State sponsored violence against members of the Anglican Church reached new levels over the weekend as police in different parts of Harare gatecrashed church services and beat up parishioners loyal to new bishop Sebastian Bakare.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has written to Archbishop Henry Luke Orombi to protest his planned visit to a congregation in the Diocese of Georgia later this week.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has written to the bishops of the Anglican Communion in a letter just posted to his web site. The letter describes in more detail what his hopes are for this summer’s Lambeth Conference and it lays out his desire that all the bishops who attend are willing in good conscience to participate in the Windsor Process.
An article in the Washington Post examines the reasons we are willing to give to charities and the reasons that we balk. Apparently there is evidence that large gifts are primarily motivated by the self-interest of the giver rather than the need of the recipient.
A group of bishops from across the southern continent of Africa have issued a call for their governments to intervene in Zimbabwe. They have also asked the United Nations dispatch an envoy to help break the political impasse in that country.
So is The Cat in the Hat really the Christ who arrives with a “BUMP” and turns the world upside down for God’s children? Is the mother in the story a symbol of the old religious law? Are the fish in the bowl representative of churches that adhere to a restricting version of the Gospel? Did Dr. Seuss really intend for his stories to be interpreted this way?
Brian McLaren, well known here as a leader of the Emerging Church movement, has written a new book that argues that “Christians must move beyond traditional charity and work for systemic change that addresses the causes of human suffering.” Earlier this week, Rachel Zoll interviewed McLaren about this book, Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises and a Revolution of Hope.
Paul Moore was always conscious of, and in conflict with, his own sexual nature, considered deviant and sinful during the decades he served his church. He suffered his transgressions with the understanding that his fallen human state offered him the one experience he could share with his God, who had been crucified for man’s sins. Standing nearly 6-foot-5, regarding the world from pulpits that granted him national and sometimes international attention, Bishop Moore was a gifted preacher who projected a palpable sympathy by placing himself among “the sinful brotherhood of mankind, so that his heart vibrated in unison with theirs, and received their pain into itself.”
Dave Munger of Cognitive Daily summarizes some interesting research on teens and lying. The research focused on the issue of when teens thought it was okay to lie to their parents or to their friends. The results are interesting: teens are much more likely to think it is okay to lie to their parents when their parents direct them to do something immoral (such as not to be friends with a person of another race) than other circumstances, but teens are much more likely to lie to their parents than to a friend
The Rev. Susan Russell of All Saints Pasadena has been recognized by the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center with a LACE award, which honors “local lesbians and bisexual women who have distinguished themselves by making particularly significant contributions to the local LGBT community.” Russell received the award in a ceremony last weekend along with three other women, each with contributions in a specific arena; hers was the spirituality award.