Anglican Mainstream

By Kim Lawton, Religion & Ethics News Weekly

RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY managing editor Kim Lawton discusses the growing concern among social conservatives that Barack Obama’s "God-talk" is distracting voters from focusing on his liberal policy positions.

See HERE.

From Telegraph.co.uk

Thomas Beatie, the transsexual man who made headlines after becoming pregnant, has given give birth to a baby girl today.

The birth at Bend, Oregon, was natural, according to a source, who discounted earlier reports that Mr Beatie planned to have a Caesarean section.

"She’s really cute, really pretty," the source told ABC News.

Mr Beatie, 34, was born a woman - Tracey Lagondino - but had his breasts surgically removed and began taking males hormones several years ago.

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By David Mills, InsideCatholic

The juxtaposition of same-sex "marriage" being approved in California with the raid on the Texan polygamists seems to have made a few people ponder the logical connection between homosexuality and polygamy — and, in some cases unhappily, reflect that former senator Rick Santorum was right when he said the Supreme Court’s Lawrence decision would lead to sexual arrangements few people now approve.

And if so, the Unitarians will have gotten there first. A few years ago, a group called Unitarian Universalists for Polyamory Awareness declared that they wanted to "take their place beside the divorced, the intentionally single, gays and lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people as fully accepted people." They defined "polyamory" as "the philosophy and practice of loving or relating intimately to more than one person at a time with honesty and integrity."

They held a workshop at the Unitarians’ General Assembly that year, and issued a report afterward. According to Peter Steinfels in the New York Times,

The group is quick to distinguish polyamory from "swinging" or "cheating." Polyamory "involves intentional open long-term loving relationships," not recreational or covert sexual activity. U.U.P.A. speakers at the workshop left open whether polyamory was "a choice or a genetic predilection," the report said, but they urged that being "openly polyamorous" should be as accepted as being openly gay and not subjected to prejudicial "labels such as ‘adulterer.’"

The Unitarian Universalists’ public information officer called the group "cutting-edge in the sense that its time has not yet come — but I wouldn’t want to say it won’t."

Its time will come, I am sure, and not only in the Unitarian Universalist Association. It will come in the mainline Protestant churches and the dissenting Catholic groups. It will come with bells on. Polyamory’s time will come for all of them, because they have already approved it in principle. Only an unadmitted and irrational conservatism keeps them from leaping to approve polyamory as an alternative lifestyle.
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From Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — This summer’s once-a-decade Lambeth Conference marks a potentially defining moment for the worldwide Anglican Communion and a time of reckoning for ecumenical dialogue.

The Vatican, which is sending representatives to the July 16-Aug. 4 gathering of the world’s Anglican leadership, will be closely following its deliberations to see what direction it takes on such crucial questions as internal unity, authority, the role of the bishop and Anglican identity.

What has pushed these questions to the forefront is the ordination of openly gay clerics, the blessing of gay unions and the ordination of women bishops in some Anglican provinces.

Those developments have threatened to split the Anglican Communion. For the Vatican, they have raised new questions about the future of the 40-year-old dialogue with the Anglican Church.

"It’s very important for Anglicans to understand the depth of the change in our relationship that, in a sense, is being forced on us by the positions they are taking," said one Vatican official, who asked not to be named.

In the Vatican’s view, it’s not just a question of ethical and sexual issues. Above all, it is seen as a problem of ecclesiology, as the new tensions in the Anglican Communion have weakened the bonds among the provinces.

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By Matt Cresswell,  Religious Intelligence

London: The Archbishop of Sydney has declared that the Gafcon conference is not a political movement. “It’s a movement for Christ and the gospel,” he told a meeting of evangelicals at All Souls, Langham Place, on Tuesday.

The London meeting, first reported in this newspaper last month, heard contributions from Archbishop Peter Jensen as well Archbishops Gregory Venables (Southern Cone) and Henry Orombi (Uganda). Observers speculated that the meeting could see a breakaway group in England.

Archbishop Venables added: “Just to make it absolutely clear: Gafcon is not a breaking-away from the Anglican Communion. It is not the formation of an alternative group.”

He continued: “It is not a seizing of power, it is the exercise of legitimate authority for the sake of the Anglican Communion. We are not taking power over anybody, we are just bringing things together.”

Answering to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s criticism of the Jerusalem communiqué — that a new GAFCON primate’s council would not be recognised by all –- Archbishop Jensen declared: “First of all they have authority because they have been elected by their own people.”

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By Bill Muehlenberg

The week-long Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) has just finished. The thousand-plus Anglicans met in Jerusalem as a protest to the July Lambeth Conference in the UK, and the failure of the Archbishop of Canterbury to strongly stand for Christian orthodoxy, especially on the issue of homosexuality.

The delegates at GAFCON – who represent more than 35 million Anglicans worldwide - reaffirmed the importance of the authority of Christ and the Word of God. They also reaffirmed God’s intention for human sexuality. As a closing resolution, they produced the 700-word document, “The Jerusalem Declaration”. It is a solid proclamation of orthodox Christian teachings, and a renewed affirmation of taking the Bible seriously on matters of sexuality.

The fourteen points lay out the basic Christian doctrinal positions. It reiterates historical Christian creeds and teachings. Point three says this: “We uphold the four Ecumenical Councils and the three historic Creeds as expressing the rule of faith of the one holy catholic and apostolic Church.”

Of course as an Anglican declaration, it reaffirms the Thirty-nine Articles, the historic Anglican statement of faith laid out in 1563. It also upholds the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

Point 8 has special reference to the major source of friction in the Anglican Communion. It reads, “We acknowledge God’s creation of humankind as male and female and the unchangeable standard of Christian marriage between one man and one woman as the proper place for sexual intimacy and the basis of the family. We repent of our failures to maintain this standard and call for a renewed commitment to lifelong fidelity in marriage and abstinence for those who are not married.”

Of course Anglicans in 1563 and 1662 never would have imagined that such a statement would have been necessary. Indeed, Anglicans 100 years ago would also not have seen the need for such an assertion. But such has been the success of the militant homosexual lobby – both in the world at large, and in the Christian church – that now such basic beliefs have to be highlighted and reaffirmed.

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From OneNewsNow

Christianity improves marriage and reduces divorce, says a study released by the University of Virginia.

Bradford Wilcox, associate professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, has released results of a study showing that couples who attend church together on a regular basis have stronger marriages. Fathers in such marriages also have better relationships with their children.

The findings send a message to pastors that "classic Christian teaching is reasonable," says Wilcox. "When people understand there’s a connection between their faith and their reason…[it] will probably reinforce their commitment to living in accord with their Christian beliefs about sex and marriage," he contends. "[It] turns the hearts, the minds, the hands of men towards their kids and towards their wife. Men who are churchgoing are better husbands [and] they’re better fathers. They spend more time with their families, and they’re more affectionate with their families." 

A previous survey by the Barna Group showed that the Christian marriage rate was similar to that of non-Christians. "That’s true if you define Christianity simply in terms of saying you’ve had a born-again experience so that you believe in Jesus Christ," said Wilcox. But he argues that when regular churchgoers are considered, Christians are 35 percent less likely to divorce.

 READ ALSO ‘Church attendance key to marriage success’ in The Christian Post.

By Albert Mohler

"You can’t have a country where everybody lives in a nursing home." The statement, shockingly obvious as it may be, was offered by Carl Haub of the Population Reference Bureau. He was speaking of Europe’s looming demographic disaster. As The New York Times Magazine reports this week, many Europeans are now asking, "Where are the babies?"

The cover story is by Russell Shorto, who contributes some of the most interesting pieces run in the magazine each year. As he makes clear in this article, the radical decline in birthrates will bring equally radical social challenges.

As Shorto explains:

In the 1990s, European demographers began noticing a downward trend in population across the Continent and behind it a sharply falling birthrate. Non-number-crunchers largely ignored the information until a 2002 study by Italian, German and Spanish social scientists focused the data and gave policy makers across the European Union something to ponder. The figure of 2.1 is widely considered to be the "replacement rate" — the average number of births per woman that will maintain a country’s current population level. At various times in modern history — during war or famine — birthrates have fallen below the replacement rate, to "low" or "very low" levels. But Hans-Peter Kohler, José Antonio Ortega and Francesco Billari — the authors of the 2002 report — saw something new in the data. For the first time on record, birthrates in southern and Eastern Europe had dropped below 1.3. For the demographers, this number had a special mathematical portent. At that rate, a country’s population would be cut in half in 45 years, creating a falling-off-a-cliff effect from which it would be nearly impossible to recover. Kohler and his colleagues invented an ominous new term for the phenomenon: "lowest-low fertility."

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From CARE

Social Policy charity CARE has expressed concern at the abortion figures published this morning.
 

The total number of abortions for the year was 198,500, compared with 193,700 in 2006, a rise of 2.5%. Of these just 1 % (1900) were carried out because of a risk that the child would be born handicapped.

Commenting on the figures, Dan Boucher, director of parliamentary affairs, said: ‘England and Wales already have very high abortion rates when compared with the rest of Europe. Rather than moving in the right direction our abortion rates are actually getting worse. There is a clear need for the introduction of tighter regulation in tandem with non- legislative preventative strategies.’

Nola Leach, head of public affairs, continued: ‘These figures are not just a tragedy because they represent the loss of 198,500 lives - over 196,000 of which would have been born able bodied - but also because they relate to growing problems for the women themselves many of whom suffer from post abortion trauma and have to seek counselling. These issues must be addressed.’

The Rev’d Dr Peter Toon, retiring Editor of Mandate of the Prayer Book Society, from Anglicans United & Latimer Press

Let us begin with two assertions, the first of which is commonplace but the second is not; both are true.

First of all, there would not have been GAFCON in Jerusalem June 22-28 had not The Episcopal Church in its arrogance, but legalistically following its canon law, consecrated Gene Robinson in 2003 as a bishop, and thereby precipitated an on-going crisis of identity and authority within the Anglican Family of Churches.

Secondly, there would not have been either GAFCON in June 2008, or even the consecration of Gene Robinson in 2003, if The Episcopal Church had not in 1973 changed its marriage canon.

 In 1973 this Church abandoned the basic, common Anglican position on marriage, which was in its books from its separation from the Church of England in the 1780s, and introduced (what sociologists of the time were calling ) “expressive individualism” into the Church’s marriage law. In real terms, this meant that instead of each person – the man and the woman — marrying the other into an already existing, order of creation and grace, ordained by God, and blessed by the church, each was now free to marry the other into a revised, human order, with space therein to fulfill his and her own self-interests, while receiving – in the spirit of those times — the blessing of the (revisionist) Church.

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From ACNS

The Most Revd Phillip Aspinall, Archbishop of Brisbane and Primate of the Anglican Province of Australia will act as principal spokesman for the Anglican Communion bishops attending the 14th Lambeth Conference which meets in Canterbury from 20 July to August 4.

Archbishop Aspinall acted as spokesman for the Primates at their meeting Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in February 2007. He will chair a daily press conference during the Lambeth meeting at which he will be joined by bishops with specialist experience in the theme of the day. The themes to be covered by the bishops in their discussions range from climate change and the Millennium Development Goals to Anglican identity and the role of Covenant in the future of the Communion.

Archbishop Aspinall said it will be both a privilege and a challenge to articulate the voice of the bishops of the Communion at a time of enormous challenge for the church and the world.

“Anglicanism has much to say about many things including the challenges of poverty, insecurity, loss of faith and increasing relativism. The Conference will be a time for listening as well as speaking, and I will be as much a part of that listening process as my fellow bishops,” said Dr Aspinall.

Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury said “Archbishop Phillip is just the gifted communicator the Conference needs to tell the story of the Conference as it unfolds day by day. I am grateful to him for agreeing to take on the role of principal spokesman for the Conference”.

By Sarah Hey, Stand Firm

But why would the authors of the Jerusalem Declaration imagine or wish to "pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion" when they have just spent a week meeting about the fact that they do not believe that certain other leaders in the Communion actually share the same gospel?

I am not surprised by the points of critique that Rowan Williams offers. Nor do I find them — or him — disturbing, as I would expect nothing less than what he has said. I like him [from what I know from a great great distance], and I usually enjoy reading his sermons and talks.

In his critique, Rowan Williams states "A ‘Primates’ Council’ which consists only of a self-selected group from among the Primates of the Communion will not pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion" . . . and this is of course true.

But why would the authors of the Jerusalem Declaration imagine or wish to "pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion" when they have just spent a week meeting about the fact that they do not believe that certain other leaders in the Communion actually share the same gospel?

Of course this will not "pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion" — just as the actions of TEC do not "pass the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion". I would put it to the Archbishop of Canterbury that this matter of the Primates Council not "passing the test of legitimacy for all in the Communion" is a feature, not a flaw.

Rowan Williams goes on to ask "By what authority are Primates deemed acceptable or unacceptable members of any new primatial council?"

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The following is The Archbishop of Canterbury’s response to the final declaration of the Global Anglican Future Conference. Bishop David Anderson’s commentary and analysis have been added to the original text.

ABC: The Final Statement from the GAFCON meeting in Jordan and Jerusalem contains much that is positive and encouraging about the priorities of those who met for prayer and pilgrimage in the last week. The ‘tenets of orthodoxy’ spelled out in the document will be acceptable to and shared by the vast majority of Anglicans in every province, even if there may be differences of emphasis and perspective on some issues. I agree that the Communion needs to be united in its commitments on these matters, and I have no doubt that the Lambeth Conference will wish to affirm all these positive aspects of GAFCON’s deliberations. Despite the claims of some, the conviction of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and God and the absolute imperative of evangelism are not in dispute in the common life of the Communion.

Anderson: It is amazing that Dr. Williams would make this statement in light of the evidence to the contrary that the American Anglican Council has placed before him, especially in the Dar es Salaam Compliance documents. One is forced to ask whether Dr. William’s avoidance of the truth is deliberate and a tactical dissemblance. The evidence is clear that the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as Lord and God is being contradicted by top Episcopal Church leaders, not the least of which is the Presiding Bishop, Katherine Jefferts Schori. What will it take for Dr. Williams to acknowledge what is staring him in the face? Does Dr. Williams really want to know what is happening on his watch? We are sorry that we have to ask this; it is a question that in 2003 we would not have even thought to ask.

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Dear Sir

You published an article today under the headline "Anglican rebels punched gay rights activists". [Here.]

As the alleged incident took place at the church of which I am Rector I have spent some time today trying to track down details concerning the alleged incident. The following seem to me to be relevant.

1. The event was oversubscribed and no-one was therefore admitted without a ticket they had paid for. This was true regardless of rank, sexuality etc.

2. The activists attempted to enter through a fire door entrance, pushed one of my staff members who admits that he pushed them back out of the door and closed it. He denies any punch was thrown as does another member of staff who witnessed the event.

3. I have spoken to a number of people including two members of staff who had conversations with Peter Tatchell on the steps of the church and no reference was made to any of them about any alleged punch.

4. No member of staff that I can find, or anyone else that I have spoken to, was approached by your reporter to confirm or explain the allegation.

The fact that you have headlined this damaging allegation without checking or substantiating it seems at least unprofessional journalism and not the kind of reporting I would expect from a serious newspaper like The Independent. Would you please take steps to remedy the damage you have caused immediately.

Yours sincerely

Hugh Palmer
(Rector, All Souls Church)

From BBC News

It’s not just learning the words to Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam, says Huw Edwards. Early pioneers rocked the boat by teaching poorer children to read, and football clubs like Everton owe their existence to the religious classes.

Mention Sunday school today and many will think of an institution that feels fusty, cosy and quaint. Some might even feel outright hostility. But others remember kindness, rich storytelling and singing - happy memories of some of the best moments of childhood.

This remarkable movement, founded in 1774 with the first class held in a house in Gloucester, has had a deeply radical effect on British society. In the early days, it was seen as dangerous and subversive to give the tools of literacy to the lower orders. In Victorian times, Sunday schools helped shape future MPs, women teachers and a large number of the current Premiership football clubs.  And well into the 20th Century, Sunday school students parading at Whitsun could turn out in their thousands, bringing city centres to a standstill.

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From Transfigurations

Dear fellow clergy from Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and SAN ANTONIO.

I am emailing all of you to give you some hope regarding the recent meeting of GAFCON in Jerusalem.

1) I prayed for each of you at the Holy Sites - Holy Sepulcher, Western Wall, Christ Church, Temple Steps, Mount of Olives and Gethsemane, Bethlehem, Galilee. "You done bin prayed fer!"

2) The meeting, set last week in Jerusalem, was a great outpouring of Anglican love and traditional teaching. Check out the "Jerusalem Document" on the CANA website or the ADV website. It is a concise document which spells out what you and I have always believed but was yanked away from us by radical professors and church leaders: Primacy of Scripture; Jesus as Incarnate and the only way to salvation; the Creeds said without crossing our fingers at certain phrases; regular use of the BCP & Ordinal (Apostolic Succession); holy living including financial and earth stewardship, reaching out with the Gospel message, and sexual behavior that honors God.

3) There were actually over 1,200 participants, including just over 300 bishops. Interestingly enough, the bishops from North America included CANA, Uganda, Kenya, Southern Cone, Rwanda, Reformed Episcopal Church, Anglican Province in America, some bishops of Continuing Anglican groups from USA and Canada, and sitting bishops of TEC (Love, McPherson, Beckwith, Ackerman, Iker, Jim Adams, Schofield, Lawrence, Scriven.) All were excited to be there and supportive of the Document.

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By Matt Barber,  OneNewsNow

You’ve probably heard the relativist line that goes something like this: "Gay marriage won’t hurt anyone. Live and let live, already!" Well, don’t buy it for a minute.

With its recent 4-3 opinion – which arrogantly presumed to redefine the millennia-old definition of legitimate marriage – the California Supreme Court daftly divined that the framers of the California Constitution intended – all along, I guess – that Patrick Henry really had a constitutional right to "marry" Henry Patrick. In so doing, four black-robed Dr. Frankensteins have loosed that paradoxical abomination tagged "same-sex marriage" on the countryside.

Abomination, you say? Isn’t that a bit strong?

Nope. God used it. And I’ll give just one example of many as to why He did. Keep in mind, though: If California voters fail to pass a constitutional amendment in November to undo this extremist act of judicial social engineering, we can expect thousands more examples just like it.

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From Forward in Faith North America

Eleven years ago, Forward in Faith, North America (FiF NA), called for the formation of an orthodox Anglican Province in North America. Today, its representatives took part in the beginning of that goal’s fulfillment as GAFCON declared “the time is now ripe for the formation of a province in North America for the federation currently know as the Common Cause Partnership”.

GAFCON’s call for its Primates’ Council to recognize the new province is the fruit of long and hard work by many over many years. But FiF NA was the first to call for the creation of a province, and has worked diligently for it, even when other conservative bodies had not yet come to support that step.

The Common Cause Partnership (CCP), of which FIF/NA is a founding member, is a federation. Its members are divided over a number of issues, not least the issue of the ordination of women. Your representatives rejoice in GAFCON’s resolve “to work together to seek the mind of Christ on issues that divide us”, and seek to voice again the 2008 FiF NA Assembly’s call to the CCP to take up its promised common study of the ordination issue, and to consider a moratorium on ordaining women until the study is completed.

FiF NA was represented at the GAFCON by its President, Bp. Keith Ackerman and his wife, Joann; its Vice-Presidents, Fr. William Ilgenfritz and Fr. Larry Bausch; its Executive Administrator, Canon Ed den Blaauwen (who coordinated the deputation’s travel arrangements); Dr. Michael Howell, a member of the Council; and by Canon Warren Tanghe, who recently retired from the Vice-Presidency.

Other FiF NA members among the GAFCON pilgrims were Bp. Paul Hewett, a member of the Council, who represented the Fellowship of Anglican Churches in America (FACA); Bp. Richard Boyce of the Anglican Church of America, likewise a member of the Council; Bp. John-David Schofield of San Joaquin; and Bp. Jack Iker of Fort Worth, another member of the Council, together with Fr. Lee Nelson and Dean Ryan Reed from that diocese.

Your deputation worked closely with Fr. Geoffrey Kirk, the official representative of FiF in the United Kingdom, and the other FiF UK members present, including Gerald O’Brien (a member of the Church of England’s General Synod), and GAFCON’s treasurer, Mr. Hugh Pratt, who generously gave a copy of FiF UK’s book, Consecrated Women, to every participant.

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The petition for English PCCs and other organizations wishing to express solidarity with GAFCON is now available online here.

Due to several non-English residents wishing to sign the petition for individuals, a ‘Global’ petition is now available here.

NB:  HERE is the petition for Church of England members resident in England.

SEE SIDEBAR

By Toby Cohen,  Religious Intelligence

UP TO 280,000 people a year and nearly £3million is being brought to Yorkshire and the Humber, amid other benefits contributed by Christian activity, a new report reveals.

The Effective Christian Presence and Enterprise report, produced in a Yorkshire Forward-funded two-year project by the Churches Regional Commission in Yorkshire and the Humber, and Faithworks, studied 19 local ‘presences’ to identify what makes an effective presence, and the issues that can help or hinder this kind of work.

The ‘presences’ included after-school activities, social housing schemes, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes, community cafes, services for the elderly, and even a theatre company.

The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Right Rev John Packer, praised the report as “an effective demonstration of the power of Christian presence when allied to real enthusiasm and entrepreneurial and collaborative leadership.

The establishment of leadership which is both entrepreneurial and collaborative is one of our chief challenges, and this report gives examples of how to develop that. I am particularly encouraged by the point that sustainability is about more than long-term funding – it’s about ‘keeping the fire alive.”

The full report and case studies can be downloaded from www.faithworks.info.