U.S. District Judge C. Weston Houck today remanded the case to the South Carolina Circuit Court. In informing the parties, Judge Houck said,
“If this Court determined that a case may be removed based on federal question jurisdiction whenever a defendant attributed a federal constitutional issue not alleged or advanced in a well-pleaded complaint, federal question jurisdiction could potentially be expanded to all cases containing tacit First Amendment issues.”
Diocesan officials expressed their gratitude for the decision.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: South Carolina • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Videos for Mere Anglicanism 2013 are here
,
LATEST:
A PR from the brand New TEC Diocese in South Carolina on the recent Legal Ruling, June 12, 2013
An ENS Article: Federal judge remands lawsuit to state court, June 11, 2013
Alan Haley Analyzes Senior District Judge C. Weston Houck’s reasoning in Yesterday’s S.C. Ruling, June 11, 2013
An AP Article—Battle between SC Episcopalians back to State Court, June 11, 2013
A Local Paper Article—Federal judge remands Episcopal Church case back to state court, June 11, 2013
(SC Now) Episcopal case to be tried in state court, June 11, 2013
Federal Judge Remands Diocese of SC Case to State Court, June 10, 2013
(Anglican Ink) Federal Judge remands South Carolina Episcopal Case to State Court, June 10, 2013
A.S. Haley on the South Carolina Episcopal Contretemps Court Hearing this week, June 8, 2013
(AP) Federal court considers S.C. Episcopal division, June 6, 2013
Your Prayers requested for Today’s Hearing in the South Carolina Diocesan Dispute, June 6, 2013
(AP) Federal court hearing set in South Carolina Episcopal schism, June 6, 2013
(Island Packet) South Carolina Episcopal diocese alleges retirement savings held hostage, June 5, 2013
The Episcopal Church Holds Hostage Pensions of More Than 80 Disassociated Staff Members in S.C., June 3, 2013
Full chronological entry listings are continued here and Click below to see an index of Key Entries and all the recent stories and documents.
[Note: due to capacity limits on this entry, the chronological list of past entries has been moved to a dedicated separate post here - most recent entries are still available below]
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, May 30, 2013
Living Church Essays on South Carolina (III): Colin Podmore—Beyond Provincialism, May 28, 2013
Living Church Essays on South Carolina (II): William Witt—Don’t Cheat the Prophet, May 18, 2013
Living Church Essays on South Carolina (I): Jesse Zink—Why Provinces Matter, May 18, 2013
The Sermon of Rob Martin, Anglican Bishop of Marsabit, at the Charleston, S.C., Cathedral recently, April 28, 2013
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Newspaper is now available, April 20, 2013
A.S. Haley—An Overview of the Complex Situation between TEC and the Dioc. of S.C. in South Carolina, April 18, 2013
George Conger Unpacks the South Car. Legal Fracas and the recent WSJ article’s poor Coverage Thereof, April 17, 2013
A copy of the Letter the New TEC Bishop in South Carolina sent to Diocese of S.C. clergy, April 16, 2013
(WSJ) South Carolina Episcopal Church Fight Heads to Court, April 15, 2013
(Christian Post) Bishop of new TEC in S.C. Diocese Sends Letters to Various Ordained Ministers, April 14, 2013
A Video of the Four Anglican Bishops visiting Charleston, S.C., this past week, April 13, 2012
Anglican Bishops Express Strong Support for Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina, April 12, 2013
(The State) South Carolina Episcopal dispute may play out in two courts, April 10, 2013
Big Night for the Diocese of S. Carolina—An Evening with Bishops from East Africa, April 9, 2013
An ENS Article on the Ongoing Legal toing and Froing in South Carolina, April 5, 2013
Local paper—New TEC Diocese in South Carolina asks for federal jurisdiction, April 5, 2013
Local Paper Article—Countersuit filed in [South Carolina] Episcopal dispute, April 1, 2013
TEC counterclaim filed on Maundy Thursday in South Carolina case, April 1, 2013
Federal Judge Remands Diocese of SC Case to State Court, June 10, 2013
A Video of the Four Anglican Bishops visiting Charleston, S.C., this past week, April 13, 2012
Anglican Bishops Express Strong Support for Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina, April 12, 2013
TEC Lawsuit Asks Federal Judge to Overturn State Court Order and Strip Diocese of SC of its Identity, March 16, 2013
Diocese of SC Convention—Remain Steadfast in Faith, Firm in Conviction, Resolute in Will, March 13, 2012
Bishop Mark Lawrence’s Address to the 222nd Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, March 11, 2013
Three More Diocese of S.C. Parishes Join in Suit to Prevent TEC from Seizing Property, March 2, 2013
TEC Agrees to Injunction that Prohibits Them From Using Diocese of SC Identity, January 31, 2013
Unaffiliated TEC Group in South Carolina Still not Complying with Court Order, January 25, 2013
Circuit Court Blocks the Use of Diocese of South Carolina Identity By Anyone Outside of the Diocese, January 23, 2013
Another 15 South Carol. Parishes Join the Diocese Suit to Block TEC from Seizing Local Property
Diocese of South Carolina—Diocesan Identity/Legal Response Requested to unauthorized email, January 9, 2013
A.S. Haley—DioSC in Preemptive Strike against ECUSA’s Attempted Identity Theft, January 5, 2013
A Message to Clergy in the Diocese of South Carolina Regarding the Declaratory Judgment, January 4, 2013
Bishop Mark Lawrence Writes Regarding the Declaratory Judgment, January 4, 2013
S.C. Diocese Seeks Declaratory Judgement to Prevent Episcopal Church from Seizing Local Parishes, January 4, 2013
The Diocese of South Carolina is the Only Authority to Convene a Convention in the Diocese, December 22, 2012
Global South Primates Steering Comm. Recognizes Mark Lawrence’s Oversight in S.C.and the Communion, December 16, 2012
The Diocese of South Carolina Responds to the Announcement of a January TEC Meeting, December 10, 2012
Presiding Bishop of Episcopal Church coming to SC in Jan. 2013 for “Special Convention”, December 8, 2012
AnglicanTV Interviews South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence about Recent Developments, December 6, 2012
South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence Writes Regarding his Alleged “Renunciation”, December 6, 2012
A.S. Haley—The Presiding Bishop Flouts the Canons Again, December 5, 2012
Presiding Bishop Says Mark Lawrence Says what he did not Say, right out of George Orwell, December 5, 2012
The Bishop of Upper South Carolina’s Pastoral Letter for Advent 2012, November 4, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—An Open Letter to the Bishops of The Episcopal Church, November 28, 2012
Diocese of South Carolina Announcement in Today’s State Newspaper (Columbia, South Carolina), November 25, 2012
(Anglican Ink) Church of Eng. will not make any “premature” statement or judgment re:South Carolina November 20th, 2012
Diocese of South Carolina Turns the Page; Looks Forward, November 17, 2012
Bishop Lawrence’s Address to the Special Convention, November 17, 2012
Kendall Harmon—Attempted Liveblog of Bishop Lawrence’s Diocesan Convention Address, November 17, 2012
Please Pray for the Diocese of South Carolina Special Convention to be Held Tomorrow, November 16, 2012
A Message from Bishop Mark Lawrence to the Diocese of South Carolina, November 15, 2012
(Anglican Communion Institute) Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina (Part Two), November 14, 2012
11 New Posts About Developments in the Diocese of South Carolina, November 13, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina, November 12, 2012
Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) Primates Council Writes in Support of Bishop Lawrence, October 31, 2012
Letter of Support from Global South Primates Steering Committee to Bishop Mark Lawrence October 25, 2012
Frequently Asked Questions About the Assault on the Diocese of South Carolina October 24, 2012
South Carolina Diocese Releases Statement Regarding Disassociation from the Episcopal Church October 20, 2012
Local Paper page 3—The Episcopal Church Abandons South Carolina Bishop and Diocese October 19, 2012
Episcopal Church Takes Action Against the Bishop and Diocese of South Carolina October 17, 2012
***
COMPLETE INDEX:
Obviously the latest events are part of a long running series of attacks by the national office upon the dioceses and the constitution of The Episcopal Church and the index posts relating to
1. the earlier attacks on South Carolina may be found here, and
2. the attacks on the Communion Partner Bishops and dioceses and Dr Philip Turner [still unresolved officially] here, and
3. General Convention 2012 resolutions and events here
You can find all the latest news from the Diocese of South Carolina here
Key Documents from the Diocese of South Carolina
Federal Judge Remands Diocese of SC Case to State Court, June 10, 2013
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Newspaper is now available, April 20, 2013
A Video of the Four Anglican Bishops visiting Charleston, S.C., this past week, April 13, 2012
Anglican Bishops Express Strong Support for Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina, April 12, 2013
Clergy of the Diocese of South Carolina Renew their Vows, March 20, 2012
TEC Lawsuit Asks Federal Judge to Overturn State Court Order and Strip Diocese of SC of its Identity, March 16, 2013
Diocese of SC Convention—Remain Steadfast in Faith, Firm in Conviction, Resolute in Will, March 13, 2012
Bishop Keith Ackerman’s Sermon at the 222nd Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, March 12, 2012
Bishop Mark Lawrence’s Address to the 222nd Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina, March 11, 2013
Three More Diocese of S.C. Parishes Join in Suit to Prevent TEC from Seizing Property, March 2, 2013
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, February 28, 2013
South Carolina Rectors Speak Out Against TEC’s Attempt to Seize Local Property; “Hijack” Identity, February 4, 2013
TEC Agrees to Injunction that Prohibits Them From Using Diocese of SC Identity, January 31, 2013
Circuit Court Blocks the Use of Diocese of South Carolina Identity By Anyone Outside of the Diocese, January 23, 2013
Another 15 South Carol. Parishes Join the Diocese Suit to Block TEC from Seizing Local Property
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, January 11, 2013
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Newspaper is now available, January 11, 2013
Diocese of South Carolina—Diocesan Identity/Legal Response Requested to unauthorized email, January 9, 2013
A Message to Clergy in the Diocese of South Carolina Regarding the Declaratory Judgment, January 4, 2013
Bishop Mark Lawrence Writes Regarding the Declaratory Judgment, January 4, 2013
S.C. Diocese Seeks Declaratory Judgement to Prevent Episcopal Church from Seizing Local Parishes, January 4, 2013
The Diocese of South Carolina is the Only Authority to Convene a Convention in the Diocese, December 22, 2012
The Diocese of South Carolina Responds to the Announcement of a January TEC Meeting, December 10, 2012
Reminder in the Midst of the TEC Disinformation Campaign—Can a Diocese Legally Withdraw from TEC?, December 9, 2012
Spokesman for Withdrawn S.C. Episcopal Diocese Disputes Renunciation Order, December 8, 2012
AnglicanTV Interviews South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence about Recent Developments, December 6, 2012
South Carolina Bishop Mark Lawrence Writes Regarding his Alleged “Renunciation”, December 6, 2012
Diocese of South Carolina Announcement in Today’s State Newspaper (Columbia, South Carolina), November 25, 2012
Diocese of South Carolina Turns the Page; Looks Forward, November 17, 2012
Bishop Lawrence’s Address to the Special Convention, November 17, 2012
Kendall Harmon—Attempted Liveblog of Bishop Lawrence’s Diocesan Convention Address, November 17, 2012
A Message from Bishop Mark Lawrence to the Diocese of South Carolina, November 15
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, November 11
(Diocese of SC) Group Attempts to Mislead Clergy; Unauthorized Use of Diocesan Seal and Name, November 8, 2012
+ Frequently Asked Questions About the Assault on the Diocese of South Carolina October 24, 2012
+ South Carolina Diocese Releases Statement Regarding Disassociation from the Episcopal Church October 20, 2012
+ Episcopal Church Takes Action Against the Bishop and Diocese of South Carolina October 17, 2012
+ Episcopal Forum Members Initiate Attack on South Carolina Bishop October 20, 2012
+ Local Paper page 3—The Episcopal Church Abandons South Carolina Bishop and Diocese October 19, 2012
+ A.S. Haley Analyzes the Changes Signaled by the Latest Charges against Bishop Mark Lawrence October 19, 2012
+ The 14 names of those who Brought Charges Against Bishop Mark Lawrence October 19, 2012
+ One South Carolina Parish Rector writes his Parish about recent developments October 19, 2012
+ Please Pray for the Diocese of South Carolina Clergy Day to be Held Tomorrow October 18, 2012
Other Key Documents
A copy of the Letter the New TEC Bishop in South Carolina sent to Diocese of S.C. clergy, April 16, 2013
Old Saint Andrew’s Parish in Charleston, S.C., Votes to Align with Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese, February 24, 2013
Unaffiliated TEC Group in South Carolina Still not Complying with Court Order, January 25, 2013
Global South Primates Steering Comm. Recognizes Mark Lawrence’s Oversight in S.C.and the Communion, December 16, 2012
Presiding Bishop of Episcopal Church coming to SC in Jan. 2013 for “Special Convention”, December 8, 2012
Spokesman for Withdrawn S.C. Episcopal Diocese Disputes Renunciation Order, December 8, 2012
More from A.S. Haley on South Carolina—But sue, TEC certainly will, December 7, 2012
(Anglican Ink) South Carolina’s sorrow and pity for Katharine Jefferts Schori, December 7, 2012
A.S. Haley—The Presiding Bishop Flouts the Canons Again, December 5, 2012
Presiding Bishop Says Mark Lawrence Says what he did not Say, right out of George Orwell, December 5, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—An Open Letter to the Bishops of The Episcopal Church, November 28, 2012
(Anglican Ink) Church of Eng. will not make any “premature” statement or judgment re:South Carolina November 20th, 2012
A.S. Haley on the Meeting in South Carolina and Two Bishops Letters recently Released, November 16, 2012
(Anglican Communion Institute) Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina (Part Two), November 14, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina, November 12, 2012
Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FCA) Primates Write in Support of Bishop Lawrence, October 31, 2012
Letter of Support from Global South Primates Steering Committee to Bishop Mark Lawrence October 25, 2012
Letters from Bishops and Clergy
Peter Mitchell Chimes in on the Presiding Bishop’s recent South Carolina Sermon, February 1, 2013
One S.C. Parish Rector Writes about recent Developments, January 23, 2013
Saint Andrews, Mount Pleasant, S.C., Writes about the recent Lawsuit by S.C. Against TEC, January 23, 2013
One South Carolina Parish Rector writes his Parish about the new Protection Initiative taken Friday, January 5, 2013
One South Carolina Rector writes his Parish about Recent Events and Questions about them, December 19, 2012
Global South Primates Steering Comm. Recognizes Mark Lawrence’s Oversight in S.C.and the Communion, December 16, 2012
Mike Clarkson, the Rector of our Saviour, John’s Island, S.C.—Where I Stand on the Diocese of S.C., December 9, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—An Open Letter to the Bishops of The Episcopal Church, November 28, 2012
Shay Gaillard on the Diocese of South Carolina Misreporting—Who Is Welcome in the church?, November 27, 2012
A Message from Bishop Mark Lawrence to the Diocese of South Carolina, November 15, 2012
Statement from the Communion Partner Bishops on the South Carolina Situation, November 15, 2012
Presiding Bishop issues Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of South Carolina, November 15, 2012
One South Carolina Parish Rector writes his Parish today about recent developments, November 15, 2012
The Bishop of Springfield on the Diocese of South Carolina/Mark Lawrence Developments, October 29, 2012
The Bishop of Georgia on the Diocese of South Carolina/Mark Lawrence Developments October 29, 2012
Bishop William Love of Albany—Response to the Inhibition of Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina October 29, 2012
Another South Carolina Rector Writes his Parish About recent Developments (2) October 26, 2012
Another South Carolina Rector Writes his Parish About recent Developments October 26, 2012
The Rector of Saint Michael’s Charleston, S.C., writes his Parish About recent Developments October 23, 2012
News and Analysis
A PR from the brand New TEC Diocese in South Carolina on the recent Legal Ruling, June 12, 2013
An ENS Article: Federal judge remands lawsuit to state court, June 11, 2013
Alan Haley Analyzes Senior District Judge C. Weston Houck’s reasoning in Yesterday’s S.C. Ruling, June 11, 2013
An AP Article—Battle between SC Episcopalians back to State Court, June 11, 2013
A Local Paper Article—Federal judge remands Episcopal Church case back to state court, June 11, 2013
(SC Now) Episcopal case to be tried in state court, June 11, 2013
Federal Judge Remands Diocese of SC Case to State Court, June 10, 2013
(Anglican Ink) Federal Judge remands South Carolina Episcopal Case to State Court, June 10, 2013
A.S. Haley on the South Carolina Episcopal Contretemps Court Hearing this week, June 8, 2013
(AP) Federal court considers S.C. Episcopal division, June 6, 2013
Your Prayers requested for Today’s Hearing in the South Carolina Diocesan Dispute, June 6, 2013
(AP) Federal court hearing set in South Carolina Episcopal schism, June 6, 2013
(Island Packet) South Carolina Episcopal diocese alleges retirement savings held hostage, June 5, 2013
The Episcopal Church Holds Hostage Pensions of More Than 80 Disassociated Staff Members in S.C., June 3, 2013
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, May 30, 2013
Living Church Essays on South Carolina (III): Colin Podmore—Beyond Provincialism, May 28, 2013
Living Church Essays on South Carolina (II): William Witt—Don’t Cheat the Prophet, May 18, 2013
Living Church Essays on South Carolina (I): Jesse Zink—Why Provinces Matter, May 18, 2013
The Sermon of Rob Martin, Anglican Bishop of Marsabit, at the Charleston, S.C., Cathedral recently, April 28, 2013
A.S. Haley—An Overview of the Complex Situation between TEC and the Dioc. of S.C. in South Carolina, April 18, 2013
George Conger Unpacks the South Car. Legal Fracas and the recent WSJ article’s poor Coverage Thereof, April 17, 2013
A copy of the Letter the New TEC Bishop in South Carolina sent to Diocese of S.C. clergy, April 16, 2013
(WSJ) South Carolina Episcopal Church Fight Heads to Court, April 15, 2013
(Christian Post) Bishop of new TEC in S.C. Diocese Sends Letters to Various Ordained Ministers, April 14, 2013
A Video of the Four Anglican Bishops visiting Charleston, S.C., this past week, April 13, 2012
Anglican Bishops Express Strong Support for Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of South Carolina, April 12, 2013
(The State) South Carolina Episcopal dispute may play out in two courts, April 10, 2013
Big Night for the Diocese of S. Carolina—An Evening with Bishops from East Africa, April 9, 2013
An ENS Article on the Ongoing Legal toing and Froing in South Carolina, April 5, 2013
Local paper—New TEC Diocese in South Carolina asks for federal jurisdiction, April 5, 2013
Local Paper Article—Countersuit filed in [South Carolina] Episcopal dispute, April 1, 2013
TEC counterclaim filed on Maundy Thursday in South Carolina case, April 1, 2013
[SC Now] The Diocese of South Carolina Holy Eucharist for the 222nd meeting of the convention, March 11, 2013
(SCnow) Diocese of South Carolina—Without TEC, but not without hope, March 10, 2013
[SC Now Morning News] Episcopal diocese kicks off convention with flair despite national divides, March 8, 2013
Allan Haley: ECUSA’s Desperation in South Carolina Knows No Bounds, March 8, 2013
“In, But Not of, the World” How Far Would You Go to Preserve the Faith You Love so Much?, February 16, 2013
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, February 12, 2013
South Carolina Episcopal diocese headed to Florence for its Convention, February 11, 2013
(Living Church) Eric Turner—Speaking of Reconciliation, February 8, 2013
Jack Cranwell offers Thoughts on the South Carolina Episcopal Church Conflict, February 7, 2013
James Ueberroth Chimes in on the Presiding Bishop and her recent South Carolina sermon, February 6, 2013
Anglican Unscripted Episode 64, February 4, 2013
(Hilton Island Packet) St. Mark’s Chapel visited by new Episcopal bishop of new S.C. TEC Diocese, February 4, 2013
Lowcountry bishop wins skirmish over Episcopal diocese name, January 2, 2013
(AP) Judge makes order permanent in SC Episcopal schism, January 1, 2013
Peter Mitchell Chimes in on the Presiding Bishop’s recent South Carolina Sermon, February 1, 2013
A.S. Haley on the Latest in the Ongoing South Carolina Episcopal legal Battle, February 1, 2013
Bart Gingerich—Two Very Different Episcopalianisms Meet in Charleston, January 31, 2013
An Anglican Ink Article on the Presiding Bishop’s recent sermon in South Carolina, January 29, 2013
(Christian Post) ‘Continuing Episcopalians’ in Breakaway Diocese Elect Temporary Leader, January 29, 2013
A.S. Haley on the Latest in the Ongoing South Carolina Episcopal Church Mess, January 29, 2013
The AAC’s Phil Ashey Comments on the Presiding Bishop’s recent sermon in South Carolina, January 29, 2013
An ENS Article on the new TEC Diocese and its First Bishop, January 27, 2013
TEC Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori’s Sermon from Yesterday, January 27, 2013
Article from The State Newspaper on the New TEC Diocese in South Carolina and its First Bishop, January 27, 2013
Local Paper Article on the new TEC affiliated South Carolina Diocese and its first Bishop, January 27, 2013
A.S. Haley: An Open Letter to my Fellow Episcopalians in South Carolina, January 26, 2013
Bagpiper outside St. Philip’s Charleston SC, January 26, 2013
Frank Larisey—The Episcopal Church conflict in South Carolina is not (primarily) about sex, January 26, 2013
An ENS Article on the South Carolina Order to Refrain from Assuming the Diocese’s Identity, January 26, 2013
Malicious prosecution warnings for Episcopal clergy from a prominent Lawyer and Lay Leader, January 26, 2013
(Ang. Ink) South Carolina TEC loyalists defy ban on using diocesan name and shield, January 26, 2013
(Christian Post) Episcopal Leader to Visit ‘Continuing Episcopalians’ in SC Diocese, January 25, 2013
(AP) Presiding Episcopal Bishop coming to SC, January 25, 2013
Local paper—Judge issues restraining order against Episcopal Church, January 25, 2013
(RNS) S.C. Episcopal diocese claims a victory in theology and polity struggle, January 25, 2013
A.S. Haley—SC Circuit Court Issues Temporary Restraining Order to Protect Diocese’s Identity, January 25, 2013
(Living Church) Deference vs. Neutral Principles, January 24, 2013
(Anglican Ink) 15 more parishes join South Carolina lawsuit against the Episcopal Church, January 23, 2013
Saint Paul’s, Summerville, S.C., joins suit against Episcopal Church, January 18, 2013
St. Matthias joins South Carolina lawsuit against The Episcopal Church, January 16, 2013
Anglican Unscripted Episode 63, January 14, 2013
(AP) Bishop of SC diocese that disaffiliated from TEC says split brings clarity for followers, January 12, 2012
In Total Contrast to TEC, a Presbyterian Story of a genuinely gracious Parting, January 1, 2012
An Article from the Local Paper about the proposed new Leader for the yet to be formed TEC diocese, January 11, 2012
(AP) Bishop nominated for parishes seeking affiliation with TEC in the yet to be established Diocese, January 10, 2013
(ENS) Charles vonRosenberg nominated to be Bishop for a Diocese that Does Not Exist Yet, January 10, 2013
(Onenews Now) Diocese of South Carolina Seeks to Preserve its Freedom, Faith and History, January 10, 2013
An ENS Story on the Lawsuit Between the Diocese of South Carolina and TEC, Jnauary 8, 2013
Dean of Charleston, South Carolina’s, Cathedral discusses lawsuit against Episcopal Church, January 8, 2013
Myrtle Beach, Conway parishes join lawsuit against The Episcopal Church, January 6, 2013
(Anglican Ink) South Carolina fires first salvo in legal battle with TEC, January 5, 2013
A.S. Haley—DioSC in Preemptive Strike against ECUSA’s Attempted Identity Theft, January 5, 2013
(Orangeburg, S.C. Times and Democrat) South Carolina Episcopal diocese files lawsuit over property, January 5, 2013
Local South Carolina Story on the Diocesan Action Yesterday to prevent a Hostile Takeover, January 5, 2013
(AP) SC Episcopal diocese files lawsuit to protect beliefs, people and heritage, January 4, 2013
RNS Quote of the Day: Episcopal Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina, January 4, 2013
(Ang. Ink) Global South Coalition states Jefferts Schori’s actions toward S.C. of no legal account, December 21, 2012
(CEN) South Carolina schism descending into farce, December 14, 2012
Peter Carrell [NZ]: Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction, December 11, 2012
Anglican Unscripted Episode 59, December 11, 2012
(The State) Lowcountry S.C.congregations wrestle with whether to stay or go, December 11, 2012
(ENS) Presiding bishop to visit South Carolina diocese, December 11, 2012
Phil Ashey—Canons are Made to be Broken: Anglican Perspective, December 10, 2012
(Anglican Ink) A Note of clarification from the Bishop of Upper South Carolina, December 9, 2012
Presiding Bishop of Episcopal Church coming to SC in Jan. 2013 for “Special Convention”, December 8, 2012
Spokesman for Withdrawn S.C. Episcopal Diocese Disputes Renunciation Order, December 8, 2012
More from A.S. Haley on South Carolina—But sue, TEC certainly will, December 7, 2012
(Anglican Ink) South Carolina’s sorrow and pity for Katharine Jefferts Schori, December 7, 2012
A.S. Haley—The Presiding Bishop Flouts the Canons Again, December 5, 2012
Presiding Bishop Says Mark Lawrence Says what he did not Say, right out of George Orwell, December 5, 2012
The Bishop of Upper South Carolina’s Pastoral Letter for Advent 2012, November 4, 2012
Anglican Unscripted Episode 58, December 2, 2012
Anglican Ink: Loyalist meeting learns Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is behind them, November 29, 2012
A.S. Haley on The Episcopal Church—Dysfunction Everywhere, November 29, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—An Open Letter to the Bishops of The Episcopal Church, November 28, 2012
Another Christian Post Article on the diocese of South Carolina—but please note my correction, November 26, 2012
Robert Barnett isn’t pleased with Bishop Mark Lawrence, November 26, 2012
(The State) As South Car. Episcopalians move toward split, questions and painful decisions remain, November 23, 2012
An ENS story on those in the Diocese of S. Car. opposed to Bishop Lawrence and the recent decisions, November 21st, 2012
(The State) As South Car. Episcopalians move toward split, questions and painful decisions remain, November 22, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute: South Carolina: A Communion Response, November 21st, 2012
(Local Paper) Roy Hills on the Dio. of South C.—Diocese has long history of moving away from church, November 18, 2012
(Local Paper) Peter Mitchell on the Dio. of South C.—‘diverse like me’ mind-set is killing TEC, November 18, 2012
Local Newspaper Article on the Diocese of South Carolina Convention, November 18, 2012
(ENS) South Carolina convention affirms decision to leave Episcopal Church, November 17, 2012
A Christian Post Story on South Carolina’s Special Convention today, November 17, 2012
A Sumter, South Carolina, Item Story on today’s Special Convention, November 17, 2012
(AP) South Carolina diocese meets after break with national church, November 17, 2012
A.S. Haley on the Meeting in South Carolina and Two Bishops Letters recently Released, November 16, 2012
An RNS Article on the Diocese of South Carolina Situation Heading into Special Convention Tomorrow, November 16, 2012
AP Article—Clergy and parishes meet; national bishop writes South Carolina Diocese, November 16, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina, November 12, 2012
Charleston (South Carolina) Mercury—Taking the pulse of a diocese in conflict, November 16, 2012
(Anglican Communion Institute) Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina (Part Two), November 14, 2012
Anglican Communion Institute—Consumed By Litigation: TEC In South Carolina, November 12, 2012
The Latest Edition of the Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter, November 11, 2012
(CEN) Global South backing for the Diocese of South Carolina, November 11, 2012
A Beaufort Gazette Ad from those who Oppose Bishop Lawrence and the Diocese of S.C., November 3, 2012
(RNS) S.C. Episcopalians say split goes beyond Debate on Same Sex Unions, November 3, 2012
Edward Gilbreth—South Carolina Episcopal schism: Predictable, Understandable, November 3, 2012
(Living Church) Mark McCall on South Carolina—Dumbing Abandonment Down, October 31, 2012
(CEN) South Carolina expelled from the Episcopal Church October 26, 2012
Two Letters to the Editor of the Local Paper on the Diocese of South Carolina Situation, October 24, 2012 at 6:15 am
+ Bishop Mark Lawrence’s April Address given in England - Transcript October 22, 2012 at 12:54 pm
+ Local Paper front Page—Episcopalians on both sides of the schism feeling the pain October 22, 2012 at 7:29 am
+ John Stott on how opposition to Christian truth unfolds October 22, 2012 at 7:00 am
+ Episcopal Church Hits Bottom, Keeps Digging—Robert Munday on South Carolina Developments October 22, 2012
+ (One News Now) Bible-believing South Carolina Episcopal Bishop Penalized October 22, 2012 at 5:30 am
+ A.S. Haley—Once Again, Conflicts Galore on the Disciplinary Board for Bishops October 20, 2012 at 1:02 pm
+ (Island Packet) “Local Episcopal churches bracing for possible switch to Anglican banner” October 20, 2012 at 8:00 am
+ Church Times article on the Action Taken Against S.C. Bishop Lawrence and its Results October 20, 2012 at 7:45 am
+ A Christian Post Story on the Diocese of South Carolina Developments October 20, 2012 at 7:30 am
+ Local Paper Front Page—Episcopalians react to ongoing church conflict October 19, 2012 at 7:30 am
+ A Longer AP Story on the Action Taken Against the Bishop and Diocese of S.C. and its Results
[Earlier entries are being reconstructed]
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Bishops • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: South Carolina • TEC Polity & Canons • * South Carolina • * Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Stanislav Zvolensky, the Roman Catholic archbishop of the Slovak capital here [in Solvakia], was thrilled when he was invited to Brussels three years ago to discuss the fight against poverty with the insistently secular bureaucracy of the European Union.
“They let me in wearing my cross,” the archbishop recalled.
It therefore came as a rude surprise when, late last year, the National Bank of Slovakia announced that the European Commission, the union’s executive arm, had ordered it to remove halos and crosses from special commemorative euro coins due to be minted this summer.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Europe
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Who brought down the Berlin Wall? It was Polish trade unionists, Mikhail Gorbachev and his perestroika, Ronald Reagan and his Star Wars program, ordinary East Germans demonstrating in the streets and piling into the West German embassy in Prague, and of course Günter Schabowski, the Politburo member who read out that legendary note lifting travel restrictions -- "effective immediately" -- on the night of Nov. 9, 1989.
A new book published this week ventures to add another name to that list -- rock star Bruce Springsteen, who held the biggest concert in the history of East Germany on July 19, 1988, and whose rousing, passionate performance that night lit a spark in the hundreds of thousands of young people who saw him.
Springsteen attracted an estimated 300,000 people from all over the German Democratic Republic -- the largest crowd he had ever played to. They were hungry for change and freedom, and seeing one of the West's top stars made them even hungrier, argues veteran journalist Erik Kirschbaum in his book "Rocking the Wall,"
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Music • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • Europe • Germany
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
As the U.S. Senate continues to debate the bipartisan immigration reform bill introduced earlier this spring, leaders of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and The Episcopal Church commemorate World Refugee Day with a joint statement to "celebrate our churches' shared commitment to welcoming the stranger through service, accompaniment and advocacy."
In their statement the Rev. Mark S. Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA and the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church, wrote that the observance of the day is an "opportunity to examine the dire global and regional conflicts and persecutions that create refugees, and to celebrate the resilience and success of the former refugees who bless communities in our midst with the riches of their earned wisdom, energy and spirit."
In 2000, the U.N. General Assembly declared that each June 20 would be dedicated to raising awareness about the situation of refugees throughout the world. According to the U.N. Refugee Commission, more than 45.2 million people were in "situations of displacement" around the world as of 2012.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • * Culture-Watch • Globalization • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Lutheran
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Against all Vatican expectations, the pope's has gained more than 100,000 followers in six months and continues to grow.
Followers are not exclusively Roman Catholics or Latin scholars, but represent a wide variety of professions and religions from all over the world. Some go so far as to claim that the language of the ancient Romans is perfectly suited to 21st-century social media.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • Globalization • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Francis
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Watch it all. So encouraging!
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Health & Medicine • Marriage & Family • * General Interest • Animals
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The Bishop and a member of the Clergy of the Diocese of South Carolina are with us as observers. Will they find us the kind of Church they believe they are being called into union with? I surely hope so. Whether we keep the main thing the main thing will affect their assessment, I am sure. An observer from the Jubilee Pentecostal Fellowship of Churches is also here. That Fellowship is on the Nairobi (Canterbury) trail. Will the Anglican Church in North America be found to be the body with whom they can journey forward? Can we keep the main thing the main thing in order to find a godly, creative and Anglican way for such a union to take place? As with South Carolina, I hope so. Imagine what these two unions would say – in very different ways – about 21st century Anglicanism and about the place the Anglican Church in North America might have in the effort to re-evangelize this continent. “A biblical, missionary, and united Anglicanism.” “Reaching North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ.”
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus instructs the twelve that they are to:
Preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts…
[Matthew 10:7-9]
As it turned out, few of us got to take any gold or silver or copper… But our whole story has been that “freely [we] have received.” That’s our story as a Province.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, will portray good fathers as the unsung heroes of modern Britain – having a direct positive effect on crime rates, school results and even the nation’s mental health.
In a speech in London, he will urge politicians to take “every opportunity” to support fathers and call on families to “celebrate” fatherhood.
Crucially, he will also argue that employers have a moral responsibility to pay fathers who work them a proper wage to enable them to support their families with “pride and dignity”.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Men • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The archbishop, John Sentamu, asked: "What do you do with people in same-sex relationships that are committed, loving and Christian? Would you rather bless a sheep and a tree, and not them? However, that is a big question, to which we are going to come. I am afraid that now is not the moment."
No. It isn't. That moment passed years ago, when civil partnerships were first brought in, and the archbishop's was one of the loudest voices demanding that the Church of England have nothing to do with them. The bishops still don't realise what damage they did then.
Read it all.
Filed under:
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
It really matters that we recognise this as a new social institution. As a Christian I would argue that being a man or a woman is not incidental to the human relations a person may engage in, but formative of them.
In Christian understanding the human meaning of sexual difference is rooted in the good gift of God in creation. The male-femaleness of the human race is given to us, it is where we are placed, in common with the whole human race in every generation, and our role is to be thankful for it and to understand how it helps us to live the human lives we are given.
This task of appreciating our sexual difference weighs equally on married and unmarried, on gay and straight, on children and adults - on all who have the gift of being human.
Christians, in common with Jews and Muslims, understand marriage as essentially representative of this good gift of sexual difference. This understanding flows from an undivided and unbroken tradition which has helped to define the unity of the human race, uniting nations, religions, cultural traditions and periods of history. - See more at: http://www.archbishopofyork.org/articles.php/2919/same-sex-marriage-bill-committee-stage#sthash.YGO8QtJO.dpuf
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • Archbishop of York John Sentamu • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Archbishop Paul Kwong, who was recently re-elected for a second six-year term as Primate, has called Anglicans in Hong Kong to “do-it-yourself”*, to fulfil their own ministries rather than rely on external assistance.
The Church’s Echo Magazine revealed that, in a speech following his re-election, the Primate said he "deplored" the reliance on non-Anglican staff to perform ministerial work. This, he suggested, contravened the Anglican tradition of passing on faith from one generation to another.
“Those who come to the Anglican Church expect to be nurtured in the Anglican way by Anglicans,” Archbishop Kwong said. "‘Nurturing’ not only is the duty of priests, but also that of every layperson. The Church is your family and you must assume your responsibility as a family member.”
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * International News & Commentary • Asia
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
I recently received the following message from a stranger: “So basically, the ‘orthodox Catholic’ game you all play is just that . . . a game?” It was in reference to a Catholic man with whom I am friendly, and like very much. She had apparently read on social media that this man was planning to marry another man.
My friend had never “come out” to me, and—call me old-fashioned, or call me incurious—it had never occurred to me to ask, so the wedding plans were mildly surprising. But reading the email I thought, “Yes, so? What does this woman want me to do? Should I now hate him? Am I supposed to ‘un-friend’ him (that ridiculous term) or even publicly denounce him in order to demonstrate sufficiently ‘orthodox’ Catholic bona fides for her satisfaction? Is that what she wants?”
Well, I couldn’t do that....
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • Marriage & Family • Psychology • Sexuality • --Civil Unions & Partnerships • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Despite repeated requests from religious leaders and anti-abortion activists, city officials in Philadelphia plan to cremate and bury the 47 bodies from abortion provider Kermit Gosnell's case.
In May, Gosnell was convicted on three counts of first-degree murder. He waived his rights to appeal but has 30 days to reconsider his decision.
Once the appeal period is over on Saturday, the city will follow its normal procedures by conducting cremation and burial, city spokesman Mark McDonald said. McDonald did not have information on when it would take place.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Children • Health & Medicine • Religion & Culture • Urban/City Life and Issues • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
My first congregation was located in a diminishing rural area, but after a year, we were growing. We began a youth group. Families and young members began attending. More people started commuting from the larger city to attend the church.
Then the local governing body put a minimum salary in place that was 10k above what I made. I applied for a grant that got me enough money for the next three years, but a struggle at the church arose between those who wanted to “go out with a bang” and those who wanted to hold onto the little bit in the bank account. There was an idea that having money in the bank was going to keep the church alive for an eternity. So I got a better job. (And yes, it was a better job at a more stable church. I don’t want to spiritualize it too much by saying it was God’s calling.)
When I look back, I’m sad about how it all went down. Not to overblow my importance, but it was as if the church didn’t buy the prescription medicine that they needed to live well, because it would cost too much.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Laity • Ministry of the Ordained • * Theology • Pastoral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
New studies on peer pressure suggest that teens—who often seem to follow each other like lemmings—may do so because their brains derive more pleasure from social acceptance than adult brains, and not because teens are less capable of making rational decisions.
And scientists say facing the influence of friends represents an important developmental step for teens on their way to becoming independent-thinking adults.
Peer pressure is often seen as a negative, and indeed it can coax kids into unhealthy behavior like smoking or speeding. But it can also lead to engagement in more useful social behaviors. If peers value doing well in school or excelling at sports, for instance, it might encourage kids to study or train harder. And both peer pressure and learning to resist it are important developmental steps to self-reliance, experts say.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Psychology • Teens / Youth
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
O God in whom all fullness dwelleth, who givest without measure to them that ask; Give us faith to ask, and faith to receive, all that thy bounty giveth; that being filled with all thy fullness we may as thy faithful stewards impart thy gifts to all thy children; for Jesus Christ’s sake, Amen.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
--Acts 2:1-4
Filed under: * Theology • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Google is to spend $5m (£3.1m) fighting child pornography and abuse, the company will announce today, after criticism that it is not doing enough to prevent the spread of harmful online imagery.
With a Whitehall summit on online protection set for.... [today], chaired by the Culture Secretary, Maria Miller, the internet giant has pledged to tackle child sex abuse images through "hashing" technology that gives each picture a web "fingerprint" that can be identified and removed.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • Children • Globalization • Law & Legal Issues • Pornography • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
There was a time when the faithful in the heavily Dutch corners of the Midwest would not have been able to sing along if the organist played the gospel classic “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.”
True, some may have recognized the hymn that Mahalia Jackson sang at the 1968 funeral of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., since this was the civil rights leader’s favorite: “Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand. I am tired, I am weak, I am worn. Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light. Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.”
But by 1987, this beloved African-American spiritual had been added to the Christian Reformed Church hymnal. A generation later, it has achieved the kind of stature that puts it in the core of the “In Death and Dying” pages of the church’s new “Lift Up Your Hearts” hymnal.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Think of how evangelicals may describe the Bible: unchanging, inerrant, authoritative, truth.
Well, "in the world we are entering, the concept of the Bible will be completely different," said David Parker, theology professor at the University of Birmingham. Speaking recently at the Hay Festival in England, Parker predicted that technology will prompt personalized digital versions of the Scripture, "like an individual copy" of the Bible.
If Parker is right, we evangelicals might have some major questions. How would this editorial control affect our faith? Could it lead to an eventual erosion of sound doctrine? Would the capacity for changing our sacred texts ultimately diminish their authority?
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Evangelicals
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
While listening to a fiery preacher of the gospel I observed three young men in their thirties just to my right giggling at and mocking the preacher’s insistence that Jesus was who he claimed to be. Here was my opportunity.
They were Muslims, and soon we were talking about how Jesus could be both the Son of God and at the same time one with the Father. I asked them if they had read the Injeel, the Arabic word for the Gospels, since Mohammed said that Jesus was a prophet and that God had given us the Gospels. “Ah, but the Injeel has been corrupted,” they said. “But why if God is all powerful would he have allowed his word to be corrupted?” I asked them. No answer.
Our conversation ranged on a wide variety of subjects including Jihad (they insisted that those who interpreted Jidad violently were not “real” Muslims), suicide bombers (again they were not real Muslims), and whether those who followed Jesus caused wars or believed in turning the other cheek. When I turned my cheek and asked one of them to hit me, they all smiled (as did I), but they knew I meant it.
- See more at: http://www.stmichaelschurch.net/my-muslim-encounter-in-london/#sthash.EQYEeald.dpuf
Read it all.
Filed under: * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Inter-Faith Relations • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations • * Theology • Apologetics • Christology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Gay Americans are much less religious than the general U.S. population, and about three in 10 of them say they have felt unwelcome in a house of worship, a new study shows.
The Pew Research Center’s study, released Thursday (June 13), details how gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans view many of the country’s prominent faiths: in a word, unfriendly.
The vast majority said Islam (84 percent); the Mormon church (83 percent); the Roman Catholic Church (79 percent); and evangelical churches (73 percent) were unfriendly. Jews and nonevangelical Protestants drew a more mixed reaction, with more than 40 percent considering them either unfriendly or neutral about gays and lesbians.
Read it all.
I will take comments on this submitted by email only to at KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Psychology • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Three male widowers were last Sunday empowered by the men's fellowship of the Cathedral Church of St. Batholomew, Kubwa, with the sum of N3.5million to assist them in taking care of their families.
The President of the fellowship, Innocent Ekeopara, who spoke to our reporter, said the gesture is in line with the organisation's mandate to empathise with members, who are faced with financial challenges.
He said the assumption that some men who lost their wives would not find it difficult in taking up the family responsibilities might be wrong especially when the woman was the bread winner before her demise.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Nigeria • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Men • Women • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Today census data reveals fewer lasting marriages, fewer marriages, more interfaith (and often religiously “diluting”) families, women adding work outside of the home to their work in the home, the mobility and the rootlessness that goes with this--all of these factors at odds with the traditional, habitual, reflexive identification of a people with a religious membership or involvement.
The heirs of the dwindling white majority can complain or explain, or they can accept the changes and help re-conceive religious commitment. The trends suggest opportunities for Hispanic Catholicism, Black Protestantism, and Asian faith with whatever affiliation. As for non-Hispanic whites, the trends are a wake-up call, occasions to discern opportunities, and to pursue the paths of God, as they see these, in an ever-changing America. The response begins with showing awareness, but that’s not all. We’ll continue to document changes.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The vast majority of the 1,430 education programs that prepare the nation’s K-12 teachers are mediocre, according to a first-ever ranking that immediately touched off a firestorm.
Released Tuesday by the National Council on Teacher Quality, a Washington-based advocacy group, the rankings are part of a $5 million project funded by major U.S. foundations. Education secretaries in 21 states have endorsed the report, but some universities and education experts quickly assailed the review as incomplete and inaccurate.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Education • Young Adults • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The myth of perfectly secure communication is dying.
Since the revelations of widespread intelligence-agency eavesdropping on the digital communications of millions of people in the United States and around the world, governments and technology companies have been under immense pressure to explain exactly how pervasive the monitoring has become. Users of e-mail and social networks provided by the likes of Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. have found themselves asking whether there are any means of keeping their data totally secure.
The short answer, it seems, is that there isn’t. And new revelations suggest that even the BlackBerry, touted by Research In Motion Ltd. as the most secure form of wireless communication in the market, could not clock the prying eyes of government.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • Globalization • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Politics in General • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
A fire destroyed St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Morinville early Sunday, the second church fire in the town in nine months.
Morinville RCMP officers and about 20 volunteer fire fighters from Morinville and Legal responded to the blaze at 107th Street and 100th Avenue at 2:30 a.m. No one was injured. The cause is under investigation.
When Tracy Roulston, chief of the Legal fire department, and his five member crew arrived, he said the fire was “as big as they get.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Canada • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Priests working through the ‘S curve’ of change in their ministry should seek inspiration from 20th Century poet and priest RS Thomas and the film Of Gods and Men, suggests the book Moving on in Ministry. Being launched this week at the Seventh Annual Faith in Research conference at Church House, London, the book comprises essays focusing on transition and change by respected authors in their fields*.
Realising that development can slow down then speed up in an ‘S’ shape , and can actually take place without moving to a new role, the book encourages priests to make reflective and practical responses to moving on in ministry. It begins with an essay by Tim Harle on the ‘S Curve’, to help priests identify where they are in the process of accommodating the change they are experiencing; and also to help them “live comfortably out of control”.
Mark Pryce uses the poetry metaphors for priesthood of RS Thomas to analyse change, looking particularly at the “self-in-relation to God” and the “mystery of God disclosed or hidden in others”; Thomas’s poem The Moor, for example, is quoted from: “There were no prayers said. But stillness of the heart’s passions – that was praise enough.”
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Books • * Theology • Anthropology • Pastoral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Walk into any American high school and nearly one in five boys in the hallways will have a diagnosis of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, 11% of all American children ages 4 to 17—over six million—have ADHD, a 16% increase since 2007. When you consider that in Britain roughly 3% of children have been similarly diagnosed, the figure is even more startling. Now comes worse news: In the U.S., being told that you have ADHD—and thus receiving some variety of amphetamine to treat it—has become more likely.
Last month, the American Psychiatric Association released the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—the bible of mental health—and this latest version, known as DSM-5, outlines a new diagnostic paradigm for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Symptoms of ADHD remain the same in the new edition: "overlooks details," "has difficulty remaining focused during lengthy reading," "often fidgets with or taps hands" and so on. The difference is that in the previous version of the manual, the first symptoms of ADHD needed to be evident by age 7 for a diagnosis to be made. In DSM-5, if the symptoms turn up anytime before age 12, the ADHD diagnosis can be made.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Drugs/Drug Addiction • Health & Medicine • Psychology • Teens / Youth • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Egypt needs a revolution.
Wait, isn’t that what happened two years ago? Not really. It is now clear that what happened two years ago was more musical chairs than revolution. First the army, using the energy of the youth-led protesters in Tahrir Square, ousted Mubarak, and then the Muslim Brotherhood ousted the army, and now the opposition is trying to oust the Brotherhood. Each, though, is operating on the old majoritarian politics — winners take all, losers get nothing....
“The other day,” [Ahmed el-]Droubi said, “I was standing on a main intersection in downtown Cairo, where two one-way roads meet. As I stood there, I saw cars going both ways down both one-way streets — cars were coming and going in four different directions — and other cars were double-parked. I was standing next to a shop owner watching this. ‘This is a complete mess,’ he said. ‘No one has any civic responsibility. They each only care about themselves getting to where they are going.’ ”
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Psychology • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Middle East • Egypt
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Almighty and everlasting God, who didst enkindle the flame of thy love in the heart of thy holy martyr Bernard Mizeki: Grant to us, thy humble servants, a like faith and power of love, that we who rejoice in his triumph may profit by his example; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Filed under:
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Blessed Lord, who for our sakes wast content to bear sorrow and want and death: Grant to us such a measure of thy Spirit that we may follow thee in all self-denial and tenderness of soul. Help us by thy great love to succour the afflicted, to relieve the needy, to share the burdens of the heavy laden, and ever to see thee in all that are poor and destitute; for thy great mercy’s sake.
--B. F. Westcott (1825-1901)
Filed under:
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Hannah also prayed and said,
“My heart exults in the Lord;
my strength is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth derides my enemies,
because I rejoice in thy salvation.
“There is none holy like the Lord,
there is none besides thee;
there is no rock like our God.
Talk no more so very proudly,
let not arrogance come from your mouth;
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
and by him actions are weighed.
The bows of the mighty are broken,
but the feeble gird on strength.
Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread,
but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger.
The barren has borne seven,
but she who has many children is forlorn.
The Lord kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low, he also exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
and on them he has set the world.
“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones;
but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness;
for not by might shall a man prevail.
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces;
against them he will thunder in heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth;
he will give strength to his king,
and exalt the power of his anointed.”
--1 Samuel 2:1-10
Filed under:
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
In his first news conference since Friday's election, Mr Rouhani described as "unfair" sanctions imposed on his country. He also said Tehran would not suspend uranium enrichment activities.
The West suspects Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran says its programme is entirely peaceful.
The UK said it hoped Mr Rouhani would act on his pledge to resolve the issue.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • Middle East • Iran
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
...we live in a country where too many of us have broken relationships with Dad. In America, 1 in 3 kids live apart from their biological fathers. A recent Washington Post article addressed the dad dilemma with the eye-catching title: The new F-Word – Father. In it, Kathleen Parker addresses a question being asked as we discuss the latest stats on America's female breadwinners: In the evolving 21st-century economy, "what are men good for?"
Parker concludes:
Women have become more self-sufficient (a good thing) and, given that they still do the lion's share of housework and child rearing, why, really, should they invite a man to the clutter? Because, simply, children need a father… . Deep in the marrow of every human child burbles a question far more profound than those currently occupying coffee klatches: Who is my daddy? And sadly these days, where is he?....[and] that's unfortunately where the church often ends the conversation. We lament the shift in the family structure, express outrage at the latest statistics....[yet we cannot stop there].
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Men • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Suppose someone wants to live a life committed to the Gospel but does not want to live the three traditional vows -- poverty, chastity and obedience -- as they have usually been interpreted. Or maybe only one or two of those vows make sense to that person. Maybe someone wants to pronounce a new vow that speaks to the heart of his or her identity and call. Or maybe she or he wants to develop a new form of committed life without vows. All of these possibilities are already happening -- and evolving.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The importance of physical proximity, when it comes to fatherhood, may help explain why the sociological story about fatherhood is remarkably similar to the biological story. Fatherhood is socially transformative for men—but only, once again, if they are living proximate to their children. By contrast, men who don’t live with their children, either because they never married the mother in the first place, or got divorced, often don’t look much different than childless men. Three findings illustrate the point:
1) Steering clear of the blues. Fathers who live with their children are significantly less likely to be depressed, and more likely to report they are satisfied with their lives, compared to childless men. But men who live apart from their children have levels of life satisfaction and depression that largely parallel those of their childless peers. In other words, men who don’t live with their children don’t benefit psychologically from fatherhood....
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Men • Sociology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Whenever we come close to despair, the strongest lifeline is to think like Joseph. That is how psychotherapist Viktor Frankl saved the lives of several of his fellow prisoners in Auschwitz, by helping them realise that they had a task to perform or a mission to fulfil that they could only do by surviving. This gave them the will to live. People who have suffered tragedy have often found meaning by alleviating the suffering of others. The grief may not disappear but it is redeemed. The adagio, with its intense sadness, is not the last movement of the symphony.
Seen through the eyes of faith life is not what Joseph Heller called it: “a trashbag of random coincidences blown open in a wind.” Each of us is here for a reason, to do something only we can do, and all the pain and heartbreak are bearable if we can discern God’s purpose or hear, however muffled, His call. As Nietzsche used to say, “He who has a strong enough Why can bear almost any How.”
In crisis, the wrong question to ask is, “What have I done to deserve this?” The right one is, “What am I now being summoned to do?” Each of us has a task. Every life has a purpose. We can bear the pain of the past when we discover the future we are called on to make.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Judaism • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology • Theodicy • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Despite industrial action causing cancelled planes and trains in France delegates came for the 3 day event which included challenging Bible studies by Rev Dr Paul Vrolik, from the Aquitaine, on the life and fortunes of Jacob (see picture below). Dr Keith Clement gave a pan European setting to trends and developments as they affect Christians, and there were updates on Safeguarding, Communications and Environment news.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * International News & Commentary • Europe • France
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Two priests are nominees to become bishop of the nascent Anglican Diocese of the Upper Midwest. The diocese in formation awaits approval by the Anglican Church in North America’s College of Bishops, which meets June 20-21 at Nashotah House Theological Seminary and Olympia Resort and Conference Center in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
The nominees are the Very Rev. Robert S. Munday, former dean and president of Nashotah House, and the Rev. Stewart Ruch III, rector of Church of the Resurrection, Wheaton. Under the ACNA’s canons the bishops may appoint one of the two nominees as bishop or choose another person.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Why? Although the evidence is inconclusive, most point to the failing economy and its social and psychological consequences: weakening bonds of family and friendship, damaged self-esteem and the shattered hopes of the unemployed. In a year that has already shown the destructive force of firearms, guns are the handiest means for committing suicide. While suicide is generally associated with teenagers and the elderly, since 1999 the rate among those between 35 and 64 rose by nearly 30 percent in the United States, especially among men in their 50s.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Psychology • Suicide • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
In the late 1990’s the face of youth ministry was this big, overblown monstrosity of thrills and excitement, and I was all in. I simply assumed that if there were more games than God, I would draw more students with the entertainment, and hope to keep them engaged. However, in recent years I discovered by listening to my students that they want more truth.
My leaders and students have a desire to make more of an emphasis on four things these days: the Gospel, the Scriptures, discipleship, and missions, which was not the case when I started in youth ministry fifteen years ago.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Youth Ministry
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
In the walk of manhood, we have tremendous responsibility and possibility for blame. As a child, I never understood the decisions that the men in my life made. But now as a man, I fully understand the kind of positions that they were placed in and the difficult choices they had to make. When we face these difficult choices, we make the wrong ones sometimes, and understandably so.
As men, we have been taught that we are supposed to fix everything. Hence when we make these wrong decisions we are not very good at asking for help. We should. It’s OK to ask for help, especially when it comes to our children. We don’t have to figure everything out on our own; we should always be willing to ask for help. There’s no shame in that.
As fathers, it is particularly important to understand that asking for help to do our job is OK. Making mistakes doing our job is OK. Neglecting our job as a father is not OK.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Men • * South Carolina
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center, at the southern end of Seabrook Island, marks its 75th anniversary with a three-day celebration beginning June 22.
Most of the scheduled events are free and open to the public.
Read it all and please take the time to look at the special website for this event.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Laity • Ministry of the Ordained • Youth Ministry • * South Carolina
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Pope Francis hinted today in his first meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury that he realised the establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate had not always been easy to comprehend.
But he told Archbishop Justin Welby he was "grateful" for "the sincere efforts the Church of England has made to understand the reasons that led my predecessor, Benedict XVI, to provide a canonical structure able to respond to the wishes of those groups of Anglicans who have asked to be received collectively into the Catholic Church".
In a public address, following private talks that last just over 30 minutes, Francis said he was "sure" the Anglican Ordinariate, erected in 2009, would "enable the spiritual, liturgical and pastoral traditions that form the Anglican patrimony to be better known and appreciated in the Catholic world".
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Francis • * Theology • Ecclesiology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Overcoming divisions between Anglicans and Roman Catholics will require a "self-giving love" characterised by "hospitality and love for the poor", the Archbishop of Canterbury said on Friday, at his first meeting with Pope Francis.
Archbishop Welby, accompanied by his wife, Caroline, met Pope Francis at the Apostolic Palace on Friday morning, after meeting the President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch. The Archbishop and the Pope had a private conversation, after which they gave public addresses and attended a service of midday prayer together.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Culture-Watch • Poverty • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Francis
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
What is the image we have of God? Perhaps he appears to us as a severe judge, as someone who curtails our freedom and the way we live our lives. But the Scriptures everywhere tell us that God is the Living One, the one who bestows life and points the way to fullness of life. I think of the beginning of the Book of Genesis: God fashions man out of the dust of the earth; he breathes in his nostrils the breath of life, and man becomes a living being (cf. 2:7). God is the source of life; thanks to his breath, man has life. God’s breath sustains the entire journey of our life on earth. I also think of the calling of Moses, where the Lord says that he is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of the living. When he sends Moses to Pharaoh to set his people free, he reveals his name: "I am who I am", the God who enters into our history, sets us free from slavery and death, and brings life to his people because he is the Living One. I also think of the gift of the Ten Commandments: a path God points out to us towards a life which is truly free and fulfilling. The commandments are not a litany of prohibitions – you must not do this, you must not do that, you must not do the other; on the contrary, they are a great "Yes!": a yes to God, to Love, to life. Dear friends, our lives are fulfilled in God alone, because only he is the Living One!....
Today’s Gospel brings us another step forward. Jesus allows a woman who was a sinner to approach him during a meal in the house of a Pharisee, scandalizing those present. Not only does he let the woman approach but he even forgives her sins, saying: "Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little" (Lk 7:47). Jesus is the incarnation of the Living God, the one who brings life amid so many deeds of death, amid sin, selfishness and self-absorption.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Preaching / Homiletics • * Culture-Watch • Life Ethics • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Francis • * Theology • Anthropology • Christology • Soteriology • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Found here and used in worship yesterday:
God our Father,
you govern and protect your people
and shepherd them with a father’s love.
You place a father in a family as a sign
of your love, care, and constant protection.
May fathers everywhere be faithful to the
example shown in the Scriptures: steadfast
in love, forgiving transgressions, sustaining
the family, caring for those in need.
Give your wisdom to fathers
that they may encourage and guide their children.
Keep them healthy so they may support a family.
Guide every father with the Spirit of your love
that they may grow in holiness
and draw their family ever closer to you.
Amen
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer • * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Men
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
O God, who, calling Abraham to go forth to a country which thou wouldest show him, didst promise that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed: Fulfill thy promise in us, we pray thee, giving us such faith in thee as thou shalt count unto us for righteousness; that in us and through us thy purpose may be fulfilled; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
--Church of South India
Filed under:
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou who leadest Joseph like a flock! Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before E'phraim and Benjamin and Manas'seh! Stir up thy might, and come to save us!
--Psalm 80:1-2
Filed under: * Theology • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Filed under: * By Kendall • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • Children • Marriage & Family
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The Most Rev. Mouneer Hanna Anis of the Diocese of Egypt of the Anglican Church will speak on Sunday, June 16, at the Covenant Chapel Reformed Episcopal Church, a member of the Anglican Church in North America, located at 126 West Oak St. in Basking Ridge.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) • Anglican Provinces • The Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
All is now set for the commissioning and dedication of a new massive church building adjudged as the biggest Anglican Church in Lagos.
The new building, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Kirikiri Industrial Estate Lagos which was begun in July 2005, has cost over N400 million upon completion. It will be dedicated on Sunday, June 23, this year.
Archdeacon of cum Vicar of the church, the Venerable Levi Opara, who disclosed this in a statement made available to Sunday Mirror yesterday, said commendation must be given to the untiring efforts of the Bishop of Lagos and Dean Emeritus of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Most Rev. (Dr) Ephraim Ademowo, for stirring up contributions from well-meaning Nigerians and church members.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Nigeria • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Watch our conversation with Michael Kessler of Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs about perspectives of religious and ethical traditions on the government’s massive collection of electronic data and its vast surveillance effort.
You may find the link here for the video.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Economy • The U.S. Government • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
O God, the author and fountain of hope, enable us to rely with confident expectation on thy promises, knowing that the trials and hindrances of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed, and having our faces steadfastly set towards the light that shineth more and more to the perfect day; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength. Yea, the world is established; it shall never be moved; thy throne is established from of old; thou art from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the LORD on high is mighty! Thy decrees are very sure; holiness befits thy house, O LORD, for evermore.
--Psalm 93
Filed under: * Theology • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Reports are beginning to outline the weaponry and where it will go. Weapons will likely include automatic rifles, light mortars, and rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) – but not the shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles known as MANPADS (man-portable air-defense missiles).
The fear is that antiaircraft missiles could end up in the hands of more militant factions fighting in Syria, including Hezbollah and those with connections to Al Qaeda.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • Middle East • Syria
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
I know there are some non-believers in particular who find this debate uncomfortable or frustrating. But my impression is that there are a far larger number who find it rewarding, having felt for some time that the discussion needs to go beyond the ‘Is it true?’ rut. As the Chief Rabbi shows, the place the ‘new atheists’ have taken the discussion to is not the end of a discussion but really just the beginning.
Read it all, also from The Spectator.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Atheism
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Some people get religion; others don’t. Why not leave it at that?
Fair enough, perhaps. But not, I submit, for readers of The Spectator, because religion has social, cultural and political consequences, and you cannot expect the foundations of western civilisation to crumble and leave the rest of the building intact. That is what the greatest of all atheists, Nietzsche, understood with terrifying clarity and what his -latter-day successors fail to grasp at all.
Time and again in his later writings he tells us that losing Christian faith will mean abandoning Christian morality. No more ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’; instead the will to power. No more ‘Thou shalt not’; instead people would live by the law of nature, the strong dominating or eliminating the weak. ‘An act of injury, violence, exploitation or destruction cannot be “unjust” as such, because life functions essentially in an injurious, violent, exploitative and destructive manner.’ Nietzsche was not an anti-Semite, but there are passages in his writing that come close to justifying a Holocaust.
This had nothing to do with him personally and everything to do with the logic of Europe losing its Christian ethic....
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Atheism
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
“Denominationalism is not dead but, increasingly, it’s only one of several options for organizing the church in America,” explained Baptist historian Bill Leonard, the James and Marilyn Dunn Professor of Baptist Studies and professor of church history at Wake Forest School of Divinity.
Increasing pluralism in the United States and the decreasing influence of Protestantism are forcing denominational leaders to ask hard questions about identity, viability and relevance.
Pluralism, “which Baptists helped put into place,” is becoming more normative, Leonard said. The rise of the “nones”—people with no connection to organized religion— also plays into the challenges denominations face.
Gone are the days when communities formulated policy and activities around the church. “We are living through the death rattle of the Protestant privilege,” Leonard said.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Baptists • Disciples of Christ • Evangelicals • Lutheran • Methodist • Pentecostal • Presbyterian • Roman Catholic • United Church of Christ
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Judge Reed explains the importance of Section 20.01(g) of the Canons of the Diocese of San Joaquin, and for this once, turns the tables on ECUSA by saying that it never objected to that Canon:
As to the issue of the parish’s right to disaffiliate from the church, it is undisputed that Canon XX, section 20.01(g) of the Diocese of San Joaquin has been an adopted canon of the diocese for many years, and that the plain language of section 20.01(g) allows for disaffiliation of the parish upon the written approval of the bishop of the diocese.After years of hearing courts say that dioceses and parishes never objected to the Dennis Canon before the current disputes arose, this opinion comes as a breath of fresh air, by turning the same point against ECUSA.
Plaintiffs argue that section 20.01(g) is invalid because Episcopal Church rules do not allow for a parish to disaffiliate. They base their contention upon church rules that indicate parish canons may not conflict with church rules and that parish property is to be held in trust for the church. However, the evidence before the court does not show that the Episcopal Church has objected to section 20.01(g) in the past, or taken any action to remove it from the diocese’s canons. Moreover, other church rules appear to give broad authority to bishops, such as Episcopal Church Canon II.6 which authorizes a parish to encumber parish property with consent of the bishop.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • - Anglican: Analysis • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Polity & Canons • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
92% of lone parent families are headed by the mother. Even at birth, 20% of children live with only 1 parent, by the time they are teenagers this is nearly 50%. For up to 3 million children tomorrow will be Absent Fathers Day, and here are some of the the consequences:
Children who experience family breakdown are more likely to
--experience behavioural problems;Read it all.
--perform less well in school;
--need more medical treatment;
--leave school and home earlier;
--become sexually active, pregnant or a parent at an early age;
and report more depressive symptoms and higher levels of smoking, drinking and other drug use during adolescence and adulthood.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • Men • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
A Southern Baptist from Spartanburg with no political experience walked the halls of Capitol Hill on Wednesday with his wife, lobbying Congress to support immigration reform as a moral issue.
Jim Goodroe, director of missions for the Spartanburg County Baptist Network, has ministered to the immigrant community of Spartanburg for the last 12 years. His wife, Nancy, teaches young children who don’t speak English as a first language.
The Goodroes are well-versed on visas and green cards and the struggles involved in migrating to a foreign country. But the political arena is a new world to them.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Immigration • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Baptists • * South Carolina • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
We wanted to know the costs of all this buying and lusting for more, so we flew to Boston to talk with Harvard professor Michael Sandel. He wrote "What Money Can’t Buy, The Moral Limits of Markets." It tells the story of how we’ve gone from having a market economy, to being a market society where everything is for sale.
Sandel points out all sorts of ways money has changed the game [of baseball]. One of them, the way corporate sponsorship has worked its way into the very language of the game.
"The insurance company New York Life," he says, "has a deal with several teams that requires announcers to say the following line whenever there’s a close call at the plate: 'Safe at home. Safe and secure, New York Life.'”
Read or listen to it all.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Culture-Watch • Psychology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Personal Finance • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • * Theology • Anthropology • Apologetics • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The Archbishop and the Pope affirmed the bonds of "friendship" and "love" between Roman Catholics and Anglicans when they met for the first time in Rome this morning
In their first meeting, Archbishop Justin and Pope Francis both spoke this morning of the bonds of "friendship" and "love" between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.
The two leaders agreed that the fruits of this dialogue and relationship have the potential to empower Christians around the world to demonstrate the love of Christ.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Francis
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Pope Francis met on Friday with the new Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, stressing the need to work and worship together in the search for reconciliation and unity between the Catholic and Anglican communities. Philippa Hitchen was on hand in the library of the Apostolic Palace to hear what the Pope and the Archbishop had to say....
Read and listen to it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Francis
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
At the end of his first visit to the Vatican, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said he and Pope Francis shared ideas on economic justice, on the plight of Christians in the Middle East, but also on their deeply personal experiences of God’s calling in their daily lives.
Following their morning audience and joint prayer service, the leader of the Anglican Communion described the Pope as a man of “extraordinary humanity, on fire with the Spirit of Christ”. While admitting there are obstacles on the road to reconciliation between Anglicans and Catholics, he said he sensed a new vigour and common commitment “to prove the radicality” of the Christian Gospel.
Speaking to Philippa Hitchen in the garden of the Venerable English College at the end of the brief visit, the archbishop said he and the Pope also joked about the way they had inaugurated their ministries within two days of each other earlier this year……
Read and listen to it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Amid speculation that the Federal Reserve soon might start scaling back its stimulus efforts, the International Monetary Fund cautioned that a pullback before next year could hurt economies worldwide.
Highlighting its concern Friday, the IMF lowered its forecast for U.S. economic growth next year to 2.7% from an earlier projection of 3%.
The IMF also criticized U.S. fiscal policy, calling for the repeal of the automatic federal spending cuts, known as the sequester, and urging lawmakers to act promptly to raise the nation's debt limit.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Taxes • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • The Fiscal Stimulus Package of 2009 • The U.S. Government • Budget • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
O God, Origin, Sustainer, and End of all creatures: Grant that thy Church, taught by thy servant Evelyn Underhill, guarded evermore by thy power, and guided by thy Spirit into the light of truth, may continually offer to thee all glory and thanksgiving, and attain with thy saints to the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast promised us by our Savior Jesus Christ; who with thee and the same Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Spirituality/Prayer
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Eternal God, whose majesty is revealed in mercy: Grant that as we draw near to thee thy truth may set us free from the bondage of our own thoughts and desires, and that as we abide in thee our prayers may be an instrument of thy righteous will; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
--Leslie Hunter
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Spirituality/Prayer
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
At the set time which I appoint I will judge with equity. When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants, it is I who keep steady its pillars....
For not from the east or from the west and not from the wilderness comes lifting up; but it is God who executes judgment, putting down one and lifting up another.
--Psalm 75: 2-3; 6-7
Filed under: * Theology • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Last fall, a group of strangers in Raleigh undertook a seemingly puny attempt at repairing a family dysfunction that shook the Middle East some 2,000 years ago.
Two dozen Christians and Jews filed into the all-purpose room at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, not exactly sure what awaited them. For the next six months, we earnestly discussed history, theology, readings, biblical passages and our personal reflections and experiences.
If I had to summarize the point of the half-year-long interfaith project while standing on one leg, I’d put it this way: Treat other religions as you’d like your religion to be treated.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • * Religion News & Commentary • Inter-Faith Relations • Other Churches • Other Faiths • Judaism
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
....given the rising urgency of pursuing a dialogue with Islam, it was hardly obvious that Benedict's successor in Rome would promote the church's relationship with Judaism with the same focus and zeal, especially if the new pope came from outside Europe.
As it turned out, the College of Cardinals could not have elected a man with a clearer commitment to Catholic-Jewish relations than Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio. As archbishop of Buenos Aires, he had celebrated Rosh Hashanah and Hannukah in local synagogues, voiced solidarity with Jewish victims of terrorism, and co-written a book with a prominent rabbi. Touching on one of the most sensitive points in the relationship between Catholics and Jews, Bergoglio had called for the Vatican to open its archives from the pontificate of Pius XII, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, to address lingering questions about whether the wartime pope had done or said enough to oppose the Nazi genocide.
It is relevant in this connection that the new pope comes from Buenos Aires, the city with the largest Jewish community in the Southern Hemisphere. No pope since the church's early centuries has come from a society as culturally diverse as modern Argentina, which Francis has celebrated for its blend of ethnicities and religions.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Religion News & Commentary • Inter-Faith Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Francis • Other Faiths • Judaism
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
About a century ago...the moral status system was likely to be the inverse of the worldly status system. The working classes were self-controlled, while the rich and the professionals could get away with things.
These mores, among other things, had biblical roots. In the Torah, God didn’t pick out the most powerful or notable or populous nation to be his chosen people. He chose a small, lowly band. The Torah is filled with characters who are exiles or from the lower reaches of society who are, nonetheless, chosen for pivotal moments: Moses, Joseph, Saul, David and Esther....
Over the years, religion has played a less dominant role in public culture. Meanwhile, the rival status hierarchies have fallen away. The meritocratic hierarchy of professional success is pretty much the only one left standing.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Almost immediately after the Supreme Court ruled that human genes could not be patented, several laboratories announced they, too, would begin offering genetic testing for breast cancer risk, making it likely that that test and others could become more affordable and more widely available.
The ruling in effect ends a nearly two-decade monopoly by Myriad Genetics, the company at the center of the case.
“It levels the playing field; we can all go out and compete,” said Sherri Bale, managing director of GeneDx, a testing company, which plans to offer a test for breast cancer risk. “This is going to make a lot more genetic tests available, especially for rare diseases.”
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The price of the Charleston Crab House’s $26.99 “World Famous Crab House Crab Pot” could go up next year, but not because of the price of crabs or a potential seafood shortage. It’s about health care.
John Keener, who owns both Charleston Crab House locations, on James Island and on Meeting Street, is one of many Charleston restaurateurs trying to make sense of the federal Affordable Care Act and how his business will be affected.
Two things are certain: Keener will need to offer his employees health insurance starting in 2014, and he will likely pass the associated costs of that coverage onto his customers.
Read it all from the local paper.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • --The 2009 American Health Care Reform Debate • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • * South Carolina
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The Bishop of Exeter, the Rt Rev. Michael Langrish, represented the Anglican Communion last month at a gathering of faith leaders in Brussels. Bishop Langrish along with 19 representatives from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist faiths were invited to voice their ideas about the future of Europe, about the European values, social issues and questions of solidarity with leaders of the EU.
On 30 May 2013 they joined José Manuel Barroso, President of the EC, Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council, and László Surján, Vice-President of the EP to discuss the theme “Putting citizens at the heart of the European project in times of change”.
Read it all (requires subscription).
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Europe
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Barely twenty years ago, serious commentators, like Francis Fukuyama in his book The End of History, were able to argue that liberal democracy and market economics may constitute the term of mankind's ideological evolution and the final form of human government, and thus the end-point of history. History, however, has moved on in the intervening years, not least in the new prominence of religious convictions and institutions.
In these circumstances, it has proved harder to craft a political rhetoric and a convincing narrative pointing to a better material future, which many citizens have begun to suspect actually lies behind us. Hope is on the wing while some of the strongest political passions seem to be engaged, not by a vision of a better future but by a rather narrow nationalism which exalts our tribe against the others.
Is a renewed Christian vision in these circumstances possible? It may be, but I wonder whether the Christian community is ready for it?
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Summer broke into a damp and cloudy June evening on Tuesday at a gala opening for Winchester Cathedral's "Symphony of Flowers".
Standing under an arcade of miniature daisies that led down the nave to a breathtaking wildflower meadow, rippling in a cool breeze that replicated the weather outside, the actress Patricia Routledge congratulated the design team for enabling such humble flowers to shine amid a display of traditional and contemporary floral exhibits.
Elsewhere, 52 large-scale exhibits, created in two days by 300 flower arrangers from the Wessex and Jersey area of the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies (NAFAS), interpret musical genres or hymns, each in relation to their cathedral surroundings.
Read it all and make sure to enjoy the slideshow.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Energy, Natural Resources
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The city of Philadelphia has rejected overtures made by Archbishop Charles Chaput and others to give the babies killed by notorious “House of Horrors” abortionist Kermit Gosnell a fitting burial.
For now, the unclaimed fetal remains of Gosnell’s victims, once stored in the abortionist’s freezer, will have their final resting place at the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office.
At the close of the trial that resulted in Gosnell’s conviction on three charges of first-degree murder, Archbishop Chaput renewed the archdiocese’s request made back in 2011 to gain custody of the bodies of Gosnell’s fetal victims and bury them.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Law & Legal Issues • Life Ethics • Religion & Culture • Urban/City Life and Issues • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Next up, the employment population ratio:
June 1985 - 59.8%
May 2013 - 58.6%
Many economists consider the employment population ratio to be THE most important indicator for the labor market, and it's interesting to note that we are currently 1.2% under the rate posted in June of 1985, which is quite a difference.
Next up - the labor force participation rate:
June 1985 - 64.6%
May 2013 - 63.4%
Again, another significant difference.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Google says it has uncovered a vast Iranian spy campaign that had been targeting tens of thousands of Iranian citizens over the past three weeks.
"These campaigns, which originate from within Iran, represent a significant jump in the overall volume of phishing activity in the region," the company said in a blog post. "The timing and targeting of the campaigns suggest that the attacks are politically motivated in connection with the Iranian presidential election on Friday."
The company said that thousands of its users inside Iran had been the targets of a sophisticated email phishing campaign in which attackers sent users a link that, when clicked, sent them to a fake Google sign-in page where the attackers could steal login credentials.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/security-it/google-uncovers-iranian-spy-campaign-20130614-2o7rh.html#ixzz2W8gG8bct
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • Globalization • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • Middle East • Iran
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
More equality, less diversity and no justice – that’s where our bold, independent, socially-concerned Scotland is headed. No other conclusion can be drawn from the decision of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) that the St Margaret’s Children and Family Care Society fails the charity test because it unlawfully discriminates against same-sex couples.
Not that any discrimination has taken place. No same-sex couple has been turned away for adoption for the simple reason that no homosexual couple has sought to make use of the society’s services. Sensibly, such couples recognise the society’s adherence to the traditional Catholic principles of marriage and seek advice from the many other organisations happy to deal with their inquiries. This is a hypothetical case arising from a complaint, not from the gay lobby, but from secularists pursing an agenda to remove any vestiges of religious belief from public life.
Does the raising of children by same-sex couples produce equal outcomes for the children as the traditional heterosexual environment is a question that has long been claimed as being settled in favour of those who see no distinction between the two. Tim Hopkins, of the Equality Network, who this week agreed that the interests of children must come first, went on to argue that “research evidence shows clearly that children do as well with same-sex parents as they do with mixed-sex parents”. He might like to update his reading. Recent work by social scientists, such as American Mark Regnerus, throws doubt on this conclusion.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • --Scotland
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Almighty God, who hast revealed to thy Church thine eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like thy bishop Basil of Caesarea, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; who livest and reignest for ever and ever.
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • Spirituality/Prayer
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
As he was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."
--Luke 19:37-40
Filed under: * Theology • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Fewer Americans are now optimistic about their future personal financial situations, with 57% saying they will be better off in a year, down from 66% who said so last October. Optimism still surpasses pessimism, as 29% expect to be worse off a year from now -- although that is up from 11% who said so last fall.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Psychology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Check it out and see what you think.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • * Culture-Watch • Media
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Oh boy, he’s having a baby.
It’s hard to ignore these images of teenage boys sporting “pregnant” bellies and that’s exactly the intent of Chicago’s new eye-catching teen pregnancy prevention campaign.
Launched last month, it aims to “spark conversations among adolescents and adults on the issue of teen pregnancy and to make the case that teen parenthood is more than just a girl’s responsibility,” according to the Chicago Department of Public Health....
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Health & Medicine • Sexuality • Teens / Youth • Urban/City Life and Issues • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
We need to go deeper to the only lasting way to change our hearts—take them to the radical, costly grace of God in Christ on the cross. You show your heart the infinite depths to which he went so that you would be free from sin and its condemnation. This fills you with a sense not just of the danger or sin, but also of its grievousness. Think about how ungrateful it is, think of how your sin is not just against God’s law but also against his heart. Melt your heart with the knowledge of what he’s done for you. Tremble before the knowledge of what he is worth—he is worthy of all glory.
A second powerful thought from Newton is this: we sin not simply out of a rebellious desire to be our own masters, but also because we are looking to things besides God to satisfy and fulfill us. While Newton was good at pointing out the danger of having too low or light a view of one’s sin, he was also good at pointing out the opposite problem—too light a grasp of what Jesus has done for us.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Evangelicals • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology • Soteriology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that human genes and the information they contain cannot be patented by medical researchers, a holding that is expected to make it easier to engage in genetic research and cheaper for medical patients to obtain genetic testing.
The unanimous decision came in a case involving patents protecting genes with certain genetic mutations that scientists say can signal a higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women.
The genetic testing issue has been in the news recently with the disclosure that actress Angelina Jolie consented to a double mastectomy after undergoing a genetic test from the same company involved in the Supreme Court case that showed she had a high risk of ovarian and breast cancer.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • Law & Legal Issues • Science & Technology • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The public meeting in Manchester, Tenn., about 70 miles from Nashville, was supposed to address and tamp down discrimination toward Muslims there.
But instead it turned into a shouting match.
Bill Killian, the local U.S. attorney who organized the meeting, told the people in attendance that hate speech was not protected by the First Amendment. Over the last few years, there have been tensions between Muslims and many Christians in Tennessee. A Coffee County commissioner recently posted a picture on Facebook of a man with one eye looking down the sights of a shotgun, with the caption: "how to wink at a Muslim." The photo went viral.
Read or listen to it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Inter-Faith Relations • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The very thing that makes us feel trapped—God's omniscience—is the very thing that reveals the depth of God's grace. If we can muster the courage to allow God's omniscience to judge us, we will see that before and after the righteous judgment, there has been the omniscience of grace. Let me give an example of an early experience of this.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Evangelicals • * Theology • Soteriology • The Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
I’d suggest three ways to look at this issue through the lens of faith:
Government has a legitimate purpose and authority, but dividing citizens from one another should never be part of it. We should demand safeguards to prevent PRISM and similar programs from being used for repressive purposes. At a minimum, this ought to include full disclosure of the government’s purpose and methods here. (Lest you think this is a hypothetical concern, remember that the FBI has surveilled groups such as the American Friends Service Committee as recently as 2006.)
Surveillance comes about as part of the government's promise to keep us safe and secure. But only God can provide ultimate security—not invulnerability to threat but God's transformative support and presence amid our vulnerability. We follow the one who went to his death rather than depend on armed revolution to accomplish his goals. We should be relentless in questioning the government's claims about what we need to be protected from and how.
Our connections to others make us human.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The U.S. Government • Politics in General • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
It should be stressed that the reports in the air today are based on leaked notes from the meeting with Francis, and the Vatican has refused to confirm or deny their content, so we don't actually know what the pope said. Nonetheless, because the "gay lobby" business is back in the headlines, I'll repeat here what I said in February.
Bottom line: It's no secret there are gays in the Vatican, and it's reasonable to think officials would be concerned that insiders with a secret to keep might be vulnerable to various kinds of pressure. The issue, in other words, isn't so much their sexuality, but rather the potential for manipulation anytime someone serving the pope is leading a double life. That said, there's also no evidence this was the "real" reason Benedict quit just as there's no reason to believe now that Francis is on the cusp of launching an anti-gay witch hunt.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Media • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Italy • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Benedict XVI
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Speaking at St Paul's Cathedral this evening, Archbishop Justin said there will never be "perfect" banks, because "in the end no human being is of themselves perfectly good."
But the Archbishop said we can have "potentially good banks", which are motivated by virtue and not just financial bonuses and penalties.
Such a banking system would be "realistic" about human fallibility, but "optimistic" about human potential, he said.-
Read it all and note the audio link to the full address.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The Banking System/Sector • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
Egyptian author Karam Saber said that a misdemeanor court in Beni Suef sentenced him to five years on Wednesday on charges of insulting religion in a collection of short stories he wrote two years ago titled "Where is God?"
The politically active author told Aswat Masriya in a phone call on Wednesday that he plans to appeal the verdict through a legal challenge he will present to the court tomorrow.
Charges of "insulting religion" against authors, artists, television hosts and Coptic Christians have increased in recent months.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Books • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Middle East • Egypt • * Religion News & Commentary • Inter-Faith Relations • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The Most Rev. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, will pay a brief, informal visit to Pope Francis I in Rome on June 14. According to a Lambeth Palace statement, it will be a “personal and fraternal” visit.
It will be the first meeting between the two prelates since their inaugurations in March. The two church leaders share a commitment to global justice, ethical regulation of financial markets and conflict resolution.
"This visit is an opportunity for the Archbishop and Pope Francis to review the present state of relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion," said a statement issued by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury • --Justin Welby • * Religion News & Commentary • Ecumenical Relations • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Pope Francis
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
The Church of Scotland was last night bracing itself for the departure of up to a dozen well-heeled congregations over the issue of the ordination of gay ministers.
Three new congregations have indicated that they will quit the Kirk in the first signs of division to emerge since the vote to allow gay ministers.
New Restalrig Parish Church, St Catherine’s Argyle Parish Church and Holyrood Abbey Church in Edinburgh are in the process of negotiating a depart
Read it all (subscription required).
Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • --Scotland • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Presbyterian • Sexuality Debate (Other denominations and faiths) • * Theology • Anthropology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Theology: Scripture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com
For some reason, audiences have no problem when God, faith and religion are regular elements of animated comedies such as “The Simpsons,” ‘’Family Guy” and “South Park.” Psychologically, a cartoon Jesus on the small screen is okay in ways that a live-action Jesus is not.
But with live action sitcoms, success is more difficult to predict. And when the family at the center of show is not Christian the premise can be an especially tough sell. The Canadian Broadcasting Company’s critically lauded “Little Mosque on the Prairie,” lasted from 2007-2012, but with steadily declining ratings.
A critical factor for “Save Me,” which concludes its limited run Thursday (June 13), was how viewers would receive Heche as a Cincinnati housewife and former weekend television weathercaster who converses with God.
Read it all.
Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Movies & Television • Religion & Culture
To comment on this article: To article and comments
© 2013 Kendall S. Harmon. All rights reserved.
For original material from Titusonenine (such as articles and commentary by Dr. Harmon) permission to copy and distribute free of charge is granted, provided this notice, the logo, and the web site address are visible on all copies. For permission for use in for-profit publications, please email KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com