cejka asserts, precisely what is wrong with what she wrote, and why is it wrong?..."
•	Randy Hardy "...The factual, measured, and peaceful tone of [Viola Larson's] piece contrasts greatly against Winter's apparent anger-induced article. His polemic against "Separatist Evangelicals" betrays his own bias and makes him the very thing he criticizes and condemns..."
•	Andrew Scott "Congratulations to Rev. Dr. R.Milton Winters. The man has a terrific deadpan delivery and a real genius for satire... "Of COURSE it's supposed to be funny... This was published by the Office of the General Assembly! They wouldn't do something like that..."