A federal judge has ruled that New Jersey officials can continue an investigation into whether a Methodist group violated the rights of two lesbian couples when it refused to rent a seaside pavilion for their civil union ceremonies.

U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association as a pre-emptive strike. The association claimed its constitutional rights would be violated were it forced to allow civil unions, which conflict with Methodist doctrine, to be performed at the pavilion in Ocean Grove, N.J.

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“You will find it a very good practice always to verify your references, sir!”

–Martin Joseph Routh (1755-1854), President of Magdalene College, Oxford, for 63 years

Domingos Pedro was only 12 years old when his father died. The passing was sudden; the cause was a mystery to doctors. But not to Domingos’s relatives.

They gathered that afternoon in Domingos’s mud-clay house, he said, seized him and bound his legs with rope. They tossed the rope over the house’s rafters and hoisted him up until he was suspended headfirst over the hard dirt floor. Then they told him they would cut the rope if he did not confess to murdering his father.

“They were yelling, ”˜Witch! Witch!’” Domingos recalled, tears rolling down his face. “There were so many people all shouting at me at the same time.”

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(Savannah) ”“ The former rector and vestry of Christ Church, Savannah should return all real and personal property to the Diocese of Georgia immediately. That according to a “Petition for Declaratory Judgment Interlocutory and Permanent Injunction and for Damages” filed on behalf of the Episcopal Bishop of Georgia in Chatham Superior Court November 14, 2007.

The Diocese of Georgia is petitioning the Court to declare that the former rector and vestry may not divert, alienate, or use the real or personal property of Christ Church except for the Church’s mission, as provided by and in accordance with the Constitutions and canons of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Georgia; to declare that all real and personal property of Christ Church is held in trust for the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Georgia; and issue a permanent injunction ordering defendants to stop diverting, alienating, or using the real or personal property of Christ Church except for the Church’s mission, as provided by the Constitutions and canons of the Church and the Diocese of Georgia; to render to the Diocese an accounting of all real and personal property held by Christ Church as of March 30, 2006 and also as of September 30, 2007; and to relinquish control of the real and personal property held by Christ Church to the Diocese of Georgia; to award judgment in favor of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia and against the former rector for all pecuniary benefits received by him from Christ Church from March 30, 2006; award judgment against the former rector and vestry for all sums used for and diverted to purposes other than for the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church; and award such further relief as may be necessary and proper.

According to the Petition, former rector Marcus B. Robertson and the then wardens of Christ Church filed with the Georgia Secretary of State amended articles of incorporation purporting to repeal and annul prior articles of incorporation and removing any reference to the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Georgia on or about March 30, 2006. The Bishop of the Diocese of Georgia was never notified of this action; however Robertson continued to receive pecuniary benefits from Christ Church.

By resolution dated September 30, 2007, and by letter dated October 1, 2007 Robertson and the former vestry of Christ Church advised the Bishop that they had placed themselves under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Church of the Province of Uganda and had removed themselves from the ecclesiastical authority of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Georgia.

The defendants did not seek authorization, and neither the Bishop nor any other authority of the Diocese has granted authorization, for Christ Church to terminate its relationship as a parish in the Diocese of Georgia. Further the defendants did not seek authorization, and The Bishop of Georgia has not authorized defendants, to occupy and use the real property of Christ Church for the purpose of worshipping in alignment with the Anglican Province of Uganda, any mission of the Anglican Province of Uganda, or any other body or entity.
Robertson is no longer a priest in the Episcopal Church or the Diocese of Georgia, and he is no longer rector of Christ Church. Based on the departure of Robertson and the wardens and other members of the vestry from the Episcopal Church and their alignment with the Church of the Province of Uganda and further based on the requirements of Episcopal Church Canon I.17.8, the Bishop removed each defendant from his or her position at Christ Church. By their formal alignment with the Church of Uganda and their departure from union with the Diocese of Georgia, defendants have relinquished all legal right to possess or control the real and personal property held by Christ Church.

In order to make provisions for the spiritual guidance and pastoral care of the remaining members of Christ Episcopal Parish who wish to continue within the doctrine, discipline, and worship of, and to continue the mission of, the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Georgia., the Bishop of Georgia has appointed The Reverend Canon Neal Phelps as priest-in-charge of Christ Church; and commended the remaining members of Christ Church to Father Phelps’ care. In order to fulfill his duties as priest-in-charge and to care for the remaining members of Christ Church, Father Phelps is entitled under the laws of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese to the possession and use of the real and personal property of Christ Church.

However, by letter dated October 1, 2007, Robertson and the former vestry of Christ Church publicly disavowed the interests of the Diocese and the Episcopal Church to the Church’s property and asserted that the property would be used by them as part of the Church of Uganda. They continue to claim possession and control of the real and personal property of Christ Church to this date.

According to the complaint, the real and personal property of Christ Church may lawfully be used only for the mission of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Georgia, and such property continues to be subject to the trust for the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Georgia, to be used by those and for those who continue to worship in union with and carry out the mission of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Georgia.

The local Episcopal bishop has been busy.

In late September, Bishop Gladstone “Skip” Adams traveled to New Orleans to meet with other bishops to discuss how the Episcopal Church might remain in communion with the worldwide Anglican church amid disagreements over homosexuality and biblical authority.

He supported a statement from the House of Bishops that agrees not to consecrate “any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on the communion.” That, he translated in a recent interview, means no other gay men or lesbians will become bishops until the church’s General Convention rules on the issue.

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HSBC Holdings PLC, Europe’s biggest bank, reported another big hit from exposure to the U.S. mortgage crisis Wednesday and warned that bad debts could increase if the U.S. housing market weakens further.

However, the bank’s shares rose 3 percent as it reassured investors that third-quarter profits for its global business were ahead of last year, despite the $3.4 billion (2.3 billion euros) impairment charge at its U.S. consumer finance division, HSBC Finance Corp.

The charge was higher than anticipated by analysts and significantly above the $1.9 billion and $2.2 billion booked in the first and second quarter respectively. The division also added $3.4 billion to its credit loss reserves.

HSBC said it would close or consolidate up to 260 more HSBC Finance Corp. branches, adding to 100 branches it had announced previously and taking the number of remaining branches to around 1,000.

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The church and religious community need to stop being afraid to talk about sex.

That is the contention from Dr. Gerry Seale, Chief Executive Officer and General Secretary, Evangelical Association of the Caribbean, as he shared findings of the Evangelical Youth Survey with those gathered at the Hilton Hotel for the Faith-Based HIV Symposium sponsored by the Religious Advisory Committee on National Affairs, UNAIDS and the Faith-Based Committee of the National HIV/AIDS Commission.

The survey was answered by 405 young people from various denominations across the island. Of these respondents, he revealed that one per cent indicated that they were HIV positive.

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SHORT-TERM INSTITUTIONAL BOND RUN MANAGED by General Electric Asset Management apparently has suffered losses in mortgage and asset-backed securities and is offering investors the option to redeem their holdings at 96 cents on the dollar.

The setback at GE Asset Management’s GEAM Trust Enhanced Cash Trust is the latest in a series of problems encountered by money-market and short-term bond funds from the turmoil in the mortgage and asset-securities markets.

Legg Mason, Wachovia and Bank of America have had to provide financial support to their money-market funds to prevent their funds from “breaking the buck,” or falling below the $1 asset value that money funds seek to preserve.

The GE fund, totaling $5 billion, is an “enhanced” cash fund, meaning it seeks to provide a slightly higher yield than a money-market fund while preserving principal and maintaining an asset value of $1 per share.
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Pentecostal theologian and scholar Cheryl Bridges-Johns proposed a radical reinvention of the ecumenical movement in a keynote address delivered on the third day of the Global Christian Forum which takes place 6-9 November in Limuru, near Nairobi, Kenya.

Bridges-Johns, a professor at the Theological Seminary of the Church of God in Cleveland (Tennessee), US, sparked a vivid discussion with her lecture, which elaborated on a statement from the 1961 New Delhi assembly of the World Council of Churches : « the achievement of unity will involve nothing less than a death and rebirth of many forms of church life as we have known them ».

For Bridges-Johns, what is dying is « the old ’mainstream’ ecumenical paradigm, » as « the structures built to create and sustain the visible unity of the church are no longer viable ». As a result, « a new form of ecumenism is needed that is able to embrace the challenges of world-wide Christianity ». The Global Christian Forum « represents such an effort ». It is one instance of « a number of new ecumenical tables » that have arisen over the last decade or so.

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Two dates – two numbers. Read them and weep for what could have, and should have, been. On Sept. 11, 2001, the OPEC basket oil price was $25.50 a barrel. On Nov. 13, 2007, the OPEC basket price was around $90 a barrel.

In the wake of 9/11, some of us pleaded for a “patriot tax” on gasoline of $1 or more a gallon to diminish the transfers of wealth we were making to the very countries who were indirectly financing the ideologies of intolerance that were killing Americans and in order to spur innovation in energy efficiency by U.S. manufacturers.

But no, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney had a better idea. And the Democrats went along for the ride. They were all going to let the market work and not let our government shape that market – like OPEC does.

You’d think that one person, just one, running for Congress or the Senate would take a flier and say: “Oh, what the heck. I’m going to lose anyway. Why not tell the truth? I’ll support a gasoline tax.”

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The Colorado Supreme Court cleared the way Tuesday for an anti-abortion group to collect signatures for a ballot measure that would define a fertilized egg as a person.

The court approved the language of the proposal, rejecting a challenge from abortion-rights supporters who argued it was misleading and dealt with more than one subject in violation of the state constitution.

If approved by voters, the measure would give fertilized eggs the state constitutional protections of inalienable rights, justice and due process.

“Proponents of this initiative have publicly stated that the goal is to make all abortion illegal ”” but nothing in the language of the initiative or its title even mentions abortion,” Kathryn Wittneben of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado said in a statement. “If that’s not misleading, I don’t know what is.”

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