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(Anglican Innovations, Feb. 27, 2007): Fresh on the heels of his spectacular special on the tomb of Christ, Oscar-winning film director James Cameron announced today that his new special, The Lost Tomb of Duck, will air April 1 on the Discovery Toons network. Cameron’s documentary film recounts what may be the “archeological find of the century,” beginning with the unearthing of a tomb in Hollywood, California containing 5 small stone boxes. Cameron and renowned animation scholar Simcha “Bugs” Jacobovici provide startling evidence that one of the boxes from the tomb contains the long-sought skeletal remains of Donald Duck. The other...

I seem to recall Senator Rick Santorum predicting this when the sodomy case, Lawrence v. Texas was decided. He took quite a bit of flack for it, too (H/T: Drudge): It was probably not a defense the court had heard before. A suburban Cleveland man accused of sexually assaulting nine disabled boys told a judge Wednesday that his apartment was a religious sanctuary where smoking marijuana and having sex with children are sacred rituals protected by civil rights laws. [...] We're told by abortion advocates that 13 year-old-girls -- and younger -- can consent to an abortion. If that is...

April 29, 2006 St. Edward’s University The Fellows of the Hill Country Institute for Contemporary Christianity and volunteers organizing this conference invite you to join us for a glorious time of stimulating thought, artistic beauty, and fellowship with others who are friends on the journey. The Third Austin C.S. Lewis Conference will feature internationally known speakers, artistic interludes, meals accompanied by live music, a panel discussion featuring the speakers, and a play about the life of C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis is our guide and friend as we move forward to walk by faith. He set a tone of thought provoking...

Here is my annual post to dishonor Planned Parenthood and and their Choice on Earth Holiday Card. This is one instance where I am glad they didn't use the word Christmas...

Anglican Innovations expands its product line with the release of the A.I. JustAsUR™ guilt freshener and sin deodorizer! Can you imagine anything more embarrassing than bringing a group of friends to your modern, up-to-date parish, only to have them stare at those leftover stains of sin on the baseboards, or curl their noses when they get a whiff of personal guilt and repentance? You know perfectly well that by Monday at the office, they’ll be smirking behind your back and referring to you as a “fundie!” What can you do?

You may remember that when I visited Canterbury Cathedral, I was repelled by the liturgy there – Advent collects omitted, the Lord’s Prayer so tampered with I couldn’t recite it even while looking at the words in front of me, and more. Well, as noted over on titusonenine, I’m not the only one appalled by the state of the liturgy in England. I unfortunately missed it while I was there, but the Telegraph ran a column denouncing the Church of England’s wholesale tossing of the Book of Common Prayer. May I remind the reader that the 1662 BCP is still...

New for your parish! Tired of all that silly old doctrine? Need to get rid of obsolete scriptural standards of theology and conduct so you too can “speak prophetically” like the really cool parishes? Got any leftover non-gender-inclusive bibles or 1928 prayerbooks? We at Anglican Innovations are proud to announce our new series of Angli-Can™ spiritual toilets for the disposal of outdated materials. Each Angli-Can is designed to handle centuries of dogmas and doctrines before requiring a service call.

Regarding our recent discussion of the Metrospirituals among us, BeliefNet has posted a chart of how you can differentiate the Metrospiritual from the non-metrospiritual. In the interests of opening up these “New Spiritualities” to the rest of us who live in Flyover Country, I proposed the term Bubbaspiritual. I have added Bubbaspiritual qualities to BeliefNet’s chart so we can all see where we stand.

Gwyneth Paltrow is one. So are Angelina Jolie and Leonardo DiCaprio. Chances are your bikram yoga teacher has the major characteristics and so does the guy who makes your fruit smoothie at Jamba Juice. Donna Karan is totally in on it. The salesperson who helps you find the right Botanical Kinetics moisturizer at Aveda is probably one, along with your eco-tourism guide at Costa Rican surf camp. Richard Gere may be the proto-one and Uma Thurman was pretty much born into it. What is influencing Hollywood stars and Wal-Mart shoppers, fashionistas and Filene’s basement-dwellers alike? It’s called metrospirituality, and chances...

Catholic Anti-Catholicism Katelyn Sills, a young Catholic lady attending Loretto High School in Sacramento, California, has been expelled. Katelyn and her family –in particular her mother, Wynette - brought to light the fact that one of the Loretto drama teachers was acting as an “escort” for women seeking abortions through the local Planned Parenthood killing center clinic. The teacher was subsequently fired...

Leavin’ ECUSA (to the tune of Sloop John B, with apologies to the Beach Boys ) My whole family and me, Worshipped with the COE, Genuflectin’ away And scoffin’ at Rome. We didn’t know Just how quick we would go. Ahh, this church is so broke up, I can’t call it my home. At first, things didn’t seem big And I didn’t wanna sound like a prig, So I kept all my doubts to myself And I just went along. I didn’t mind women priests, Just couldn’t care in the least, We’ll just take the collections And keep on singin’...

In Adult Sunday School, we’ve been reading Luke Timothy Johnson’s book on the Creed. As part of the discussion, we started talking about how to encourage people to consider the existence of God in an empirically slanted world. A sort of careless atheism seems to be the default creed of a lot of technically and scientifically oriented moderns. It seems to me there are a couple of reasons for this attitudinal bent, depending on who you are talking about. Johnson refers to “practical atheists” who deny God in order to edify themselves and there desires. I’m not sure that is...

One thing I always get from the story of Saint Francis is a lesson on renewal in the Church. The authorities of a corrupt church, like authorities everywhere, tend to worry about structures and organizations and control and property.