Here is an announcent from

Here is an announcent from the Episcopal Women’s Caucus and Integrity:

Statement of the Episcopal Women's Caucus, Integrity and concerned observers of the AAC's Convention
During these three days in Dallas, the American Anglican Council has made it clear that it is bent on destroying the Episcopal Church unless is can remake it in its own image. This comes as little surprise. The foundations and individuals who fund the AAC, and who subsidized this conference, have no interest in the health or integrity of churches. Their track record makes clear that their aim is to discredit or destroy those who oppose them in America's political and cultural debates.
Many faithful Episcopalians oppose in good conscience the action taken on majority votes by the democratically elected members of our General Convention. But we would not find ourselves in this highly polarized situation were it not for the millions of dollars poured into the AAC and similar organizations by the likes of the Scaife, Bradley, Olin and Coors foundations, which have underwritten so much of the agenda of the radical right. That Howard Ahmanson, heir to a savings and loan fortune, a proponent of teaching creationism in our schools, and formerly an advocate of replacing the American legal system with "biblical law" is the AAC's most generous financial supporter should give even the most conservative Episcopalians reason for pause.
While the AAC's willingness to destroy the church if they could not take it over was predictable, the extent of its recklessness was not. In a speech on Tuesday Bishop Robert Duncan made clear that if Rowan Williams the archbishop of Canterbury does not bend to his will, Duncan and his allies will attempt a "realignment" of the Anglican Communion which would inflict tremendous pain on just about everyone except Robert Duncan and his allies. In this new alignment, the AAC claims, a handful of American dioceses and a number of Anglican provinces from Africa, Asia and South America, would break away from the existing church and constitute themselves as the new embodiment of Anglicanism in the world.
This plan would set off years of legal and ideological battling in the many provinces that would remain within the existing church. But more to the point, it would utterly devastate those provinces that chose to join forces with Duncan and the AAC.
Eight provinces almost certain to remain within the existing Communion
provide more than 80 percent of its budget. Much of that money advances the church's mission in the developing world. Individual western churches provide more support to churches in Africa and elsewhere than any of the dioceses currently aligned with the AAC. The American church has made it clear that its support of the gospel in the global south is not restricted to dioceses that agree with it on issues of homosexuality and women's ordination. But expecting it to remain in partnerships with bishops who are promoting schism in the United States may be expecting too much.
Conservative Episcopalians in this country, and conservative bishops abroad need to make a prayerful decision about whether they want to be aligned with the radical right. Whatever their convictions about Gene Robinson or the blessing of same sex unions, they need to examine whether this radical course of action, advanced on behalf of ideologically-driven secular foundations with no interest in the well being of the church, is wise, whether it is compassionate and whether it is Christian.
Anglicanism was born in the conflict of the Reformation. There always has been room for differing views and vigorous debate as we strive to discern the leading of the Spirit. We will not sacrifice our tradition to please a well-financed few.

I signed up for the

I signed up for the House of Bishops/House of Delegates listserv that served the two before and during General Convention last August. The list is still active, and a couple of fellow seminarians are members. The debate and reports covering this past convention and the Plano/Dallas AAC conference this past week have been very active and at times degrading and rancorous.
This is a post to the list by a man in L.A. I’m including a portion of his post and withholding his name because I have not asked his permission to include this, which may not be a good thing, but there you go. Anyway, here is what he posted responding to another post which is part of the thread dealing with “natural-law” and natural-theology. The previous post commented on the fact that even if something is normal or natural, that does not mean God considers it good.
Here is part of his response deal with many posted arguments against homosexuality appearing on the list:

We've seen a variety of attempted arguments on this list in the past, and it's a good moment to rehearse them and exactly what's wrong with each of them. For each of these, we have heard anti-gay people say "yes, you're right, that's a bad argument, but what about XXX?" It's a game of constant bait-and-switch, in which the anti-gay crowd trot out argument after argument, each of which is refuted, only to be replaced by another, which had already been refuted the month before.
We have:
* Scriptural morality requires monogamous heterosexuality.
[Refutation: Scripture never requires monogamy for anyone but
clerics, and holds up as laudable many polygamists, and commands
polygamy in some cases.]
* Only in a relationship with someone of the opposite gender can a
person be fully human.
[Refutation: Jesus and other celibates are fully human.]
* Tradition has always taught that homosexuality is wrong.
[Refutation: If this is your only argument, then it is no argument
at all, because tradition can err.]
* God's will for creation is that people be in heterosexual marriages.
[Refutation: Jesus and other celibates are not in heterosexual
marriages.]
* Heterosexual marriage is a better symbol of such-and-such than
homosexual marriage.
[Refutation: Acts are not to be judged moral or not because of what
they might or might not symbolize; and, there are other good things
which homosexual marriage better symbolizes that heterosexual
marriage.]
* Gay sex is inherently dangerous.
[Refutation: All sex is inherently dangerous; sex between men is
less dangerous than pregnancy; sex between women is exceedingly low
risk. Moreover, nobody is criticizing straight men for impregnating
their wives and putting them at risk. And finally, this requires a
particular reductionistic view of what gay sex *is*--some forms of
which are of essentially no risk whatsoever.]
* Gay people are more likely to be pedophiles.
[Refutation: there simply isn't any evidence here at all, indeed,
there is the opposite--heterosexuals are more likely to be
pedophiles.]
* Gay people are mentally ill.
[Refutation: the experts disagree, and there has been no
presentation of evidence to the contrary, except if one takes
homosexuality *itself* as a mental illness, which begs the
question. Note as well that mental illness and sin are mutually
exclusive categories.]
* If we weaken morality here, next we'll be allowing bestiality and
rape.
[Refutation: nobody is arguing for "weakening" morality.]
* Having positive gay role models makes teenagers more likely to be
gay.
[Refutation: total lack of evidence. If role models and social
messages of acceptability affected people's sexuality in this
manner, there would be no gay people. Moreover, this begs the
question and assumes that being gay is bad, and thus to be avoided
for teenagers.]
Which leaves what I believe are the two most common reasons:
* Thinking about gay sex grosses me out.
[Which is irrelevant, of course, and offensive as well. People said
the same thing about interracial marriages. If it grosses you out
that much, it's your problem, not mine.]
And the most important:
* If I admitted that gay people were my equals, then I would have to confront that I had made a horribly serious mistake, and been engaged in ruining the lives of an awful lot of people, and blasphemously using the name of God to persecute innocent people.

It takes a while, but

It takes a while, but as time roles on the real intent and beliefs of the politicized Religious Right and those claiming that status of “advocates for the American family” come to be revealed. As they become more confident, they are more forward and honest with their intent.
The following articles from the Focus on the Family’s CitizenUpdate demonstrates that the definition of marriage is not simply a union between a man and a woman, which excludes gay couples, but even more a union between a man and a woman that must be condoned or sanctioned or approved (blessed) by a religious ceremony. The next public revelation will be that the approval is only valid when done by those who agree with their particular theological bent.
Here is the article:

Civil Weddings on the Rise
by Steve Jordahl, correspondent
SUMMARY: Family advocates worry about removing God from marriage ceremony.
An increasing number of couples are choosing civil marriages over religious ceremonies.
In fact, in 14 states, more than 40 percent of marriages are now being performed in a judge's chambers -- just like the ceremony Tammy Burnip just planned.
Instead of a church, a cake and a large reception, it was a civil judge in a small office who said, "I pronounce you husband and wife. Kiss the bride."
Burnip's wedding, at which the photographer was also the maid of honor, was governed by the one rule she had for the occasion: "To make it as simple as possible."
But, simplicity aside, family advocates are worried that taking God out of the wedding brings us one step closer to losing the traditional definition of marriage.

What do they consider to be the traditional definitin of marriage? Is marriage only a union blessed by a pastor and in the name of God? But then what definition of God according to whose theology?

Joshua Baker, a spokesman for the Marriage Law Project, said the numbers suggest a growing confusion about what marriage is really about.

Their honest idea of what marriage truly is will not fly in this country. Try to tell the 40% that their marriage is not real and not true because it was sealed before a judge rather than a minister or priest.

"Is marriage a religious ceremony, is it a civil package of benefits and rights that the government confers upon people, or is it really the cultural institution which has been the basis of our society?" Baker asked.
Such confusion plays right into the hands of those who want to redefine the institution to allow any number of alternatives, according to Dr. Allan Carlson, director of the Howard Center for Family, Religion and Society.
"I think that does fuel . . . the advocates for making marriage a much more plastic -- and, by that, a much less meaningful -- institution," Carlson said.

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As the meeting of the

As the meeting of the American Anglican Council begins in Plano, TX, begins, here is a news report:

10/6/2003
No welcome for observers at Texas meeting of conservatives
by James Solheim
[Episcopal News Service] An attempt by Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold and Dean George Werner, president of the House of Deputies, to send four observers to the American Anglican Council meeting in Texas has been rebuffed. Griswold said that the four-Bishop Christopher Epting, deputy for ecumenical and interfaith relations; Bishop Stacy Sauls of Lexington; Dean Titus Presler of Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas; and the Rev. Brian Prior of Spokane, Washington-had been asked to "bring a greeting and to listen with care and the ear of the heart to the voices of those present. Their presence was to be a visible sign of the fact
that, in the midst of disagreement, we are nonetheless fellow members of Christ's risen body and that we are called to bear one another's burdens and to acknowledge that when one member suffers the whole body must bear that suffering."
In a letter to Griswold, the Rev. David Anderson, president of the AAC, said that there is no category for observers and that all must register as participants, signing the document, "A Place to Stand," that gives the AAC's theological perspective on the current state of the church. He said that those who are gathering for the meeting feel a sense of betrayal and abandonment by the leadership of the Episcopal Church and feel that those who voted to confirm Gene Robinson's election as the church's first openly gay bishop have shattered and shipwrecked the church.
"When teachings and practices contrary to Scripture and to this orthodox Anglican perspective are permitted within the Church-or even authorized by the General Convention-in obedience to God we will disassociate ourselves from those specific teachings and practices and will resist them in every way possible," warns the "A Place to Stand" statement.

It doesn't bode well.

Stephen Bennett Ministries recently launched

Stephen Bennett Ministries recently launched a radio commentary show lasting one minute or so called StraightTalk. He comments on the political, cultural, and social aspects of the plague of homosexuality and his belief that God’s intent is to change people. Today’s commentary suggests a new television reality series for Bravo to counter the hit series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy entitled Christian Guys for the Queer Guy. Click on the link above to find the audio link – you should listen.
Bennett suggests that the new reality show would consist of five Christian guys that make over a homosexual guy into the manly heterosexual man God always intended him to be. The weekly series would chronicle the amazing transformation the queer guy goes through as God changes him into a heterosexual.
You know what, they should do the show!
However, just like the ex-gay and anti-gay Christian groups are now demanding fairness and even handedness from all aspects of society to present the ex-gay propaganda gospel, Bravo should be even handed in presenting all the struggles and failures of gay guys trying to be straight guys. If there was ever an opportunity to debunk ex-gay propaganda – the ideological, pseudo-scientific, and theological mess – this would be it. The show would be the best commentary on the negative impact and false claims of the ex-gay movement. Most assuredly there would be people who are helped with all manor of addictions, with loneliness, with emotional problems, and even with sexual and gender confusion issues, but one thing the show would prove, if the people involved are honest, is that homosexuals are not changed into heterosexuals.
Bring on the show! Not counting the fact that it would be a ratings flop (I think), the ex-gay movement would pull the show soon enough because of the continuing failures of the guys to live up to their own propaganda. Read this article appearing in March 11, 2002 issue of Christianity Today entitled, “No Easy Victory”. If this person were the queer guy the Christian-5 made over, there might well be far fewer people seeking out ex-gay ministries.
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I’ve been debating with myself

I’ve been debating with myself (no comments, please) about being more specific with the different weblogs I have, some of which are simply replacements for regular webpages for the sake of convenience. Anyway, I’m going to attempt, I think, to be more diligent in placing gay/ex-gay/ex-ex-gay/homosexual issues in my “Gay/Ex-gay Weblog”. The other option is to simply put everything here, but then…
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