Recent surveys have painted an appalling picture. Almost half a million of the nation’s 24 million veterans were homeless at some point during 2006, and while only a few hundred from Iraq or Afghanistan have turned up homeless so far, aid groups are bracing themselves for a tsunamilike upsurge in coming years.

Tens of thousands of reservists and National Guard troops, whose jobs were supposedly protected while they were at war, were denied prompt re-employment upon their return or else lost seniority, pay and other benefits. Some 1.8 million veterans were unable to get care in veterans’ facilities in 2004 and lacked health insurance to pay for care elsewhere. Meanwhile, veterans seeking disability payments faced huge backlogs and inordinate delays in getting claims and appeals processed.

The biggest stain this year was the scandalous neglect of outpatients at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and a sluggish response to the needs of wounded soldiers at veterans clinics and hospitals. Much of this neglect stemmed from the Bush administration’s failure to plan for a long war with mounting casualties and over-long tours of duty to compensate for a shortage of troops.

Thus far, more than 4,000 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, many more than died in the almost-bloodless Persian Gulf war, but only a fraction of the body counts in Vietnam (58,000) or Korea (36,000). A higher percentage of wounded soldiers are surviving the current conflicts with grievous injuries, their lives saved by body armor, advances in battlefield medicine and prompt evacuation. A study issued last week estimated that the long-term costs of their medical care and disability benefits could exceed the amount spent so far in prosecuting the war in Iraq.

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There’s a growing buzz about the emerging movement, and depending on your point of view, its robust growth and rising influence are worthy of applause, scorn, or perhaps just puzzlement. Fitting for a movement that eschews hierarchy and dogma, emergents defy simple definition. Perhaps the best one can say is that they’re new-style Christians for the postmodern age, the evangelicals of whom the late Rev. Jerry Falwell disapproved.

Postmodernity is nothing new. Philosophers will tell you we’ve been living in the postmodern age for decades. But its expression in the context of fervent Christianity, in the form of the emerging church, is a fairly recent phenomenon, only about a decade old.

Like the postmodern philosophy it embraces, the emerging church values complexity, ambiguity and decentralized authority. Emergents are quite certain about some things, nevertheless, especially Jesus and his clear instruction about the way Christians are to live out their faith ”” not primarily as respectable, middle-class pillars of status quo society, but as servants to the poor and to people in the margins. In the words of Gideon Tsang, a 33-year-old Texas emergent who moved himself and his family to a smaller home in a poorer part of town, “The path of Christ is not in upward mobility; it’s in downward.”

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Losses from the falling value of subprime mortgage assets may reach $300 billion to $400 billion worldwide, Deutsche Bank AG analysts said.

Wall Street’s largest banks and brokers will be forced to write down as much as $130 billion because of the slump in subprime-related debt, according to a report today by Mike Mayo, a New York-based analyst. The rest of the losses will come from smaller banks and investors in mortgage-related securities.

Citigroup Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and Morgan Stanley led more than $40 billion of writedowns of assets as record U.S. foreclosures plundered asset prices. About $1.2 trillion of the $10 trillion of outstanding U.S. home loans are considered to be subprime, Mayo said in the note.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” said Mondher Bettaieb- Loriot, who helps manage the equivalent of about $58 billion at Swisscanto Asset Management in Zurich. “There are more losses to be taken and there’s more negative news to come. At some point it will be a buying opportunity but we’re not there yet.”

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The largest property dispute in the history of the Episcopal Church, brought on by divisions over a homosexual bishop, is likely to turn on a Civil War-era Virginia law passed to govern churches splitting during disputes over slavery and secession.

Circuit Judge Randy Bellows will preside starting tomorrow at the Fairfax County Courthouse over a case brought by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and the national Episcopal Church against 11 churches seeking to leave the denomination along with millions of dollars of property.

The 11 churches voted in December and January to leave the denomination and join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) under the Anglican Church of Nigeria, citing disputes over biblical authority and the 2003 election of the openly homosexual New Hampshire Bishop V. Gene Robinson.

The case is informally referred to as “57-9” in many documents because the coming hearing is based on Virginia Code Section 57-9. This says when a diocese or a denomination experiences a “division,” members of a congregation may determine by majority vote which side of the division to join, along with their property.

“This case is literally historic, because it’s based on a statute enacted by the Virginia legislature during the Civil War,” said Mary McReynolds, one of 24 lawyers involved on CANA’s side of the dispute. “The Virginia division statute is unusual, and my understanding is there are not many situations in the country that allow this.”

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The framers of the Constitution evidently believed that happiness could be achieved, putting its pursuit up there alongside the unalienable rights to life and liberty. Though governments since then have seen life and liberty as deserving of vigorous protection, for all the public policies aimed at increasing economic growth, people have been left to sort out their happiness.

This is an unfortunate omission. Despite all the wealth we have accumulated ”” increased life expectancy, central heating, plasma TVs and venti-white-chocolate-mocha Frappuccinos ”” true happiness has lagged our prosperity. As Bobby Kennedy said in a speech at the University of Kansas in March 1968, the nation’s gross national product measures everything “except that which makes life worthwhile.”

The era of laissez-faire happiness might be coming to an end. Some prominent economists and psychologists are looking into ways to measure happiness to draw it into the public policy realm. Thirty years from now, reducing unhappiness could become another target of policy, like cutting poverty.

“This is another outcome that we should be concerned about,” said Alan Krueger, a professor of economics at Princeton who is working to develop a measure of happiness that could be used with other economic indicators. “Just like G.D.P.”

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O GOD, Almighty and merciful, who healest those that are broken in heart, and turnest the sadness of the sorrowful to joy; Let thy fatherly goodness be upon all that thou hast made. Remember in pity such as are this day destitute, homeless, or forgotten of their fellow-men. Bless the congregation of thy poor. Uplift those who are cast down. Mightily befriend innocent sufferers, and sanctify to them the endurance of their wrongs. Cheer with hope all discouraged and unhappy people, and by thy heavenly grace preserve from falling those whose penury tempteth them to sin; though they be troubled on every side, suffer them not to be distressed; though they be perplexed, save them from despair. Grant this, O Lord, for the love of him, who for our sakes became poor, thy Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, in whose hands are the living and the dead; We give thee thanks for all those thy servants who have laid down their lives in the service of our country. Grant to them thy mercy and the light of thy presence, that the good work which thou hast begun in them may be perfected; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord. Amen.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict. The success of that operation, together with its human cost, was remembered nationally in June. It is also is a focal point in this year’s Service of Remembrance at the Cenotaph, which again takes place against a background of British casualties overseas.

Though the environment and mission in the Falklands differed greatly from those in Iraq and Afghanistan, the human cost is the same for the soliders returning now as it was for those who returned a quarter of a century ago.

For most people in our country, going about their work does not require them to risk their lives, or witness the sights and sounds that a soldier meets on the battlefield. This does not mean that a soldier is bitter or resents this fact, but it does mean that he becomes isolated from his fellow men, having undergone experiences that he cannot adequately describe, that will evermore be a part of his life, and will divorce him from the population among whom he lives and in whose service he has undergone these experiences.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you for the selfless service of those who gave their lives to protect our nation, preserve our freedoms, and restore peace in the face of brutal aggressors. Grant relief to those who continue to experience emotional or physical agony from their days of combat. Give us a sense of responsibility for their welfare. Comfort those who mourn for loved ones who died while performing their duty to our country. Enlist all who are in our military forces into your church militant, that they may pledge eternal loyalty to Christ, our King, and know his peace. Amen

A technical breakthrough has enabled scientists to create for the first time dozens of cloned embryos from adult monkeys, raising the prospect of the same procedure being used to make cloned human embryos.

Attempts to clone human embryos for research have been dogged by technical problems and controversies over fraudulent research and questionable ethics. But the new technique promises to revolutionise the efficiency by which scientists can turn human eggs into cloned embryos.

It is the first time that scientists have been able to create viable cloned embryos from an adult primate ”“ in this case a 10-year-old male rhesus macaque monkey ”“ and they are scheduled to report their findings later this month.

The scientists will also demonstrate that they have been able to extract stem cells from some of the cloned embryos and that they have managed to encourage these embryonic cells to develop in the laboratory into mature heart cells and brain neurons.

Scientists who know of the research said it was the breakthrough that they had all been waiting for because, until now, there was a growing feeling that there might be some insuperable barrier to creating cloned embryos from adult primates ”“ including humans.

The development will not be welcomed in all quarters. Opponents of cloning will argue that the new technique of manipulating primate eggs to improve cloning efficiency will lead to increased attempts at creating ”“ and destroying ”“ cloned human embryos for research purposes.

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WHILE riding in the back of a Cadillac Escalade recently, I made a video call to a friend (“Hey, guess where I’m calling from!”). Then I checked my ranking in an online football pool. And then I sent e-mail messages to my editors, explaining my tardiness in filing this article. I was still testing mobile high-speed Internet access to show how to get the Web on wheels.

And while I discovered that the mobile route to the information superhighway has some potholes and detours, surfing the Web as a passenger in a car may someday become second nature.

Certainly BlackBerry and iPhone adherents can get basic online access while perched in the passenger seat. However, smartphones like the BlackBerry were designed to deal primarily with e-mail, and the iPhone uses a slow connection to the Internet, so you can’t make video calls with it or quickly jump from Web site to Web site. To do that you need a high-speed wireless data service, like those offered by AT&T, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel.

For my Web rides, I used a laptop and a wireless data PC card that slides into the side of a laptop to get high-speed Internet access. The three major cellphone carriers offer unlimited monthly subscriptions for about $60, including a compatible PC card with a two-year contract. All three also offer similar maximum data speeds ”” speeds of about 600 to 1,400 kilobits per second (Kbps) to download and speeds of about 500 to 800 Kbps to upload. It’s not quite as snappy as some broadband cable or DSL services, but it’s close.

For example, I was able to make video phone calls using a Webcam and the Skype Internet calling software on Verizon and AT&T. However, the picture quality didn’t match that of a broadband cable connection, delivering a grainier image and choppier motion. Nevertheless, the experience of jumping from news to sports sites or even playing N.F.L. video clips was usually comparable to that of a home high-speed Internet connection. And all three wireless services are certainly reliable enough to shuffle through e-mail so that you can make excuses to the boss.

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Reams have been written on the differences between Islamic and Western societies, but for sheer pithiness, it’s hard to beat a quip by my former colleague, a Pakistani scholar of Islamic studies. I’d strolled into his office one day to find him on the floor, at prayer. I left, shutting his door, mortified. Later he cheerfully batted my apologies away. “That’s the big difference between us,” he said with a shrug. “You Westerners make love in public and pray in private. We Muslims do exactly the reverse.”

At the nub of debates over Muslim integration in the West lies the question, What’s decent to do in public–display your sexuality or your faith? The French have no problem with bare breasts on billboards and TV but big problems with hijab-covered heads in public schools and government offices. Many Muslims feel just the opposite. As my friend suggested, Westerners believe that prayer is something best done in private, a matter for individual souls rather than state institutions. In the Islamic world, religion is out of the closet: on the streets, chanted five times daily from minarets, enshrined in constitutions, party platforms and penal codes. Sexual matters are kept discreet.

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Give him a look.

This is well worth the time.

Check them out, the Convention was held this weekend.

The Anglican Bishop has accused Government of interfering in church affairs in an “entirely inappropriate” way over the issuing of work permits to non-Bermudian clergymen.

Bishop Ewan Ratteray has reignited a long-running row with the Department of Immigration about the issue in his November newsletter to churchgoers ”” and hit out at some members of his own flock whose behaviour he describes as “reprehensible”.

Bishop Ratteray, who said relations with current Immigration Minister Derrick Burgess were greatly improved, writes that the Anglican Church’s relationship with Government with respect to appointments to parishes has long been a “matter of deep concern” to him.

“Without being overly specific, I refer to interference in the affairs of the church in ways that I believe to be entirely inappropriate,” he says.

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You argue that the increase in religiosity in the U.S. ”“ the most religious country in the world ”“ is spurred not by fears of war or terrorism, but by marketing. How did that happen?

We thought it important to separate church and state, which we did in our Constitution, which means from a marketing point of view; anyone with a program can get into the market and be protected by the state … the wackiest, the noisiest, the most turbulent, will be rewarded.

Other cultures have a state supported monopoly supplier ”“ the Roman Catholic Church in France, the Anglican Church in England or best yet, the Lutheran Church in Scandinavia. These are all suppliers, which have run out of steam. Inevitably, religion loses its pizzazz, because the state always screws up, and antagonisms toward the state get directed to the religion.

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Dr Williams is a liberal who is instinctively supportive of gay people. His desire to hold the communion together, however, has already led him to support a moratorium on the consecration of gay bishops and to suggest that Anglican churches should not recognise same-sex unions through public rites. These concessions have not, however, checked the communion’s unravelling. The fence on which Dr Williams has been sitting has collapsed. It is time for him to preach what he believes.

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I must say that I’m quite happy thinking of the human soul as the form of the body, in the Aristotelian sense of the principle that gives it both its shape and the properties that it displays while alive. Men or women are able to act because of the union between matter (of which their bodies are made) and form (which makes them specimens of the human species, not dead lumps of meat). But in a paper written in 1979 (found in Human Life, Action and Ethics, published by the University of St Andrews) Anscombe comes at this question by way of an observation that Wittgenstein makes in his Philosophical Investigations.

Imagine you are pointing at something, because of its shape or its colour. There is nothing about the bodily action that indicates whether it’s the shape or colour that is meant. As Wittgenstein remarks, although there is, for example, no experience characteristic of pointing to a chess piece “as a piece”, all the same “one can say, ‘I mean that this piece is called the “king”, not this particular bit of wood I am pointing at’.”

What are we to make of this? “Because we can’t give any one bodily action,” he says, “which we call pointing to the shape (as opposed, for example, to the colour), we say that a spiritual activity corresponds to these words. Where our language suggests a body, and there is none, there, we should like to say, is a spirit.”

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Thus far the Archbishop of Canterbury has maintained the traditional Anglican via media with impeccable impartiality, trying to hold things together with a generous policy of being kinder to his enemies than his friends. But the truth is, the only people who now believe that Anglicanism can survive the current crisis in one piece are those holed up in Lambeth Palace. Both conservatives and liberals agree that a house divided cannot stand. The battle lines are drawn. Conservative theologians once defended slavery by refusing to accept the Bible as radically inclusive. Similarly, today’s conservative theologians are twisting the Bible into bad news for homosexuals rather than good news for all. It’s the very opposite of the gospel message of God’s generous and inclusive love.

The head of the US church, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, has threatened the neo-confederate leadership with disciplinary action. Some US liberals hope she is leading the church to a new Gettysburg, a decisive victory over prejudice. Yet they may also recall that Gettysburg was one of the bloodiest days in US history. The fight for right is seldom cost-free. And this fight will be no exception. Glory, glory. Alleluia.

I like Mr. Fraser but this is the kind of analysis which isn’t going to get us anywhere since it is based on a fundamental mischaracterization of those with whom he disagrees. What was it the Archbishop of Canterbury said during the original Jeffrey John controversy?

Concerns over the appointment raised by evangelicals in the diocese of Oxford, [Dr. Rowan] Williams said, were “theologically serious, intelligible and by no means based on narrow party allegiance or on prejudice” and must be considered fully

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On Oct. 31., the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA sent a letter to the bishop of Pittsburgh, directing him not to split the diocese from the denomination. Bishop Duncan replied by quoting Martin Luther, “Here I stand. I can do no other.”

It’s a powerful quote, but a misuse of history. Martin Luther didn’t leave the Roman Catholic Church; he was kicked out. He decided to “stand” and fight. It’s ironic that Bishop Duncan quoted Luther’s pledge to “stand” in order to justify his intention to “walk.”

Are my fellow conservatives fully aware of the biblical and patristic teachings on schism? How do they justify a break with the Episcopal Church to which they have literally sworn loyalty? How do they justify taking Episcopal property with them? Given Paul’s command to the first-century Corinthian Church not to address church issues in secular courts, how do they justify the inevitable legal battles that accompany a schism? How much will the litigation cost? Will the money come from our offerings?

There are moral questions, too. If we break with the Episcopal Church in America over gay priests, how can we then align ourselves with African bishops who tolerate polygamist priests? Paul says that a church leader is to be “the husband of one wife.” Do we think that the word “husband” is inerrant but the word “one” is not?

If the Episcopal Church really has become apostate and its current leaders really are enemies of God, then how can we justify leaving the church, its resources and its sheep in their care? If not, how can we justify this separation?

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The more telling SBC statistic is baptisms, which have been declining. And the SBC annual meeting, held in June in San Antonio, drew the same kind of relatively small, definitely graying crowd that the more moderate BGCT drew in Amarillo.

One problem struggling denominations have in common is infighting. Whether it’s over gay clergy (United Methodists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans), or biblical inerrancy and women in the pulpit (Baptists), it’s still fighting.

Fighting ”” especially when it seems to be as much about power as principle ”” is lousy advertising.

Another shared problem is competition from the many independent churches that have sprung up, unencumbered by denominational requirements or politics, and often offering stirring worship and relevant programming for young families.

Baptists, with their loose organizational structure, face the added problem of post-denominationalism within the ranks.

Many Baptist churches have dropped “Baptist” from their name, seeing it as a turnoff to potential members. And some bigger churches are doing for themselves what Baptist churches have traditionally done together through state conventions and the denomination

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Saturday, the proposed resolution called on the Episcopal Church’s convention to develop and authorize same-sex union blessing rites, a step the national church has so far opposed.

However, 11 dioceses nationwide have approved official, written policies allowing the blessing of same-sex relationships, the resolution reads. It calls on Northern California’s to state that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people are children of God and that the Episcopal Church “should grant them every blessing” other members receive.

Daniel Williamson, senior pastor of St. Johns Church in Roseville, said he’s one of those who respectfully opposes gay blessings, while accepting gay members as his brothers and sisters in Christ.

Williamson said his more traditional position against it stems from both the Bible’s rejection of homosexuality and because various Anglican archbishops have asked the Episcopal church not to appoint [noncelibate] gay clergy members.

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“Mary is a force for the future,” said Deborah Kempson-Thompson, a member of All Saints in Carmel and a seminarian. “She’s interested in moving on, and we need to move on.”
With its new leader installed and relationships mending, the diocese is focusing on a more routine matter: how to increase falling membership. The diocese – which includes Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties – has only 12,000 members. Sunday attendance today is 5,200, down from 6,500 in 2000. It is projected to reach 4,400 by 2009 unless something reverses that trend. Attendance is shrinking while the surrounding population swelled.

Already, Gray-Reeves has asked each of the dioceses’s 50 parishes to think of new ideas for revitalizing the church. “We’ve got nothing to lose,” she says, “so we can try anything.”

The diocese encompasses a multitude of languages, cultures and professions ranging from farmers to software engineers. That kind of diversity can make outreach challenging, members say, but it’s also a gift.

That attitude was reflected Saturday. A Sudanese choir sang. Sherry LeBeau smudged the church with sage as her husband spoke in Lakota, a Native American language. And the day’s prayers alternated between English and Spanish, as did the congregation’s responses.

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I wonder if my cousin, my cousin’s daughter and I will be going to hell – not to mention the priest who sat by as the three of us eulogized Aunt Elizabeth in the Catholic parish where she had been baptized into the faith more than 80 years ago. Eulogies are supposed to be forbidden at Catholic funerals. That’s why, over the years, we’ve seldom heard priests make personal remarks about the departed. Those few who did might have been asking for trouble.

I assume the priest who celebrated the funeral of Aunt Elizabeth probably still has his job; I’ve not heard otherwise.

Then again, he’s not a diocesan priest here in Baltimore, premier see of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.

In the premier see, under the new archbishop, apparently a priest can get in big trouble for seemingly small offenses, and let that be a warning to anyone else who might have ideas about tinkering with sacred rites, letting outsiders read the Gospel, or maybe even eulogizing the departed. There could very well be a crackdown coming.

That’s the signal one gets from the story out of South Baltimore – that after just six weeks on the job, the nation’s former military archbishop, Edwin F. O’Brien, has dismissed the priest who led three parishes for the past five years, because he allowed a female Episcopal priest to read the Gospel during a funeral.

In its account of this story Friday, Catholic World News reported this as “liturgical abuse.”

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Capping a race that drew worldwide attention, Rev. Jeffrey Lee, a Midwest native, was overwhelmingly elected Saturday as the next Episcopal bishop of Chicago.

At their annual diocesan convention at the Westin Hotel in suburban Wheeling, church delegates chose Lee from eight candidates, which included a lesbian priest, Rev. Tracey Lind, dean of Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland.

Lee, 50, is rector of St. Thomas Church in Medina, Wash., but was born and raised near Kalamazoo, Mich., and ordained in northern Indiana. He becomes Chicago’s 12th Episcopal bishop and leader of 41,000 Episcopalians.

“I am overwhelmed and grateful to God for the opportunity to come to such a great diocese,” Lee said by telephone. “In many ways, I believe Chicago reflects the face of the Episcopal Church in all its diversity. Rich and poor, urban and suburban, black and white, gay and straight … and I believe I’ve been called to be a bridge-builder and a reconciler.”

The election marked the most recent flash point in the conflict over homosexuality in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion. The 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson, the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop, began a shift in the church and some thought there would be further divisions if Lind were elected bishop.

When asked about his stance on gays in the church, Lee said he supported full inclusion.

“I believe God is calling us to full inclusion of gays and lesbians in ministry of this church. … There is a place for everyone in the church, and the church has to catch up with God’s vision,” he said.

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When we “use” God, the church, and ministry to appease religious curiosity and demand, determine winners and losers, gain an upper hand or prove we are better than our competitors, we become participants in death: life without God

—Michael Pasquarello

If elected, the Rev. Tracey Lind of Cleveland would have been only the second openly gay U.S. bishop and the first women ever elected to head the Chicago Diocese.

Episcopal church observers said the results weren’t a referendum on the issue for the diocese.

“The people in Chicago wanted the person who could function well in a large, diverse urban diocese,” said the Rev. Kendall Harmon, a church strategist from South Carolina. “Jeffrey Lee came off as the best person.”

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Update: An AP article is here.

Praying makes people feel “peaceful and content” and more than 40% of us are engaged in this spiritual activity, according to a new survey.

Research into the views of 1,000 adults in the UK has shown 42% said they pray to God with about one in six praying every day and one in four praying at least once a week.

After praying, 38% reported feeling “peaceful and content”, 30% said they were strengthened, 22% said they felt close to God, 21% said they felt reassured and safe and 19% said they felt happy and joyful.

A total of 57% of those who pray said they believed that prayer changed what happened in their life and 32% said they had seen the effect of prayer on their lives.

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