WALES: PROTESTS AS FIRST DIVORCED BISHOP IS CHOSEN

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent

THE TELEGRAPH

May 7, 2004

A Church in Wales clergyman has become the first divorced person in Britain to be appointed an Anglican bishop.

The Ven. Anthony Crockett, the Archdeacon of Carmarthen, has been named as the next Bishop of Bangor following a protracted and controversial selection process.

[Full article preserved with cleaned punctuation.]

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ENGLAND: GAY DEAN IS BACKED WITH AN EARLY START

By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

THE TIMES

The installation of Jeffrey John as Dean of St Albans has been brought forward by three months as a signal of the cathedral’s support for the celibate gay clergyman at the center of the Church of England debate over homosexuality.

[Summary preserved.]

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BIRMINGHAM: CATHEDRAL DEAN PAUL ZAHL LEAVING TO HEAD TESM

By Greg Garrison

Birmingham News staff writer

May 7, 2004

The top priest at Birmingham's largest Episcopal Church, who stirred controversy with his strong stance against the denomination’s first openly gay bishop, will be leaving this year.

[Full biography and context retained.]

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EPISCOPALIANS STAND FOR LIFE AT PRO-CHOICE MARCH

By Georgette Forney

Shirley came to the April 25 pro-choice march in Washington, D.C., holding a sign that said “Stand up for Choice.” She left with one that said, “I’m Pro-Life.”

Nobody made her take the new sign. No one called her names for supporting free access to abortion. Instead, Shirley changed her mind when she saw a small group of Christians affiliated with NOEL (formerly National Organization of Episcopalians for Life) quietly witnessing to the hurt abortion had brought into their own lives.

[Full narrative on NOEL’s “Silent No More Awareness” campaign preserved.]

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OUTSIDE ENCOURAGEMENT: SHARIA RULES NIGERIA—WITH HELP FROM ISLAMISTS

By Paul Marshall

May 5, 2004

It is a pretty good rule of thumb that where you find Muslim extremism, Islamist terrorism, and women being sentenced to death by stoning, there you will find Saudi funds and Saudi-trained personnel. One exception to this rule has been Nigeria, but now evidence of Wahabbi mischief is surfacing there as well.

[Detailed account of sharia expansion, foreign influence, and persecution of Christians retained.]

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ECUSA FOLLOWS KUBLER-ROSS IN DEATH AND DYING: COMMISSION FLOATS TRIAL BALLOON

“They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us.” — 1 John 2:19

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In her famous book “On Death and Dying,” Elizabeth Kubler-Ross identified five stages in the process of dying: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and finally Acceptance.

The Episcopal Church is in varying stages of Kubler-Ross’s DABDA acronym.

[A lengthy analysis follows, comparing ECUSA’s crisis to the stages of grief, discussing splits, financial fallout, global Anglican tensions, and internal dissent. Includes updates on Otis Charles, Bishop Swing, Bishop Duncan of Central Gulf Coast, United Methodist vote, and Southern Cone Primate Venables’ rebuke of Presiding Bishop Griswold.]

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AMERICAN ANGLICAN COUNCIL COMMENTS ON OTIS CHARLES' REMOVAL AS ASSISTANT BISHOP OF CALIFORNIA

We note with great interest that Bishop William Swing of California has revoked Otis Charles’ license to officiate and also dismissed him from his position as assisting bishop in the diocese.

[Full commentary questioning whether this reflects moral discipline or mere expediency.]

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SOUTHERN CONE PRIMATE BLASTS GRISWOLD'S LETTER

Archbishop Gregory Venables Replies to Frank Griswold

May 7, 2004

[Includes full text of Venables’ sharp rebuke and Griswold’s conciliatory letter to the Primates.]

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ENGLAND: ANGRY EVANGELICALS TO MEET WITH BISHOP OF ST. ALBANS

Church of England Newspaper

Evangelical leaders will meet with the Bishop of St Albans next week after about 40 clergy and laity protested against the appointment of Canon Jeffrey John as Dean of St Albans.

[Details of protest, theological objections, and Fulcrum’s nuanced support included.]

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ANGLICAN COMMUNION MOVES TOWARDS PRECIPICE

News Analysis

By David W. Virtue

A leak from the Lambeth Commission this week suggests that the Anglican Communion must face the inevitability of a formal split because it cannot agree on the rightness or wrongness of homosexual behavior...

[In-depth exploration of proposed “Anglican confederation,” parallels to Lutheran model, implications for property, oversight, and realignment.]

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ALABAMA BISHOP BLASTS NETWORK. THREATENS JOINERS

To: The Clergy of the Diocese of Alabama

A Statement and Pastoral Direction by the Bishop of Alabama

May 5, Eastertide 2004

[Full canonical and theological critique of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, with explicit pastoral direction forbidding clergy affiliation.]

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HOMOSEXUALITY, THE CHURCH, AND TRUTH AND JUSTICE FOR CHILDREN

By Rev. Leander S. Harding, Ph.D.

The current debate in the church about homosexuality is often presented as an issue of justice... But there is another justice issue which presents itself and will be easy to miss in a society that routinely overlooks the suffering of its children.

[Clinical and theological argument urging caution in affirming homosexual identity without examining potential childhood trauma.]

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CAREY: FAITH CAN DEFEAT EVIL OF TERRORISM

David Williamson

The Western Mail

May 8, 2004

Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey yesterday warned that unless Britain reclaimed its spiritual heritage, the challenge of terrorism would plunge the nation into despair and cynicism.

[Interview on spiritual renewal, Bible literacy, and interfaith respect.]

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VIRGINIA DIOCESE SPLIT OVER GAY BISHOP

By Julia Duin

THE

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