Those who have already left the Episcopal Church for greener spiritual pastures like the AMIA, REC, TAC, Orthodox or Roman Catholic churches now berate those who stay and ask the question, "Why do you stay in such an apostate church?"

"Come ye out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord," is a Scripture often spoken and repeated with greater intensity with the passing of time. Even the distinguished German theologian Walter Pannenberg asked a friend of mine recently, "Why does anybody stay in The Episcopal Church? It's finished."

The desire to leave is a siren call for spiritual safety. "Do you want your children exposed to a homoerotic church with an agenda that endangers their spiritual and sexual safety?" It is a compelling argument that keeps parents awake at night. I have heard this argument from the lips of the wives of priests who don't want their children exposed to such attitudes and thinking.

On the other side of the spiritual and ecclesiastical fence there is another vision of The Episcopal Church that is hopeful, even exuberant that the game is far from lost.

It is best summarized by Old Testament theologian and Anglican Communion Institute (ACI) president the Rev. Dr. Christopher Seitz, who writes, "I want to say that I see real signs of progress, and I put that on the table right up front."

What does the situation look like now, two years later?

"1. a defiant but bruised and less cohesive ECUSA in revisionist ranks;

2. strong warnings issued to it by the archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates' Meeting -- two of the four instruments of unity;

3. a church confronted straight-on by the Windsor Report, issued by these same instruments, and chided, rebuked, and challenged by this report to walk with or walk apart from the Communion;

4. an ACC now working closely with, and not over against, the Primates' Meeting itself; and itself confirming the actions of the Primates' Meeting;

5. an organized and communion-linked minority in the U.S., which is growing and not shrinking;

6. a group of ECUSA bishops formally in compliance with The Windsor Report (TWR) and insistent that it serve as a proxy for ECUSA as it decides its Communion status;

7. the Primates' Meeting and See of Canterbury firmly behind TWR and seeking public compliance by ECUSA by General Convention 2006;

8. an ECUSA which will have difficulty establishing such compliance in a bona fide and public way at General Convention 2006."

These are just eight reasons, and Seitz offers a lot more. You can read the full text of his words in today's digest.

The ACI folk are not fools. They have such distinguished names in their ranks as the Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner, Dr. Phillip Turner, and the former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey. These men see hope where others don't. They cannot be written off as academics with their heads in the sands; they believe fervently in the unity of the church. They are not fools. They are thoughtful, scholarly types who see the big picture. We are living in interesting times.

The big news of the past week, however, is to be found in the DIOCESE OF EASTERN MICHIGAN, where the bishop, one Ed Leidel, deposed an orthodox priest, the Rev. Gene Geromel, for abandonment of communion. This is the sixth priest forced out of the diocese since 2003. As with the Rev. Mark Hansen in Connecticut, Fr. David Moyer in Pennsylvania, and three parishes in California, a pattern is emerging that reveals a viciousness by revisionist bishops that grows exponentially with time as more and more orthodox priests face the wrath of their ultra-liberal bishops.

The revisionist steamroller will brook no opposition. The canons must be distorted to deny priests the trials to which they are entitled under the canons. So the canons and constitution of the Episcopal Church must be held sacred above all documents, never mind that these priests refuse to violate their consciences and Holy Scripture by complying with their bishops who want them to join them in Hell over sodomy. You can read that story today.

The one good thing here is that the bishop cannot seize the property of St. Bartholomew's, as the congregation bought it outright over five years ago. There is a silver lining.

And in another example of extreme paranoia, the bishop of the DIOCESE OF OHIO, Mark Hollingsworth, Jr., hauled a clergy couple into his office to explain to him why they were entertaining the Rt. Rev. Simon M. Oketch from the Diocese of Maseno North in Kenya. The Kenyan bishop was only staying from Thursday evening to Saturday afternoon. "He yelled that we had to hold Oketch accountable for being here in Ohio and in our home without asking his permission," the couple told VirtueOnline. "The bishop did not do anything, except have dinner with our family, go to Berean, a Christian bookstore, and shop for his family at Wal-Mart. Still Hollingsworth was upset."

You will recall it was Hollingsworth who paid a visit to Nigeria recently as part of a reconciliation group. He told various clergy that he intended to reconcile Nigeria to ECUSA! Now there's a farce if ever there was one, particularly when you bear in mind that Archbishop Peter Akinola has been ripping both the Episcopal Church and the Church of England in recent days.

The DIOCESE OF ATLANTA and its bishop Neil Alexander has set up a committee to study same-sex blessings. The bishop appointed the committee to address the mandate of the 2004 Diocesan Council to consider same-sex unions and the formation of a liturgy for a blessing of such unions. The committee has been meeting since spring 2005 and plans to present an Interim Report to Diocesan Council 2005 in November. Alexander stated that it is his understanding that the Canons of the Church do not permit him to authorize a liturgy for regular use unless and until the General Convention of the Episcopal Church has authorized such a liturgy. Of course we all know where this is going, and this revisionist bishop will take his diocese all the way there...and downhill.

In the DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL CORRECTNESS, the Rev. Dr. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, an Episcopal priest in the DIOCESE OF MASSACHUSETTS, will head an organization called the Political Research Associates, whose purpose is to "help defend human rights against assaults by the Political Right."

Ms. Ragsdale served for 17 years (8 of them as chair) on the national board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which should give you no doubt where she stands on the issues. She also serves on the board of NARAL: Pro-Choice America, The White House Project, the Progressive Religious Partnership, as well as the bi-national advisory board of the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence.

So along with revisionist bishops going after orthodox priests, we now have another organization going after us, a left-wing political correctness squad designed to push the Episcopal Church even further to the left and increasingly out of touch with its laity.

The DIOCESE OF CALIFORNIA is looking for its eighth bishop, but don't hold your breath looking for anyone remotely orthodox on faith and morals. The diocese has been run by the Rt. Rev. William "moonbeam" Swing, who has no interest in the "faith once delivered to the saints." He is more concerned with his legacy running the spiritually wifty United Religions Initiative, a grab bag of pan-religious fruits and nuts looking for world peace without much reference to the Prince of Peace.

In the DIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES, the bishop, Jon Bruno, recently commended a Muslim statement against terrorism to his diocese. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) offered its support for a fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism and extremism issued by the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA) and endorsed by more than 120 U.S. Muslim groups, leaders and institutions

The fatwa states in part that Islam strictly condemns religious extremism and the use of violence against innocent lives. There is no justification in Islam for extremism or terrorism. Targeting civilians' life and property through suicide bombings or any other method of attack is haram -- or forbidden -- and those who commit these barbaric acts are criminals, not 'martyrs'... The Qur'an, Islam's revealed text, states: "Whoever kills a person [unjustly]... it is as though he has killed all mankind. And whoever saves a life, it is as though he had saved all mankind." (Qur'an, 5:32)

God mandates moderation in faith and in all aspects of life when He states in the Qur'an: "We made you to be a community of the middle way, so that (with the example of your lives) you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind." (Qur'an, 2:143) The statement was signed by 18 Muslim leaders.

Now lest you think that this will resolve all Islamic-Christian tensions, you should read Dr. Paul Marshall's (not the bishop of Bethlehem) article "The Islamists' Other Weapon." Here is a teaser: "The goal of these extremists, as they have announced again and again, is nothing less than to restore a unified Muslim ummah (community), one ruled by a new caliphate, organized to wage jihad against the rest of the world, and, above all, governed by what they regard as the immutable divine law declared by God to Muhammad -- the shari'a."

In Massachusetts an Ecumenical Working Group on Faith and Genetics announced the publication of "The Science of Sexual Behavior in Humans and Other Animals: a Resource for the Churches." Nothing is conclusive but that the DIOCESE OF MASSACHUSETTS loves it, which should tip your hand. Members of the working group found their task challenging for a variety of reasons. The document introduction refers to a number of SARs -- "sexual attitude readjustments" -- experienced by the working group. The Rev. Barbara Smith-Moran, the group's convener, explained that many of these moments came when studying primate sexual behavior. Lest you were wondering what primates she was referring too, it was monkeys, not leaders of the Anglican Communion, who certainly don't need "sexual attitude readjustments" and neither do you. There's a satirical piece in here for sure.

The CHURCH OF ENGLAND continues to writhe in sexual agony over its recent decision to approve civil partnerships (but not marriage) while telling clergy that if they have a partner then no sex please, we're British or Anglican. But as Jon Stewart of the Daily Show recently observed, tongue in cheek, "Everyone in England is gay."

Well, a number of homoerotic Anglican clergy in England are so incensed at what they see as the hypocrisy of such a stand they announced that they would defy Dr. Rowan Williams and other leading bishops over civil partnerships and just go on buggering one another anyway.

Sniffed one furious gay London clergyman, "The way homosexual clergy were being treated I predict a widespread revolt." So now we have two reasons the C of E might come unglued -- women bishops and sodomite clergy. Is there are any reason why the Global South wants any part of the C of E except for some missionary and historical ties?

PLEASE go to the Web site and check the CULTURE WARS section. There are a number of excellent stories, including one by David Brooks. In an article titled "The Virtues of Virtue," Brooks says that the rate of family violence in this country has dropped by more than half since 1993; domestic violence is of a piece with the decline in violent crime overall. Violent crime is down by 55 percent since 1993 and violence by teenagers has dropped an astonishing 71 percent, according to the Department of Justice. while teenage pregnancy has declined by 28 percent since its peak in 1990. Teenage births are down significantly and, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortions performed in the country has also been declining since the early 1990s. Fewer children are living in poverty, even allowing for an uptick during the last recession. There's even evidence that divorce rates are declining, albeit at a much more gradual pace. People with college degrees are seeing a sharp decline in divorce, especially if they were born after 1955. Teenage suicide is down. Elementary school test scores are rising (a sign than more kids are living in homes conducive to learning). Teenagers are losing their virginity later in life and having fewer sex partners. In short, many of the indicators of social breakdown, which shot upward in the late 1960's and 1970's and which plateaued at high levels in the 1980's, have been declining since the early 1990s. See the full story here. http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=2854

The irony of this for Episcopalians should not be missed. As the church continues its gadarene rush towards extinction, promoting pansexual behavior, abortion rights, lesbigay behavior and more, the culture is going in the reverse direction! And the ECUSA deep thinkers think that inclusion of everybody's behavior will make them more attractive, and their churches will grow, when the culture is saying that exact opposite! Our leaders are out of their minds. The Episcopal Church is self-destructing at precisely the time it should be standing up and shouting the opposite -- with a message of transformation, not inclusion. The Episcopal asylum is being run by the inmates, and the clergy are asleep in the pulpit.

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