Mainstream media belatedly discovers sexual abuse within the Southern Masonic Baptist Convention

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6 (also Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2)

As is so often the case, mainstream media are late to come to a story, and then act as if they were the ones who discovered it. An example is 20 years, 700 victims: Southern Baptist sexual abuse spreads as leaders resist reforms by Robert Downen, Lise Olsen, and John Tedesco in the Houston Chronicle, February 10, 2019--the first of three articles on the subject, mentioning names and incidents.

It comes as no surprise to this blogger to see mainstream newspapers exposing sexual abuse in the SBC; I just wonder why it took them so long to get around to it. All anyone had to do was do a Google search using the term "Baptist" and "predator" to find the website Stop Baptist Predators and blog Stop Baptist Predators, both by Christa Brown, who has been warning about this matter for more than a decade. I recommend her site and blog for research purposes, although I don't think she's doctrinally sound.

Another useful blog is let's stop pastor darrell gilyard together by Tiffany Croft, which is on my blogroll. The information provided in these sites isn't particularly current, but is still relevant. The fact that the sites go back a few years shows how long that sexual abuse within the SBC has been an issue that some have tried to draw attention to, before its belated discovery by mainstream media.

February 24, 2019 update: Click on the links for the rest of the Houston Chronicle series:

Part 2: Offend, then repeat: Southern Baptist churches hired ministers accused of past sex offenses (February 12, 2019)

Part 3: Preying on teens: All too often, Southern Baptist youth pastors take advantage of children (February 13, 2019)

March 19, 2019 update: The same thing has been taking place in Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches, as reported in a series of articles by Sarah Smith in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, December 9, 2018:

Hundreds of sex abuse allegations found in fundamental Baptist churches across U.S.

These ‘men of God’ sexually abused children. Then they found refuge at other churches

‘It’s ruined me.’ Former independent fundamental Baptists describe life in the church

‘My earliest memory of being molested was when I was 4 years old. It was Sunday school’


HT: Vox Popoli

Church of England bishops protest plans for transgender baptisms

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

As reported by Danny Wider of the London Daily Telegraph, December 23, 2018:

The Church of England's plans for transgender baptisms have been condemned by bishops who have described the practices as "theologically and pastorally questionable".

Ten bishops criticised the ceremony, which some priests are boycotting, as they believe baptism should be about affirming faith rather than gender identity.

The idea first drew attention when Reverend Chris Newlands was asked to debate the issue at the General Synod in 2015.

Three years later, the practice, which allows transgender Christians to recognise their chosen name as opposed to their birth name, received official endorsement from the church.

However, bishops have denounced the ritual as they believe gender is assigned by God.

Reverend Ian Paul, who is a member of the Archbishops' Council, urged the "bishops and other leaders ... [to] stop allowing themselves to be hijacked by these very small special interest groups", according to the Sunday Times.

Outrage also led Julian Mann, the vicar of the Parish Church of the Ascension in Oughtibridge, Sheffield, to write to the Archbishop of York, claiming that he would oppose any disciplinary action that would result from his refusal to conduct a service.

It is thought that priests will be free to refuse the service, as the Church of England said: "There is no obligation on the clergy to offer the service ... to anybody in any context (whether in connection with a person identifying in a new gender or for any other reason).

"The only services that the clergy are under an obligation to provide to individuals are baptism, marriage and burial. This does not change the doctrine of the Church of England."

Yet, there have also been protests against the Church of England's attempts to safeguard against transphobia from a network of 50 evangelical leaders in Chester, as well as John Fenwick, the bishop of the Free Church of England.

Claims that the practice could lead to family break-up were made by Rod Thomas, bishop of Maidstone, who said the church needed to decide what action to take if someone who had transitioned subsequently sought a marriage service.

This is controversial, as same-sex marriages are not currently conducted by the Church of England.

Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, said: "The church should be compassionate and sensitive towards those who experience gender dysphoria, but its fundamental teaching must be based on a revealed truth and objective biology and its relation to social structure."

"There is no obligation..." is also a promise that was made to C of E churches concerning female clergy, and that promise turned out to be false; it will come as no surprise to this blogger when the current promise on transgender baptisms proves equally false.

Roman Catholic bishops in Honduras deny that a culture of homosexuality exists at the national seminary

Christine Keeler, a major figure in a memorable sex scandal, would probably comment, "Well they would say that, now, wouldn't they?" As reported by Catholic News Agency, July 30, 2018 (link in original):

Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Jul 30, 2018 / 06:02 pm (ACI Prensa).- The Honduran bishops' conference on Monday denied there exists a homosexual culture at the national seminary, in response to a recent report from the National Catholic Register about Honduran seminarians lamenting that culture.

In a statement released July 30, the Honduran bishops lamented that “the 'information' from Mr. Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register, a media outlet belonging to the EWTN network, and which is the origin of the information that appears in various digital media of the country and/or abroad, causes pain and scandal in those it supposedly wants to defend.”

“With complete certainty and truth, we affirm there does not exist, nor has there existed, nor ought there exist in the seminary an atmosphere as presented by the aforementioned National Catholic Register report, in which the impression is given that [the seminary] institutionally promotes and sustains practices contrary to morality and the norms of the Church, viewed with complacency by the bishops,” the bishops' conference stated.

In “Honduran Seminarians Allege Widespread Homosexual Misconduct”, published July 25 in the National Catholic Register, Edward Pentin reported on an anonymous letter written by 48 of the 180 students at the Our Lady of Suyapa Major Seminary.

In the letter, the seminarians say that “we are living and going through a time of tension in our house, due to gravely immoral situations, especially an active homosexuality within the seminary which has been a taboo during all this time.”

They also stated that by “covering it up,” the problem has gained strength, becoming, as a priest said not long ago, an “epidemic in the seminary.”

The seminarians' letter was supposedly submitted to scrutiny at the plenary assembly of the Honduran bishops' conference in June this year.

According to Pentin's sources, when the document was read before the bishops, Cardinal Óscar Andres Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa (who coordinates the group of cardinals assisting Pope Francis in his reform of the Roman Curia), along with Bishop Angel Garachana Perez of San Pedro Sula, president of the bishops' conference, criticized the authors of the letter.

The existence of the letter was confirmed to the National Catholic Register by Bishop Guy Charbonneau of Choluteca, who said the bishops' conference is conducting an investigation to determine if the accusations are true.

“We are currently in this process,” the prelate said. “Each bishop has to deal with this, interviewing the seminarians of his own diocese.”

The National Catholic Register article came out a few days after Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the Auxiliary Bishop of Tegucigalpa, Juan José Pineda Fasquelle, who at 57 was 18 years away from the obligatory age for a prelate to present his resignation.

Bishop Pineda has also been immersed in accusations of serious sexual misconduct and financial mismanagement.

In their July 30 statement, the Honduran bishops lamented that these news reports may have “disturbed” the People of God.

The bishops’ conference explained that Our Lady of Suyapa Major Seminary is “an inter-diocesan institution which, although it is located in in the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa, is at the service of the formation of candidates to the priesthood from all the dioceses of Honduras, with the exception of the Diocese of Comayagua.”

“The bishops, who are ultimately responsible for the formation of our seminarians, entrusted in 1997 the immediate task (of their formation) to the Congregation of Jesus and Mary (the Eudists) of the Colombian Province, and in recent years they have been joined by Honduran diocesan priests.”

“In the academic formation of the seminarians,” they said, “a significant number of professors including the cardinal (Rodríguez Maradiaga), priests, nuns and lay people are involved. And, ultimately, each one of the bishops of the Honduran Bishops' Conference is responsible for the formation, financial support and monitoring the human, spiritual and pastoral growth of the seminarians of our own dioceses.”

The bishops thanked God because “the enthusiasm, commitment, and dedication of so many people at the major seminary, in each one of the dioceses and parishes are bearing abundant fruit.”

However, they noted that it does not surprise them that “in the midst of that fruit weeds would appear.”

For the Honduran bishops “it is evident that there are weeds and evil, especially, in making 'anonymous' reports;' in airing them, mixing in facts, suspicions and interpretations; while ignoring the monitoring given to the challenges that arise.”

“There are weeds in sexual and affective weakness, which affects all of us and can creates inappropriate attitudes and behaviors. There are weeds in sterile pessimism, in spiritual worldliness, in the search of forms of power, human glories or financial well being,” they added.

The bishops acknowledged “that these temptations affect us and that we fall into them. But we equally recognize that the power of God is manifested in our weakness.”

The bishops' conference said that the bishops, formators, and seminarians are “engaged in a constructive and demanding dialogue to discern how to face the challenges that are posed to us by reality.”

“At this time, to support that commitment, we have requested the collaboration of a bishop emeritus of our continent, with experience in the field of priestly formation and who has also accepted our request.”

The Honduran bishops asked priests to “increase your commitment, and generous dedication to the service of the Gospel such that, following your example, free and mature vocations may come forth, unafraid to serve.”

“We ask current and future seminarians to engage enthusiastically in your discernment process, grow in confidence, authenticity and transparency with your bishops and formators, and let your communities and parishes honestly see the strengths and weaknesses of the seminary.”

Finally, they said, “we ask everyone to increase your prayers for our Major Seminary and avoid any kind of speculation which fails to respect the dignity of bishops, seminarians, the formators, and that of all of us who with limitations and failings seek to carry out the Lord's work.”

Roman Catholic priest from New Jersey claimed he was collecting child pornography in order to get "revenge" on God

Yet another sordid scandal involving a Roman Catholic priest; the reader will notice the duplicity on the part of the Archdiocese of Newark in their rationale for reinstating a man who clearly was unfit for the priesthood. As reported by Associated Press, August 25, 2017:

HONESDALE, Pa. (AP) — A New Jersey priest says he was trying to get revenge on God for poker losses when he collected computerized child pornography at his weekend home in Pennsylvania, according to his attorney and court records.

The Rev. Kevin Gugliotta was sentenced Thursday to 11½ to 23½ months in the Wayne County jail, receiving credit for 10 months he’s already served. He pleaded guilty in March to a single count of disseminating child pornography after prosecutors dropped dozens of other charges that he possessed and distributed child porn.

Pretrial records show the 55-year-old Gugliotta told probation officers he felt God was attacking him when he lost poker tournaments and games, and got “revenge” by collecting the porn.

“That was his reason,” defense attorney James Swetz said. “He’s not happy that’s how he felt, as the judge indicated. There are other ways to handle issues and handle anger.”

Jim Goodness, director of communications for the Archdiocese of Newark, said Gugliotta has been removed from public ministry since church officials learned of the investigation in September.

Additional discipline, including possible removal from the priesthood, is possible “now that the process in the courts have been completed,” Goodness said. “We’ve also kept Rome abreast of the situation.”

The Monroe County, Pennsylvania district attorney’s office last August was investigating child pornography and determined some had been uploaded to a computer at Gugliotta’s weekend home in Gouldsboro. The tiny Pennsylvania hamlet is about 90 miles west of Holy Spirit Church, where he served as parochial vicar in Union, New Jersey.

Monroe County authorities alerted those in Wayne County, who tried to search the Gouldsboro home in September. But authorities couldn’t find Gugliotta at home and couldn’t lure him there using a ruse so they could search the computer before he had a chance to destroy the evidence.

Wayne County authorities wound up tracking down the priest at the New Jersey church where they interviewed him and found his laptop computer in the church rectory.

Gugliotta had previously been suspended from ministry in 2003 for allegedly molesting a teenage boy in the 1980s. But because the incident occurred when he was still a layman and before he entered the priesthood, the Archdiocese of Newark ruled he could not be punished and quietly reinstated him in 2004.

He went on to have a long career in the priesthood, including ministering to youth groups.

And as reported by Joseph Kohut of the Scranton Times-Tribune, August 25, 2017:

A Roman Catholic priest from New Jersey caught up in a Wayne County child pornography probe will spend 11½ to 23½ months in jail.

The Rev. Kevin A. Gugliotta, 55, of Mahwah, was sentenced Thursday by President Judge Raymond L. Hamill.

The sentence includes the more than 300 days Gugliotta already has spent in jail, so he could be eligible for parole in about 1½ months, his attorney, James Swetz, said.

Gugliotta pleaded guilty in March to one count of dissemination of child pornography. In October, Wayne County detectives filed more than 40 felony counts of possessing and disseminating child pornography against him for uploading files from a Lehigh Twp. apartment he referred to as his “day-off place,” investigators said.

The Archdiocese of Newark removed Gugliotta from ministry and ordered he vacate his assignment at the Holy Spirit Church in Union, New Jersey, upon learning of the allegations against him. He remains out of ministry, and the Vatican was notified of the court developments to date, Jim Goodness, a spokesman for the archdiocese, said. Gugliotta had been a priest in that archdiocese since his ordination in 1996.

Between July 9 and Aug. 29, 2016, Gugliotta uploaded 20 files depicting children engaged in sexual activity to internet chat rooms. Detectives tracked the activity back to Gugliotta.

Swetz said he was pleased with the sentence, which includes five years of probation after Gugliotta’s time in jail.

Gugliotta also must register as a sex offender for the next 25 years.

“This priest’s actions support the victimization of children and must be severely punished,” Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards said in a statement. “With no one to watch child porn, our children would not be subject to the horrors of exploitation. I am very pleased he was caught.”

Floozies for Christ: Porn star Kamilla Warneck

For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: Leviticus 11:44a
As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion. Proverbs 11:22

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Do not offer the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. Romans 6:12-13 (NIV)

Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body...
...Flee fornication. I Corinthians 6:13b, 18a

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not once be named among you, as becometh saints; Ephesians 5:3

It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;
that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, I Thessalonians 4:3-4 (NIV)

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; I Timothy 2:9

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; I Peter 2:11

For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: I Peter 4:17a

60 years ago, American gangster Mickey Cohen professed to have come to faith in Jesus Christ after meeting Billy Graham, but saw no need to change his occupation, saying, "Christian football players, Christian cowboys, Christian politicians; why not a Christian gangster?" In the late 1970s, pornography merchant Larry Flynt briefly claimed to be "born again," supposedly being "converted" by Ruth Carter Stapleton, sister of U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Mr. Flynt exhibited no changes in his life, continued to publish Hustler magazine, and eventually, like the dog returning to his vomit in Proverbs 26:11, became an outspoken anti-Christian activist (and Mrs. Stapleton promoted "inner healing" and died a New Ager in 1983 at the age of 54, thinking she could visualize her cancer disappearing).

Submitted for your disapproval, yet another example of what is seen too often today in the professing church of Jesus Christ, where there's no connection between a profession of faith and holy living. As reported by Janet Tappin Coelho in the London Sun, April 27, 2017 (updated April 28, 2017):

A PORN star has outraged churchgoers by declaring she is an Evangelical Christian who believes there’s nothing wrong with her work in the eyes of God.

Kamilla Warneck is one of the hottest adult movie stars in Brazil and has appeared in hundreds of erotic movies.
Now the 25-year-old, who grew up in a deeply religious household, has caused controversy with her claims in an interview on X-rated TV show Pornolandia.

The hardcore actress declares she has an “Evangelical faith” and says she doesn’t believe it clashes with her career because she is a “good person at heart.”

Host Nicole Puzzi, who has interviewed dozens of sex industry stars, appeared surprised as she asked: “But how do you relate that to your work because people believe a porno actress cannot be Evangelical and cannot be religious.”

The curvaceous brunette insists: “People are very judgemental. They try to make you conform in a way they think an Evangelical should be because society says so.

“But I don’t agree with this. I think God sees inside our hearts. He judges the good and the bad things you do, and I do good things for people.

“I’m a good person at heart and that’s what matters.”

The clip went viral with some on social media condemning her to “burn in hell” while others said she has the right to do what she wants.

The late-night online magazine show included a risqué striptease by the sultry Rio model in which she wields a collection of dangerous weapons including a gun and knife while dancing suggestively as she undresses for the camera.

It’s a performance and a lifestyle her intensely religious family would disapprove of if they knew.

She said: “My family don’t have a clue about what I do for a living. I haven’t told them but to be honest I really don’t care if they find out.”

In fact, the blue movie actress has already upset her church-going family by divorcing her husband of three years and setting up home with a woman.

She reveals: "My family was really shocked when they found out. It took them a while to accept because their Evangelical beliefs and prejudice against gay relationships made it hard for them to come to terms with my decision.

“They think it’s just a phase I'm going through. That may well be the case, but one day I might shock them even more because I’m prepared to live with anyone so long as they make me happy, and that could include finding love with a transsexual.”

Kamilla left home at 15 to live on her own because of family issues. She doesn't disclose the reasons for doing so.

She said: “As a child, I wanted to grow up to be a ballerina. But I discovered I loved having sex when I was a teen and especially when people were watching.

“One New Year’s Eve I was making out in a tent with a guy I’d just met, and people outside could see what was going on by the shadows cast from a light behind the tent.

“It made me really excited and horny to know they were watching what we were doing.”

The sexy star, who Nicole said looked too young to be "behaving badly" because of the braces her teeth and her "fresh face beauty", got a job as a stripper and pole dancer when she turned 18.

Kamilla said: “I never thought about working in the adult movie industry until a friend invited me to do a raunchy sex show with her.

“Three months later I was invited to take part in an X-rated film and as I was curious about what it involved, I decided to accept the offer.

“I love my work and I want people to appreciate and respect what I do. It’s job where I make good money and I am successful.

“I still have a normal life outside and when I get the chance I go to church with a Bible in my hand."

I don't know whether or not Miss Warneck is actually a Christian--only God knows that--but I'm entitled to say that I don't believe she's a Christian, because the publicly available evidence doesn't support her claim to be a Christian. If she is, when did she come to Christ? She's been attracted to an ungodly lifestyle from a young age, according to her own statements.

As for Miss Warneck being "a good person," Romans 3:10-12 refutes the idea that any of us are good. I think it was James Q. Wilson who found in his criminological studies that most criminals believe themselves to be good people, even while they're in the process of committing crimes. Miss Warneck complains about people being judgmental and trying to make her conform to how an Evangelical should behave "because society says so," but that's not true--the criticism of her not living up to her professed Christian beliefs isn't because she's violating the norms of society, but because she's willfully violating the commands of God as clearly stated in the Bible (see the passages at the top of this post). Her comment is interesting in that she's acknowledging that even "society" disapproves of her behaviour; indeed, most non-Christians have higher moral standards than Kamilla Warneck.

Miss Warneck may go to church with a Bible in her hand, but she doesn't give any evidence of reading or heeding it, or acknowledging its authority over her life. Any true Christian church should, in accord with the instructions given in I Corinthians 5, bar her from fellowship as long as she continues to flout God's commands. Although I Corinthians 5 refers to the immoral brother, I think the same standard applies to women who claim to be Christians but who are living immoral lives.

The best comment on people such as Miss Warneck is an anecdote--which may or may not be true--about the famous 19th century American evangelist D.L. Moody. Mr. Moody, so the story goes, was walking back to his hotel after one of his rallies when a drunk in the gutter recognized him and said, "Oh, Mr. Moody, I'm one of your converts." Mr. Moody replied, "You must be; it's obvious you aren't Christ's."

See my previous posts Floozies for Christ: Bristol Palin (May 20, 2010) and Floozies for Christ: Carrie Prejean (May 22, 2010).

Retired Church of England bishops whine about Church's attitude toward sodomites

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 3:5

Yet more evidence that the Church of England--described in the 1990s by a Canadian traditionalist Anglican clergyman as "the natural spiritual home of the Queen and Mr. Bean"--is a Christian church in name only. As reported by Associated Press, February 12, 2017:

LONDON — Fourteen retired Anglican bishops are criticizing the Church of England's attitude to homosexuality, saying the church is not listening to the voices of gay Christians.

They are responding to a report from the church's House of Bishops, which calls for a "fresh tone and culture of welcome and support" for gays and lesbians, but says the church should not lift its opposition to same-sex marriage.

In an open letter , the ex-bishops say that "while the pain of LGBT people is spoken about in your report, we do not hear its authentic voice."

Former Bishop of Worcester Peter Selby, one of the signatories, said Sunday that some gay Anglicans feel betrayed by the lack of support for change.

Gay marriage has long divided the Anglican communion, which has 85 million adherents.

10 years ago: Ted Haggard resigns as President of the National Association of Evangelicals amid allegations of homosexual behaviour and drug use

Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money...
...He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap. I Timothy 3:2-3, 7 (NIV)

A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:8

On November 2, 2006, Ted Haggard, founder and senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, announced his resignation as President of the National Association of Evangelicals as the result of accusations from homosexual prostitute and drug dealer Mike Jones that Mr. Haggard had paid Mr. Jones for sex for three years and that Mr. Haggard had purchased crystal methamphetamine from his and used it. Mr. Haggard's resignation was accepted on November 3.

In a bit of interesting timing, November 2006 was the date of the issue of Harper's Magazine that contained the article Soldiers of Christ: Insider America's Most Powerful Megachurch by Jeff Sharlet. The article included this passage:

The atrium is a soaring foyer adorned with the flags of the nations and guarded by another bronze warrior angel, a scowling, bearded type with massive biceps and, again, a sword. The angel’s pedestal stands at the center of a great, eightpointed compass laid out in muted red, white, and blue-black stone. Each point directs the eye to a contemporary painting, most depicting gorgeous, muscular men—one is a blacksmith, another is bound, fetish-style, in chains—in various states of undress. My favorite is The Vessel, by Thomas Blackshear, a major figure in the evangelical-art world. Here in the World Prayer Center is a print of The Vessel, a tall, vertical panel of two nude, ample-breasted, white female angels team-pouring an urn of honey onto the shaved head of a naked, olive-skinned man below. The honey drips down over his slab-like pecs and his six-pack abs into the eponymous vessel, which he holds in front of his crotch. But the vessel can’t handle that much honey, so the sweetness oozes over the edges and spills down yet another level, presumably onto our heads, drenching us in golden, godly love. Part of what makes Blackshear’s work so compelling is precisely its unabashed eroticism; it aims to turn you on, and then to turn that passion toward Jesus.

A day or two after the scandal broke, Mr. Sharlet returned to New Life Church, and noticed that the artwork that he had noticed and commented on had all been hastily covered up or removed--which this blogger finds very suspicious.

Check the Infogalactic entry for more information on the duplicitous Mr. Haggard and his scandals. For my views on Mr. Haggard, I refer the reader to my post Ted Haggard refuses to stay out of the limelight (January 6, 2012).

60 years ago: Good riddance to Alfred Kinsey

Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. I Corinthians 6:18

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul; II Peter 2:11

On August 25, 1956, U.S. sexologist Dr. Kinsey died of a reported heart ailment and pneumonia at the age of 62. Dr. Kinsey, a biologist by training, founded the Institute for Sex Research at Indiana University in 1947. He published the reports Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953), which created the impression that the American people were far more liberal in their sexual behaviour than they actually were, or were willing to admit. Dr. Kinsey was reported to be bisexual, and he devised a scale of sexuality in which bisexuality rather than heterosexuality was the norm, and this passed for "science." It wasn't until many years after the publication of his reports that it was revealed that a disproportionate number of Dr. Kinsey's subjects in his research on male sexuality were convicted sex offenders, and a disproportionate number of his female subjects were prostitutes--not exactly representative of the majority of the American people. For further reading, I recommend the books of Dr. Judith Reisman, who has spent many years exposing the frauds and crimes of Dr. Kinsey.

Dr. Kinsey has been credited with creating the modern sexual revolution, and gets this blogger's vote as the most influential person in Western culture in the last half of the 20th century. One of the aspects of the sexual revolution that Dr. Kinsey was indirectly responsible for was the modern pornography industry, which is generally acknowledged to descend from Playboy magazine, founded in 1954 by Hugh Hefner. Mr. Hefner, like Dr. Kinsey, received a straitlaced Methodist upbringing, but went to university in Illinois and read Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, which led him to conclude that everyone except Hugh Hefner was having fun. Mr. Hefner thus set about to rectify this lack in his life, and created Playboy and its subsequent business empire. Whether the modern plague of pornography would have come about eventually anyway is a matter for debate, but it seems certain that no Kinsey=no Hefner.

Alfred Kinsey was a pervert and a fraudulent scholar, and his vast influence in Western society has been overwhelmingly evil. And, as Woody Allen would say, I say that with all due respect.

Anglican Church of Canada votes in favour of sodomite and lesbian marriage--after changing the vote count

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

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg. Variation of a quote usually attributed to Abraham Lincoln, although previously in circulation

More evidence that the Anglican Church of Canada, like the country itself, is a rotting corpse. As reported by Colin Perkel of The Canadian Press, July 12, 2016, updated July 13, 2016:

Questions about the integrity of the voting process in which Anglicans narrowly rejected a resolution to allow same-sex marriage emerged Tuesday, and led to a stunning reversal of the result.

Some members stood up to say their votes had not been recorded during voting late Monday, when passage of the resolution failed by a single vote.

"That is an issue of concern," said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the church. "We cannot leave this synod with this kind of confusion."

To pass, the resolution required two-thirds of each of three orders — lay, clergy and bishops. The clergy failed to reach that threshold by one vote that was apparently not counted because it was counted in the lay order.

The error was discovered after delegates requested a detailed hard copy of the electronic voting records.

Hiltz then declared the resolution in favour of same-sex marriage had passed.

"That is our reality," Hiltz told stunned delegates. "That the motion is in fact carried in all three orders."

"Same-sex marriage. In the church. In my lifetime," tweeted Lauren Bryant-Monk, of Halifax. "I'm so proud to be Anglican today."

The resolution still needs affirmation by the next synod in 2019 before it becomes church law.

On Tuesday, several bishops said they planned to go ahead with same-sex marriages regardless. They leaned on a statement from the chancellor of the general synod, who said the current marriage canon does not specifically ban solemnizing same-sex marriages.

Bishop John Chapman of Ottawa said he would proceed immediately with such unions in his diocese, although no one would be forced to officiate at such a ceremony.

"It is time my friends," Chapman said. "It is past time."

"Take heart," said Rev. Melissa Skelton, bishop of New Westminster, B.C. "This is not over."

It was indeed not over as questions swirled Tuesday about the vote itself. And then the recount changed the church's position.

"This is the best news I have heard in a long time!" tweeted Marlene Wells, from Nova Scotia. "My weepy day has ended; let's celebrate."

"I'm flabbergasted, honestly," said Eliot Waddingham, 24, a transgender person from Ottawa, who had earlier spoken of being brokenhearted by the initial vote. "I can't believe this."

Not everyone, however, was pleased.

Northern representatives complained about feeling bullied, while Larry Robertson, Yukon bishop, left the floor earlier Tuesday in protest, saying he was angered at what he called the adversarial process.

Hiltz acknowledged the "deep differences" that exist around the issue.

"We sometimes find ourselves very much being pulled apart," he told delegates on Tuesday. "Our work on this matter is not done. It's not sufficient for us to simply say we dealt with the resolution."

He promised a pastoral letter in response by Thursday.

While some fretted the issue would cause a rupture and spark an exodus of members, others said they believed the church would hold together despite the bruising nature of the debate in which some used terms such as "abomination" in reference to the LGBT community.

"It was painful process, it was a difficult process, but at the end of the day, we've ended up moving forward," British Columbia Bishop Logan McMenamie said.

Toronto Archbishop Colin Johnson called same-sex marriages — at the discretion of the bishop and with agreement of local clergy — a logical step in the evolution of the church.

About 1.6 million Canadians identify themselves as Anglican, according to Statistics Canada, and church figures indicate more than 500,000 of them are part of about 2,800 congregations across the country.

As reported by CBC News, July 12, 2016 (bold in original):

A Winnipeg Anglican priest's disappointment with her peers for voting against changing church law to allow same-sex marriages turned into surprise and joy when a voting error led to the result being reversed.

Rev. Allison Courey, an Anglican Church of Canada priest who is in a same-sex marriage, was in Toronto for the church's triennial conference, which wrapped up Tuesday afternoon. She said she went from one emotional extreme to the other in less than 24 hours.

"[It was] like saying God doesn't want you; that's pretty heavy. And we're saying today that, 'Yes, God does want you and welcomes you and made you how you are.' So that's pretty exciting," she said in an interview.

At first, the church announced that on Monday, clergy at the General Synod, as the conference is called, voted 66.23 per cent in favour of a resolution to allow the marriage of same-sex couples in the church, a result that fell just short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass the resolution.

But then, the church announced on Tuesday afternoon that a voting error was detected and the resolution has actually passed.

Courey said she was riding the subway in Toronto, where she normally would not have cellphone reception, when she received the news via text message.

"A text popped up between subway trains or something or other … and it just said, 'It passed' with like 20 exclamation marks," she said. "I was like, 'What? Is this old? Is someone confused?'"

She said she later learned about the voting error.

The resolution needed two-thirds approval from each of three groups — clergy, bishops and other delegates, or lay people. Bishops and lay people had voted more than two-thirds in favour.

The clergy failed to reach that threshold by one vote that was apparently not counted because it was counted in the lay order. The error was discovered after delegates requested a detailed hard copy of the electronic voting records.

"They had released the minutes, which actually recorded the names, because we voted electronically and our electronic votes were attached to our names. And they published those names, and so people were able to look at their names and say whether or not their vote was recorded correctly," Courey said.

"My understanding was just one or two were incorrect, and that was enough to push it back."

'I was hurting'

Courey is an Anglican priest but was married in the United Church, where same-sex marriages are allowed.

Before the voting error was declared, Courey expressed frustration and "deep sadness" with Monday's failed vote and the bitter and divisive debate leading up to it.

"I was called an abomination, which was unsavoury," she said of speeches before the vote.

"I was hurting, but I also was aware that it was kind of an institution that was condemning me and not so much a person. Being rejected by my own friends and family has been a lot harder than being rejected by an institution."

With the result changed, Courey said she will now seek to have her marriage recognized within her own church.

"I've already been married in the United Church so I'm not going to be married again, obviously. But to have it recognized officially in the [Anglican] church, for sure," she said.

"I feel like, well, I am being a little more public about being married, too."
'I think people were stunned'

The vote change also surprised Bishop Donald Phillips and Dean Paul Johnson of the Diocese of Rupert's Land, which covers part of Manitoba and northwestern Ontario.

Phillips and Johnson were both in the room when the announcement was made, and they said the mood was quiet.

"There was certainly no kind of rejoicing or hand-clapping or anything like that. I think people were stunned," Phillips said.

Said Johnson, "I think the vote was so close both times that there simply can be no rejoicing. I mean, it's clear that in terms of the vote, we're very split and we need to reach out and care for each other."

Phillips added that the close vote "would cause great heartache and pain and I think suspicion, perhaps, amongst those who thought that the vote had in fact failed and now it was turned around.

"So on the one hand, [I'm] relieved that the motion passed, but on the other hand still feeling pretty heavy-hearted for the rest of the Synod," he said.

Another item reported by CBC News, July 12, 2016:

...Hamilton community leader Deirdre Pike praised the decision. "The darkness has turned into light — it's the perfect analogy from the Christian point of view," she said.

Pike, who has been a Catholic since age 16, married Renee Wetselaar in 2013 at Christ's Church Cathedral, an Anglican church on James Street North.

"This is the direction society has to go in general," she said.

On Tuesday, several bishops said they planned to go ahead with same-sex marriages regardless of the vote. In a series of statements, they expressed dismay at the defeat, before the vote was recounted.

The Anglican Diocese of Niagara — which includes Hamilton — said earlier in the day it was breaking with the official position of the national church and would follow an "inclusive" position on same-sex marriage.

With the switch at the national level, now that won't be necessary.

"For the Anglican church of Canada to be a leader in this direction ... it's a really great opportunity for people in the LGBTQ community who are people of faith to celebrate," Pike said.

To pass, the church resolution required two-thirds of each of three orders — lay, clergy and bishops. The clergy failed to reach that threshold by one vote that was apparently not counted because it was counted in the lay order.

The error was discovered after delegates requested a detailed hard copy of the electronic voting records.

The resolution still needs affirmation by the next synod in 2019 before it becomes church law.

While some fretted that the failure of the resolution would cause a rupture in the church and spark an exodus of members, others said they believed the church would hold together despite the bruising nature of the debate in which some used terms such as "abomination" in reference to the LBGTQ community.

Pike told CBC News that the people who voted no to the vote will no doubt weigh on the church. "They still have to face the fact that some of the people in the pews of these parishes will be walking away," she said.

"But for right now, I'm just happily astounded."

It's useful to look at articles on this development from earlier in the week, when it looked as though the result would be different. First, as reported by Colin Perkel of The Canadian Press, July 7, 2016 (bold in original):

The Anglican Church, the third-largest in Canada, is set to grapple with whether to allow same-sex couples to marry in a divisive debate that has already stirred strong emotion and seems destined to come down on the status quo ban.

The issue, in the form of a resolution that recommends giving formal church blessing to same-sex marriage, is to be voted on at the church's six-day triennial General Synod that opens Thursday north of Toronto.

To pass, the resolution requires two-thirds of the hundreds of delegates to vote yes in each of three orders — lay, clergy and bishops. However, the latter group has already indicated the threshold likely won't be met, saying in February that "some of us talked of being mortified and devastated by this realization."

In response, Ottawa Bishop John Chapman apologized to members of the gay community and to those feeling "discouraged, angry, betrayed and hurt."

Indigenous bishops have also said they would resist having "Western cultural approaches" imposed on them, arguing aboriginal voices had been lost in the "very strained" debate.

Integrity Canada, which speaks for gay, lesbian and bisexual Anglicans, has called on the church to "repent of all activity" that diminishes or hurts their community.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, the head of the Canadian church, would not comment Wednesday. However, he has previously acknowledged the divisive nature of the discussion, fretting that some clergy could opt for "civil disobedience" if the resolution fails, while some members would desert the church whatever the outcome.

Defections were also on the mind of Logan McMenamie, bishop of British Columbia.

"It saddens me," McMenamie said in an interview Wednesday. "I don't think walking away from one another would solve anything."

At the same time, he said, some bishops formerly opposed to the resolution may have changed their minds amid the feedback that followed their February statement.

Vote is culmination of three years of work

The pending vote — likely Monday — is the culmination of three years of work that began when the last General Synod, the church's legislative body, asked a panel to come up with the draft motion. The gathering directed a marriage commission to consult widely within the church and among partners, and include a "conscience clause" spelling out that no one would be compelled to take part in a same-sex marriage against their beliefs.

The commission was also required to show how same-gender marriage would jibe with the church's 1893 founding statement — the Solemn Declaration — and be defensible on both biblical and theological grounds.

"The experience of same-sex committed partnerships in our midst, clearly manifesting God's blessing and the fruit of the Spirit, are a powerful indication that God's view of marriage may be more inclusive than ours," the resolution's authors state in their report called the "Holy Estate".

"However, it is finally a decision that the church will have to reach, not by arguments alone, but by prayerful discernment of the movement of the Spirit in our midst."

The report, which included input from 223 church members, also offers insight into some of the passion the topic arouses.

"It shouldn't be up to me or any other layperson to decide what is and what isn't God's revealed truth," a person identified as J. Brown, of New Westminster, B.C., told the commission. "The fact that I have to write this letter to defend one of the most fundamental doctrines of the church as made clear by scripture, tradition and reason is disheartening to say the least."

However, the report notes the church has made controversial changes in the past, including allowing marriage after divorce and women into the priesthood.

Anglican clergy already have the ability to refuse to officiate a wedding, and the report notes the church would likely have a strong defence against any civil or human rights litigation against officials who refuse to authorize same-sex marriages...

As reported by The Canadian Press, July 11, 2016 (bold in original):

A passionate debate on whether the Anglican Church of Canada should bless same-sex marriages came to a head Monday when delegates to their triennial conference voted against authorizing such unions.

More than 200 delegates to the church's six-day General Synod just north of Toronto rejected the resolution after speakers lined up to make their points, with most speaking in favour of the resolution.

In order to pass, the resolution required two-thirds support from each of three orders — lay, clergy and bishops.

The bishops voted 68.42 per cent in favour of the resolution, and the lay delegates voted 72.22 per cent in favour. However, the clergy voted 66.23 per cent, just missing the percentage needed.

The vote by General Synod 2016, which followed complaints of bullying and intimidation, sparked bitter disappointment among some members.

"It is breaking my heart that there are people who see gay marriage as a separation from God and from love," said Eliot Waddingham, 24, a transgender person from Ottawa who was an observer.

The vote, she worried, was tantamount to a "death sentence" for the church.

Archbishop Colin Johnson of Toronto cited his own decades of marriage in arguing in support of the motion.

"I want my gay and lesbian colleagues to have the same joy," Johnson said. "I believe it's the right thing to do."

The Rev. Allison Courey of Manitoba's Rupert's Land diocese said she loved to study the Bible throughout her life and she did not choose to be a lesbian.

She made an impassioned plea in support of the resolution, saying "many of us" have committed suicide because "death was better than being rejected by God."

However, other speakers urged delegates to reject the idea of same-sex marriage, with one saying it would cause "ghettoes of resentment" if allowed, while several aboriginal delegates denounced the resolution as condoning an "abomination" and disobedience of God.

"God did not create another Adam," said one young speaker. "He created a woman."

The vote was the culmination of three years of work that began when the last General Synod, the church's legislative body, asked a panel to come up with the draft motion. Even if it had passed, the decision would still have needed to be affirmed by the next General Synod in 2019, which could have made its own amendments.

Before the main vote, delegates voted to amend what would have been an opt-out clause for those opposed to same-sex marriage on principle to instead give bishops authority to allow such marriages in each diocese.

The complaints about bullying emerged during weekend discussions on the resolution in smaller working groups. In remarks ahead of the vote, Archbishop Fred Hiltz urged respectful discussions on a topic that has proven bitterly divisive.

"Some members of our synod are deeply hurt. Some of them are deeply offended. Some are feeling unsafe to continue to speak lest they be reprimanded," Hiltz told the gathering. "This kind of behaviour is not appropriate. It's unacceptable."

Indigenous bishops resisting change

The bishops' group had indicated in February that the threshold would likely not be met. Indigenous bishops had also said they would resist having "Western cultural approaches" imposed on them.

The electronic voting was essentially conducted secretly at the request of delegates as a privacy measure.

Before the vote, Hiltz told delegates their decision would have consequences for the country's third-largest church.

"There may be people who feel compelled to leave our church," Hiltz said. "That's the gravity and the weight of the situation that is before us."

Another delegate, Stephen Warner, said he wasn't surprised to hear the complaints of intimidation given that every member was given a "bully pulpit" during the small group chats as the issue comes to a head.

"This is my seventh synod overall over five years," said Warner, 20, of Toronto. "I've never seen a more tense and dour environment..."

As reported by Jamie Long of CBC News, July 12, 2016 (bold, link in original):

The heads of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa and the Anglican Diocese of Montreal have announced they are ready to perform same-sex marriages, one day after the church's national clergy voted narrowly against the same reform.

More than 200 delegates gathered just north of Toronto for a six-day General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, where delegates rejected by a single vote a resolution to allow same-sex marriage.

"We recommend the greatest pastoral response possible, allowing same-sex couples to be fully included in the life of our church with full and equal access to its liturgies and pastoral offices," the resolution read.

To pass, it needed two-thirds support from each of three orders — lay, clergy and bishops. Clergy voted 66.23 per cent, just missing the mark, while bishops (68.42 per cent) and lay delegates (72.22 per cent) approved the motion.

Ottawa bishop 'extremely disappointed'

After the vote, Bishop John H. Chapman released a statement to the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, saying he was "extremely disappointed" by the vote.

"It is time my friends. It is past time," Chapman wrote, supporting a move to allow same-sex marriages in the Anglican Church.

"It is my intention … to proceed with same-sex marriages immediately within the Diocese of Ottawa. While no clergy will be required to officiate at a same-sex marriage, those willing may do so with my permission."

In his decision, Chapman also referred to Canada's Civil Marriage Act, which received Royal Assent in 2005. It allowed for same-sex marriage.

Mary Irwin-Gibson, the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Montreal, also said the vote was "really disappointing for many, many people," but that her diocese is ready to perform same-sex marriages.

"I think our diocese in particular wants to affirm all members of our church, and particularly the LGBTQ people who want to be married in the church and waiting and hoping," she said...

As reported by Kalina Laframboise of CBC News, July 12, 2016 (bold in original):

The head of the Anglican church in Montreal says she will allow her clergy to perform same-sex marriages, even though church leaders shot down marriage reform at a national meeting on Monday.

Mary Irwin-Gibson, bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Montreal, will join Ottawa Bishop John Chapman in rejecting a decision by the church's General Synod, which won't recognize same-sex marriage.

A motion that would have amended the church's rules on who can be married was narrowly rejected by clergy gathered at a six-day meeting north of Toronto.

Irwin-Gibson was disappointed with the outcome of the vote, but indicated she won't let it determine how marriage is performed in the Montreal diocese.

''In terms of practical terms, for our diocese, I will be allowing some same-gender marriages to happen after I've discussed it with the clergy, and when the clergy come to me individually," Irwin-Gibson told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.

'Disappointing for many, many people'

In order for marriage reform to be formally accepted in the Canadian church, all three of its groups — clergy, bishops and ordinary members — have to be onside by a two-thirds majority.

The bishops voted 68.42 per cent in favour of the resolution and the lay delegates voted 72.22 per cent in favour. However, the clergy voted 66.23 per cent, just missing the percentage needed.

"It was really disappointing for many, many people," Mary Irwin-Gibson said.

"One way or another, there are people who are ready to do same-gender marriages tomorrow and there are dioceses that don't ever see the day coming," she said.

Hurt and exclusion

The narrow vote means same-sex marriage could one day be blessed, but Irwin-Gibson said many are running out of patience.

"That's going to be a long time," Irwin-Gibson said. "But there are people who are really impatient and really hurt and feel really excluded."

As reported by Associated Press, July 12, 2016:

The Archbishop of Toronto has joined several other prominent clergymen who say they will bless same-sex marriages in defiance of a narrow vote by the Anglican Church of Canada not to authorize gay unions.

More than 200 delegates attending the six-day General Synod 2016 narrowly rejected the resolution Monday night after hearing from more than 60 speakers, most of them in favor of gay marriage.

Toronto Archbishop Colin Johnson said he wanted his gay and lesbian colleagues "to share the joy" and that he believes most Anglicans support same-sex marriage.

The U.S. Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the United States, is alone among Anglican bodies in approving gay marriage and has faced a backlash for its support of same-sex unions.

As reported by Lydia Neufeld of CBC News, July 12, 2016:

The bishop in charge of Anglican churches in Edmonton says she's considering her next steps after a national vote Monday against the church authorizing same-sex marriages.

"I am sick at heart for the outcome of the vote that defeated the motion," Bishop Jane Alexander wrote in a Facebook post on Tuesday.

"I want to be part of a broad and inclusive church," Bishop Alexander wrote. "I ask you to be patient with me as I work out our next steps in the diocese of Edmonton."

In order to pass, the resolution required two-thirds support from all three orders — lay delegates, clergy and bishops.

The bishops voted 68.42 per cent in favour of the resolution, and the lay delegates voted 72.22 per cent in favour. The clergy, however, voted 66.23 per cent, just missing the percentage needed.

"The vote itself, 72 per cent in favour across houses, is a testimony to the church that at the very least we want to engage, we want to talk, and we want to include," Bishop Alexander wrote. "This is not a church that has said, 'I have no need of you.' "

In the post, Bishop Alexander said she has spoken personally and publicly in favour of allowing same-sex couples to marry in the Anglican church, and asked for "prayers in the days ahead."

The Edmonton Diocese isn't the only one considering its options on the issue.

The bishops in Ottawa and Hamilton have come out with statements declaring that the broader church rules allow them to marry same-sex couples, and they will do that, despite the vote against amending the church marriage laws.

Some things regarding this event are worth noting. It should hardly need saying--but I'll say it, anyway--that divine truth isn't a matter of democratic vote, but revelation from God in the Bible. Rebellion against His will always comes down to the lie told by the serpent in Genesis 3:1--"Yea, hath God said...?" God's commands are not a matter for democratic vote; to determine by a two-thirds majority what God has already clearly stated in the Bible is not Christianity, but churchianity.

The perceptive reader will note the number of women mentioned in the above items who are in positions of leadership in the Anglican Church of Canada. It's not a coincidence that churches that rebel against the word of God and put women in positions of leadership will put sodomites and lesbians in positions of leadership--and not stopping there, will go on to bless their sinful lusts and lifestyles relationships.

The reader will note that it's the aboriginal church leaders who are among the most vocal opponents of sodomite/lesbian "marriage." And the reader will note that for the SJWs, who are often so vocal in support of native causes, the alphabet perversion agenda trumps any respect for aboriginal beliefs and culture. For the dwindling numbers of those in the Anglican Church of Canada, aboriginal and otherwise, who are actually Christians, God's advice is to "come out from among them, and be ye separate" (II Corinthians 6:17); "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4). They should join existing Christian churches (although sound churches are getting increasingly hard to find), or start their own.

Blogger Vox Day has recently written the book SJWs Always Lie, and his three laws of SJWs (Social Justice Warriors) are worth remembering, and are very helpful in understanding much of what's going on, and the mentality behind it:

1. They always lie.

2. They always double down.

3. They always project.

The second law of SJWs is especially prominent in the promotion of sodomite and lesbian "marriages" in the Anglican Church of Canada. The lesbian Rev. Allison Courey has already "married" her partner in the United Church of Canada, which is a little ahead of the Anglican Church in promoting abominations. When it appeared as though the approval of sodomite/lesbian marriages had failed by one vote, the reaction of the Bishops of Niagara, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal was not to respect the decision or the church's process of arriving at the result--as unbiblical as that is--but to go ahead and promote their agenda, anyway. In typical SJW style, they keep pushing and pushing until they get what they want, and now that the vote has just barely tipped in their favour, you can be sure that their position will be that the issue has now been decided, and no further debate will be permitted.

SJWs would rather destroy the church than abandon their agenda, as they've proven for the last half-century, going from feminist-centric to pervert-centric. It's worth noting that only 500,000 of 1.6 million nominal Anglicans are members of local congregations (and I suspect that the number who regularly attend and are active in church is a lot less). The Anglican Church of Canada, for all its efforts to be relevant, is considerably less relevant and influential in Canada than it was for most of the nation's history, before the SJW infiltration.

More examples from Edmonton of community service centres masquerading as churches

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

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. James 4:4

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. I John 2:15-16

The following may be regarded as a companion piece to my post An example from Edmonton of a community service centre masquerading as an evangelical church (January 22, 2015).

As reported by Myrna Kostash in the Edmonton magazine The Yards, Summer 2015, pp. 14-15:

On a walkabout through my neighbourhood early this winter, I had taken note of the number of places of worship between Oliver and Downtown. I wondered, had these communities of religious citizens come to terms with the area’s drastic change in demographics and topography since they had first opened their doors a century ago? And how do the heads of these central Edmonton churches view their neighbourhood today?

For instance, according to the 90-year-old Grace Lutheran Church on 114 St., “the absence of focus on the unchurched and dechurched in the neighborhoods surrounding Grace” has resulted in a 10-year stagnation in membership, dwindling Sunday worship attendance and a Sunday school class one-third the size it was in 2000.

And then there’s the substantial, even hulking, brick presence of McDougall United Church that had seemed an incorruptible and timeless artifact of our history—social and artistic as well as spiritual— until last February. That’s when a report to City Hall estimated a repair and renovation bill of $18 to 25 million, citing a congregation reluctant to commit spending millions on urgent repairs for a building without provincial heritage status. Even more distressing was the conclusion of a separate consultant’s report that there existed no community or philanthropic “will” to save McDougall United.

Like all churches, Grace Lutheran and McDougall have their C & E (Christmas and Easter) adherents. Last year, 125,000 people went to Christmas Eve services in Edmonton who may never be seen until April, if not for another 12 months. But what counts to deans, bishops and pastors is who fills their pews the rest of the year.

All Saints’ Anglican Cathedral on 103 St. and Jasper Ave. is an imposing structure with a grand nave, but on Thursday mornings coffee and muffins are laid out in the Cathedral Common before a tax clinic opens for low-income Edmontonians. They arrive mainly from east of the Coliseum and Alberta Avenue and are then invited to Holy Eucharist and Soup and Sandwich Lunch in the lounge. It’s free and “everyone is welcome,” Dean Neil Gordon told me (a Dean is a Cathedral’s head while its Bishop leads the whole diocese). I arrived in his Cathedral office to find out what these modern ’hoods look like from the perspective of the parish office.

Downtown’s new condo dwellers come too, to bake muffins or drop by for an hour to chat with visitors who wait their turn for tax assessments. They’ve discovered the cathedral because of the concerts it hosts, such as Pro Coro, or for Choral Eucharist and the incomparable Jeremy Spurgeon on the massive organ. “We’re not just handing out food,” declared Dean Gordon. “We talk and learn stories.” The participation of young volunteers is key. They want to do more than just worship; they want face-to-face, hands-on service, whether it’s serving the Friday morning breakfasts or collecting clothes for the homeless. “They also join us in worship,” he noted, “but their primary religious energy is in outreach. I love millennials!”

All Saints’ is metres away from Bay/Enterprise Station—a “gold mine” when the arena opens up for business and downtown parking spaces disappear, he said. Many people come to All Saints’ from Cromdale and Southgate because of LRT access. The church even advertised its Christmas Eve services in the stations. But these commuting parishioners in fact represent a dispersed congregation and a new chapter in the cathedral’s history.

During Edmonton’s original “boom” before the First World War, All Saints’ was a “rich person’s church,” according to Dean Gordon, who invited me to think of the remnants of the grand old homes that lined the residential streets along 100 Ave. Then came the crash, the Great Depression, and the focus of the parish’s activities turned from “fund-raising for nice things for the church” (processional crosses and clerical vestments) to relief projects, especially at the outreach mission church in Rossdale Flats. In Dean Gordon’s vivid image, it was “literally the cathedral on the hill, with a commitment to the people living down below.”

Dean Gordon said by the 1940s wealthier Anglicans had moved out of downtown to Glenora, while others from further away began commuting to All Saints’ “for the choir, the organ, the bells and incense”—the liturgical flourishes on offer in a Cathedral setting. In the 1960s, the parish became more “activist” hosting a women’s shelter and, for a few months, the Middle Earth cafe. “Imagine a folk cafe, as in Inside Llewyn Davis. But not everybody was happy with just coffee.” (It was raided for drugs.)

And today, the evolution continues: Sunday afternoon worship services in the Dinka language for South Sudanese Anglicans and, every third Sunday, First Nations services tie the Gospel narrative with Aboriginal storytelling.

I came away exhilarated from my conversation with the very animated, emphatic Dean, with a vision that swoops all around central downtown, from the cathedral steps to the empty lot across from the once Greyhound bus station he hopes will be cleaned up and made safer for Aboriginal women. I also took note of other churches dotting central Edmonton that have found novel ways to fill their pews: MacDougall United’s “rainbow” inclusiveness, Robertson-Wesley’s free yoga classes and art therapy, Grace Lutheran’s open music stages. But these chapels have been around for a century. What about the rare places of worship that have emerged in the last decade? I wondered what spiritual void were they filling?

Around the corner from All Saints’ Cathedral on Jasper Ave. stands the now-doomed Paramount theatre building that until recently sported the emphatic lettering of City Centre Church. The church now meets Sundays three blocks away, at Landmark Cinemas in City Centre Mall, or at the Cineplex Odeon in South Edmonton Common. I chased down one of its staffers, Kevin Machado, who is also a pastor at the downtown “campus,” for an interview at the Milner Library Second Cup.

Despite its preference for large auditorium venues, City Centre Church (CCC) is not a megachurch such as those established by evangelical Christians in newly-minted suburbs. It has origins in a church-planting movement, which Machado told me “seeds through communities” like our own.

Machado emphasizes that they are neither counsellors nor psychiatrists, but simply people who have “spiritual awareness.” People who “burn for community.” “I’m passionate about people who come from dark places where your soul is brittle and cold,” he told me. People like he and his wife not so long ago.

It’s the hope of healing that the CCC offers those who join them, even temporarily, at prayer, Muffin Sundays for families, at Hope Mission or Mustard Seed volunteer commitments, or (when they were still in the Paramount) potluck meals in the theatre lobby—often the warmest place for the CCC community on a Sunday night. “People hear about us by word of mouth, or from a friend’ or they walk by our sign. They meet us and it’s okay not to have all the answers. We don’t yell at people while we’re feeding them. We have conversations. They are welcome to stay and pray.”

But there is also this important difference: the CCC is a young church and still “spontaneous,” building itself as it goes along, not proclaiming any special understanding but just coming together, “normal people who have a shared experience,” in Machado’s words. No pews or chandeliers, order of clergy or choirs, not a church “that says, ‘this is what you need to do’” with all the structures that go with it.

Yet, along with All Saints’ and the others, the City Centre Church could be part of a movement, bringing central churches to the ‘hood.

That’s what Jodine Chase hopes will happen for the 1910 McDougall United Church. The congregation member started campaigning to prove that there is a will to save it among the church’s most “feisty” members, plus supporters in the downtown arts’ community. “Right off the bat, we had a dozen ‘Friends of McDougall,’” Jodine Chase told me. Friends of McDougall’s efforts to save the building began with fundraising, accepting donations from $20 to $20,000, “to capture our support and translate it into meaningful dollars.”

This was not a heritage that could be “preserved” simply by renovating the facade and demolishing the interior for condos. For one, the interior, built to seat 2,000, is in good shape and still an ideal acoustic environment for musicians and performers. For another, the building has long been the site of historic developments, as the original home of the Edmonton Opera, site of suffragette rallies in the 1900s, University of Alberta convocation venue, and the auditorium before the Northern Jubilee opened in 1957. “It has been a ‘tool’ for the whole city,” Chase argued. “And all users needed to be at the table with their contributions.”

Then, on April 1, 2015, the provincial Culture Minister announced formal intent to seek provincial heritage status with a contribution of $750,000 towards restoration (the City may be good for another $500,000), enough to complete the most urgent repairs to the exterior. The interior will be preserved as a “vintage” performing arts space and community centre, subject, of course, to the affirmation of the congregation.

Ah, yes, the congregation. This is, after all, a place of worship. Its inclusive ministry—ordination of women, support for LGBTQ—is what attracted families like Jodine Chase’s. But, as with so many denominational churches in the 21st century, the congregation cannot sustain the building on its own and must force a “community partnership,” she said. “The congregation is an integral part of the vision but we cannot be the sole steward anymore … We’re ready to walk the talk.”

As was the case with the example mentioned in my previous post, one looks in vain for any mention in this article of the Lord Jesus Christ. The mainline churches such as the Anglican Church of Canada and United Church of Canada have abandoned belief in the Bible as God's infallible word, "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Mark 7:7) These are the churches that are emptying and aging; Christ's true sheep have left, and these places have been left to the goats. The social gospel of "Let's make this world a better place," promoted by the mainline churches with their aging and dwindling congregations, as well as by the younger inhabitants of the Emerging church, is a false gospel, providing a false salvation.

December 7, 2016 update: More of the same, as reported by Jessica Barratt in The Yards, Winter 2016, p. 5 (note: OCL stands for Oliver Community League):

Churches of all denominations have played a significant role in establishing Edmonton's earliest communities. For example, Alberta College (the antecedent to MacEwan University) was founded in 1903 by members of MacDougall's Church board, while Robertson-Wesley United Church was instrumental in nursing sufferers of the Spanish Flu. But what about today? What larger role do they play?

Community-mindedness has never been lost amidst its religious mandates. Take, for instance, the work initiated by a handful of area pastors and reverends working, well, religiously, on projects for the neighbourhood at large--not just Sunday congregants.

Curtis Boehm started using Grace Lutheran Church as a resource for the Oliver community after joining the church in July 2014. In addition to its already well-established yearly garage sale, the pastor started organizing an indoor basketball club for the neighbourhood inside its gym every Tuesday at 7 p.m. He also led the creation of the Oliver Bike Club, which meets weekly from snowmelt to snowfall. "I'm really interested in building community activities so I can meet my neighbours," Boehm explains. "I want to be a pastor of Oliver!"

Similarly, pastor Nick Trussell of Christ Church successfully applied for a Make Something Oliver (MSO) grant this past June to partially fund BBQ on the Block. This series of four free biweekly barbecues between July and August were well aligned with the OCL's strategic goals, says MSO director Anika Gee. "The event welcomed all community members, not just those of the church; it made the project even more exciting." She says Christ Church's project let neighbourhood residents meet in person and hopefully develop lasting relationships.

Building a better community is also the theme of Robertson-Wesley's Spirited Art Studio, which is open to creatives of every stripe Monday nights from 7 to 8:30 p.m. According to Karen Bridges, minister of congregation and community development, the free event invites people to come together and creates something based on a specific theme or question. "This program is a great network which connects people's passions and helps them find a way to offer what they have to others," she says. The goal isn't far from the ideals held by the Abundant Community Initiative, which Robertson-Wesley sponsored. "We provided funds through our trust fund, which are designated for community outreach."

"The Church is there for the community," explains Boehm. "A fellow pastor even recommended I get involved with the OCL as soon as I started." Though Boehm recently stepped down as OCL's volunteer director, he says that the connections he's made have helped him understand his audience better. "Where you live, where you are, where you go," he says, "that's where your work is." And that, for these generous souls, means Oliver.

The Outhouse (aka The Shack) author William P. Young's heresy, blasphemy, and perversity is becoming more obvious with the passage of time

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Acts 20:29-30

And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. II Corinthians 11:14-15

Little children, it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. I John 2:18-19

I've already commented on The Shack (which I prefer to call The Outhouse) by William P. Young (Paul, to his friends), and I don't want to go to the bother of repeating myself, so the reader is invited to see my previous posts:

"The Outhouse" (aka The Shack): One-Hour Blasphemizing (December 30, 2008)

Finding God in The Shack? (April 1, 2009)

The Outhouse (aka The Shack) in God's house (May 5, 2009)

Catherine Elsworth interviewed Mr. Young for the online book club Goodreads for its September 2015 newsletter (bold in original) (as an aside, the same newsletter contained an interview with notorious atheist idiot Richard Dawkins):

Interview with Wm. Paul Young
September, 2015

Bestselling Christian novelist William Paul Young likes to shake his readers, both in terms of subject matter and the questions he asks. He achieved this in spades with his 2007 debut, The Shack, which not only featured a father reeling from the brutal murder of his young daughter but challenged perceptions by portraying God as a large, black woman who listens to funk. Heresy, some cried. But many more found the book inspirational, and the novel, which was initially self-published, has now sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, been compared to The Pilgrim's Progress in terms of impact, and is being made into a movie starring Octavia Spencer as God.

Young's new novel, Eve, is likely to prove similarly provocative with its interpretation of the creation narrative that suggests Adam, not Eve, triggered the Fall, which means that Eve—and therefore womankind—has for centuries been unfairly maligned. The gripping sci-fi-flavored story has as its central character a savagely wounded 15-year-old girl, a former child prostitute who witnesses creation from an in-between world of teleporting, angels, and evil mirrors. Eve is a "tall, fine-boned, ebony-black woman," God breast-feeds, and Adam is seen with a pregnant belly.

Those who were upset by The Shack will no doubt be outraged again. But Young, who says his fiction is grounded in decades of Bible study, welcomes such visceral responses. The 60-year-old, who was raised by missionaries in New Guinea, suffered abuse as a child and went on to attend seminary in Oregon, tells Goodreads why he is driven to challenge what he sees as polarizing and sexist in traditional interpretations of Scripture and how he hopes Eve will fuel a new discussion about gender roles and what it means to be human.

Goodreads: You've said Eve was the hardest book you've written because you were consolidating 40 years of work on this issue. How did you get to the point where you were ready to write it?

Wm. Paul Young: I don't think I would have had the confidence to tackle this without having written The Shack and Cross Roads [Young's second novel, released in 2012, about a selfish businessman who reconnects with God after falling into a coma], because it is such a monumental task to address something so embedded, and especially to do it inside a story, in fiction. That was why it was so arduous and such a hard piece of work, because I wanted a teenager to be able to read it and not get lost inside it, yet I wanted it to be true and coherent with the scholarship and with the text itself.

GR: Why was it so important for you to challenge the creation narrative of Genesis? What did you most want to do with this book?

WPY: For many of us, and I grew up evangelical fundamental Christian, the narrative has been pretty engrained. And the more I worked on the passages themselves, primarily pushed in that direction because of some major losses of my own, sexual abuse [an issue in the book] and those kinds of losses which were perpetrated by men, the more I came to the opinion that the narrative we have adopted is wrong. I grew up in a hierarchical fundamentalist religious perspective that really subordinated women and even in the last couple of decades has found new language to subordinate women. So I wanted to challenge the existing narrative because the polarizing language we use with regards to gender or relationships, to masculine and feminine, has created a huge amount of division and confusion. I saw a narrative for the entire passage that would allow a conversation to emerge that might get away from this polarity language and begin to relate to the question in terms of being human, not in terms of gender or ethnicity or social position. And I thought if I can find a way to make that narrative accessible, maybe it could change the conversation. And I really believe it can. So I'm kind of thrilled about it.

GR: How would you describe the existing narrative?

WPY: Oh, you know, Adam is created and then Eve is created, and she is beguiled by the serpent, who is the bad guy, and she tempts and draws Adam into an existence of separation from God. But the narrative predominantly places the blame at the feet of women, and that hasn't answered the question why have men done so much damage in the world.

GR: Why do you think this interpretation has endured for so long?

WPY: Because it's dominated by men, and translation has been dominated by men, and men have been the ones in power who have told the story. It's true not just of gender issues; it's true with ethnicity issues, and those in power create the narrative for history, whether they do it on purpose or not. I know job security impacts interpretation of Scripture more than any single thing. Genesis says that when the turning takes place, at least the woman turns to a relationship, which is more like the character and nature of God, but the man turns to the ground and the works of his hands, and so it becomes about territory and property. So, surprise, surprise, the narrative emerges that allows some sense of justification for men to continue to dominate and suppress the voice of women, and this is so wrong. Look at all the destruction and damage that men have brought to the world and continue to do so. So we need a different conversation.

GR: By depicting Eve as a black woman or having the images of God breast-feeding or Adam pregnant, are you trying to get people to think and perceive differently?

WPY: Yes, and the text allows for all of that. The word "mercy" is from the same root in Hebrew as the word "womb," and so every time you read "mercy" you are dealing with the maternal nature of God. And you've got language in Isaiah of God nursing or El Shaddai, which means the breasted one. We need to have a conversation that deepens our understanding of, and appreciation for, what being human is all about and that everybody, in my view, every single human being is a unique expression of the spectrum of both the masculine and feminine, because God is neither male nor female.

GR: How did you come up with the story itself—Lilly Fields, a teenage victim of child trafficking, horribly injured and abused, becomes a witness to creation and the fall and thinks she can somehow change history.

WPY: With the kind of history that I have, with growing up in a culture where sexual abuse was a part of my world before I was five years old, and it took me decades to work through the damage with any sense of coherency or integration, I have for many years been inside the conversation with regard to the healing of the human soul. So when I was looking at the story line, I was thinking, Eve is the character who frames the story, but who is the central character? The first time I began working with the idea, I was literally thinking, I want a 15-year-old girl to be able to read this story and not get lost. And I was thinking about the fact that sadly we live in a world where girls are constantly being trafficked, and they are objectified. And I was looking at my daughters and my granddaughters and thinking, How do I speak to this in a way that might change things for them? And not just for my girls but for the daughters of us all. Lilly allowed me huge freedoms because she allowed me to explore the process of healing itself.

GR: Some of the subject matter in your books, the suffering of Lilly or the murder of Missy in The Shack, is pretty traumatic. Is that part of what you want to do—to shake people?

WPY: I do, and there's no question about that. But even in Eve it's not graphic, and you don't need to be. You've got to pull people across the threshold enough so they understand what it is you're talking about. But I want my kids to be able to read this, and I want teenagers to be able to read this. People who read horror had an easier time with that than they did with The Shack because it is so human and so tangible and so wrenching, but not because it is graphic. And the same is true for Eve. I want a pretty strong boundary yet at the same time I don't want to be some Pollyanna person who thinks everything in the world is wonderful, because it's not. We have huge devastating problems that it is way past time to address.

GR: The voice of your teenage heroine is modern: She's unimpressed and skeptical about religion.

WPY: Yes, and it's because this younger generation is exactly there. They've got really good crap detectors, they're not excited about agenda, things are moving and changing so fast, they want something that matters that actually makes a difference. And her voice was not difficult to access. I'm surrounded by young women who give me lots of feedback, who love me, but aren't impressed.

GR: You wrote Eve in about seven months. How do you work when you start a new project?

WPY: I'm not a wake-up-in-the-morning, do-your-2,000-words kind of guy. I'm just like, all right, it's time, jump in the river, see what happens. Sometimes it could be 14 hours in a day. It's one of those zones where you lose track of time, you don't remember going to the bathroom or the last time you ate, you just get swept away in it, and it's a constant companion until it's done. To me it's as close as a man will ever get to delivering a baby, very much like a pregnancy—you have your morning sickness, and you waddle around, and you want to pull the baby out now, but it's not quite time, and the labor process is excruciating—and long for me.

GR: I wanted to ask about the book's graphic and colorful depictions of conception and labor. At one point God "plunges His hands into the holy mess... The labor was nearly finished. Then, with a piercing wrenching scream, Adonai raised above His head a newborn baby."

WPY: I have a high view of humanity, which is contrary to the evangelical heritage I grew up with, which had a very low view of humanity, so I am constantly trying to find ways to celebrate our humanity. And the whole conception and the birthing process is to me one of the most amazing miracles that exist in creation, and to find ways to celebrate it, I loved some of the depictions that emerged in the story line around the birthing process and the exultation of that, and that by itself grants a dignity and honor to women that is incredibly well deserved, and I'm thrilled about that, too.

GR: There was a very strong reaction to The Shack, with people accusing you of heresy and theological inaccuracy. What's it like to have such a visceral response?

WPY: I love a visceral response way more than I appreciate ambivalence. Someone who doesn't care, there's no real conversation there. At least with an angry person you can have a conversation, because when people are upset, something in them is being challenged enough to raise their ire, and that's an engaged process and opens up the possibility of really great conversation. I love the questions, I love the conversation, and I think it's our way forward.

GR: And with your background, you feel you can support your fiction with your knowledge?

WPY: I went to seminary, I went to bible school, and I've read voraciously. I love the deep philosophers and theologians and the people who people quote who they don't actually read, I actually read them. But I find that part of what I am to the community of faith as well as to the community of humanity is that I'm an interpreter. I grasp some of the big-picture stuff, and I find a way to say it in a way that my kids can understand it. And that's a very narrow thing, but it's important, and I'm thrilled to be in that space. My books are recognized as human books. They're not sectarian with an agenda to divide, but they're addressing fundamental human questions, and as a result I think they speak a language that crosses all these barriers, and that gives me hope.

GR: Goodreads member Ellen asks, "What sort of criticism or backlash do you expect from conservative Christians with the release of Eve?"

WPY: The same people who didn't read The Shack and didn't like it are not going to read Eve and not like it. And the beauty is they are my people. They really are. They are the people I grew up with, I know really well, and I know where they are coming from. I know what they are afraid of. So yeah, I anticipate I will get the same sort of serious 12-page dissertations against all the evils of the book that I've had before. But even with The Shack, I'd say that might be 1 or 2 percent, maybe 3 percent, of all the responses that I get. And even when people have come to where I've been speaking and intended to take a stand against me, they are overwhelmed by the stories of how this conversation has penetrated people and changed their world.

GR: The back of the book says it's an "unprecedented exploration of the creation narrative." You've never seen anything in all your reading like this?

WPY: The closest that I've gotten to someone who really did a great job on the Genesis narrative was Perelandra by C.S. Lewis, which remains one of my favorite stories. It's the second in the Space Trilogy that he did, and he posits Venus as the new Eden in which the Eve character makes the right choice. And Lewis is brilliant in that book. But he doesn't tackle the existing narrative; he just posits an alternative universe. But no, like I said, 40 years of work on all the issues and the problem passages, and it constantly drove me back to Genesis, really pushed me to explore the Hebrew and the historical theological positions about it and get a great grasp of the story line, and then draw together what people have written over the centuries and say, All right, let's see if we can't find a narrative that is coherent with the text and with the scholarship and that allows for a different conversation.

GR: Could you talk us through how The Shack became a book. You originally wrote it for your kids while you were working three jobs?

WPY: Yes, and our youngest was 13 at the time, so they weren't little kids. It started with Kim, my wife of nearly 36 years, who said to me, "Some day, as a gift for our kids, would you just put in one place how you think because you think outside the box." It wasn't until I was 50 that I felt my head and heart were integrated enough to write something that puts in one place how I think. So I wrote this story on the train going between my three jobs and ended up making 15 copies at Office Depot. I gave six to the kids and Kim and the rest to my friends and family. And those 15 copies did everything I ever wanted that book to do. I was thrilled with that. It never crossed my mind to publish it. I didn't know anything about publishing, and so to be involved in something that became such a global phenomenon was absolutely wonderful, humbling. You have the sense that, you know what, this is God's sense of humor. It's one of those stories where you just shake your head and laugh a lot.

GR: What does it feel like now that the movie is being made?

WPY: I was invited up to the set, and it is a surreal thing to walk around where they have built an entire shack, and they're filming and there's 50 crew and cast and you think, I made 15 copies of a little thing that I wrote for Christmas for my kids, and all of these people are employed because of this and bringing to this their abilities and their skill sets and their stories, and it's all being woven together into something that gets to be presented in a different way to the world again. It is so surreal, and I am so grateful.

GR: Who are your favorite authors and the writers who inspire you?

WPY: I grew up in the highlands of New Guinea, where we didn't have any technology, so I grew up with books and I read all the classics plus Edgar Rice Burroughs, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, I love the science fiction genre. And then of course the Inklings with C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams, Dorothy Sayers and G.K. Chesterton. And Malcolm Muggeridge, even in Punch magazine I loved his ability to turn a phrase and bite someone in the butt. And Mark Twain.

Then I started getting into some philosophy, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and Jacques Ellul, who's not easy to read, but he's conceptually brilliant as a sociologist and a theologian. And then the mystic strain on the other side, people like Richard Rohr and Jean Vanier. Then back to Athanasius's On the Incarnation of the Word of God and people who were writing in the first few centuries. And also I'm a bit of a physics person. I love quantum theory and astronomy. I love it, just enough to be dangerous. That's why you have quantum fire in Cross Roads and fractals in The Shack and movement between worlds or parallel universes. And it's why you have this mixture of fantasy and science fiction and deep human psychology and theology all kind of merged together inside a story line.

GR: Goodreads member Katie asks, "Do you find it hard to write as a faith-filled man in a society that is becoming so secular and looking to follow popular opinion rather than stand for truth and right?"

WPY: So my first response to that is that I am convinced that secularism is halfway to Jesus from religion. I find huge amounts of resonance within secularism that religion has created inhibitions to address. So I don't find antagonism in the secular dimension of the world nearly as much as I find it within religious fundamentalism of any sort whether it's atheistic fundamentalism, Christian fundamentalism, or Islamic fundamentalism. With someone who is about being right, and not about loving, or about codified propositions and laws, then you've got a lot more pushback, and I find some comfort in the fact that Jesus found it the same way in the first century. It was the religious people who had the most problems with who he was and what he was saying. So I really don't. In fact, the more human that I am in terms of the conversation, the easier it is to have that conversation within the secular world.

GR: Goodreads member Kristin asks, "How do you feel when you hear your books have changed people's relationships with God?"

WPY: Oh my gosh, I hear that a lot. That's one of the greatest blessings that's ever happened, because I've been allowed to participate in whatever this is. And it really is the holy ground. People's stories are the holy ground, that's where you get to watch the activity of God inside a person's world in a way that burns away everything that's not real. So the greatest gift that's come out of this is the invitation to be inside other people's stories, and those stories are miraculous, they are just mind-boggling, and I've got thousands of them.

A few things that struck me from this interview:

When it comes to Paul Young's claim of having been sexually abused as a child, we have only his word to go on, but I'm increasingly inclined to believe he's telling the truth, because it would explain a lot. For instance, no normal man writes with a 15-year-old female reader in mind. To put it bluntly, there's something seriously wrong with Paul Young; his writing style is feminine; his subject matter appeals mainly to women (click on the link for the interview and look at the comments); he writes with 15-year-old female readers in mind; and worst of all, he promotes a feminine god. Mr. Young doesn't come across as a real man.

Mr. Young's list of favourite authors and literary genres is most revealing, and is more in keeping with a New Ager than a Christian. The Castalia House publishing firm is currently running a series of posts on its blog concerning the disproportionate amount of pedophilia within the science fiction community--including such big names as Arthur C. Clarke.

My reaction to the author of The Shack is similar to my reaction to the first two movies from writer and director Neil LaBute. In the Company of Men (1997) had two unpleasant men as the main characters, but the main female character was someone I could root for. However, Mr. LaBute's next movie, Your Friends & Neighbors (1998) had nothing but unpleasant characters; I can't speak for all myneighbours, but the characters in that movie don't resemble any of my friends. After seeing those movies--and especially, after the second one--I concluded that there was something seriously wrong with Mr. LaBute, who converted to Mormonism at Brigham Young University and has since left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Others have also noticed that there's something wrong with Mr. LaBute, as a glance at his Wikipedia entry will show. Two Neil LaBute movies were enough for me, and I haven't been interested in seeing anything else he's had to offer.

Paul Young openly denies the account of creation, apparently blaming belief in the literal truth of the account in Genesis chapters 1-2 for his sexual abuse as a child. As is always the case with religious liberals--especially those who have wormed their way from within the professing Christian church--those who believe in the literal truth of the Bible are always the bad guys. It should be kept in mind that to deny the biblical account of creation is to deny the very words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as well as the words of the Apostles, who were men directly commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ and were writing under divine inspiration.

By my count, Paul Young used the word "conversation" 11 times in the interview. That's the way it is in the Emerging Church in which Mr. Young would seem to naturally fit; it's always a "conversation" with Emergents, it's never "Thus saith the LORD."

Mr. Young boasts about his "high view of humanity," but whenever that occurs, it's always a see-saw--when the view of humanity goes up, the view of God goes down. The "God" of Paul Young's invention isn't worth worshipping.

Paul Young is an example of what Vox Day, author of the recent book SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police (2015) refers to as the three laws of Social Justice Warriors (SJWs)--the first law is the law that should be most kept in mind:

1. They always lie.
2. They always double down.
3. They always project.

Mr. Young, like a typical SJW, uses a false analogy when he places Christian fundamentalism on an equal level with atheistic and Islamic fundamentalism. He's also dishonest when he compares his own battles with fundamentalists with the religious leaders whom Jesus faced. In fact, the Pharisees of whom the Lord Jesus Christ was so critical weren't fundamentalists, but religious liberals; they didn't know (Matthew 22:29) or believe (John 5:45-47) the scriptures, "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Mark 7:7)

Paul Young makes a snide remark about the "people who didn't read The Shack and didn't like it." What a liar. I, for one, did read The Shack and didn't like it. Go to my first post mentioned above, and click the links to see reviews by Christian authors who also read the book and didn't like it--including Mr. Young's neighbour James De Young, who turned his review into the book Burning Down the Shack (2010). After the extremely unpleasant experience of reading The Shack, this blogger has no intention of reading Eve; I'll wait for reviews by discerning Christians who have stronger stomachs than mine (and of course, who have actually read the book).

I can't emphasize strongly enough that Paul Young isn't someone coming from outside the professing evangelical Christian church, but from within. He's an alumnus of Canadian Bible College from its days in Regina; it's now Ambrose University, based in Calgary (search this blog under "Ambrose" for information on this increasingly unbiblical institution). Mr. Young presumbably knows what the truth is, but he's chosen to reject it; like those mentioned by Paul in the Acts 20 passage cited above, Paul Young is speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after himself.