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Same-sex marriage:

• House, Senate fine-tune marriage measure | The House and Senate are making final adjustments to a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as the union of a man and woman (The Washington Times)
• Ontario same-sex legislation exempts clergy | Bill has no protection for civic officials (The Toronto Star)
• SJC will hear challenge to 1913 marriage law | The Supreme Judicial Court has agreed to hear a challenge to a 1913 state law that the Commonwealth has used to block out-of-state gay couples from getting married here, a move that is likely to stoke debate over same-sex marriage in the coming months (The Boston Globe)

Sexual ethics:

• Signatures collected against sex curriculum | Catholic parishes, with encouragement from the Archdiocese of Washington, are in the midst of a petition drive against new sex-education classes in Montgomery County public schools (The Washington Times)
• Adelphia nixes triple-X | Adelphia Communications Corp. is retreating from its plan to sell triple-X films to cable subscribers, responding to criticism of the recent addition of the most graphic category of adult fare to its programming lineup (Broadcasting & Cable)

Abuse:

• A Mormon daughter's book stirs a storm | The daughter of one of Mormonism's most prominent religious scholars has accused her father of sexually abusing her as a child in a forthcoming memoir (The New York Times)
• Defrocked priest's lawyer seeks new trial | An attorney for Maurice Blackwell, convicted of sexually abusing an altar boy, requested a new trial Wednesday, arguing that statements about other alleged victims made it impossible to get a fair trial (Associated Press)

Anglican Communion:

• Anglican churches battle over conflicting beliefs | The hoary joke about Anglicans is that they are Christians who can believe in anything as long as they don't believe in it too strongly. Ha-ha. Except it's a joke that's tripped over its punchline (Michael Valpy, The Globe and Mail, Toronto)
• Sydney primate warns of church split on gays | Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen has issued the strongest warning yet that conservatives are ready to split with the Anglican Church over gay bishops (Reuters)
• Anglican schism feared over gays | Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, showing signs of exasperation, has warned fellow leaders of the Anglican Church that a dispute over homosexual clergy threatens to shatter their 77-million-member communion (The Washington Times)
• Church war on gays | The renewed impetus for a war on gays within the Church of England comes from a homegrown movement—Alpha (Cristina Odone, The Times, London)
• Gay priest row 'threatens Bible' | Peter Jensen said a split over gay priests and same-sex marriages would be "painful" but could happen. And the Archbishop of Sydney urged "a turning back to what the Bible says" (BBC)

Church life:

• Survey: Teens' religious knowledge shallow | The majority of American teens believe in God and worship in conventional congregations, but their religious knowledge is remarkably shallow and they have a tough time expressing the difference that faith makes in their lives, a new survey says (Associated Press)
• Zoning 'set-back' rule halts steeple antennas plan | The town has ordered Verizon Wireless to halt construction of a small building behind the First Evangelical Lutheran Church that would contain support equipment for cell phone antennas being installed in the church steeple (The Providence Journal, R.I.)

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February (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49