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Statement on Windsor Report From Nigeria's Primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola: Released on Tuesday, October 19, 2004 I welcome the sincerity and hard work of those who have prepared 'The Windsor Report 2004'. After an initial reading it is clear to me that the report falls far short of the prescription needed for this current crisis. It fails to confront the reality that a small, economically privileged group of people has sought to subvert the Christian faith and impose their new and false doctrine on the wider community of faithful believers. We have watched in sadness as sisters and brothers who...

There's growing controversy after someone defaced a sign at a well-known west Nashville Church. Reverend James Guill spent part of Tuesday afternoon scraping rainbow-colored stickers off the sign in front of St. Andrews Episcopal Church. The stickers called for diversity. In August a national vote confirmed the nation's first openly gay Episcopal bishop. In a symbolic response to the vote St. Andrews covered the word Episcopal on its own signs. Guill said he’s upset about what he called a political message implying that St. Andrews isn't tolerant. “It's vandalism and an attack at St. Andrews,” Guill said. “You feel violated.”...

More than 200 local Episcopalians gathered at the Church of the Advent on Franklin Pike Saturday night for a special vigil and prayer service on the eve of the consecration of the first openly gay Anglican bishop. The service began in the church's parking lot with prayers sung by candlelight and a processional around the church. The Rev. Joel Morsch of the Church of the Resurrection in Franklin preached a sermon about the authority of Scripture and how he believes it is being misused and ignored by religious liberals. The liberal wing of the church supported elevating Gene Robinson, a...

When the Episcopal Church confirmed a gay bishop, Paul Wilcox put on black trousers, a black shirt and a black tie. Then he got out a can of black Rust-Oleum and painted over the word "Episcopal" on the lawn sign at St. Andrew's Church in West Nashville, Tenn., where he has been a parishioner for 15 years. "I just felt that this was a very grave mistake and a very mournful day," said Wilcox, 45, who received permission from the church's rector to alter the sign. Across the country, conservative Episcopalians have been grieving since the church's general convention voted...

Diocese of Tennessee General Convention Report/Discussion Meeting – September 6, 2003 There was an informational meeting held this past Saturday in the Diocese of Middle Tennessee at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Nashville, Tennessee. There is another (similar) meeting scheduled for this Sunday, September 14 at 3 p.m. at Trinity Church, Winchester. I took detailed notes, but other than the bishop, Bertram Herlong, I am not going to name names. St. George’s is a large church located in Belle Meade, a silk stocking section of Nashville. The meeting followed a Diocese Leadership Conference and there were a lot of people...

<p>It's heartbreaking for the Rev. Stuart Phillips to hear his denomination referred to as a ''gay church.''</p> <p>That's not representative of the faith he grew up with or the congregation he leads in worship each week, he said.</p> <p>It's part of the reason Phillips, of St. James the Less Episcopal Church in Madison, was among priests from 14 Middle Tennessee churches who signed a statement that appeared as an advertisement in Sunday's Tennessean.</p>

Beloved in Christ, By the time you hear these words you will be well aware of the actions of the 74th General Convention which met in Minneapolis July 30-August 8, 2003. While the Convention dealt with a great many issues and opportunities facing the church, the media attention was focused on issues of human sexuality. All of the mail and calls I have received also centered on those issues. And while I hope we will have opportunities to highlight the Convention actions on which most of us would agree, this letter is written to address the two major "hot button"...