The world as a whole is considerably more diverse in 2015 than it was in 1900, but diversity is now on a slight decline. While many countries in the Western world are becoming more diverse through secularization and immigration, others are becoming less diverse. In 2015 the most diverse countries are South Korea at 0.82 and China at 0.81, while the world as a whole (all countries' individual contributions) is at 0.45. The least diverse country is Afghanistan at 0.00 (99.8 percent Muslim) --- Christianity 2015 Report

Mainliners may try to comfort themselves by claiming that every denomination is in decline, but it's simply not true. While conservative churches aren't growing as quickly as they once were, mainline churches are on a path toward extinction. The mainline churches are finding that as they move further away from Biblical Christianity, the closer they get to their inevitable demise. --- Joe Cater

No perfect society. The followers of Jesus are optimists, but not utopians. It is possible to improve society; but a perfect society awaits the return of Jesus Christ. --- John R.W. Stott

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
www.virtueonline.org
March 20, 2015

The Episcopal Church House of Bishops met this past week at Kanuga and agreed to write yet another pastoral letter to the church on the sin of racism. The letter would follow one adopted by the house in April 1994 and another one issued March 22, 2006. The 2006 letter noted the 1994 pastoral statement said a new letter was needed because the "pervasive sin" of racism "continues to plague our common life in the church and in our culture."

I have asked repeatedly over the years WHO precisely are these racists in TEC. I will concede that there are plenty of racists in America, and that is an element of racism in the heat President Obama is taking over the unpopularity of many of his decisions. There is a growing strain of racism in America directed at the President that cannot be denied. However my concern is finding all those racists in The Episcopal Church. In all my years in orthodox parishes, I have never met an out and out racist. I have met plenty of gays and lesbians, like Louie Crew and Gene Robinson; even a transgendered person, plus a few bullying bishops like Charles Bennison and Wendell Gibbs. I have met heretical bishops like John Shelby Spong and Walter Righter, I have met orthodox bishops like Bill Love and Bill Wantland. I have met any number of short, tall, bald, fat, hairy priests and bishops, but I have never come across an out and out racist who came up to me and said "I'm racist hear me roar." I have seen banner carrying crazies yelling "God hates fags", but never one saying "I'm a racist and proud of it." It's time to fess up and tell us please.

So the deeper question is, why is this an issue for Episcopalians if the Church won't identify who these racists are? Why did the HOB not have a discussion on the $40 million spent on lawsuits and why is TEC continuing to fight for properties when it is clear they are losing in places like Ft. Worth, Quincy and South Carolina! When I raised this with Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori at a press conference following the end of the meeting of the HOB, I was told this was not discussed in the HOB hence my question was out of order.

On the issue of impairment, the question that should have been asked and wasn't (my bad) was why, if Jefferts Schori, who presided at Cook's consecration Sept. 6, knew she had a drinking problem, why didn't she call a halt to the whole process. She had the authority.

Now you gotta love this piece of ecclesiobabble from Jefferts Schori, "We have focused our conversation around curiosity about 'the other,' courage in encountering 'the other' and compassion in encountering 'the other.'" Well WHO the hell is "the other", apparently nobody is prepared to say. You can't make this stuff up.

Can you imagine Pope Francis addressing the Magisterium and pleading, "Please find me 'the other' I need to whip her/him into shape."

The Presiding Bishop did say that member bishops challenged their colleagues with "provocative" mediations about race, culture, class and dealing with other faith traditions. One wonders if 'the other' might have included the growing ACNA and if TEC will ever come to terms with this growing "other". No mention of the imperative for a gospel witness to the "other" either.

*****

There was further news out of TEC this week on a study about the growth and decline of the Episcopal Church. A 2014 survey of 762 Episcopal congregations (out of a sample of 1100) revealed that 45% of surveyed churches declined by 10% or more, while a small group of churches grew by at least 10%. Those congregations that plateaued experienced change in ASA (average Sunday attendance) of +5% to -7.4%.

These new facts on Episcopal Church growth and decline were assembled by Dr. C. Kirk Hadaway as part of an ecumenical/interfaith survey project.

The overall picture, which you can read in today's digest, is not encouraging. The vast majority of Episcopal Churches are on the decline with little or no newcomers from either the children of parents who attend TEC or Millennials. The future looks bleak.

*****

The Episcopal Church has another woman bishop. She is the Rev. Canon Audrey Cady Scanlan who was elected on March 14 as 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Pennsylvania.

Scanlan, 56, canon for mission collaboration and congregational life in the Diocese of Connecticut, was elected on the second ballot out of a field of three nominees. She received 79 votes of 147 cast in the lay order and 50 of 79 cast in the clergy order. An election on that ballot required 74 in the lay order and 40 in the clergy order.

The election was held during the diocese's Electing Convention, held at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She succeeds Bishop Nathan Baxter, who retired last May after serving the Central Pennsylvania diocese for eight years. The Rt. Rev. Robert Gepert has since served as provisional bishop.

Contacted in Connecticut, Bishop Ian Douglas described her as a devout follower of Jesus and committed to God's mission first and foremost.

*****

Members of synod for the Episcopal Church of Cuba narrowly voted in favor of returning to the church's former affiliation with The Episcopal Church at their recent meeting last month in Cardenas, Cuba.

The move came two months after the historic decision by the United States and Cuba to re-establish diplomatic relations after a 54-year hiatus. The Cuban church had been part of a province in The Episcopal Church until the 1959 revolution, which made travel and communication between the two churches difficult. The Metropolitan Council of Cuba (MCC)--which includes primates of the Anglican Church of Canada, the Province of West Indies and The Episcopal Church--was subsequently created to provide support and oversight.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, and Archdeacon Michael Thompson, general secretary, attended the synod--which ran from Feb. 19 to 22--as representatives of the MCC.

Hiltz said the vote on that resolution, which was 39 in favor and 33 against, showed that the synod was divided on the issue. "When the results of the vote were announced, there was just absolute silence," he said. "There were some people that were feeling a sense of victory and others who were feeling a real sense of loss." Pensions was an overriding issue for many of the clergy who are vested in TEC while many of the younger generation of priests are not.

*****

The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of the Dominican Republic has announced a slate of three candidates to stand for election as the diocese's bishop coadjutor.

They are:

The Rev. Ramon Antonio Garcia De Los Santos, 50, vicar of Misiones San Lucas and La Anunciacion in Santiago, a school principal and archdeacon in the north region of the country; The Rev. Moises Quezada Mota, 58, vicar of Misiones Jesus Nazareno and Buen Samaritano, in San Francisco de Macoris, and a school principal; and The Rev. Daniel Samuel, 58, vicar of Misiones Santa Maria Virgen, Divina Gracia and San Cornelio, and a school principal.

*****

The growing savagery of Islamic terrorists continues. At least 16 people were killed and over 70 injured when Taliban suicide bombers attacked two Lahore churches in one of the largest Christian communities in Pakistan last Sunday. Barnabas Fund sent emergency aid to its partners on the ground who are working to bring relief in the midst of tragedy.

The attacks took place as Christians met together for Sunday morning worship services in the predominantly Christian neighborhood of Youhanabad in Lahore, capital of Pakistan's Punjab province. The two churches targeted are separated from each other by about half a kilometer.

In both cases, the bombers were stopped at the church gates by police officers and church guards. Unable to enter, they blew themselves up at the entrances to the churches. The explosions took place within minutes of each other, creating deadly chaos as broken window panes and blood scattered the sites. Two police officers, who guarded the church gates, were among the dead. The death toll, now 16, is expected to continue to rise.

"We are paying a heavy cost," said the Rt. Rev. Irfan Jamil, Church of Pakistan Bishop of Lahore. "We strongly condemn and lack words to express our feelings of the sad incident in the churches of Youhanabad. I salute those security personnel who lost their lives in stopping the terrorists and saved many lives. The grief and sorrow of the families who have lost their loved ones and those who have been injured is immeasurable. We pray for comfort among the grieved families and pray for speedy recovery of the wounded."

Youhanabad is one of the biggest Christian communities in the country, with over 100,000 Christians among its population. Barnabas Fund supports two Christian primary schools as well as an orphanage in this neighborhood of the city.

"I am deeply saddened by yesterday's attacks," says Wilson Saraj, Barnabas Fund's Regional Coordinator for Pakistan. "Once again, Christians in Pakistan have been struck. They are suffering because of their faith and because they are economically disadvantaged. But I take heart listening to reports from local Christians who say these attacks will not prevent them from returning to church." Sunday's bombings remind him of the deadly attack against his home church in Peshawar in September 2013.

On that day, a twin suicide bombing killed 99 Christians and injured at least 140 who met to worship together. The Christian community in Peshawar is a small minority in an overwhelmingly Muslim population and the attack was one of the deadliest to occur against Pakistani Christians. Combined with Sunday's attacks, the message that the Taliban are sending to Pakistan's Christians is that they have the capacity to attack Christians whether they are in the minority or in the majority.

Perhaps it is time for the US Govt. to stop sending $9 billion a year of tax payer money to Pakistan until that government takes seriously the killing of Christian minorities.

*****

The Diocese of Huron in Canada was told it can't demolish St. Barnabas. Here's the back story. The congregation was moved to St. Aidan's because the Diocese of Huron won St. Aidan's property from the congregation in a lawsuit, then ousted the congregation, and now needs to create the illusion that it needs the building for its own congregation.

A source told VOL that the diocese's plan, since it couldn't sell St. Aidan's without appearing ridiculously hypocritical, was to demolish the now vacated St. Barnabas. Unfortunately for the diocese, St. Barnabas is in the process of being designated a heritage property, so it can't be demolished. Such a pity.

There is nothing particularly surprising about that, since it follows the received ACoC survival strategy of Deconsecrate, Demolish and Trade (DDT).

Why would the diocese do this? For the diocese to maintain the fiction that it needed St. Aidan's building, it could not sell it shortly after winning a thoroughly nasty court battle. Instead, the diocese moved another congregation into St. Aidan's and sold the building that belonged to the moved congregation.

This is what, in church parlance, is called being missional; or is it incarnational -- I forget.

*****

Integrity, USA, the unofficial Episcopal LGBTQI organization announced plans to reduce staff this week.bThe organization announced that it will reduce its workforce as part of a plan to align the organization's resources with its missions and goals. This action was noted by the departure of Integrity's full-time employees, Executive Director Vivian Taylor and Development Director Sam Peterson.

Clearly all is not well in the Episcopal garden of gay land. The organization's leaders reminded supporters that their mission has not been completed with the growing acceptance of same-sex blessings in the church, but that it has shifted.

****

Will The Washington Post investigate how a woman with a drinking problem and a steady male companion got to be an Episcopal bishop? Daniel Oliver of THE FEDERALIST has asked.

"In a quite unbelievably awful piece that has to be read not to be believed, Washington Post reporter Michelle Boorstein wrote about Heather Cook, the suffragan bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, a woman who, while driving drunk last December, hit and killed a bicyclist then fled from the scene of the crime. Cook has now been indicted on 13 counts, including vehicular manslaughter. Clearly, she should not have been a cleric of any kind.

The basic facts, or at least some of them, were covered when the homicide occurred, and Boorstein's piece is what might be called, loosely-- as loose as an intensely grungy nomad big-pockets trench coat or a quirky slouchy oversized baggy Parisian boho chiffon sack dress--a "think piece." She begins: "With a history of sherries at church coffee hour and wine during Holy Communion, Episcopalians have long endured -- and shared -- jokes about their drinking. (For example: 'Wherever two or three are gathered, there's a fifth.')"

Surely there must be one person at The Washington Post who knows something about the sacraments. Clearly Boorstein is not a Catholic, not of any kind. But surely there must be one person at The Washington Post who knows something about the sacraments of the Episcopal Church--or of the Roman Catholic Church (whose U.S. branch is about 38 times as big as the Episcopal Church): someone who knows that the amount of wine consumed by communicants is only a sip.

Okay, Washington Post, Here's the Real Story. The real story is probably one Boorstein approaches but doesn't recognize, or isn't willing to address: Why was Cook allowed to become a bishop?

Boorstein paraphrases Byron Rushing, the vice president of the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church:

The church needs to dig more deeply into how church leaders and culture may have contributed to the Cook case, he said, and that may include both insufficient attention to drinking as well as other factors--namely the transparency of the bishop-picking process.

Heather Cook--who in her bio states, "Supporting me in my vocation is my steady companion, Mark"--was elected the first female bishop of Maryland last May. It's a good guess that the powers that be in the Episcopal Church were willing to move heaven and hell (assuming they believe heaven and hell exist) to get this woman installed, even though--you can't make this stuff up--all the other nominees were women, too (perhaps they didn't have steady companions). This is part of the feminist, culture-bashing agenda of the power players in the Episcopal Church.

The real questions are: What did the powers in the Episcopal Church know about Cook's drinking, and when did they know it? Apparently, that Cook had been convicted of drunk driving four years prior to the fatal hit-and-run accident--and therefore prior to her election and installation as bishop--was known. But was the extent of her drinking problem not known? And if not, why not?

*****

And yet another story this week of a high profile drunken woman priest from the Diocese of New York being nabbed for drunken driving. The Rev. Diane Reiners, an associate priest at New York's Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in Manhattan, was nabbed for "driving while intoxicated; having an open container of alcohol in the vehicle; reckless driving; criminal possession of a controlled and dangerous substance in a motor vehicle; and disobeying traffic laws" as she exited the New Jersey side of the Holland Tunnel, one of two underwater vehicular tunnels which burrows 93 feet beneath the surface of the Hudson River to connect Manhattan to the State of New Jersey.

Although the cathedral lists the priest as one of three "assisting clergy," her connection with the famed cathedral is enough to make headlines and draw attention to the fact that yet another Episcopal female clergywoman has managed to drink and drive and be arrested for it.

This time the incident did not result in the fatal bicycle/car hit and run accident but the cathedral cleric's driving has been described by the DWI Hit Parade as the: "Boozing Episcopal Priest Diane Reiners drove like pin-ball machine DUI in Holland." DWI Hit Parade is a Nevada-based Internet website which provides "news and commentary about those who choose to drive impaired."

You can read the full story by Mary Ann Mueller in today's digest.

*****

Michael Voris, the no-holds-barred conservative commentator from Church Militant.TV (CMTV), a hard-scrabble Catholic Internet television site, was forcibly ejected from the New York St. Patrick's Day Parade media pen, Tuesday, at the parade's formation point after he point-blankly asked New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan about scandalizing the faithful by serving as the parade's 2015 Grand Marshal.

The jubilant cardinal was all decked out in his red trimmed black cassock, scarlet-lined pellegrina and bright scarlet watered silk fringed fascia. Across his chest was a wide Irish tricolored green, white and orange sash with green embroidery declaring him to be the 2015 Grand Marshal.

"Good to be with you all," Cardinal Dolan said weaving a hand-carved Irish shillelagh in euphoric greeting to the developing crowd before the start of the parade on the corner of West 44th Street and Fifth Avenue not far from St. Patrick's Cathedral nestled between E 50th and E 51st streets

"Your Eminence," Voris broke in. "A question."

"I've been looking forward to this a long time," said the Cardinal who continued weaving his Irish shillelagh as a crozier.

"Your Eminence," Voris pressed on. "Do you have anything to say to loyal Catholics who find what you are doing here a great scandal to the faith?"

His question was not only caught by the CMTV microphone but also by a gaggle of reporters including WCBS.

"No!" Cardinal Dolan retorted weaving the shillelagh high.

"Come on in. We'll love to have you, alright? "he said as he turned away from Voris. "I've got to go, I've got to go ..."

"That's not really an answer Your Eminence," Voris replied to the departing prince of the church.

Within seconds, one of Cardinal Dolan's henchmen punched Voris in his midsection to catch his attention.

"As Cardinal Dolan turned away from not answering our question, " Voris explained. "One of his handlers elbowed me in the stomach ..."

Then things escalated quickly. Very quickly, a second Dolan handler appeared and grabbed Voris and his executive producer/cameraman Matt Pearson to roughly and rudely eject them from the media pen.

*****

Last year, Elaine Howard Ecklund, director of Rice University's Religion and Public Life Program, said her research showed that more than 75 percent of American scientists are religious.

On March 13 of this year, she presented a new study to the American Association for the Advancement of Science and said 70 percent of self-identified evangelicals "do not view religion and science as being in conflict."

Her findings, summarized by Religion News Service:

48 percent [of evangelicals] view science and religion as complementary. Astrophysicist and evangelical Christian Deborah Haarsma, president of BioLogos, which recognizes "God as Creator of all life over billions of years," said what she sees in the cosmos is "a scientific description of the universe God created."

21 percent view the two worldviews as entirely independent of one another. About 30 percent see these worldviews in opposition.

Overall, 85 percent of Americans and 84 percent of evangelicals say modern science is doing good in the world. The greatest areas of accord were on the pragmatic side of science such as technology and medical discoveries that can alleviate suffering. Here, said Ecklund, most Americans see science and faith collaborating for the common good.

*****

VOL is introducing a new section for its readers. We are calling it North American Denominational News. Two stories highlight this week's news.

The Presbyterian Church (USA) announced have voted to change the definition of marriage from "one man and one woman" to "two people, traditionally a man and a woman," thus clearing the way for clergy to perform same-sex marriages.

No member of the clergy will be forced to perform gay marriages if personally opposed.

The church, with about 1.8 million members, is the largest of the nation's Presbyterian denominations, but it has been losing congregations and individual members as it has moved to the left theologically over the past several years. There was a wave of departures in and after 2011, when the presbyteries ratified a decision to ordain gays and lesbians as pastors, elders and deacons, and that may have cleared the way for Tuesday's vote.

With many conservative Presbyterians who were active in the church now gone, as well as the larger cultural shift toward acceptance of same-sex marriage, the decisive vote moved quickly toward approval, according to those on both sides of the divide.

Paul Detterman, national director of The Fellowship Community, a group of conservatives who have stayed in the church, noted, "Our objection to the passage of the marriage amendment is in no way, shape or form anti-gay. It is in no way intended as anything but concern that the church is capitulating to the culture and is misrepresenting the message of Scripture."

He added, "We definitely will see another wave, a sizable wave, of conservative folks leaving," but said he and others were staying because "this conversation is dreadfully important to be a part of."

The PCUSA is one of the largest mainline Protestant denominations in the country, but it has been bleeding members since the 2011 decision to allow gay clergy.

*****

Why Are Southern Baptists shrinking? The front page of the magazine SBCLife, of the Southern Baptist Convention, which goes to 54,000 pastors and church leaders, reported that America's largest Protestant denomination has shrunk every year from 2007-8 with 16,228,000 members to only 15,736,000 in 2012-3.

That's a loss of nearly a half million members (492,800) -- more than many entire denominations such as the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the Presbyterian Church in America, and the Russian Orthodox Church.

In addition, SBCLife reported that per capita giving has fallen from $747 to $712, a drop of 4.5% even though the economy rebounded in that time. Giving to Southern Baptist Churches for all causes declined by a stunning $911 million, a drop of 7.2%. You can read Mike Manus's report on this in today's digest.

*****

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David