Church Politics

Speculation that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, who is considered the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, will be resigning next year continues after a report from a U.K. newspaper Sunday.

Williams, 61, is reported to have first considered resignation at a summit of Anglican bishops held in 2008, when the conference was plagued by boycotts, divisions over homosexual clergy, and challenges to the archbishop’s authority, according to The Telegraph.

Williams, who has tried to keep the Anglican community together despite a major split between leaders and churches over the ordination of women and gay bishops, may accept a senior position at Cambridge University, reports said. more >>

Dr. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is hoping to help alleviate conflict over church properties during a visit to Zimbabwe in October.

Since 2007, the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe has been in a state of upheaval, stemming from some being opposed to a seemingly liberal stance on homosexuality.

At that time Bishop Nolbert Kunonga attempted to remove the head of the Diocese of Harare in the country. more >>

There’s a lot of talk these days as to what Congress can afford to cut out of the budget. Right now, they may have their eye on the tax allowance that enables clergy members to buy or live in multiple homes tax-free.

In March, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that Phil Discoll, an ordained minister and Grammy Award-winning trumpeter who went to prison for tax evasion, did not have to pay federal income taxes on property worth $408,638 that was provided to him by his ministry in order to buy a second home on a lake in Cleveland, Tenn.

A stipulation of the tax code passed in 1921 allows clergymen to live in a tax-free house or receive tax-free salaries to buy or rent a home. However, in a 7-6 ruling, the Tax Court said that Driscoll was correct in his interpretation of the passage: the word "home" is equivalent to "homes," just as "child" is interpreted to mean "children" elsewhere in the tax code. Therefore, clergymen may obtain multiple tax-free homes due to this interpretation. more >>

News reports and rumors have been circulating since Rick Perry's Aug. 6 prayer gathering called "The Response," that evangelical members of a radical Christian sect called the "New Apostolic Reformation" (NAR) are seeking to take "dominion" over the earth through politics, media and other sectors. Church leaders, however, say the New Apostolic Reformation is not about dominating society or forcing Christian morals on America, but rather actively living out the Christian faith.

Forrest Wilder, a Texas Observer columnist who has been following the NAR and its influence on political figures, told The Christian Post that it is not a specific church, denomination or organization, but is a movement of an "interlocking array of churches, ministries, councils, personal friendships and alliances" that are connected for a common cause.

That common cause, Wilder argued, is to promote Christian dominion over society, culture and government through the influence of its ministries. more >>

Attorney David Kennedy enjoys attending church and worshiping God, but one thing he dreaded was whenever someone brought up politics at church. Too many times Kennedy felt like the other person’s opinion of a candidate or issue did not match up with how he read and interpreted God’s word. In his book, You Voted for Who? And You Call Yourself a Christian, Kennedy examines what Scripture has to say about many of the hot-button issues facing our country.

A trial lawyer by profession, Kennedy has practiced law for the past 28 years. He served as an elder in a local Baptist Church but left after he didn’t like what the Christian Coalition was doing when they printed voter ballots in the mid-1990s. He then helped plant a non-denominational church that he felt espoused biblical principles over political or church-related politics.

Fiscally conservative and socially liberal, Kennedy describes himself as a Democrat as far as party allegiance goes, yet believes abortion and same-sex marriage are wrong according to Scripture. However, he lays plenty of blame at the feet of the GOP for their rigid positions on immigration and not doing enough to help the poor and downtrodden. more >>

Nearly 2,000 conservative members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) began discussing on Thursday how to move forward after a decision in May to allow ordination rights to openly gay and lesbian clergy has some leaders looking to start another denomination.

PC(USA) officials at the two-day conference in Minneapolis ending Friday are leading table discussions about the options churches opposed to the decision might have. The ratifying amendment to the church’s rules on homosexuality and chastity went into effect in July.

"The PC(USA) decision to abandon Christian sexual ethics predictably is fueling accelerated membership decline and schism," said Mark Tooley, president of the Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD), in a statement Wednesday. "Some traditionalists are struggling to stay within the PC(USA) while creating new forms of accountability to compensate for the denomination's failure." more >>