Religion Today Summaries – January 3, 2007
Daily briefs of the top news stories impacting Christians around the world.
In today's edition:
- Anglicans Plan Global Meeting, May Invite Conservative Episcopalian Leaders
- University of Wisconsin System's Growing Anti-Christian Reputation
- Southern Seminary’s Mohler Recovering Following Surgery
- San Francisco Episcopal Church Quits ECUSA
Anglicans Plan Global Meeting, May Invite Conservative Episcopalian Leaders
Conservative representatives of the Episcopal Church USA may be invited to meet with Anglican leaders in February during a global meeting, AgapePress reports. In a December 18 letter, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said the deep divisions in the U.S. church warrant the meeting to talk about the future of the global fellowship. He says he will also invite newly installed Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori to the meeting. Schori supports ordaining homosexuals and blessing same-sex couples. Those views have led numerous Episcopal congregations to leave the ECUSA and ask to be supervised by more conservative Anglicans overseas. At the same time, most overseas Anglicans are pressuring the ECUSA to adhere to traditional Christian teaching on sexuality and other issues.
University of Wisconsin System's Growing Anti-Christian Reputation
The University of Wisconsin system has been scorned of late for employing a professor who claims President Bush orchestrated the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; however, the university gained further notoriety this year for its treatment of Christian students. According to AgapePress, earlier this year, UW's Eau Claire campus lifted its ban on dorm room Bible studies led by resident assistants after a Christian student filed a lawsuit challenging the policy. But in October, UW-Superior was also sued after denying official recognition to InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Superior took issue with the Christian group's requirement that its student leaders be Christians. Meanwhile, UW-Waukesha permitted a pagan student club to form on that campus. David French, director of the Alliance Defense Fund's Center for Academic Freedom, says the University of Wisconsin has developed a reputation for unfairly targeting Christians. "The strange thing," French observes, is that "it seems as if universities are saying no matter how far outside of the mainstream you're going to go, whether it's a pagan club or whether it's a 9/11 conspiracy theorist professor, we're not going to go so far as to allow orthodox or traditional Christianity." Also this past year, UW-Madison de-recognized the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic organization, and denied contract status to the Roman Catholic Foundation.
Southern Seminary’s Mohler Recovering Following Surgery
R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, is recovering at a hospital in Louisville, Ky., following abdominal surgery Dec. 28, Baptist Press reports. Mohler was admitted to the hospital Dec. 27 after experiencing abdominal pain. During a three-hour procedure, surgeons removed scar tissue from an operation he underwent during the 1980s. Mohler is expected to be released from the hospital within a week and will continue his recovery at home. Russell Moore, dean of the school of theology and senior vice president for academic administration at Southern, will host Mohler’s national radio program until he is able to return to the air. The Southern Seminary community is praying for Mohler’s quick and total recovery, according to a news release Dec. 29.
San Francisco Episcopal Church Quits ECUSA
AgapePress reports that a congregation north of San Francisco has become the latest to break ties with the Episcopal Church. Members of St. John's Episcopal Church in Petaluma voted to leave the denomination, which has become alienated from other parts of the Anglican Communion since consecrating an openly homosexual bishop. The rector of what will now be known as St. John's Anglican Church says, "The Bible has already spoken regarding homosexuality, and it says it is sinful behavior." But the rector of another Episcopal congregation in nearby Santa Rosa notes that "Jesus had nothing to say about homosexuality."
Originally published January 03, 2007.
