MainlineTruths

When Episcopal Bishops Go Wild

Hat tip to Solomonia for this one.

You have to love it when governing church bodies strong arm churches into staying apart of the family:

Virginia Episcopal Bishop Peter J. Lee is threatening to sue conservative Episcopal churches that soon will vote on whether to leave his diocese, saying individual members of each congregation's governing board will be liable.

    In a four-page letter released late Friday, the bishop of the country's largest diocese, with 90,000 members, sent a letter to parishes conducting a 40-day period of discernment on whether to leave the Episcopal Church.

A lawsuit? Nothing fosters community like the the threat of a lawsuit.

Another Art Show, Another Criminal

Solomonia is all over the Episcopal Divinity School's attempt to paint a cop killer as a "political prisoner". From Solomonia:

Unbelievable (or not).  Take a look at the rogue's gallery sponsoring this event (quoted from email):

Jericho Boston Presents

as part of their International Week of Solidarity with Political Prisoners:

Can't Jail the Spirit : Art by Political Prisoner Tom Manning

Can't Jail the Spirit exhibits Manning's paintings of political prisoners, freedom fighters, the earth and people struggling against oppression. Forhis actions, Tom Manning became a political prisoner ad has taught himself to paint inside the prison walls.

Can't Jail the Spirit was first displayed at the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine. A week after it went up, it was censored after intense pressure by state troopers and the police to shut it down.

Tom's paintings transcend concrete and razor wire, and show that they still can't jail the spirit!

WHERE: Episcopal Divinity School--Harvard University

OPENING RECEPTION: Tuesday, December 5, 2006 - 6:00-9:00pm

with: [snip list of losers]

For a calendar of related events visit
www.jerichoboston.org

Sponsors include:The Jericho Movement, Haymarket People's Fund, American Friends Service Committee, The New England Committee to Defend Palestine, Councillor Chuck Turner, Councillor Felix Arroyo, Voices of Liberation, episcopal divinity school, and the community church of boston.

www.cantjailthespirit.org

In case you had any doubt, Manning isn't a political prisoner, he's a convicted cop killer:

...Some time shortly after 1965, he was sentenced to five years in prison for armed robbery and assault, serving the last ten months in Massachusetts Correctional Institution - Cedar Junction. He claims it was during these years that he became heavily politicized, through his interactions with other prisoners[1]

After his release in 1971, he married Carol and together they produced three children, Jeremy, Tamara, and Jonathan.

Together with his arrest for the bombings, Manning was also convicted for his role in killing New Jersey police officer Philip Lamonaco during a traffic stop on December 21 1981. The killings launched the largest manhunt in NJ police history[2], and ended with the arrests of Raymond Levasseur, Patricia Gross, Richard Williams, Jaan Laaman, and Barbara Curzi on November 4th 1984, and Manning and his wife Carol on April 24, 1985. All of them were associated with the United Freedom Front...

Harvard EDS take note:

In September 2006, the University of Southern Maine removed his art from an art presentation, and apologised for allowing him to be heralded as a "political prisoner" by event organizers.

This looks like a trend with Protestant Churches making killers into heroes.

CAMERA Challenges Episcopal Church on its Portrayal of Arab-Israeli Conflict

From the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA):

Sadly, the Episcopal Church is not a trustworthy observer of the Arab-Israeli conflict. The church’s leaders and constitutive bodies routinely issue one-sided statements about the Arab-Israeli conflict, and its publications portray Israel as exclusively responsible for violence in the region. Moreover, the church has provided substantial support for anti-Israel activists in both the U.S. and the West Bank. Its so-called peace activism amounts to an ad hoc anti-Israel media campaign that serves to delegitimize Israel’s rightful place amongst the nations of the world.

Gay Controversies Overshadow Installment of First Female Episcopal Head

From the Christian Post:

Jefferts Schori’s installment has caused further division in the already divided Episcopal Church with seven conservative Episcopal dioceses rejecting her leadership. The dioceses oppose the new presiding bishop’s support of ordaining gays and permitting blessing ceremonies for same-sex couples among other reasons.

She had said in an interview with the Associated Press that she believes homosexuality is “how one is created” and the Church should help gays and lesbians find “holy ways of living in relationship.”

In 2003, she voted for the election of the denomination’s first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

During Saturday’s installment ceremony, Jefferts Schori recognized the division within the U.S. Episcopal Church and responded, “If some in this church feel wounded by recent decisions, then our salvation or health as a body is at some hazard.” She called for members to seek “healing and wholeness.”

What about the Lions?

From WWMT in Michigan:

DETROIT (AP) - The Reverend Steven Kelly is more than just a neighbor to the Detroit Tigers: He's a fan.

St. John's Episcopal Church is across the street from Comerica Park. And for five years, Kelly has presided over Sunday services featuring prayers for the American League club.

The Tigers made it to the Word Series this year for the first time since 1984.

The congregation includes many Comerica Park employees, among them ushers, vendors and ticket-takers.

SNAPSHOTS: A Tale of Two Cities

Who would think that the Episcopal Church would continue to broadcast anti-Israel buffoonery long after it had been discredited? Snapshots has the skinny, courtesy of yours truly.

Plug "Jenin" into the site's search engine (it's in the upper right-hand corner) and you will find a total of nine links, the first of which gains the reader access to an article that falsely accuses Israel of digging mass graves in Jenin to cover up "war crimes" in 2002.

But does the Episcopal Church's website include any references to Netanya, the scene of a horrific suicide bombing that killed 28 Israelis in 2002?

Read the whole thing.

Did All Saints own members turn them in?

According to one Episcopalian, they did...

The body of evidence

The issue of the IRS asking for documents, e-mails and records of All Saints Episcopal Church makes it fairly obvious that a single sermon given by a leftist priest in 2004 isn't the only evidence of political activism the IRS may be considering.

I recall that several years ago President Bush's State of the Union speech was answered by a political rally at All Saints on the same night.

Speakers blasted the president. That event was covered by both the Star-News and local television media.

As for the Star-News editorial that came to All Saints defense, perhaps you folks should read your own news clippings about All Saints over the past six years.

As a former Episcopalian, I believe All Saints has been using the ministry of Jesus Christ for years as a cover for leftist political activity.

They pushed the candidacy of Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno to the diocese in the same fashion of a political campaign and they have backed the Episcopal Church's ventures into politics since Bruno's installation.

That some chickens have come home to roost from the IRS is probably due to All Saints members taking offense and giving the IRS assistance about the misuse of their tithes and offerings.

All Saints, under the U.S. Constitution, is entitled to do anything and say anything. They are simply not entitled to have a tax exemption as a religious institution if they venture into recommending some candidates and opposing other candidates.

I respect Rep. Adam Schiff as a man of honor and purpose. But in this case his knowledge is lacking and his reasoning is wrong in defense of All Saints. The IRS has a duty to investigate, unless we all agree the tax laws apply only to conservative churches and not to liberal, Green Party Christians, like those at All Saints Episcopal Church of Pasadena.

--This letter first appeared in the Pasadena Star News http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/yourview/ci_4413847

Philip Pettus
San Gabriel, CA

Showdown between church and IRS looming

USA Today is reporting that the 3,500-member All Saints Church Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California is refusing to turn over documents related to the IRS investigation of an anti-war sermon given just before the 2004 presidential election. From USA Today:

"We're going to put it in their court and in a court of law so that we can get an adjudication to some very fundamental issue here that we see as an intolerable infringement of rights," Bob Long, senior warden of All Saints Church, told The Associated Press.

He said the church's 26-member vestry voted unanimously to resist IRS demands for documents and an interview with the congregation's rector by the end of the month.

The church's action sets up a high-profile confrontation between the church and the IRS, which now must decide whether to ask for a hearing before a judge, who would then decide on the validity of the agency's demands.

The church is contending that it did not violate it's tax-exempt status by giving the sermon... but you have to wonder why they are resisting the IRS investigation if they are so confident. Church leaders were flanked by a number of tax-exempt faith groups at the press conference announcing their resistence to the IRS.

The investigation has clear ramifications for all tax-exempt faith groups all over the political spectrum and, in some cases, the tax-exempt status is being used as a political tool. In Ohio, liberal religious leaders themselves filed an IRS complaint against conservative pastors who have endorsed the Republican candidate for governor, Ken Blackwell.

Episcopal Church investigated by IRS

Did All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena violate federal tax codes by giving an anti-war speech just before the last presidential election? From the Associated Press:

The Internal Revenue Service has ordered a prominent liberal church to turn over documents and e-mails it produced during the 2004 election year that contain references to political candidates.

The IRS is investigating whether All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena violated the federal tax code when its former rector, Rev. George F. Regas, delivered an anti-war sermon on the eve of the last presidential election.

Tax-exempt organizations are barred from intervening in political campaigns and elections, and the church could lose its tax-exempt status.

Rev. Ed Bacon received a summons Thursday ordering the church to present any politically charged sermons, newsletters and electronic communications by Sept 29.

Episopal Church Presiding Bishop mixes message on 9/11

While pundits are quick to dismiss any link between Iraq and 9/11, few in the mainline miss an opportunity to mix up the root causes of the terrorist attack. This from the Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold of the Episcopal Church:

Now, five difficult years have passed, and our nation and our world are beset by fear and wracked by violence of almost unimaginable proportions.  The war in Iraq is well into its third year and a peaceful resolution seems more distant than ever.  Over the past two months violence in the Middle East has escalated.   A , both within this nation and in the nations of the world, a dynamic that breeds further conflict and instability. 

It's difficult to disagree with Griswold's anti-poverty message, but let's be clear: AL Qaeda didn't attack the U.S. because of a "growing divide separates rich from poor" - they attacked because they are Islamic extremists.