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Uganda's rebels begin attacking churches
Last week, Joseph Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army of Uganda, ordered his troops to attack Christians in the northern part of the country.

"Catholic missions must be destroyed, priests and missionaries killed in cold blood, and nuns beaten black and blue," he said on a broadcast Thursday that, shockingly, aired on the local radio network used by the Catholic Church itself.

Yesterday, the raids began. About 20 rebels attacked the parish church in Adjumani, taking 29 hostages — including several orphans, who are refugees from Sudan.

Meanwhile, in the eastern village of Katakwi, LRA rebels attacked a camp, shooting priest Boguslow Zero and killing an intelligence officer as the two men fled. Other attacks were reported elsewhere in the country.

"The LRA are simply trying to create the impression that they are all over the country," army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza told The Monitor.

Catholic schools have closed out of fear, reports the Kampala newspaper New Vision.

Uganda's Roman Catholic Church recently tried to mediate a ceasefire agreement between the LRA and the Ugandan government, but Archbishop of Gulu John Baptist Odama told the BBC's Network Africa that he can't understand why the church is being targeted.

"Up till now, Kony has been talking to us and telling us he is fighting the government of Uganda," Odama said (audio). "I would be very happy if he talked to me and said: Archbishop, the reason I am targeting the people you are leading is this … "

Anglican battle over gay bishops:

• Gay bishop row may spark worldwide schism | The leader of the biggest church in the worldwide Anglican communion yesterday deepened the crisis over homosexuality when he threatened to split with the Church of England if it proceeds with the consecration of its first gay bishop (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Vicars back gay bishop but fear divisions lie ahead | More than half the clergy who will work under the care of the new Bishop of Reading support Dr Jeffrey John's appointment, but many still have serious objections to his taking up the post, believing that he would split the Church of England (The Times, London)
  
  
• Open warfare as churchmen speak up for gay bishop | Up to 15 bishops plan to challenge opponents of the new Bishop of Reading, Dr Jeffrey John, as the Church of England row over gay priests escalates (The Times, London)
  
  
• Abstinence of gay bishop fails to pacify his critics (The Daily Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Shhh! The only way to end the Church's gay crisis | Why should the new Bishop of Reading be held up as some sort of awful example? I have been a priest for 30 years and more and I know from experience that a third of all Anglican clergymen are gay. So what? (Peter Mullen, The Times, London)
  
  
• The bulls*** before the but | The problem isn't simply the nine bishops - the Church of England itself is institutionally homophobic (Giles Fraser, The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Gay bishop answers critics | The gay bishop at the center of a Church of England storm surrounding his appointment has described his relationship as a "gift from God" (BBC, video)
  
  
• Head to head: Gay bishop | The Reverend David Banting, of evangelical group Reform, and Jane Griffiths, MP for Reading East, give their opposing views on the Bishop of Oxford's appointment of Canon Jeffrey John as the Bishop of Reading (BBC)
  
  

Politics & law:

• Religious leaders ask White House to push child tax credit | Several prominent Protestant leaders urged President Bush to press the Republican leadership of the House to quickly extend the credit to minimum-wage families (The New York Times)
  
  

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June (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47