Ugandan Bishop Christopher Senyonjo continues his travels with a stop in San Francisco where he tells the story of his conversion into a supporter of equal rights for gay and lesbian persons and what happened when he began to minister to LGBT persons in his native land.
Rima Fakih who recently won the Miss USA pageant is from Michigan where there is a sizable Arab-American population. Her win caught a lot of people by surprise, and was followed by the usual thoughtless and bigoted comments. In an interview, we discover the complex and rich religious heritage she comes out of.
A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the long-standing federal and state tax exemptions for housing allowances provided by churches and religious institutions to members of the clergy has been allowed to proceed in federal court.
At Pentecost, Archbishop Williams tell us, the church was gathered by the Holy Spirit and given power to speak to the world. Can the voice and power of the Holy Spirit be reduced to mere agreement?
Without further comment or elaboration, the Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday “welcomed” the letter written by South Africa’s bishops.
Representatives of those Provinces, national or regional churches whose decision-making bodies have gone against the agreed moratoria a) will be asked to step down from formal ecumenical dialogues such as those with Orthodox Churches or the Roman Catholic Church, and b) will no longer have any decision-making powers in the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order that handles questions of church doctrine and authority.
It was requisite that the gift should be visible, that the bodily sense might the more stir up the disciples. For such is our slothfulness to consider the gifts of God, that unless he awake all our senses, his power shall pass away unknown.
I take some pride in being a person who likes to learn, actually loves to learn. In that pride, Jesus’ promise in John’s Gospel that the Spirit will guide us into all truth feels exhilarating. Sometimes it’s harder to remember that pain and fear are also part of learning. Why is that so? Because learning demands unlearning.