Faith: April 2008 Archives

Episcopal Life Online: Presiding Bishop's Message for Easter 2008

Preventing cow farts is at the heart of the Easter message, according to the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church (USA): "When atmospheric warming, due in part to the methane output of the millions of cows we raise each year to produce hamburger, begins to slowly drown the island homes of our neighbors in the South Pacific, are we truly sharing good news?" (Via The MCJ's Katharine Jefferts Schori Relevance Tour.)

Pajamas Media: Muslims Leaving Islam in Droves

"In Iran as many as 1 million people have surreptitiously converted to Evangelical Christianity in the last five years.... One Iranian religious scholar believes youth are abandoning Islam because it is identified with the corrupt Iranian government.... After decades of Islamist war, evangelicals report thousands of sub-rosa converts in rural areas of Kashmir. Says one churchgoer: 'I am interested in this religion. I hate violence. I hate fundamentalists in Islam. I come here to seek peace.'... Following decades of terrorist rule, Palestinians are being quietly converted, holding in-home services to avoid detection. Says one evangelist: 'I've been working among these people for thirty years, and I promise you I've never seen anything like this.'" (Via Clayton Cramer.)

World On the Web: Living I'm Sorry

"Something I've learned about sin, however, having committed more than my share of it, is that it scars those around us, sometimes even cripples them.... When we damage a relationship, we have to take steps to help repair the damage, if we want the relationship to be what it was, or what it was supposed to have been. 'I'm sorry' is an important step, but it's only the first step.... I wish more of us, myself included, could live I'm sorry, not just say it."

BaylyBlog: Sexuality and the PC(USA), the EPC, the CRC, and the PCA...

Tim Bayly thinks its time to add a chapter to the Presbyterian Church in America's confession of faith (identical in most respects to the 1648 Westminster Confession of Faith) to affirm male headship in the church and the home. If they're going to modify the confession, maybe they could finally correct the magisterial reformers' blind spot about paedobaptism....