Drag queen serves as "pastor" with the United Church of Christ in Connecticut

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Leviticus 18:22

The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. Deuteronomy 22:5

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:24-32

The United Church of Christ has got to be the most hopelessly apostate pseudo-Christian denomination in the United States. The following, including the reporter's nauseating use of preferred personal pronouns, speaks for itself. As reported by Pamela McLoughlin of the Hartford Courant, October 10, 2023 (bold, links, photos in original):

Drag queen minister Marge Erin Johnson, left, with Sandra Montes, dean of of chapel at Union Theological Seminary.

Being a drag queen isn’t a hobby for James Admans. It’s a religious calling.

Marge Erin Johnson, a drag queen who spends most of their life as James Admans, has started a “drag church” organization, Theology Queen, LLC.

Admans calls themselves a “queer minister,” preaches unapologetically and peppers business promotions with phrases such as, “Drag me to church,” and “the most extravagant way to worship God!”

Johnson’s feather rainbow jacket (a nod to Joseph’s coat of many colors ) screams Pride, their eye shadow and fake lashes say it’s OK to be who you are – and the rhinestones on their dress shine like their humor.

Johnson, 33, is a 2021 graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York City who is very adept at citing scriptures and their history.

In the drag role Admans is hired at churches to take the pulpit on Sundays, in hopes to connect with the LGBTQI+ community, as well as the rest of the congregation. “It provides a nonjudgmental sacred space for people to express themselves proudly,” Admans website notes of his work.

“When you go to a service led by a drag queen it could be spiritually healing,” Admans said. “It’s a celebration of how wonderfully created we all are. You can show up as your authentic self. What God created you to be.”

While the Johnson persona identifies as a she, Admans, 33, a New Haven resident, identifies by the pronouns they, them, their.

Admans is a minister for United Church of Christ who fills in as their male self for ministers who are out for various reasons. Admans also is looking for a full-time job at a church as themselves.

Marge Erin Johnson is a side endeavor for which Admans charges a sliding scale fee of $200 to $500 an appearance, depending on many factors, including the church size and ability to pay, as the main mission is to educate and heal.

Johnson’s fans say they love all Marge brings to the table as a preacher, activist and drag queen.

The church supports the drag ministry.

The Rev. Noah Brewer-Wallin, assistant director of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion for the Southern New England Conference, United Church of Christ, said he’s “very excited” about Admans’ call to drag ministry.

“Because drag is so vilified in our culture right now, even people who want to support drag performers don’t always have a good understanding of what drag is. It can be difficult to parse how drag is both related to and distinct from sexual orientation and gender identity,” Brewer-Wallin said.

“I’m grateful that James offers themself as an educational resource as part of this ministry, giving church attendees the chance to ask questions and honestly explore,” Brewer-Wallin said.

Brewer-Wallin said drag belongs in church because it is “a form of creative expression in which people reflect back the creative nature of God.”

“Drag is often playful and irreverent. Playfulness and irreverence are an invitation to enjoy our God-given bodies that giggle and belly-laugh, and to see the sacred all around us even in the places where we have been taught God and the sacred don’t belong,” Brewer-Wallin said.

He said drag is also a justice issue because “they threaten the ability of all people to express themselves the way they want to…” including issues such as women wearing pants.

Marge Erin Johnson spoke recently at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Bridgeport, in Stratford.

UUCGB is a small lay-led church and also has guest ministers, so after member Emily Prokop met Marge at Pride in the Park in Norwalk this summer, Prokop arranged an appearance.

“I would have loved to have gone to a church where someone like Marge would feel welcome when I was growing up,” Prokop said. “Marge’s service felt like part religious studies discussion, part LGBTQI+ empowerment, part call for spiritually-ship and 100% fabulous and glamorous.”

During an open discussion portion of the service, people shared their experiences, insights and freely asked questions, Prokop said.

Marge answered “thoughtfully and gracefully,” Prokop said.

Prokop said the service brought a new awareness to the congregation about a story from the Bible, Joseph and the coat of many colors. Prokop said the choir got to sing Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors.”

Admans said: “I love the story of Joseph in Genesis. There is a queer theological interpretation that the coat of many colors is something akin to a princess dress. Scholars aren’t sure how to translate this accurately. It’s its been called a beautiful robe, an ornamental robe.”

Joseph is among several Biblical figures who can be identified as non-conforming, Admans said.

Admans also speaks about how homosexuality appeared specifically in the Bible in later translations, and how they see this perpetuating discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community.

“Prior to this, the passages that we now associate with homosexuality used different terminology and were interpreted in various ways, often focusing on behaviors like temple sex-work or non-consensual sexual acts,” Admans said.

“The introduction of the word homosexual into the Bible was a result of evolving language and societal context. This change had significant implications, as it fundamentally altered the interpretation of these passages and has been used to justify discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community,” Admans said, of their interpretation of the passages.

At the welcoming and affirming Unitarian Universalist church in Stratford, attendees were welcomed, as they always are when Marge is there, with a table of rainbow hats, beads, boas so they could join in the fun.

“So people can participate to make it fun, in a way that’s loving,” they said. “If were going to do it, let’s connect.”

Admans grew up in West Haven where they were a “churchy kid” and Admans thanks their mom and grandmother for taking them to church every Sunday.

Admans graduated from Amity High School in 2008 and later earned an anthropology degree from Southern Connecticut State University before getting the calling and enrolling in seminary. They hold a master’s of divinity degree.

The pandemic and Marge Erin Johnson

Admans got into drag during the pandemic when the days were long. Admans had thought for a while about trying it, but was “intimidated.”

“A lot of people found out about themselves in lockdown. I found drag,” Admans said.

Marge Erin Johnson emerged during Admans second year of divinity school and someone suggested the preaching.

“Someone else saw the potential. She saw how the spirit was at work during that ministry.”

It takes Admans about three hours to transform into Marge Erin Johnson.

Admans chose the name Marge Erin Johnson because it was something “funny yet, friendly.”

“I didn’t want anything too shocking,” Admans said, noting they liked the way Marge Erin sounds like “margarine.” They said they’ve always loved the name Marge.

“I love her. I think she’s fabulous,” Admans said of the Marge persona. “It’s something I feel called to share with other people.”

Sandra Montes, dean of of chapel at Union Theological Seminary was “super grateful,” that Admans was able to do several drag chapels while at the school.

“I am a drag lover and have always wanted to do some kind of drag eucharist or church service,” Montes said. “We all want to be seen. We all want to belong. We turn to religion and faith for comfort, for acceptance. Many of us have been told we’re not good enough, particularly by colonized Christianity that is, unfortunately, tied to white supremacy and white evangelical corruption.”

Montes said if she went to a church and saw Marge preaching or teaching she would say “wow,” in a positive way.

“There are so many churches that call themselves affirming and open to all and welcoming but they usually have a caveat,” Montes said. “So, seeing a minister in full-on gorgeous drag would absolute say to me: this is a place worth looking into.”

“Marge’s message is that there is space for everyone to belong, particularly in faith communities,” Admans said.

“Marge teaches that queerness and faith do not have to be at odds, but can coexist and even be beautifully interwoven to create a profound spiritual life. Marge’s message is one of inclusion and acceptance, promoting the understanding that all are welcome at the table of Jesus.”

Marge is next booked for Sunday, Oct. 29, at Fort Washington Collegiate Church in New York City.

Marge Erin Johnson is a drag queen minister who helps the LGBTQI plus community connect with religion, church. Contributed.

Drag queen minister Marge Erin Johnson outside the Unitarian Universalist Church in Stratford where she recently gave a talk. Contributed.

I had to chuckle when I looked at the website of Fort Washington Collegiate Church. According to a statement issued by the church on February 7, 2023:

We are open, affirming, and accepting to all–no matter where you are on life’s journey. We have been a valuable community resource for generations. We are committed to social justice and making a positive impact in the lives of the residents of Northern Manhattan. We are led by our mantra “Love on the Move.”

It’s true. FWCC is in financial distress and faces risk of closure...

The sooner these churches close, the better. If they don't close their doors, the Lord Himself will do it for them.

100 years ago--Couéism peaks in North America

It's actually approaching 101 years ago and I should have posted this much earlier, but I didn't want to let the year go by without noting that 2023 marked 100 years since Émile Coué, a French pharmacist and psychologist whose ideas had achieved popularity in Europe, became even more of a celebrity in America, with an advance publicity campaign preceding his arrival in New York City in January 1923 for a series of personal appearances. Dr. Coué and his wife founded La Société Lorraine de Psychologie appliquée (The Lorraine Society of Applied Psychology) in Nancy in 1913. His book La Maîtrise de soi-même par l'autosuggestion consciente (Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion) was published in England in 1920, and was a best-seller when it was published in the United States in 1922.

Dr. Coué could lay claim to be the father of modern positive self-talk, which he called autosuggestion, recommending that people constantly repeat the following saying to themselves: "Tous les jours à tous points de vue je vais de mieux en mieux" ("Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better"). In addition to psychological improvement, advocates of Couéism claimed that repetition of the mantra could effect physical healing. Dr. Coué claimed that he didn't heal people, but that people healed themselves. His campaigns didn't always produce the desired results, as reported in the Edmonton Bulletin, April 11, 1922 (bold, capitals in original):

Patients Were Made Hysterical Throguh Treatment Being Given by Nerve Specialist at Hospital

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TORONTO, April 10--What was intended as a triumphant finale to Dr. Coue's sensational auto-suggestion campaign in England resulted in a near tragedy in a neurological hospital for soldiers at Tooting just outside London, England, according to a special cable to the Mail and Empire today. The cable continues:

"Lady Beatty, who is responsible in a great measure for Coue's presence in England, introduced the famous expert to patients but was forced to flee from the lecture room when shell-shocked soldiers were plunged into hysteria. Writhing and shrieking, the soldiers flung themselves on the floor, the doctors and nurses being unable to pacify them.

"The tragic outcome followed Coue's treatment of one patient who declared himself cured of severe headaches. John Withers, a soldier suffering from bodily tremors, was the next patient. Suddenly while Coue was passing his hands over the soldier's body, Withers suddenly gave piercing shrieks, writhed and twisted himself like a contortionist and threw himself on the floor. The effect on the rest of the patients was instantaneous. Man after man groaned and shrieked, gripped with uncontrollable hysteria. A witness said: "The scene was indescribably hellish."

"Lady Beatty, standing near Withers, attempted to calm him, but her efforts were to no avail. Pandemonium became so great that she was forced to make a hasty retreat.

"Coue has left for France. The hospital authorities said Sunday night that all the patients had recovered from the temporary hysteria."

(I can't help but notice that the behaviour of the soldiers resulting from Dr. Coué's "treatment" was virtually identical to the behaviour of those who receive the allegedly healing touch of charismaniac frauds such as Rodney Howard-Browne, Benny Hinn, and the "holy laughter" crowd, which those "healers" blasphemously ascribe to the Holy Spirit).

Dr. Coué's visit to New York proved to be very popular. Those who lived too far away to see Dr. Coué were unable to avoid him, since his name and theories seemed to be everywhere in North America. The Edmonton Journal, for instance, published an exclusive series of articles by Dr. Coué. On February 18, 1923, the short film The Message of Emile Coué opened in theatres in the United States. According to The Film Daily, February 25, 1923:

A demonstration by Emile Coue, by means of titles and illustrations of his points, of the theory of auto-suggestion. Coue is shown lecturing before a group of people, and you get the impression that you yourself are listening. The well-known phrase "Day by Day" is stressed a great many times in the closing sequence and finally the audience is made to say it with M. Coue.

The film opened in Edmonton on March 12. According to the Edmonton Bulletin, March 10, 1923 (bold, capitals in original):

M. COUE ON MONDAY AT THE EMPRESS

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His Famous Theories to Be Explained by Pantomimic Gestures

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Every day and every way--of course you know the rest. It's the slogan which has covered the continent of America at least. Now it has reached even to the screen, and Emile Coue himself will shortly be seen at the Empress theatre in a sereis of two reel films, on which he will explain his theories by pantomimic gesture...There are no doubt millions of persons who would never otherwise have the benefit of seeing and hearing the famous man who has received more publicity than many a famous screen star.

After Dr. Coue has explained his theories, the actual practice of the theories will be shown by actors in little scenes following each separate explanation by M. Coue himself.

The picture starts with the caption, "I am not a miracle man." Then Mr. Coue is photographed saying the words. This is the method employed through the picture. Extracts from his book on auto-suggestion are also given in written form on the screen, and then M. Coue is shown speaking and gesturing accordingly. He seems, it is said, to have a real gift of pantomime.

Manager Bert Blackmore, of the Empress theatre, knowing the intense interest taken in the Coue method and knowing that, after all, few persons know very little about it, is progressive enough to obtain these films for his theatre, so all will have an opportunity of getting M. Coue and his theories practically at first hand.

For those unaware of cinematic history, movies were silent in 1923, thus explaining the need for "pantomimic gestures." I don't know if the film still exists, but Internet Movie Database hasn't received the minimum number of five viewer responses required to provide a numerical rating.

Dave Hunt offered the following comments on Émile Coué:

Of all the false messiahs of recent times, none seems less likely than Emile Coué. Yet few people have played a more important part in the preparation of the world for the Antichrist than the almost comic "originator of the psychotherapeutic system called Couéism"...Couéism was the modern forerunner to self-help and other New Age groups and beliefs that are proliferating at an almost unbelievable rate across the United States in the 1980's and even infiltrating the church.

While working as an obscure pharmacist in Troyes, France, around the turn of the century, Emile Coué "observed his patients receiving from certain drugs beneficial effects that could not be ascribed to the medicines. That led him to believe that it was the power of 'imagination' that effected the cure." This discovery launched Coué into a study of hypnosis around 1901, with special interest in the apparent therapeutic effects of self-hypnosis. The modern applications of hypnosis have their roots in "Mesmerism." However, it was Coué who carried Mesmer's theory to its logical conclusion and thereby laid the foundation for the New Age...

...One of the earliest pioneers of the free clinic concept, Coué seemed to be genuine in his concern to help others. In 1910 he set up a free clinic iin Nancy, France to practice his now-perfected system...In 1920 he set up a clinic in New York...

...Preaching remarkable powers of "suggestion," the Messiah of the New Age had arrived befoe his time. In spite of the cure of so many serious ailments by the power of "suggestion" that Couéism effected throughout the Western world, Coué's "system" eventually fell into disrepute. Couéism failed because it was taken to be exaclty what its originator claimed: a "system." As Coué's followers forgot to believe what they were saying and chanted the magic words more and more mechanically, the cures became less and less, until no one believed anymore.

Had Coué only lived into the New Age, he would have seen himself fully vindicated in the adoption of hypnosis by the American Medical Association and its growing use by psychologists and psychiatrists. The old master would be pleased, too, to see in the 1980s a host of self-improvement techniques based upon the very same "power of suggestion" that he was convinced could cure anything: "positive thinking," "possibility thinking," self-hypnosis tapes by the thousands, numerous salesmanship and management success seminars used by both Christians and non-Christians, positive mental attitude (PMA) seminars, est (Erhard Seminars Training), Lifespring, Silva Mind Control, Alpha Level Training, biofeedback, guided imagery, creative visualization, Confluent Education, psychotherapies by the score, and an almost endless list of other New Age self-improvement techniques...

...Whereas Mesmer publicly declared that "he could help only people suffering from nervous disorders and no others," Coué demonstrated that the power of suggestion has no such limits. The New Age is a revival of Coué's adaptation and extension of Mesmer's limited theory: that human potential is unlimited, because the mind through suggestion can accomplish and create anything that it believes it can... (Dave Hunt, Peace, Prosperity, and the Coming Holocaust, 1983, pp. 117-120)

By the end of 1923, there were signs that the popularity of Couéism had passed its peak, and his name seldom appeared in North American newspapers after that year until his death in Nancy on July 2, 1926 at the age of 69. Although Dr. Coué's fame was relatively short-lived, and his name is largely unknown today, his influence remains, with his spiritual descendants including Napoleon Hill, Maxwell Maltz, W. Clement Stone, Norman Vincent Peale, and Robert Schuller, some of whom masqueraded as Christians, and all of whom have been influential in the New Age Movement.

An Anglican "church" in Winnipeg hosts an alphabet pervert "reimagination" of Handel's Messiah

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18

Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination. Leviticus 18:22

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:24-32

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. II Timothy 3:1-5

According to the Anglican Church of Canada's own report from 2019, the church will be dead by 2040. The death will be self-inflicted and well-deserved, evidence of which includes the following, as reported by John Longhurst in the Winnipeg Free Press, December 20, 2023 (updated December 21, 2023) (photos in original):

Messiah Queered — that’s the title of a reimagining of Handel’s classic oratorio performed through an LGBTTQ+ lens.

The oratorio, a staple at Christmas time for many people, will be performed by the Rainbow Harmony Project choir, together with soloists and a 16-piece orchestra made up of professional and amateur players at Holy Trinity Anglican Church Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The idea for the performance came up during a conversation between Nathan Poole, a local violin and piano teacher, and Sandra Bender, music director at Holy Trinity Church.

Bender, who is bisexual and the soprano soloist in the performance, thought it would be a great oratorio for LGBTTQ+ people.

“It’s the story of a transient who hung out with marginalized people, who offered love and self-sacrifice and who experienced rejection and betrayal — something LGBTTQ+ people understand in all too real a way,” she said.

Kathleen Murphy, a student and choir director for Rainbow Harmony Project and the mezzo-soprano in the performance, said doing the Messiah through an LGBTTQ+ lens is “a way to push back expectations.”

That includes who does the solos. In a traditional performance of Messiah, a bass sings the aria, “Why do the nations so furiously rage,” but Murphy is singing the part this time.

“It’s fun to sing such a powerful aria,” Murphy, who is non-binary and a soloist at Young United Church, said.

Bender, meanwhile, will sing The Trumpet Shall Sound, which is also usually a bass part, while tenor Kyle Briscoe will sing Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion, traditionally sung by a soprano.

“Nothing musically is altered, but we’re swapping gender roles, subverting them,” said Poole, who is gay and conducting the concert.

For Bender, The Messiah can be seen as “a trans anthem, with its lyrics about people “being changed at the sound of the last trumpet when we will be revealed in our best and truest form. I’m happy to be the one who conveys that message in the concert.”

While singing it, “We can be our full authentic selves, be unapologetic about our queerness,” she said.

The three noted the church at 256 Smith St., which is donating use of the sanctuary for the performance, is a welcoming, safe space for members of the LGBTTQ+ community. That’s important for those who might be cautious about going into a church because of the way they have been treated in the past.

Along with listening to the concert, audience members are invited to bring a score and sing along, said Poole.

“It’s not every day people get to sing with an orchestra,” he said, noting audience members are encouraged to dress in drag if they want.

Tickets for the concert, which is sponsored by the Manitoba Arts Council, can be purchased at the Rainbow Harmony Project site at wfp.to/j44 or with cash at the door. The cost is $25 per person, with all proceeds being donated to Sunshine House, a community drop-in and resource centre focusing on harm reduction and social inclusion.

Bass-baritone Stephen Haiko-Pena takes part in a dress rehearsal Wednesday of Messiah Queered at Holy Trinity Anglican Church. (Brook Jones/Winnipeg Free Press)

Kathleen Murphy, who is a student and choir manager for Rainbow Harmony Project, sings during a dress rehearsal for the upcoming production of Messiah Queered at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Winnipeg, Wednesday. (Brook Jones/Winnipeg Free Press)

Nathan Poole conducts the dress rehearsal of Messiah Queered. The production is a re-imagining of Handel's classic oratorio performed through a LGBTTQ+ lens. (Brook Jones/Winnipeg Free Press)

The reader will note that these agents of Satan can't write their own oratorio, but have to resort to mangling a traditional masterpiece. Some of the perverts of the past were at least capable of producing good music and art, but with present-day perverts, their whole lives seem to revolve around celebrating and promoting their abominations.

Here's an example of a proper performance of Handel's Messiah that you can wash your ears out with:



December 28, 2023 update: If you're wondering why Holy Trinity Anglican Church was hosting this abomination, the following may explain, as reported by Mr. Longhurst in the Winnipeg Free Press, December 27, 2023 (photo in original):

Andrew Rampton, rector at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, is leaving the congregation for another opportunity in Ontario early next year. (John Longhurst/Winnipeg Free Press)

It was a bittersweet Christmas Day for Andrew Rampton, rector at Holy Trinity Anglican Church.

On the one hand, he was looking forward to preaching on that special day in the downtown church’s calendar. But since it was his last sermon as rector at the historic 139-year-old church, it was a sad occasion.

Rampton, 41, and his husband, Adam Dobson, an architectural technologist, will head to Hamilton, where Dobson has new work opportunities, on Jan. 2. Rampton will be taking up a new job as rector at St. John the Evangelist Anglican Church.

Rampton, who was born and raised in Morden, arrived at Holy Trinity in 2020 via a circuitous route.

Although he grew up in a family that notionally claimed to belong to the United Church of Canada, “We went to church very seldom,” he said, adding “I grew up largely neutral or negative when it came to religion.”

While religion wasn’t his thing, he realized in his early teens that he was gay.

Being a gay person in a small town was a challenge, but so was moving to Winnipeg to study at the University of Manitoba in the early 2000s.

“There wasn’t the same kind of LGBTTQ+ community back then like there is now,” he said. “There were gay clubs, but they were private. There was a sense of danger, an underground feeling about it. And most churches weren’t accepting of gay people.”

Going to church wasn’t on his mind until a music teacher told him about an opening in the choir at Holy Trinity Church. Rampton, who had been taking piano and singing lessons, took it — not because he was religious, but because it was a chance to sing and earn a small honorarium.

“It paid half my rent,” he said.

At first, nobody at the church made an issue of his sexuality, but when a new rector arrived things changed.

Rampton admits he was full of opinions about how the church was being run and not afraid to share them — something that didn’t endear him to the new rector. When the rector fired him, “there was no gentle correction or discussion,” he remembered.

“The speculation is it was less about my critique and more about me being gay” he said. “It was a proxy for the real issue.”

His involvement with church didn’t end, though. Almost immediately, St. Luke’s Anglican Church asked him to join them as a singer and organist. Later, he went to St. Paul’s Anglican and then to St. Michael’s and All Angels. where he served as organist and choir master. That is also where he joined the church and fell in love with liturgy.

“The way they did liturgy there really worked for me,” Rampton said. “It was a good place to be. It was a fertile soil for my spiritual soul to grow in.”

Feeling a call to ministry, he left for seminary in Ontario in 2014 where he developed a deep appreciation for the rituals, ceremonies and traditions of the church.

“I’m happy to wear miles of lace, swing incense and sing Gregorian chants” he said.

After graduation, he landed at Holy Trinity, not expecting it would be such a short stay.

One thing he’s loved about being at the church is its ministries, such as the Lunchroom, which serves 250 meals once a week to downtown residents.

“It’s one of the very few food programs downtown where unhoused or precariously housed people can get a meal right away,” he said.

He said he hopes the church, which has between 50 and 60 people in the pews on a Sunday morning, can stay viable and be an active presence downtown.

“The church needs to be here,” he said. “It needs a safe place where people can just be. There aren’t many other places where people can go for free, where nobody wants anything from you.”

As for being a gay priest, his sexuality has “never been an impediment,” to his ministry, Rampton said, but acknowledges not all are comfortable with him being in that role; he’s been called a false teacher and “living in sin.”

He has appreciated the support of Geoff Woodcroft, the Bishop of Rupert’s Land, who has permitted individual Anglican churches to decide for themselves how welcoming and affirming of LGBTTQ+ people they will be.

“Some have never met a gay priest,” he said, of the message his role sends to LGBTTQ+ people who have been hurt by Christianity. Some tell him “If the church accepts you, then I must be OK in God’s eyes, too.”

Rampton’s departure makes Woodcroft sad. But he is grateful for his service.

“His contributions have been outstanding,” Woodcroft said. “He has a rich theology of how to be a priest in the world today.”

He praised Rampton’s work on behalf of downtown residents.

“He knows many of them on a first-name basis,” he said, adding his work as a liturgist has resulted in “solid and alive worship.”

“He is intelligent and gifted, and we are going to miss him,” he said.

I don't know if there are any normal male clergymen left in the Anglican Church of Canada, but there won't be any clergy of any kind in that "church" anymore, the way it's going.

"Perfect solar system" discovered 100 light years away

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? Psalms 8:3-4

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Psalms 19:1

Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Revelation 4:11

As reported by Pallab Ghosh of BBC News, November 29, 2023 (link in original):

Researchers have located "the perfect solar system", forged without the violent collisions that made our own a hotchpotch of different-sized planets.

The system, 100 light years away, has six planets, all about the same size. They've barely changed since its formation up to 12 billion years ago.

These undisturbed conditions make it ideal for learning how these worlds formed and whether they host life.

The research has been published in the scientific journal, Nature.

The creation of our own solar system was a violent process. As planets were forming some crashed into each other, disturbing orbits and leaving us with giants like Jupiter and Saturn alongside relatively small worlds like our own.

In the system HD110067, as astronomers have rather drily named it, things couldn't be more different.

Not only are the planets similarly sized; in a far cry from the unrelated timing of the orbits of the planets in our own solar system, these rotate in synch.

In the time it takes for the innermost planet to go around the star three times, the next planet along gets around twice, and so on out to the fourth planet in the system. From there things change to a 4:3 pattern of relative orbit speeds for the last two planets.

This intricate planetary choreography is so precise that that the researchers have created a cyclical musical piece, akin to a Philip Glass-style composition, with notes and rhythms corresponding to each planet and their orbital periods...

Dr Rafael Luque, of the University of Chicago, who led the research described HD110067 as "the perfect solar system".

"It is ideal for studying how planets are created, because this solar system didn't have the chaotic beginnings ours did and has been undisturbed since its formation."

Dr Marina Lafarga-Magro, of Warwick University, said that the system was "beautiful and unique".

"It is really exciting, just seeing something that no-one has seen before," she told BBC News.

ver the past thirty years, astronomers have discovered thousands of star systems. But none of them are so well suited to study how planets formed. The planets' near identical size and the system's undisturbed nature are gold dust for astronomers because they make it much easier to compare and contrast them. That will help build up a picture of how they first formed and how they evolved.

The system also has a bright star which will make it easier to look for life signs in the planets' atmospheres.

All six of the new planets are what astronomers call "sub-Neptunes", which are larger than the Earth and smaller than the planet Neptune (which is four times wider than the Earth). The six newly discovered planets are between two and three times the size of Earth.

Interest in the new findings has been supercharged since the discovery in September that a sub-Neptune planet, called K2-18b, in another star system, has an atmosphere with hints of a gas that on Earth is produced by living organisms. Astronomers call this a biosignature.

Although our own solar system does not contain any sub-Neptunes, they are thought to be the most common type of planet in the galaxy. Yet astronomers know surprisingly little about these worlds.

They do not know whether they are mostly made of rock, gas or water, or critically, whether they provide conditions for life.

Finding out these details is "one of the hottest topics in the field" according to Dr Luque, adding that the discovery of HD110067 gives his team the perfect opportunity to answer that question relatively quickly.

"It could be a matter of less than ten years," he told BBC News.

"We know the planets, we know where they are, we just need slightly more time, but it will happen."

If the team's next round of observations indicates that sub-Neptunes can also support life, it greatly increases the number of possible habitable planets and therefore increases the chances of detecting signs of life on another world sooner rather than later.

The race is now on to detect biosignatures on one of the six new sub-Neptunes, or dozens of others detected by rival groups. With a battery of new telescopes with enhanced capabilities and others about to come online, many astronomers believe that we may not have too long to wait for that moment.

The planets were detected using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and ESA's CHaracterising ExOPlanet Satellite (Cheops).

100 years ago--a prediction and alleged evidence for human evolution

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, that your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Genesis 3:4-5

The belief that humanity has improved over time and will continue to do so was popular in the 1920s, and persists into the 2020s, despite evidence to the contrary. However, there was some skepticism toward one such theory of human advancement, as reported by Canadian Press and published in The Calgary Daily Herald, September 15, 1923 (bold, capitals in original):

EVOLUTION OF NEW SUPERMAN IS IN STORE FOR HUMANITY

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More Brains, Quicker in Intuition than the Mortals of Today

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PREDICTION MADE BY EDINBURGH SCIENTIST

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European Savants Inclined to Disbelieve Original Theory

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(By Canadian Press)

LONDON, Sept. 15 - Humanity is threatened with the evolution of a new type of superman, according to the discovery of Captain A.G. Pape, and Edinburgh anthropologist, who read a paper yesterday in Liverpool at the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

He declared that after five years' study of various types of children of American and Australian descent, he was satisfied that a new race was arising. He included among characteristic marks on which he based his theory a distinct increase in cranial development and a definite dome over the frontal region of the skull; hair fine in texture; skin smoothly grained; eyes especially luminous and intelligent and eyebrows rather prominent.

The type face, Captain Pape added, will be somewhat triangular with a narrow chin.

Not Brains Alone

The new type will not be all brains and no body, but will be quick in intuition. The new race, in Captain Pape's view, would show a disposition for a diet without meat and coarse foods and would not have a large appetite along any line.

The forerunners of the new race showed an inclination to be playful and mischievous. The type needed sympathetic understanding.

The discussion which followed the reading of Captain Pape's paper indicated that the arguments advanced in support of the captain's theory were not convincing. The audience showed incredulity. One member declared that the race outlined by the captain appeared to be tubercular degenerates.

As reported in the Montreal Gazette, September 15, 1923 (bold, capitals in original):

TWO UNKNOWN TYPES OF HUMAN FAMILY FOUND

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'Rhodesian Man' and 'Nebraska Tooth' Recent Discoveries

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DOMAIN OF FOSSIL MAN

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Features Regarded as Purely Human Found in Baby Apes--Not in Adults

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Special Cable to the New York Times and Montreal Gazette

Liverpool, Sept. 14 - Interest in the chemical and physical sections was a notable feature of the meeting of the British Association today. The theatre of the university has proved too small for the large attendance at the lectures, and there is every indication that this year's meeting will be one of the most successful in the history of the association.

Five more presidential addresses were delivered today, and among others of great interest was that by Professor Elliot Smith, delivered before the whole association in Philharmonic Hall. Taking as his subject the study of man, Professor Smith said that the recent discovery of the remains of "the Rhodesian man" and of "the Nebraska tooth" had added two hitherto unknown types of the human family, and had also extended the domain of fossil man to two more continents. It was now possible to construct the family tree of man and his nearest allies and to draw certain inferences as to the nature of the evolutionary changes that had occurred in the humabn family since it first came into existence.

One of the most peculiar results of such studies was the fact that some of the traits regarded as distinctive of the higher races of men were found in the new-born members of the lower races, and were subsequently lost by them. Certain features usually regarded as distinctive of man were found in new-born gorillas and chimpanzees, but not in adults. The truth was that the apes were more specialized than man. In adaptation to their particular mode of life they have lost many primitive characteristics which he had retained, but at the expense of losing plasticity and adaptability, which the most valuable parts of the human make up. It was only by realizing this feature of human psychology, he said, the history of man could be understood.

After giving a summary of the mode of evolution of the human brain, as based fundamentally on the development of the power of vision, the lecturer argued that comparative anatomy should be linked with psychology, and both with the history of culture. Only on such a basis could the true science of man be built up.

Rhodesian Man (Homo rhodesiensis) was a species name devised by the English palaeontologist Sir Arthur Smith Woodward (who fell for the Piltdown Man hoax) to classify Kabwe 1, a cranium (that's all, folks, just a cranium) discovered in a mine in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1921. As is so often the case with man's alleged ancestors, much of the science surrounding Rhodesian Man consists of guessing, and Homo rhodesiensis is now widely regarded as synonymous with Heidelberg Man (Homo heidelbergensis).

As for Nebraska Man, whose status as an ancestor of modern man was based on the discovery of a single tooth, his disappearance from the list of man's ancestors was announced in February 1928 when the tooth turned out to be from an extinct peccary. See my post 90 years ago: Nebraska Man suddenly disappears from the list of modern man's alleged ancestors (February 18, 2018).

100 years ago--Canadian Anglicans envision new social order

The social gospel which replaced the true gospel in the mainline churches was already at work in the Church of England in Canada (now the Anglican Church of Canada) a century ago, with man bringing in the kingdom of God. Even with that liberalism, you'll notice that their views on immigration would bring instant condemnation today. There were no women clergy then, of course, and alphabet perverts were in the closet instead of the pulpit. As reported in the Calgary Daily Herald, September 17, 1923, p. 10 (bold, headlines in original):

ANGLICANS GIVEN VISION OF NEW SOCIAL REGIME

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Canon Vernon Presents His Report As Secretary To Big Congress

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NOT REVOLUTION, BUT AN ORDERLY PROCESS

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Immigration Issue to Be Fully Discussed by Church Heads

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The vision of a new social order was outlined at the opening session of the boards of the general Synod of the Church of England in Canada, which for the next ten days will be held in the Paget Hall. Practically the whole of the morning, after routine had been transacted, was taken up with the consideration of the report of the general secretary of the council of social service, the Rev. Canon C.W. Vernon.

He stated that in the new vision the value of personality would be applied at all costs in the realms of business, industry, politics and the social order generally, in which the sacrificial service for others would become the normal characteristic of the professing Christian, and the distinguishing mark of the true Christian.

Not Violence of Revolution

That social order, he said, was not to be developed by the violence of revolution, but by the orderly progress of an evolution ever tending upward and onward. There was no short cut to the realization of that ideal. Love alone, not force, could build the city of God. The new social order, he said, would never be consummated by the establishment of a reign of law enforced by penalties whether legalized or of the Ku Klux Klan variety. The new order would be a kingdom of love, expressing itself in service, a commonwealth of God, in which every laborer, whether with brain or hand, would have the artist's joy of achievement, in which each would seek the good of all, and all would spend themselves in service for otehrs.

The Immigration Issue

The question of immigration was also dealt with at considerable length in the report, and this will be fully discussed at a later period. In connection with that phase the report pointed out that the council had no more important work than in looking after the newcomer. They were witnessing the building of a nation and a church by the process of immigration. They were naturally anxious that the best of their British traditions, and the ideals of the Church of England, should shape and fashion the life of the Canadian nation within the British commonwealth. There was much to encourage them. The census figures of 1921 published in the spring showed that in the last decade the percentage of people of British racial origin in Canada increased from 54.08 in 1911 to 55.40 in 1921. The percentage of Anglicans in Canada, which was 12.6 in 1901, and 14.47 in 1911, had risen to 16.02 in 1921.

Emigration to States

While immigration to Canada was a bright and interesting side of the picture, unfortunately there was another factor to be considered, and that was the large emigration from Canada to the United States of native-born Canadians and of comparatively recent newcomers from the mother land. They must build up their own economic and social life so efficiently that all would be convinced that there was no country with greater prospects, more opportunities for service and more attraction as a place to spend one's life than Canada.

Helping British Harvesters

Incidentally Canon Vernon stated that much good work had been accomplished in connection with the large number of British harvesters that had arrived in the Dominion. Each of these had been presented with a card on landing at Quebec or Halifax, that if any of them found themselves "up against it" they should write to the headquarters of the Social Service Council.

In commencing his report Canon Vernon stated that were two widely prevalent but mistaken ideas met with in connection with social service. One was that it was for the poor alone; the other that the church's social ministry was badly needed in the overcrowded centres of population, but had no place in their rural districts. "It cannot be too emphatically asserted," he said, "that the church's social ministry is for the rich, among whom very often the under-privileged and maladjusted are to be found, as well as for those poor in the world's goods, and that our rural districts have to the full as many social problems as our cities and towns. It is because of this universal need of social service that the value of the church in coping with the need should be recognized more than is often the case."

There was a very full attendance of high Anglican church dignitaries present when the initial session opened on Monday morning. The Very Rev. C.P. Matheson, Primate of all Canada, presided.

Altogether there are more than 120 archbishops, bishops, clergy and laity in attendance. It is the first time that this important gathering has been held in the west. At all Anglican churches in the city on Sunday, special sermons were delivered, the primate preaching at the Pro-Cathedral in the morning, and the Bishop of Huron in the evening.

The boards meeting here represent the Missionary Society, Religious Education, and Social Service. The last mentioned was the subject which engaged attention at the opening of proceedings on Monday. One of the chief features of this was the question of immigration.

A public meeting will be held in the Paget Hall at 8 o'clock on Monday, under the auspices of the council of Social Service. The speakers will be the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Ottawa, whose subject will be "Christianity and the Public Conscience," and the Rt. Rev. the Bishop of Saskatchewan, who will talk on "Immigration."

Sufi conference in Morocco highlights global citizenship

I'm not a fan of The Unz Review; I don't share or endorse the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias expressed by many of its columnists. However, it does sometimes publish interesting items, such as the following by Kevin Barrett, a convert to Islam, originally on Substack, on September 28, 2023 (bold, link in original):

Since I came to Islam in 1993, I have attended plenty of Sufi get-togethers, both here in Morocco and back in the USA. They are generally modest affairs (except for the food, which can be pretty lavish). Typically a couple of dozen people at most gather in a circle if it’s a mosque, or a rectangle if it’s a Moroccan sala, to perform dhikr, a kind of chanting, swaying group meditation. After an hour or two of dhikr, sometimes including an exhortation or discussion led by the shaykh, a communal meal is enjoyed. And I do mean communal—people reach in to eat off the same plate and drink out of the same glass.

I spent the day yesterday at a very different kind of Sufi gathering: a big academic-style conference sponsored by corporations, NGOs, and presumably the Moroccan government. Entitled “Sufism: Religious and Civic Values for Global Citizenship,” it was hosted by the Boutchichiyya Zawiya in Madargh, Morocco, and coordinated with the Mawlid an-Nabi (the Prophet’s birthday, celebrated today).

Sufism, often defined as “Islamic mysticism,” has had a long, ambivalent relationship with institutional forces and with power in general. Organized into tariqas or brotherhoods, some Sufis have supported rulers, others have opposed them, while the majority have oscillated between offering friendly and critical feedback. Today, some politically-engaged Muslims view Sufism negatively because, they say, it promotes quietism and navel-gazing rather than engagement with the formidable challenges facing the community. But historically, that’s just not true. Sufis have generally been about as activist (or not-so-activist) as anyone else.

Personally, my “truth jihadi” activism is inspired in part by Moroccan malamati Sufism. The malamatis (“people of blame”) don’t mind being vilified, because they don’t care about anyone’s opinion but God’s. The Moroccan malamatis have traditionally specialized in speaking truth to power, often in shocking ways. Middle Eastern malamatis, by contrast, traditionally did stupid things like filling wine bottles with water and chugging from them in the mosque to give the false impression that they’re obnoxious drunkards. (Since the last of the Middle Eastern malamatis got chased out of town a long time ago, you’re unlikely to see any on your next trip to Baghdad or Damascus.)...

...The serious business of the conference involved the notion of global citizenship (citoyenneté globale). In French and English, that sounds a bit like your status under the forthcoming world government being set up by the likes of George Soros and Klaus Schwab. But the Arabic phrase, موطنة شاملة, has rather different connotations. The word for citizenship, موطنة, stems from the notion of وطن (national homeland) and might be translated as “national homeland-belonging.” And the word شاملة means “inclusive” or “comprehensive.” So موطنة شاملة (an inclusive/comprehensive homeland-belonging) sounds, to my ears at least, markedly different from citoyenneté globale. While on one level the conference slogan could mean moving toward “world citizenship,” on another it can imply moving toward an even stronger attachment to national homelands than exists today.

Various Moroccan speakers at the conference, including Dr. Larbi Taouaf of Mohammad 1 University in Oujda, made it clear that one of the references of “national homeland-belonging” was to Morocco’s unique version of national-unity-in-diversity. Morocco, Dr. Taouaf explained, has spent many centuries forging an inclusive national identity bringing together a great many languages and ethnicities. The unifying factor, he suggested, is Islamic religious and spiritual values (which of course promote coexistence and dialogue with other faiths). By contrast, the postcolonial West’s experience of promoting secular-based “diversity” and “multiculturalism” and “pluralism” has only existed for a few decades and doesn’t seem to be working out very well.

Morocco’s approach, Dr. Taouaf said, differs from today’s Western liberalism in that it is “against identity politics in the public sphere.” In other words, Moroccans and their government don’t much care what you do or say in private, but have no compunction about placing limits on your ability to become a public nuisance. (When an American speaker apostrophizing “tolerance” ill-advisedly brought up the fraught issues of gender and sexuality, the next speaker, a Moroccan, subtly but pointedly rebuked him by citing the famous Qur’anic dictate to “command good and forbid evil.”)

It seems to me that rather than asking their hosts whether Morocco is liberal and democratic enough, Western visitors should ask themselves: Is identity-politics-based liberal democracy really the best way to run a country? Case in point: Today’s Washington Post features three excellent articles on how liberalism (say anything you want on social media, including incitements to violence) plus democracy (whoever riles up the voters the most wins) plus identity politics (Hindu fascism) is producing hell-on-earth in Modi’s godforsaken India...

...Meanwhile, back at the conference: How can Sufism, rather than “liberal democracy,” promote good citizenship around the world? I would answer that question by arguing that the mystical dimension of religion, rather than the exoteric and especially the identity politics dimension, is what inspires devotion to the good, the true, and the beautiful, thereby inspiring good behavior. If Hindus in India, for example, spent more time meditating on the Upanishads, and less time lynching Muslims and Christians (and voting and campaigning for people who promote the lynchings) they would be both better mystics and better citizens.

People are more likely to follow rules of good behavior if they can directly sense, intuit, or even know that there is a divine Reality behind those rules. Mysticism teaches direct encounters with the Reality at the heart of religion.

Just as mysticism promotes globalism, it also promotes universalism; those who so-called contemplative spirituality, for instance, come across people from other religions who report similar experiences, leading to the conclusion that the experiences must be coming from the same source--which is why it's dangerous to rely on the shifting sand of subjective experience rather than on the solid, unchanging truth of the Bible. This mysticism is contributing to the deception characteristic of the end times prior to the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

More evidence of apostasy in the Church of England

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. II Timothy 3:5

As reported by Harriet Sherwood of The Guardian, July 29, 2023:

A Cornish church that banned women from applying to be its new vicar – despite once counting Dawn French, star of the TV comedy The Vicar of Dibley, among its flock – has reversed the decision under new management.

A newly elected governing council at St Fimbarrus church in the picturesque port of Fowey in Cornwall has told parishioners that a “new season” has begun.

In a statement, the parochial church council (PCC) said the previous regime’s decision to advertise for a male priest to fill its four-year-old vacancy was “misguided and unrepresentative” of the parish and the town.

The decision had been taken without consultation and many people in the parish expressed a “strong desire for change”.

The new PCC wanted the church “to be accessible to all … The PCC has voted unanimously to rescind the previous PCC’s resolution requiring male leadership … We are keen to recruit the best candidate to meet the needs of Fowey parish church, regardless of gender.”

Merisa MacInnes, a member of the PCC, said: “We are encouraged that numbers in the congregation have doubled in recent weeks and we are confident that the right person to be vicar will come forward in the coming months.”

In March, the previous PCC defended its decision to ban female applicants for the vacancy, insisting it was “not sexist”.

It said: “As an evangelical church we look to the Bible for all matters of faith. The Bible is very clear on equality – all are equal …. There is, however, debate over the roles women play within the church.”

It understood that its desire for a male priest-in-charge “can be difficult to understand looking from the outside into the church, but [we] would robustly defend that this position is not sexist, is widely established in the worldwide church, and accommodates all views in the membership of our church without exclusion”.

Andy Virr, the previous chair of the PCC and a local Conservative councillor, and two other PCC members stood down in May amid objections to the stance.

Under exemptions from the Equality Act, the Church of England permits local churches to reject female lead priests and the oversight of a female bishop.

Martine Oborne, the chair of Women and the Church (Watch), an organisation that campaigns for equality in the C of E, and a vicar in west London, said the Fowey decision was good news.

She added: “I think it’s time for church members to assert themselves and not defer to clergy who seek to limit women’s roles in the church.”

Fowey was not unique, she said. Some churches had taken decisions to reject female priests without proper consultation or transparency.

The fight for equality was not over despite 30 years having passed since women were allowed to become priests in the C of E.

“I think personally it’s time for the C of E to find a generous way to bring the arrangements that allow churches to go on limiting or not recognising women’s ministries to an end,” she said.

Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1:24-32

As reported by Alexandra Topping in The Guardian, August 30, 2023 (links in original):

Most Church of England priests want the C of E to allow same-sex weddings and to drop its opposition to premarital and gay sex, according to a survey.

In a major shift in attitudes over the past decade, a survey of priests in England conducted by the Times found that more than half supported a change in law to allow clergy to conduct the marriage of gay couples, with 53.4% in favour compared with 36.5% against.

The last time Anglican priests in England were asked, in 2014, shortly after the legalisation of same-sex civil marriage, 51% said same-sex marriage was “wrong”, compared with 39% who approved.

Last year a row erupted at the first Lambeth conference (a meeting of Anglican bishops from around the world) in 14 years, with the archbishop of Canterbury faced sharp criticism for affirming a 1998 declaration that gay sex was a sin.

But the new poll found that 64.5% of priests in England backed an end to the teaching that “homosexual practice is incompatible with scripture”. It also found that 27.3% of priests supported an end to any celibacy requirement for gay people, while 37.2% said they were willing to accept sex between gay people in “committed” relationships such as civil partnerships or marriages, and around a third (29.7%) said the teaching should not change.

Andrew Foreshew-Cain, founder of the Campaign for Equal Marriage in the Church of England, said the survey showed there was “no excuse for further delay and equivocation” in welcoming gay people into the church.

“The clergy of the Church of England are kinder, more generous, and more welcoming towards LGBTI people than the current official position allows,” he said. “The C of E, and in particular our bishops, needs to stop wringing its hands over gay people and move forward towards blessings and, in time, to celebrating same-sex marriages in our parishes.”

The survey results were encouraging, said Robbie de Santos, director of communications at Stonewall. “We hope that church leaders reflect on these findings,” he said. “Too often, LGBTQ+ people of faith face discrimination and prejudice simply for being themselves.”

The survey also found that three-quarters of respondents thought Britain could no longer be described as a Christian country. Almost two-thirds (64.2%) said Britain could be called Christian “but only historically, not currently”.

In the 2021 census of England and Wales for the first time fewer than half of the population described themselves as Christian.

The Times poll found that two-thirds of priests in England thought attempts to stop the drop in church attendance would fail, with only 10.1% thinking it would be halted, and 10.5% believing that congregations would grow again. Average attendance for Church of England Sunday services in 2021 was 509,000, down from 1.2m in 1986.

Archbishop of York whines about "oppressively patriarchal" Lord's Prayer

This provides more evidence that you can't be a satirist anymore--assuming that this item wasn't meant as satire. As reported by Harriet Sherwood in The Guardian, July 7, 2023 (links in original):

The archbishop of York has suggested that opening words of the Lord’s Prayer, recited by Christians all over the world for 2,000 years, may be “problematic” because of their patriarchal association.

In his opening address to a meeting of the Church of England’s ruling body, the General Synod, Stephen Cottrell dwelt on the words “Our Father”, the start of the prayer based on Matthew 6:9–13 and Luke 11:2–4 in the New Testament.

“I know the word ‘father’ is problematic for those whose experience of earthly fathers has been destructive and abusive, and for all of us who have laboured rather too much from an oppressively patriarchal grip on life,” he said.

His comment – a brief aside in a speech that focused on the need for unity – will divide members of the C of E, a body whose differences on issues of sexuality, identity and equality have been highly visible for years.

After Cottrell’s speech, Canon Dr Chris Sugden, chair of the conservative Anglican Mainstream group, pointed out that in the Bible Jesus urged people to pray to “our father”.

He said: “Is the archbishop of York saying Jesus was wrong, or that Jesus was not pastorally aware? It seems to be emblematic of the approach of some church leaders to take their cues from culture rather than scripture.”

Rev Christina Rees, who campaigned for female bishops, said Cottrell had “put his finger on an issue that’s a really live issue for Christians and has been for many years”.

She added: “The big question is, do we really believe that God believes that male human beings bear his image more fully and accurately than women? The answer is absolutely not.”

In February, the C of E said it would consider whether to stop referring to God as “he”, after priests asked to be allowed to use gender-neutral terms instead.

It agreed to launch a commission on gendered language, saying “Christians have recognised since ancient times that God is neither male nor female, yet the variety of ways of addressing and describing God found in scripture has not always been reflected in our worship”.

As reported in the Irish Times, February 8, 2023:

The Church of England is considering alternatives to referring to God as “he” after priests asked to be allowed to use gender-neutral terms instead.

The church said it would start a project in the spring to decide whether to propose changes or not.

Any potential alterations, which would mark a departure from traditional Jewish and Christian teachings dating back millennia, would have to be approved by synod, the church’s decision-making body.

Rev Dr Michael Ipgrave, Bishop of Lichfield and vice-chair of the liturgical commission responsible for the matter, said the church had been “exploring the use of gendered language in relation to God for several years”.

"Interfaith" service is appropriate for the retirement of United Church of Canada pastrix

I don't see any mention of alphabet perverts in the following article, but every other base seems to have been touched, providing moer evidence, as if was needed, to prove that the United Church of Canada is hopelessly apostate. As reported, with his typically idiotic liberal bias, by John Longhurst in the Winnipeg Free Press, June 30, 2023 (updated July 1, 2023):

I don’t know what heaven is like. But there may have been a clue June 11 at Westworth United Church.

That was the day the church acknowledged the retirement of its minister, Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd, with a service of gratitude and celebration.

What made the service a bit like heaven was how it included not only Christian scriptures and liturgy, but those from other faith traditions such as Islam and Judaism, along with contributions from Indigenous people.

The service opened with a treaty acknowledgment and included a Hebrew chant for peace and readings from the Hebrew scriptures, the Qu’ran and the New Testament — along with traditional hymns and choruses.

Participants in the service included Izzeddin Hawamda, originally from the West Bank in Palestine; Humaira Jaleel, founder and executive director of Healthy Muslim Families; Idris Knapp, executive director of Winnipeg’s Central Mosque; Rabbanit Dorit Kosmin, an interfaith health-care chaplain who has also worked as a cantor and Jewish educator; Cree elder and former United Church of Canada minister Stan McKay; Rabbi Kliel Rose of Congregation Etz Chayim; Anass Sebbahi, a Muslim musician; Rachel Landrecht, a sacred singer and songwriter; and Jedediyah Swampy of Sagkeeng First Nation, a traditional singer and drummer.

It was a joyous service from the opening introit, through the anthem and the Taize chant to the reading of scriptures, the hymns and postlude — albeit tinged with a bit of sadness at seeing a much-loved minister depart the church.

After the service, I asked MacKenzie Shepherd why she chose an interfaith service for her farewell.

It grew out of the church’s history of interfaith involvement, along with her own personal commitment to engaging with people from other faith groups, she said, adding “I have long believed that the only way through generational conflicts between cultures and faiths is a third way that emerges between entrenched, oppositional sides.”

For her, “to find this third way requires us to listen deeply with compassion to views that may be anathema to what we believe. But as we listen, we develop relationships of trust where the other can know that they are safe in our presence. We may respectfully disagree, but we commit to standing with each other against societal hostility, such as antisemitism, Islamophobia, racism and homophobia.”

MacKenzie Shepherd also believes triangulation is key to bringing diverse faith communities together — not focusing on interfaith dialogue but asking people to give attention to some other justice-related topic or issue.

For Westworth, the thing they focused on was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. MacKenzie Shepherd brought together people from the Islamic, Jewish and Buddhist communities, along with Indigenous people, to discuss those calls. In the process, “trusting relationships” were established, she said, leading to greater interfaith engagement.

Those meetings “touched a spiritual need” and fostered a “deep desire to come together,” she said.

So when she was asked what kind of gathering she wanted for her retirement service, bringing people from those groups together for an interfaith worship service was an obvious choice.

“This is the first time that both Westworth and I have ever been part of such a service,” she said, adding it was “a natural culmination of all of our work together.”

World Evangelical Alliance is tied in with the United Nations, and supports the agenda of the UN and the World Council of Churches

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. John 18:36

For those who wonder if the Evangelical establishment (Big Eva, as A.D. Robles calls it) is part of the world system (it seems to this blogger that the higher up on the Evangelical ladder they are, the greater the chance that they're actually playing for the other team), one need look no further than the home page of the World Evangelical Alliance, where the WEA boasts of its ties to the evil and corrupt United Nations (bold in original):

An Evangelical Voice at United Nations

Serving a constituency of some 600 million evangelical Christians, the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) is uniquely positioned to represent an evangelical voice at the United Nations (UN). Since the relocation of its Headquarters to New York in 2010, the WEA has increased its engagement at the UN promoting peace and reconciliation, advocating for the poor and needy, and also communicating evangelical beliefs and values.

The WEA holds Special Consultative Status in the Economic and Social Council of the UN (ECOSOC) which serves as the central forum for discussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to Member States and the United Nations system.

The WEA is also accredited to the UN Department of Public Information.

The following hardly needs commentary; the reader will notice not only the WEA support for the United Nations (including the UN's Sustainable Development Goals), but the WEA's referring to "Christian sisters and brothers in the World Council of Churches," and support for the WCC's position, thus showing a complete lack of discernment (bold, links in original).

UN New Agenda for Peace: Submission of the World Evangelical Alliance.

/ Human Rights, Human Security / By WEAatUnitedNations / June 12, 2023

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) has offered input to the UN’s “New Agenda for Peace,” a process recognizing the shared human responsibility to “protect and manage the global public good of peace.” In its submission, the WEA affirms the six potential areas for the New Agenda for Peace – reducing strategic risks, strengthening international foresight and capacities to identify and adapt to new risks, reshaping responses to all forms of violence, investing in prevention and peacebuilding, supporting regional prevention, and putting women and girls at the center.

UN New Agenda for Peace

Submission of the World Evangelical Alliance

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) commends the United Nations Secretary General for identifying the necessity of A New Agenda for Peace. We are grateful for the opportunity to join many voices contributing to a global conversation that we pray will lead to a future of hope and peace where swords are beaten into ploughshares and people can enjoy life in all its fullness with none to make them afraid.

The WEA began in 1846 as collective desire of Protestant Christians to be engaged in the social issues and injustices of their day. This original seed continues to grow and has become a global communion of approximately 600 million Christians in more than 140 countries. We believe Jesus Christ calls us to be actively engaged in the well-being of the world and all its peoples and that integral to that is the call to peacemaking and the building of societies where there is “positive peace” as described by the 2022 Global Peace Index.1 We believe Jesus Christ calls us to speak and act toward God’s transcendent and moral vision of the flourishing life for all people and creation that is sourced in faith, hope, and love. We believe God calls human authorities to remember our finiteness and dependency, our need for divine wisdom and forgiveness, and our responsibility to steward and build systems and structures together that are just and righteous, with particular concern for the vulnerable and oppressed. We confess we continue to have much to learn from God and others in the global human family in this regard. We also believe our global alliance, with its active congregations, organizations, and networks has much to contribute to this important dialogue upon which so much depends.

We celebrate the contribution to A New Agenda for Peace made by our Christian sisters and brothers in the World Council of Churches and add our affirmation to their submission.2 As fellow Christians with shared concerns, we seek to add to their important voice.

We also celebrate that the United Nations recognizes the shared human responsibility to “protect and manage the global public good of peace.” This submission seeks to contribute to this global public good by affirming the six potential areas for the New Agenda for Peace – reducing strategic risks, strengthening international foresight and capacities to identify and adapt to new risks, reshaping responses to all forms of violence, investing in prevention and peacebuilding, supporting regional prevention, and putting women and girls at the center. We are committed to the SDG's as focused goals to address those issues in our global communities that challenge environments of living in peaceful ways. We also recognize the value of strengthening and building upon the pillars for positive peace named by the Global Peace Index – well-functioning government, sound business environment, acceptance of the rights of others, good relations with neighbours, free flow of information, high levels of human capital, low levels of corruption, and equitable distribution of resources. Toward a New Agenda for Peace that will see the six potential areas strengthened and the eight pillars for positive peace undergirded, we call for special attention to be given to the following:

• Faith community participation

We submit that since faith communities of all kinds and confessions are found everywhere, in rural and urban settings, are uniquely contextually aware, have members involved in many segments of society, and are organized for community engagement, it is crucial that they and their leaders be welcomed, listened to, equipped, and involved as vital partners in any new agenda for peace. Both the Global Peace Index and Our Common Agenda name realities that faith communities are engaging and experienced in, and yet they are unnamed as potential contributors. The WEA has commissioned a Peace & Reconciliation Network to increasingly connect and assist our national alliances in peace and reconciliation work, have a Global Advocacy department with UN representation, and know other religious bodies care for the public good in this way as well. Most importantly, we have thousands upon thousands of local congregations, compelled by their faith in Jesus and his teachings, who actively care for and are engaged in their communities. A New Agenda for Peace in a globalized and pluralistic age should welcome and include the convictions, learnings, insights, contributions, and corrections of faith communities that are forming people who inhabit, labour, and serve within the areas and pillars that require crucial attention for the global public good.

• Trauma-healing

We submit that special attention be given, and investment made in trauma-care and the formation of trauma-responsive communities and structures. Unresolved trauma is a significant contributor to the breakdown of family and social structures, creating the individual and communal conditions for conflict and violence to simmer over generations and erupt disastrously. Attentiveness to the health of the whole person – mental, emotional, relational and spiritual – and the role trauma plays in eroding that health is a crucial part in forming communities and societies equipped to build positive peace.

• Mandatory peacebuilding education including women and children

We submit that special encouragement be given to educational curriculum development that includes the history and practices of peacebuilding. We believe that a global expectation of peacebuilding as a core educational component beginning with the youngest, and including women, would greatly facilitate the equipping of people of all ages, genders, areas and pillars of life to contribute to reducing strategic risks and be a deposit in prevention that would produce generational fruit in family, neighbourhood, business, culture-shaping, and governance.

• Investment in peacebuilding by government and business

We submit that national governments should be called to set a standard investment in peacebuilding. We also submit that business and industry should be invited to invest in peacebuilding as well.

Recent conflicts have increased defense spending by many countries with plans for greater expenditure. A New Agenda for Peace should call for governments to set minimum standards of investing in peacebuilding across their societies. Research, recognition, and rewarding of successful and grassroots efforts should not be seen as optional, but critical investment in human and environmental flourishing. We believe careful attention to regional voices of all involved parties, and religious and indigenous conflict resolution resources that exist in societies is a necessity. We propose that recognizing practices already and historically inherent in many cultures can help build a positive peace if attended to, learned from, and adapted for current realities. These, along with new and emerging peacebuilding capacities should be expected governmental investment.

In addition, we propose that business and industry should be challenged and incentivized to make social investment in peacebuilding an expected part of their social responsibility, entrepreneurship, and contribution to thriving and flourishing communities. Government and business, understanding the economic and environmental impact of violence and the economic and environmental impact of peace,3 should partner creatively in addressing the horrific, unjust, and peace-preventing impact of increased militarization and weaponization and expect investment that produces positive peace.

• Publish good news

As those who claim to be people of “good news” (the etymological root of “evangelical”), we submit that the publishing of good news stories of peacebuilding and reconciliation would contribute significantly to forming culture and shaping practices. A New Agenda for Peace should emphasize the telling of stories from all around the world, including faith communities, where a positive culture of peace is being formed and built. While not minimizing the responsibility to counter “fake” news and tell the truth of what is fractured and broken, we propose that telling good news stories of where the public good of peace is being worked at, contended for, and being realized is strategic for transformation, particularly in an age where the technological interconnectedness of the world enables rapid and viral information sharing.

In conclusion, we express again our gratitude for the invitation of the Secretary General to make this contribution to A New Agenda for Peace. We concur with the view of the World Council of Churches in their submission that “in a world beset by such a constellation of converging crises, a traditional silo-ed approach to addressing peace and security could not pretend to be fit for the purpose.” We encourage the United Nations to a collaborative and wholistic approach that does not ignore voices of faith but welcomes their contribution and participation as vital for the healing of the nations.

With respect and for the sake of the world,

Archbishop Prof. Dr. theol. Dr. phil. Thomas Schirrmacher, PhD, DD, Secretary General

Rev. Phil Wagler, Global Director, Peace & Reconciliation Network

Prof. Dr. Janet Epp Buckingham, Director, Global Advocacy

----------------------------------------------------

1 Institute for Economics & Peace. Global Peace Index 2022: Measuring Peace in a Complex World, Sydney, June 2022. Available from: http://visionofhumanity.org/resources (accessed May 18, 2023).

2 World Council of Churches’ submission for UN New Agenda for Peace. Peter Prove Director, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs World Council of Churches Geneva, 6 April 2023.

3 Global Peace Index 2022, 43-44

The reader will notice the closing words "for the sake of the world" rather than "for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ." The reader is invited to compare the WEA's submission to the World Council of Churches’ submission for UN New Agenda for Peace (bold, underscore, links in original):

Introduction

Formed in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the perspectives and priorities of the World Council of Churches (WCC) were marked from the outset by moral abhorrence at the suffering resulting from and atrocities perpetrated in that conflict. In response, the WCC committed itself to working for the development of international law, to promoting multilateral international cooperation, and to a holistic approach to seeking a sustainable global peace founded on justice and human rights.

At the 11th Assembly of the WCC, held in Karlsruhe, Germany, on 31 August-8 September 2022, delegates from the WCC’s over 350 member churches in more than 120 countries, representing a total global constituency of approximately 580 million people, reflected on a current context in which all of those commitments and values are threatened and undermined. The prevailing ‘polycrisis’ of climate change, conflict, forced displacement, pandemic, rampant inequality, economic instability and political fragmentation was recognized by the Assembly as demanding a holistic approach and intensified international cooperation more than ever before.

Among other relevant policy positions1, the Karlsruhe Assembly:

– rejected the polarization and division of the human community and declared WCC’s commitment to stay together as an ecumenical fellowship, and to grapple with the threats and challenges to peace, justice, human security and environmental sustainability through dialogue, encounter, the pursuit of mutual understanding, and cooperation, rather than through exclusion and confrontation;

– reasserted the ecumenical movement’s rejection and denunciation of war as contrary to the will of God;

– reiterated calls for a global ceasefire, as an urgent moral imperative, in all armed conflicts around the world, and for parties to such conflicts to engage and persist in dialogue and negotiations until just and sustainable peace can be achieved, and to abstain from war;

– appealed for much greater financial and practical support by the international community for peace-building and peace-making rather than for division and military confrontation, and underlined the important role of women and youth as peacemakers;

– called for greatly increased investment by governments and other actors in the foundations of true human security and global stability, including for urgent action for climate justice and to avert the threat of catastrophic climate change, for a just transition to renewable energy, for the elimination of extreme poverty, for sustainable development, and for measures to control rampant inequality, including through tax justice and reparations; and

– encouraged renewed efforts to reform and improve the effectiveness of UN and other intergovernmental instruments for promoting peace and human security. Accordingly, the WCC welcomes the opportunity to make this submission for the ‘New Agenda for Peace’, proposed by the UN Secretary-General in his report “Our Common Agenda”.

Submission

The WCC strongly affirms the urgency of the Secretary-General’s call for concerted collective efforts to respond effectively to multiple converging global challenges, or risk significant systemic breakdown and perpetual crisis.

We concur with many of the main directions proposed for promoting peace and preventing conflicts, including with regard to:

– Reducing strategic risks (nuclear weapons, cyberwarfare, autonomous weapons);

– Strengthening international foresight;

– Investing in prevention and peacebuilding;

– Supporting regional prevention; and

– Putting women and girls at the centre of security policy.

Further, we underline the intersectionality of many proposals in other areas, and their critical importance for sustainable peace, including especially:

– Urgent and effective action to address the climate and biodiversity emergencies;

– A renewed social contract anchored in human rights;

– Universal social protection, including health care and basic income security;

– Removing barriers to young people’s participation in politics and society;

– Ensuring that policy and budget decisions take into account their impact on future generations;

– Eradicating violence against women and girls;

– Promoting women’s economic inclusion;

– Legal identity for all, ending statelessness, and protection of internally displaced persons, refugees and migrants;

– Ending the ‘infodemic’, ‘fake news’ and ‘the war against science’;

– Tackling corruption and illicit financial flows

– Reforming the international tax system;

– Promoting regulation of artificial intelligence; and

– Stronger global health security and preparedness.

Among the many issues that must be encompassed in the New Agenda for Peace, we wish to place special emphasis on the following:

Nuclear disarmament

Though the Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought the threat of nuclear conflagration back more prominently into the public discourse and consciousness, the threat had always persisted. Despite paying lip service to their obligations under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), nuclear-weapon states have consistently resisted progress towards the “general and complete disarmament” that the NPT envisages. Moreover, international efforts to prevent further proliferation of nuclear weapons have been fatally undermined by the obvious hypocrisy of such efforts being led by members of the same club of recalcitrant nuclear-weapon states.

It is legally and ethically anomalous that unlike chemical weapons, biological weapons, antipersonnel landmines and cluster munitions, nuclear weapons – the most indiscriminate weapons of mass destruction ever created by human beings – are not prohibited in a comprehensive and universal manner. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) seeks to fill this gap in the international disarmament regime, by establishing a new normative principle in international law for the comprehensive elimination of nuclear weapons, prohibiting the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of such weapons, as well as assistance and encouragement to the prohibited activities, in line with the commitment expressed under article VI of the NPT. Rather than on the narrow military/security basis of previous nuclear disarmament negotiations, the TPNW is founded upon recognition of the appalling humanitarian and ecological consequences of nuclear warfare. Nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-umbrella states that seek to undermine and obstruct the TPNW do so at the peril of the entire globe.

Moreover, non-proliferation efforts within the framework of a multilateral commitment to the comprehensive elimination of nuclear weapons will carry greater political weight and credibility than such efforts by nuclear-weapon states while seeking to retain their own arsenals and the political leverage they bring.

Therefore, the WCC expects the New Agenda for Peace strongly to profile the TPNW as the hitherto missing link in the nuclear disarmament regime, and to build upon the new normative principles it has introduced for the stigmatization of nuclear weapons (regardless of who possesses them) and for accelerating progress towards the elimination of this most morally egregious category of weapons.

Other disarmament challenges

The WCC is greatly disturbed by the efforts by some States and private companies to develop autonomous weapons systems – so-called ‘killer robots’ – capable of being deployed and engaging in theatres of armed conflict without meaningful human control. The concern we have for the regulation of artificial intelligence in general is greatly amplified with regard to applications of AI in armed conflict. The moral and legal issues are so self-evident that they hardly require belabouring here. However, the WCC expects that the New Agenda for Peace will be clear and categorical in its opposition to autonomous weapons systems, and in its support for a pre-emptive ban on such weapons.

Likewise, the New Agenda for Peace should include a stronger renewed focus on controlling and reversing the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, which bring so much death and suffering in so many societies in both South and North, in some cases to the point of destabilizing entire nations. The WCC has been a strong advocate for the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) and its implementation. We believe that in this period of escalating militarization, confrontation and social fragmentation, there must be even stricter oversight and control of the manufacture of and trade in small arms and light weapons, nationally and internationally, to prevent the spread of such weapons becoming even more of a threat to peace and social stability.

Supporting national capacities for prevention, peacebuilding and resilience: The role of religious leaders and interfaith peacebuilding

The WCC strongly affirms the need for the New Agenda for Peace to promote increased support for national capacities for prevention, peacebuilding and resilience, and investment in national level infrastructure for peace. Within this context, we particularly wish to highlight the importance of engaging religious leaders and faith-based actors. In many societies, especially - but not only - in the Global South, religious leaders, communities and institutions constitute the foundations of societal resilience, remaining even when governmental and other forms of authority fail or are absent.

Moreover, the years since the 1992 UN Agenda for Peace was published have been tragically and indelibly marked by the phenomenon of religiously-inspired extremism, and violence and conflict based on religious identity. In far too many, and seemingly an increasing number of contexts around the world, people and communities are targeted and attacked, often with deadly violence, on the basis of their religious identity. In situations where religious discrimination is reflected in official or practical access to citizenship rights, the risks of such violence are greatly elevated. In such contexts, interfaith cooperation to prevent and confront violence, and to promote inclusion, equal citizenship, and fundamental human rights for all is of vital importance. WCC and its member churches work with interfaith partners in many conflict-affected and conflict-risk situations around the world for these purposes.

Given the current and historical context in which the New Agenda for Peace is being formulated, in which religious discrimination and hatred has been a key driver of conflict but in which religion also remains such an important source of societal resilience, we expect that appropriate recognition and prominence will be given to the importance of engaging with faith-based and interfaith peacemakers at the national level in the construction of sustainable peace.

Sanctions/economic warfare

Though sanctions are generally and understandably seen as preferable to measures for the restoration of international peace and security that entail the use of armed force, in WCC’s experience this presumption warrants much closer examination and reconsideration. In practice, sanctions – whether unilateral or mandated by the UN Security Council – often produce humanitarian suffering and other consequences at least as severe, and generally more widespread, than the use of armed force. In terms of their humanitarian impacts, such measures can often be considered as tantamount to warfare by economic means. This is particularly true in the case of comprehensive ‘maximum pressure’ sanctions regimes. The imposition of such measures can also poison the political environment for negotiations and other initiatives for peace (including civil society initiatives), creating major obstacles to the resolution of conflict.

Moreover, according to our observations, sanctions and related measures are generally unsuccessful in achieving their stated aims. Therefore, we recommend that the New Agenda for Peace include a commitment to a thorough ‘cost-benefit’ analysis of the current utilization of sanctions and related measures, weighing their success (or lack thereof) in achieving their legitimate political/security aims against their negative humanitarian, human rights and political impacts.

WCC recently partnered with the World Evangelical Alliance, Caritas Internationalis, ACT Alliance and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva) to undertake research on the negative impacts of sanctions on humanitarian and social service activities from the specific perspective of churches and church-related organizations. The report is available here.

Mental health/psychosocial support and trauma-healing

To avoid repetition and inter-generational transmission of cycles of violence and instability, mental health, psycho-social support and trauma-healing is often the missing link. It is also generally the most underfunded component of any crisis response. In our view, the New Agenda for Peace must seek to raise the profile of and the support provided to this essential contribution to peaceful, inclusive and sustainable societies, not only in the context of preventing conflict but also for addressing many other aspects of the current ‘polycrisis’, and with a special priority for children and young people.

Especially in contexts where professional mental health services are inadequate to the scale of the need, local religious leaders and faith communities are often by default the primary providers – or potential providers – of psycho-social care and support. Again in the context of investing in local/national resilience, we recommend engagement with and capacity-building for local religious leaders and communities to enable them to provide better and more effective care in this domain, in order to help rebuild lives, and to break the cycle of violence and instability.

The resource extraction-conflict nexus

Resource extractive activities such as drilling for oil and gas, mining, and logging, not only impose heavy ecological costs, but have often been linked to increased incidence, frequency and duration of armed violence, particularly in contexts marked by high levels of socio-economic inequality and where local communities have been largely excluded from decision-making processes. In addition, the militarization of resource-rich lands with a view to exerting state or corporate control over resources has often led to violence and grave violations of the rights of Indigenous Peoples, farmers and fisher-folk, and threats against environmental defenders including religious leaders who have spoken out against such activities.

We believe that the effective management of a society’s natural resources – not least ensuring equitable sharing of benefits and just allocation of burdens – must be a priority not only for the sustainable development agenda but also for the New Agenda of Peace. In this regard, policies that promote equitable wealth distribution, public investment and dignified employment must be given due importance.

Moreover, we observe that continued development of new fossil fuel extraction and related infrastructure constitutes – in the context of the accelerating climate emergency – a kind of weapon of mass destruction (so-called ‘carbon bombs’) imperiling the entire living planet. The New Agenda for Peace should name, stigmatize and denounce this kind of environmental violence and destruction.

Racial justice

The commitment to racial justice, the elimination of xenophobia and of related intolerance has been widely discussed, affirmed and reiterated in various UN forums. However, these threats to our shared humanity remain firmly entrenched in most societies across the world. The persistence of racism, xenophobia and related discrimination remains a major threat to peace in many societies, the salience of which is increasing in some contexts. Accordingly, the New Agenda for Peace must help raise the profile and resources allocated to the UN racial justice mechanisms and amplify calls for inclusive and sustainable communities, free from such discrimination.

The intersection of racism and climate, health, food and social injustice must be lifted up in the New Agenda for Peace. because in our view sustainable peace will be impossible to achieve if some groups of people continue to be disproportionately burdened by the “polycrisis” of today according to their race, ethnicity, colour or place of origin.

Conclusion

The WCC welcomes the convergences and intersectionalities recognized in the framing of the New Agenda for Peace. Indeed, in a world beset by such a constellation of converging crises, a traditional silo-ed approach to addressing peace and security could not pretend to be fit for the purpose.

Moreover, the increasing gulf between global humanitarian needs (driven by the growing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, as well as by conflict) and the resources committed to meeting those needs, obliges the international community to finally move beyond rhetoric to action to address the upstream root causes in order to prevent such crises rather than perpetually failing to meet the critical humanitarian needs they produce.

Respectfully submitted

Peter Prove
Director, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs
World Council of Churches
Geneva, 6 April 2023
---------------------------------------------------------
1 Expressed especially in the Assembly statement “The Things That Make For Peace: Moving the World to Reconciliation and Unity”, September 2022

These two submissions provide ample evidence that "Evangelicals" and liberals are now basically indistinguishable from one another. The "Evangelical" voice at the United Nations is an echo rather than a rebuttal; it reminds me of the old statement about Canadian politicians that they represent Ottawa to us rather than representing us in Ottawa.

Speaking of Canada, the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada boasts of its connections to the World Evangelical Alliance, including the following (bold, links in original):

WEA Strengthened by Canadian Ties

The World Evangelical Alliance is a network of churches and organizations representing more than 600 million Evangelicals. The EFC is its national alliance partner in Canada.

Several EFC staff and former staff are involved in WEA leadership including:

EFC executive vice-president David Guretzki is treasurer of the WEA International Council.

Brian Stiller is the WEA global ambassador, and the EFC hosts his Dispatches blog.

Christine MacMillan is the WEA senior advisor on social justice as well as chair of the WEA Global Human Trafficking Task Force.

Janet Epp Buckingham is the WEA's director of global advocacy.

Steve Hubley is the WEA's director of development.

Canadians can donate online to support the WEA and individual Canadians who work there.

The WEA includes commissions on mission, religious liberty, theology, women, youth as well as initiatives on human trafficking, refugees, leadership training, nuclear weapons, generosity, creation care, business and more.

WEA Peace and Reconciliation Network in Canada

The Peace & Reconciliation Network of the World Evangelical Alliance describes its work using the acronym TRAIN (Teaching, Restoration, Assistance, Initiative, Networking). Some of its Canadian leaders include:

global director (and EFC global liaison) Phil Wagler of Kelowna, B.C.

Canadian coordinator Joel Zantingh of Guelph, Ont.

director of network development Manuel Böhm of Kitchener, Ont.

The EFC needs to update its information on this page; David Guretzki is now the president of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. The reader will recognize the names of Phil Wagler and Janet Epp Buckingham as signatories of the WEA's submission on the UN New Agenda for Peace.

See my posts: Today's Evangelicals, Tomorrow's Liberals--A Warning from 1983 (January 13, 2010)

More evidence that yesterday's liberalism has become today's evangelicalism (November 8, 2011)

More evidence that today's yesterday's evangelicals are tomorrow's today's liberals (January 24, 2015)

Mainline church leaders 50 years ago advocated methods used by "evangelical" churches today (November 6, 2018)

Evangelical churches in Canada use Covid-19 as an opportunity to team up with unbelievers in promoting an antichrist agenda (March 31, 2022)

July 25, 2023 update: Tom Littleton has just posted this at his blog Thirty Pieces of Silver: United Nations & WEF Plan to Double Down on 2030 Sustainable Goals in September Meeting While Evangelicals Have Already Signed On (July 25, 2023)

September 27, 2023 update: The International Council of Christian Churches, at its 21st World Congress in Collingswood, New Jersey from June 21-28, 2023, adopted the following resolution (bold in original):

The World Evangelical Alliance and Apostasy

POSITION STATEMENT

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) traces its roots to 1846, when the Evangelical Alliance was inaugurated in Great Britain. At present, the organization includes in its membership an extensive list of regional bodies, such as the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) in the United States. It also includes many wellknown mission, medical, legal, educational, and relief agencies as affiliates.

Since its inception in 1948, the International Council of Christian Churches (ICCC) has stood in opposition to what was then called the New Evangelicalism. The NAE, a mouthpiece of this New Evangelicalism, championed a philosophy of “infiltrating” the apostate churches — particularly those in the Modernistic National Council of Churches (NCC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC). In contrast, the American Council of Christian Churches (ACCC), and the ICCC took the Biblical position that Christians and churches should “separate” from apostasy, compromise, and unbelief (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).

As the years have passed, the warnings issued by the ICCC have proven to be correct. When a person or church begins to use human reasoning to countenance compromise on things concerning which the Bible is clear, there rarely is a return to Scriptural conformity and obedience. Compromise breeds compromise, and things usually continue to progressively diverge from what God has commanded in His Word. The WEA is a case in point. It has passed the point where its goal was just to “infiltrate,” to the place where it now fully cooperates with the apostasy.

WEA considers itself to be one of the “Four Pillars” to bring about global “Christian Unity.”

On June 17, 2022, the WEA website carried the headline: “WCC, Global Christian Forum (GCF) sign memorandum of understanding affirming mutual quest for Christian Unity.” The WEA writer reports: “Both Sauca [World Council of Churches Acting General Secretary at the time], and Essasmuah [secretary of the GCF] expressed joy at the pivotal role of the four pillars — ‘namely the WCC, World Evangelical Alliance, Pentecostal World Fellowship and the Roman Catholic Church.’”

The reporter continued that Archbishop Thomas Schirrmacher, secretary general / CEO of the WEA, stated at the meeting that he considered it to be “gracious of the WCC to agree to be just one pillar of several,” leaving room for the other three groups. This was not just the description of a WEA staff writer. Dr. Schirrmacher used this language himself, publicly declaring that the WEA is “one of the [four] pillars.”

The report continues that this memorandum of understanding was signed by Fr. Andrzej Choromanski, of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the WCC’s Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, Rev. Dr. Casely Essa­muah of the Global Christian Forum, Archbishop Thomas Schirrmacher of the World Evangelical Alliance, and William Wilson of the Pentecostal World Fellowship.

Ties between the WEA and WCC have never been closer.

At one time, many evangelicals agreed that the WCC was an apostate organization. Some top WCC leaders denied such cardinal doctrines as the Virgin Birth of Christ, the Deity of Christ, the necessity of Christ’s atonement on the cross, His bodily resurrection, His working of many mighty miracles, and so forth.

However, in recent years, the WEA has had extensive cooperation and has begun working closely with the WCC, The Roman Catholic Church, East Orthodox churches, and so forth.

At the WCC 11th World Assembly, August 31 through September 8, 2023, WEA Secretary General Archbishop Schirrmacher was in attendance. Together with greetings of ecumenical cooperation from Pope Francis, and representatives of Eastern Orthodoxy and Judaism, Schirrmacher spoke on behalf of the WEA.

He began by praising outgoing WCC Acting General Secretary Ioan Sauca, a priest in the Romanian Orthodox Church. Speaking of their close “friendship and cooperation,” he stated: “Professor Sauca has been a gift of God to the body of Christ for such a time as this.” Pointing out that the WEA and WCC were of approximately equal size, Schirrmacher stated: “We are aware that we have a considerable overlap in membership.…”

He continued: “Nowadays, WCC and WEA work together in most areas of ministry. We exchange members on all important commissions. My own involvement in [the WCC] Faith and Order [Commission] has given me enormous insight into the different theological topics that still divide churches and the urgent need for more intense listening to each other.”

This close union between the two groups has been apparent for many years. On August 25, 2021, the WEA official website carried a headline titled: “World Council of Churches (WCC) and World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) Strengthen Their Collaboration [August 2021].”

In his concluding remarks to the WCC Assembly, Bishop Shirrmacher stated: “We pray for God’s blessing on all the ongoing work of the WCC and this Assembly. May God the Father give us all strength to work on behalf of his creation. May Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who saved us from sin and death, be our example in his willingness to give his life for the good of others. And may the Holy Spirit keep us all from evil ways and unjust thoughts and lead us into the growing truth promised to his church on earth.”

The entire message was based almost exclusively on “peace and justice” themes, decrying the war in Ukraine, and fearing that “racism” against Russians would arise from this. He also spoke strongly against anti-semitism. We will not judge Schirrmacher’s intentions, but almost any such speech he and others from the WEA make to ecumenical gatherings fails to explicitly promote the real gospel of salvation by faith in Christ alone.

The WCC also speaks about Jesus Christ saving us from sin and death, but it is virtually always in vague terms, which could be interpreted in different ways. When it is explicit, it invariably is focused on social justice and making “all things new” on this earth.

Instead of an encouragement to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission, as presented in the Bible, Schirrmacher speaks of “work on behalf of God’s creation.” Instead of the Good News, we are to make Christ “our example in his willingness to give his life for the good of others.” Instead of the Holy Spirit illuminating the Scriptures, the sure and complete Word of God, we are to look to Him to “lead us into the growing truth promised to his church on earth.” In the context of social justice, we are to look to the Holy Ghost to “keep us all from evil ways and unjust thoughts.”

The WEA and WCC both promote a questionable version of “social justice” at the United Nations.

The WEA and WCC both hold offices at the United Nations, where they speak out about all kinds of “social issues.” The WEA holds Special Consultative Status with the UN’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), “which serves as the central forum for dis­cussing international economic and social issues, and for formulating policy recommendations addressed to Member States and the United Nations system.”

The WEA uses this platform to advocate for “climate care,” and “global sustainability,” together with other issues of “social justice.” In its August 21, 2021, meeting with the WCC, the two organizations agreed to expand their cooperative work for “climate justice.” In 2019, the WEA established the “WEA Sustainability Center (WEASC) in the strategic ‘UN City’ of Bonn, Germany.” The whole goal of the Center is to teach and encourage the churches to take part in “climate care.”

The ICCC certainly desires to see clean water, clean air, and to discourage practices which harm our planet, but this is not the gospel of Christ. Further, since the WCC program for “justice” is decidedly Marxist, one must be very concerned that the WEA has such ease in collaborating with the WCC in these matters.

Evangelical churches and organizations need to be obedient to Scripture in order to warrant our support.

Many have criticized the ICCC, and other Bible-believing groups, for being too strong in their stand against such compromise. People often justify such compromise with the human rationalization that many WEA member groups “do so much good.” Some just choose to ignore the facts, or simply wink at the situation.

As Bible believers, we must not have a censurious spirit, and we should be patient and kind, but nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to support a church or organization because “they do so much good.” It is not there! The Bible is clear from beginning to end that true Christian love, cooperation, and support are based on obedience to Christ and His Word — nothing else.

Many so-called conservative denominations, including the Presbyterian Church in America, the Presbyterian Church of Brazil, to name just a couple, maintain their membership in the WEA through the World Reformed Fellowship (WRF). Even within that group there are many unfaithful churches.

In addition to regional evangelical organizations, and a few denominations with international reach, there are also many non-profit organizations familiar to many Christians. Even though many do seemingly “good work,” yet their disobedience must be a real concern for Bible believing Christians. These organizations include:

A Advocates International, AM International, Asia Theological Association, Asian Access, B Barnabas Aid, Bakke Graduate University, Barnabas Relief Fund, Bible Discovery, Bible League of Canada, Biblica, C Campus Missions International, CEDAR Fund, Center for Mission Mobilization, ChinaSource, Christian Endeavor World Union, Christopher Sun Evangelistic Association, COMIBAM – Cooperation of Mission from Latin America, Creatio International, Crossroads Christian Communications Inc., Cru, D David Chung Ministries International, E EFCA Reach Global, Elim Center International, Engineer Ministries International, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Every Home for Christ International, Every Nation Churches & Ministries, F Faith & Family Foundation, Finnish Lutheran Overseas Mission, Frontier Ventures, Frontiers USA, G Global Outreach Day, Global Scholars, Gospel & Information Technology, H Healthcare Christian Fellowship International, Holy Bible Society, I Integral Alliance, International Association for Refugees, International Association of Evangelical Chaplains, International Christian Medical and Dental Association (ICMDA), International Council for Evangelical Theological Education – ICETE, International Evangelism Association, International Justice Mission, International Needs Network, J Jews for Jesus, K Kenosis Media Group, L Luis Palau Association, M Micah Global, Middle East Concern, N The Navigators, No More Violence International, NORMISJON, Norsk Luthersk Misjonssamband (Norwegian Lutheran Mission), O Olivet Center for World Mission, Olivet University, One Challenge International, One Collective, One Mission Society, OneHope, Open Doors International, Operation Mobilisation, P The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, Pioneers International, Power to Change, R Refugee Highway Partnership, Reliant Mission, RREACH, RUN Ministries, S Saint Luke Society, The Salvation Army, Scripture Union International Council, SIM International, Sojourners, T Take Heart, TEAM – The Evangelical Alliance Mission, Tearfund UK, Teleo University, Timothy Two Project International, Trainers of Pastors International Coalition, U United World Mission, V Veritas College International, Veritas Legal Society, Voice of the Martyrs Canada, W Water is Basic, World Evangelical Theological Institute Association, World Mission Prayer League, World Olivet Assembly, The World Reformed Fellowship, World Team, World Thrust International, World Vision International, World Without Orphans, WorldVenture, Wycliffe Associates, Wycliffe Global Alliance, Y Young Disciples of Jesus, Youth Evangelical Fellowship, Youth for Christ International.

Conclusion

The International Council of Christian Churches, meeting in its 21st World Congress, June 21-28, 2023, in Collingswood, NJ, USA, condemns the compromise with apostasy that continues to characterize the World Evangelical Alliance. Bible-believing Christians are urged to channel their support exclusively to churches and Christian organizations which are not involved in such compromising relationships. Further, the ICCC calls on all churches and organizations affiliated with the WEA to:

1. Withdraw your membership from the WEA, its regional councils, and any other organizations which fail to remain separate from all unbelief and apostasy. The Scriptures make quite clear that Christian love and fellowship are based solely on obedience to Christ and the Scriptures. You simply cannot “work together in most areas of ministry” and “exchange members on all important commissions” with the apostate WCC and be faithful to Christ. “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

2. Make fidelity and obedience to Christ and His Word the foundation of your church or organization. Utilitarian and pragmatic decisions are never of God if they violate His Word. God’s work must always be done in God’s way. ““Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not … in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.…” (Matthew 7:22).

3. Firmly recognize that it is God who must build our ministries. No associations which may bring funding and influence — even for worthy purposes — will ever justify being unfaithful to Christ. “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain” (Psalm 127:1).

4. Actively carry out Christ’s Great Commission: “… Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations.…” Although Christians are to oppose injustice and corruption in our fallen world, this is not the Gospel of Christ. Anything presented as the “gospel” apart from the glorious redemption purchased by Christ, is indeed a counterfeit gospel which cannot save.

5. Make common cause with those who seek to be faithful to the Scriptures. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7).

Click here to download the ICCC position statement.

December 16, 2023 update: Another post from Tom Littleton at Thirty Pieces of Silver: World Evangelical Alliance Role in Upcoming WEF/DAVOS 2024 “Faith in Action” Collaboration (December 17, 2023)