Perhaps it is partly out of a desire to avoid being labelled frauds when they stray from absolute fidelity that Australian politicians, unlike their American counterparts, have worn their religious beliefs lightly, eschewing ostentatious displays of faith or the use of religious precepts to justify or shape policy positions. While religion has not been entirely absent from Australian political debate (it did cause a split in the ALP), by and large politicians have preferred to justify their values and decisions by reference to their political philosophies. Australians seem wary of appeals to religious authority; research shows they are increasingly unlikely to claim Christian religious affiliation or to engage in religious practices.

A study by the Melbourne political scientist Anna Crabb provides some confirmation that this deliberate separation of religion and politics may be dissolving - at least among MPs. Her analysis of parliamentary speeches of prominent federal politicians from 2002 to 2006 showed MPs were increasingly likely to appeal to religious beliefs to explain their positions. Conservatives were most likely to make such references but Labor MPs, including Kevin Rudd, came close to matching them.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

Check them out.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops

How do you find a new search engine if all you know is Google? Typing “search engine” into the usual box might lead you to Microsoft’s newly launched Bing, the combined search at Dogpile, or the former king of search, Altavista.

But for those willing to dig around, searching for search engines can reveal a treasure trove: The net is rich with specialized search services, all trying to find a way to get their slice of the billions of dollars Google makes every year answering queries.

For this article, we surveyed some 50 specialty search services and picked out our favorites. What follows is not a systematic ranking or review, but a general guide to a very vibrant world that few have bothered to explore in depth.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • Science & Technology

For the moment I will leave aside the many problems that attach to TEC’s press for a polycentric communion. It is enough to say that their argument will work only if communion excludes common belief and practice but focuses instead on cooperation in good works and mutual aid. (Though even here, because of conflicting theological commitments, “good works” can be construed quite differently) Of more immediate importance is the logic of inclusive justice. The logic of inclusion employed by progressive Episcopalians excludes meaningful opposition from the start.

This exclusion is of such importance that it must not go unchallenged. It is a matter that concerns all Episcopalians. Exclusion of meaningful opposition in respect to the matters now before The Episcopal Church in the end will produce a niche church rather than a catholic church. Progressive claims to inclusivity are in fact false. The logic of their position drives relentlessly toward an increasingly constricted identity. The question progressive Episcopalians must answer is why members of the Episcopal Church that do not share their views ought to think otherwise. To put the issue more directly, progressive Episcopalians need to show the membership of their church and the rest of the Anglican Communion why their position does not end in an exclusive form of church life rather than a diverse one. This observation leads to a direct question. The question is what reason can be given from the point of view of progressive Episcopalians to a traditional Anglican for being a member of The Episcopal Church. I certainly have my own reasons and have stated them on many occasions. But progressive Episcopalians have claimed something that both their words and actions belie, and it seems only right for them to confront and explain this inconsistency to the rest of us.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Consultative Council • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Polity & Canons • Instruments of Unity

Until President Obama and his family settle on a local church to attend, their fill-in pastor will be a former All-American offensive lineman who is now a Navy lieutenant who served in Iraq, and a distant relation of Johnny Cash.

Navy Lt. Carey H. Cash, 39, a Memphis, Tenn. native, is pastor of the chapel at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin mountains. A Southern Baptist, Cash began his three-year tour of duty there in January.

The Evergreen Chapel serves the roughly 400 people who live and work on the remote compound, along with the first family when they flee the White House for the peace of the mountain forest.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Military / Armed Forces • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • Office of the President • President Barack Obama

The Bishop of Honduras has written to the House of Bishops, asking their prayers for his country after Sunday’s ouster of President Mel Zelaya.

“So far, the entire clergy, lay leadership and our families are all well,” the Rt. Rev. Lloyd Allen wrote on June 29 in an e-mail to the House of Bishops.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * International News & Commentary • Central America • --Honduras

Among the [ACNA] founders was the Rev. Neil Lebhar, a Jacksonville priest and a leader of the regional movement of theological conservatives out of the denomination after an openly gay bishop was elected in New Hampshire in 2003.

With its archbishop and church laws now established, the new group represents a clean break with the past for former Episcopalians, Lebhar said.

"For the average person in the pew, I'd say the major thing it means is that our denominational battles are over and we can get on with the ministry and mission of the church," said Lebhar, rector at the (Anglican) Church of the Redeemer on the Southside.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Florida • TEC Departing Parishes

Greetings in the wonderful name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am writing to you celebrating the official launch of the Anglican Church in North America. You are to be congratulated for your faithfulness in the Gospel and in your cooperation with the organization of the new Province. It is likely that it will take some time before the institutional structures catch up to the realities of the present day situation in the Communion. Until that time, you can be sure of your dual status with us in the Southern Cone. This is true not only for Bishop Iker, but also all of the priests and deacons who received licenses through him under my authority when your diocese came to us.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Fort Worth

The Bishop of Kentucky has no ecclesiastical authority to act within the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, first and foremost because the Diocese has realigned with another Anglican Province in communion with the See of Canterbury, upholding and propagating the historic Faith and Order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. We assume that he is seeking to exercise some authority in Fort Worth based upon Canon 13 of the Canons of PECUSA. Setting aside the obvious argument that the Diocese is no longer a part of the PECUSA because of realignment and Canon 13 is inconsistent with Article II, Section 3, of the Constitution of PECUSA, and is therefore null and void, his reliance upon Canon 13 for his authority is misplaced. The meeting that was held in Fort Worth on February 7, 2009, by some clergy and laypersons of the Diocese was not a duly-constituted meeting of the Convention. Neither the Bishop nor the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth issued a call for a special meeting of the Convention, as required by Article IV of the Constitution of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. Moreover, there was no quorum present at the February 7, 2009, meeting, because less than one-third of all clergy and lay delegates of the Diocese entitled to seat was present for the meeting. Consequently, the individuals in attendance at the February 7, 2009, meeting lacked any legitimate power or authority to perform any official act, including but not limited to the placement of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth under Bishop Gulick’s “provisional charge” pursuant to PECUSA Canon 13. All actions purportedly taken at the meeting clearly were null and void.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Florida

Health insurance is supposed to offer protection — both medically and financially. But as it turns out, an estimated three-quarters of people who are pushed into personal bankruptcy by medical problems actually had insurance when they got sick or were injured.

And so, even as Washington tries to cover the tens of millions of Americans without medical insurance, many health policy experts say simply giving everyone an insurance card will not be enough to fix what is wrong with the system.

Too many other people already have coverage so meager that a medical crisis means financial calamity.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Life Ethics • Religion & Culture • Teens / Youth

Pope Benedict XVI signed his latest encyclical Monday, a text on ways to make globalization more attentive to meeting the needs of the poor amid the worldwide financial crisis.

The document, entitled "Charity in Truth," is expected to be published soon.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • Poverty • * Economics, Politics • Economy • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI

Though [the Rev. Brad Braxton was] chosen last September out of 200 applicants to be Riverside's sixth senior minister, the former Rhodes scholar saw strife from day one. In April, four church members unsuccessfully sued to block his installation, alleging violations of church bylaws relating to his compensation package.

The soaring church, built by tycoon John D. Rockefeller Jr., on Manhattan's Upper West Side in 1927, has become renowned for its interracial and interdenominational brand of preaching and social justice.

The parish of my father's parents, in which his father played a huge early role--sad to read this.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches

Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you; and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.

Only fear the LORD, and serve him faithfully with all your heart; for consider what great things he has done for you.

--1 Samuel 12: 23-24

Filed under: * Theology • Theology: Scripture

A good piece on the huge sacrifice involved. May God bless them and their families.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • Military / Armed Forces • * Economics, Politics • War in Afghanistan

The White House on Monday (June 29) denied a report that President Obama has decided to make the Camp David presidential retreat his church home.

“The President and First Family continue to look for a church home,” a White House spokesman said Monday. “They have enjoyed worshiping at Camp David and several other congregations over the months, and will choose a church at the time that is best for their family.”

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • Office of the President • President Barack Obama

A professionally trained musician who has performed extensively as a pianist, oboist, and conductor, Jeremy Begbie considers himself first a scholar and professor of theology.

“I’m basically a theologian who frequently works in the arts, not an artist who dabbles in theology,” says Begbie, who joined the Divinity School in January as the inaugural Thomas A. Langford research professor of theology.

A native of Great Britain, Begbie will maintain his ties with Cambridge University, where he is a senior member of Wolfson College and an affiliated lecturer in the faculty of divinity and the faculty of music. Among his priorities as director of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the Arts is developing collaborative programs between the two institutions.

Begbie is the author of Voicing Creation’s Praise: Towards a Theology of the Arts (T & T Clark); Theology, Music and Time (CUP), and most recently, Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music (Baker/SPCK), which won the Christianity Today 2008 Book Award in the theology/ethics category.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Art • Music • Religion & Culture • * Theology • Seminary / Theological Education

About 20 members of Columbia Hope Episcopal Church met Sunday afternoon to discuss racism within the denomination as well as hopes to diversify the church.

Chester Hines, Jr., chairman of the Commission on Dismantling Racism for the Episcopal diocese of Missouri, traveled from St. Louis to address the congregation and facilitate discussion. Hines gave a brief version of the presentation that usually lasts two days.

The presentation focused on a history of racism within the Episcopal Church, the church’s vision, mission and goals regarding racial interactions, and the definitions of power, racism and white privilege. Hines said the purpose of raising awareness about racism was to make a change.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Race/Race Relations