The year 2003,
Gay equal rights in the Supreme Court,
I get it - Pedophile priests join the Roman Catholic church to sexually abuse children who grow up with problems that may be the result of gay issues affecting other Protestant churches today,
Gay issues could split Episcopalian and Anglican churches,
President Bush and the Vatican opposes gay marriages,
Episcopal Church USA approves an openly gay man as bishop,
Roman Catholic Archdiocese offers $55M settlement in sexual abuse suits and abusive priests got pink slips,
What does the Bible say about homosexuality?,
Ten Commandments under attack again,
American Muslims feel persecuted,
Lutheran pastor accused of heresy for praying with other religions,
Clergy sex abuse victims accept $85M settlement,
Catholic bishops endorse ban on gay marriages,
Pope's health on the slide, starts naming cardinals,
Pope keeps aggressive schedule despite report of his failing health,
Chicago Archdiocese to pay $8 million to 15 abuse victims,
Pope nearing 'last days,' Austrian cardinal says,
Church can be sued for moving pedophile priest,
Catholic-Anglican unity faces difficulty,
Conservative Episcopalians say they're serious about church split,
The Supreme Court - Justices will hear California 'Pledge of Allegiance' case - Ruling on 'God' reference,
Anglican leaders try to hold church together,
Gay bishop might split church, Anglicans say,
Diocese to pay $21 million to 40 victims,
Gay Episcopal bishop-elect says church will survive crisis,
Most Americans say they're heaven-bound,
Openly gay man becomes bishop,
Dioceses votes to ignore some Episcopal policies,
Baptist group decries gay marriage,
Bishops denounce same-sex marriages,
Alabama chief justice 'not above law',
Boston archbishop outlines church closing plans,
Religious Freedom 2003.

• 3/24/2003 - Supreme Court case could have huge impact on gay rights by David Savage, Los Angeles Times.
      Washington -- The gay equal rights movement faces a crucial test in the Supreme Court this week.
      The court has never said gays and lesbians are entitled to equal rights.    In a 1986 opinion the court described abhorence of homosexuality as time-honored and traditional.    It would "cast aside millennia of moral teaching" to say sex between gay men "is somehow protected as a fundamental right," then-Chief Justice Warren E. Burger said in the case of Bowers vs. Hardwick.    Now 17 years later, the court is being asked to cast aside Burger's view.    Gay civil rights leaders say public opinion regarding homosexuality has changed dramatically since 1986.    These days, the "real social and legal deviants" are not gay people but "homosexual sodomy laws" that remain on the books in 13 states, says the Human Rights Campaign, which calls itself America's largest gay and lesbian group.
      This stems from a Texas case to throw out the prosecution of two men who were arrested for having "deviate sexual intercourse" in the Houston home of one of the men, based on receiving a false report of a man with a gun.    Also to declare that the Constitution gives same-sex couples the same rights to privacy and equality as heterosexuals.
      Most states repealed sodomy laws during the 1970s and '80s.    But not Texas, which prosecuted the two men and levied fines of $200 each.
• 7/24/2003 - Report: More than 1,000 abused in Boston church by The Washington Post.
      Boston -- More than 1,000 people were likely sexually abused by more than 250 clergy and church workers in the Boston Archdiocese over six decades, the Massachusetts Attorney General said in a report issued yesterday.    The report is the result of a 16-month investigation and grand jury probe charged with reviewing evidence that church officials had knowingly transferred suspected pedophile priests from parish to parish.
      Attorney General Thomas Reilly said the investigation did not provide a basis for bringing criminal indictments against Cardinal Bernard Law or other senior church officials, despite evidence that they had "direct, actual knowledge" that a substantial number of children were being abused.
      The statute of limitations bars prosecution of criminal conduct prior to 1984, and the state's child abuse reporting law is not applicable because it was not expanded to include priests until last year.
      However, the lack of criminal charges does not excuse church officials for their failure to prevent the sexual abuse of children by clergy in their midst, investigators concluded.
      The report blamed widespread sexual abuse of children on institutional acceptance of abuse and a "massive and pervasive" failure of leadership.    Church officials supported the needs of offending priests over children and failed to notify law enforcement or child protection authorities of complaints even after state officials created an office specifically designed to handle sexual abuse allegations.
      The report said the archdiocese received complaints from 789 alleged victims, according to documents obtained by investigators.    However, when other sources are considered, the number is likely to have exceeded 1,000 from 1940 until today, the investigators concluded.
• 7/28/2003 - Gays' roles could split Episcopalians, Anglicans by Rachel Zoll, The Associated Press.
      New York -- Three decades of debate about the role of gays in the Episcopal Church have created rifts that could finally split the denomination and global Anglicanism this week when church leaders gather for their national meeting.
      Delegates to the Minneapolis convention will decide whether to approve blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples and confirm the church's first election of an openly gay bishop - V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who feels God wants him to serve his diocese.
      The outcome could splinter the 77 million-member global Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is the U.S. member.    A 1998 gathering of Anglican leaders, called the Lambeth Conference, approved a resolution calling gay sex "incompatible with Scripture."
      Conservatives from the United States have warned that if the church approves either Robinson's election or same-sex blessings, they will align themselves with like-minded bishops from Africa, Asia and Latin America who have already separated from some dioceses that tolerate homosexuality.
      Among the conservatives is Archbishop Peter Akinola, head of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, which serves 17.5 million people and ranks second in size to the mother Church of England among 38 Anglican branches.    The Episcopal Church has 2.3 million members.
• 7/30/2003 - President addresses intelligence, Iraq, gays - Bush takes responsibility for State of the Union errors, decries homosexual marriage - by Tom Raum, The Associated Press.
      Washington -- On one simmering domestic issue president Bush said he opposes gay marriage, and suggested his administration might propose legislation on the subject.    "I believe a marriage is between a man and a woman.    And I think we ought to codify that one way or the other.    And we've got lawyers looking at the best way to do that," he said.
• 8/1/2003 - Bush, pope, polls give boost to foes of gay marriages by David Crary, The Associated Press.
      After some breakthroughs earlier this year, the drive to legalize gay marriage has run into formidable obstacles -- blunt opposition from President Bush, a global counterattack by the Vatican, and U.S. opinon polls suggesting rising doubts about same-sex unions.
      Gay-rights activists remained optimistic, insisting that Americans in the long term will support a full range of marital rights for same-sex couples.    But opponents of gay marriage were elated that Bush, rarely outspoken on gay-rights issues, endorsed their views.
      Gay-rights activists said Bush's remarks resulted from pressure applied by right-wing supporters who were upset by recent events, notably Canada's decision to legalize gay marriage and the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that homosexual sex cannot not be outlawed.
      A Vatican document, released with Pope John Paul II's approval, warned Catholic politicians that support of same-sex unions is "gravely immoral" and urged non-Catholics to join in combating such unions.
• 8/4/2003 - The issue of gay marriage.
      What bothers us about gay people getting married?    Most read that part in Leviticus where homosexuality is condemned.    That same book of the gospels mandates the death penalty for sassy kids and fortune tellers, by which standard the Osbourne children and Miss Cleo should have been iced a long time ago.
      We use to keep Jews from swimming in the community pool, women from voting and black people from riding at the front of the bus.    All those thing once were profoundly offensive to some people as gay marriage does right now.    The Vatican is telling Catholic legislators they must oppose laws giving legal standing to gay unions, which is amusing, given the level of sexual morality the church has demonstrated lately.
      The next reason is that gay people will damage or cheapen the sanctity of marriage and that this can't be allowed because marriage is the foundation of our society, although the divorce rate is almost 50 percent, and cohabitation is the norm.
      It seems amusing that gay couples so determinedly seek what so many of us scorn.
      "For he without sin, cast the first stone."
• 8/5/2003 - Bishops stall vote on cleric - Claims allege misconduct by gay priest - by Rachel Zoll, The Associated Press.
      Minneapolis -- Plans by Episcopalian leaders to vote on confirming the church's first openly gay elected bishop were thrown into turmoil when allegations emerged that he inappropriately touched a man and was affiliated with a youth Web site that had a link to pornography.
      Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, head of the Episcopal Church, released a statement announcing the delay as debate was about to start on whether to confirm the Rev. Gene Robinson as New Hampshire's bishop.
• 8/7/2003 - Opponents of gay bishop 'mourning' church's approval by Rachel Zoll, The Associated Press.
      Minneapolis -- Conservative opponents of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop protested by boycotting legislative sessions, turning in their credentials to the church's General Convention and dropping to their knees in prayer as one of the leaders denounced his election.
      Gay advocates consider this a significant step since the church had never before approved a national document acknowledging that such ceremonies (same-sex blessings) take place.
• 8/10/2003 - Episcopal Church decisions unsettle Anglican communion by David O'Reilly, Knight Ridder Newspaper.
      Philadelphia -- Whether you call it heresy or call it genius, the Episcopal Church USA made history last week by approving an openly gay man as bishop.
      As the nation and much of the Christian world seemed to watch, the church's General Convention, meeting in Minneapolis, confirmed the election voting 62-43 of the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson as the next bishop of New Hampshire.
      Two days later, it authorized creation of a blessing rite for same-sex unions as an option.
      Conservatives were aghast and prayed "May God have mercy on His church."    Liberals and moderates were more sanguine, however.
      Bishop M. Thomas Shaw of Massachusetts described Robinson's election as evidence that the Episcopalian Church was "open to the movement of the Spirit," and predicted that its openness to homosexuals would prove a "wonderful evangelistic tool to strengthen the life of the church."
      Robinson's confirmation, however, sent tremors through the worldwide Anglican communion.    Most of its 70 million members are scripturally orthodox and vicerally opposed to homosexual activity.    The heads of several African and South American churches have threatened to break communion with the Episcopal Church over the issue.    Apparently the modern Episcopal Church USA created on July 2, 1776 in Philadelphia, absorbs cultural change, and is not threatened by the larger Anglican union.    It is an open church and the very union of democracy and theology, accommodating the wider culture, that it's become a reflection of the wider culture.
      In 1804 it ordained the first African American priest in the Anglican tradition.    In 1976 it was the first in the Anglican communion to allow ordination of women, and in 1989 the first female bishop.
      Still most think the Robinson election is a departure from the historic doctrine and theology of the witness of Scripture as it has been interpreted for 2,000 years.
• 8/10/2003 - O'Malley aims at healing diocese by Theo Emery, The Associated Press.
      Boston -- Archbishop Sean Patrick O'Malley arrived in Boston amid swelling public anger over the Catholic church's inability to resolve hundreds of clergy abuse claims.    But behind closed doors, the Capuchin Franciscan friar quickly had a calming influence on the rancorous settlement talks.    On Friday, mediator Paul Finn stood before dozens of attorneys for victims, politely said how pleased he was they had come, and gave each attorney a two-page outline of a $55 million offer from the church to settle more than 540 lawsuits.
      His predecessors - Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace in December, and interim archdiocese leader Bishop Richard Lennon - talked about settling but never seemed to gain ground or trust of alleged victims and their lawyers.    The settlement would resolve claims from men and women who said they were abused as children by about 140 clergy.    A recent report by the state attorney general estimated that more than 1,000 children were abuse over six decades.    This would be the largest lump sum settlement for clergy abuse since the scandal broke in early 2002.
      To get control of this situation, O'Malley brought in Thomas Hannigan, the attorney who in the early 1990s helped him settle abuse cases in the Fall River Diocese, where the Rev. James Porter was accused of molesting 99 children in the 1950s and 1960s.    Porter pleaded guilty in 1993 to molesting 28 children and was sentenced to 18 ot 20 years in prison.
      Cardinal Bernard Law, crisis was touched off by admission that he reassigned former priest John Geoghan despite accusations of sex abuse.    In September 2002, the church reached a $10 million settlement for 86 victims of Geoghan after a previous $20 to $30 million setlement collapsed.    At least 325 priests of the nation's 46,000 priests were removed from duty or resigned in the year following the Geoghan case because of molestation claims.
• 8/8/2003 - Episcopalians won't bless same-sex couples - House of Bishops acknowledges that some dioceses do - by Rachel Zoll, The Associated Press.
      Minneapolis -- Episcopal leaders said they rejected a proposal to draft standard language for blessing same-sex couples partly out of concern for church unity following the contentious confirmation of their first openly gay bishop.
      Most bishops understand that the early proposal was not an endorsement of same-sex unions.    It was only a resolution, not authorization, but does bring the issue to the surface.
• 8/8/2003 - Follow scripture on Homosexuality by Cal Thomas, Tribune Media Services.
      An Episcopalian friend of mine, reacting to the elevation of an openly homosexual priest to the office of bishop, said to me, "If you're a heterosexual clergyman and you're having sex outside marriage, you can be expelled.    But if you're a homosexual clergyman having sex outside of marriage, they rejoice."
      Most denominations that call themselves Christians take the Bible as their text for spiritual and relational instruction.    Some in the Episcopal Church take a liberal view of the Bible, just as some do of the U.S. Constitution -- it must be constantly updated to suit cultural trends.    This view lends itself to constant misinterpretation and confusion.    Eventually, it leads to religious or political heresy.
      Ancient Scripture sets out the parameters for all human sexual expression.    In order to get around the restrictions that limit sexual activity between a man and a woman within a marital bond, liberal theologians have had to construct a theology that says the Bible does not really mean what it clearly says.    It is the same with the Constitution, which is interpreted by liberals to allow for the use of God's name in vain as an act of protected speech, but prohibits the favorable use of His name under the same First Amendment.
      If Scripture is to be circumvented in the matter of homosexuality and not disqualify one who seeks the office of bishop, what about divorce?    The newly approved bishop, V. Gene Robinson, left his wife and two children to take up with a man.    In what is regarded by most Christians as the job description for high church office, Paul the Apostle wrote to his young protege Timothy that an "overseer" (or minister) must be "above reproach, the husband of one wife," and "must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect."    Paul then asks an important question: "If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?" (1 Timothy 3:2-5).
      Members of the Episcopal Church are being asked to accept a bishop who is not qualified for the office, which also sends a message that the Bible says only what some people want it to say.
      It is a slippery theology with potential consequences that are eternal.    Who gets to decide, God or man?    If man, then man becomes God and God is diminished, at least in man's eyes.
• 8/17/2003 - Scriptures source of gay debate by Richard N. Ostling, The Associated Press.
      Some have wondered why homosexuality is such a divisive issue in Christianity.    Why don't all Episcopalians and other churches simply recognize that gay people are sexually active and move on?    After all, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws this year and Canada plans to legalize same-sex marriages.
      The reason, in short, is the Bible - the word of God in the eyes of Christians.    To go to the source of the argument, two biblical passages are crucial:
  
  • "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination" (Leviticus 18:22, an Old Testament law repeated with the death penalty in Leviticus 20:13).
    • Liberal authors commonly say Leviticus 18 was part of a Jewish purity code that barred practices associated with paganism, including many laws Christianity eliminated, for instance the kosher rules in Leviticus 17.
    • Conservatives reply that the gay ban is embedded alongside laws against adultery, incest, beastiality and child sacrifice that Chritianity kept.
  • "God gave them up to dishonarable passions.    Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in their own persons the due penalty for their error" (the Apostle Paul in Romans 1:26-27).
    • Regarding Romans 1 and other New Testament passages, liberals often say these merely meant to oppose same-sex activity that was exploitative (using slaves or boys).
    • A related argument: Paul thought men were heterosexual in nature and should shun homosexual acts, but some today believe people are born with a disposition toward being gay.
  • Conservatives say God fixed the sexual pattern in Genesis 2:24: "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."    Jesus repeated that teaching twice in the Gospels: Matthew 19:4-6 and Mark 10:6-9.
      The Episcopal Church has the same Old Testament and New Testament which send the same message that sex is limited to a woman and a man.    No biblical verse hints at approval for same-sex activity.    Gay advocates promote that Jesus' command to love your neighbor as yourself, which requires Christians to understand gay's experiences.
• 8/22/2003 - Judge to appeal removal of Commandments - High court denies emergency plea for stay - by Bob Johnson, The Associated Press.
      Montgomery, Ala. -- Chief Justice Roy Moore bristled at colleagues and accused a federal judge of trying to be "above God" after fellow Alabama Supreme Court justices ordered his Ten Commandments monument removed from the rotunda of the state judicial building.
      "I will never deny the God upon whom our laws and country depend," said Moore in a fiery defense of the 5,300-pound granite marker, as supporters cheered and prayed on the building's steps.    Moore contends that the monument represents the moral foundation of American law.
      Scores of Moore's supporters camped out near the building's glass front doors - singing hymns, preaching and often shouting in defiance if they saw movement near the monument.
      U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson ruled that the monument violates the constitution's ban on government promotion of a religious doctrine but said the marker could be moved to a private place in the building.    They are "bound by solemn oath to follow the law."    Since Moore did not comply to the dealine, this prompted the intervene to remove it.
      Moore intends to file a formal appeal to the Supreme Court of the federal appeals court.
• 8/23/2003 - Judge suspended over monument.
      Alabama's chief justice Roy Moore was automatically suspended with pay by a nine-member Judical Inquiry Commission for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of his courthouse, because of an ethics complaint against him to the Court of the Judiciary.    Moore will have 30 days to respond, who claims he has upheld his oath of office by acknowledging God.
• 8/24/2003 - Commandments monument drawing more supporters by Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times News Service.
      Montgomery, Ala. -- Chief Justice Roy Moore has signaled that he will no longer try to block the removal of the Ten Commandments monument because "his conscience is clear," and he still has a growing support of protestors standing for his cause.   
• 8/24/2003 - Commandments case: picking your battles and what's etched in stone by Cal Thomas.
      Moore is right about the history of the country and the religious language that runs through the public pronouncements and documents of the founders (though not all who used it believed in a personal God).    He is also right when he says, "The entire justice system (of Alabama) is established in the Alabama Contitution ... invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God."    And Moore is correct again when he says, "Under the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, federal courts have absolutely no power, authority or jurisdiction to tell the state of Alabama that we cannot acknowledge God as the source of our justice system."
      In recent years, the federal courts - egged on by groups like the ACLU and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State - have regularly targeted religious expression for removal from public life.    Two of the more outrageous rulings have come from the 9^th Circuit Court of Appeals, which found the "under God" clause in the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, and the 4^th Circuit Court, which ordered an end to a 20-second ecumenical dinner blessing that has been recited at Virginia Military Institute throughout its 162-year history.
      The building blocks of our nation and culture are being dismantled by judges who are unaccountable to "we the people."
      Can a nation expect the kind of moral purpose it requires of its soldiers if they are sent into battle to defend the stock market or earthly philosophies?    We are being told in a pluralistic society we must tolerate those who hold other views, but these minorities do not have to tolerate our founding views.
      Nowhere in Scripture is the secular state expected to acknowledge God.    The state is an instrument of God, which Paul tells us we are to obey for our own good (Romans 13:1-5).    There are verses about nations being "blessed whose God is the Lord" (Psalm 33:12).    But there is no expectation or command for the state to be an instrument in spreading God's message to humankind.    That is clearly the job of those who follow Him.
      Will an irreligious people who worship wordly pleasure and affluence be more likely to "seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33) if they see such displays or be lulled into a false security that God is somehow pleased or tolerant of the increasingly secular outlook of His creation?
      Lets continue doing what Christ told us to do.
• 8/26/2003 - Suit filed to halt Commandments marker's removal by Kyle Wingfield, The Associated Press.
      Montgomery, Ala. -- Supporters asked a federal court to block the removal of a Ten Commandments monument from the Alabama Judicial Building.    The lawsuit to block the monument removal was filed on behalf of a Christian radio talk show host and a pastor.    It said a forced removal would violate the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion.    Of course the federal courts have held that the monument violates the Constitution's ban on government promotion of a religious doctrine.    The Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the lawsuit filed in Mobile is without merit.    The supporters of Moore have offered up outlandish legal arguments to defend blatant promotion of religion in the state's judicial building.    Minutes after the lawsuit was announced, police blocked off the front of the building with metal barricades.
      The monument will be moved this week once they can find a company that will move it.
• 8/23/2003 - Boston Archdiocese accused of abuse settlement leaks by Denise Laboie, The Associated Press.
      Boston -- The Boston Archdiocese offered $10 million more to settle hundreds of sexual abuse lawsuits, increasing its payout to $65 million, but plaintiffs weren't satisfied.    The victims' lawyers had made a counterproposal of $90 million to $120 million, a source leaked out.    Fingers begin pointing on who leaked it.
• 8/27/2003 - Ten Commandments monument removed from rotunda by Kyle Wingfield, The Associated Press.
      Montgomery, Ala. -- A moving crew removed the Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building to comply with a federal court order, and placed it in another location in the building.
• 8/31/2003 - No rush to altar after Canada extends marriage rights to gays by Clifford Krauss, New York Times News Service.
      Toronto -- The highest Ontario court had extended marriage rights to same-sex couples two months ago, but Canadian gay couples, who have not rushed to marry in great numbers since June 10, when it became eligible.    Only 590 gay and lesbian couples out of a total of 5,500 couples, received marriage licenses.    More than a hundred of them were American same-sex couples who crossed the border to marry.    Gays in the United States are watching what happens in Canada as a harbinger for U.S. society.
• 8/31/2003 - Of church and state, God and country, and what is law by Greg Barrett, Gannett News Service.
      Washington -- Goerge W. Bush was sworn into the nation's highest office with his hand placed reverently on the King James version of the Bible.    When Congress resumes Sept. 2, it will open with prayer.    U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, the son of a Pentecostal preacher, holds morning prayer meetings in his taxpayer-funded office.    And the Hebrew prophet Moses is depicted in the frieze of the U.S. Supreme Court building holding up two tablets that represent the Ten Commandments.
      So why did a federal court invoke the U.S. Constitution and pick Montgomery, Ala., as the place to divorce church and state?    Why does a 2-ton slab of marble advocating decent behavior draw a fuss, yet the president of the United States freely quotes scripture and draws applause?
      Church and state are so intimately wedded that it would be impossible to untangle the dance.    It would require the recalling and reprinting of American currency, which declares, "In God We Trust."
      No one seriously contends that the God on our paper money is a lowercase god, inclusive of all religions.    It's not Allah.    It's the God of the Christian savior whose birth and crucifixion dates our calendars.
      "There are many places where we blur the line between church and state, and most stem from the inability to distinguish between piety and patriotism," said James Dunn, a Baptist professor.
      Also America thinks that it is God's people and a Christian nation.    In Denmark, where all newborns are branded Lutheran by the monarchy.    Or the Republic of Columbia where babies are counted as Roman Catholic as sure as they are Columbian.    The U.S. government is not supposed to thrust religion upon its public.    In fact, the United States exists because of people who fled here seeking religious freedom.
      On the frieze of the Supreme Court building in Washington, Moses is offset by the images of secular and spiritual leaders from B.C. to A.D.    Among them: Confusius, the Chinese lawgiver and philosopher; Solomon, the king of Israel and a renowned judge; Napoleon, emperor of France; and the prophet Mohammed, shown holding the Koran, Islam's holy book.
      Coral Ridge Ministries, a Florida-based evangelical TV ministry and Presbyterian church has raised $375,000 for Moore's legal defense fund.    They just want to show that God's law is higher than man's law.    They do not want a country that will end up like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and Vietnam and North Korea.    Most believe that the Alabama protest is a in-your-face demonstration against the influence of religious pluralism.    If so they got the coverage they wanted.
• 9/1/2003 - American Muslims plan civil rights push in 2004 - Religion's leaders regret endorsing Bush in 2000 - by Rachel Zoll, The Associated Press.
      Chicago -- Even before the Sept. 11 attacks and the crackdown that followed, American Muslim leaders generally had come to believe they had made a mistake.
      In 2000, they made their first unified endorsement in a presidential race, backing George W. Bush.    Many thought he would take a harder line against Israel, and, based on statements he made while campaigning, would protect the rights of immigrants facing deportation.
      Most feel they are feeling the additional sting of being scrutinized in the domestic hunt for terrorists, and are mobilizing to express their anger at the polls in 2004.    They will register 1 million Muslim voters and make civil rights a top issue in any endorsement of a presidential candidate.
      After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush won points with American Muslims by visiting a mosque and declaring Islam a peaceful religion.    But since then, the federal government has detained hundreds of immigrants, shut down U.S. Muslim charities suspected of terrorist ties and gained broad new powers to monitor citizens under the USA Patriot Act.    The Bush adminstration said these moves have been crucial for U.S. security.    American Muslims say they are being scapegoated.
• 9/9/2003 - Pastor accused of heresy sees climate of intolerance by Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal.
      A Lutheran pastor, Rev. David Benke, tried for heresy for praying alongside members of other religions (i.e. Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, etc.) in a post-Sept. 11 memorial service in New York two years ago told a gathering of Protestant ministers in Louisville that a climate of intolerance was poisoning the atmosphere in his and other denominations.    A small minority of members of Benke's conservative denomination, the second-largest Lutheran body in the nation, exploited this issue for political gain, and accused him of syncretism, or mixing Christian and non-Christian worship, thus beliving that such prayers had turned Yankee Stadium into a hedonistic temple.
• 9/10/2003 - Boston sex suits settled - Church to give abuse victims $85 million - by Denise Lavoie, The Associated Press.
      Boston -- The Boston Archdiocese agreed to pay $85 million to 552 people who claimed sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests, giving victims long-awaited recognition and the church a chance to move forward.    This is the largest publicly disclosed payout by a U.S. diocese to settle molestation charges.
      The church pledges to prevent abuse by putting some victims on advisory boards monitoring the abuse problem.    The church will also provide for psychological counseling for victims for as long as they want it.
      The church will be selling real estate holdings, taking out loans and try to collect from its insurance companies to pay its $85 million settlement, without using parish collection money to cover the settlement with 552 victims.
• 9/11/2003 - U.S. bishops endorse banning gay marriages - Catholic clergymen support amending the Constitution - by Richard N. Ostling, The Associated Press.
      After Vatican request, 50 leaders of the nation's Roman Catholic bishops gave "general support" to amending the U.S. Constitution in order to define marriage as a union of a man and woman.    They also condemned legalized same-sex unions by any name, as recognized by Canada.
      A 2,500 member homosexual Catholic group, believes that the 66.4 million member Church is getting involved in the middle of a growing national moral debate as an attempt to deflect attention away from the problem of the clergy sex abuse crisis.
• 9/17/2003 - Evangelist Garner Ted Armstrong dies by The Associated Press.
      Tyler, Texas -- Evangelist Garner Ted Armstrong, the voice for "World Tommorow," who founded two ministries after being excommunicated in 1978 from his father, Herbert W. Armstrong's, Worldwide Church of God for raising allegations of lavish spending, has died at age 73.    In 1986 Armstrong founded the Church of God International near Tyler and the Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association, which he stepped down from in 1995 after a masseuse accused him of sexual assault, which he denied her accusation.
      One note of interest: Herbert Armstrong was one of those to promote the Tribulation to occur on January 7, 1972, he died in 1986 without it ever occurring.
• 9/27/2003 - Pope expected to name cardinals tomorrow.
      Vatican City -- Pope John Paul II is due to name new cardinals to fill up the worldwide group that eventually will elect his succcessor, and there were reports an announcement could come soon.
• 9/28/2003 - Episcopal dioceses lash out at church.
      Monroeville, Pa. -- Episcopal dioceses in Pennsylvania and Texas accused the national church of exceeding its authority and violating its own constitution by confirming its first openly gay bishop and approving the blessing of same-sex unions.
      "These acts are to be held null and void, and of no effect, in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburg," read a resolution approved 239-69 by delgates in the Diocese of Pittsburg.
      Clergy and lay delegates of the Episcopal of Fort Worth in Texas conducted a similar vote as part of a national drive among conservative dioceses and clergy seeking to distance themselves from the Episcopal Church for its decisions last month on the gay bishop and same-sex unions.
• 10/2/2003 - Pope keeps aggressive schedule despite report of his failing health by Frances D'Emilio, The Associated Press.
      Vatican City - A frail but determined 83-year-old Pope John Paul II led his general audience and, brushing aside any suggestions he is cutting back on his schedule, announced that, "God willing," he will travel next week to a shrine in Pompeii.
• 10/3/2003 - Chicago Archdiocese to pay $8 million to 15 abuse victims by The Associated Press.
      Chicago - The Chicago Archdiocese agreed to pay $8 million to 15 people who say they were molested by priests over the past five decades.    Individual settlements will range from $200,000 to $1.7 million, according to attorneys.    They released the names of 11 priests (no longer active or dead) accused of committing the abuse, along with a list of all the parishes they had been assigned to serve.
• 10/3/2003 - Pope nearing 'last days,' Austrian cardinal says - Aides at Vatican seek to minimize concern for pontiff - by Victor L. Simpson, The Associated Press.
      Vatican City - One of Europe's top cardinals, Austrian Christoph Schoenborn, the archbishop of Vienna, said that Pope John Paul II was nearing "the last days and months of his life."    The Vatican declined to comment on the remarks, except to minimize concern about the pontiff's well-being.
• 10/4/2003 - Church can be sued for moving pedophile priest by The Associated Press.
      Santa Ana, Calif. - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee can be sued for sending a pedophile priest to California without revealing his conviction for child molestation, a state appeals court ruled.
      The 4th District Court of Appeal ruling came in a lawsuit brought by a man who claimed he was molested in Orange County by Siegfried Widera after the priest arrived from Wisconsin in 1976.    Widera had been convicted three years earlier of sexual misconduct with a teenage boy in Wisconsin.    The Diocese of Orange said it had not been told of the problem or conviction.    Widera alledgedly molested boys in California until he was removed from ministry in 1985 following accusations of sexual abuse.    He had been charged with a total of 42 counts of child molestation in California and Wisconsin when he died in May after leaping from a hotel balcony in Mexico.
• 10/5/2003 - Catholic-Anglican unity faces difficulty by Victor L. Simpson, The Associated Press.
      Vatican City - Pope John Paul II warned the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, of "serious difficulties" in efforts to unify the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches, pressing the Vatican's case against the U.S. Episcopal Church's election of its first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.    The Vatican recently issued a new broad condemnation of homosexuality that urged Catholics and non-Catholics alike to unite to stem a trend toward granting legal recognition to same-sex unions.    The document called homosexuality a "troubling moral and social phenomenon" and repeated the Vatican's position that homsexual acts were "intrinsically disordered."
      With increasing securalism in the world, the pope continued, "the Chruch must ensure that the deposit of faith is proclaimed in its integrity and preserved from erroneous and misguided interpretations."
      The Anglicans split from Rome more that four centuries ago when King Henry VIII bolted in 1534 over the pope's refusal to grant him an annulment.
      The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the 77 million-member global Anglican Communion.
      Vatican-Anglican relations were already strained in 1992, when the Church of England decided to ordain women.    At the time, the Vatican, which reserves priesthood for men, called the decision a "new and grave obstacle to the entire process of reconciliation with the Catholic Church."
• 10/8/2003 - Conservative Episcopalians say they're serious about church split by Richard N. Ostling, The Associated Press.
      Dallas - An insurgent conservative movement, to oppose acceptance of gay relationships, that could split the Episcopal Church opened a national rally with prayers, singing and messages about a break with liberals.    A line has been drawn in the sand, and the American Anglican Council is fighting back against those decisions, with the possiblity of a schism looming.    They believe it is wrong to support the overturning of apostolic teaching and those who depart from the historic faith.    "This is a defining moment in Christian history," said one bishop noting there is a "life-threatening" disorder in the Episcopal Church and world Anglicanism.    The issue of whether there's a binding scriptural ban on gay sex has long been disputed by conservatives and liberals, but is now at a boiling point.
• 10/15/2003 - The Supreme Court - Justices will hear California 'Pledge of Allegiance' case - Ruling on 'God' reference expected early next year - by David Stout, The New York Times.
      Washington - The Supreme Court agreed to take up one of the most emotional legal questions to arise in many years: Whether the Pledge of Allegiance, as recited by children at the start of the school day for half a century, should be banned from the classroom as a violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.
      To no one's surprise, the court said it would hear the case of Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow (Michael Newdow, an atheist), which focuses on the all-important phrase "one nation under God."    The words were added to the pledge in 1954 as the United States was locked in a Cold War with the Soviet Union and the phrase "Godless communism" was a staple of American political life.    The original pledge, minus the reference to God, was adopted in 1942.    Stay tuned next March when a ruling will be made.    Newdow's complaint was that his daughter's First Amendment rights were violated because she had been forced to "watch and listen as her state-employed teacher in her state-run school leads her classmates in a ritual proclaiming that there is a God, and that ours is 'one nation under God'."
      I guess next they will attack "God Bless America."
• 10/16/2003 - Anglican leaders try to hold church together - Special meeting to address furor over homosexuality - by Rachel Zoll, The Associated Press.
      London - The 37 Anglican Communion leaders (or primates) said that they wanted to preserve their global association of churches despite bitter divisions over homosexuality, in an emergency summit held at Lambeth Palace, where the 77-million-member communion was formed.    The meeting will move to a consenous on the issue, to avoid a schism of the 136-year-old communion.    U.S. conservatives have started planning for a total break with the Episcopal Church.    Evangelicals fear that decisions favorable to homosexuals anywhere within the communion will undermine their evangelism, especially in socially conservative places where they are competing with Muslims.    Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, there is no centralized authority in Anglicanism.    Each province is autonomous so Archbishop of Cantebury Rowan William cannot settle issues of doctrine.    The primates also have no collective legislative authority and cannot vote to punish a member.    Williams does have the right to decide whether a denomination can affiliate with the communion.
      This drama is about conservation of institutions, the price of progressive cultural aggression and the changing geography of religious belief.    Episcopalians have pursued political and cultural trendiness rather than doctrinal clarity, and may be a dwindling faction of American Christianity.    Membership is down 33 percent, to 2.3 million, since 1965.
• 10/17/2003 - Gay bishop might split church, Anglicans say - Leaders recognize this 'critical point' - by Robert Barr, The Associated Press.
      London - The world's Anglican leaders put pressure on churches in New Hampshire and their openly gay bishop-elect, warning that if he takes office it could shatter a global communion deeply torn over homosexuality.
• 10/17/2003 - Diocese to pay $21 million to 40 victims.
      Bridgeport, Conn. - The Bridgeport Diocese announced a $21 million settlement with 40 people who said they were molested by priests as children, and the bishop William Lori apologized to the victims.    The third-biggest settlement by a U.S. diocese since the scandal that has rocked the Roman Catholic Church broke in Boston in 2002.    All but one of the 16 priests named in the settlement are no longer active in the church.
      This year, the Diocese of Manchester, N.H., reached a $6.5 million settlement with 61 people; the Archdiocese of Louisville agreed to pay $25.7 million to 243 people; and the Boston Archdiocese reached a tentative $85 million settlement with more than 500 people.
• 10/20/2003 - Gay Episcopal bishop-elect says church will survive crisis by Anne Saunders, The Associated Press.
      Manchester, N.H. - The Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop-elect said at Grace Church he agonizes over the turmoil his election is causing but believes God wants him to go forward.    Rev. V. Gene Robinson stated "I do have this sense I'm supposed to go forward, and I do feel that's coming from God and not my own ego.    But I don't know."    He claims that the curch has weathered similar crises in the past.    Much of the Anglican Communion still does not recognize the ordination of women, and yet the Communion holds together.    A bitter church debate over homosexuality will continue as it is considered contrary to Scripture.
• 10/25/2003 - Most Americans say they're heaven-bound - Half of believers say heaven is being in God's presence - by K. Connie Kang, Los Angeles Times.
      An overwhelming majority of Americans continue to believe there is life after death and that heaven and hell exist, according to a new study.    What's more, most (two-thirds) think they are heaven-bound.    Only one half of 1 percent said they were hell-bound.
      Forty-six percent describe heaven as a "state of eternal existence in God's presence" and 30 percent said it is "an actual place of rest and reward where souls go after death."
      Forty percent believe hell is "a state of eternal separation from God's presence" and one-third "an actual place of torment and suffering where people's souls go after death.
      Americans are mixing secular and various religious views to create their personal belief systems.    They're cutting and pasting religious views from a variety of different sources.    They believe they can put together a philosophy of life for themselves that is just as accurate.    For some reason 10 percent believe in reincarnation, which violates Christian tenets.    Thirty-three percent think it is possible to communicate with the dead, and half believe that a person can earn salvation based upon good deeds even without accepting Christ as the way to eternal life.
• 11/3/2003 - Openly gay man becomes bishop - Episcopal Church may split in wake of controversy - by Richard Ostling, The Associated Press.
      Durham, N.H. - The Episcopal Church consecrated V. Gene Robinson as bishop in a heartfelt ceremony, making him the first openly gay man to rise to that rank in any of the world's major Christian bodies.    Some 45 bishops laid hands on Robinson, including the head of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold in front of a congregation of 4,000.    It seems unlikely that the church will hold together in the aftermath, since most believe that the chosen lifestyle is incompatible with Scruipture and the teaching of the church.    Robinson claims this symbolizes that the church was reaching out to "people who find themselves at the margins," just as Jesus did.    Other predict this will develop into the worst Episcopal split since the denomination was founded in 1789.
• 11/9/2003 - Dioceses votes to ignore some Episcopal policies by Allison Schlesinger, The Associated Press.
      Pittsburgh - A week after the Episcopal Church USA consecrated its first openly gay bishop, one of the most conservative Episcopal dioceses in America (20,000 members) passed an amendment aimed at allowing the diocese to ignore some of the national church policies, espically ones contrary to historic faith and order of the one holy catholic and apostolic church.    They are distancing themselves from the Episcopal Church USA (2.3 million) for making moves to go against the worldwide Anglican Communion (77 million) next year.
• 11/13/2003 - Baptist group decries gay marriage - Amend U.S. Constitution, Kentucky convention urges - by Peter Smith, Courier-Journal.
      Lexington, Ky. - At the two-day annual meeting more than 200 church representatives of the Kentucky Baptist Convention voted overwhelminly to urge Congress to approve a constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, opposing a growing movement to legalize gay marriage.    The convention, which is the state affiliate of the Southern Baptist Convention, consists of 2,400 churches.    President Bush has supported effort to restrict the definition of marriage to a union of one man and one woman.
• 11/13/2003 - Bishops denounce same-sex marriages.
      Washington - America's Roman Catholic bishops overwhelmingly approved a statement that urges states to withhold recognition for same-sex marriages.    The bishops said they did not intend to offend homosexuals, and they called discrimination against them unjust.    But the church leaders said they had an obligation to "give witness to the whole moral truth" and reinforce Catholic teaching that gay sex is a sin.
• 11/14/2003 - Alabama chief justice 'not above law' - Commandments stance leads to ouster from court - by Kyle Wingfield, The Associated Press.
      Montgomery, Ala. - Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who became a hero to religious conservatives for refusing to remove his granite Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse, was removed from the bench by a judical ethics panel for having "placed himself above the law."    "I have absolutely no regrets.    I have done what I was sworn to do," Moore declared.    "It's about whether or not you can acknowledge God as a source of our law and our liberty.    That's all I've done."    He was "disappointed and concerned that the federal courts continue to attempt to remove references to God and faith from public arenas."    Unless we stand up, "public acknowledgment of God will be taken from us.    'In God we trust' will be taken from our money and 'one nation under God' from our pledge."
• 12/17/2003 - Boston archbishop outlines church closing plans - Financial trouble blamed in part on sex abuse deal - by Denise Lavoie, The Associated Press.
      Boston - Archbishop Sean O'Malley met with 600 priests to outline plans to close parishes - a move he acknowledged was acclerated by the $85 million sex abuse settlement.    With declining church attendance, a shortage of priests and a struggling financial condition, he said the Boston archdiocese is left with no choice but to close 50 to 60 of the 360 parishes.    They are also selling the archbishop's hilltop mansion and 28 surrounding acres to help pay for the settlement.
• 12/30/2003 - Religious Freedom 2003 by Charles C. Haynes.
      What are the lessons from 2003 about the state of religious freedom in America?    Headlines were all about the Ten Commandments mounument in Alabama and the court batle to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance.
      But the more accurate snapshot of how well the First Amendment is working (or not working), look at the small stories -- church-state conflicts around the nation that often polarize communities.    The "removers" want to erase religion (especially religion they don't like) from public life.    The "imposers" want to use the state to push religion (their religion) on everyone else.
  

Last updated January 31, 2004.