President-elect Barack Obama may well be one of the 79 million members of the baby boom generation. But he’s a late-wave boomer, a child of the 1970s — as are half of the two dozen people he’s selected thus far to help him lead the country.

Many of those Obama is bringing to Washington — including his Education secretary, Homeland Security chief, Treasury secretary, United Nations ambassador and Energy czar — came of age in the era of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.

And their shared experiences offer insights into how they may govern: They tend to be less ideological than early boomers, more respectful of contrary opinions, more pragmatic and a lot less likely to get bogged down by the shibboleths of the 1960s, according to historians, marketers and pollsters.

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A discussion on the sensitive topic has been tabled for the next meeting of the Church of England’s governing body amid fears that some clergy are ignoring their traditional missionary role.

Some members of the General Synod believe Christ ordered all Christians to recruit nonbelievers and followers of other faiths, and they want to see how many bishops and vicars agree with this view.

Among the speakers is likely to be the Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, who earlier this year warned that Church leaders had “gone too far” in their sensitivity towards Muslims and were not doing enough to spread the word of God.

At the end of the debate at next February’s Synod meeting in London, bishops, clergy and lay members will vote on whether bishops should report to the Synod on “their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in multi-faith Britain”, and give examples of how the gospel should be shared.

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Watch it all. I see in this piece that there will be an extended interview with Rick Warren tonight on Dateline for those interested–KSH.

RAY SUAREZ: Does this choice represent all of American religious thought, Mr. Cromartie?

MICHAEL CROMARTIE, Ethics and Public Policy Center: Oh, no, of course it doesn’t. But what it does say is that — what we need to know about Rick Warren is that he has become sort of the next Billy Graham in our country, sort of America’s pastor.

In fact, I think if Billy Graham’s health was better now, he would probably be the person doing this. But Rick Warren has become that person.

RAY SUAREZ: But it didn’t sound like Harry Knox is too happy about the idea that this might be America’s pastor.

MICHAEL CROMARTIE: No, that’s right. And I would just remind Harry this is not a cabinet appointment. This is an invocation, a short prayer that will be a very nonsectarian prayer.

Rick Warren, by the way, has an amazingly great reputation with ministers of compassion around the world. He’s an incredibly magnanimous man. And I think that President-elect Obama picked him because he likes him personally.

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It is difficult to comprehend how our president-elect, who has been so spot on in nearly every political move and gesture, could fail to grasp the symbolism of inviting an anti-gay theologian to deliver his inaugural invocation. And the Obama campaign’s response to the anger about this decision? Hey, we’re also bringing a gay marching band. You know how the gays love a parade.

Yes, the Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of the humongous, evangelical Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif., has a sound message on poverty. And certainly, in the world of politics, there is a view that Barack Obama owes Warren for bringing him before fellow evangelicals, despite fierce opposition during the heat of the presidential campaign.

But here’s the other thing about Warren, the author of the bestselling book “The Purpose Driven Life”: He was a general in the campaign to pass California’s Proposition 8, which dissolved the legal marriage rights of loving, committed same-sex couples.

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Faced with rising unemployment and a dismal stock market, consumers are spending less on holiday gifts this year. But the presents they’re buying may say even more about how Americans are coping with the economic slump.

“Christmas is already an introspective time, but it’s become even more so with the economy,” says Ken Nisch, chairman of the retail brand and design firm JGA. “People are re-evaluating Christmas, what’s in their heart and what’s under the tree.”

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Ryan Wampler had never made much money selling his own homes.

Starting in 1999, however, he began to do very well. Three times in eight years, Wampler ”” himself a home builder and developer ”” sold his home in the Phoenix area, always for a nice profit. With prices in Phoenix soaring, he made almost $700,000 on the three sales.

And thanks to a tax break proposed by President Bill Clinton and approved by Congress in 1997, he did not have to pay tax on most of that profit. It was a break that had not been available to generations of Americans before him. The benefits also did not apply to other investments, be they stocks, bonds or stakes in a small business. Those gains were all taxed at rates of up to 20 percent.

The different tax treatments gave people a new incentive to plow ever more money into real estate, and they did so.

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The document has been strongly criticised by the Bishop of Swindon, Dr Lee Rayfield, the Church of England’s spokesman on ethics, for its lack of theological rigour. While expressing understanding of Roman Catholic hesi­tancy over some things, he described it as “very poor” on Wednesday, and expressed concern for the pastoral consequences of any future disen­gagement of the Roman Catholic hierarchy with the issues.

Dr Rayfield said: “From my perspective ”” and I would imagine a large number of other Christians ”” this new communication will come as a disappointment, but not a surprise.

“This instruction fails to engage adequately with the issues raised by assisted reproduction and its associated techniques at a number of levels. It worries me that there are assertions in it, for example about IVF and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection, which simply do not bear the weight of theological or ethical scrutiny, even from within the absolutist standpoint taken by the Roman Catholic Church.”

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The Sunday service at Durham’s King’s Park International Church features a blast of hymns, gospel and praise music performed live and loud by band members that are as multi-racial as the people in attendance.

The church, one of the Triangle’s most diverse, is a prime example of a trend.

A new study of U.S. religious congregations by a Duke University sociologist shows significant changes in the racial composition of churches within just nine years.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury has surprisingly reignited the row today over the separation of church and state by saying it is “not the end of the world” if the established church were to disappear.

Rowan Williams, the most senior figure in the Church of England, argues that there is a “certain integrity” to a church that was free from state sanctions.

His endorsement of disestablishment comes in an interview published today in this week’s New Statesman.

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One friend suggests his refusal to “speak out” is a reflection of Jesus’s own approach, especially when Christ refused to answer Pontius Pilate’s questions at His trial, as described in Mark’s Gospel. “I think that, again, one of the things the Gospel ought to do is make us question the way we put our questions,” Williams says. “So that, right throughout the ministry of Jesus as well as at His trial, a hostile person sitting there could say, ‘He never gives a straight answer to a straight question: “Do we pay tribute to Caesar?”‘ And Jesus pushes it back and says, ‘What are we really talking about?’ I think it’s always important to ask before we make the snap answer: what are we really talking about?”

Thirty years ago, Rowan Williams had a formative experience in Liverpool that would help define his approach as a churchman and an archbishop. “When I first went to train in a parish in the 1970s, I went to one of the worst council estates in Liverpool for a bit as part of my student experience, and the vicar said to me something I’ve never forgotten: ‘The people here have doors slammed in their face every day of the week. I want to make sure they don’t have another one slammed on the seventh.’ That’s a very central vision for me and that’s what I try to work with.”

It is a vision that helps guide him through the crises threatening his church.

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(Via Email):

New diocese planned for North Texas area

According to Internet announcements, plans are under way for a new Episcopal diocese to be formed in North Central Texas. The sources indicate that an organizing meeting or convention may be held as soon as Feb. 7, 2009. The new diocese is being organized by North Texas Episcopalians who wish to be affiliated with the General Convention of The Episcopal Church. A group known as Steering Committee North Texas Episcopalians is initiating the organizing effort.

The announcement has appeared on the Steering Committee’s Web site and on a site launched by a group leaving St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Arlington. It indicates that the probable conference site is All Saints’ Episcopal School in Fort Worth, and that the organizers hope TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will be present to preside.

Fr. Christopher Jambor, rector of All Saints’ parish in Fort Worth, is named as the head of the organizing committee. The business of the meeting is expected to be the adoption of a constitution and canons for the new diocese, as well as the election of founding officers.

It was not immediately clear how many conferees will participate in the event, how they will be selected, or what congregations or other groups they will represent.

Rio Vista has cut a third of its city workers and slashed its recreation budget to $29,000 from about $250,000. The city is looking into selling more than 100 acres of its land for revenue. Since July 2007, Rio Vista has cut $1 million from its $7 million budget but still faces an $800,000 shortfall. “The fact we are a small town makes it more difficult to handle this slide we are on,” says Rio Vista Mayor Jan Vick.

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The White House said on Thursday that an “orderly” bankruptcy was one option being considered to try to rescue General Motors and Chrysler, which are seeking billions of dollars to avoid a shutdown.

President Bush’s spokeswoman, Dana Perino, confirmed growing speculation within legal circles that the president and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. were considering the step as part of an overall rescue package for the automobile industry.

The action would be unusual, and would require concessions by the United Automobile Workers union, suppliers, investment banks, the federal pension board, bondholders and other stakeholders in the two auto companies.

Ford Motor, which does not face an urgent need for capital, is not likely to be part of any rescue package.

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Once upon a time, the Anglican Church was a powerful presence in the U.S.A.­ known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. or more recently as The Episcopal Church.­ It claimed a large percentage of the population (16% in 1789) and an even larger representation among the leaders of our great nation.

The language of its liturgy shaped much of our culture and its cathedrals and churches were a witness to the community. Today however, it is wracked with internal conflict, shrinking numbers (less than three-tenths of one percent of Americans regularly worship in Episcopal Churches) and is known more for its rejection of biblical authority and its willingness to litigate against its own clergy and congregations than for its passion for Christ. But that isn’t the end of the story.

A growing number of Anglican Christians have realized that they cannot continue down this path. On December 3, as the Bishop of CANA (the Convocation of Anglicans in North America) I joined the bishops and representatives of 14 other Anglican dioceses and networks to introduce the provisional constitution of a new Anglican Church in North America.

We are making a new start. This new Church already represents more than 700 congregations across the nation with a diverse leadership that is committed to the centrality of Christ and the trustworthiness of the Bible as we seek to live out our faith in an authentic way.

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The Vatican will not create an enclave within the Roman Catholic Church for Anglicans opposed to women clergy and the ”˜gay agenda’, Rome’s La Civiltà Cattolica predicts.

In an October article entitled Catholic Anglican Relations after the Lambeth Conference (La Relazione tra Cattolici e Anglicani dopo la Conferenza di Lambeth) the semi-official Jesuit bi-weekly stated the “corporate unity” under discussion between the Vatican and traditionalist Anglicans “will not be a form of uniatism as this is unsuitable for uniting two realities which are too similar from a cultural point of view as indeed are Roman Catholics and Anglo-Catholics.”

“The Holy See, while sympathetic to the demands of these Anglo-Catholics” for corporate reunion, “is moving with discretion and prudence.” Opposition to the ordination of women to the ordained ministry and to gay bishops and blessings “is not enough,” the newspaper said. Anglo-Catholics should be motive not by a rejection of Anglicanism but by the “desire to join fully the Catholic Church,” Fr. Paul Gamberini SJ wrote.

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Grace Community Church in Mandarin plans to tell it on the mountain – or at least preach it from the pulpit – on Sunday, Jan. 4. And it’s not something former church member Rebecca Hancock wants her children or anyone else to hear.

The Jacksonville church informed Hancock, 49, this month it will make her “sexually immoral relationship” with her boyfriend public at that service.

Hancock, who is divorced, said she left the church in October because members confronted her over it. On Wednesday, she also sent the church a letter officially resigning – hoping to stop the action so her children, who attend services there, would not have to face her embarrassment.

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I will take comments on this submitted by email only to at KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

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A key submission to the SEC in 2007. Read it carefully and read it all. Please note the dates. It is an almost 20 page pdf.

As Christians, church leaders and bishops in the Episcopal Church, we urge the General Assembly to act to abolish the death penalty (“Report fuels death debate,” Dec. 13).

As Christians, we are guided by the words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Here he specifically rejects retribution by stating that even the teaching in the Old Testament of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” is to be rejected in favor of the teaching that calls for reconciliation (Matthew, 6:38).

Responding to killing with more killing will not make society less violent. Retaliating for death with death is not simply punishment but a further justification of violence as a way of life. We simply cannot kill our way out of the violence.

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(ACNS) The Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations (IASCER) held its last meeting in Kyoto, Japan, under the chairmanship of the Most Revd Drexel Gomez, Primate of the Church in the Province of the West Indies. The Commission is charged with reviewing current international ecumenical dialogues involving Anglicans, and provincial and regional initiatives towards unity with other Christians. IASCER consists of representatives from each international dialogue involving Anglicans, including the multilateral dialogue of Faith and Order, and of certain other commissions and networks, and consultants who bring particular regional or theological expertise.

Reports were received of all current bilateral and multilateral theological dialogues of the Anglican Communion, as well as of developments from particular regions of the globe. In the course of reflections on the current life of the Anglican Communion, the Commission also reflected further on aspects of the interface between ecumenical and Anglican Communion matters. This work is reflected in the documentation and resolutions produced at this meeting. These pieces of work will be published when available through the Anglican Communion website. IASCER also gave some considerable attention to reviewing the breadth of their work in the period since their formation and first meeting in 2000. It is the intention to produce a comprehensive report and review of their work (The Vision Before Us) which can be presented to the fourteenth meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, which will meet in Jamaica in May 2009.

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Negative views of the US military presence in the Gulf are part of a broader negative view of US relations with the Muslim world.

Most worldwide think the United States is disrespectful of the Muslim world, though only a minority thinks this is done purposefully. Given three options, only 16 percent on average across 21 nations say “the US mostly shows respect to the Islamic world.” Sixty-seven percent think the US is disrespectful, but 36 percent say this is “out of ignorance and insensitivity,” while 31 percent say “the US purposely tries to humiliate the Islamic world.” Only Americans have a majority saying the US mostly shows respect to the Islamic world (56%).

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New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage recently cut its staff by 12 percent as it projects smaller donations following the worst year for U.S. stocks since 1931.

In the wake of the arrest of Bernard Madoff in what’s being called the biggest scandal in philanthropic history, museum Deputy Director Ivy Barsky expects more pain.

“It’s devastating, even for those of us who aren’t directly affected,” she said.

Makes the heart sad–read it all.

Q: Who is the war on terrorism against? Is it al-Qaeda? Is it the tactic, which seems impossible to eradicate? Or is it Islamic radicalism?

A: What we’re confronting is an ideological conflict with an extremist world view that I don’t think is an accurate representative of Islam, but uses the language or hijacks Islam for an extremist agenda. It’s an ideology that’s reflected in al-Qaeda, and it’s reflected in Lashkar-e-Taiba, which everybody now knows because of (the Mumbai attacks). That is the struggle, and unlike the Cold War victory, I don’t think there’s going to be a wall that comes down. It will be a process of using hard power to strike back at the leaders and using soft power to change the breeding ground where people try to recruit.

Q: What lessons do you see for the United States from the Mumbai attacks?

A: Some people say take FEMA out (of Homeland Security) because they’re consequence management and the rest of the department is prevention and protection. But if you look at Mumbai, you see that’s not true. When you have an event, you have to coordinate your police and your military, and if you have fire and emergency responders, you have to coordinate those, too.

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Most American religious believers, including most Christians, say eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Christ as their savior, a new survey finds.

Of the 65% of people who held this open view of heaven’s gates, 80% named at least one non-Christian group ”” Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists or people with no religion at all ”” who may also be saved, according to a new survey released today by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

This means 52% of Christians do not agree with the doctrines many religions teach, particularly conservative denominations.

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, calls the findings “a theological crisis for American evangelicals. They represent at best a misunderstanding of the Gospel and at worst a repudiation of the Gospel.”

Read it all. Given the ocean of pluralism, syncretism and universalism in the American religious landscape at present, this is hardly surprising. The key themes are the exclusivity of Christ and the scandal of the cross. And: the preferred way to ask the question is: are all those who are saved redeemed only through Christ? What matters on these questions is not simply what is said but what isn’t. Whereas Benedict XVI and Billy Graham, for example, hit the right themes on these matters, the leadership of the mainline denominations is quite inadequate–KSH.

We have a third of us that are immediate risk of being downwardly mobile, and that’s across the social classes.

The second third of us isn’t at immediate risk, but we know somebody who is. It may be a parent, a child, a friend, a neighbor. And for those people, they are taking pride in how little they’re spending for something.

And the third group is a group that’s paid off their mortgages. They basically have no real concerns. What they do know is that conspicuous consumption is now verboten.

—Economist Paco Underhill explaining the sharp downturn in consumer spending on the Lehrer News Hour

In 1992 Bailey became the Suffragan Bishop of Dunwich in the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. During that time he was chairman of the finance committee of the Church’s Advisory Board of Ministry, dealing with the funding of ordination training.

His stay in Suffolk was brief, and in 1995 he became Bishop of Derby. The diocese, as well as containing rural areas, included considerable industrial activity and a large immigrant community. He made an immediate impact and one part of his programme was to visit pubs and nightclubs in the city centre. He helped to establish the Derby multifaith centre and was a governor of Derby University, which awarded him an honorary doctorate.

Bailey was known as a pastoral and caring bishop who remembered people’s names and mixed with all ages and faiths. On the national scene he was for three years the chairman of the Churches Main Committee, which acts as a liaison group between all the churches and government departments. During his time in Derby, he was also Clerk to the Closet, a role that involves advising the Queen about the appointment of her Honorary Chaplains. For this work he was appointed a KCVO. He was a member of the House of Lords from 1999 to 2005. He retired to Gloucestershire, where he was an assistant bishop and served on the Gloucester Police Authority.

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By the time St. Peter’s voted in March 2007, facts had changed drastically. The diocese already had threatened to sue the leave-takers. It already canceled – with very little notice – the health plans of the clergy involved, making the ministers scramble to find other coverage.

The bank account of one of the departing – St. Stephen’s in Heathsville, Va. – had been frozen by its bank because two groups were laying claim to the assets. This made it impossible for the majority who left – and who had hung onto the property – to pay anything from utility bills to salaries.

Plus, the diocese held the deed to St. Peter’s property. So the folks at St. Peter’s voted to stay. Their vicar, Bob Koth, wanted out.

“I respected the congregation’s wishes,” he told me. “I struggled with the decision to stay in the Episcopal Church. As things dragged out, we were late in taking that vote.”

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