Two Episcopal Dioceses Take Action Against Denomination

Commentary and many more stories tomorrow.

Anglican woes:

2 Episcopal dioceses rip gay bishop vote | Episcopal dioceses in Pennsylvania and Texas accused the national church Saturday of exceeding its authority and violating its own constitution by confirming its first openly gay bishop and approving the blessing of same-sex unions (Associated Press)
Pittsburgh Episcopal Diocese asks leaders to recognize conservative stance | Votes follow summer decision on gay bishop (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Fort Worth Episcopalians oppose gay bishop, same-sex union | National church didn’t have power, delegates at special convention say (The Dallas Morning News)
Gay bishop spurs spirited debate | Episcopalians are split at Southland meetings on the church’s decision to elevate a gay priest and allow blessing of same-sex unions (Los Angeles Times)
Insufficient funds | Episcopal conservatives are hitting runaway ECUSA leaders where it hurts most—in the pocketbook—as Anglican world leaders approach meeting on gay issues (World)
SA Archbishop Ndungane in gay war | Archbishop Njongongulu Ndungane of Cape Town has ruffled the feathers of some of his colleagues in Africa over his support for the ordination of homosexuals in the Anglican Church (The Sunday Mirror, Zimbabwe)
Opposing gay clergy ‘is like backing slavery’ | So says Bishop of Oxford Richard Harries (The Daily Telegraph, London)
African bishops clash on gay issue | The leader of the Anglican church in Africa has launched a furious verbal assault on one of his fellow primates after the latter criticized him this month (The Guardian, London)
Homosexuality will not divide us, say African primates | The Nairobi conference reaffirmed that the stand of the African Anglican bishops on human sexuality was guided by the teaching of scripture (African Church Information Service)
For more, see Classical Anglican Net News

Life ethics:

Amendment key to abortion bill’s fate | The Senate bill contains an amendment proposed by Sen. Tom Harkin, Iowa Democrat, that expresses support for Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that struck down state laws against abortion (The Washington Times)
Call to ease abortion pill curbs—despite five deaths | The British Pregnancy Advisory Service, backed by the Family Planning Association, has asked the Department of Health to cut the number of times a woman has to see a doctor in order to complete the procedure (The Daily Telegraph, London)
Deal on definition prevents abortion fight | Wasserman’s language for ‘live birth’ lets bill pass Assembly, 95-0 (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
Son’s wish to die, and mother’s help, stir French debate | “I Ask the Right to Die,” written by Vincent Humbert, a 22-year-old French paraplegic, hit bookstores here on Thursday. Today he died, two days after his mother put an overdose of sedatives into his intravenous line (The New York Times)
Rock band vows to defy law with onstage assisted suicide | The leader of the rock band Hell on Earth said Monday that an onstage suicide will be conducted during a private St. Petersburg concert this weekend in defiance of a new city law designed to stop the act. (Associated Press)
Teenagers and abortion | A majority of Americans have reached a consensus in favor of state laws requiring parental consent before a daughter, below the voting age, goes ahead with an abortion. Yet, there are pro-choice organizations that lobby hard against parental-consent laws — and also against such federal judicial nominees who take the right of parental consent seriously (Nat Hentoff, The Washington Times)

Missionary murderer’s death sentence:

Provocative Dara leaflets distributed | Flyer alleges racism in missionary murder verdict (Sify, India)
Orissa is my home state | My loss is unfathomable, but I don’t harbour any bitterness towards Dara Singh and his associates (Gladys Staines, Hindustan Times, India)
‘Very difficult days’ | Missionary killers are brought to justice, but new persecution looms for India’s hated Christian minority (World)

Ten Commandments:

Opinions vary on Ten Commandments ban | Since the high-publicity ruling ordering a Decalogue’s removal from one courthouse, displays in two others have survived challenge (Los Angeles Times)
Politicians rush to get in line with Ten Commandments rally | Politicians from both parties hustled to get on the bandwagon Monday for a Capitol rally that drew several hundred people to protest court decisions blocking public displays of the Ten Commandments (Associated Press)
Montana county pulls Ten Commandments from courthouse lawn | Monument’s removal effectively ends ACLU’s 4-year-old lawsuit against Custer County (Associated Press)