Caught this on TV last night.

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Filed under :: Religion - Episcopal Church
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A bit of this and that.

1. Dave Johnson: The Spying Started Before September... - Even before 9/11 provided the justification, the Bush Administration was pushing telcos to allow warrentless wiretaps on their say-so -- and punishing ones that refused to do it.
2. ArsTechnica.com reports that the new FISA law is worse... - Everybody, myself included, focused on the telcomm immunity issue. But review of the law indicates it's actually worse than folks thought, de facto legitimating any sort of surveillance the feds want to do through weak approvals, lengthy periods before which they have to seek approval, and fuzzy lines as to what the justification needs to be. Which raises the question of whether the Democratic leadership is stupid, compromised, blackmailed, concerned over looking weak on "terror," or so confident that they will win in November that they don't think it bears worrying about (see "stupid").
3. Stuck for a story seed? - A random story seed generator. Noted for future reference.
4. Christine Wicker: Full-Quiver Theology - Everyone kind of pokes fun (or rages) at the Catholic Church for its anti-birth control rules. But here are some fine evangelical non-Catholics who are here to tell you that if you aren't having as many babies as you can, as soon as you can, and raising them to do the same, you're pretty much going straight to hell. And they aren't just fringe lunatics playing to revival tents in Oklahoma, either.
5. ACR: Anglican Communion Redux: The Irish Primate on... - Anglicanism built an amazing "big tent" philosophy out of a number of internal debates in the past. Richard Hooker was a key player in emphasizing the role of reason, inclusiveness, and toleration (and was a major influence on John Locke, in turn an influence on our Founding Fathers), and his "via media" has served Anglicanism well in the centuries since his time. A shame so many seem so eager to toss it out now. 
6. Obama Will Go Outdoors To Accept Nomination - And the fact that Mile High Stadium looks like a giant diaphragm will cause some folks to consider him anti-Christian and pro-baby-killing.
7. Giving Religious Pamphlets to Minors - Excuse me. I had better not catch you handing out religious literature to my kid, unless you've talked with me about it first. That's a good way to get a bloody nose, it is. Think I'm not that kind of guy? Think again.
8. That’s no moon… oh, wait, yes it is. - Something to remember about eyewitness anything, let alone UFO reports.

Filed under :: Homeland Security :: Parenting :: Potpourri :: Religion :: Religion - Episcopal Church :: Religion - Me :: Writing and Language :: ZT & PC
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While the Episcopal Church has been internally struggling over ordination of gays, our brethren in the Church of England are still fighting the women's ordination debate. A small but significant breakthrough came about over the weekend as the Church of England synod agreed that women should be allowed to become bishops.

That this is actually subject to debate -- especially since the CoE allowed women to become priests in 1994 (the Episcopal Church has had women priests since 1976 and women bishops since 1989) -- seems unutterably silly to me, but the fact is that many of the folks in the US leading the fight against gay rights in the church have also been those most dead-set against women's ordination. Three Episcopal dioceses in the US still don't ordain women to the priesthood, and many conservatives insist on calling the Presiding Bishop in the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, by the title "Mrs." instead of "Bishop" (or even "Reverend"). Some claim it's because of her politics, but I suspect that's a secondary issue.

So it's not a surprise that the issue has been beset by controversy in more staid England, and that some 1300 priests have claimed they'll quit, or hop over to the Catholics, rather than accept women bishops. 

(The primary argument against it -- aside from general Biblical injunctions about women keeping in their place, dagnabbit, which even the conservatives don't choose to proclaim loudly -- is that Jesus chose only men as his twelve (closest) apostles. Of course, he also only chose Jews and speakers of Aramaic, but nobody seems to think those should be requirements for some reasons. More technical discussion here.)

Though the synod voted to accept women bishops in principle, the prediction is we won't see any for several years. There's further votes to be taken on processes and procedures surrounding the whole thing, plus coming up with ways to pastorally care for dioceses or parishes within the CoE that don't want any of those female type bishops taking care of them. That leaves plenty of time for further pontification (so to speak), defection, or attempts to change the rules back.

Regardless, bravo to the CoE's General Synod. 

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Y'know, if there are folks who have theological disagreements with me, and with my church and religion and denomination, I'm okay with that. I certainly don't have the hubris to believe I have an exclusive on the Truth, and that I have all the answers to all the questions.

That said, I expect a certain amount of courtesy and respect and propriety -- and, being Anglican, such would seem to be the appropriate way to deal with each other in such disputes. Which is why the following irks me to no end:

Does Williams not understand that tens of thousands of Episcopalians and dozens of churches are fleeing The Episcopal Church because Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori preaches "another Gospel" (Gal. 1:8)

Whilst most of the press over the current schism within the Anglican Communion has focused on the whole nassssssty gay stuff, the fact of the matter is that a huge part of it is the refusal by many on the conservative/"orthodox" side to accept women in clerical roles -- as priests, let alone bishops. Which is demonstrated, time and again, by insistent and intentional (and insulting) references to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church as Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori, as opposed to Bishop Jefferts Schori, or even Reverend Jefferts Schori.

This isn't about 2003. It's about 1976.

I just wish they'd be honest about it.

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Rob O'Neill, the Episcopal Bishop of Colorado, is over in Jerusalem right now, by invitation of the bishop there, as a representative of the Episcopal Church to the GAFCON thingummie. (They've banned him from entering the conference himself, but he's there anyway.)

He has an OpEd in the Episcopal Life magazine on the question of whether we Anglicans actually need an "Anglican Communion" or not.

The answer, I believe, is a resounding and heartfelt "yes."
 
No one finds God alone. The intricate web of relationships that form our global Communion provide an invaluable network of mutual benefit, often bringing desperately needed resources into remote communities that others either cannot or will not reach, often making the difference quite literally between life and death. Those same relationships call us all out of our self-limited little worlds, cracking open our hearts and minds, challenging and compelling us as a kind of corrective, to see and to understand the full spectrum of Christian witness that often takes place under circumstances and with a kind of courage that many of us cannot begin to understand.

 

Do we have differences? Certainly. But as Archbishop Runcie observed, "it is only by being in communion together that diversity and difference have value." Do those differences challenge us? Unquestionably. But those same challenges, by the grace of God, form the very crucible of our own transformation.

Communion, in other words, is not our gift to God. It is God's gift to us.

If I still followed any of the conservative Anglican sites, I'm sure I'd see hoots of laughter, derision, and scorn at Rob over this article, but I think it's worth reading on both ideological ends of the Episcopal Church.

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"Manipulative, apostate, champion of spiritual bondage, revisionist, destructive and in error" since 1995!

Filed under :: Religion - Episcopal Church :: Religion - Me
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That seems to be the refrain of the African Anglican primates at the "GAFCON" meeting in Jerusalem this week. Billed as a big confab of "orthodox" Anglicans to chit-chat about how nassssty those Episcopalians and liberal Canadians and English types are, and clearly being set up as an alternative to the Anglican Lambeth Conference coming up in a few weeks, GAFCON is full of archibishops from African provinces where homosexuality is the subject of both clerical condemnation and civil persecution.

But confronted with that fact, the GAFCON primates hemmed, hawed, denied, and generally acted like ... well, certain clerical groups in the New Testament who were condemned for paying more attention to the Law than to God's love and compassion.

A question from Iain Baxter, a media representative from the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, aroused expressions of disbelief and outright denial from the primates. The name of his organisation raised a discomfiting titter. Homosexuality is illegal in Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya and is punishable by a fine, imprisonment or death.

Archbishops from these countries were on the panel. They said they could not influence government policy on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) legislation, nor could they condone homosexual behaviour because their churches would be shut down. They added one could not break the taboos of African society without suffering the consequences.

Right. Churches have to tread softly around the government. They can't do or say anything that might upset lawmakers or leaders, or that might discomfit local traditions and taboos. Certainly Jesus never did anything like that, which is why he (and Paul, and Peter) led a quiet, peaceful life, living to a ripe old age by making nice to the Romans and the local Religious Authorities. Right?

(One has to wonder why, if churches cannot "influence government policy," Abp. Akinola was so vehemently outspoken in favor of Nigerian legislation to outlaw not just homosexuality, but public support or debate over same.)

Presumably, these cultural constraints justify the punishment meted out to Prossy Kakooza, Baxter's example of someone tortured because of her sexual orientation. She was arrested, marched naked for two miles to a police station, raped and beaten.

Well, there you go -- that's what happens when you violate societal taboos. Brought it on herself, she did. Pity the poor policemen who were so incited by her behavior -- I'm sure they are receiving pastoral counseling from their local Anglican bishop.

Akinola did not condemn these acts. Neither did the other African archbishops. Orombi said he had never heard of people being tortured because of their homosexuality, that when he learned about incidents – from the western media – he was at a loss to understand why he had not heard of them. He refused to accept that persecuting and torturing gay people was done openly in Uganda.

See no evil ...

It was clear they failed to grasp how homophobic rhetoric from the pulpit led to violence and intimidation, as described by Colin Coward from Changing Attitudes. Still no condemnation was forthcoming. As a follow-up I asked whether the lack of condemnation meant they condoned torture of homosexuals. It took the Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, to articulate opposition to all acts of violence towards all people. The Africans didn't even nod in agreement.

Well, now that's settled -- on with the Schism!

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• I'm trying an experiment with the "Unblogged Bits" Google Reader Shared yadda-yadda that I've been displaying in the sidebar. I really like the convenience (esp. at the office) of being able to just click on something in Google Reader and have it show up in the sidebar. But despite having set up an RSS feed for these items, I suspect that most of my readers never see them -- either because they fade into the sidebar, or else don't show up in the main feed from my site -- or get a chance to comment on them. Which is a shame.
• So I'm experimenting with ways to easily get from the "Unblogged Bits" into real posts that folks can comment on, etc. Today's attempt: cut and paste from the sidebar.

• ---

   

  First off: was a religious student in a philosophy class harrassed and threatened with a failing grade because she wouldn't renounce her faith? Or was she not doing well because she wouldn't expose her beliefs to critical thinking?: 
• Religious Student vs. Philosophy Professor: Both Sides
  from Friendly Atheist
  
  
  Next up -- well at least the Democrats tax before they spend:
• John McCain, credit-card debt victim
  from Boing Boing
  I used to get seriously harassed by my fellow desktop gamers for my sound-alike elvish names, even though I used actual meaningful Tolkienesque morphemes:
• Blogging into Mordor: Finding the perfect name for...
  from Massively
  Finally -- all sorts of brouhaha over a gay marriage in the Church of England. Except it wasn't a marriage, it wasn't something that hasn't happened before, and the folks who are kvetching loudest about it seem to have something else on their agenda.
• UK Blessing Causing Quite the Buzz
  from Father Jake Stops the World
• Anger at Anglican gay 'wedding'
  from BBC News | News Front Page | World Edition

Filed under :: Blogging - Technical :: Elections 2008 :: Gaming :: Gay Stuff :: Religion :: Religion - Episcopal Church :: ZT & PC
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An interview with Dr Peter Jensen, Anglican Archbishop of Sydney.

Dr. Jensen was recently quoted viz the current brouhaha within the Anglican Communion (emphasis mine).

...Archbishop Jensen is one of the leaders of 1000 conservative churchmen from 17 Anglican provinces who will gather at the Jerusalem Global Anglican Futures Conference this month. Mainly from Africa, the Middle East and Asia, they are united on one principal issue: hostility to homosexuality.

But Archbishop Jensen argues: "This dispute is not really about homosexuality. It's really about authority and who runs the church. And fairly clearly, to most of the rest of us, God runs the church through the Bible"...

Except for the bits about the Sabbath and nearsightedness, apparently.

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