In this video, the Rev. Ecclesia de Lange talks about being dismissed from her position as a pastor in the Methodist Church of South Africa after she married her female partner. The Rev. de Lange participated in a consultation sponsored by the Chicago Consultation and the Ujamaa Centre of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in October 2011.
Two esteemed online friends are debating the significance of the amendment that the Church of England’s bishops have made to legislation that would permit women to be ordained as bishops.
[T]he Internet is a blessing because it connects people of faith who might otherwise feel alone in their questions and doubts with like-minded individuals interested in reform. It empowers the powerless, provides a platform for good ideas, helps hold leaders accountable, and exposes us to fresh, new perspectives from all around the world.
Wilfred Owen died in battle just a week before the Armistice in 1918. His poems have stood as a reminder that, given the mechanized, hi tech efficiency with which we now can kill each other, modern warfare will be exponentially ever more grisly both to participate and behold. Our notions of heroism must evolve with the evolution of warfare.
On the one hand, I am not a pacifist, and don’t mind praying for the victory of combatants whose cause I believe to be just. On the other hand, I don’t believe our national interests are perfectly attuned to the divine desires, and suppose it is idolatrous to think otherwise.