No Love in the Episcopal Church

“The Right Rev. William Love, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, will step down on Feb. 1 after a disciplinary panel earlier this month determined he had violated church rules when he told his clergy not to perform same-sex marriages. …”

– Story from The Times Union, Albany, New York.

See also:

Resolution Reached In Disciplinary Matter Involving Bishop of Albany – Episcopal Church Public Affairs Office

“Presiding Bishop Michael Curry expresses sadness for the pain that has been experienced across the theological spectrum and also his continuing support for the Church’s intention that all persons have access to marriage rites authorized by the Church. …”

And earlier posts:

1. A Pastoral Letter and Pastoral Directive by the Rt. Rev. William H. Love Bishop of Albany, November 10, 2018 – PDF file.

2. TEC Bishop directs his clergy not to use General Convention trial Marriage Rites – November 12 2018.

“On three separate occasions (my ordinations as deacon, priest, and bishop) I have solemnly declared ‘that I do believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and to Contain all things necessary to salvation’ (BCP 513). Upon my consecration as Bishop, I was given a Bible and was issued the following charge by the Presiding Bishop: ‘Receive the Holy Scriptures. Feed the flock of Christ committed to your charge, guard and defend them in His truth, and be a faithful steward of his holy Word and Sacraments’ (BCP 521). I take this charge very seriously.

3. A trial that should shame all Anglicans – March 8, 2020.

Update:

Bishop Love Resigns – GAFCON.

“With Bishop Love, we continue to call on the Episcopal Church to return to the supreme authority of the Holy Scriptures and to order its life and practise in obedience to God’s revealed word.”

Euthanasia in a time of COVID

“I recently heard a man express the view that he would rather vote for a communist dog catcher than for someone who did not respect life. I am not sure about a communist dog catcher but I am sure that a vote for someone who will not defend the sanctity of human life is a vote for a very uncertain future.

Pre-election desire to introduce euthanasia into Queensland by Annastacia Palaszczuk is conspicuous in its timing. While ‘voluntary’, it has to be said that such a commitment to death during the COVID-19 pandemic is very confusing. …”

– Bishop of Armidale, Rick Lewers, discusses the sobering announcement from the Premier of Queensland.

Transgender and Sport

“I am not sure that the women I know are looking forward to being unrepresented at an elite level in the sports of their choice. For all those men who are not fans of women’s sport (their loss), you may be able to rejoice that women’s sport will soon be the domain of men. That sounds confusing, and it is, because it is confusing. …”

– Rick Lewers, Bishop of Armidale, shares some engaging thoughts in his latest column.

Victoria: Christians celebrate a basic liberty retained!

Here’s a media release from The Australian Christian Lobby:

“Victorians can now breathe a sigh of relief with the Andrews government relenting on its grab for controversial detention powers in its COVID-19 Omnibus Bill.

‘The Australian Christian Lobby welcomes the government’s move to delete this unwarranted measure,” ACL spokesperson Jasmine Yuen said today. “The government wanted to appoint anyone as an ‘authorised officer’ to detain people, without warrants, for indefinite periods of time if they are considered ‘high-risk’ and likely to fail to comply with emergency directions.

“The Christian community in Victoria, including Christians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, expressed grave concerns that the Bill left all Victorians’ freedoms open to abuse. As Christians, we are concerned when the state curtails freedoms. Often the first freedom to be impacted is freedom of religion.

“Some of our migrant Christians have come from – or even fled from – their home countries where their religious freedom no longer exists.

“The Christian community in Victoria have been doing what they can to fight for their hard-earned freedom and were determined in their opposition to these draconian measures.

“We are pleased that, in this instance, the Andrews government has heard and respected the voice of its citizens.æ’”

– Source.

Pastoring Through Political Turmoil — 9Marks Journal September 2020

“Ordinarily, the 9Marks Journals push in a theological direction. The last six issues, for instance, have covered the work of a pastor, gospel-centered preaching, complementarianism, the atonement, church membership, and Calvinism.

Yet you won’t be surprised to hear the number one question we’re hearing from pastors these days: how do we pastor through a season of political turmoil?

Hence, this issue of the Journal is devoted to pastoring through political turmoil. …”

– The latest 9Marks Journal is not only about US politics, and will be helpful for Australian pastors in navigating the huge social changes we face.

For example, there’s “How to hold your tongue about politics and thereby not split your church over things the Bible doesn’t talk about” – Part 1, and (more expansively) Part 2.

Worshipping on Sunday is okay, but witnessing on Monday…?

“A leading religious freedom expert has laid out the issues ahead for Christians expressing their faith in public, saying the looming battleground is not private, but public, beliefs. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, Russell Powell reports on Professor Patrick Parkinson’s 2020 New College Lectures.

See also:

The fall of Rome and the way forward for Jesus’ people – with Patrick Parkinson – The Pastor’s Heart.

What if the church wasted the COVID crisis by not prepping for a more hostile shutdown? – Stephen McAlpine.

Thinking about Critical Race Theory

Albert Mohler reflects on Critical Theory in conversation with James Lindsay, and also in his The Briefing for 9th September 2020.

As well, Stand to Reason has a helpful introduction to Critical Race Theory:

“Critical Theory divides the world into two groups: the oppressors and the oppressed. Those groups are made up of smaller cultural groups defined by race, sex, sexual preference, gender identity, etc. When this worldview focuses on race, it’s called Critical Race Theory (CRT). CRT divides people into groups by race, the white oppressors and the oppressed non-whites…”

Sydney Anglicans, religious schools declare support for Latham discrimination bill

“A number of powerful interest groups including the Sydney Anglican Diocese, the Association of Independent Schools and Catholic Schools NSW have declared support for One Nation leader Mark Latham’s bill to amend the state’s discrimination laws in favour of religious freedom. …”

– Report from The Sydney Morning Herald.

ACT’s conversion therapy ban puts practitioners at risk

“The Sexuality and Gender Identity Conversion Practices Bill, introduced into the ACT Assembly a couple of weeks ago, has become embroiled in controversy. It arises out of lobbying by members of the LGBT community to ban ‘conversion therapy’, in the context of past practices seeking to change people’s sexual orientation. However, the main controversy about the bill concerns its prohibition of what it describes as ‘gender identity conversion practices’…”

– This story from The Canberra Times highlights concerns – others have been raised by The Australian Christian Lobby.

Freedom for Faith Submission on the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality Bill) 2020

Freedom for Faith has published their Submission on the NSW Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality Bill) 2020.

Read it here. (Link via Neil Foster at Law and Religion Australia.)

See also the submission from David Ould at St. John’s Parramatta.

Conversion Therapy laws and religious freedom

“Australia has seen two recent initiatives by local Parliaments aimed at what are often called ‘conversion therapy’ practices.

No-one supports coercive electro-shock or other oppressive practices imposed on someone without their consent, to change their sexual preferences or identity. But the problem with the recent legislative proposals is that the laws do not target these practices alone (as to which it is hard to find any evidence of them occurring in Australia in recent years), but seem to reach further and to prevent religious groups sharing the teaching of their faith. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Neil Foster looks at some of the implications of the recently-passed Queensland and ACT legislation.

On Toppling Statues

“Surely one of the most striking images of this extraordinary year was the toppled statue of Edward Colston being rolled through the streets of Bristol, England by a furious mob, in June.

The statue had been erected in 1895 (174 years after Colston’s death) in recognition of his philanthropy. In his lifetime, Colston had endowed the city with schools, hospitals, homes for the poor as well as churches, including Bristol Cathedral.

But a significant proportion of Colston’s wealth came from the slave trade…”

– Terrific article by Kanishka Raffel. Suitable for sharing as a conversation starter.

(Image: St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Sydney.)

Why workplaces need religious freedom, too

“The COVID-19 pandemic has indefinitely delayed the introduction of the Commonwealth Religious Discrimination Bill, which would have provided protection against religious discrimination in the workplace. With Federal reform on pause, One Nation MP Mark Latham has introduced a bill to the NSW Parliament, which will protect people of faith (and no faith) from discrimination. This Bill has been referred to a Joint Select Parliamentary Committee…

The Sydney Diocese will be making a full submission to the Joint Select Committee with a detailed analysis of the Latham Bill. The committee is inviting individuals to submit comments about the Bill via an online questionnaire at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/F8KFWXB. This closes on August 21. I encourage you to complete this short survey to indicate your support for these protections against religious discrimination.”

– Bishop Michael Stead writes about an important bill on religious freedom. (Emphasis added.)

The Gathering Storm over Human Life

“The culture of death seems to advance hour by hour in the United States—this is no mere political issue or policy debate; this is an issue dealing with real lives, real human beings, legally murdered on a massive scale.”

– In this excerpt from his new book, Albert Mohler calls for Christians to think and act clearly in protecting human life.

Hagia Sophia and the Signs of the Times

“The Byzantine Cathedral Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) was built in 537AD by Emperor Justinian and remains one of the world’s most recognised and beautiful buildings. It is deservedly a Unesco World Heritage site: a museum of immense beauty and historical significance.

Although I have never had a chance to visit Istanbul and to walk inside this magnificent building, I have long dreamed of wandering along its marble floors, admiring the mosaics and being entranced by the dome above.

But this museum is no more. …

What is happening in Turkey should serve as a reminder for churches not to take for granted the time we have to live and serve and to preach Jesus Christ as Lord. …”

– Murray Campbell sees an important lesson for churches in current events.

← Previous Page — Next Page →