The decline in Episcopal Church membership relative to America’s population growth is often attributed to our “lack of biblical faith”. Interestingly today, the Southern Baptist Convention, which prides itself on a focus on biblical faith above all else has announced that it must recognize that it is a “denomination in decline”.
Questions are being raised about the timing of Bishop Gene Robinson’s scheduled civil union ceremony this coming June. There are voices that feel that Bishop Robinson intentionally timed the event so as to overshadow the Lambeth Conference that will be held later this summer. Bishop Robinson denies that intention.
While HIV/AIDS is thought of as the world’s greatest public health challenge, there are other significant diseases that are are taking a similar toll. Today is World Malaria Day and a number of organizations around the world have taken advantage of the attention being paid to their work to call for new initiatives in the prevention of Malaria.
News about the effects of sky-rocketing food prices is starting to break through to the foreground of public policy discussions. While to this point most of the conversation has focused on the cause or causes of the increase, there are people starting to suggest ways that society needs to respond.
An Anglican bishop in South Africa has successfully sued in court to prevent the transport of a large shipment of small arms across South Africa that were en-route to Zimbabwe. Bishop Rubin Philips acted in High Court of Durban and invoked a section of South African law to stop the shipments.
Last week the Church of Nigeria was accused of being involved in some way on a series of assaults upon the leadership of the Changing Attitudes Nigeria organization. While some have questioned whether or not the assaults took place, today the Nigerian Church has responded by deploring any possibility that they might have been connected in any way, calling for an investigation if evidence points their way.
Jenny Te Paa, a member of the Commission which proposed the creation of an Anglican Covenant, speaking at the conference in New York last week, has pointed out the reasons she’s changed her mind and now is concerned about its adoption. One of her concerns is that the Covenant in its present form will seek to protect male power in the Communion and diminish the voice of women.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has come out in defense of religion’s roll in the public sphere. While this is not terribly surprising, the argument he puts forward is that the inclusion of religious belief is critical to maintaining a pluralistic society.
Mark Brown is sharing a paper on how he’s been able to do mission and evangelism work in the online world of Second Life. If you’ve ever wondered how the church needs to modify or just tweak its message to connect with people, then this paper is worth reading.
Pope Benedict the sixteenth began his first visit as pontiff to the United States today by landing in Washington DC and holding private talks with the President. While the visit begins with head-of-state formality, the primary focus of the trip is to meet with Roman Catholic leaders here in the states and discuss their concerns. But the items they will be focussing on are not what some seem to be expecting.