This is not to suggest that frank, honest, theological exchange should not take place. It should! But traditionalists need to marshal arguments and not ad hominems. The same goes for the innovators. Some gadfly theologians are notorious for tweaking, even mocking, traditional evangelical doctrines; they delight in scoring cheap shots against received orthodoxy. All well and good, for tradition needs to be tweaked for its own good. But when challenged, these critics often refuse to engage their challengers, and instead suggest that they are rationalists trapped in a modernist mindset and not worthy of engaging!

As Bauckham and McKnight have noted, the ground on this topic has been shifting. The traditional view may well be grounded ever more deeply and solidly as a result of re-engaging this topic. Or it may be altered, as have many doctrines, by rigorous theological discussion. But we won’t be able to discern where the Spirit is leading if we don’t listen and respond respectfully to one another. God once used a donkey to make his will known, so surely he is is able to speak through both traditionalists and gadflies.

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Bhatti, 42, was shot repeatedly Wednesday as he left his mother’s home in Islamabad. As the Federal Minister for Minorities, he was an outspoken opponent of Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws, which can impose the death penalty for actions judged to insult Mohammed.

He is the second Pakistani official to be murdered for his opposition to the laws in as many months. Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab Province, was killed in early January by his bodyguard.

“Both were killed for the same reason,” said Father Lombarid, “because they opposed the blasphemy law, a law that is itself truly a blasphemy, because in the name of God it causes injustice and death.”

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Despite attempts by the Catholic hierarchy in Britain to prevent the move reopening old wounds, senior Anglicans have already said the overtures have a “slightly predatory feel” to them.

However, Lee Bennett, who has been the vicar of the Church of England’s St Mary the Virgin Church, in Benfleet High Road, since 2007, is adamant there is no need to worry….

He said: “It is nothing more than an idea at this stage.

“Nothing has been decided and when, or if, it is, I will be very open about it.”

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All of the hype around knowledge-based economies and our abundant resources misses the point about globalization. Financial services jobs can just as easily be done in London, Tokyo or Frankfurt as in Toronto. Americans don’t need to buy our oil if they can find ways to shift to natural gas, which they possess in abundance, or reduce energy consumption altogether. That change could come faster than any of us would care to know.

This leaves Canada with two unappealing choices: Fear globalization, protect jobs temporarily, dig in our heels on traditional resources ”“ and isolate Canada as a very small fish in a very big pond. Or embrace globalization and all its terrifying consequences, and allow Canada to be a global leader in new services and industries.

The first choice is unattractive for obvious reasons. But the second choice is unattractive because we don’t know precisely what these new services and industries will be. That’s the challenge of globalization: Go out and create opportunities that didn’t exist before. Build industries that don’t yet have Standard Industrial Classification codes. Train Canadians for new jobs that don’t even have names. Complement our traditional resources with alternative energy systems that the world will beat down our door to buy.

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Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York is decrying the “alarming and grave injustice” of U.S. President Barack Obama’s instruction to the nation’s justice department to cease its defense of marriage.
The president’s instruction to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was announced on Feb. 23 by the U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder.
Archbishop Dolan, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, released a statement in response to this announcement, and also sent a personal message to Obama regarding the administration’s move.
“Marriage, the union of one man and one woman as husband and wife, is a singular and irreplaceable institution,” the archbishop affirmed.
He asserted, “Only a man and a woman have the ability to bring children into the world.”

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SPIEGEL ONLINE: Gadhafi doesn’t even shy away from bombing his own people. Doesn’t this raise the question of whether the West should intervene militarily?

Schulz: Gadhafi’s methods are brutal. But we have to choose carefully between an emotional reaction, which is understandable, and decisions that could lead to a protracted war. All of the measures that can be taken within the context of the Charter of the United Nations must be considered. I am deliberately emphasizing the word “all” there — in other words, including the military option. But that’s only possible with the involvement of the Security Council and the Arab countries.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Why?

Schulz: Military intervention without their involvement could even have the effect of strengthening Gadhafi….

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In his appeal letter, Jonathan Gledhill writes…:

“One new and exciting way this care for others is being provided right here in the streets of our diocese is through the Street Pastors scheme which is rapidly growing. Ordinary Christians are putting denominational differences aside to work together from late at night to the early hours of the morning to provide a caring presence on the streets of our towns and cities. Street Pastors are operating or being planned in areas as diverse as Walsall, Stoke on Trent, Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury, Leek and Lichfield.

“Street Pastors are a visible and accessible Christian pastoral presence, ministering mainly to young people who are vulnerable, lonely and, quite often, frightened.”

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Among the young people Regnerus and Uecker studied, the happiest women were those with a current sexual partner and only one or two partners in their lifetime. Virgins were almost as happy, though not quite, and then a young woman’s likelihood of depression rose steadily as her number of partners climbed and the present stability of her sex life diminished.

When social conservatives talk about restoring the link between sex, monogamy and marriage, they often have these kinds of realities in mind. The point isn’t that we should aspire to some Arcadia of perfect chastity. Rather, it’s that a high sexual ideal can shape how quickly and casually people pair off, even when they aren’t living up to its exacting demands. The ultimate goal is a sexual culture that makes it easier for young people to achieve romantic happiness ”” by encouraging them to wait a little longer, choose more carefully and judge their sex lives against a strong moral standard.

This is what’s at stake, for instance, in debates over abstinence-based sex education.

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…there’s one thing those optimistic assessments play down: Imposing a no-fly zone is an act of war, and we’re already at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If the United States sent aircraft to patrol the skies of Libya, the first step would have to be to knock out the country’s antiaircraft batteries; that’s an act of war too.

And any time the United States is at war ”” even at the limited level of a no-fly zone ”” the question of further military involvement often follows.

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As Colonel Gaddafi, with his army and air force, his tribal supporters and his propaganda machine, begins to counter-attack, only one thing is certain. He is a man utterly without mercy. The history of his regime demonstrates how he deals with opponents: hanging them from lamp-posts, sending death squads to assassinate them as ”stray dogs”, killing them in their jail cells. His offer of amnesty is not believable and will not, in any event, be believed by the insurgents. Will the world stand idly by once he starts to deliver on his threat to ”fight to the last man and woman”?….

The lesson of Iraq ’03 is not that the US and its allies should never use force against another country, but that never again should they do so in breach of international law.

Which begs the big question, namely the circumstances in which there is a right – or, more importantly, a duty – to use force to relieve a humanitarian nightmare….

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A leading IVF clinic is helping clients choose the sex of their baby by sending them to an overseas clinic it co-owns, avoiding Australian rules which allow the practice only for medical reasons.

Sydney IVF, which has several clinics in NSW as well as in Canberra, Perth and Tasmania, is part-owner of Superior ART, a Thai clinic that will provide IVF for ”family balancing” – when families with children of one gender are seeking another child of the opposite sex.

It costs $11,000 including flights and accommodation, a spokesman for Sydney IVF said.

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A Church of England vicar has defected to the Catholic church in an emotional speech to his Torquay flock yesterday.

Father David Lashbrooke…, who has been attached to the Parish Church of St Marychurch for almost nine years, fought back tears as he broke the news to his congregation. He is one of hundreds of Anglican priests who have left the Church of England in recent months. Many have opposed developments including women bishops, gay clergy and same-sex blessings.

Father Lashbrooke said he had wrestled with the changes brought to the Church of England and his decision to leave was ‘God’s calling’.

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Next week, on the first Saturday of Lent, there will be a very special celebration in the Cathedral for the whole diocese. We will be gathering for the Rite of Election, when many from most of the parishes in the diocese will be present to welcome into our midst those who are seeking to be baptised or received into full communion with the Church at Easter.

It is a moment of great significance for us all but especially it is so for our candidates and catechumens. For them, it represents the last chapter of a long journey of faith into the life of Christ and the life of the Church. They have come from many different backgrounds and experiences but all are now enrolled in the life of the diocese and we will all be able to celebrate with them when we come to the Easter Vigil and the Easter Sacraments.

Among our candidates this year, there are three groups of members of the Anglican Communion who, together with their priests, are seeking to come into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate. Their priests have resigned from their ministry in the Church of England and they, with their people, will be beginning an intensive period of instruction so that they can be received into the Church at the Easter.

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Consider the fact that most Anglican churches now celebrate the eucharist every Sunday at every service. Yet many people are not baptized. How do we reach them? Do we invite them to church for Sunday dinner and tell them they cannot eat the food?

How, in our multicultural and pluralistic society, can our churches be places of hospitality if we exclude table fellowship with the non-baptized? This is not an academic question. In Canada, a growing number of the population is not baptized. Included are people from different religious traditions or people with no religious affiliation at all. Quite likely, some are our grandchildren or great-grandchildren, whose parents neglected or refused to have them baptized.

How can the church effectively minister in a post-Christian world where a significant percentage of the population is not baptized? Some Anglican churches are attempting to meet this challenge by becoming open and inclusive faith communities, ready and willing to support people in their spiritual journeys. They understand that the Anglican tradition has never been content to adopt a sectarian mentality, to insulate itself from culture or to refuse to connect with an unchurched population.

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Glorious God, we give thanks not merely for high and holy things, but for the common things of earth which thou hast created: Wake us to love and work, that Jesus, the Lord of life, may set our hearts ablaze and that we, like Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, may recognize thee in thy people and in thy creation, serving the holy and undivided Trinity; who livest and reignest throughout all ages of ages. Amen.

O God our Father, who hast sent thy Son to be our Saviour: Renew in us day by day the power of thy Holy Spirit, that with knowledge and zeal, with courage and hope, we may strive mightily in thy service, and ever live as faithful soldiers and servants of thy Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

–John 1:25-28

“At the UN Security Council we are working closely with partners on a contingency basis on elements of a resolution on a no-fly zone, making clear the need for regional support, a clear trigger for such a resolution and an appropriate legal basis,” …[William Hague] told Parliament.

Diplomats at the UN said a resolution could be presented later this week at the earliest, but depended heavily on events on the ground in Libya. A resolution will not be submitted without solid support from the Arab League and the tacit approval of Russia and China, who as permanent members of the UN Security Council can veto resolutions.

“There should be a demonstrable need that the whole world can see, there must be a clear legal basis for such a no-fly zone and there must be clear support from the region, from the Middle East region, from the North African region as well as from the people of Libya themselves,” said Mr Hague.

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Shahbaz Bhatti will not be remembered as a quiet man. As Pakistan’s outspoken Minister for Minorities Affairs, the only Christian member of Parliament, and a tireless advocate for Pakistan’s imperiled Christian community, Bhatti was accustomed to standing out in a crowd.

Bhatti’s impassioned defense of Pakistan’s minority Christian community moved and motivated human rights advocates and government officials around the world. “He never achieved what he dedicated his life to ”“ the eventual repeal of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws,” saidStuart Windsor, National Director of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, “But he tried, bravely and with indefatigable spirit, and his life was a blessing to many.”

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CSW has learnt that an appeal in the case of Alimujiang Yimiti has resulted in his 15-year sentence being upheld by the Higher People’s Court of Xinjiang, China.

The Uyghur convert from Islam to Christianity has been detained since 12 January 2008. He has been convicted of “instigating separatism and revealing state secrets to foreigners”. A notice was sent to Mr Yimiti in mid-February, informing him of the result of the appeal. An earlier appeal in March 2010 had also failed.

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In less than two years, founders of Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church have not only managed to fill the pews, they have raised enough money to buy the former St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church property outright.

Christ the Redeemer, which broke away from Christ Church in Hamilton over what they saw as “moral drift” in the Episcopal Church as a whole, had been leasing the former Catholic church since 2009.

On Feb. 16, the Anglican church paid $1.6 million for the property, after raising $800,000 for a down payment in just six months. The deed was placed on the altar.

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In the history of some countries there comes a period when political and factional murder becomes almost routine ”” Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, Germany and its neighbours in the early 1930s. It has invariably been the precursor of a breakdown of legal and political order and of long-term suffering for a whole population. And last week, with the killing of Shahbaz Bhatti, the Minister for Minorities, Pakistan has taken a further step down this catastrophic road.

To those who actually support such atrocities, there is little to say. They inhabit a world of fantasy, shot through with paranoid anxiety. As the shocked responses from so many Muslims in this country and elsewhere make plain, their actions are as undermining of Koranic ethics as they are of rational politics.

But to those who recognise something truly dreadful going on in their midst ”” to the majority in Pakistan who have elected a government that, whatever its dramatic shortcomings, is pledged to resist extremism ”” we have surely to say, “Do not imagine that this can be ”˜managed’ or tolerated”.

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Check it out–nice title: mission omission.

A quick search of YouTube today for “Anwar al-Awlaki” finds hundreds of his videos, most of them scriptural commentary or clerical advice, but dozens that include calls for jihad or attacks on the United States.

The story of You Tube and Mr. Awlaki is a revealing case study in the complexity of limiting controversial speech in the age of do-it-yourself media, as the House prepares for hearings next week on the radicalization of American Muslims.

In eloquent American English or Arabic with English subtitles, Mr. Awlaki can be seen in videos decrying America’s “war on Islam”; warning Muslims why they should “never, ever trust a kuffar,” or non-Muslim; praising the attempt by his “student” to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner; and patiently explaining why American civilians are legitimate targets for killings. Such videos have been posted in multiple copies and viewed hundreds or thousands of times.

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Bishop OSCAR CANTU (Auxiliary Bishop, Archdiocese of San Antonio): I think he recognized that people perceived him as being overly formal, and he lamented that.

[SANDEN] TOTTEN: Bishop Oscar Cantu worked with Gomez for two and a half years at his previous assignment in San Antonio. Cantu says, humor aside, Gomez was known for his devotion to the church, his love of the Green Bay Packers, his lactose intolerance and his decided tolerance for tequila. Gomez studied business at the National University of Mexico and Cantu says he was blessed with a talent for financial planning.

Bishop CANTU: Most clerics run away from the accountants, rather than run to them. He was one who embraced that, you know, of course ’cause, you know, that was part of his background. And he was able to really use that for the good of the church.

Read or listen to it all.

A simmering, months-long conflict between congregants at Kalamazoo’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and church officials reached a boiling point Sunday, with a police report filed against the pastor for allegedly shoving an elderly parishioner.

The Rev. Jay R. Lawlor was accused of pushing Marcia Morrison, 76, whose family owns Morrison Jewelers, during a heated discussion about recent events at the church. A witness said Morrison was not injured in the incident, which occurred immediately after Sunday morning’s service.

The Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety confirmed that a police report was filed. Neither Lawlor nor Morrison could be reached for comment Sunday.

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Please keep him and Marilyn in your prayers. My understanding is that he is intending to pursue ministry in the Roman Catholic Church, likely under the provisions of the Ordinariate when that all becomes clear.

Jason’s Lake is a focal point of the state’s extraordinarily popular Botany Bay Wildlife Management Area, a 50-acre saltwater pool roamed by trophy fish, a catch-and-release haven open to adults when they bring children.

It’s one of the signature habitats that make the recently opened management area the most visited in the state, by far. More than 40,000 people turn out each year to wander the lake, woods, creek, salt marshes and maritime forest beach on Edisto Island, right at the edge of the Charleston suburbs.

“It’s treated almost like a state park,” said Phil Maier, coastal reserves director with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

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[KEVIN] ECKSTROM: Right, and it’s biblical language on both sides. The more traditional churches, Catholic bishops and your mainline churches and your Jewish groups are saying, you know, we have a biblical and ethical, moral obligation to care for people who can’t help themselves. On the other side, from the more conservative side, especially from the Tea Party, you have arguments saying that it’s actually immoral to leave debt to future generations. And they sometimes chafe at the notion of, you know, what would Jesus cut? They say, well, Jesus didn’t have opinions on this, you know, that it’s up to us to sort of make the decisions on what to cut. But you get various moral arguments from both sides, and we’re just waiting to see who wins the day.

{KIM] LAWTON: Well, I was at the National Religious Broadcasters Convention this week, and one of their keynote speakers was House Speaker John Boehner, Catholic, who used a lot of biblical language in his speech. He had a very receptive, mostly evangelical audience, and he quoted Scripture. He quoted from Proverbs, “A good man leaves behind an inheritance to his children’s children,” and he said Republicans want to not just be hearers of the word, but doers of the word, another scriptural reference there. And, you know, I found that very interesting, that you had the congressional leadership on the right also trying to seize the biblical and moral language on all of this.

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As in all such mind-bending crises, it is best that the UN Security Council validates whatever course is pursued by the world’s beefiest governments, still inevitably led by the West, which, in turn means the United States, backed by Britain and France, its hardiest allies with a modicum of military muscle. The Americans are fearful of becoming embroiled in yet another distant venture. Among the Europeans, only Britain and Italy seem readier for a more robust involvement…. China and Russia, though they voted for UN sanctions on Colonel Qaddafi in the Security Council, presently balk at a no-fly zone, let alone armed intervention by troops. Turkey, a key member of NATO in Mediterranean or Middle Eastern affairs, is so far dead against, too. So, for the time being, it seems, are the majority of Arab governments.

But if the Libyan regime starts killing people in their thousands””and especially if it uses helicopter gunships or aircraft””diplomatic reluctance should melt away. Too often the world has dithered open-mouthed as evil men have slaughtered Darfuris or Rwandans with impunity. Outsiders, led by the UN, must help Libya’s emerging transitional councils with humanitarian aid. The UN Security Council may yet have to be persuaded to restore peace by invoking the ample power of Chapter VII. And if that proves unattainable, the widest possible coalition of the willing, ideally including Libya’s Arab neighbours, must protect Libyan civilians by arming the opposition and defending them from aerial attack.

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