Church Politics

The Church of England may be one step closer to appointing female bishops after a recent vote taken among the church's 44 local dioceses has found that the majority are in favor of a motion to do so, according to the Telegraph.

As a result, the measure will be taken before the Church of England's national assembly, the General Synod, next year in July for a final decision to be made.

While 28 out of the 30 dioceses of England have so far supported the measure, those that have not, such as the diocese of London, are asking for alternative plans that guarantee that their parishes will be overseen by male bishops. more >>

Religious leaders who align themselves with the Occupy Wall Street crowd should not make claims that the nationwide uprisings have anything to do with Christianity, says the president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy.

Mark Tooley, whose advocacy group works toward reaffirming the church’s biblical and historical teachings, said in a statement from IRD that the “Religious Left” has heaped too much praise on those whose “demands range from cancellation of all debt, open borders, government control of health care and free college education, among other expansions of Big Government.”

Tooley aims his argument at leaders such as Sojourners’ Jim Wallis, who Tooley said “has lavished praise during a visit to the occupiers.” more >>

Pastors in the United States need to be intentional in making their congregations less homogeneous and more multi-ethnic, says the pastor of one of the fastest growing churches in the country.

Derwin L. Gray, the founding and lead pastor of Transformation Church located in Fort Mill, S.C., said that his conviction to see churches become more ethnically diverse comes straight from the Bible.

Transformation Church grew from a congregation of 178 to 1,500 attenders in one year. Outreach Magazine recently ranked it as the second fastest growing church by percentage. more >>

Christian leaders at the first Evangelical Summit held at the White House Wednesday prayed for President Barack Obama and encouraged him to continue talking about his faith, said Joel C. Hunter, a spiritual adviser to the president.

Obama met with the executive committee of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents 45,000 churches from 40 denominations across the United States, in the Roosevelt Room.

Religious freedom and the Christian stance on traditional marriage took center stage among the topics discussed, Hunter said. Immigration reform and global poverty were also presented as issues during the 30-minute meeting. more >>

Catholic bishops across the U.S. want the Obama administration to take notice that it is destroying religious freedom and the rights of believers in America.

US Catholic bishops recently formed an ad hoc committee specifically aimed at addressing religious freedom in the U.S. The decision to challenge the president this way is a historic one, as this is the first time bishops in America have formed such a widespread group to address religious freedom in the country.

Among the religious liberty issues the group is unhappy with the Obama administration include: county clerks facing legal action for refusing to participate in same-sex unions; the administration's attack on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA); and the attack on the “ministerial exception,” which protects the right of religious institutions to choose their own spiritual leaders and teachers regardless of anti-discrimination laws. more >>

An organization representing more than 2,000 of the nation’s 5,000 military chaplains announced Wednesday they would join forces with Catholic Archbishop Timothy Broglio of the Archdiocese for Military Service, saying they will not perform same-sex ceremonies.

The 2,000 members of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty, a group of evangelical clergy, are concerned about the Pentagon’s memorandum – issued 10 days after the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal took effect – that authorizes chaplains to officiate “any private ceremony.” A Sept. 20 order lifted the military’s long-standing DADT policy, allowing homosexuals to openly serve in the armed forces.

While the memorandum acknowledged a chaplain’s right to not participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies the new policy makes it clear that the Pentagon has placed the military in the midst of a deeply controversial issue during a time of ongoing war. more >>