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COVINA, May 17 (UPI) — Leaders of the American Baptist Churches of the Pacific Southwest have left the denomination, primarily over its handling of homosexuality.      The region's board of directors unanimously affirmed late last week an earlier recommendation to withdraw from its "Covenant of Relationships and Agreements" with the American Baptist Churches USA, Associated Baptist Press reported Wednesday.      The national denomination, which has its origins in a Civil War-era split from what is now the Southern Baptist Convention, is based in Valley Forge, Pa.      "God's heart is broken when sisters and brothers in Christ divide over matters...

A special commission of the Episcopal Church will recommend that the church slow its acceptance of gays and lesbians as leaders in a report to be published any day, according to church leaders briefed on its contents... "I think one might say this represents a 'go slow' approach for our church," Smith wrote in his e-mail, which he called an "E-pistle." "Without backing away from the decisions we have made, it is nonetheless a clear messages that we will work to conform to the requests of the majority of the Anglican Communion."

American Life League representatives will gather outside of the Dirksen Senate building in Washington, D.C., at 12 p.m. for a prayerful protest of the pro-abortion Catholic senators who sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The group will convey the strong message to these individuals that you can't be Catholic and pro-abortion. The activists will also pray for a just confirmation hearing for Judge John Roberts in which his Catholic faith will not be held against him. "Senate Judiciary Committee members, Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Joseph Biden (D-Del.) all claim to be Catholic, yet support...

The Episcopal Church Self-Destructs over Homosexuality Episcopalians Defend the Consecration of a "Gay" Bishop By Allan Dobras The Episcopal Church has been flirting with a disastrous schism for the last thirty-five years, and now a formal breakup seems inevitable following an unapologetic June 17–22, 2005, appearance before the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) in Nottingham, England. The purpose of the meeting was to hear the church's defense of its consecration of "gay" Bishop V. Gene Robinson. Over the years, the denomination continued to hang together as it blundered through several divisive issues while causing its rolls to plummet by about 1.3...

[I recently received some literature from a book club I belong to. In this literature was the description of a book, which really stirred me (a book I have not read and do not intend to purchase). The book title interested me because I have seen this transition of people in my own church – we have people from every denomination – and we’re a very conservative evangelical church. I thought some of you would be interested to know that this is going on – while the ACLU is trying so hard to erase every vestige of Christianity from American...

The United Church of Christ - famous for setting precedent - considers backing same-sex marriage at its national synod. As a federal constitutional amendment on marriage garners growing public support, one American Protestant church could soon go against the grain. During its national synod, which begins Friday in Atlanta, the United Church of Christ (UCC) will debate three marriage resolutions - one backing "full marriage equality" for same-sex couples, one defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and a third proposing further study of the issue. No one is predicting the outcome, but the UCC - a union...

Canadian military has performed its first same-sex "wedding" - chaplains must follow orders Daughter of Homosexual Dad Hopes to Share Her Saga with North AmericaBy Chad GroeningJune 15, 2005(AgapePress) - A Christian woman in Canada whose father was heavily involved in the homosexual lifestyle says she wants people on both sides of the border to understand how devastating homosexuality is on children. Meanwhile, the Canadian military has performed its first same-sex "wedding."Associated Press reports that two men -- a sergeant and a warrant officer -- exchanged vows last month in a small ceremony at the chapel of a Canadian Forces...

Panel votes against earlier decision to defrock Philadelphia woman LINTHICUM, Md. - The United Methodist Church reversed itself Friday, deciding to reinstate a lesbian minister who was defrocked after revealingher relationship with another woman. A church panel voted 8 to 1 to set aside an earlier decision to defrock Irene “Beth” Stroud for violating the church’s ban on openly gay clergy.

(WTNH, Apr. 18, 2005 11:20 PM) _ A meeting between six Episcopal priests and Connecticut's Bishop has ended with no decision being announced. The six have been in the spotlight ever since they took a stand against the church's first openly gay bishop. The six are Reverend Christopher Leighton, rector of St. Paul's Church in Darien, the Reverend Mark Hansen of St. John's Church in Bristol, the Reverend Ronald Gauss of Bishop Seabury Church in Groton, the Reverend Gilbert Wilkes of Christ and the Epiphany Church in East Haven, the Reverend Don Helmandollar of Trinity Church in Bristol and the...

The leader of the Anglican Church says Christians should stop openly criticizing homosexuals, out of concern for their lives. In a letter targeting the world's Anglican churches, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said harsh language about homosexuals can lead to murder, according to a BBC report. Although many traditional Anglican leaders oppose homosexuality, since it is unambiguously condemned in both the Old and New Testaments, Williams reportedly said in his letter: "Any words that could make it easier for someone to attack or abuse a homosexual person are words of which we must repent. "Do not think repentance is always...

UCC: "CBS, NBC refuse to air church's television advertisement" December 1, 2004 - According to a UCC press release, CBS and NBC have refused to air the new UCC television advertisement... and predictably, UCC leaders are going nuts. According to the release, CBS offered this explanation: "Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations," reads an explanation from CBS, "and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast...

United Church of Christ: "...possession of a nuclear weapon is the best deterrent to a pre-emptive strike by the United States" November 22, 2004 - Justice and Witness Ministries of the United Church of Christ issued an action alert today criticizing the United States, and particularly Colin Powell, for releasing information "alleging Iran of secret weapons facilities". The alert suggests that Powell and an exiled Iranian resistance group, which is recognized by the State Department as a terrorist organization, conspired in releasing the information simultaneously. The alert goes further and states "In the new post-Iraq war world where possession of...

Presbyterians, divestment, and anti-Semitism The Presbyterian Church (USA) continues its campaign against Israel.... What we still have is an example of what Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, has forthrightly labeled anti-Semitism.... And that is why I chose the words anti-Semitic to address proposals for the large-scale divestiture of companies doing business in Israel, to address the movement in England to remove Israeli scholars from the editorial boards of scholarly journals, to address the move of Presbyterian churches last summer to divest the stocks of companies that were doing business in Israel with no action whatsoever with respect to the...

<p>The Episcopal bishop of Washington has named two priests — the former national chairman of the church's homosexual caucus and a divorced mother of two sons — to head a new diocesan task force on same-sex blessings.</p> <p>The Revs. Michael W. Hopkins and Susan N. Blue favor same-sex blessings and have both performed several in the 40,000-member diocese. The rite, requested by Bishop John B. Chane, should be ready by June.</p>

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/156855_gaypastor16.html Methodist church to try gay pastorEllensburg clergywoman disclosed having relationship THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - The lesbian pastor of the First United Methodist Church in Ellensburg will face a church trial for disclosing that she is living in a "covenanted homosexual relationship."The church's Northwest Committee on Investigation voted 5-2 to pursue a complaint against the Rev. Karen Dammann. The trial could lead to her removal from the pulpit.Earlier decisions not to pursue a complaint -- by the local panel and a regional one -- were reversed last fall by the Nashville, Tenn.-based denomination's Judicial Council.The council move came on an...

<p>The Phoenix Suns are embroiled in a battle between a conservative religious group and some Valley churches over anti-gay-marriage literature that accompanied invitations to "Church Night" at a March basketball game.</p> <p>The Suns dropped the Center for Arizona Policy as its "Church Night" sponsor for the March 19 game after several Valley clergy members complained about invitation packages sent by the Suns and the center.</p>

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. - An Anglican bishop in British Columbia has closed a church that won't support same-sex unions. Church officials say the Holy Cross Church in Abbotsford, B.C., brought the closure upon itself. Ronald Harrison, executive archdeacon of the Diocese of New Westminster, told the National Post that by declaring itself "independent" the church lost its funding from the archdiocese and eventually had to be closed. Despite the timing of the closure, the church's congregation intends to celebrate mass on Christmas Day. "Can you imagine abandoning my people at this point and not serving them communion on Christmas Day?" said...

MILWAUKEE -- Just a week after the Episcopal Church approved an openly gay bishop and let individual churches decide whether to bless same-sex unions, the nation's largest Lutheran denomination convened Monday to pick up a similar debate. For the 5.1 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the discussion of homosexual marriage and openly gay pastors has its own unique twists and timeline. Homosexuals already may become pastors if they agree to remain celibate. And individual churches may bless same-sex unions despite a non-binding statement made a decade ago by the church's 66 bishops condemning such ceremonies. The Evangelical Lutherans' discussion...

The Episcopal Church in America has ratified the election of The Rev. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first openly gay priest to assume the office of Bishop. But will this action lead to the breakup of one of the world's largest Christian denominations? And will other schisms follow? More (and a poll to FReep) HERE.