The Christian Century

The top Washington lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, who had already faced criticism for his embrace of environmental activism, has resigned after signaling support for same-sex civil unions.

The three-week Lambeth Conference in England concluded with essentially the same prognosis that bishops of the global Anglican Communion were given before they met in Canterbury.

Because the blessings of two lesbian couples were called “unions” or “weddings,” not “marriages,” the highest court in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has reversed a lower court’s censure of lesbian clergywoman Jane Spahr, who performed the rites in California.

Episcopal presiding bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says other member bodies of the Anglican Communion apply a “double standard” when they challenge the U.S. church for having an openly gay bishop and blessing same-sex unions.

Canada’s Anglican and Lutheran churches have each turned down proposals to approve ceremonies of blessing for same-sex unions.

The General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, meeting in Winnipeg, on June 24 narrowly defeated a resolution that would have allowed dioceses to decide for themselves whether or not to bless same-sex unions.

Episcopal bishops have brushed off an attempt to give overseas Anglicans a role in governing the Episcopal Church, saying such a move would be “injurious” and could lead to a permanent division of the U.S. church.

Blessings for people living in same-sex relationships triggered heated debate at a meeting last month of the main governing body of the Lutheran World Federation in the southern Swedish city of Lund.

Divisions that have torn apart the Anglican Communion and created discord in other Christian denominations received an airing March 22, but no action was taken.

Openly gay students who want to serve as rabbis or cantors in Conservative Judaism are now welcome at the Jewish Theological Seminary, school officials said in New York.

The Eastern Oklahoma Presbytery says that reconciliation efforts have failed to convince its second-largest congregation to remain in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The 2,600-member Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church of Tulsa was thus declared last month to be in schism with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) by the regional body.

The Roman Catholic Church has lost the fight to opt out of new laws in England and Wales banning discrimination against gay couples, throwing its adoption agencies into a bind.