As the [confirmands] came up for confirmation by the Bishop a couple of ladies were taken aside and questioned as to whether they were co-habiting. When this was established they stood aside whilst the confirmation continued. A marriage service was then arranged for six couples, partners were summoned (two were not at the church), and the six couples wound up in front of the Bishop.
A calculated decision to stop tithing (or any charitable giving, religiously encouraged or otherwise) in order to escape credit-card debt is perfectly acceptable and possibly even recommended, as long as you follow a few basic guidelines.
I believe there are more theologically orthodox believers still inside of TEC than have left. Yet they seem increasingly isolated, with few leaders to encourage them. I believe we have a moral and spiritual call/obligation to stay in the fight with those still in TEC who look to us for hope; and to stay for as long as it is within our consciences to do so. – The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence, Diocese of South Carolina
His comments come in a new television programme, to be broadcast on Channel 4 this weekend, in which five leading religious figures in Britain explain the basic tenets of their faith and how they know that God exists.
Does microlending actually deliver on development and poverty alleviation? Amazingly, we have almost no idea.
Enjoy the present, whatever it is, and do not be anxious about the future. For if you take your foot from the present and thrust it forward into tomorrow’s events, you are in a restless condition. It is like refusing to quench your present thirst by fearing that you will lack drink the next day.
Expanding the role of the HOB Theology Committee, all of whose members have and should continue to have, other ecclesiastical duties, will dramatically slow the process by which the Church takes theological and ethical positions. This will also severely limit the number of issues on the Church’s agenda at any one time. Doing so will have multiple advantages.