The year 2004.

• 1/3/2004 - Gay bishop inspires church-switching by Laurie Goodstein, New York Times News Service.
      The decision last year by the Episcopal Church USA to ordain an openly gay bishop has set off a wave of church-switching, according to clergy members and parishioners across the country.    Lifelong Episcopalians considered this the last straw as the church's long slide away from orthodoxy, also ordaining women and allowing communion for divorced people.    Many of these people have started attending Roman Catholic churches.    Whereas, the Episcopal churches are welcoming many clusters of new members, many from the Roman Catholic churches, who say they want to belong to a church that regards inclusivity as a Christian virtue.    The newcomers include singles and families, gay people and straight people.    The Episcopal Church USA a branch of Anglicanism claims about 2.3 million members, and the Catholic Church about 65 million.    Meanwhile the Catholic Church has reiterated its position on homosexuality as "deviant behavior" and a ban on gay marriages.    The Catholic Church had to rethink their affiliation because of the bishops who covered up abuse from gay priest.
• 1/12/2004 - Episcopalians who oppose gay bishop meet to strategize by Alan Cooperman, The Washington Post.
      More than 2,600 Episcopalian bishops, priests and lay leaders gathered in Northern Virginia to express their outrage over the consecration of a gay bishop.    They are planning to establish a network of traditionalist Episcopalian congregations across the U.S., staying inside the legal structure of the North American church of the 75 million-member Anglican Communion.    If they secede then they loose all right to its former property, so they will wrestle from inside than waging a legal battle from outside.
• 1/15/2004 - Gay marriage's effect on society debated in forum by Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal.
      One side believes that if society allows gays to wed, it will destroy the institution of marriage.    Heterosexual marriage comprises the basic molecular structure of human existance and that civilizations always have sought to regulate sexual relationships.    The civil rights side claims allowing gays and lesbians to marry would encourage them to develop stable relationships, which would benefit society and provide stable homes for those who choose to raise children.    Who has the moral superiority?    Will it open the door to polygamy or group marriage?    The breakdown of family identity was caused by the disruptive effects of the industrial revolution to the liberalization of divorce laws over the past 100 years.
• 1/18/2004 - Southern Baptists may leave coalition by Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal.
      Southern Baptists are preparing to pull out of a 100-year-old international coalition of Baptists, complaining it increasingly has a "leftward drift" and "anti-American bias."    Denomination leaders want to reroute the nearly half-million dollars a year that was going to the Baptist World Alliance and establish an international network of Baptist and other evangelical churches.    They do not want to support an entity whose participants openly oppose many of our most cherished beliefs.    Southern Baptists, with 16 million members, make up the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. and the largest religious body in Kentucky at 760,000 and 100,000 in Indiana.    Baptist groups on six continents have protested the move claiming that they are unwilling to cooperate with anyone they cannot control.    Basically the SB cannot tolerate differences if it does not conform to their way of thinking.    Southern Baptists make up one-third of the alliance's 47 million members and provided about one-fifth of its budget.    The SB is concerned of aberrant and dangerous theologies such as support for women as pastors and statements that the Bible contains errors and that people can be saved through means other than Jesus Christ.
• 2/2/2004 - At least 244 killed in hajj stampede by AP.
      Mina, Saudia Arabia - At least 244 people were trampled to death and hundreds more hurt under a crush of worshippers in one of the deadliest disasters during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Saudia Arabia.    The stampede occurred during the stoning of the devil or the first day of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, an emotioanl and notoriously perilous hajj ritual.    Pilgrims frantically throw rocks, shout insults or hurl their shoes at three stone pillars.    The Saudi Minister said that this is God's will.    This same area was the scene of similar deadly incidents in 1998, 2001 and last year, when 14 people died.
• 2/5/2004 - Ruling backs gay marriage by Charles Lane, The Washington Post.
      The highest court in Massachusetts declared that the state legislature may not offer "civil union" instead of marriage for same-sex couples, a ruling that paves the way for the first state recognized same-sex marriages in U.S. history.
• 2/6/2004 - Indianapolis archdiocese releases sex abuse report by AP.
      Indianapolis - Twenty Roman Catholic priest and 12 lay people in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis have been credibly accused of sexually abusing minors since 1950, church officials said in a report.    All the priest involved have either died, resigned or been removed from the priesthood, and the lay people were either fired or resigned.
• 2/9/2004 - Hundreds protest same-sex marriage by AP.
      Boston - Hundreds of opponents of same-sex marriage gathered on Boston Common to show support for a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
• 2/11/2004 - Number of abusive priests may be far higher than earlier estimates by Rachel Zoll, Associated Press.
      The scope of sex abuse accusations against the Roman Catholic clergy since 1950 appears to be much greater than previous estimates.    The dioceses found that 1,341 clergy members have been accused of molesting minors, with more than half (80) of the 195 dioceses yet to report, such as Boston and Los Angeles.
• 2/20/2004 - 'Passion' evokes both religious fervor, concern of Jews by Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal.
      Some see an unprecedented evangelistic opportunity, while others see a dangerous flirtation with anti-Semitic sterotypes after the premiere of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."    Ministers see an opportunity to spread the Christian message with the film, which shows the 12 hours before Jesus Christ was sent to a torturous crucifixion that believers say took away the sins of humanity.    The movie has become a popular-culture phenomenon for many evangelical Christian churches.    The controversy is the critizism for emphasizing anti-Semitic sterotypes of Jews as conspiratorial "Christ killers," manipulating the ruling Romans into killing the Christian savior.
• 2/21/2004 - Vatican to discuss rehabilitation by Frances D'Emilio, Associated Press.
      Vatican City - The Vatican and church officials are on a learning curve to understand abuse and how to rehabilitate offenders with a zero tolerance policy.    As to date, 112 of the 195 U.S. dioceses reported accusations against 2,258 clergy.    The tally of abuse claims is 4,757 so far.
• 2/27/2004 - Boston archdiocese says 162 priests accused of abuse by Denise Lavoie, Associated Press.
      Boston - The Boston diocese, the epicenter of the clergy sex abuse crisis that has shaken the Roman Catholic Church, released a report showing that 162 of its priest have been accused of molesting 815 minors since 1950.    More than half of the incidents were linked to just seven priests between 1965 and 1982.    Also 59 of the 162 accused priests are now dead.
• 2/29/2004 - Pope: Authorities must defend traditional marriage by AP.
      Vatican City - Pope John Paul II urged authorities to stop approving same-sex marriages, saying they degrade the true sense of marriage between a man and a woman, which is the pillar of society that justly had rights and duties specific to it.   
• 3/15/2004 - Conservative Episcopalians defy church over gay bishop by Joe Milicia, Associated Press.
      Fairlawn, Ohio - Launching a new front in the Episcopal Church conflict, six congregations are part of a nationwide protest movement who oppose homosexual activity on biblical grounds.
• 3/25/2004 - Supreme Court weighs 'under God' in Pledge of Allegiance by Anne Gearan, Associated Press.
      Washington - Not long after the Supreme Court came to order with the invocation, "God save the United States and this honorable court," the justices were deep in argument over whether millions of public school children may continue pledging allegiance to one nation "under God," which Michael Newdow, a California atheist and lawyer argued is an unconstitutional goverment promotion of religion in his daughter's third-grade classroom.    Congress inserted the words "under God," in 1954, at the height of the Cold War, to distinguish the religious traditions of the U.S. from the official atheism of the Soviet Union.
• 4/3/2004 - Pope says sex scandal can bring hope, renewal for the church by Nicole Winfield, Associated Press.
      Vatican City - Pope John Paul II told U.S. bishops that the clergy sex abuse scandal can be a renewing "moment of hope" for the church in the U.S. despite "outspoken hostility from many of the faithful.    He also told the U.S. cardinals that there was no place in the priesthood for anyone who would abuse the young.    About 700 accused priests and deacons have been removed from Catholic dioceses in the U.S., and has also taken some in Ireland, the Phillipines and Poland, not counting the large damage settlements against the church and public opinion.    There are about 46,000 Roman Catholic clergy in the U.S.
• 4/26/2004 - Racial divide still strong in religion by Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal.
      Many Baptist churches in the nation have either all black congregations or all white congregations, and churches have changed little since the 1950s, when Rev. Martin Luther King discussed it.    Today, virtually no church practices official segregation, and most preach racial diversity, yet the vast majority of American congregations (95%) consist overwhelmingly of one racial or ethnic group around four-fifths.
• 5/5/2004 - Church backs ordination ban for gays by Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal.
      Pittsburgh - The United States Methodist Church reaffirmed its opposition to homosexuality and its ban on ordaining noncelibate gays and lesbians.    A leading conservative organizer for the church has called for an "amicable separation" of the nation's third-largest religious denomination as a way to end 30 years of debate over homosexuality.    The split that resulted from the battle over homosexuality would be a first among major Protestant denominations.    They believe that conservatives and liberals should each have their own church and divide the assest of the current denomination, which has 8.3 million members.
• 5/31/2004 - World churches upset at U.S. by Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal.
      Anglican bishops from Africa and Asia warn they will break ranks with the Episcopal Church in the U.S. unless it removes an openly gay bishop.    Presbyterians in Kenya cut ties with a Presbyterian group in Washington, D.C., over its support for gay ordination.    African delegates take an outspoken role in effort to tighten language against homosexuality at a conference of the United Methodist Church in May.
      Increasingly, the debate over sexuality in American religious denominations is going global.    Leaders of booming churches in the so-called Global South - Asia, Latin America and especially Africa - are forming alliances with American conservatives in debates related to homosexuality.    The growth of the Christian population of the world is moving from North America and Europe to Africa and China and Latin and South America.    They cannot disregard them if they plan to be a world church.    American denominations are shrinking, while foreign counterparts are growing at a staggering rate.    Africa has 360 million Christians, whereas Latin America 560 million and Asia 313 million, with 50 million in China alone.
• 6/6/2004 - Feelings still strong about Southern Baprist takeover by Boby Ross Jr., Associated Press.
      Houston - Back in 1979, the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention were attacked by conservatives claiming that the denomination's seminaries were "hotbeds of liberalism."    Many conservatives share the view of biblical inerrancy - meaning the Bible is without error in anyway, including historical details.    The new election shifted the direction of the convention to the right - politically and theologically and its conservatives leaders have pushed hard against abortion, homosexuality and women as pastors.    Twenty-five years later, passions remain strong on both sides when Baptists discuss the conservative takeover.    If not for the 1979 meeting, Southern Baptists would be battling the same issues as the Episcapalians, Methodists and Presbyterians, who have marginalized into liberal, moderate denominations.    But today the word Baptist means squabbling and judgmentalism.
• 6/6/2004 - Moving mainline churches to the right by Laurie Goodstein and David D. Kirkpatrick, New York Times News Service.
      As presbyterians prepare for their General Assembly this month, a band of determined conservatives is advancing a radical plan to split the church along liberal and orthodox lines.    Another divorce proposal shook the United Methodist convention last month, while conservative Episcopalians have already broken away to form a disident network of their own.    In each denomination, the flashpoint is homosexuality, but their is another common denominator as well.    In each case, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a small Washington-based organization, has helped incubate fundamentalist insurrections against the liberal politics of the denomination's leaders.    This group is now playing a pivotal role in the biggest battle over the future of American Protestantism since the churches split over slavery at the time of the Civil War.    Their donations has brought together previously disconnected conservative groups within each denomination to share resources and tactics, forcing heresy trials of gay clergy, winning seats on judical committees and encouraging congregations to withhold money from their denomination's headquarters.    They even organized the American Anglican Council when the Episcopal Church elected an openly gay bishop last summer.    They have been involved with Methodist issues, and at the Presbyterian Church's assembly last year they helped block a policy statement recognizing single or gay parents as legitimate families.    Their main goal is to counteract the liberal influence on the mainline Protestant churches and trying to return the church to Biblical orthodoxy and away from the leftist view.
• 6/13/2004 - U.S. Catholic bishops to discuss clergy sex abuse, politicians by Rachel Zoll, Associated Press.
      U.S. Roman Catholic bishops will discuss some internal rifts that became uncomfortably public - over the clergy sex abuse crisis and, separately, Holy Communion and politics.    Bishops disagree on whether Catholic lawmakers at odds with church teaching should receive the sacrament.    It goes with the issue of a Catholic who supports abortion rights, even those who support politicians who support it.    Others believe that Communion should not be used as a sanction.
• 6/26/2004 - Religion verses a pluralistic society by commentary.
      In this pluralistic society, we are trying to decide whether homosexuality is right or wrong, from our social, cultural and religious perspective.    One person's fundamentalist absolutism is another's moral relativism.    At issue is religious beliefs are converging with society's view of rights, and religions are under pressure to concede to secular values and unwisely forsake their own theological precepts.    So long-held biblical beliefs are slowly altering them by society's changing attitude.
• 6/15/2004 - Ruling on pledge keeps 'under God' by Anne Gearan, Associated Press.
      Washington - The Supreme Court allowed millions of schoolchildren to continue affirming loyalty to one nation "under God" but dodged the underlying question of whether the Pledge of Allegiance is an unconstitutional blending of church and state.    The man who brought the case to court in behalf of his daughter could not legally represent her, but does not prevent a future court challenge over the issue.
• 6/16/2004 - Southern Baptists will leave alliance by Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal.
      Indianapolis - Southern Baptists voted to pull out of a 99-year-old global coalition effective Oct. 1, after their leaders accused the Baptist World Alliance of tolerating liberal theology and an allegedly pro-gay organization in its midst.   
• 6/19/2004 - Report: Up to 200 priests moved after accusations by AP.
      Between 100 and 200 Roman Catholic priests around the world were moved from country to country after they were accused of sex offenses against minors, according to an 18-month investigation by the Dallas Morning News.    Vatican officials declined comment on the report.
• 7/7/2004 - Portland Archdiocese takes unique step, files for bankruptcy by Aviva L. Brandt, Associated Press.
      Portland, Ore. - The Portland Archdiocese filed for bankruptcy because of the steep costs from sex abuse lawsuits, an unprecedented step that could open the Roman Catholic archdiocese to new levels of court scrutiny.   
• 7/11/2004 - Advocates of clergy sex abuse victims lay blame at the Vatican by Rachel Zoll, Associated Press.
      Leading advocates for victims of clergy sex abuse are directing their criticism beyond U.S. Roman Catholic bishops to the highest levels of the church.    They're now accusing Vatican leaders of hiding the scope of the molestation problem worldwide - and demanding reform.
• 8/14/2004 - Kabbalah chameleon - Madonna's latest reinvention delves into the mystical offshoot of Judaism by Tamara Ikenberg, The Courier-Journal.
      Kabbalah, a mysterious, multilayered system of Jewish mysticism, has been around for at least 1,000 years.    You did not hear much about until six years ago, when Madonna became entranced with the study.    She began recruiting famous friends and started donating money to the controversial Kabbalah Centre and plans to open a Kabbalah grade school in New York in December.
      Kabbalah is an esoteric, mystical offshoot of Judaism that supposedly holds the keys to the universe, lets studiers in on the oral law handed down from God to Moses, and was originally intended to be explored by a select group of mature scholars highly educated in Jewish tradition.    The Kabbalha Centre, headed by Philip Berg, is not endorsed by the mainstream Jewish community, and is Madonna's brand of Kabbalah more in line with merchandising.    So it is a new-age watered down version of a complex system that relies on context and history.    Other celebrities involved are Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore and Britney Spears.
      Kabbalah is not a book, but there is a central text, known as the Zohar.    Originally written in Aramaic and Hebrew, it's mostly based on Jewish scripture, including the Torah and Talmud and the book of Ezekiel.    The Zohar is sprinkled with thoughts and interpretations of scripture, instruction on meditation and much more, all with an underlying, puzzle-like pattern that when mastered, can supposedly impart the secrets of God.    The most popular belief is that the Zohar was written in Spain in the 13^th century, although some Kabbalist believe it was written as long as 2,000 years ago.
      Two aspects of Kabbalah that have come under scrutiny are numerology and astrology, since some believe the movements of the planets and sky could affect their lives.    As for numerology, it's true that all Hebrew letters are assigned numerical values, making the numerical values of words to draw connections within the text and come close to the hidden meanings.    The Kabbalah also has a lot to do with the concept of light, which helps bring us closer to the Messianic age
• 8/15/2004 - Gays persist in heterosexual marriages for complex set of reasons by Dru Sefton and Michele M. Melendez, Newhouse News Service.
      New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey's lifestyle seems antiquated: a gay man twice-married to women and the father of two children.    Churches, the corporate world and family relationships continue to push gay men and lesbians into the closet, and most have a straight spouse as the perfect cover.    How many gays or lesbians married to straight spouses is difficult to determine.
      My comment: A good question here is what caused this to be that way?    Society or pollution!
• 9/5/2004 - Pope agains speaks against gay marriage by AP.
      Vatican City - Pope John Paul II kept up his campaign against same-sex marriage, telling the ambassador from Canada - where three provinces (Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia) or 70 percent of the country's 31 million people allow homosexual couples to wed - that such unions create a "false understanding" of marriage.
• 9/21/2004 - Diocese of Tucson is second in nation to file for bankruptcy by AP.
      Tucson, Ariz. - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson filed for bankruptcy protection under the weight of debt and pending litigation from clerical sex-abuse cases.
  

Last updated January 31, 2004, and March 15, 2006.