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Episcopal bishops nix foreign oversight: A declaration of independence

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.

At their annual spring retreat in Navasota, Texas, the bishops on March 20 defended their turf and asserted their independence while acknowledging that their liberal stance may alienate the U.S. church from the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Disagreement on same-sex relations riles Lutheran body: Heated debate in Lutheran World Federation

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.

As with the divisions among Anglicans, Lutheran churches in the global North tend to be more accepting of same-gender partnerships, and most of the opposition comes from the global South, including African countries.

Jewish seminary opens door to gay students: "In keeping with Jewish tradition of pluralism"

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 announcement came three months after the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly, the movement’s decision-making body, gave seminaries and congregations permission to ordain homosexual rabbis and bless same-sex unions.

JTS announced its decision March 26 after evaluating thousands of survey responses and conducting discussions with faculty, religious leaders and students.

Briefly noted

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 presbytery expressed “deep sadness” over the loss and over “the sense of division which plagues our denomination,” said presbytery executive Greg Coulter. In August, Kirk of the Hills pastor Thomas W.