 |
|
|
|
 |
| |
| |
| |
Monday,
December 13, 2010
Come
to this page first...
it is
the quick and easy way to miss nothing
of
All the National PC(USA) news
Something we may have overlooked? Please, tell
us |
| |
“The
Presbyterian-Jewish divide that need never Be'
By Joshua Stanton / Interreligious DIALOGUE |
| |
"...I
still profoundly admire Wiesenthal and the Wiesenthal
Center. But I worry that a recent op-ed written
by two of its leaders, Rabbi Marvin Hier and Rabbi
Abraham Cooper, goes against the very pursuit
of justice that the center so firmly embraces.
Entitled "Presbyterians Against Israel: Liberal
Protestants are engaging in historical revisionism
concerning Jews and the Holy Land," its strong
suit is certainly not understatement. But by labeling
an entire Christian denomination "anti-Israel,"
it may prove far more damaging...
'Israel's staunchest
supporters within the Presbyterian Church are
those most hurt by Hier and Cooper's piece. They
are now seen as being in bed with true opponents
of the Presbyterian Church – rather than
simply holding different aspirations for its internal
policies. By contrast, those most critical of
Israel in the Presbyterian Church... will gain
momentum and political stature from this article..." |
| |
| Israel/Palestine
Mission Network: Getting revenge; sweet or hateful? – by Viola Larson |
| |
"Are
you tired of this? I am; it is Christmas and I
want to concentrate on this sacred time, celebrating
the first coming of Jesus, writing about the incarnation
and posting beautiful Christmas hymns. But one
of our Presbyterian organizations is at war with
the Jewish people and because I belong to Jesus
Christ I cannot back away from this terrible time.
"[Saturday]
Today the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) linked to an
awful article about the Simon Wiesenthal Center
which not only slandered the center but also its
Dean & founder, Rabbi Marvin Hier. The IPMN
when linking to the article written by Lawrence
Swaim, wrote, “Time to point the finger back
at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.”[1] Their
point is bigoted and shallow. Did they even read
the article?..." |
| |
Chastity,
the Book of Order, and the Reformed faith
By Walter L. Taylor / The Presbyterian Outlook |
| |
"One
of the abiding criticisms from opponents of the
Fidelity/Chastity ordination standard in the Book
of Order (G.6-0106.b) has been that the term “chastity”
is unclear in meaning...
"I want to
provide some theological background to the use
of this historic term, that we may be more clear
about what the church is being called to reject
in this most recent attempt to remove the language
of fidelity and chastity from the denomination’s
constitution..." |
| |
| Voting
on Amendment 10-A |
| |
24
presbyteries have voted.
Two have flipped,
in opposite directions.
149 presbyteries
have yet to vote. |
| |
| Gradye
Parsons, the future of the Church pt.8
/ YouTube |
| |
What
makes people decide to join a church? |
| |
| Scripture
readings for today – from
the Lectionary |
| |
"...I
will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face
from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him..."
"...His divine power has given us everything
needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge
of him who called us by his own glory and goodness..."
He came out and went, as was his custom, to the
Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him.
When he reached the place, he said to them, "Pray
that you may not come into the time of trial."
Then he withdrew from them about a stone's throw,
knelt down, and prayed, "Father,
if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet,
not my will but yours be done.' |
| |
Today
in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study
The
Presbytery of Santa Barbara – California
|
| |
"...Highlands
New Church Development in Paso Robles continues
to break records and has grown to more than 800
worshipers since Easter Sunday of 2006. Pastor
Graham Baird, worship leader Caleb Landon, a dedicated
staff, and a committed steering committee have
focused the church’s outreach to un-churched
and de-churched people in their community.
"In 2009 a
new multipurpose facility was dedicated at Highlands
Church, and it is already overflowing with four
worship services every weekend. New worship centers
were also dedicated at Nipomo, Moorpark, and Santa
Ynez in 2009, with another being developed in
Simi Valley..." |
| |
|
| |
|
News of all other churches.
in the USA and worldwide.
and their interaction with
the world around them.
Included: opinions, resources
|
|
Voices
from the entire spectrum
Therefore:
Always something to like,
always something to dislike,
always something to ponder...
|
|
| |
Gays
in Africa face growing persecution, activists
say
By Sudarsan Raghavan / The Washington Post |
| |
"It
has never been harder for gays and lesbians on
the continent," said Monica Mbaru, Africa
coordinator for the International Gay and Lesbian
Human Rights Commission, based in Cape Town. "Homophobia
is on the rise."
In Uganda, a bill
introduced in parliament last year would impose
the death penalty for repeated same-sex relations
and life imprisonment for other homosexual acts.
Local newspapers are outing gays, potentially
inciting the public to attack them, activists
say. |
| |
Nigerian
religious leaders in UK to talk about environmental
crisis
By Trevor Grundy / ENI |
| |
Four
of Nigeria's top religious leaders arrived in
London on December 8 for talks with politicians
and faith leaders on preventing conflict in the
oil-rich country caused by environmental degradation.
The two-day visit
of the leaders, who represent more than 150 million
Christians and Muslims, had been organized by
the British Council and the Alliance of Religious
and Conservation.
The four leaders
are Amirui Mumineen Shayk as Sultan Muhammadu
Sa'adu Abubakr, considered to be the spiritual
leader of Nigeria's 70 million Muslims; Ayodele
Joseph Oritsejafor, president of the Pentecostal
Fellowship of Nigeria; Khalifa Sheikh Qaribullah
Nasir Kabara, leader of the Qadriyyah Sufi Movement
in West Africa; and Archbishop John Olorunfemi
Onaiyekan, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Abuja. |
| |
| Christians
face growing marginalisation in Europe
/ Vatican Radio |
| |
his
week in Vienna a new report was launched highlighting
the increasing discrimination Christians face
living in the continent of Europe.The findings
were published by the Observatory on Intolerance
and Discrimination against Christians in Europe.
RELATED: Report
on intolerance and discrimination against Christians
in Europe 2005-2010 |
| |
| World
Evangelical Alliance dedicates new evangelical
centre in New York – by
Katherine T Phan / Christian Post |
| |
BINGHAMTON,
NY – For the first time since its establishment
over a century ago, the World Evangelical Alliance
now has a center to gather and unite Christian
leaders from around the globe with the establishment
of a new facility in upstate New York.
On Thursday, leadership
and staff from WEA, the world's largest body of
evangelicals, and representatives from collaborating
organisations held a dedication service and ribbon
cutting ceremony for the center which will serve
as a conference, research, study and work center
for evangelicals worldwide.
The Evangelical
Center, located in Binghamton, is a 64,000-square-foot
facility with conference halls, offices, classrooms,
an R&D centre, a library and sports facilities.
It will house the offices of WEA, which represents
over 420 million evangelicals around the world
through its global network, and its training arm,
the WEA Leadership Institute.
WEA will announce
in early 2011 that its constituency has grown
from 420 to 600 million evangelicals worldwide. |
| |
Boston
Archdiocese to end lay pension plan
Cites economy in move to 401(k)-style option
By Lisa Wangsness / The Boston Globe |
| |
The
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston plans to
freeze the pension plan for about 10,000 church
secretaries, parochial school teachers, and other
lay employees as the church joins a raft of nonprofit
organizations and private corporations that have
limited or modified retirement benefits in a down
economy.
Church officials
say the move will stabilize the lay pension fund,
which was 78.4 percent funded as of last June,
and ensure that employees don’t lose benefits
they have already earned. Though it was fully
funded as recently as 2007, the fund was badly
damaged in the financial meltdown of 2008, the
archdiocese said. The church plans to continue
contributing to the fund until it is fully solvent. |
| |
| Evangelical
leaders in Cincinnati are calling for Bernard
Pastor’s release – by
Kenneth Lewis / examiner.com |
| |
In
mid-November, a young, Evangelical honors student,
Bernard Pastor, was turned over to immigration
authorities in Butler County, Ohio after a minor
traffic accident. Bernard, 18, is now facing deportation
back to Guatemala, a country he barely remembers,
but his classmates and Evangelical leaders in
Cincinnati and through out Ohio are calling for
his release and for passage of the DREAM Act.
The Dream Act would
allow Bernard Pastor and thousands of other young
people like him a chance to stay in America and
give back to the only country they know as home. |
| |
| Former
Baptist school center of gay-rights dispute
/
ABP |
| |
A
private, historically Baptist Christian college
has sparked a national media firestorm over its
successful women's soccer coach leaving her job
shortly after telling members of her team that
she is gay.
Officials at Belmont
University in Nashville, Tenn., issued a press
release Dec. 2 saying Coach Lisa Howe was leaving
after six years on the job. Members of the team
said she was told to resign or be fired after
revealing that she and her same-sex partner are
expecting a baby in May. |
| |
| About
600 protest at abortion clinic / AP |
| |
GERMANTOWN,
Md. – Protesters say they're trying to call
attention to Maryland's abortion laws after the
opening of a clinic in Germantown that's believed
to be offering late-term abortions.
The protest was
organized by the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. |
| |
Professor:
Religion's secret to happiness: It's friends,
not faith
By Alice Park / TIME |
| |
According
to a study led by Chaeyoon Lim, a sociology professor
at University of Wisconsin-Madison, the reason
religion makes us happy may have more to do with
friends than with faith.
Lim and his colleagues
found that 33% of those who attended religious
services every week and reported having close
friends at church said they were extremely satisfied
with their lives, while only 19% of those who
went to church but had no close connections to
the congregation reported the same satisfaction. |
| |
| Six
megathemes emerge from Barna Group Research in
2010 |
| |
Change
usually happens slowly in the Church. But a review
of the past year's research conducted by the Barna
Group provides a time-lapse portrayal of how the
religious environment in the U.S. is morphing
into something new.
Analyzing insights
drawn from more than 5,000 non-proprietary interviews
conducted over the past 11 months, George Barna
indicated that the following patterns were evident
in the survey findings.
1. The Christian Church is becoming less theologically
literate.
2. Christians are becoming more ingrown and less
outreach-oriented.
3. Growing numbers of people are less interested
in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning
pragmatic solutions for life.
4. Among Christians, interest in participating
in community action is escalating.
5. The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning
over the Christian Church.
6. The influence of Christianity on culture and
individual lives is largely invisible. |
| |
Federal
judge to rule on health law's constitutionality
By Janet Adamy and Evan Perez / The Wall Street
Journal |
| |
A
Virginia federal judge is expected to rule Monday
on whether the Obama administration's health law
violates the Constitution.
The ruling by District
Judge Henry E. Hudson is perhaps the most significant
so far among a slew of state-based legal challenges
to the law, which also faces attack by newly resurgent
Republicans in Congress. More than 20 federal
lawsuits have been filed against the health overhaul
since President Barack Obama signed it in March.
While the cases
differ somewhat, they largely rest on the argument
that Congress lacks constitutional authority to
require most Americans to carry health insurance
or pay a fee. The Obama administration counters
that three clauses of the Constitution gave Congress
the power to put the requirement, known as the
individual mandate, in the law as part of regulating
how people pay for health care. |
| |
| Evangelicals
concur with Obama on multiple issues
/ NAE |
| |
“President
Obama has the support of evangelical leaders on
a number of issues and initiatives,” said
Leith Anderson, President of the National Association
of Evangelicals, in his analysis of the November
Evangelical Leaders Survey.
When asked to name
one issue on which they agree with President Obama,
evangelical leaders answered with variety, listing
18 different issues of agreement, from the New
START treaty and use of drones in fighting terrorism
to the reduction of abortion and emphasis on fatherhood.
One respondent simply stated that he agrees that
Obama is the President of the United States.
“Not surprisingly,
immigration was the most mentioned item of agreement,”
Anderson said. In July, the NAE welcomed President
Obama’s announcement to work to fix the nation’s
broken immigration system. The tenets he included
for comprehensive immigration reform reflected
those passed by the NAE in its Immigration
2009 resolution. |
| |
Conference
of National Black Churches slams Congress'
tax cut plan – by
Adelle M. Banks / RNS |
| |
The
newly launched Conference of National Black Churches
criticized Congress on Thursday (Dec. 9) for linking
extension of unemployment benefits to tax cuts
for the wealthy.
"Based on
our prophetic responsibility to speak to those
in power on behalf of the poor, underserved, and
vulnerable, we find it utterly shameful that those
who insisted that the deficit be reduced, now
celebrate billions of dollars being added to the
deficit as tax cuts for the wealthy," wrote
the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson, chairman of the
umbrella group of nine historically black denominations.
The letter called
on President Obama and Congress to endorse "an
extension of unemployment insurance without conditions." |
| |
ObamaCare:
Flight of the MDs
87
percent said they would significantly restrict
Medicare patients and 93 percent said they'd significantly
restrict Medicaid patients.
By
Marc K. Siegel / The New York Post |
| |
For
all the times that President Obama promised "you'll
get to keep your doctor" under his health-care
reforms, he apparently failed to ask any practicing
doctors.
The Physicians
Foundation asked 2,400 doctors and American Medical
Association members what they thought of the new
law; a full 67 percent were against it.
More important,
it asked how they'd cope with the new rules (which
don't fully kick in until 2014). Sixty percent
said they feel compelled to "close or significantly
restrict their practices to certain categories
of patients." And 59 percent said the "reform"
would oblige them to spend less time with the
patients they do have. |
| |
| Why
does God prevent believers from understanding
certain truths? – by John Piper |
| |
If
I were granted in an instant all the insight that
I needed to understand every verse in the Bible,
then it may well be that I would not have the
capacity to understand my own sinfulness, fallenness
and finiteness |
| |
| Letters
from readers – email
us |
|
•
|
James
D. Berkley "Our chief denominational
officers, Linda Valentine and Gradye Parsons,
have issued a Christmas message: "The Hopes
and Fears of All the Years." It moves from
a passing mention of Christmas to a political
analysis of Israel and Palestine...
"At Christmas,
when we live in a secular world doing its best
to make it crassmas, why would our denominational
leaders think the very best thing they could do
is to talk about Middle East politics? Have they
no message of the birth of a Savior, who is Christ
the Lord?...
"... is it
any wonder that our denomination is falling into
irrelevant hopelessness, when those who lead us
can talk politics but neglect the most redeeming
message the world has ever heard? We have heavenly
gold to give the world. Why do we insist on giving
it more earthly dross?..." |
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2010 CHURCHandWORLD.com Inc.
|
|
|
|
