From here:
VANCOUVER — The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is calling for Canada’s polygamy law that bans multiple marriages to be found unconstitutional and “relegated to the scrap heap of history.”
In written submissions filed Thursday, the association urged B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman to find that the law offends fundamental freedoms.
Quite so: let’s get some inclusion going on here.
The Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada have been in “full communion” now for ten years. During that time, both denominations 
have been hurtling pell-mell down the road of increasing theological liberalism and both have been suffering equally catastrophic numbers of people fleeing their churches for less “inclusive” pastures.
Considering that the numerical growth has been drastically negative, it is a little odd that the churches are getting together to pool their successes and even more odd that they are planting a tree together to symbolise “continued growth” – which if it continues at the present rate will see the end of both denominations within a few decades.
From here:
Tree planting symbolizes hope for continued growth.
Anglican and Lutheran leaders ended their first joint meeting with a tree planting ceremony on the grounds of the Queen of the Apostles Renewal Centre, a symbol of their hope for the continued growth of their Full Communion.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada’s (ELCIC) National Bishop, Susan Johnson, said the tree is a “reminder of the work that needs to be done” to realize the full potential of Full Communion.
Canadian Anglicans and Lutherans are “standing back with great humility and joy,” as they celebrate a decade of Full Communion this year, said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada. He described the meeting of members of the Anglican church’s Council of General Synod (CoGS) and the ELCIC’s National Church Council (NCC) as a “watershed moment.”
There is a website called the Brights where atheists can gather and feel at home in the Koinonia of unbelief. According to the site:
- A bright is a person who has a naturalistic worldview
- A bright’s worldview is free of supernatural and mystical elements
- The ethics and actions of a bright are based on a naturalistic worldview
Unfortunately, every encounter I’ve had with an atheist belies the rather arrogant epithet they have appropriated for themselves. Most atheists are more interested in the mindless, formulaic repetition of the creeds of contemporary atheism than in carefully scrutinising the consequences of their philosophical position: they really are not very bright.
This, in a way, is good news for Christians since it provides both the motive to explore the reasons why Christianity holds together as an explanation for the meaning of human life, and countless opportunities to give atheists a satisfying poke in the eye with the rationality of which they believe themselves to be the sole custodians.
Regrettably, the intellect of most atheists is insufficiently adroit to alert them to the fact that they have been thoroughly routed; this only lessens the euphoria very slightly.
The difference between a nutty Christian and a nutty Muslim is that when the nutty Christian loses his head, everyone else gets to keep theirs; with Muslims it’s the reverse.
From here:
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan — Stirred up by a trio of angry mullahs who urged them to avenge the burning of a Koran at a Florida church, thousands of protesters overran the compound of the United Nations in this northern Afghan city, killing at least 12 people, Afghan and United Nations officials said.
The dead included at least seven United Nations workers — five Nepalese guards and two Europeans, one of them a woman. None were Americans. Early reports, later denied by Afghan officials, said that at least two of the dead had been beheaded.
The attack was the deadliest for the United Nations in Afghanistan since 11 people were killed in 2009, when Taliban suicide bombers invaded a guesthouse in Kabul. It also underscored the latent hostility toward the nine-year foreign presence here, even in a city long considered to be among the safest in Afghanistan — so safe that American troops no longer patrol here in any numbers.
Unable to find Americans on whom to vent their anger, the mob turned instead on the next-best symbol of Western intrusion — the nearby United Nations headquarters. “Some of our colleagues were just hunted down,” said a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Kieran Dwyer, confirming the attack.
It’s a rare pleasure to see so much nonsense condensed into so few words; of course, the Montreal Anglican has had a lot of practice.
From here (page 5):
CHRISTIANS ARE ON THE CUSP of a revelation that Christ “has not only redeemed the world but revealed the lie of imperialism” that underlies systemic evils like colonialism, resulting in environmental crisis, substance abuse and abuses in residential schools, Bishop Mark MacDonald, national indigenous bishop for the Anglican Church of Canada, said in a special service on Ash Wednesday for students at the three denominational theological colleges at McGill University. He said it has been unhelpful for churches to deal with sin as just a personal problem. Here, the bishop, right, chats over lunch with Rev. Canon Paul Jennings of the Montreal Diocesan Theological College.
The Parish of St. Andrew and St. Mark studied Islam during Lent:
Understanding Islam:
Conversations with our Muslim Brothers and Sisters
Everyone who is interested in learning about another faith is invited to come and share in our Tuesday Lenten Series on Islam, The evening will begin with a talk given by our local Imam, Dr. Ahmad Shafaat, on the basics of the Islam faith. It will be followed by a question period, and opportunities for more conversation in small groups, with invited visitors from our local mosque.
Three Tuesdays in Lent
February 23, March 2, March 9.
7:30 PM
St Andrew and St. Mark’s Anglican Church
To make sure they had the hang of Islam, 23 parishioners attended prayers at the Dorval Mosque:
There is no word on whether the 23 Anglicans converted to Islam or not. Either way, it probably wouldn’t make much difference.
The ACoC page as of this writing is, much like its subject, totally devoid of content.
One person “likes” it, although that number might diminish once the person realises what he has got himself into.
From here:
Schools have banned Christians from handing out Bibles to avoid angering other faiths.
The Gideons have become famed for handing out signature red Bibles to young children during school assemblies.
But they have been told to stay away from some classes because it may spark complaints from different faiths.
Abbot Beyne School and Paget High School near Burton On Trent in Staffordshire have made the controversial ban.
Even though the evil Gideons are not allowed to distribute their nefarious literature, the homosexual lobby has managed to infiltrate every subject taught in UK schools – at every level:
In geography, for example, they will be told to consider why homosexuals move from the countryside to cities. In maths, they will be taught statistics through census findings about the number of homosexuals in the population.
In science, they will be directed to animal species such as emperor penguins and sea horses, where the male takes a lead role in raising its young.
Alas, this gay curriculum is no laughing matter. Absurd as it sounds, this is but the latest attempt to brainwash children with propaganda under the camouflage of education. It is an abuse of childhood.
And it’s all part of the ruthless campaign by the gay rights lobby to destroy the very concept of normal sexual behaviour.
Time will tell what the effect of this is, but I suspect the socially engineered brave new world where children are more familiar with gay penguins than the ten commandments will rapidly approach a state of degeneration where it will become unsustainable – as environmentalists like to say.
I was toying with the headline, “Anglican priests finding their inner hermaphrodite” but, no matter.
It appears that truly modern Anglian priests aspire to “transition” in order to illustrate the independence of bodily appendages and inner gender.
From here:
Last week, the Rev Dr Christina Beardsley, vice-chair of Changing Attitude, a network of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and heterosexual members of the Church of England, was one of the voices featured on 4Thought.tv’s week of short films featuring trans people and faith.
While the US Episcopal church developed a maverick reputation within the Anglican communion for blessing same sex marriages and ordaining gay and lesbian clergy, the House of Bishops of the General Synod of the Church of England’s report Some Issues in Human Sexuality, issued in 2003, contained a chapter titled “Transsexualism”. Currently, one can find about a half dozen trans clergy in the UK and US. These numbers are imprecise, as some clergy do not wish to go public beyond the scope of their individual parish or diocese – a concern that’s understandable given that the trans community seldom receives even the legal protections afforded gays and lesbians .
Beardsley, who was ordained for 23 years prior to her transition in 2001, observes that “some within the Church of England feel the issue of trans clergy has been settled” by citing such cases as the Rev Carol Stone and the Rev Sarah Jones. However, she says: “Not all trans clergy have been supported by their bishop, as these two priests were, and some have been excluded from full-time ministry because of Church of England opt-outs from UK equality legislation.”…..
The Rev Vicki Gray, a Vietnam vet before her transition, and currently a deacon with an emphasis on ministry to the homeless, noted that their goals at general convention were to assert that we exist as flesh-and-blood human beings, to demonstrate that we are here in the church as decent and devout followers of Jesus Christ, and to begin the process of education and dialogue that will lead to full inclusion in the life of the church, not only of the transgendered but of other sexual minorities such as the inter-sexed (known to some as hermaphrodites).
Here’s to the full inclusion of hermaphrodites: I suppose this means that the Anglican Church will be producing a liturgy to celebrate a person marrying himself. Or should that be herself?
Apparently, the real problem for humanity is not a sinful rebellion against God, but viewing ourselves as higher or more valuable than animals and the earth.
Earth Day falls on Good Friday this year so, according the Anglican Church of Canada, what better way to remember Jesus’ atoning death on the cross than to bewail our conceit in thinking we are the pinnacle of God’s creation.
So it’s time to forget Psalm 8:5: “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”
And Hamlet was right out to lunch with:
What a piece of work is a man, how noble in reason, how infinite in faculties, in form and moving how express and admirable, in action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals—and yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust? Man delights not me— nor woman neither, though by your smiling you seem to say so.
According to the ACoC:
Yet, for many centuries most people, including most Christians, have thought of humanity as being higher, greater, more valued than or even separate from the rest of Creation. This hierarchical attitude has also infected relationships among humans.
In this way we have broken our Covenant with God. We have broken the Great Commandment because we have not loved God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength. Nor have we loved our neighbour as ourselves…….
One of the results has been our willingness to sacrifice the community of all living things, our Earth community, in order that humans might continue to consume fossil fuels without restraint.
And by drilling for oil, it seems we have put the earth itself – Gaia – on the cross:
And so it is with the Earth. In our indifference, in our callous disregard for the needs of all living beings, we have put the Earth upon the Cross. Today is the day for us to recognize our guilt in perpetuating injustice against our partners in Creation and confess it. In the journey from Good Friday to Easter Sunday we have an opportunity to repent and beg for mercy. True repentance requires a change of heart, a change of mind and new actions that demonstrate our new conviction.
What a revolting perversion of Good Friday.