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By Peter Aitken NEWSWEEK January 30, 2025   The Anglican Catholic Church has punished the Michigan priest who mimicked Elon Musk's controversial gesture by revoking his license, meaning he can no longer serve in any of the church's dioceses.   The Context   British conservative Calvin Robinson, who briefly held the role of priest-in-charge at St. Paul's Anglican Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, attended the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, D.C., on January 25.   Following his speech, he made the same straight-armed gesture used by Musk during his Inauguration Day speech, even repeating, "my heart goes out to you." He pinned a video of the moment to his profile on X, formerly Twitter.   Musk smacked his chest and forcefully extended his right arm during a speech on January 20 during a rally after President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term. Musk then turned and repeated the gesture, saying, "My heart goes out to you."   Many had accused Musk of making a Nazi salute, citing his support of far-right political leaders in Europe—particularly the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party—as reasons to suspect the gesture was not innocent. But supporters have insisted that Musk has no Nazi link, and that the motion was an innocent gesture to send his "heart" to the crowd.   The Tesla and SpaceX CEO tapped to lead Trump's Department of Government Efficiency has Asperger's syndrome, a developmental disorder falling under the autism spectrum that could hinder social interactions and the ability to decipher body language.   What To Know   While Robinson made the gesture on Saturday, it was not until Wednesday when video of it showed up on social media. The College of Bishops of Anglican Catholic Church in the United States issued a statement on Thursday condemning the action and announcing that Robinson had been defrocked, hinting that the act was possibly the latest in a series of actions he had taken.   "While we cannot say what was in Mr. Robinson's heart when he did this, his action appears to have been an attempt to curry favor with certain elements of the American political right by provoking its opposition," the statement posted on the church's website said.   "Mr. Robinson had been warned that online trolling and other such actions (whether in service of the left or right) are incompatible with a priestly vocation and was told to desist," the statement continued. "Clearly, he has not, and as such, his license in this Church has been revoked. He is no longer serving as a priest in the ACC."   What Did the Anglican Catholic Church Say? In an email response to a Newsweek request for comment, the Right Reverend Dr. Damien Mead, bishop ordinary of the Diocese of the United Kingdom, said that the decision to revoke Robinson's license was taken as "a local diocesan decision for the Archbishop and bishops involved in the United States."   “Similarly, the decision to relicense him in the future rests with them, although the revocation is unlikely to be reversed,” Mead wrote. “It was not taken lightly nor simply in response to the alleged connotation of the hand gesture he made.”   “Mr Robinson was briefly the Priest in Charge of the ACC Church of St Paul’s, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA,” Mead explained. “He moved to the USA in 2024 to take up this position, in doing so he resigned from the Nordic Catholic Church which had only recently priested him.”   “As Bishop Ordinary of the Anglican Catholic Church’s Diocese of the United Kingdom I fully endorse the decision taken by the American ACC in this matter and agree fully with the statement issued by the ACC in the USA,” he added.   What People Are Saying   Calvin Robinson on Wednesday wrote on X: "Today I received hundreds of nasty calls, texts, voicemails and emails today from very bitter, angry, vile leftists. They are often the very thing they accuse you of. I am not a Nazi. But I forgive you of your ignorance. My heart goes out to you!"   The College of Bishops of the Anglican Catholic Church said in their statement: "We understand that this is not just an administrative matter. The Holocaust was an episode of unspeakable horror, enacted by a regime of evil men. We condemn Nazi ideology and anti-Semitism in all its forms. And we believe that those who mimic the Nazi salute, even as a joke or an attempt to troll their opponents, trivialize the horror of the Holocaust and diminish the sacrifice of those who fought against its perpetrators. Such actions are harmful, divisive, and contrary to the tenets of Christian charity."   What Happens Next   Mead said that as Robinson is no longer a priest in the Anglican Catholic Church, "any further action that may be taken will be a decision within or outside the Church for those in the USA."   Robinson became lead spokesman for the right-wing U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) in summer 2024, where he will likely return and resume his political activities. He had run as a member of the Conservative Party in a by-election in 2016 and in a council election 2018, both times defeated by Labour Party candidates.   END

By Christianity Daily January 24, 2025 Photo Credit: Unsplash/ Ben Mater   A recent survey reveals that nearly half of Americans believe the U.S. has overstepped in permitting male, trans-identified athletes to compete in women's sports, alongside substantial opposition to medical interventions for children facing gender dysphoria.   Conducted by The New York Times/Ipsos, the poll gathered responses from 2,128 American adults between January 2 and January 10.   When respondents were asked if they felt that “Society has gone too far in accommodating transgender people,” 49% responded positively. In contrast, 21% agreed with the statement that “Society has not gone far enough in accommodating transgender people,” while 28% thought that “Society has achieved a reasonable balance in accommodating transgender people.”   Seventy-seven percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning Americans believe that efforts to accommodate trans-identified individuals have gone too far, compared to 31% of independents and minor party affiliates. Thirty percent of independents and minor party affiliates feel that accommodations for the trans-identified community are adequate, along with 16% of Republicans.   A much smaller percentage of independents (14%) and Republicans (5%) believe that the U.S. should take additional steps to accommodate trans-identified individuals. A plurality of Democrats and Democrat-leaning Americans (39%) considered the current accommodations for trans-identified individuals to be appropriate, while 37% felt that more should be done and 23% believed such efforts have gone too far.   The survey also asked if trans-identified male athletes should compete in women's sports, with 79% responding negatively. This opposition was pronounced across political affiliations, where a staggering 94% of Republicans opposed the participation of trans-identified male athletes in women's sports, compared to 67% of Democrats and 64% of independents.   Less than a third of Democrats (31%) supported the idea of trans-identified male athletes competing on women's teams, with only 10% of independents and 5% of Republicans in favor.   When asked about physicians prescribing puberty-blocking drugs or cross-sex hormones to minors, 71% of respondents agreed that children should not have access to drugs that might halt their natural growth and alter their bodies. Among this group, the strongest opposition came from Republicans (90%), followed by independents (61%) and Democrats (54%).   Support for allowing youth aged 15 to 18 access to these treatments was minimal, with only 7% of Republicans, 10% of independents, and 24% of Democrats in favor. Similarly, support for providing these drugs to children as young as 10 was low, at 2% among Republicans and independents and 19% among Democrats.   Recent legislation in the U.S. has imposed restrictions on the participation of trans-identified athletes in sports and on access to medical treatments for youth suffering from gender dysphoria.   Twenty-seven states have enacted laws requiring trans-identified athletes to compete on teams that match their biological sex rather than their self-declared gender identity. These states include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.   Meanwhile, Twenty-four states have enacted regulations banning trans-identified youth from accessing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. This group includes Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

By Jeffrey Walton JUICY ECUMENISM January 24, 2025   Jesus’ humanness confirms and restores the dignity of all persons, according to an Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) bishop preaching at a prayer service preceding the annual National March for Life.   Missionary Diocese of All Saints Bishop Darryl Fitzwater spoke at the event sponsored by Anglicans for Life and the ACNA Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic held at The Falls Church Anglican outside of Washington, D.C.   Participants at the January 24 prayer service heard testimony from Deacon Georgette Forney as part of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.   “Abortion aftercare programs helped me to grieve for the child that I had aborted,” Forney shared, highlighting the importance of local church ministry among post-abortive women and their families.   “All I did was make myself available and give my sin back to God,” Forney recounted, describing God as taking human brokenness, healing it, and using it to build his Kingdom.   Pro-Life ministry, Forney explained, has expanded to address euthanasia and assisted suicide.   “Everything in God’s Word upholds the sanctity of life,” Forney insisted. “Once life is regarded as a burden or inconvenience, that life begins being treated differently.”   Forney shared her own story of admitting her elderly father to a hospital, with a doctor strongly and repeatedly pressuring him to sign a “Do Not Resuscitate” order in the early hours of the morning. Her father declined to sign the order, but Forney saw it as a sign of how the medical community is changing and that churches need to prepare their congregants for such external pressures.   “If we are going to be change agents for our culture and communities, it will require us to say ‘yes’ to God,” the Anglicans for Life Director charged.   In his sermon, Fitzwater sought to emphasize the unchanging nature of God and his Word.   “If it was ever a sin, it still is. If it was ever his character, it still is,” Fitzwater preached. The West Virginia bishop shared about the spiritual nature of Christ and about his humanity.   “Spiritual does not mean to be ghostly: to be a spiritual people does not mean we are fixed on disembodied things,” Fitzwater noted. “Jesus is so spiritual, he goes around healing physical bodies. Spiritual means the Word became flesh and dwelled among us.”   The Anglican bishop insisted that “Christ is sanctifying the entire family structure.”   “In the cases of life, there are times when the circumstances and scenarios by which a woman becomes pregnant are not ideal, but that life is always sacred. It is always blessed. It is always given dignity,” Fitzwater stated. “The response of the Church must always be: how do we step in to not snuff out a smoldering wick? To not break a bruised reed, but to rightly and truly set bones so that they heal and grow into the fullness of the grace that God has already amply poured out through Jesus Christ.”   Following the service, participants loaded onto buses that took them to the National March for Life beginning at the National Mall in Washington and concluding on Capitol Hill.   “When we go out into this march today, we aren’t just walking with the people next to us, we are enveloped, immersed by a cloud of witnesses whose lives and legacies are pleading to God,” Fitzwater exhorted. “Let us not forget that the chief responsibility, the chief end in those moments, is to join with the prayers of all of God’s people.”   END

By Chuck Collins www.virtueonline.org January 27, 2025   Pelagius is the only heretic specifically mentioned in Anglican’s Thirty-nine Articles of Religion (Article 9). This is for good reason! Everyone is born with “the Pelagian default,” and it takes an act of God to change us. In hundreds of different ways, we reduce Christianity to our own will-power such that we see ourselves as active participants in our redemption - “I have decided to follow Jesus,” working the spiritual disciplines, trying harder and doing more to become better at this Christian life, and maybe even get God’s approval. On January 27, 417 Pelagius was excommunicated, and I am again confronted with the cruelty of my heresy: thinking that righteousness is within my grasp if I just try hard enough. Frankly, it doesn’t help one bit for my recovery that most of the folks sitting next to me are flaming heretics too! In a famous fifth century fight, Pelagius and Augustine argued about what the Bible says about human nature. Pelagius was convinced that individuals have the innate capacity for achievement, even to achieve their own salvation. He felt that men and women are born morally neutral with an equal capacity for good or evil - that Adam's disobedience adversely affected humankind, but only by setting a bad example. Everyone has the responsibility and potential to be righteous; this is God’s command and he would not command the impossible. Augustine, on the other hand, was sure that our human wills are governed by what we love, and that, apart from the Holy Spirit, we choose to love sin. He believed that our love for sin is a consequence of Adam and Eve's original disobedience (the Fall) and that the end result is that all people are spiritually infected: dead in their trespasses and sins and "by nature children of wrath" (Ephesians 2). Saint Augustine saw that we sin because we are sinners (original sin). Much later Martin Luther, the Augustinian monk and priest, would talk about this in a similar way: as people being turned/curved in on ourselves rather than towards God and others (incurvatus in se). It takes the Spirit to work in us to give us a new object worthy of love, and so to free our wills to love God and others. “In Pelagius’s view it was possible (though very unlikely) that a new-born baby would never sin. Perhaps it would gasp once and die, before it had a chance to look upon forbidden fruit. But for Augustine it was already too late for such hopes. The new-born child belonged to a race that lives under the effects of Adam’s sin” (Oliver O’Donovan). Semi-pelagianism, a term coined in the 17th century, was invented to be a compromise between Pelagianism and the teaching of the church fathers (Saint Augustine). Semi-pelagians teach that salvation is won by a cooperative (synergistic) effort between God and his people (God, with a little help from my friends!). Semi-pelagianists distinguish between the beginning of faith and the increase of faith - the beginning of faith is an act of free will (we seek God/truth and find him) and this then ignites grace in us for Christian living and growth. Augustinians, conversely, credit God completely for resurrecting the spiritually dead: people unable in themselves to choose God apart from the prior work of God's grace moving us in the right direction. How is it that Reformation Anglicans remembered pelagianism in their confession a thousand years after Pelagius? In the context of their protest against Medieval Catholicism? How is it that this heresy is the only one specifically named the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion? It is because works-righteousness is the default heresy Medieval Christianity and of all humans in every generation. Only God in his power can turn our wills and affections aright towards God. Anglicans are clearly Augustinian in our anthropology. We believe that men and women, apart from grace, are incapable of doing anything but continue to sin. Article 9 speaks of “the fault and corruption of the nature with which all descendants of Adam are born. It is due to original sin that we are departed very far from the original righteousness in which we were created, and are naturally inclined to evil. . . accordingly, in every person born into this world, original sin is deserving of God’s wrath and condemnation” (Philip Edgcumbe Hughes paraphrase). And the article continues to drill this in, that “this infection of our nature remains even in those who in Christ are reborn.” Article 10 says this even more directly: “Since the fall of Adam man’s state is such that he is unable, by his own natural strength to believe and call upon God.” The second Anglican homily, “The Misery of All Mankind,” is completely devoted to this theme: “For of ourselves we are crabtrees that can bring forth no apples. We are of ourselves of such earth as can bring forth only weeds, nettles, brambles, briers, corncockle, and darnel” (Lee Gatiss edition). Christians love semi-pelagianism because we don't want to admit that the corpse on the couch is actually dead. We insist that we are just faint and need some fresh air. We don't want a Savior who died to destroy death, but instead we prefer a coach that shouts commands and encouragements from the sidelines. We desperately want to believe that in some small way we can contribute to our salvation by "do more" and "try harder" religion, even if it's doing more prayer, Bible reading, and serving to get God's approval. Our default slogan is so good that it almost sounds biblical: God helps those who help themselves. But as Steven Paulson states, “Lazarus did not come out of the grave because he got his free will in motion to choose resurrection; it was because he received an external command from God’s word, which does what it says.”   Dean Chuck Collins is a Reformed Theologian. He is based in Texas.

By Harriet Sherwood, THE GUARDIAN January 26, 2025   The former archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, addressing the House of Lords in 2023. Photograph: House of Lords 2023/Roger Harris/PA Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords by right should be removed as part of the government’s changes to the second chamber, according to the veteran legislator Harriet Harman.   Harman, who was a Labour MP for more than 40 years until 2024, has put forward an amendment to the government’s hereditary peers bill, aimed at ending the automatic right of 26 bishops to sit in the Lords.   Their presence was an anachronism that “undermines the legitimacy” of the second chamber, Harman told the Guardian. “It is outdated that we have legislative scrutiny carried out by representatives of one Christian denomination. The only other legislature that has religious theocrats as members by right is Iran,” she said.   The government was seeking to increase the legitimacy of the Lords by removing the remaining hereditary peers, but that was undermined by the automatic seats for bishops, she said.   Harman’s amendment says the Lords Spiritual, as the 26 bishops are known, must be removed from membership of the Lords, but there should be no bar on individual bishops and archbishops being appointed as life peers.   “If we were starting afresh, I don’t think anyone would give bishops an automatic right to sit in parliament,” she said.   The argument that the bishops provided a moral element in the Lords was spurious, she added. “I don’t think anyone in 2025 believes that morality is the exclusive preserve of the Church of England. This is not about individual bishops or whether they make a good contribution [to the Lords], and it does not arise out of the C of E’s abuse scandals.”   She and other peers backing the amendment had “no intrinsic hostility to religion”, she said. Some would like to see other faiths and denominations represented in the Lords.   Harman said: “Aside from the bishops, I’ve not come across a single peer who thinks that the presence of bishops by right is a good thing. People speak well of individual bishops, but that’s not the point. The point is the legitimacy of the institution.”   Lord Birt, a cross-bench peer and former director general of the BBC, who intends to co-sponsor Harman’s amendment, said: “We are now an incredibly diverse society, comprised of people embracing many religions and beliefs. Embedding the C of E in our legislature is an indefensible, undemocratic anomaly.   “I have the greatest possible respect for the individual qualities and the inherent goodness of leaders I have met in my time from many faiths. I would hope and expect to see faith leaders of every kind represented in a reformed house. But they should be appointed on individual merit, not as exercising a right existing in one form or another for half a millennium.”   Lord Scriven, a Liberal Democrat peer, said the presence of bishops by right was “a medieval tradition not serving any effective purpose in the 21st century … We should stop granting special power and privilege to a church that no longer represents the vast majority of citizens that parliament serves”.   According to a recent poll carried out by YouGov for Humanists UK , which is backing Harman’s amendment, 22% of Britons want to keep bishops in the Lords and 52% want them removed.   Harman said she had tabled the amendment to “put down a strong marker” that the Lords Spiritual needed to be included in the government’s overhaul of the House of Lords.   She would also like to see the abolition of titles for life peers, such as baroness and lord. “We are not appointed to have airs and graces, but to do a job of scrutinising legislation. These outdated titles should be done away with.”   END

Two decisions from the Government means those in charge of keeping these Christian icons open are facing an almost insurmountable struggle By Peter Stanford THE TELEGRAPH 26 January 2025 Peterborough’s cathedral has launched an emergency appeal to allow it to pay its bills Credit: Dave Porter The prospect of Peterborough Cathedral running out of money and being forced to close its doors to visitors at the end of March, just as Easter beckons, has made national headlines. This 12th-century Norman masterpiece, burial place of Katherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife, has launched an emergency appeal to raise £300,000 in just two months to stave off financial ruin as rising costs and depleted reserves mean it faces being unable to pay its bills. But is it a one-off failure, or are England’s other 42 Anglican cathedrals also facing a similar crisis?    Official Church of England statistics suggest the latter: three-quarters anticipate running a deficit when their 2024 accounts are completed, with just eight predicting a surplus. “All cathedrals are facing considerable financial challenges at the moment,” confirms the Very Revd Dr Simon Jones, Dean of Lincoln Cathedral.   Like Peterborough, he says, Lincoln, for all its size and splendour (its earliest parts dating back to the 11th century) is not on the usual tourist routes. It therefore cannot generate the same income as the other nine cathedrals that, like it, have decided they have to charge visitors an entrance fee (though not worshippers).   “It currently costs us around £25,000 a day to keep the cathedral open,” Jones reports. “At the end of our current financial year in March we will have a deficit of £500,000, and are projecting that there will be deficits in the next three years of £1.5 million, £1.4 million and £1.2 million”.   And all that is before they have factored in the impact of two recent decisions by the new Labour government. “With around 100 staff – not all full-time – the increase in employers’ National Insurance Contributions [NICs] is going to have a significant impact, especially on our efforts to build up our works department. It shrank during the pandemic and we don’t want to be overwhelmed by the task of maintaining one of the greatest buildings in Europe”.   The challenge of finding the money for the uplift in employers’ NIC was also highlighted by Peterborough’s Dean, the Very Revd Chris Dalliston, when he made his appeal for funds. Even with a smaller workforce than Lincoln – the equivalent of 25 equivalent full-time workers – he warned, “we’re facing increases in the living wage and national insurance contributions. We want to be a responsible employer but these things impact our bottom line”.   While Chancellor Rachel Reeves may not have considered the future of England’s cathedrals when she introduced the controversial changes in her budget in October, in their case she might just have imposed the straw that broke the camel’s back.   The second potentially fatal decision came this week when the Heritage Minister, Sir Chris Bryant, a former CofE vicar, announced in the Commons that the Listed Places of Worship scheme, which has allowed cathedrals and historic churches to claim back the VAT of every repair bill over £1,000, was being cut from £29 million last year to £23 million, with a new cap of £25,000 per place of worship.   Chris Bryant spent five years working as an ordained minister.   “It is good news that it will continue for another year because there had been a threat to end it altogether,” reflects Lincoln’s Dean, “but when you spend as much on repairs and restoration as we are doing, the cap will just add to the pressure on our budget, while the continuing uncertainty about whether the scheme will last more than one year makes any sort of planning much harder.”   It is deans who are responsible for the running of cathedrals, the ecclesiastical equivalent of chief executive officers in the secular world. And at the moment they are the ones daily shouldering the burden of keeping open these remarkable buildings – the vast majority Grade I-listed and several UNESCO World Heritage sites.   It is made harder because the number of those attending Anglican services in England remains below the figure pre-Covid in 2019. Fewer worshippers means less money in the plate. While visitor numbers to our cathedrals are climbing, again they have yet to match the 2017 annual figure of 9.38 million.   “As I look out of the window of my study,” says the Very Revd Dr Edward Dowler, Dean of Chichester Cathedral, which celebrates its 950th anniversary this year, “I can see a building that is not going anywhere. But at present we have £3 million going out and only £2.3 million coming in, and with the blow of new NIC charges we are going to have to find that money somewhere.”   Chichester Cathedral was consecrated in 1108. Like Peterborough, his cathedral has little by way of reserves. To keep afloat it has been dipping in each year to legacies that are held in a separate fund, but that, he accepts, is not a reliable long-term solution.    “What you get into is something that I don’t want to do, which is charge for entry. At the end of the day, this is a church and I hate the idea that people will have to pay to come in, but I know that other cathedrals already see it as a necessity if they are to keep open.”   Chichester, he accepts, has some advantages over Peterborough in terms of location. “Tourists have the perception that there aren’t many other reasons to go to Peterborough [than seeing the cathedral]. At the other end of the spectrum are places like Winchester and Salisbury where the cathedral can be taken in as part of a bigger tour of their surrounding areas. We are somewhere in the middle. There are other attractions in Chichester.”   Very Revd Dr Edward Dowler says Chichester Cathedral has a shortfall of £700,000   As well as National Insurance, the cost of utilities shooting up alarmingly is still crippling the books. “Our gas-fired heating may not make the place very warm but it is expensive to keep on. The Church of England has an aspiration to get to net zero by 2030 and there are various plans like air-source heat pumps, but I can’t see how we are going to get there with all the different priorities we are balancing in our day-to-day mission as a cathedral. But everything has a financial angle.”   Over in Somerset, at Wells Cathedral, is Nerys Watts, who has the title Chief Operating Officer and works under the dean, the Very Revd Toby Wright. Each year she has to find £2.7 million to run the building, famous for its 13th-century West Front, the Gothic “scissor arches” in its nave and the splendid stained glass of its Jesse Window.  “Being part of the national heritage,” explains Watts, “costs a lot of money”.   That is why it has recently started charging tourists £14 each to come in, which along with the shop and café, raises around £1 million a year. Add to that around £100,000 in offerings from those attending services, and it still leaves a hole of £1.6 million. “We have to be creative,” she says, so as well as the usual choral and classical concerts, Wells has recently allowed the building to be used for a silent disco (where attendees hear the music through headphones). Wells Cathedral costs £2.7 million a year to run The Church Commissioners manage the £10.4 billion investments held by the Church of England. Some of that, though, was earmarked last spring for a £100m financial downpayment on what the Church hopes will grow into a £1 billion fund to address its legacy of benefitting from the slave trade.   At present the contribution by the Commissioners to the running costs of the nation’s Anglican cathedrals in modest by comparison. They pay the clerical stipends (or salaries) for the Dean and two Canons. “It is quite a small amount in the bigger picture,” acknowledges Lincoln’s Rev Jones.   There are, he points out, specific small pots of money also available from the Commissioners on application to cover individual areas of a cathedral’s life, but he would like to see the national Church adopt “a different funding model that shows it understands the reality that we are facing”.   To that end there is an ongoing review by the Church Commissioners on cathedral funding about which he pronounces himself “hopeful”. But regardless of its outcome, he also wants the government to play a bigger role in the future in the maintenance of these national landmarks.   At present it provides no regular funding to cathedrals. “How things stand now is unsustainable. In France, for instance, the government stepped in and paid for the rebuilding of Notre Dame.”   Lincoln is the only one of the 42 English cathedrals currently on Historic England’s Heritage at Risk Register. Grants are available through the Heritage Lottery, but competition is fierce. The recent repair of its West Front, which can be seen from miles outside the city, received £12.4 million from the fund towards the final cost of £16.2 million, and included a new visitor centre. Yet current conservation projects include £1.5 million on the Chapter House and £500,000 on the Wren Library.   You don’t need to be an accountant to realise the sums don’t add up and that the problems in Peterborough are a siren warning of trouble ahead. “We are but custodians of these spiritual and historic power houses,” says Jo Kelly-Moore, Dean of St Albans Cathedral and chair of the umbrella body the Association of English Cathedrals. “If our cathedrals fall, this will have a huge impact on our nation’s heritage.”   END

By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org January 22, 2025   In what must be the most humiliating tirade he has had to listen to since taking office, Donald Trump got taken to the woodshed by the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, Marianne Budde, who told the day-old new president that illegal immigrants were not criminals and he shouldn't deport those with children.   Trump listened in apparent disbelief as the ultra-liberal bishop scorned him with “transgender children fearing for their lives” at a traditional inaugural prayer service at Washington National Cathedral.   She told Trump, who had just pardoned some 1,500 US Capitol rioters, many of whom were convicted of criminal behavior, to show “mercy” to illegal immigrants and transgender children.   Budde, a woke, left-wing Episcopal bishop, lashed out at Trump, lecturing him, claiming trans kids were “fearing for their lives” due to his being in the Oval Office.   Budde then implored the president to “have mercy … on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. Help those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here.” One report said Trump sat stony-faced in the front row, next to First Lady Melania Trump, as the strumpet told him illegal immigrants were not criminals and he shouldn't deport those with children.   Bishop Budde, 65, looked directly at Trump in the highly politically-charged atmosphere and said; “I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country that are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.”   Budde, who can’t find a liberal cause she cannot support, then asked Trump to have mercy on illegal immigrants.   “The people who pick our crops, and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meat packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants, and work the night shifts in hospitals, they might not be citizens or have the proper documentation.”   “The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. I ask you to have mercy Mr. President on those in communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.”   Another report said Trump maintained his calm and appeared to look on slightly wearily after a full day and night of Inauguration festivities.   But other members of the congregation seemed uncomfortable as they listened to the bishop's rip at Trump. Budde voiced outrage at Trump in June of 2020 when he appeared at one of her churches (St. John’s Episcopal Church) holding up a Bible in front of the parish "as if it were a prop or an extension of his military and authoritarian position." At the time, she said that Trump's actions were “antithetical to the teachings of Jesus and everything that we as a church stand for.”   She said, “Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger for we were all strangers once in a strange land.” Trump declined to publicly criticize the bishop over the attack.   Asked about the service by reporters at the White House, Trump said: “What did you think, did you like it? Did you find it exciting? Not too exciting was it. I think it was a great service.” Budde has been an outspoken critic of Trump.   However, Republicans and MAGA supporters eviscerated the bishop.   “The person giving this sermon should be added to the deportation list,” wrote Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) on social media.   Budde’s sermon was a forceful rebuttal of Trump’s approach to immigration: He has pledged to enforce the largest deportation in history, with “millions and millions of illegals must be deported,” he has said.   U.S. First Lady Melania and U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance with U.S. Second Lady attended the National Day of Prayer Service. END

COMMENTARY   By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org January 23, 2025   He has done it again. This time over the war in Gaza.   The first time the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell was accused of mouthing “empty words” of contrition was after a child abuse scandal rocked the Church of England.   The Bishop of Newcastle criticized the Christmas Day sermon delivered by the Archbishop of York in which he said the Church should “kneel in penitence” as it continues to face criticism over failures in its handling of various abuse scandals, describing his suggestion as “empty words.”   Now he has gone and done it again over a ceasefire call in Gaza.   Cottrell who has become the temporary leader of the Church of England in place of the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, has also faced calls to resign.   Now the archbishop has released a statement on the ceasefire-hostage deal between Israel and Hamas saying; “My prayers are with all the families being reunited over the coming days, and for those who are still held in captivity. My prayers too are with the people of Gaza who have suffered such immense destruction, deprivation and displacement. Now must be the time – again, so long overdue – for unfettered aid to reach the people of Gaza, and for the indispensable role of UNRWA [United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East] to be respected and protected by all parties. May this deal be a precursor to a wider, more durable and just settlement in the region: it must not be a false dawn.”   He called for prayers for Anglican Archbishop Hosam and our Anglican sisters and brothers in Palestine and Israel, and for all the Christians of the Holy Land as they bear the light of Christ in such dark times. “Pray too for the courageous staff of the Anglican Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, and those in their care. Across the West Bank, this war is being felt not just in the daily grievous news from Gaza, but through widespread intensification of the occupation. I pray this deal acts as a catalyst to bring freedom, justice and dignity to the Palestinian people as well as being a small step towards the long-term security of both Palestinians and Israelis.”   Let us unpack this.   First of all, aid has been getting into Gaza. There is a blame game over violence and starvation with Israel taking nearly all the heat. Humanitarian agencies, Israel's allies and other countries have accused Israel of not doing enough to ensure that food gets to those who need it. Some have accused Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war.   All aid for Gaza is subject to strict Israeli security checks aimed at preventing anything that could be used by Hamas from entering. But aid groups say these are complex and arbitrary, causing major delays.   Israel has denied impeding the entry of aid to Gaza and accuses aid organizations of failing to distribute it. An Israeli spokesman cried, "UN, do your job. The bottlenecks are not on the Israeli side."   Furthermore, Israel says it is building a new land crossing into northern Gaza, where starvation is most acute, after previously promising to open the Erez crossing. The new crossing would handle up to 50 aid trucks a day and the first trucks have already crossed it, Israeli officials say.   Israel has also said it will allow the Ashdod deep water port a short distance to the north to be used as well as allowing more aid from Jordan to enter via the Kerem Shalom crossing in southern Gaza.   Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant spoke of gradually increasing Gaza aid deliveries to pre-war levels of 500 trucks a day.   UNRWA has a checkered history with Israel ever since it was discovered that 12 staff members from UN Palestine relief agency UNRWA were involved in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks. Why should Israel play ball with UNRWA?   Present in Cottrell’s rip were veiled accusations that the blame for all this lay at Israel’s feet. There was no mention of the terrorist organization called Hamas, no mention of who started this war, no mention of “from the river to the sea” a not so veiled reference to the obliteration of Israel. No mention of Hamas as a proxy of Iran to continue the war once the ceasefire deal is signed off on. No mention that the “destruction, deprivation and displacement” was caused by Hamas who could have surrendered the hostages and themselves to prevent all the blood shed that followed.   All we get from the Church of England’s second most powerful leader is vague prayers for the families, and hopes it would not be a “false dawn.”   Well, if it is, you can blame Hamas and its allies. Will Hamas use the ceasefire to rearm, rebuild and recruit new younger Hamas terrorists to continue the war? Cottrell nowhere acknowledges that possibility even though there is photographic evidence of new young recruits dressed in Hamas gear waving guns and ready to continue the fight.   All we got were more “empty words”, a hollow man who never saw fit to expose a pedophile he once called a “Rolls Royce priest”, an archbishop who now sadly leads the Church of England.   END

COMMENTARY By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org December 21, 2024 It should be apparent, even to the feeblest minded, that the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops is hiding a modern day ‘brood of vipers” increasingly being exposed as corrupt, as they fail to do their sworn duty to teach and uphold wholesome doctrine, and to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange opinions. Their egregious behavior in upholding sexual positions especially and including homosexual marriage is contrary to scripture is just part of the problem. What is emerging now, courtesy of the feisty blogger Anglican Watch, are bishops who have deliberately turned a deaf ear and the cries of those abused by clergy and their own behavior, all the while these same bishops sanctimoniously uphold diversity raising holy hands of inclusion in the name of their revisionist god. But their days might be numbered. The new incoming Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe is showing some cojones when it comes to bad boy and bad girl bishops. A case in point is his clamp down on the former Bishop of Rochester Prince Singh, of whom it might be said showed nothing princely about his person or diocesan reign. He might have gotten away with the abuse of his wife and two sons under former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, but Rowe has confronted his behavior head on and has suspended him for three years from ministry, holding him personally responsible and accountable for his appalling behavior. Singh, an Indian, got his head handed to him when his two sons wrote a letter to then presiding bishop Michael Curry about their father’s abuse of their mother, a woman he later divorced only to return to India to find an old flame and beat it back to America for his pension and other episcopal goodies. Curry cowardly recused himself thinking perhaps it would all go away, all the while preaching emotional love sermons, making a mockery of the very love that demands accountability. Todd Ousley, the worst intake officer in the church’s history, and recently dumped by Rowe, buried it all hoping that it would all go away. But the sons persisted and went public with knowledge of their father’s abusive behavior. Rowe took up the case and Singh was raked over the coals and told to repent, something bishops are exceedingly bad at doing, largely because they think they are closer to God because their miters point in a heavenly direction. But Rowe nailed him. Here is what he has done. He has  suspended Bishop Singh  for three years in settlement of two of the Title IV clergy disciplinary cases against him. Per the terms of the disciplinary agreement, reinstatement is neither automatic nor guaranteed but rather predicated on the successful completion of mental health and substance abuse treatment and counseling about the appropriate use of power and authority.  Specific provisions under the accord per a letter from  Rowe : ·  Be suspended from ministry for at least three more years. The suspension will conclude only when I am satisfied he is fit for ministry. ·  Undergo a thorough psychiatric and psychological assessment conducted by a professional in the United States designated by me. ·  Participate in truth-telling work related to both sets of allegations. ·  Participate in psychological work, education, and training in domestic abuse as required by me in consultation with a psychological professional. ·  Participate in psychological work, education, and training in anger management, as required by me in consultation with a psychological professional. ·  Participate in psychological work, education, and training in proper exercise of authority, as required by me in consultation with a psychological professional. ·  Undertake work addressing his relationship with alcohol and its behavioral consequences in a program approved by me. ·  Undertake work to address reputational harm suffered by people in the Diocese of Rochester as appropriate. ·  Make visits and apologies to people, congregations, and other groups whom I identify and who are willing. ·  Participate in education and training in Title IV values, process, and procedures. Some of the specific Title IV allegations against Singh are now online and can be found  here . https://www.anglicanwatch.com/bishop-singh-suspended-for-three-years-as-the-episcopal-church-shows-a-glimmer-of-integrity/ To my knowledge No presiding bishop in living memory has been this aggressive. Score one for the youngest presiding bishop in episcopal history socking it to one of the oldest bishops in the church. No love sermons here. But Singh is not the only offender. There are a number of bishops who should be brought up on Title IV charges reported by Anglican Watch . They include: Todd Ousley, Michael Curry, Glenda Curry, and Alan Gates, along with many other Episcopal bishops who are equally guilty of Title IV shenanigans, including knowingly mishandling complaints. Among these bishops are: ·  Clay Mathews , whose behavior during his tenure in the Office of Pastoral Development was every bit as feckless as that of piece-o’-snot Todd Ousley. ·  Alan Gates , who has knowingly brushed off allegations of criminal conduct by clergy in his diocese and gravely mishandled the Anderson case at Church of the Advent. ·  Shannon Johnston , who repeatedly ignored the requirements of Title IV, ranging from the need for a pastoral response to simply saying, “I don’t want to get involved,” even in the face of allegations of criminal conduct by clergy. He also covered up allegations of sexual harassment of an adult woman by Episcopal priest Stephen McWhorter, then canonically resident in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. ·  George Sumner , whose retaliation against Episcopal priest Rich Daly, support for the sexual harassment of an adult woman, and his deliberate mishandling of an ensuing Title IV complaint warrant immediate suspension. Meanwhile, the Title IV case against Sumner, which was filed with the appropriate intake officer more than a year ago, still has not even cleared the intake phase. ·  Susan Goff , who has refused to forward allegations of criminal conduct by clergy under her supervision to the diocesan intake officer. ·  Jennifer Brooke-Davidson , who also has refused to forward allegations of criminal conduct by clergy under her supervision to the diocesan intake officer. ·  Chilton Knudsen , who has held as acting bishop diocesan, that allegations of criminal conduct by a priest are not “of weighty and material importance to the ministry of the church.” She also has refused to report child sexual abuse to law enforcement on two known occasions. ·  Gayle Harris , who has refused to forward allegations of criminal conduct by clergy to her diocesan intake officer. ·  Paula Clark , who continues to sandbag allegations of perjury by Episcopal priest  Will Bouvel . Additionally, myriad canons to the ordinary, intake officers, and disciplinary board members, including  Bill Parnell ,  Rob Morpeth ,  Melissa Hollerith , and others, need to make themselves scarce or be defrocked. The days of episcopal wine and roses is clearly over. A new dawn has dawned under a new presiding bishop. And he is not prepared to sweep the sins of episcopal bishops under the rug. We will watch with interest to see where it is all going. END

By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org December 13, 2024   A lot is being made of culture, realignment and restructuring as churches look to regroup after massive losses over the past few years.   Around 40 million Americans have stopped attending church in the past 25 years, with estimates suggesting that "another 2 million Americans" could potentially be leaving the church, contributing to a growing trend of declining church attendance across the country; this is often referred to as "the great dechurching." Mainline denominations are in free fall.   What can be done about it? The Episcopal Church is by no means the biggest loser but a new Presiding Bishop and his bishops are talking up realignment and restructuring as they watch the numbers drop year over year hoping to reverse the trend. You can read Bishop Sean Rowe's aspirations here:  https://www.oaoa.com/people/religion/sean-rowe-wants-to-realign-the-episcopal-church/   Reading through the various options on the situation it looks very much like the bishops are rearranging the deck chairs on the SS TEC but with fewer chairs.   The bishops met at the DoubleTree Hilton Minneapolis Airport recently, and another 55 participated virtually and tried doing just that.   To get The Episcopal Church on the right footing, the newly minted Presiding Bishop Rowe hired Insight Global an international professional services and staffing company specializing in delivering talent and technical solutions to Fortune 1000 companies across the IT, Non-IT, Healthcare, and Engineering industries.   So, the question must be asked is, how can a secular company possibly know how a church runs, if its leadership is supposed to be aligned with God's will for the church and not just the best manager for the job. Do the managers of Insight Global hear from God about how TEC should run. Do they have spiritual or biblical insights. Do they meet the requirements of leadership laid out by the Apostle Paul such as humility, servant leadership, unwavering commitment to the truth, compassion, courage, vision, passion, adaptability, and a deep care for the spiritual growth of others; essentially prioritizing the needs of the community over personal gain, while actively leading with integrity and conviction in spreading the Gospel message to all people regardless of background.   Would the deep thinkers at Insight Global know what this even means? The company talks about developing a plan for strategic realignment. But unless the plan starts and end with God's kingdom being realized on earth then it is nothing more than rearranging deck chairs on a sinking ship. Aligning itself with the culture is not a winning strategy.   Two issues did pop up; one was on Title IV - the church's disciplinary system for clergy dominated discussion. Why am I not surprised. Anglican Watch a feisty unofficial watch dog on the sins of bishops and clergy has been kicking TEC's butt over failed disciplinary issues.   Here are some recent headlines: Sean Rowe removes bishop Todd Ousley from all Title IV functions prior to Ousley's departure later this year; Say farewell to a fraud: reflections on Title IV and the lies of Cayce Ramey; St. Paul's Dayton cuts Duplicitous Dan loose; Priest faces fraud allegations at Diocese of Dallas parish, resigns from Nashotah House board; Anglican Watch urges reconsideration of Duggan Title IV case in Chicago to cite but a few stories. You can read more here:  https://www.anglicanwatch.com/   The other issue was refocusing General Convention and the College for Bishops, with an educational program for newly elected bishops. How that will grow the diocese and parishes is anybody's guess. It is dubious to say the least.   One bishop seemed to catch on that the Church might need to focus on the Christian faith! OMG. The Rt. Rev. Jennifer Baskerville-Burrows of Indianapolis, vice chair of the House of Bishops concurred: "The heart of the matter is we want to have the Episcopal Church -- both in the aggregate and in each diocese -- be given every bit of steam it can have to make an effective witness for Jesus Christ. We talked about it being a life-and-death matter, because we believe in the dying and rising of Jesus as the core of our faith."   Well, there is a whole lot of dying going on and not much rising...and very little witnessing. Once upon a time, the Anglican bishops at the global Lambeth Conference boldly declared the 1990s the "Decade of Evangelism." It worked across the Global South, but not in the Global North.   Back 20 years ago The Episcopal Church created a "20/20 Vision" task force committed to doubling baptized membership by 2020. It was called the 20/20 strategy. One of its goals was to double average Sunday attendance (ASA) by the year 2020. It failed. The downward spiral continued. The 20/20 proposal totally flopped. Former Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's "revivals" revived nothing that we could find, but he did put on a good show.   And there is evangelism, another theme the bishops discussed. But that usually means trying to bring more alternative lifestyle pursuers into the church by pushing LGBTQ+ sexualities and pushing back on anyone who disagrees with them. Opening the doors wider to the unbaptized, or making communion available to anyone who wants it is not evangelism or pasting ashes on peoples' heads without asking if they had asked for their sins to be forgiven is not evangelism.   Therein lies the problem. Evangelism, biblically understood, is presenting the good news about Jesus, talking up repentance and confession. At its core evangelism is presenting the good news freely and trusting God to convert people.   Very few people in TEC know how to present the good news and most have never done so.   The bottom line is your average Episcopalian is going to be asked to share a faith they have not heard, bought into, or understood. If they had there would be no need for the ACNA to exist, because at the heart of the two churches there is a very different understanding of the gospel. What constitutes good news for TEC is not the same as good news promulgated by the ACNA.   TEC thinks that pushing DEI and gay marriage is good news, the ACNA does not. Railing on about racism is considered good news, but racism is not a fundamental problem in TEC with less than one percent blacks in the pews.   Pushing and advocating for LGBTQ issues is not filling churches. This crowd are not church goers. Pushing the trans cause is spiritual suicide. Switching out genitals through surgery is hardly an apologetic method to win souls for Christ.   Homosexual bishop Gene Robinson is fast becoming passe. How much more whine from pulpits about how aggrieved he is and how uninclusive the church is and how homophobic everybody is who doesn't agree with him, will average Episcopalians tolerate?   The more sexually off the rails TEC heads the worse it is all becoming. And the new presiding bishop Sean Rowe has no intention of reversing the church's stand on sexuality issues. He has made that abundantly clear.   So, if you violate the clear teaching of scripture on sexuality then why should anyone believe TEC bishops about any other doctrine the church should happily change its mind about or cavalierly discard.   TEC can't have it both ways. TEC can't proclaim a message of redemption from sin, all sin, and then give some sins a pass because the culture says so, and then hope to fill churches. It's a nonstarter. Why do evangelical churches grow? One of the reasons is a clear-eyed understanding of what grace, redemption, justification are with no compromises.   If TEC cannot proclaim a [coherent] message of redemption, then realigning and restructuring cannot stop TEC's decline. TEC will continue reaping the whirlwind of emptying churches.   END

COMMENTARY   By David W. Virtue, DD www.virtueonline.org January 25, 2025   We should respond to Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde's desperate rantings at Donald Trump with one big collective yawn, wrote one blogger.   He has a point. Her rant at the newly elected president was predictable. Those of us who have been writing about The Episcopal Church over recent decades knew this would happen in the name of “speaking truth to power.”   Marianne Edgar Budde was consistent as she stood in the pulpit of the Washington National Cathedral, the nation’s pulpit mike in hand.   This was her moment and she was not going to waste it with nice congratulatory words for the 47th president of the U.S.   Her sanctimonious outrage rang with all the inflection of a woke bishop who has imbibed post-modernity, hectoring the president who has been in office less than 24 hours.   There are multiple themes she could have inveighed about. The need for unity in a nation deeply divided; or righteousness that exalts a nation. In a nation of nearly 346 million people there is always someone whose ox is being gored.   Listening to her speech, it wasn’t a sermon, I was made aware of how light it was on the Bible and how heavy on righteous condemnation. Bishop Budde went peak episcopalian.   The gospel hasn’t been heard in her diocese in generations. One is more likely to hear a whiny sermon from Gene Robinson about conservative homophobia or Islamophobia from an outraged Iman.   As one observer noted; “The Episcopal Church is probably the most liberal, not to say progressive, denomination in the USA. It is fully committed to promoting LGBTQ+ rights and treats DEI initiatives as though they had come down from the mountain top written in stone.”   Bishop Budde certainly fulfills that mandate.   She painted a picture of a dystopian America where people live in dread of the coming administration.   Well not everybody feels that way. In fact, Trump garnered considerable Hispanic and Black votes from people who don’t want to see our borders crossed by illegals. The situation is not as black and white as she painted it. Yes, some injustices will occur, they always do. Some people with green cards will be deported. The citizenship of children born in the US to those here illegally is already being challenged in the courts.   On Truth Social, Trump called Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde a “Radical Left hardline Trump-hater” who is “not very good at her job.” He said she “brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way.”  Well tell me something I don’t know. Trump demanded an apology. I can tell you he will wait a very long time before that happens. She has already signaled she won’t be apologizing to the Don. She made it clear she loathes Donald Trump and was certainly very ungracious.   It is hardly a truism when Trump said she is “not very good at her job.” Most of us have known that for a long time. Nothing new here. With some of America and the world’s leading influencers listening in she had a golden moment to preach that Christ stands over the nations of the world, including the U.S. in judgment; that He is watching and calling people to repentance and faith. She could have brought God’s word to bear on the people. She didn’t. It is doubtful she really believes in any of that. What mattered was preaching her personal political views in the hope of changing the president’s mind and humiliating him in public. Judging by the responses on social media she singularly failed.   Michael Curry the former Presiding Bishop would probably have delivered himself of a love bomb, which might have brought a few smiles to some faces, but it is doubtful he would have gone after the president as she did; neither I think would Sean Rowe the new PB who is singularly silent on Budde’s rant. If he is cringing at 815 2nd Avenue, in New York, the church’s headquarters, someone might want to take him out for a drink to help him recover. It’s the very least they could do.   END

Prayer Meeting at the Washington National Cathedral Turns Political   By Albert Molher THE BRIEFING January 22, 2025   Since the 1933 inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as President of the United States, it has been traditional for a service of prayer to be held in connection with a presidential inauguration. It’s basically taken place every inaugural ceremony since 1933, and more often than not it has taken place in what is known as the National Cathedral.   That service took place Tuesday (Jan. 21)  and in attendance was the President of the United States, along with Mrs. Trump and the Vice President of the United States, along with Mrs. Vance, members of Congress, including the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and many others. It was not a public service in terms of being open to the public, but by now, many among the public know that in the service yesterday, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington D.C. directly addressed the new president and did so with words of appeal and judgment.   Many on the Left will simply refer to this, in the language of the ’60s, as “speaking truth to power,” but what we actually witness there is liberal, very liberal, Episcopalianism running into a headlong collision with President Trump and the Trump administration. And as you look at what the bishop had to say, you recognize it was all very calculated.   Bishop Marianne Budde said to the President: “In the name of God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” She spoke of migrants, she said, particularly children, “Who fear that their parents will be taken away.” She also asked the President to consider: “The gay, lesbian, transgender children in Democratic Republican and Independent families, some who fear for their lives.”   It was theatrical language, but it was intended to be theater.   Now, let’s just look at the background of what in the world is going on here. First of all, we have the phenomenon of what is known as an “interfaith service.” Now, I’ll just be blunt about this. I would not participate, as a Christian minister, in an interfaith service. This was a very pressing issue, particularly in the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.   All over the United States communities and others, very famously at the national level in Washington D.C., were organizing interfaith services, but I could not participate because given my Christian convictions I cannot participate in a service in which the spiritual direction is towards some generic god in general, the deity referenced, if referenced at all, is ambiguous or for that matter, by a Christian estimation, an absolutely idolatrous religion. That is to say we can have good relationships with people of other faith, we cannot have a worship service with them. The moment you say interfaith service from a Christian perspective, the participants are going to be the kinds of Christians who can participate in interfaith services, so that is something that takes place overwhelmingly on the theological Left.   Now, remember, the location is also significant. We talked just a matter of days ago on the briefing about the National Cathedral as it is usually known. I mentioned then that even back in the original design of Washington D.C., Pierre L’Enfant had suggested there needed to be a great national church.  That was not built when Washington was first occupied and first became the nation’s capital. And as a matter of fact, what is known now as the National Cathedral was really begun only in the early years of the 20th century. It was completed only in the closing years of the 20th century. It is a grand building. It is one of the largest Gothic structures you will ever see. It is majestic sitting there on a very prominent spot in the area of Washington D.C.   But it’s also important to recognize that even as it is the cathedral seat of the Episcopal diocese in Washington D.C., it was also intended from the beginning to be something of a national church. And the moment you say that you recognize in the United States that becomes a problem, because there is no national church that is under any direct sponsorship of the United States government. It is a quirk in all of this that the United States Congress, back about 1903 or so, did give a charter to what became the National Cathedral. But one of the problems with this is that the National Cathedral is going to have to represent just about every faith tradition in the nation. On the one hand, it is an Episcopal cathedral, on the other hand it is the National Cathedral, and that’s why these kinds of services are held there.   The reason we talked about it recently is because the National Cathedral hosted the state funeral of former President Jimmy Carter, but it also hosted this service. And as I said, in most inaugurations since 1933 there has been some service as a part of the formalities held in the National Cathedral.   In this case, it wasn’t scheduled for Monday, the schedule was too busy already, it was scheduled for Tuesday. And so it was the President of the United States inaugurated the day before, the Vice President of the United States, inaugurated the day before who were basically set upon by the Episcopal Bishop of Washington D.C.   Now here’s what’s really interesting. When you look at this, you recognize that, as I said earlier, the kind of Christian minister who would participate in an interfaith service is well, the kind of Christian minister who would participate in an interfaith service. That’s a very designated group. The same thing is true when it comes to denominations.   A denomination that would be able to have, say, a diocesan cathedral that would be the diocesan seat of the bishop, and at the same time a national cathedral holding interface services. Well, you would look at a very interesting pattern here that would simply come down to a mathematical formula of one, and that would be in particular the Episcopal Church.   And that’s because the Episcopal Church, which after all is the American branch of Anglicanism, which hearkens back to the Church of England, which is of course a state church. When you consider the Episcopal Church in the United States, it was never at the national level a state church.   But it was in some ways the established denomination, and that’s because so many members of Congress, so many Justices of the Supreme Court, so many presidents of the United States, had deep Anglican or Episcopal roots. The Episcopal Church has been, from the very beginning in the United States, an elitist church, which is to say it caters to and tends to attract people from a certain socioeconomic background. I want to be clear that’s not universally true, it is just sociologically manifested.   And, for one thing, the Episcopal Church has been very proud of its out sized political clout, its out sized cultural and social clout. The Episcopal bishop, in most communities throughout the United States, is someone who would have a good deal of influence and a good deal of voice. But the other thing you need to note about the Episcopal Church is that along with the other major denominations of liberal Protestantism, it has basically been in severe decline, particularly in terms of membership for the course of the last several decades, and that has been tied to a theological collapse.   The Episcopal denomination, the Episcopal Church in the United States is now one of the most liberal religious bodies imaginable. Now, note carefully, I’m not saying that there are no persons of evangelical or conservative orthodox belief within the Episcopal Church. I’m just saying that if they are in the Episcopal Church, they’re the kind of, well, the kind of person who can hold those beliefs and still be in the Episcopal church, which is overwhelmingly liberal. It has been for decades now avidly pro-LGBTQ, for same-sex marriage, but even before then, the great liberal turn, which took place in liberal Protestant world back in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it basically was set loose in the second half of the 20th century with absolutely no braking system whatsoever.   Let me just also point to an obvious factor when it comes to the Episcopal Church, it has never been Evangelical in terms of its general witness. It holds to infant baptism, and it was basically quite happy to be restricted to an elite component of society. But even as there has been a demographic revolution in the United States matched to a theological revolution in the Episcopal Church, decades ago the Wall Street Journal ran a very memorable editorial entitled “The Episcopal Church Goes The Way of the Dodo.” Just in case you had to look that up. It means to extinction. Back when she was installed as the bishop, the Episcopal Bishop of Washington D.C., the Washington Post described her as “unapologetically liberal.” And of course she is, and what she addressed to the president was basically the voice of liberal culture, and unsurprisingly, she went right to the LGBTQ issues.   Remember that in his inaugural address, President Trump had said that he would establish an executive order. It was actually a part of a larger complex of many executive orders that would say that for the purposes of the federal government there would be only two genders and that would be male and female. And furthermore, he stipulated, or at least his executive order stipulated that the distinction here is between sperm and eggs, or described as the larger reproductive cell and the smaller reproductive cell. Yes, it gets that technical, but it’s a sign of the times that if you’re going to be clear on these issues these days, when there is such widespread confusion, you have to be just that technical.   One point we just have to make here is that when you have liberal theology it leads to a liberal understanding of everything, including gender and sexuality. But you also have to work the logic the other way. When you are confronted by the view on, say, sexuality and gender held by this Episcopal bishop, you have to know that that is based upon a prior revolution towards theological liberalism. All of this, of course, goes back to doctrines as fundamental as the doctrine of God and the doctrine of Scripture. Everything else after that simply follows. Liberal at the start, you’ll be liberal at the end and at every point liberal in the middle.   The other point I want to make is simply the political point that in that context, the bishop knew exactly what she was doing and the President knew exactly what she was doing. After the ceremony, he was asked what he thought, and he spoke about it pretty clearly. He told news crews, “Not too exciting, was it? They could do much better.”   Historically, it is important to note just how revolutionized the Episcopal Church has become, and it’s not just what this Episcopal bishop had to say, it is the very fact that it was a SHE who said it that represents in its own way the revolution within the Episcopal Church. Largely the same revolution throughout most of all liberal Protestantism.   END