Oh, sweet goodness.It's Tuesday, and I stayed up too late. So, I went searching the news wires for subjects. And I found ...
On Friday, officials at the Colorado Springs, Colo., campus announced its 4,000 current cadets would be allowed to opt out of the final phrase of their honor code, which they reaffirm each of their four years of study and training. “Here at the Academy, we work to build a culture of dignity and respect, and that respect includes the ability of our cadets, Airmen and civilian Airmen to freely practice and exercise their religious preference — or not,” said Lt. Gen. Michelle Johnson, the academy’s superintendent, in a statement. “So in the spirit of respect, cadets may or may not choose to finish the Honor Oath with ‘So help me God.’”
And so you'd know: The United Methodist Church’s highest court issued three rulings this weekend that do not change church policy toward gays and lesbians but allow bishops to accept resolutions expressing dissent from church teachings. The Judicial Council affirmed a resolution approved by New York Bishop Martin McLee that celebrates congregations and individuals that “provide for the pastoral needs of same-sex couples within the United Methodist Church.”
The court also affirmed a California-Pacific Annual Conference resolution that calls for operating as if church law regarding homosexuality does not exist. The court also required Bishop James Dorff of Southwest Texas to rule within 60 days “on the merits” of a question about the ordination eligibility of a lesbian clergy candidate. The case does not address the candidate’s sexuality. But the court also voided a resolution calling for a 24-hour suspension for bishops that ordain gays, which the denomination does not allow. According to the Book of Discipline, the trial court jury has the exclusive right to set penalties for those found guilty of chargeable offenses.
In the Southern Baptist denomination, which considers baptism a key marker of Christian faith and also denominational vitality, tallied 314,959 baptisms in 2012 — a low not seen since 1948.
Finally, collection plates are growing even lighter as Protestant church member giving reached new lows in 2011, and tithing probably will not recover from the recession, according to a new report by a Christian research group. The percentage of a church member’s income given to the church dropped to 2.3 percent in 2011 (the latest year for which numbers are available), down from 2.4 percent in 2010, according to the Empty Tomb study.
I leave all this to the reader without comment today. But I have a question. My question is why would we think that collections and baptisms would be up when it seems the church isn't? When there is acrimony in the evangelical community, in the mainline churches, in the charismatic movement, in the reformed community?
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