By Duke Helfand


Leaders of the Presbyterian Church (USA) overturned a long-standing ban on the ordination of gays and lesbians Friday, providing yet the latest example of a religious denomination struggling with how, and whether, to incorporate homosexuality into church life.

At the same time, the church's national governing body, meeting in San Jose, refused to alter its definition of marriage, calling it a "covenant between a woman and a man." The actions by the General Assembly came the week after same-sex marriage became legal in California. They also follow the decision of a gathering of Methodists from Southern California and Hawaii, who went against their national church by voting to support same-sex couples who marry and the pastors who welcome them.

The Presbyterian Church is among many mainline Protestant denominations struggling to reconcile conflicting beliefs about biblical authority and the role of gays.

Some parishes have left the Episcopal Church, prompting predictions that the issue may tear the denomination apart. In the Presbyterian Church (USA) -- the nation's largest Presbyterian group, with 2.3 million members -- Friday's actions were likely to deepen theological fissures.

Please continue to Full Story

It will operate independently of the Archbishop of Canterbury, but will stay inside the Anglican Communion.

The traditionalists say they are fighting a "false Gospel" and the rift in the Church cannot be patched up.

After five years of trying unsuccessfully to get the American church expelled for its ordination of an openly gay bishop and blessing of same-sex relationships in church, the traditionalists say the international alliance will emphasise a more orthodox reading of the Bible.

Please continue to Full Story

The three spoke on May 18 about what it means to be “Queer and Muslim” during a panel discussion at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston that was hosted by the Massachusetts Area South Asian Lambda Association. The talk followed a screening of the documentary “A Jihad for Love,” a film about the hidden life of being Muslim and gay.

Hussein, who is the founder of the Massachusetts Area South Asian Lambda Association, said that he reconciled his faith and his sexual preference early on.

“I was always as certain of my faith as my sexuality,” said Hussein, a native of Tanzania who is of Indian descent.

“There were never really any negative messages growing up, I was kind of left alone to see if I could personally reconcile with having the two things as part of my identity simultaneously.”

After he came to terms with his identity, he said, being gay and Muslim was never a problem for him.

Toor, however, said that homosexual Muslims often deal with stereotypes and misunderstanding from others.

“Being a Muslim queer is always scary because you carry this burden of representation; you’re always in this position of worrying that whatever you say is being represented correctly — you always have to contextualize and qualify everything,” said Toor, who was Muslim but left the faith to become a communist. A native of Lahore, Toor is a member of the Pakistani political-action group Women’s Action Forum and teaches sociology and women’s studies at The College of Staten Island, City University of New York. She said that panel discussions, such as “Queer and Muslim” can overlook the fact that homosexual followers of Judeo-Christian religions can face challenges just like gay Muslims do.

Please continue to Full Story

Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of a largely African-American congregation in Chicago, is off to Nigeria to make connections with the Ibo, a community that claims Jewish heritage.

These men, and dozens of other representatives of far-flung communities seeking recognition by the Jewish mainstream, gathered earlier this month in San Francisco at a conference sponsored by Be'chol Lashon (In Every Tongue), a project of the Institute for Jewish and Community Research.

The Ibo, Lemba and Abayudaya of Africa, the anusim and xuetas of Spain and Latin America, Ethiopian Jews from Israel, Indian Jews from New York and Asian-American Jews-by-Choice spent three days networking and sharing information about their struggles to join the global Jewish family, a family that is not always eager to embrace them.

"The Jewish community keeps talking about the crisis of intermarriage and the crisis of declining numbers, but meanwhile you've got people with Jewish heritage, spiritual seekers, Jewish communities of historical significance, and the Jewish community is doing nothing to help them," says Gary Tobin, the institute's president and a longtime advocate of greater openness to those outside the Ashkenazi mainstream.

Please continue to Full Story

Atlanta-based minister Troy Sanders, founder of Preach2me.com, concurs:

“I have a personal investment in this visit, because my family is in New Birth. And when I say family, I mean both kinds.

“I have biological family who are still caught in the conflict between their theology and having an openly gay clergy person as kin, and I have lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender brothers and sisters who—for whatever reason—have chosen to make New Birth their church home,” Sanders explained.

Please continue to Full Story

Earlier this year, the IRS had said there were questions that the speech violated restrictions on political activity for tax-exempt organizations. The denomination has denied any wrongdoing.

However, in a letter to the national church the tax agency says it found the UCC had taken the necessary steps to avoid any appearance that Obama's appearance was of a political nature.

Source link

"I am gratified by the decision of the courts in California to reject discrimination and affirm the dignity of same gender couples," Thomas said. "As recent decisions in other states makes clear, until all couples are able to marry, their separate status will never be equal status."

Five UCC congregations in California -- Community UCC of Atascadero, Mt. Hollywood Congregational UCC, Parkside Community UCC in Sacramento, Pilgrim UCC in Carlsbad and United Church of Christ in Simi Valley - as well as UCC-related Pacific School of Religion, joined an interfaith amicus brief filed earlier this year in support of the ban's overturn.

After the court decision was announced, several UCC members in California responded positively to the news.

Please continue to Full Story

Equality Forum 2008 presents three programs, which explore the unique challenges faced by gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens in Muslim nations.

Please continue to Full Story

The rally was organized by the national, pro-gay advocacy organization Soulforce to take place on the 40th anniversary of The United Methodist Church's dissolution of its Central Jurisdiction, which was defined not by geography, but race - effectively segregating black clergy and congregations.

Caldwell, former chairperson of Black Methodists for Church Renewal and former co-convener of United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church, recalled how his Methodist pastor father came home "with a sense of despair" from the 1939 General Conference that established the Central Jurisdiction. He remembers his father telling him, "We are exchanging slavery for segregation."

Please continue to Full Story

By Jay Tolson

The recent comments of Rev. Jeremiah Wright have not only complicated the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama, who for more than 20 years has been a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ that Wright once pastored. Some of Wright's remarks—particularly his claim that criticism of his more provocative sermons "is not an on attack on Jeremiah Wright" but instead "an attack on the black church"—have also sparked wide a debate on whether Wright typifies the beliefs of millions of African-American churchgoers and their ministers. U. S. News approached two leading experts on the African-American church figures with a single question: "How well does Rev. Jeremiah Wright represent the black church in America?"

Here are their answers:

Dwight Hopkins is a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School and the author of Heart and Head: Black Theology Past, Present, and Future and many other books.

"I think his theology and his religious perspective are both very representative, especially linking the personal salvation with social justice critique. In fact, those two focii have been the hallmark of the black church in America since the black church was founded in the period of slavery. But unfortunately what has happened, particularly in the past seven and a half years, is that President Bush has promoted a small group of black clergy to represent all of black Christianity. He's promoted a theological trend called "prosperity gospel" which is basically that individuals should use Jesus Christ plus capitalism to get personally rich.

Please continue to Full Story

Rev Wright - Bill Moyers 1 of 4