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ENGLAND: Practising Muslims 'will outnumber Christians by 2035'
By George Pitcher, Religion Editor
The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1936418/Practising-Muslims-%27will-outnumber-Christians-by-2035%27.html
5/8/2008
Practising Muslims will outnumber worshipping Christians in Britain within 30 years, according to research published today.
By 2035, there will be about 1.96 million active Muslims in Britain, compared with 1.63 million church-going Christians, according to calculations by Christian Research, a think- tank.
The figures are published in the latest in a series of reports entitled Religious Trends.
Church attendance in Wales 'plummeting'
by Sarah Miloudi,
Western Mail
icwales.co.uk
May 9 2008
CHURCH attendance in Wales could decline to less than a quarter of its current level according to an analysis of the country's religious trends.
New figures compiled after an analysis of membership of religious bodies have revealed the numbers attending church on a monthly basis could fall from 200,000 to fewer than 40,000 over the next four decades - that is less than the average attendance at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge football ground.
If the predictions are proved true, by 2050 Wales will be home to the smallest church-going population in Britain, as attendance in England was predicted to fall from three million to 700,000, and in Scotland it is expected to decline from 550,000 to 140,000 in the same period.
Conversion to Catholicism
by Mike McManus
May 7, 2008
In a recent column I reported that 20 million Americans who grew up Catholic have become Protestant. However, there is a significant counter-trend of conversion to Catholicism.
Most famously, after Tony Blair stepped down as British Prime Minister, he was "received into full communion with the Catholic Church," said Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor in London. All Prime Ministers have been Anglicans, Britain's state church. However, Blair attended Mass weekly with his Catholic wife and children.
In 1996, the year before he became Prime Minister, Cardinal Basil Hume, head of the Catholic Church in Britain, wrote a letter to Blair asking him to stop taking Communion. He agreed to do so. In 2007 he underwent a period of "spiritual preparation," meeting regularly with a Catholic priest who is an assistant to the Cardinal.
Glossary of Anglican Acronyms
Arranged and Assembled by Edgar P. Sneed
5/8/2008
AAC American Anglican Church [est. 1992; accepts Bartonville Agmt]
AAC American Anglican Council [in AMI]
AAC American Anglican Convocation [HQ in St. Louis; in ACIC]
AAC Apostolic Anglican Church [HQ in Cleveland OH]
AANF Anglican Alliance of North Florida
ABC Archbishop of Canterbury
AC Anglican Church, Inc.
ACA Anglican Church of Australia
ACA Anglican Church in America [est. 1991 with portions of AEC & ACC; orthodox; member of TAC; accepts Bartonville Agmt]
ACA Anglican Churches of America and Associates [est. 1968; orthodox]
Black Episcopal Churches in Deep Crisis Throughout US as Parishes Languish, Close
50% of Black Episcopal Churches served by part-time clergy
Black Leader Calls for New Evangelization Efforts
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
5/8/2008
The Black Episcopal Church in America is in deep trouble.
According to the Rev. Greg Jacobs, Episcopal Black churches are languishing and face a situation of crisis proportions with 50% of them now served by part- time clergy.
ENGLAND: Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour
by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3890080.ece?&EMC-Bltn=JJVHY8
May 8, 2008
Church attendance in Britain is declining so fast that the number of regular churchgoers will be fewer than those attending mosques within a generation, research published today suggests.
The fall - from the four million people who attend church at least once a month today - means that the Church of England, Catholicism and other denominations will become financially unviable. A lack of funds from the collection plate to support the Christian infrastructure, including church upkeep and ministers' pay and pensions, will force church closures as ageing congregations die.
ENGLAND: God-shaped hole will lead to loss of national sense of identity
Commentary
by Ruth Gledhill
The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3890081.ece
May 8, 2008
The crisis facing Britain's Christian churches is linked directly to the crisis of British identity now being addressed by the Government.
Oaths of allegiance and citizenship ceremonies are under consideration. But one thing lacking from so many conversations about "Britishness" is any reference to a link between religious and ethnic identity.
In contrast to the decline of Christianity in Britain, Islam and Hinduism are thriving here. One reason is that for Muslims and Hindus, wherever they come from, their religion is inextricably linked with their sense of identity.
ARLINGTON, VA: Ex-Gays Afraid to Come Out for Fear of Persecution: ABC News Report
By Michael Baggot
LifeSiteNews.com
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/may/08050719.html
May 7, 2008
Individuals who once considered themselves homosexuals but who have since left the lifestyle, often remain silent about their past life due to persecution from homosexual activists, an ABC News video revealed on Monday.
"A person may not be happy being gay, has anyone ever thought of that?" asked "David," an anonymous man who has overcome his homosexual inclinations, on ABC News.
NIGERIA: Anglican Church Bans Polygamy
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
PM News
http://thepmnews.com/2008/05/05/anglican-church-bans-polygamy?version=print
May 5, 2008
The Anglican Communion in Nigeria has banned polygamy among members of the church.
The ban was handed down by the Archbishop and Primate of the Church, Most Reverend Peter Akinola.
Worried by the proliferation of marriages in the church among polygamous members, Akinola wrote to all Anglican Communions in the country to desist from such practice, which he described as unscriptural.
Unique union
by Peter Jensen
The AUSTRALIAN
May 8, 2008
I DID something really odd the other day. I looked up the dictionary definition of marriage, just to make sure that my understanding was not too off-line. I was relieved to find that it is called the legal union of a man with a woman for life. It is a public, lifelong and exclusive relationship. There is no hint in the dictionary that the word can extend to two men or two women in a public, lifelong and exclusive relationship.
Of course, dictionaries change to mirror the times, and governments do all sorts of things with words, but changing the definition of marriage would be as fatuous as declaring that Perth is Sydney or that the moon is made of ice cream. We would then need a new word to describe the reality that occurs when a man and a woman publicly promise each other to live in lifelong and exclusive relationship, "in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others so long as you both shall live".
THE FILLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
by Ted Schroder
May 11, 2008
What changes a person with problems into a problem-solver? What changes a person who is a problem into becoming part of the solution? What changes a person who is seeking healing for himself into becoming a healer for others? What changes a person who is conflicted into a person who is a peacemaker? What changes a person who is fragmented into a person who has become whole? What changes a person who is self-absorbed into a person who is concerned for others? What changes a person who is blind to his faults into a person who is self-aware?
A friend of mine told me about his preacher. He was a great Bible teacher who challenged my friend to read the Bible for himself and to find out who Jesus is. As a result my friend's life was changed and he became a Christian. But this same preacher was a control addict. He had to be in charge. One night at a church board meeting my friend disagreed with him over an issue they were discussing. From that moment the preacher would not speak to him again.
CENTRAL FLORIDA: Bishop Announces Settlement at Trinity Episcopal in Vero Beach
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I am pleased to post here a copy of a letter sent today to the members of Trinity Episcopal Church, Vero Beach.
This settlement was unanimously agreed to by the present vestry of Trinity, the "Board" (vestry-in-waiting) of the continuing congregation, and the Executive Committee of the Diocesan Board. This finalizes the last settlement of all nine congregations whose clergy came to see me back in October, declaring their desire to "disaffiliate" from The Episcopal Church.
I am enormously grateful that we have been able to negotiate these settlements without inhibitions, depositions, litigation, or the transfer of property. Thanks to all of you for your prayers across these past six months.
PHILADELPHIA: Court Date Set for Ecclesiastical Trial of Bishop Charles Bennison
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
5/7/2008
Charles E. Bennison, the inhibited Bishop of Pennsylvania, will face trial on June 9, 2008, at the Philadelphia Marriott, 12th and Market streets. The trial is open to the public and is expected to take four days.
The court for the trial of a Bishop consists of five bishops, two priests and two adult lay communicants chosen by General Convention.
They are:
COLORADO: Episcopal Bishop Opens Old Wounds and Deposes 18 Former TEC Priests
News Analysis
By David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
5/7/2008
Seven years after 18 priests in the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado left the diocese and were given Letters Dimissory to the Province of South East Asia by then Episcopal Bishop Jerry Winterrowd, the present Episcopal Bishop of the diocese, Rt. Rev. Rob O'Neill, has decided to reopen old wounds. He has sent letters to the priests saying they must either renounce their orders in the Episcopal Church (TEC) or he will officially depose them.
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