Pennsylvania

A Presbyterian minister who officiated the union of a lesbian couple will face a regional church court on two charges later this year.

The Rev. Janet Edwards will go before the Permanent Judicial Commission of Pittsburgh Presbytery on Oct. 1, facing charges of knowingly acting in defiance of her ordination vows and of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Constitution when she performed the same-sex ceremony, according to the Presbyterian News Service.

Edwards conducted the ceremony for Nancy McConn and Brenda Cole in June 2005, saying the PC(USA) does not forbid same-sex "marriage." more >>

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday tossed out language that expanded the state's hate crime law to include "sexual orientation" and "gender identity."

The top state court upheld a November 2007 ruling by the Commonwealth Court, which had struck down the 2002 amendment as unconstitutional because it "did not retain its original purpose as it moved through the enactment process." The Commonwealth Court ruled that the statute violated the state Constitution because it was added to a bill that originally dealt with agricultural crimes.

Eleven members of a Christian evangelist group called Repent America were arrested and charged under the expanded "ethnic intimidation" law in 2004 for picketing at a Philadelphia event for homosexuals. more >>

The 30th Creation Festival, dubbed a “Christian Woodstock,” kicked off Wednesday with music, teaching and activities scheduled to jam pack the four-day event.

Thousands of believers, mainly young people, are flocking to the campgrounds of Agape Farm in Mount Union, Pa., for the major annual music festival where alcoholic beverages and drugs are not allowed and the dress code is “modesty.”

Several stages at the festival are featuring popular Christian music artists, including Newsboys, Switchfoot, TobyMac, Hawk Nelson and Chris Tomlin, just to name a few. But Creation ’08 is about more than music, organizers say. more >>

Moderators of Sunday’s faith forum spared the Democratic presidential candidates no mercy as they drilled them on difficult theological questions ranging from “Why does God allow people to suffer?” to “Do you believe that God created the world in six days?”

Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) took questions from moderators Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek and respected scholar on faith and American politics; Campbell Brown, CNN Election Center anchor; and some of the nation’s most prominent Christian and religious leaders during the Compassion Forum held at Messiah College near Harrisburg, Pa.

At first, Clinton seemed taken aback by the unexpected question of why a loving God would allow good people to suffer, before remarking that the question is the “subject of generations of commentary and debate.” more >>

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will engage Sunday in discussions about faith, morality, and social justice at an unprecedented bipartisan presidential candidate forum that will reach both conservative and liberal Christians.

The Compassion Forum, organized and sponsored by Faith in Public Life, will not be a debate, but rather a conversation with the candidates about how their faith and moral convictions influence their positions on issues such as domestic and international poverty, global AIDS, climate change, abortion, genocide in Darfur, and human rights and torture. It will be hosted by Messiah College, a Christian college near Harrisburg, Pa.

“This is an occasion to talk about the substance and not the sensationalism of religion and politics,” said moderator Jon Meacham, editor of Newsweek, author of American Gospel, and respected scholar on faith and American politics. more >>

MT. BETHEL, Pa. – When city folk want a refuge from the hustle and bustle of the city and the laundry list of demands from daily life they come to the quiet hills of Pennsylvania. For New York pastors, finding renewal is also as simple as going back to the basics.

"Silence and solitude are the two most difficult spiritual disciplines in the West," Pete Scazerro, author of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, told a crowd of 300 New York church leaders who kicked off their annual prayer retreat at Mt. Bethel, Pa., on Monday.

As a pastor himself, Scazerro said there were times he was so busy fulfilling the demands of his position that it was hard for him to find time alone with God. He could be preparing a sermon for hours and still not think about God, he said to acknowledging grunts and chuckles. more >>