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MessageToEagle.com - Normally, as a matter of personal preference I don’t get into politics, but when we have a presidential campaign that begins to cross over into the strange twilight zone of religious weirdness that centers on the one person who’s going to control the most powerful government and army on the face of the earth, well, it brings up some unusual scenarios to wonder about. It is being reported in the media today that former presidential candidate Mitt Romney only wrote a victory speech for Election Day; presumably a harried, last minute scramble to revise his speech was being...

As I’ve listened to and participated in conversations on “after death, what?” with students and family in various areas in the Church, I’ve nearly always found people expressed two feelings: a great desire to know about the post-earthly spirit world (hereafter referred to as the spirit world), and an apologetic feeling for having questions, feeling as though the spirit world were a subject that we should not discuss.My feeling is that caution in discussing a sacred subject is always proper, especially when much popular “information” in contemporary society about the spirit world involves sensational ghost stories, devil worship, and other...

(To see Cal Grondahl’s cartoon that goes with this post, click here) A key difference between Latter-day Saints and many other Christian churches is that Mormons believe that there are various post-judgment kingdoms in the outskirts of heaven. There’s the Telestial Kingdom, for anyone from Hitler to that lawyer who’s cheating on his wife. There’s the Terrestrial Kingdom, for those decent folks who said “not now” when the missionaries came by the door. And then there’s the Celestial Kingdom, the jackpot prize. But even the Celestial Kingdom comes in degrees. According to Joseph Smith, there are three degrees of glory...

Cardinal John Onaiyekan walks through Vatican City after being made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI Nov. 24. Credit: Lewis Ashton Glancy - CNA. Rome, Italy, Nov 26, 2012 / 06:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The newest cardinal from Nigeria has condemned a deadly terrorist attack on a Protestant church at a local military base, lamenting the lack of security in the country. “Once again, a great tragedy has taken place but in this case the circumstances are particularly worrisome,” Cardinal John Onaiyekan of Abuja told Aid to the Church in Need in Rome Nov. 26. “This attack took place...

Half of women bishops opponents in Synod were women Almost half of the lay members of the Church of England General Synod who voted down women bishops were themselves women, official voting returns show.According to a list provided by the Church of England, 33 of the 74 members of the House of Laity who rejected the plan to open the episcopate to women were female. Women’s campaigners rounded on them calling their stance “ridiculous” arguing that those who believe in the idea of “male headship” should have followed the male leaders of the Church and voted in favour. They also...

The vote against women bishops at the General Synod by the House of Laity may be puzzling to some; perhaps even more so if you are told (correctly) that a significant number of those who voted against it are themselves in favour of women bishops. Tom Sutcliffe has written a balanced and helpful article for Anglican Ink which explains things well. See: A "liberal" member of Synod explains his "no" vote on women bishops. (H/T The Deacon's Bench) Essentially he and others considered that the proposal was misguided in its approach to those who opposed women bishops, and would over-ride...

Being cruel to Anglicans is about as low as kicking a puppy. The Anglican Church does a lot of good for a lot of people and its presence in British public life forces debates about politics and social policy to be a bit more reflective than they would otherwise be. It is also capable of profound beauty. Village churches are arks of Englishness: neatly stacked Books of Common Prayer, hard wooden pews, a perfume of human breath and burning wax, a Union Jack hung above a shrine to the fallen. I pray that the Church of England is never disestablished,...

We, of all people, ought to know better. "Progress" gave us modern medicine, liberal democracy, the internet. It also gave us the guillotine, the Gulag and the gas chambers. Western intelligentsia assumed in the 1920s that "history" was moving away from the muddle and mess of democracy towards the brave new world of Russian communism. Many in 1930s Germany regarded Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his friends as on the wrong side of history. The strong point of postmodernity is that the big stories have let us down. And the biggest of all was the modernist myth of "progress". What is more,...

The Church of England will definitely have women bishops “in my lifetime”, claims Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York.The second most powerful man in the church said that it was “very disappointing” it had not happened during this General Synod but he was sure the principle had been accepted. His comments came the day after the church tore up plans to ordain women as bishops despite overwhelming support in the parishes. After a tortuous 12-year legal process, which secured strong backing in all but two of the 44 dioceses, the move was denied final approval by just six votes....

Channel 4 offers a reflection today from a clergyman of the Anglican Church who quite openly states a complete and sincere disbelief in God. He is an atheist who considers the scriptures nothing more than human literature. What are we to make of him? Personally I find this sort of liberal wooliness in a clergyman not only absurd but frankly dishonest. What an affront to those who do believe, to the faithful in the pews whose giving pays his stipend! How does he stand at the altar with a straight face I wonder? Little surprise he opts to be filmed...

The transcript for a debate which took place in the British parliament yesterday makes for sobering reading. The debate took place in the wake of the vote by the General Synod of the Church of England not to pass the measure which would have brought in women bishops. One of the remarks made by Sir Tony Baldry, the Second Church Estates Commissioner is particularly noteworthy. He said: As a consequence of the decision by the General Synod, the Church of England no longer looks like a national Church; it simply looks like a sect, like any other sect. If it...

"When the Church of England narrowly defeated a measure to allow women to be appointed bishops this week after a dozen years of legislative effort, many observers were surprised. After all, the group has ordained women as priests since 1994-what's the big deal with letting female priests become bishops? The answer helps explain why the measure failed. The Church of England is known for the graciousness with which it accommodates minority theological opinions. Since the 1990s, parties that disagreed about female ordination merely had to tolerate each other's presence. Female bishops, on the other hand, would hold significant ecclesial and...

And so it came to pass that the laity in the Church of England rose up and declared they would not have women bishops to reign over them. The vote was admittedly only six votes, but six votes are six votes. The issue cannot be revisited until a new Synod is elected in 2015. Liberals and progressives along with homosexuals and lesbians are in "tears" and "agony" over this defeat. So is the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the soon to be Archbishop Justin Welby who both spoke up in favor of the measure. It was a bitter pill...

(Reuters) - The next archbishop of Canterbury is confident he will consecrate a female bishop, he said on Thursday, two days after the Church of England voted against allowing women to become bishops. Bishops and clergy on Tuesday in the General Synod, the Church legislature, comfortably backed the change but lay members were four votes short of a two-thirds majority. "Its clear that woman are going to be bishops in the Church of England," said Justin Welby, who will take over from Rowan Williams as the spiritual leader of the Anglican wing of world Christianity at the end of the...

Men and women are equal but different. I pray the Church of England will respect this. The question of whether women should become bishops can be boiled down to one word: equality. And it is because I believe in equality that I am against women becoming bishops. Opponents of women bishops in the Church of England are often dismissed as being incurably dusty and out of date. That in 2012 - 12 years into the third millennium - this issue is being argued about is taken as proof that the Church is hopelessly behind the curve. But if you listen...

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond has told the nation's only blended Catholic and Episcopal parish it must change its worship services so Catholics and non-Catholics meet in separate rooms for Holy Communion. The parish, Church of the Holy Apostles, is led by Catholic and Episcopal co-pastors and has worshipped together for more than 30 years. It's an arrangement, parishioners say, that over the years has allowed families in mixed marriages to worship side by side and has helped build bonds that transcend denominational boundaries. In an emotionally charged meeting Monday with parish leaders, representatives of the Catholic diocese voiced...

The Church of England's governing body blocked a move Tuesday to permit women to serve as bishops in a vote so close it failed to settle the question of female leadership and likely condemned the institution to years more debate on the issue. On Wednesday, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron told the Church of England to "get on with it" and reverse the decision now, not five years from now. And the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said on Wednesday: "We have – to put it very bluntly – a lot of explaining to do," he said. "Whatever the motivations...

(Photo Credit: The Telegraph) Today, the General Synod for the Church of England rejectedthe ordination of women bishops by a mere handful of votes. So ends for now a nearly 12 year legislative process to upend standards for episcopal office. Much of the controversy surrounded the provision of stand-in bishops for parishes opposed to women’s ordination.Passage of the ordination innovations required a 2/3 majority in all houses. The votes were 44 for and two against in the house of bishops, 148 for and 45 against in the house of clergy, and 132 for and 74 against in the house of...

WASHINGTON – Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual bishop in The Episcopal Church, believes that voucher programs that benefit religious schools are a "tragedy." The controversial bishop of New Hampshire told The Christian Post on Monday his views on vouchers at an event sponsored by the Center for American Progress on the issue of poverty reduction. "I am a believer in public education and I believe every dollar diverted from public education either by religious schools or by charter schools is a tragedy," said Robinson. "[A voucher] takes away from this great mission that is so embedded in the life...