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A decision to ordain actively gay clergy has caused deep fissures in the nation's largest Lutheran church group, with some traditional Lutherans saying they have been subjected to threats and retaliation as they consider breaking away. Several disaffected members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) say the decision made at the church's national convention in Minneapolis in August could prompt a major exodus from one of America's biggest Protestant denominations. "I wouldn't even begin to tell you how many thousands [of calls] I've gotten," said Paull Spring, chairman of Lutheran Coalition for Renewal, or CORE, a national coalition...

A young woman wrote to me after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted that it would allow persons in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous same-sex relationships to serve in some cases as pastors. She asked why we in the Lutheran Coalition for Renewal were so exercised about a few prohibitions from the Old Testament, while we ignored others from the same passage. She had a point. I enjoy shrimp, which is also forbidden in Leviticus. Of course, I also believe that loving your neighbor as yourself is binding on Christians, and that, too, comes originally from Leviticus. Certain principles from...

Congregants at American Lutheran Church in Long Prairie, Minn., have voted in favor of a resolution to leave the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination. The congregation voted 129-11 Sunday to exit the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. A two-thirds majority vote was required. A second two-thirds vote must be taken for the congregation to officially separate from the ELCA. The decision by members of American Lutheran comes as the 4.6 million-member ELCA deals with the aftermath of its Churchwide Assembly in August when the church moved to allow gays in committed relationships to serve in the clergy. The assembly also passed...

“Have you heard Abercrombie is resigning?” veteran political consultant Nathan Wuertzel e-mailed me late Friday afternoon, just as the word came down that veteran Rep. Neil Abercrombie would resign from Congress to campaign full-term for the Democratic nomination for governor of Hawaii in 2010. Wuertzel had good reason to sound breathless. Just a month ago, he had brought me to lunch with City Councilman Charles Djou, the stronger-than-usual Republican candidate for Abercrombie’s Honolulu-based 1st District. Now Djou was thrust into a special election likely to be scheduled for early 2010 and sure to be watched by the national press. But...

CLEAR LAKE — Members of Zion Lutheran Church voted to withdraw from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on Sunday, a reaction to the issue of practicing gay pastors. The vote was 238 to 119, exactly the two-thirds majority vote needed for it to pass. “I’m happy that they decided to go this direction because I think it sets the possibility for a new and stronger future for the congregation,” said Rev. Dean Hess, senior pastor at the Clear Lake church. Carole Roth, church council president, said she was pleased with the results, too. “Certainly God has spoken today,” she...

The Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Churches have unanimously voted to join Lutheran CORE. Lutheran CORE is honored to have these faithful Christians standing with us. We are humbled by their faithful witness both during the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly and since then. These faithful Christians faced persecution in their homeland of Ethiopia. They know what it means to stand firm in faith even in the face of intense opposition. Their witness is a source of encouragement to all who bear the name of Christ and to all who stand on the witness of Scripture and thus in opposition to the ELCA...

Six area churches in the Wolf River Region have voted in recent weeks to sever ties with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Two other churches have votes coming up, said the Rev. John Justman, bishop of the East-Central Synod of the ELCA in Appleton. All eight of the churches are in either Waupaca or Oconto counties. Justman said he thinks several of the churches will eventually leave the ELCA. “It makes me sad — they’re all special, and they’ve been good partners,” he said. “And if they do leave, we will wish them well. There’ll be sad feelings, not...

IRON MOUNTAIN - A regional chapter of Lutheran CORE (Coalition for Renewal) will be formed when Lutherans from across Upper Peninsula, northern Wisconsin, and northern Lower Michigan gather on Saturday. The Rev. Corinne Johnson, interim pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in Escanaba, and a member of the Lutheran CORE Advisory Council, said the meeting will begin at 9 a.m. and conclude at 4 p.m. at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Iron Mountain. The chapter will be formed in the afternoon. There will be about 150 people at the event, 15 of them pastors, and two keynote speakers. "After the events...

More than a dozen Lutheran congregations in Minnesota have vowed to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) after a vote in Minneapolis this summer to allow gay and lesbian pastors in committed relationships to serve as clergy. The fifteen churches will join a new denomination called Lutheran CORE and leave the ELCA, the largest Lutheran denomination in the world. The leaders of Lutheran CORE say the ELCA has moved too far away from the Bible. "Many ELCA members and congregations have said that they want to sever ties with the ELCA because of the ELCA's continued movement away...

A decision at the highest level of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America about homosexuality has sent discontented ripples into Polk County, and a local church is holding discussions with a potential splinter group. At Abiding Savior Lutheran Church in Winter Haven on Sunday, a representative of Lutheran Coalition for Renewal, or CORE, met with about 80 parishioners to answer questions, said the Rev. Alan Ford, pastor of Abiding Savior. The Rev. Rebecca Heber of Lake Mary told those present the Evangelical Lutheran Church is moving away from its historic standards of scriptural authority by loosening restrictions on gays in...

Hosanna! Lutheran, the Lakeville mega-church that made headlines this month with its pending decision to leave the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, isn’t alone. Community of Hope in Rosemount, which was launched in 2002 by four local congregations, ended its ELCA affiliation on Nov. 1. According to the St. Paul Area Synod of the ELCA, those were the only of its churches to pull out as of Nov. 12. But the action that preceded the defections – the ELCA’s August decision to allow ordination of gay clergy people living in committed relationships – continues to stir debate. “Our church is...

NEW BRIGHTON, Minn. – The split over gay clergy within the country's largest Lutheran denomination has prompted a conservative faction to begin forming a new Lutheran church body separate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Leaders of Lutheran CORE said Wednesday that a working group would immediately begin drafting a constitution and taking other steps to form the denomination, with hopes to have it off the ground by next August. "There are many people within the ELCA who are very unhappy with what has happened," said the Rev. Paull Spring, chairman of Lutheran CORE and a retired ELCA bishop...

MEMRI: Palestinian Historian Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar: Ancient Egyptians Had the Right to Force the Jews to Work Building Pithom and Raamses; Benjamin Franklin Warned against the Jews MEMRI No. 2260| November 16, 2009 Palestinian Historian Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar: Ancient Egyptians Had the Right to Force the Jews to Work Building Pithom and Raamses; Benjamin Franklin Warned against the Jews Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar, a lecturer on Islamic history at the Islamic University of Gaza. The interview aired on Al-Aqsa TV on July 31, 2009. To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2260.htm Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar: The...

The head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America reported that 40 positions may be cut as the denomination struggles financially. "These have been very painful days in this organization," ELCA Presiding Bishop the Rev. Mark S. Hanson told the Church Council Friday, according to the ELCA News Service. Lutherans are looking to reduce their 2010 budget by 10 percent due to decreased giving over the past 30 years, the economic downturn, and the decision by some congregations to withhold funding. Several congregations have decided to cut all funding to the ELCA following the controversial vote in August by the...

Lutheran Bishop David Zellmer said that his attendance at a meeting of the Lutheran Coalition for Renewal, or Lutheran CORE, in Watertown earlier this week should not be interpreted as a lack of support for the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that he leads. “Since there may have been some confusion, it’s important that I make clear that my attendance …was strictly for my own education. It should not be viewed as anything other than my wanting to know firsthand what was and was not being said,” Zellmer wrote on his synod blog Friday. Lutheran...

The second-largest Lutheran congregation in Minnesota has decided that it is not going to wait any longer to withdraw from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) over the denomination's August vote to permit gay preachers. In his November newsletter to the members of Hosanna Lutheran Church in Lakeville, the Rev. Bill Bohline said that the church is going to scrap its original plan to wait six to eight months . . .

Same-sex relationships go against Scripture and morality, according to a letter mailed Monday by members of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bessemer City. The congregation recently drafted the letter stating its disdain for a resolution passed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. “We are writing to express our disappointment with the recent Churchwide Assembly’s approval of the resolution to allow gay and lesbian pastors,” the letter states. “We also disapprove of the resolution to find ways for congregations to recognize same-gender relationships.” The 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America voted in August to open the...

Some Effingham County Lutherans are leaving their churches in an effort to disassociate with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the country. The breakaway group known as Lutherans for Bible Based Beliefs announced new worship services for those who disapprove of the national church's vote in August to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy. Alan B. Zipperer said he helped organize the group to give people who disapproved of the ELCA's decision a place to feel comfortable. "There are so many dissatisfied people at several churches around Effingham County, we...

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The western North Dakota bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America says congregations are wrestling with a national church policy that allows gay and lesbian people to serve as pastors or in other church leadership positions. Bishop Mark Narum, who leads 192 congregations that make up the Western North Dakota ELCA Synod, said he met with pastors of those congregations this month. He described it as a "wonderful open conversation." "But there is a whole group in the middle of the church wrestling over, 'What does it mean to be faithful?'" he said. "An important...

February 17, 2002 Researcher refutes claims of Jews' existence during Pharaonic dynasties     Aided by evidence from mural inscriptions in temples, items in museums and most Importantly verses from the Holy Quran, the researcher Bassam Al Shama' gave proof that the Jews were not existent in Egypt in the age of Pharaonic dynasties and that Prophet Joseph came to Egypt when it was under the reign of the Greek. He also cast doubt on the assumption that the Pharaoh who stood in the face of Moses was neither Ramsis 11 nor his son Nebtah. Al Shama' has in fact ...

Today the Empire Center for New York State Policy reported New York state residents are leaving the state in large numbers. Between 2000 and 2008 there was a net loss of 1.5 million NY residents (8.1% of the 2000 population) moving out of NY State, the largest migration of any state. California came in second with a net loss of 1.3 million residents in the same time period. About 33% of the residents moved to Florida. An estimated 30% of the residents moved to NJ, PA and CT. According to the IRS the majority of the migration originated from the...

More than two decades ago, some like-minded Lutherans merged to form the nation’s largest Lutheran body, optimistic that they could create a mighty ministry force. But unity among the 4.7 million members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is splintering over a landmark policy change. At its national assembly in August, ELCA members voted to give each church the option of blessing same-sex couples and hiring gay and lesbian clergy in committed relationships. For some of the 176 congregations in South-Central Texas, the change marks a long-awaited and just victory for their gay and lesbian members. But more conservative...

A growing national schism within the country’s largest Lutheran denomination is also being felt locally, with several area churches considering breaking their ties with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). At least one church — Christus Lutheran Church in Clintonville — has already taken the first step in the secession process, following a congregational vote in which 85 percent supported leaving ELCA. A second secession vote must still be staged, after a minimum of three months has elapsed from the first vote, prior to making the move to secede official. The controversy stems from a vote by the ELCA...

The September unemployment stats for Michigan came out this week and they are high — as expected. Mlive.com highlighted the statistics on a municipal level, showing the five cities with the highest jobless rates are all over 25 percent. The cities of Highland Park and Pontiac, which leaned heavily on auto-related employment, had the highest unemployment with 35.2 percent of residents reportedly jobless. Both cities have declared bankruptcy in the recent past. Highland Park recently emerged from state receivership and Pontiac just slipped under state control last year. While the overall state’s unemployment rate is the highest in the nation...

Group discusses the ‘rebirth’ of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Texas -- More exchanges of information are being planned as some Lutheran churches consider breaking away from the national group over differences of opinion, said organizers of a meeting held Thursday night . More than 120 people turned out for the program at Welcome Lutheran Church to discuss the “rebirth” of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Texas (ELST). “The people brought many questions,” said the Rev. David Klak, pastor of Welcome Lutheran Church and secretary of the ELST’s council. “I hope we were able to answer some of them.” Some...

Tears twinkled in Barbara Schmidt's eyes as she spoke of her church's decision to sever ties with the Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America. "I feel like we are now looking at the Bible as gray instead of black, like it is," she said, her voice breaking with emotion. Schmidt, a member of Zion Mission Valley Lutheran Church, was raised in the congregation her family helped establish. She was baptized when she was two weeks old by a minister who rode to her grandparents home on horseback. "I feel like we all have a purpose, and I think we're getting weighted...

For one area church, discussion of dropping an affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has resulted in a determination to leave. In others, it's stayed a discussion, church officials said this week. Both Singsaas Lutheran Church in rural Hendricks and Christ Lutheran Church in Cottonwood held votes over the weekend to determine whether to leave the ELCA. The vote passed at Singsaas, but narrowly failed at Christ Lutheran. Ending ELCA affiliation is a multi-step process. If a congregation passes a motion to leave the ELCA by a two-thirds majority, they must hold a second vote at least 90...

Forbes magazine just released its fourth annual ranking of the best states for business (see full article here and full data set here). According to Forbes: Our Best States ranking measures six vital categories for businesses: costs, labor supply, regulatory environment, current economic climate, growth prospects and quality of life. We factor in 33 different points of data to determine the ranks in the six main areas. Business costs, which include labor, energy and taxes are weighted the most heavily. Virginia nabbed the top spot with the best business climate in the country for the fourth straight year. Relative...

IT’S A sad testimony to the political state of affairs when elected leaders shrug their shoulders and advance a remarkable “no can do’’ attitude toward the reality of population loss in Massachusetts. When Representative Michael Capuano states he doesn’t “think there’s anyone around who has figured out how to stop the population flow to the Southwest,’’ one has to wonder what is the value of these long-term incumbents. These are our representatives who are “particularly well positioned with their committee assignments,’’ as Representative Richard Neal stated with a curiously disconnected implication. If they’re so well positioned why are they not...

Sixty-two years ago this week,the Exodus, then called the USS President Warfield had its name changed for the last time as it embarked on what would be its last and most famous mission, bringing Holocaust survivors to the Holy Land. Back then the British were trying to curry favor with the Arab nations by preventing Jews from settling the holy land, today it is the President of the United States doing the same thing. As the world ramped up to WWII the British caved into Arab pressure and refused to allow any Jews to enter what was then called Palestine....

Exodus Youth, part of the evangelical ministry Exodus International that deals with the issue of homosexuality, is aiming to reverse a "disturbing" trend seen across churches and perceived widely by young Americans – that the Church is anti-homosexual. Homosexuality is a topic that churches are still struggling to address in a culture that is increasingly accepting gay and lesbian lifestyles. It's a struggle that hasn't come across to many Americans in a positive light. "I think for a long time, the church just hasn't known how to talk about homosexuality," said Exodus Youth Director Scott Davis. "They've been very uncomfortable...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The poor are more likely to leave California than the rich, despite concerns that the state's relatively high income tax rate is driving away the wealthy, a new study shows. The report released Friday by the Public Policy Institute of California determined the poorest 20 percent California residents are twice as likely to leave the state as the richest 20 percent. Factors such as cheaper rent and home prices outside the Golden State seem to edge out income taxes when people of all incomes decide whether to stay or go, said institute researcher Jed Kolko, who authored...

Near the beginning of the book of Exodus we learn: Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people: 'Behold, the people of the children of Israel are too many and too mighty for us; come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there befalleth us any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land. Exodus Chapter 1, verses 8-10 Similarly this week the President of the United States declared...

Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh are sending the same message to New York’s Governor David Paterson: Hike taxes for high-income earners and your major taxpayers will leave the state. Trump told FOX host Neil Cavuto that the “millionaire’s tax’ is going to be “total disaster” for the state and will consider leaving New York. Trump warned that he also spoke with 25 to 30 people “leaving or going to consider leaving.” Limbaugh went a step further on April 11 when he told Cavuto he will leave the high-tax state and is happy to “lead the way.” In Limbaugh’s interview with...

He talks to Cavuto.

Limbaugh: I'm Leaving the Big Apple FOXBusiness Rush Limbaugh said thanks to the state of New York’s new tax, dubbed the, ‘Millionaire Tax,’ he’s leaving the big apple, and he’s not coming back. In an interview with FOX Business Network anchor Neil Cavuto, Limbaugh spoke out against the new tax and said he expects other New Yorkers will leave the city as well. “It's not just income taxes that are pressuring people there -- property taxes, even though home values have declined the property taxes haven't -- people have been fleeing the Northeast, including New York and moving to the...

The silent exodus of Jewish refugees from Muslim lands http://www.youtube.com/v/iuq3GnOXXjg&hl=en&fs=1 Here is the trailer for the superb filmmaker Pierre Rehov's Silent Exodus. Silent Exodus was selected at the International Human Rights Film Festival of Paris in 2004 and presented at the UN Geneva Human Rights Annual Convention that same year. Here is a summary of the film: In 1948 nearly one million Jews lived in Arab lands. But In barely twenty years, they have become forgotten fugitives, expelled from their native lands, forgotten by history and where the victims themselves have hidden their fate under a cloak of silence. A...

On Jan. 24, 1848, James Wilson Marshall found gold at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, Calif., sparking a mad rush of some 300,000 people desiring to strike it rich. San Francisco grew from a tiny hamlet to a boomtown in no time, and in 1850 California entered the Union as the 31st state. With this history at their back, state leaders might have understood that people have a propensity to get up and move when a better life is to be had elsewhere. But no. After more than 150 years of being a destination, California is becoming a place entrepreneurs, investment...

<p>ST. LOUIS - Michigan saw the nation's most outbound migration in 2008, with 67.1 percent of interstate moves heading out, according to a migration study released Wednesday.</p> <p>It marked the third straight year that Michigan, hard hit by the economy and layoffs in the auto industry, has seen the highest percentage of outbound migration.</p>

ST. LOUIS - Michigan saw the nation's most outbound migration in 2008, with 67.1 percent of interstate moves heading out, according to a migration study released Wednesday. It marked the third straight year that Michigan, hard hit by the economy and layoffs in the auto industry, has seen the highest percentage of outbound migration. Americans continue to head west - and to the Mid-Atlantic states - while many are leaving the Great Lakes region behind. St. Louis-based United Van Lines, the nation's largest mover of household goods, has been tracking moves since 1977. Company vice president Carl Walter said the...

A conservative military watchdog is very concerned about a recent survey of military personnel that indicates a significant number of service members might leave the all-volunteer force if the ban on open homosexuals in the military is lifted. The annual survey was conducted by the Military Times, which once again asked active duty personnel if they oppose the effort led by Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-California) to repeal the 1993 law -- Section 654, Title 10 -- which clearly states that open homosexuals are not allowed in the military. Approximately 58 percent of the respondents indicated that they were in favor...

BOSTON, Mass. (Dec. 21, 2008) — Modern humans left Africa over 60,000 years ago in a migration that many believe was responsible for nearly all of the human population that exist outside Africa today.

What? You mean these people who only want to share in the "American Dream" aren't willing to stay and tough it out during the hard times? Instead they're running for the border? Their border? Here's a report out of Colorado: A tightening economy and social hostility are driving once-hopeful Mexican immigrants such as Absalom Lopez out of Colorado. Seven years after an illegal crossing that led to abundant work cooking and cleaning, Lopez, his wife and their 6-year-old, Denver-born son plan to chase their dream of opening a tortilla factory in Mexico. They say their $1,000-a- week combined earnings here...

'White flight' as more than 400,000 Britons head for a new life abroad Record numbers of Britons are leaving the UK to settle abroad, latest statistics reveal. In the 12 months to June this year a total of 406,000 British residents left to live overseas, of whom an unprecedented 202,000 were UK citizens, up from 196,000 a year ago. It is the highest level of so-called 'white flight' from the UK since records began. White flight: Families are escaping Britain to find a better life in countries including Australia, Spain, America, and France The most popular destinations for those seeking...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Abraham didn't exist? The Exodus didn't happen? The Bible's Buried Secrets, a new PBS documentary, is likely to cause a furor. "It challenges the Bible's stories if you want to read them literally, and that will disturb many people," says archaeologist William Dever, who specializes in Israel's history. "But it explains how and why these stories ever came to be told in the first place, and how and why they were written down." The Nova program will premiere Nov. 18. PBS presented a clip and a panel discussion at the summer tour of the Television Critics...

Abraham didn't exist? The Exodus didn't happen? The Bible's Buried Secrets, a new PBS documentary, is likely to cause a furor. "It challenges the Bible's stories if you want to read them literally, and that will disturb many people," says archaeologist William Dever, who specializes in Israel's history. "But it explains how and why these stories ever came to be told in the first place, and how and why they were written down." The Nova program will premiere Nov. 18. PBS presented a clip and a panel discussion at the summer tour of the Television Critics Association. The program says...

Abraham didn't exist? The Exodus didn't happen? The Bible's Buried Secrets, a new PBS documentary, is likely to cause a furor. "It challenges the Bible's stories if you want to read them literally, and that will disturb many people," says archaeologist William Dever, who specializes in Israel's history. "But it explains how and why these stories ever came to be told in the first place, and how and why they were written down." The Nova program will premiere Nov. 18. PBS presented a clip and a panel discussion at the summer tour of the Television Critics Association. The program says...

Archaeology and the Book of Exodus: Exit From Egypt Archaeologists have made many significant discoveries that make the book of Exodus and the Israelistes' time in Egypt come alive. by Mario Seiglie In earlier issues, The Good News examined several archaeological finds that illuminate portions of the book of Genesis. In this issue we continue our exploration of discoveries that illuminate the biblical accounts, focusing on Exodus, the second book of the Bible.Exodus in English derives from the Latin and means simply "to exit." The book of Exodus describes the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, an event distinguished by...

I was privileged this week to preview, before its release to the public, what may well prove to be a masterpiece of the documentary film-making art—a new look at the Biblical story of the Exodus from Egypt in the light of contemporary archeology and politics in the Middle East. Filmmaker Tim Mahoney´s "The Exodus Conspiracy",[1] due to be released within a few months, seeks to demonstrate the historical accuracy of the Biblical narrative of the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt on the basis of recent archaeological discoveries and geographic explorations. A secondary thesis of the film is...

I know it is hard to believe but the enduringly disgruntled dames over over at Future Church are, well, disgruntled. Again. For the uninformed misogynists among you [read regular Catholics], Future Church is a group that openly agitates for the ordination of women. But since this issue is a dead letter, they occasionally need something else to agitate about. Today, these pant suit wearing damsels in perpetual distress are upset about the short shrift that women get in the Catholic lectionary. [ICN] "Unfortunately, for centuries, Mary of Magdala's leadership and that of many other biblical women, has been minimized or...