Anglican Mainstream

By Albert Mohler, Christianity Today

Crash and burn. The policy reversal by the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure, which now means that its funding of Planned Parenthood will continue, is nothing less than a public relations disaster for the organization. More than that, the decision reveals a basic lack of moral conviction when it comes to the Planned Parenthood issue—and that is a story unto itself.

Just days ago, faced with growing controversy, Komen sought to break its relationship with Planned Parenthood, to which it had provided an annual grant of $700,000 for breast cancer screenings. Komen did not state the decision in these terms, of course, but instead described the decision in terms of a new policy not to fund any organization under legal investigation. It just so happens that Planned Parenthood is currently the focus of a congressional investigation.

For years, Komen has established a reputation as the nation's leading advocacy group dedicated to fighting the tragedy of breast cancer. It has made the color pink synonymous with the issue, and it has protected its turf energetically. Bridges, skyscrapers, and waterways have been turned pink in order to bring attention and funding to the fight against breast cancer deaths.

But breast cancer is not an isolated issue, and the group's funding of breast cancer screenings by Planned Parenthood could never be kept morally isolated from all that Planned Parenthood represents—and that is the machinery of death for the unborn.

Read here

Reform chairman Rev’d Rod Thomas today called on fellow General Synod members to take a “generous approach” to those opposed to women bishops or risk seeing the legislation being voted down.

“When we come to vote on the Manchester Diocese Motion on Wednesday 8th, we will each have to choose. Do Synod members wish to see the ministry of those who are opposed to women bishops on theological grounds progressively removed from the Church of England, or can we, even at this late stage, encourage a more generous and inclusive approach?” he said.

“If the draft legislation comes back to General Synod for final approval next July unchanged, then we will have the unsavoury dilemma of either having to vote for a Measure which will lead to disunity and division, or of voting against it and thus prolonging the debate for another five years. Yet there is still an opportunity, through the amendments previously put forward by the Archbishops, to reach an agreed way forward.”

The Manchester Diocese Motion, which will be debated next Wednesday, recognises that the only body which now has legal authority to amend the draft legislation is the House of Bishops. The motion asks the House of Bishops to use their power to amend the draft legislation in line with the amendment put forward by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York in 2010. That amendment provided that where arrangements are made for another bishop to exercise oversight over parishes which cannot accept the ministry of women bishops, such bishops could do so by exercising ‘co-ordinate’ rather than ‘delegated’ jurisdiction.

Ends

For further information contact Revd Paul Dawson, 07791 495824 or Revd Rod Thomas 07906 331110

By Edward Malnick, Sunday Telegraph

Three bishops will this week lead calls for the Church of England to make a public statement standing up for the right of Christians to wear a cross.
 
They have signed a motion condemning the “silencing” of outward displays of Christianity in Britain and a “growing trend” towards the “restriction of religious liberty” which is to be debated at the Church’s national assembly.

One hundred other members of the Synod, including clergy and lay people, have backed the call for the Church to defend Christians against the “overzealous” interpretation of human rights and equality legislation by judges, politicians and employers.

Its backers believe that by passing the motion the Church would make a landmark statement that wearing a cross is an integral part of the Christian faith.

Read here

By Simon Walters, Mailonline

Calls to scrap curbs on smacking have overwhelming public support – and parents believe such a move would help prevent a repeat of last summer’s riots.

It would also lead to a general improvement in behaviour by young people. But one in three parents is scared to smack for fear of getting into trouble with the authorities.

These are the findings of a Mail on Sunday survey conducted after our report last week on comments by David Lammy, Labour MP for Tottenham, North London, where the riots began.

He said parents in his constituency opposed the 2004 change in the law by the last Labour Government that means parents who smack their children can be jailed if it causes ‘reddening of the skin’.

They were frightened to smack their children in case they were taken away by the authorities, said former Education Minister Mr Lammy. 

Read here

By Peter Saunders, CMF

The Prime Minister intends to legalise same sex marriage and is launching a consultation in March to ask how.

But very little has so far been written about by what means it could actually be done.

Marriage is a virtually universal human institution practised by virtually all societies and cultures.

This definition of marriage has long been recognised in British law and was originally based on biblical teaching (Genesis 2:24).

Marriage was then formally defined in a famous court case late in the 19th century. Lord Penzance, in Hyde v Hyde in 1866, called it:

'… the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.'

So there are, in other words, four conditions for a marriage:

•it must be voluntary
•it must be for life, ie the parties’ intention at the time of the marriage
•the union must be heterosexual
•it must be monogamous

In addition, the parties must be of marriageable age.

Read here

By Peter Saunders, CMF

Next week, 7-14 February, is marriage week, when all around the country churches and community groups will encourage married couples to focus on actively nurturing their relationships.

More than two thirds of Britain’s families are headed by a married couple and statistics show that these twelve million couples are more likely to stay together because of, not in spite of, being married.

To launch Marriage Week 2012, Sir Paul Coleridge, Rabbi Mirvis and Professor Scott Stanley will speak at an event in the Houses of Parliament on 6 February.

The website tells us that Marriage Week ‘celebrates healthy marriages – the union of a man and a woman who make a permanent and exclusive commitment to each other, primarily though not exclusively, with the intent of procreation and the raising of children.’

It adds that ‘this social institution has been enshrined in the history of civilization providing vital inter-generational links and stability’.

And yet this event is taking place in the middle of moves, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, to redefine marriage altogether.

Read here

Stanton L. Jones, First Things

The social sciences cannot settle the moral status of homosexuality.

Many religious and social conservatives believe that homosexuality is a mental illness caused exclusively by psychological or spiritual factors and that all homosexual persons could change their orientation if they simply tried hard enough. This view is widely pilloried (and rightly so) as both wrong on the facts and harmful in effect. But few who attack it are willing to acknowledge that today a wholly different, far more influential, and no less harmful set of falsehoods—each attributed to the findings of “science”—dominates the research literature and political discourse.

We are told that homosexual persons are just as psychologically healthy as heterosexuals, that sexual orientation is biologically determined at birth, that sexual orientation cannot be changed and that the attempt to change it is necessarily harmful, that homosexual relationships are equivalent to heterosexual ones in all important characteristics, and that personal identity is properly and legitimately constituted around sexual orientation. These claims are as misguided as the ridiculed beliefs of some social conservatives, as they spring from distorted or incomplete representations of the best findings from the science of same-sex attraction.

Read here

Read the paper in its entirety here

By Carol Maxwell, LifeSite News

“Is sex a good or a bad thing?” I asked my stunned children recently. After the shock wore off, they were confident of the correct answer.

“Baaaad!” they piped in unison.

“You’re wrong,” I replied, satisfied that I had their attention as evidenced by their baffled expressions.

As a cradle Catholic, I was not catechized properly in the teachings of the Church. It took more than nine years of being a parent to finally yearn to understand the faith connected to our Sunday family custom. After realizing that sexual sins are normalized and celebrated in society, especially in the media, my husband and I did everything to protect our children from having their perception of sex twisted into the opposite of natural law established by God.

Exposing children to sexual themes before they’re ready robs them of their innocence, and misinformation warps their perception of normal. Having five boys, we know visual images are more powerful to them than to our girls and can lead to a desire for sexual pleasure before they are physically, mentally, spiritually, and financially ready to handle it.
 
[...]  Directly before I asked my kids if they perceived sex as a good or bad thing, I was researching a children’s movie to determine if it contained inappropriate content (which Hollywood seems to include in the most innocuous-sounding films). I heard the kids complain that it would be unfortunate if the film had “bad parts” and wasn’t suitable for the family. The negativity they exhibited toward sex struck me that I had been lax in emphasizing the beauty of the intimacy between husband and wife. That’s why I asked them that loaded question – even though four and a half of my children aren’t even sure what “sex” entails.

I corrected their negative impressions by explaining that, between spouses in a sacramental marriage, sex is beautiful and pleases God—and it’s a very good thing. I emphasized to the older children later that conjugal love has the potential to transmit life to create a family. When intercourse is disordered and not what God intended through marriage, society must face a host of consequences, such as unwanted pregnancies, neglected and fatherless children, and worst of all, the murder of unborn babies through abortion.

Read here

Greg Quinlan is President of PFOX (Parents and friends of Ex-Gays)

"Homosexuality is not a civil right. Civil rights are based on innateness, whether or not you were born that way. To date, there is zero evidence that anyone is born a homosexual. Zero. In fact it's homosexual researchers and scientists that are proving that homosexuality is not innate and has no biological ideology. Homosexuality is not immutable. People do change. People have a right of self-determination. They can choose to change from being gay to straight. Why can't they choose to change from being straight to ga?

"People do it all the time. There are many ex-gays. Anne Heche, to name one. Sinead O'Connor. And myself. I left the homosexual lifestyle almost 20 years ago. Lived as a homosexual activist for 10 years of my life. I'm a registered nurse. I watched 100 of my friends and acquaintances die of AIDS before I stopped counting. I've seen lots of things but homosexuality does not deserve to be codified or recognized as marriage in any state."
 
“I want to talk first of all about something I heard from the very beginning by people of this Legislature that we are bigots as people of faith, because we do not hold that homosexual marriage should be codified. That somehow we are bigots and we are ideologues because we are people of faith. I want to address that hate. Everyone in this room who is a person of faith deserves an apology from one of the sponsors of this bill for calling us bigots.”

From Christian Today

Christian Aid has launched a free android app designed to help people remember everything they've got to be thankful for this Lent.

The 'Count Your Blessings' app provides daily reflections and practical suggestions for giving to people in need.

The former Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, said Lent was the perfect time for Christians to reflect on what they have to be grateful for and stand in solidarity with the poor.

“As economic and political troubles increase around the world, many of us forget just how much we ourselves have to be thankful for,” he said.

“Count your blessings is a great way of using the discipline of Lent to remind ourselves of just how fortunate we are – and of the very practical ways in which we can share our blessings with those in greatest need.”

The app was made for free by Alex Connell, the husband of a Christian Aid staff member, after he found out that budget constraints had put the project on hold.

Read here

By Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

A secular war has been declared against people of faith, and our Western universities are leading the charge. I have documented numerous examples of how our higher education system is deliberately and regularly targeting people of faith – Christians especially.

It is getting to be the point that the most dangerous place for a Christian nowadays is on a Western college campus. It seems that the thought police, secular humanists, and forces of political correctness are doing all they can to stamp out any vestige of faith, and to hound believers out of town.

Consider the latest case of anti-Christian bigotry on campus, this time coming from Tennessee. The powers that be at Vanderbilt University have told Christian groups there that they will be in big trouble if they do not accept anyone into membership – even those who reject their statements of faith.

One write-up about this goes like this: “Christian student clubs [are] fighting for their right to continue existing as officially recognized campus groups. Losing that status could mean no longer having access to things like campus meeting space and college advertising outlets, which are essential to club growth.

“The groups affected include the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Christian Legal Society and Graduate Christian Fellowship. They were placed on ‘provisional status’ after campus officials determined that the clubs may be out of compliance with the school’s ‘nondiscrimination’ policy.

Read here

By William West, MercatorNet

A new study on divorce, looking at the complete spectrum of research on the subject, confirms what most people already know – even if they are not willing to admit it: divorce causes “irreparable harm” to the whole family, but particularly to the children.

From Associated Press

NAIROBI, Kenya — Sudan’s military bombed a Bible school built by a U.S. Christian aid group, prompting students and teachers at the school to run for their lives in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations condemned the attack.

Pictures obtained by The Associated Press on Friday showed that two stone school buildings were demolished in the attack. No one was hurt or killed despite the fact school was in session.

Ryan Boyette, a former aid worker who lives in Sudan and is now leading a team of 15 citizen journalists, spoke to a teacher at the site of Wednesday’s attack in the Nuba Mountains. The teacher, Zachariah Boulus, told Boyette that he couldn’t find his wife and children after the attack because everyone ran into the mountains for safety.

Boyette said that two of eight bombs dropped hit the school.

Read here

By Dr Peter Saunders, CMF

This week 100 clergy signed a letter to the Times(£) giving their support for holding civil partnership ceremonies in Church of England churches.

The Rev Gillean Craig, Vicar of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, told The Times why he signed the letter. ‘The homosexual women and men who are my friends and colleagues leave me in no doubt that their sexual orientation is given. It’s how they are, not a lifestyle choice.’

The belief that sexual orientation is biologically determined and fixed is increasingly common, but has been recently challenged by new research into the rise of bisexuality.

In a recent ‘comment’ piece in the Church Times, Andrew Goddard and Professor Glynn Harrison challenge this widely held perception.

Read here

By Chuck Colson

I’ve told you that the Obama Administration is intentionally restricting religious freedom. I’ve told you we are in danger of losing the right to exercise our faith in public.

Well, maybe I’ve been too understated. The attack is relentless.

Just recently, the Obama Administration announced that the Affordable Healthcare Act, otherwise known as ObamaCare, requires that employers pay for contraception, including abortifacients, and that Catholic institutions are not exempt from this requirement.

Well, Catholic Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh and other bishops are blowing the trumpets on the ramparts. And my hat’s off to them. They see the Administration’s actions for what they truly are.

In an open letter released last week, Zubik said that, “Kathleen Sebelius and through her, the Obama administration, have said ‘To [H-] with You’ to the Catholic faithful of the United States. To [H-] with your religious beliefs, to [H-] with your religious liberty, to [H-] with your freedom of conscience.” I’ll leave it to your imagination what the H- stands for.

In the administration’s twisted way of thinking, contraception is “preventive care” that helps prevent illness in the same way that cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes screening do — even though pregnancy is the means by which life is perpetuated and the species’ existence continued.

Even worse is the willful refusal to accommodate the beliefs of the nation’s largest religious body.

Read here

From AAC

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Anglican battle for orthodox Christian faith,

There are seven issues to cover this week; some weeks are like that, but all of these issues are important to flag for your further thought and prayer coverage.

The first is the ongoing battle between the U.S. Government and the Roman Catholic Church over the health care mandate that all institutions and organizations, including church-affiliated organizations if they provide health coverage for their employees, provide birth control and associated procedures.

Although the Roman Catholic Church is opposed to birth control, as contrasted with the majority of Anglicans, this issue is worth our attention and support for our Roman Catholic brethren. Although one can be sympathetic with the standpoint that if coverage is provided to men for reproductive issues, then they ought to be provided for women, the issue of the government mandating that churches provide things that violate their deeply and long-held theological positions is simply untenable. It is a sign of the times that the Constitutional guarantees with regard to churches are being eroded intentionally and submersed under new rights recently invented. If they are able to roll over the Roman Catholic Church on this, and they already have in many areas of the United States with regard to adoption by homosexual couples, they will roll over us on things important to Anglicans and hardly feel a speed bump. Religious institutions and churches need this exemption if they wish it, or most of them will drop all coverage for their employees.

Read here

By Brian Camenker, Published in The Jewish Advocate – Boston, Massachusetts

How should Jews properly deal with homosexuality? A bold statement answering that question was released last month and signed by an international coalition of over 200 Orthodox rabbis, respected Jewish mental health professionals, and community leaders.

The document, entitled "Declaration on the Torah Approach to Homosexuality," clarifies the theological understanding of homosexuality and how it dovetails with modern psychological understanding.

The statement strongly refutes and repudiates the liberal Jewish political correctness and misinformation regarding homosexuality. It re-states the plain fact that no one is "born gay" and that same-sex attractions can be modified and healed – which is supported by medical experience around the world. Conversely, the tragic and false message that "no one can change" has caused untold misery and even suicide.

The Declaration was written during a year-long process by a 25-member committee which included Orthodox rabbis, parents, former homosexuals, and others currently struggling with homosexuality.

Unfortunately, the reaction by liberals has mostly been name-calling ("anti-gay", "bigoted", "hate group"), intimidation, and even attempts to get signers fired from their jobs, which has happened to at least two rabbis recently. The vicious suppression of anyone challenging the "born gay" myth has been going on for years and is unconscionable. It is time to speak the truth without fear, say the signers. And why shouldn't people who seek health and wellness have the opportunity to at least hear both sides?

Read the rest of this entry »

By Martin Beckford, Telegraph

More female priests are joining the Church of England than male ones for the first time ever, it can be disclosed as it takes another step towards the introduction of women bishops.

Official figures show that 290 women were ordained in 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available.
 
By contrast, just 273 men entered the priesthood.

The watershed moment comes less than 20 years since the Church first allowed women to be priests, in the face of opposition from Anglo-Catholics and conservative evangelicals who believe that only men can be church leaders.
 
Back in 1994, just 106 women were ordained compared with 299 men.

Overall there were still more than twice as many ordained men (8,087) as women (3,535) in 2010.
 
Sally Barnes, spokesman for the campaign group Women And The Church, said: “The figures are very good news. They show the increasing numbers of women whose vocations are being recognised, accepted and valued by the Church.”

But detailed breakdown of the figures, published in The Church of England Yearbook 2012, shows that most of the new women priests are “self-supporting” rather than having full-time clergy jobs.

Read here