The Blinne Blog

Casper City Council Moves Monument, Rebuffs Phelps

The latest on the Fred Phelps saga is here. The Casper City Council decided to move their 10 Commandments monument to a park that will put it in historical context. They also banned Phelps from this park. Not to undone, Phelps is trying to place his monument in Idaho. Here's the Casper story:

City Council decides to create monument plaza

By BRENDAN BURKE Star-Tribune staff writer
On a 5-4 vote the Casper City Council on Tuesday decided to move the city's Ten Commandments monument from City Park to a new historic plaza on the corner of Beech and Second streets.

The council also unanimously voted to reject an offer from Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., to place a monument declaring slain gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard is in hell anywhere on city property.

The decision to move the Ten Commandments to the new plaza is designed to keep the monument on public property and in a context that will play up the Decalogue's historic value.

Several council members stated that by highlighting the historic value of the Ten Commandments, the city will be less vulnerable to potential litigation.

However, spokespersons for both the Freedom From Religion Foundation of Madison, Wis., and the Westboro Baptist Church said the move is nothing more than an attempt to circumvent the law laid down by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2002 when it ruled in the case of Summan v. Ogden , which states a city that displays a Ten Commandments monument must also display monuments espousing more unpopular beliefs.

The motion to place the Ten Commandments monument in the new plaza was introduced by Councilman Paul Bertoglio and seconded by Councilman Ed Opella, after the council voted on another 5-4 vote to take the monument out of City Park where it has been since 1965, the year the Fraternal Order of Eagles donated it to the city.

Along with Bertoglio and Opella, Councilwomen Jacquie Anderson, Lynne Whalen and Mayor Barb Peryam voted for the plaza plan.

Council members Barb Watters, Guy Padgett, Renee Burgess and Mildred Lamb, who had to participate in the meeting via telephone due to incapacitation caused by a broken ankle, voted against the proposal.

Watters, Padgett, Burgess, Lamb and Peryam voted to remove the monument from City Park.

"This is where our statement of faith, our statements of values, our backbone belongs," Peryam said while endorsing the historic plaza plan. "And for those outsiders who think they can run our city, I say, 'Thank you, thank you very, very much.' Because, you know what, if you think that we are going to put our monument someplace in cold storage, I've got another thought for you. We are going to put it where it will be more noticed, more taken advantage of and used for learning purposes by all families.

"If we are going to be taken to court for this action, then so be it," Peryam added. "Bring it on because this is a battle I firmly believe we can win."

However, neither Dan Barker of the Freedom From Religion Foundation nor Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church shared Peryam's assessment of the city's chances in a court case defending the constitutionality of the historic plaza plan.

"It looks like a ruse; it looks like a trick for them to keep it," Barker said. "It would probably be unconstitutional because the intention of the city is to maintain a religious document. The reason they are doing that is to keep the Ten Commandments."

Phelps-Roper agreed with Barker.

"What they have done is a thinly veiled attempt to do an end run around the Constitution," she said. "What they did here was try to create a way to avoid having to deal what the 10th Circuit said they must do."

Barker was unable to say what his organization's next move on the matter of Casper's Ten Commandments will be.

Phelps-Roper, however, said her church will "explore our options." Asked if those options include litigation, her response was, "Of course they do."

After the City Council approved moving the Ten Commandments to the new plaza, Watters introduced a measure to give the Decalogue back to the Eagles if a lawsuit is filed against the city challenging the constitutionality of the historic plaza. The measure failed.

The Casper City Council has been embroiled in a controversy over the Ten Commandments since last month, when the Freedom of Religion Foundation sent a letter to the city asking for the monolith's removal.

The foundation claims having a Ten Commandments monument on city property is a violation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The controversy deepened when Phelps announced plans to place a monument in City Park near the Ten Commandments.

City Manager Tom Forslund said the Ten Commandments monument will probably be removed from City Park and placed in temporary storage some time in the next month. He was unsure, however, exactly when the move will be done.

The idea for the new historic plaza is based on a plan utilized by the city of Grand Junction, Colo., that withstood a legal challenge from the American Civil Liberties Union in 2001.

Under the plan adopted Tuesday, the city of Casper will construct a plaza on city-owned land located on the southeast corner of Beech and Second streets. The Ten Commandments will be joined in the new plaza by monuments honoring the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble of the United States Constitution and other documents vital to the historic development of American law, Forslund said.

The city budgeted money to renovate the now-vacant plot into a plaza of some kind when it passed its fiscal year 2004 budget in June.

Design work on the historic plaza should begin this winter and bidding should take place next spring, Forslund said. Hopefully the plaza will be finished in a year, the city manager added.

The new monuments for the plaza will cost the city between $4,500 and $5,500 each, Forslund said.

Here's the Idaho story:

Kansas minister wants to erect anti-gay monument in Idaho

By REBECCA BOONE

Associated Press Writer

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A minister known for his fiery rhetoric against homosexuals and who unsuccessfully fought to erect an anti-gay monument in Casper, Wyo., is now turning to the tiny town of Rupert, Idaho.

The Rev. Fred Phelps asked Minidoka County Commissioners this week to buy a small section of the courthouse lawn for the same monument rejected by Casper's city leaders on Tuesday.

He got the idea after learning that Rupert's local American Legion post was seeking to buy the land for a Ten Commandments monument. American Legion members hoped that by purchasing the land, they could display the biblical message without violating the separation of church and state.

''I didn't think anybody would come up with buying a 2- by 3-foot spot of the land. That's a wonderful idea,'' Phelps said.

Commissioners said they have not yet reviewed Phelps' request and do not know if they could legally sell a portion of the land. But their reaction to the proposed monument - which says that a slain University of Wyoming student went to hell because he was gay - was guarded.

''I'm afraid this is a can of worms getting opened up,'' said Commissioner Dave Teeter. ''Personally I don't think there's a chance that it's going to happen. It's just going to get worse. Here I thought we were a nice town, and we don't need that around here.''

American Legion member Don Murray was disappointed to learn of Phelps' request.

''I think it's a shame. We just wanted to do something for the community, and all of a sudden other people want to take advantage of it,'' Murray said.

Murray said that if the American Legion is unable to purchase courthouse land, they will not attempt to post the Ten Commandments anywhere else.

Phelps, 73, of Topeka, Kan., said he was unconcerned that his anti-gay message could prevent the Ten Commandments from being displayed in Rupert, a community of 5,645 people about 165 miles southeast of Boise.

''My message is infinitely more important than the Ten Commandments, because nobody is delivering it,'' Phelps said.

If denied, Phelps said he may attempt to buy land near the courthouse for the monument.

He already has started advertising for land near downtown in Casper, Wyo. offering to pay ''top dollar.''

''We're prepared to go as high as we need to go,'' he said.

Casper is the hometown of slain student Matthew Shepard, who was beaten and left for dead outside Laramie, Wyo. Shepard's 1998 murder sparked a national outcry for hate-crimes legislation. Phelps picketed the funeral.

On Phelps' proposed monument for Rupert, Shepard is pictured along with the inscription: ''MATTHEW SHEPARD, Entered Hell October 12, 1998, at Age 21, In defiance of God's solemn warning: 'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is abomination.' Leviticus 18:22.''

Phelps said he was attracted to Rupert because he believes it is a place where the monument would be safe from vandalism.

''I'm not planning to put one in the Castro district of San Francisco where all the homosexuals rule. We plan to dot this country with these monuments, where at least they're not determined to destroy it,'' he said.

Commissioner Marvin Bingham said the matter would be discussed Monday at the next commissioners' meeting.

Colorado Theologian Calls for Presiding Bishop to Resign

The Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner of the Diocese of Colorado sent the following letter to The Most Rev. Frank Griswold who is the Presiding Bishop of the ECUSA.

October 30, 2003

The Most Rev. Frank Griswold
Presiding Bishop
815 Second Ave. New York,
NY 10017

October 28, 2003

Dear Presiding Bishop Griswold:

I write out of deep respect for your office and for various services
you have rendered these past years in filling it. It is precisely for the sake of maintaining this dual respect, tied to the preservation of our church's integrity that I humbly ask, along with many others that you now step down from your position as Presiding Bishop.

The time has come when events have clearly proved your continued leadership of ECUSA to be an obstacle to renewed corporate health.

You have, for some years, lifted up a vision for us of communal diversity; but this vision has now engendered bitter and seemingly intransigent division. You have for some time promoted a pastoral ministry of reconciliation; but this has now been embodied in a widespread rancor. You have sought to give witness to a community where truths are held in tension; but this has now born within our midst only the fruit of lawless turmoil. Compounded by your unwillingness, however principled from your standpoint, to abide by and lead others into respectful embrace of the teaching, pleas and admonitions of the Anglican Communion at large, now voiced with unequivocal clarity, you have left ECUSA in a place where we are a pariah and derided scapegoat for churches and denominations around this nation and across the globe. Whatever happens in New Hampshire, the Episcopal Church has seriously lost its collective way, and your presence at the helm is no longer something in which we can have confidence.

We urge your resignation at this time. It would come as an act of mercy and of courage, and would be welcomed in that spirit.

In the peace of Christ Jesus,

Ephraim Radner (The Rev. Dr.)
Diocese of Colorado

Williams asked to dissociate Episcopal Church if gay bishop's canonization proceeds

The Association for Chruch Renewal sent the following letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury:

The Most Reverend Rowan D. Williams
Lambeth Palace
London, SE1 7JU

October 29, 2003

Your Grace:
As a fellowship of renewing and confessing movement leaders within mainline Protestant denominations in the United States and Canada, the Association for Church Renewal notes with sadness the decision of the Episcopal Church USA to confirm the election of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, an unrepentant practicing homosexual, as bishop and to recognize liturgies celebrating and blessing "same-sex unions."

By these radical actions, the Episcopal Church USA has severed its ties with Scripture, with two millennia of Christian moral teaching, with the great majority of Anglicanism's 77-million members worldwide, and with the larger Christian community around the world. We do not believe and cannot accept that this is Christ's will for His Church.

Our Association for Church Renewal is an ecumenical fellowship that represents millions of Christians who continue to live in faithfulness to God's Word. With Scripture and the historic teachings of the Church, we understand marriage to be a covenant between one man and one woman, the only appropriate context for sexual intimacy.

We are weary of divisive and destructive actions being taken by those seeking approval and even sacred blessing of homosexual behavior. Their relentless pursuit of this agenda has deeply damaged the Body of Christ. Already, we observe the results within your own communion, including massive membership losses, financial redirection, the departure of clergy, and threats of disassociation being made by Global South provinces.

It has been said that the acceptance of homosexual behavior by the Church is a necessary accommodation to Western culture. We reject this claim. As Christians who live in the United States and Canada, we know, first-hand, the fragmentation of the family, plague of sexually transmitted diseases, and loss of human dignity that have resulted from our culture's sexual mores. We repent of these practices, and we ask forgiveness of every non-Western culture to which we have exported our culture's licentiousness. We believe Christians are called not to accommodation, but to the transformation of culture.

We respectfully request that the Archbishop of Canterbury and the 37 primates of the worldwide Anglican Communion, heed the pleas from Biblically faithful Christian churches in North America and around the world. In the event that the Episcopal Church USA proceeds to "consecrate" Rev. Robinson's election as bishop, we ask that you declare publicly your refusal to recognize this act, and that you exercise appropriate fraternal discipline by declaring that the Episcopal Church USA has alienated itself from the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Such faithful leadership would bear powerful witness to Christian churches everywhere – and to a watching world – that the Body of Christ continues in fidelity to the Biblical foundation of the one holy, catholic and apostolic Church as the only norm for faith and life.

In Christ,

Rev. James V. Heidinger II, ACR Chairman
President and Publisher
Good News
United Methodist

Mrs. Diane Knippers, ACR Co-Chair
President
Institute on Religion and Democracy

Rev. Parker Williamson, ACR Co-Chair
Chief Executive Officer and Editor In Chief
The Presbyterian Lay Committee
Presbyterian Church (USA)

The following is a partial listing of ACR members:

Ms. Sara L. Anderson
Vice President
Bristol House, Ltd.
United Methodist

Rev. Karen Booth
Executive Director
Transforming Congregations
United Methodist Church

Rev. Mark Chavez
Executive Director
WordAlone Network
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Rev. Susan Cyre
Executive Director and Editor
Theology Matters
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Rev. Ira Gallaway
Associate Director
The Confessing Movement
United Methodist Church

Dr. Christopher Hershman
Evangelical Lutheran Confessing Fellowship
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Ms. Linda Huntington
Administrative Coordinator
American Anglican Council
Episcopal Church USA

Mr. Jim Kushiner
Executive Editor
Touchstone Journal

Mr. Bruce Mason
Media Officer
American Anglican Council
Episcopal Church USA

Pastor Gerald Miller
Member, WordAlone Network
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Sen. Patricia Miller
Executive Director
The Confessing Movement
United Methodist Church

Rev. Bill Nicoson
National Coordinator
American Baptist Evangelicals
American Baptist Church

Dr. Tom Oden
Chairman
Institute on Religion and Democracy
Dr. Oden is United Methodist, the IRD is ecumenical

Rev. David Runnion-Bareford
Executive Director
Biblical Witness Fellowship
United Church of Christ

Mrs. Terry Schlossberg
Presbyterians Pro-Life
Presbyterian Church (USA)

Mrs. L. Faye Short
President
RENEW Network for Women
United Methodist Church

Mr. David M. Stanley and Mrs. Jean L. Stanley
Chairman and Board Member
United Methodist Action
United Methodist Church

Rev. Vernon Stoop, Jr.
Executive Director
Focus Renewal Ministries
United Church of Christ

Mr. Mark Tooley
Executive Director
United Methodist Action
United Methodist Church

Rev. Todd H. Wetzel
Executive Director
Anglicans United (Formerly Episcopalians United)
Episcopal Church USA

Mr. Geoff Wilkins
National Chairman
National Alliance of Covenanting Congregations
United Church of Canada

More Anglican Trouble

The situation in the Anglican communion appears to have become completely polarized. I noted here how it looked like conservative Anglicans are attempting to force their will on the liberals. It appears that the liberals are attempting the same with the conservatives. What's at stake here is whether dissenters will be able to have alternative oversight. In Anglican-speak this is to have a kind of denomination within a denomination. This was provided for by the primates here. Here's the situation as described by the Abbortsford Times:

Dissident Anglican priests charged by church

By Lisa Jorgensen - LJorgensen@abbotsfordtimes.com

The pastor of St. Matthew's Anglican Church is facing a handful of charges from the Diocese of the Yukon.

Rev. Trevor Walters, along with six other priests, who all belong to the Anglican Communion in New Westminster and oppose the blessing of same-sex unions, are now facing "ecclesiastical charges" for that opposition.

"Whenever anyone is charged with something it's traumatic," ACiNW spokes-man Peter Turner said Monday. "It's unprecedented. There's never been anything like this in the history of the Anglican Church in Canada at least."

The charges which are similar for all the priests, include disobedience to the bishop, contemptuous or disrespectful conduct toward the bishop, schism, conduct causing scandal and "otherwise offences against the lawful authority of the bishop," an ACiNW news release reported.

Turner added that each priest has received about five charges. The exception is Walters, who has received about 10, most of which are described as "trivial."

"Bishop [Michael] Ingham doesn't believe in free speech at all. Most charges refer to private conversations. Basically it's an attack against people who don't believe [in the same thing]. Bishop Ingham seems to be lashing out at anyone he can," Turner said of the charges being pressed on the ACiNW, which represents about one quarter of the Diocese of New Westminster.

"What it really means for the Anglican Church is rather than try to resolve issues, he is proceeding to destroy his church."

The procedures after the charges have been laid are similar to civil court, however in this case they are within the church, Turner added.

"A person is presumed innocent until proven guilty although in this case it is not happening," he said, adding that the charges are trivial as they relate to the priests' beliefs.

"It's traumatic, but it's been this way ever since they put themselves at risk a year and a half ago. It's been a tremendous strain for themselves and family . . . and congregations."

At issue is Ingham's decision to bless same-sex unions. Since the synod in June 2002, members of the ACiNW, including the Church of the Holy Cross in Abbotsford, have voted in favour of alternative oversight from Bishop Terry Buckle, of the Diocese of Yukon.

An easy resolution to the ongoing crisis in the Anglican community, Turner said, would be for Ingham to allow Buckle's offer of alternative leadership, something that there is precedent for and something that the archbishop has recommended.

"Basically Bishop Ingham is thumbing his nose at him," Turner said.

Things are progressing rapidly between the two sides and the pending meeting of the Canadian House of Bishops this week will probably "have a lot of fireworks happening," Turner added.

Diocese of New Westminster spokesman Neale Adams explained that although the charges have been called in the diocese, "it's really preliminary in the sense the commission of inquiry has to look at them and see if they are valid. If it doesn't go to trial there's no reason to publicize them."

The charges, according to the ACiNW, were filed on Aug. 28, but were announced on Oct. 15, less than 24 hours before the Anglican communion's senior archbishops issued a statement saying decisions on human sexuality by the Diocese of New Westminster threaten to "tear the fabric of our communion at its deepest level." The statement also recommended "adequate episcopal oversight" for so-called dissenting minorities.

Also charged are Rev. Stephen Leung, of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rev. David Short, St. John's Shaughnessy, Rev. Barclay Mayo, St. Andrew's Pender Harbour, Rev. Simon Chin, St. Matthias and St. Luke, Rev. Silas Ng, Church of Emmanuel in Richmond, and Rev. Ed Hird, St. Simon's in North Vancouver.

Church of the Holy Cross's Rev. James Wagner was recently fired.

More information is found here:

B.C. Anglicans: 'Anger, distrust and sadness'

By Frank Stirk

THE LONG-STANDING and increasingly bitter dispute within the Anglican diocese of New Westminster over a rite of blessing for committed same-sex couples has fostered "deep currents of anger, distrust and sadness" within many of its parishes, says Fredericton, New Brunswick, bishop William Hockin.

Last spring, New Westminster bishop Michael Ingham had asked Hockin to serve temporarily as an 'episcopal visitor' -- essentially a spiritual counselor -- to parishes uncomfortable with the same-sex blessing.

Although Hockin himself is a conservative, the eight breakaway parishes of the Anglican Communion in New Westminster (ACiNW) rejected his offer of assistance when he visited in June, since his mandate fell far short of their key demand of "alternative episcopal oversight."

Writing in the New Brunswick Anglican, Hockin said that limited his ministry to the "several" parishes -- out of the 72 that at the time still recognized Ingham as their bishop -- who opposed the blessing but had chosen not to join the ACiNW.

What he discovered were "congregations torn apart by suspicion, anger and loss of trust." Many reported declines in membership and financial giving. "A priest reported to me that on a Sunday in June his lay reader was reading Psalm 133. As she read 'How good and pleasant it is when people live together in unity' she broke down in tears, as did others throughout the congregation. The reason -- clearly there is no unity, nothing 'good and pleasant,'" said Hockin.

For his part, Ingham paints a very different picture of those parishes which -- at least on the surface -- have remained loyal to him.

"The great majority of conservative people in our diocese are reconciled to the decision of the diocese in that they understand that this [same-sex blessing] is where the majority of people want to go, and they're not leaving the diocese, " he recently told a BBC interviewer.

Ingham, who was in England in late October to address a conference hosted by the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, said the real problem facing New Westminster is homophobia.

"In response to change and an attempt to reach out compassionately to gay and lesbian people, some traditionalists have responded with anarchy," he said.

And far from being "hard-line" in his handling of the crisis, Ingham said that in fact "most people in my diocese think I've been far too patient." It is an evaluation that -- based on their own experiences -- clergy and parishes which have parted company with Ingham would probably challenge.

Church awaits its fate

Any day now, the Church of the Holy Cross, an Anglican mission church -- and the ACiNW's newest member -- could hear from Ingham that it no longer exists. As things stand, it is already on life-support.

The church's troubles began in September when the congregation voted 97 per cent in favour of breaking with Ingham and aligning with Yukon Bishop Terry Buckle. The diocese responded swiftly by cutting off all funding to the three-year-old church. It also recommended to Ingham that Holy Cross be shut down. In a letter to clergy, executive archdeacon Ronald Harrison said that Ingham needs "time to reflect on that." But Ingham did place the church's priest, Rev. James Wagner, "on leave with permission to officiate."

"I'm not sure what that entitles me to do or not to do," Wagner told the National Post.

Diocesan communication officer Neale Adams says that, as a mission church -- as opposed to a parish church -- Holy Cross received the bulk of its funding from the diocese. And if it wants to continue, it will have to look elsewhere for support. "I suppose the people themselves could raise the money," he says. "But the level of support was something like $140,000 over the first couple of years, so it was a significant amount of money that was being put in."

But while Wagner's future remains uncertain, assistant warden Bill Glasgow is confident that Holy Cross will survive.

"People outside of Abbotsford have contacted us and want to help us financially," he told the Abbotsford Times. "Other parishes not part of the ACiNW want to demonstrate they don't agree with Bishop Michael and [have] asked how they can give to us."

Holy Cross meets at the Matsqui Recreation Centre on Clearbrook Road.

Blacklisted priest

For Rev. Paul Carter, the mid-September launch of Immanuel Westside Church in Vancouver marked the close of a difficult chapter in his life.

In 2001, Ingham removed him from serving at St. Philips Dunbar Heights -- or anywhere else in the diocese -- allegedly because of his traditionalist views. "Bishop Michael systematically marginalized me," he says. "I was denied the opportunity to work, deemed by him to be a troublemaker."

Instead, Carter worked briefly first at St. John's Shaughnessy, and then at St. Matthew's Abbotsford. In June 2002, he became executive director of the fledgling ACiNW, before moving back to the same community which he had left two years earlier to plant Immanuel Westside.

Carter's vision for his church, which currently worships at Dunbar Heights Baptist Church, is to move within a year to UBC, where it can better evangelize a growing resident student population. But Carter admits that he has to "tread very carefully."

"I am a priest licensed by Bishop Terry [Buckle] to function in the Diocese of the Yukon," he says, "but I am not in any way licensed by him to break territorial integrity and plant a church here in Vancouver."

And so, while Immanuel Westside is affiliated with the ACiNW -- and is its first church plant -- Carter insists that it remains officially "Anglican style," but independent of both Ingham and Buckle.

Above the fray

"Wherever possible, we don't even talk about the crisis in the services," says David Short, the rector of St. John's Shaughnessy Anglican Church in Vancouver.

One of the largest and wealthiest Anglican parishes in Canada, St. John's tries hard to rise above the controversy swirling around it.

Short says that, although he still devotes two days a week to the issues that drove his church to reject Ingham's pastoral oversight, ministry remains their top priority.

"We really are trying to move forward," he says. "We have people coming to faith in Christ, we have a new evangelism group, and we have over 100 people meeting in two new Bible study groups."

But that does not mean that St. John's has not suffered. Last year, parishioners voted 98 per cent in favour of no longer sending their assessment or regular financial contribution to the diocese. And that, says Lesley Bentley, did prompt a few to leave.

"Maybe ten out of a congregation of 1,200 left. But they're still an important part of our community, and so it was very difficult and very sad," says Bentley, who is also a media spokesperson for the ACiNW.

But she adds that their departure has been more than offset by an influx of Anglicans from other parishes "who have been frustrated that their parishes haven't taken a [similar] stand."

'Martial law'

When delegates to the New Westminster synod voted in June 2002 to endorse the same-sex blessing, those who walked out in protest reconvened at St. Martin's in North Vancouver for prayer and worship.

The parish has been on the frontlines ever since, and has suffered for it. Last September, Ingham invoked canon law and replaced its elected leaders with people loyal to him. He said he had to act, because the parish -- now without a rector -- was in turmoil following its decision to align with Bishop Terry Buckle.

To parishioner Ron Edwards, Ingham's actions were nothing short of "martial law."

"We were denied our right to meet and discuss amongst ourselves the issues that affect the parish, denied the publishing [of] our parish newsletter. The list goes on," he says.

Perhaps most damaging, says Edwards, was the firing by Ingham's "bishop's wardens" of youth pastor James Moffett.

"The youth learned so much from James, and had grown so much spiritually -- and now just feel devastated," he says.

After Ingham's actions, parishioners met to vote unanimously that St. Martin's was not in crisis, as the bishop had claimed. They also reaffirmed their support for the leaders he had fired, and for Buckle.

But Ingham says that, since a virtual state of emergency remains in effect, the meeting was illegal -- and "any motions passed . . . have no validity whatsoever."

I have had some personal experience with this type of case. I was appointed prosecutor against a pastor who violated a presbytery order. My experience from this prompted the following letter to the editor:

Lawful and Unlawful Orders

Mr. Rich Blinne, a ruling elder at Cornerstone Presbyterian in Ft. Collins, CO, graciously submitted this response to our editorial entitled, "Conscience Bound." He expressed total agreement with the editorial, "A Complaint By Any Other Name . . . ."

The following is my personal opinion and may or may not represent the position of the Rocky Mountain Presbytery. I am a Jus Divinum Presbyterian. As such, I believe that the courts of the church may at times make lawful orders of their members. I come to that conclusion from the following section of the Confession (Chapter 20-4):

And because the powers which God hath ordained, and the liberty which Christ hath purchased, are not intended by God to destroy, but mutually to uphold and preserve one another, they who, upon pretence of Christian liberty, shall oppose any lawful power, or the lawful exercise of it, whether it be civil or ecclesiastical, resist the ordinance of God. And, for their publishing of such opinions, or maintaining of such practices, as are contrary to the light of nature, or to the known principles of Christianity (whether concerning faith, worship, or conversation), or to the power of godliness; or, such erroneous opinions or practices, as either in their own nature, or in the manner of publishing or maintaining them, are destructive to the external peace and order which Christ hath established in the Church, they may lawfully be called to account, and proceeded against, by the censures of the Church.

Concerning this clause, A.A. Hodge said the following:

It is of the highest importance, on the other hand, clearly to understand that Christian liberty is not an absolute liberty to do as we choose, but a regulated liberty to obey God without hindrance from man. It is a freedom from usurped authority, in order that we may be the more perfectly subject to the only legitimate authority. It is hence absurd, as well as wicked, for a man to make his Christian liberty to obey only God a plea to disobey God, as he does whenever he violates any of the principles of natural right or of revealed truth which express at once the unchangeable nature and the all-perfect will of God. There can be no liberty which sets a man independent of that will; and this is always the will of God concerning us, even our sanctification. (1 Thess. 4:3.)

The Rocky Mountain Presbytery ordered TE Bruce Nickoley to exhort his congregation to obey the Ninth Commandment and 1 Corinthians 6. They did that not because the Evergreen congregation was picketing per se, but rather the implied message of the signs was that Dear Creek Church held secret meetings, said message being slanderous. Given TE Nickoley's responsibilities described in BCO 8-3 that "no corruption of doctrine or of morals [of the congregation] enter therein", Rocky Mountain Presbytery believed that the order was a lawful one.

Having said all this, great weight must be given to the claim of binding the conscience. The clause of the Confession I quoted was used to unlawfully excommunicate J. Gresham Machen. The slippery slope into prelacy is there. So, if there was ever a case where all the protections of process are needed, it was this one. This is where the Rocky Mountain Presbytery erred and violated TE Nickoley's rights. Presbytery does have the right to give lawful orders but it must prove them to be so and with the highest standards of proof.

While I disagree with TE Smith as to the extent of church power, I do agree with him with respect to the Central Georgia case. Even granting my more expansive power for church authority, the claimed powers fails on two counts. 1. Any evangelist ordained by Central Georgia is subject to its authority, not another Presbytery and certainly not MNA. It was on this basis that the Rocky Mountain Presbytery found TE Nickoley not guilty of other, but related charges. TE Nickoley was ordained by another body. Therefore, Rocky Mountain Presbytery had no jurisdiction and could not lawfully compel obedience. 2. An order to disobey the Confession is facially unlawful.

It is my hope that the PCA will learn from Rocky Mountain Presbytery's errors. While the church does have real powers, they are ministerial and declarative. They should be used for the building up and not the tearing down. I pray that the General Assembly of the PCA will do just that and rule justly on this matter. [emphasis mine]

During trial we discovered that TE Nickoley was ordained by his local body (which at the time was no longer in our denomination) and thus removed him from our jurisdiction. Thus we could not lawfully order him. The court found (and I personally voted for) him to be not guilty.

I believe this case is applicable to the case at hand. If you don't allow for proper and orderly transfer of jurisdiction (and the commensurate letting go of power), you will simply blow up the church. In the second story there was a woman who broke down crying while trying to read Psalm 133. I echo those tears.

More Thoughts on Online Music

I have had some days now to look at the respective technologies for online music. It seems that the labels are doing their best to make the pay versions of online music much more difficult than the "free" versions. Let's look at what made the file swapping programs popular (excluding, of course, getting something for nothing).

• Exploring — This deals with the issue that radio has done a lousy job of exploring new music (even so-called alternative stations). Even in large urban areas, radio is a vast wasteland of bland uniformity. Napster allowed for people to explore new music easily.

  There is a very key difference between copyrights for broadcasting versus actual copies. A copyright holder cannot withhold the broadcast of their material if the broadcaster abides by the statutory license payments. This license is also more artist-friendly and less label-friendly on who receives the royalties.

  With the new Napster many of the really new tracks are buy-only. Thus, only 30-second clips are available for streaming. This restricts the ability of exploring new music. This is not Roxio's fault. Rather, it is the music labels trying to restrict things. Napster also does not give information on music that is not yet available. Apple Music Store has no streaming whatsoever. MusicMatch to the rescue. Here they have their radio-based model for streaming. Brand new stuff is available for streaming. The only restriction is — like radio — you cannot pick the exact music you will be getting. You can specify down to the granularity of an individual artist, however. If the track or album is available for purchase, you can click on the buy-track button or add a song to your wish list. In addition to this, their music guide is far better than the other two. They include music that they don't have yet available. On the negative side, they removed the Buy-CD with Buy-Track button. There is really no need for this either/or approach. Some people would prefer a CD over electronic tracks. Hopefully, they will bring the old button back.

• Availability — People want to play their music on their equipment. For playing on your computer, this is mostly solved (at least for PC owners). It appears that the labels will be providing music at least for purchase in some form. It may get expensive. In one case I noted that to purchase an album through Napster would be twice as expensive as buying the CD. MusicMatch and Apple Music Store both provide more comprehensive album purchasing selections. My guess is the price issue will be a temporary problem on Napster.

  Playing on portables is a different story. As I commented earlier, there are two major formats for protected music. Apple Music Store seems locked into AAC while Napster seems locked into WMA. Again, MusicMatch to the rescue. Their CEO has been publically quoted as saying that they will look at supporting AAC format. Hopefully, this will include transcoding between formats. Their vision is being a universal player. Even without this support, they are coming real close. The only issue right now is they have the smallest library of the three majors. This will undoubtably be fixed in the next couple of months.

As you can see I am a big MusicMatch fan. In a sea of black hats they seem to be the only white hat out their. Add to that their new relationship with Dell for driving Dell's new portable. They may make the online music business work despite the ongoing stupidity of the labels.

Church draws up secret plans for Anglican 'Pope'

The Archbishop of Canterbury will be granted sweeping new powers under secret proposals to force rebel Anglican churches into line, The Times can disclose. This requires a paper subscription to The Times which I don't have. So, I am including a summary of the article from ekklesia. If anyone has a Times Online subscription please verify the accuracy of the summary.

Church may give new powers to Archbishop -24/10/03

The Archbishop of Canterbury may be granted new powers under secret proposals to force rebel Anglican churches into line, reports The Times newspaper.

The planned changes in church law would apparently give Dr Rowan Williams the power to intervene in the affairs of churches outside England for the first time since the Church was established by Henry VIII.

The proposals, which would have to be agreed by the Church’s separate provinces, have already aroused suspicions that they will turn the Archbishop into an Anglican version of the Pope suggests the newspaper.

The powers are proposed in a legal document presented to the 37 Anglican primates who met at Lambeth Palace last week.

At present, the Archbishop of Canterbury has moral authority amongst bishops but no juridical authority.

The new proposals could lead to new powers being granted to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to his fellow primates, through the legal adoption of mutually agreed ius commune, common law, into the canon law of individual Anglican provinces.

The paper emphasises that any new powers would be used only in exceptional circumstances. “There is no hidden aggrandisement policy on the part of the Archbishop and his advisers,” a senior source told the Times. “But the present divisions are acute and need to be addressed urgently.”

The new role will be worked out by the commission Dr Williams agreed to set up last week “to consider his own role in maintaining communion within and between provinces when grave difficulties arise”.

According to the paper presented to the primates, the aim would be to give the Archbishop of Canterbury power to intervene in the internal affairs of another province “for the sake of maintaining communion within the said province and between the said province and the rest of the Anglican Communion”.

The author, a senior canon lawyer, cites the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution which called for a commission to be set up to work out when it would be appropriate for the Archbishop to exercise “an extraordinary ministry of episcope (pastoral oversight), support and reconciliation with regard to the internal affairs of a province other than his own”.

In the paper he writes: “To date, no such commission has been established, and it is possible that this may be one of the reasons why provinces and individual primates may have been tempted to take the law into their own hands.”

Canon John Rees, Joint Registrar of the Province of Canterbury, who has been involved with the new Network of Legal Advisers set up by the Anglican Consultative Council at its meeting in Hong Kong in 2002, said the intention was not to create an Anglican Pope.

“My hunch would be that the Anglican Communion, having such a heavy emphasis on provincial autonomy, would have little or no stomach for that sort of supra-provincial structure.”

Dark Galaxy Found

The discovery of a so-called dark galaxy is being reported by New Scientist.  A dark galaxy is a galaxy mostly composed of dark matter.  Dark matter is the generic term for the matter in the universe that is not directly observable as it emits no light. Although its presence is inferred from the motion of galaxies, its exact form is controversial. Dark Matter is believed to include MACHOs - Jupiter like objects the fill the galaxies and WIMPS - Exotic particles that have mass but dont otherwise interact strongly with normal matter.   Results from the WMAP satellite is telling us that dark matter makes up about 23% of the universe while baryons (what we consider "normal" matter) only constitute 4% of the universe.  What is reported below is further confirmation of the existence of dark matter.

Astronomers have found the first "dark galaxy" - a black cloud of hydrogen gas and exotic particles, devoid of stars. The gloomy galaxy lurks two million light years from Earth.

Joshua Simon, Timothy Robishaw and Leo Blitz of the University of California, Berkeley, observed a cloud of hydrogen gas called HVC 127-41-330 using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico.

It appears to be rotating so fast it would fall apart unless it contains a strong, hidden source of gravity. The researchers therefore argue that the cloud must be at least 80 per cent dark matter, the hypothetical invisible substance whose gravity is supposed to explain why many objects in the cosmos move as fast as they do.

If they are right, this could resolve a problem in dark matter theory. In our local group of galaxies, we know of only about 35 dwarf galaxies, but simulations of galaxy formation using dark matter suggest there should be about 500.

If most of these dwarfs are dark galaxies with no stars, that would explain why we have missed them until now. The reason HVC 127-41-330 and its kind are dark may be because they have too small. Without enough mass, their gravitational forces would be too weak to cram gas together densely enough to form any stars.

Winner Takes All? No, Winner Plays All

Having run both Napster and iTunes for Windows I found the same thing a USA Today reviewer did

More seriously for users of other software, Apple's songs are sold in the AAC format, which I incorrectly said on my Chat last week was an Apple-proprietary format. It's not, but on the other hand it might as well be: I've had a really hard time finding another Windows jukebox application that works with it. Winamp, MusicMatch, RealOne and Windows Media Player won't play them, and if you want to use Roxio's popular Easy CD and DVD Creator to burn AAC songs to a CD, you're also out of luck.

If you buy songs at the iTunes Music Store, you have to play them in iTunes for Windows and use that program to transfer to CDs, whether you like it or not. And if you can get it to "rip" songs from your CDs onto your hard drive (which I did successfully on my laptop, but not desktop, which isn't currently recognizing CDs), the songs are automatically encoded in AAC, although a tab does let you switch your save preference to MP3.

The application nicely adds your hard drives MP3's to the library, as does Napster and MusicMatch, but if you happen to have any Windows Media Audio (WMA) files, they don't exist in iTunes.

However you feel about Microsoft and it's dominance of the computer world, the fact is that MusicMatch, Buymusic.com and Napster all sell songs in the WMA format, and more stores are coming. If you mix and match songs from the services, you'll have to make separate CDs, and listen in separate programs. Apple took the radical step of creating a Windows program. Why not go all the way and make life easier for the PC users?

Apple and Microsoft are playing this like the old VHS vs. Beta battle. This is the wrong paradigm. Rather, it is the recordable DVD battle. Here the DVD recorders that won play everybody's format. Whichever jukebox plays all formats wins and with it draws buyers to their storefront. Same thing goes for portable players. The other players in the portable game could care less what the format is. If Apple views Microsoft as the competition they will fail to have iPods play WMA files. Then iPods lose. The game is not winner takes all but winner plays all.

Genetics and Sexual Identity

Has science finally answered the question whether GLBT sexual identity is determined by genetics? That's what a first-blush reading of the following article would suggest. The problem is the study neither proves nor disproves the thesis. The supposition up to this point is a pre-natal testosterone bath makes a brain male:

Since the 1970s, scientists have believed that estrogen and testosterone were wholly responsible for sexually organizing the brain. Recent evidence, however, indicates that hormones cannot explain everything about the sexual differences between male and female brains.

What has been discovered here is the following:

Using two genetic testing methods, the researchers compared the production of genes in male and female brains in embryonic mice -- long before the animals developed sex organs.

They found 54 genes produced in different amounts in male and female mouse brains, prior to hormonal influence. Eighteen of the genes were produced at higher levels in the male brains; 36 were produced at higher levels in the female brains.

"We discovered that the male and female brains differed in many measurable ways, including anatomy and function." Vilain said.

For example, the two hemispheres of the brain appeared more symmetrical in females than in males. According to Vilain, the symmetry may improve communication between both sides of the brain, leading to enhanced verbal expressiveness in females.

"This anatomical difference may explain why women can sometimes articulate their feelings more easily than men," he said.

The scientists plan to conduct further studies to determine the specific role for each of the 54 genes they identified.

So, they proved the sexual identity of the brain is genetically and not epigenetically determined. Note the last sentence. This is critical. If the gene expression says one thing and the testosterone production says another, then you will prove the point that biological and psychological gender may differ. Hopefully, such effects will be part of the followup. But, for now, we still don't know.

Reflections on Controversy, Leadership, and Church Unity

The recent events in the Anglican Communion and the possibility (and in my opinion the probability) of a split has caused me to reflect on the nature of church leadership during times of controversy.

While I am not currently doing so, in the past I have served as a part of church leadership. There I have experienced first-hand the temptations of such offices. The biggest temptation occurs when you are absolutely convinced you are right. Now, I am not talking about error here. Let's assume for a moment that the leader is right. The problem occurs when you assume that being right is sufficient for church leadership. Herein lies the seeds of schism, because Scripture goes further than that. Scripture requires the bishop or elder to be a pastor (Ezekiel 34). That means that he represents all the people, not just those who agree with him. It is on this basis that the leader will be judged by the Great Shepard.

Let's first consider the case where the people are looser than the leader. Note the Apostle Paul's words in 1 Cor. 12:

19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. [emphasis mine]

For those who believe that homosexual practices block someone from church leadership, Paul instructs them to treat the "dishonorable" with special honor. If we must block people from certain parts of service then we must show that the part of service that is allowed is indeed honorable. Because if only leadership is where it's at then people will interpret the blocking as they don't have value. Furthermore, such a view of service is unbiblical (Eph. 4:11-13) :

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

It is the people, and not the leadership who do the works of service.

Now, how about the case where the people are more strict than the leader? Romans 14:13-16 says:

13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. 14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.

While you may as a leader have to rule against the consciences of the people (v. 16), great effort should be made to accomodate them (v. 13).

In neither case should pushing through an agenda be without consideration of the "losers". When I was in leadership, those on my side of a controversy got impatient. One person got publically quoted as saying, "I guess we will just have to win." The other side picked up on it and it caused a world of hurt.

In the view of the world, my advice above is foolishness. We need to have a strong political front and must not give quarter because we are right. But, this is not the way of Scripture. The way of the world betrays a lack of faith in God's provision. Being pastoral may for a time delay the advancing of the "truth". But, it was the Greeks that had an abstract view of the "truth". For Christians, the truth was personified in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus cared about people and subordinated agendas for them -- no matter how "true" those agendas were.

Opening Fort Closet

The Fort Collins Coloradoan had an article about the life of homosexuals in my home town. The following section caught my eye:

Jana Thomas, owner of a local musical-instrument repair shop for the last 25 years, became visible as a lesbian 11 years ago when she started the Rainbow Chorus, which openly advocates for gay rights and acceptance through its musical performances.

Thomas, 51, said her initial concern about being "out" as director of the Rainbow Chorus was the effect it would have on her business. She also had not yet come out to her family.

The acceptance from her family turned out to be greater than she anticipated, Thomas said, and she perceived "distance" from some local band directors. But over time that has faded away.

"I think we do such a good job in what we do, that if that's a problem for them, they are able to get beyond it, which is a sad situation," she said. "But that's the way it is."

Safety also was a concern when she came out, Thomas said, but isn't any longer.

Undercover police officers were in the audiences of the Rainbow Chorus' first performances, and once a bomb threat was called in to the Lincoln Center just before a concert was scheduled to begin.

Some of the concerts had other choirs performing, such as an honors choir for fifth and sixth grade kids. Blowing up kids, now that's a real family value.

Astronomy: Faking it

Here's an innovative technique to make better telescope images. Astronomy: Faking it

Astronomers are celebrating 'first light' at the newly adapted Keck II 10-metre telescope in Hawaii. Keck II now has a laser guide-star system — the first on such a large telescope. By creating an artificial star in the sky, it will greatly improve the telescope's ability to image distant galaxies.

The system is based on adaptive optics (AO), an established technique by which images taken at Earth-bound telescopes can be corrected for the blurring caused by the planet's atmosphere. Using AO produces much sharper images. But the scheme usually relies on there being a bright guide star in the vicinity of the object under observation, against which the correction is calibrated.

At Keck II, a 15-watt laser beam is fired into the sky, creating a glowing patch in a natural layer of sodium atoms, 90 km above the Earth's surface. Using this glow as an artificial guide star, the images from the telescope become sharper still.

But it's not just a question of resolution. The laser system can also be directed at any region of sky: astronomers need no longer rely on good fortune to find a guiding star.

Church heads for schism

The Guardian reports Church heads for schism

The 70 million-strong Anglican communion stepped closer to schism last night after the US Episcopal Church rejected an appeal by Anglicanism's worldwide leaders, headed by Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, not to proceed with the consecration of the church's first openly gay bishop.

Sitting next to Dr Williams and fellow church leaders at an extraordinary press conference at Church House in London, Frank Griswold, the presiding bishop of the US church, blandly announced that only the second coming was likely to prevent him attending the consecration of Gene Robinson, a gay cleric who lives with his male partner, as diocesan bishop of New Hampshire on November 2.

Minutes earlier a strongly worded statement unanimously agreed by 37 of the 38 primates of the Anglican communion - including Bishop Griswold - had warned that: "If his consecration proceeds we recognise that we have reached a crucial and critical point in the life of the Anglican communion and we have had to conclude that the future of the communion itself will be put in jeopardy.

"In this case, the ministry of this one bishop will not be recognised by most of the Anglican world and many provinces are likely to consider themselves to be out of communion with the Episcopal Church.

"This will tear the fabric of our communion at its deepest level and may lead to further division on this and further issues as provinces have to decide whether they can remain in communion with provinces that choose not to break communion with the Episcopal Church."

A Statement by the Primates of the Anglican Communion meeting in Lambeth Palace

Here's the results of the recent meeting of Primates at Lambeth Palace:

A Statement by the Primates of the Anglican Communion meeting in Lambeth Palace

The Primates of the Anglican Communion and the Moderators of the United Churches, meeting together at Lambeth Palace on the 15th and 16th October, 2003, wish to express our gratitude to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for calling us together in response to recent events in the Diocese of New Westminster, Canada, and the Episcopal Church (USA), and welcoming us into his home so that we might take counsel together, and to seek to discern, in an atmosphere of common prayer and worship, the will and guidance of the Holy Spirit for the common life of the thirty-eight provinces which constitute our Communion.

At a time of tension, we have struggled at great cost with the issues before us, but have also been renewed and strengthened in our Communion with one another through our worship and study of the Bible. This has led us into a deeper commitment to work together, and we affirm our pride in the Anglican inheritance of faith and order and our firm desire to remain part of a Communion, where what we hold in common is much greater than that which divides us in proclaiming Good News to the world.

At this time we feel the profound pain and uncertainty shared by others about our Christian discipleship in the light of controversial decisions by the Diocese of New Westminster to authorise a Public Rite of Blessing for those in committed same sex relationships, and by the 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church (USA) to confirm the election of a priest in a committed same sex relationship to the office and work of a Bishop.

These actions threaten the unity of our own Communion as well as our relationships with other parts of Christ's Church, our mission and witness, and our relations with other faiths, in a world already confused in areas of sexuality, morality and theology, and polarised Christian opinion.

As Primates of our Communion seeking to exercise the "enhanced responsibility" entrusted to us by successive Lambeth Conferences, we re-affirm our common understanding of the centrality and authority of Scripture in determining the basis of our faith. Whilst we acknowledge a legitimate diversity of interpretation that arises in the Church, this diversity does not mean that some of us take the authority of Scripture more
lightly than others. Nevertheless, each province needs to be aware of the possible effects of its interpretation of Scripture on the life of other provinces in the Communion. We commit ourselves afresh to mutual respect whilst seeking from the Lord a correct discernment of how God's Word speaks to us in our contemporary world.

We also re-affirm the resolutions made by the bishops of the Anglican Communion gathered at the Lambeth Conference in 1998 on issues of human sexuality as having moral force and commanding the respect of the Communion as its present position on these issues. We commend the report of that Conference in its entirety to all members of the Anglican Communion, valuing especially its emphasis on the need "to listen to the experience of homosexual persons, and "to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ"; and its acknowledgement of the need for ongoing study on questions of human sexuality.

Therefore, as a body we deeply regret the actions of the Diocese of New Westminster and the Episcopal Church (USA) which appear to a number of provinces to have short-circuited that process, and could be perceived to alter unilaterally the teaching of the Anglican Communion on this issue. They do not. Whilst we recognise the juridical autonomy of each province in our Communion, the mutual interdependence of the provinces means that none has authority unilaterally to substitute an alternative teaching as if it were the teaching of the entire Anglican Communion.

To this extent, therefore, we must make clear that recent actions in New Westminster and in the Episcopal Church (USA) do not express the mind of our Communion as a whole, and these decisions jeopardise our sacramental fellowship with each other. We have a particular concern for those who in all conscience feel bound to dissent from the teaching and practice of their province in such matters. Whilst we reaffirm the teaching of successive Lambeth Conferences that bishops must respect the autonomy and territorial integrity of dioceses and provinces other than their own, we call on the provinces concerned to make adequate provision for episcopal oversight of dissenting minorities within their own area of pastoral care in consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury on behalf of the Primates.

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church (USA) has explained to us the constitutional framework within which the election and confirmation of a new bishop in the Episcopal Church (USA) takes place. As Primates, it is not for us to pass judgement on the constitutional processes of another province. We recognise the sensitive balance between provincial autonomy and the expression of critical opinion by others on the internal actions of a province. Nevertheless, many Primates have pointed to the grave difficulties that this election has raised and will continue to raise. In most of our provinces the election of Canon Gene Robinson would not have been possible since his chosen lifestyle would give rise to a canonical impediment to his consecration as a bishop.

If his consecration proceeds, we recognise that we have reached a crucial and critical point in the life of the Anglican Communion and we have had to conclude that the future of the Communion itself will be put in jeopardy. In this case, the ministry of this one bishop will not be recognised by most of the Anglican world, and many provinces are likely to consider themselves to be out of Communion with the Episcopal Church (USA). This will tear the fabric of our Communion at its deepest level, and may lead to further division on this and further issues as provinces have to decide in consequence whether they can remain in communion with provinces that choose not to break communion with the Episcopal Church (USA).

Similar considerations apply to the situation pertaining in the Diocese of New Westminster.

We have noted that the Lambeth Conference 1998 requested the Archbishop of Canterbury to establish a commission to consider his own role in maintaining communion within and between provinces when grave difficulties arise . We ask him now to establish such a commission, but that its remit be extended to include urgent and deep theological and legal reflection on the way in which the dangers we have identified at this meeting will have to be addressed. We request that such a commission complete its work, at least in relation to the issues raised at this meeting, within twelve months.

We urge our provinces not to act precipitately on these wider questions, but take time to share in this process of reflection and to consider their own constitutional requirements as individual provinces face up to potential realignments.

Questions of the parity of our canon law, and the nature of the relationship between the laws of our provinces with one another have also been raised. We encourage the Network of Legal Advisers established by the Anglican Consultative Council, meeting in Hong Kong in 2002, to bring to completion the work which they have already begun on this question.

It is clear that recent controversies have opened debates within the life of our Communion which will not be resolved until there has been a lengthy process of prayer, reflection and substantial work in and alongside the Commission which we have recommended. We pray that God will equip our Communion to be equal to the task and challenges which lie before it.

"Now I appeal to the elders of your community, as a fellow elder and a witness to Christ's sufferings, and as one who has shared in the glory to be revealed: look after the flock of God whose shepherd you are." (1 Peter 5.1,2a)

Lambeth Update

I will be tracking the meeting of Anglican primates concerning the issue of homosexuality. Here is an AP report of what is going on. On a side note, one of the people quoted was church historian Diarmaid MacCulloch. I recommend MacCulloch's biography of Archbishop Cranmer. It also puts the current controversies in perspective given at that time people were literally being burned at the stake. That being said, I do not intend to trivialize the gravity of the current situation.

Anglicans wrangle over homosexuality split
By Rachel Zoll
Associated Press

Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - LONDON -- The unity of the worldwide Anglican Communion hangs in the balance as international church leaders gather for a closed-door summit to talk and pray about homosexuality, the issue threatening to fracture the 77-million member association. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the communion, called the unprecedented meeting in August, after Episcopalians in the United States ratified the election of their first openly gay bishop, the Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. The denomination, which is the U.S. branch of Anglicanism, also acknowledged that some of its bishops allow blessing ceremonies for same-sex unions. Separately, the Diocese of New Westminster in Vancouver, British Columbia, voted to permit the ceremonies in its parishes. Conservatives worldwide have condemned these moves as unbiblical and threatened to split the communion if Williams doesn't discipline the North Americans -- though he has little power to do so. At an emotional meeting last week in Dallas, 2,700 U.S. conservatives began moving closer to a total break with the Episcopal Church. They have the support of many of the 38 Anglican leaders -- called primates -- with the strongest backing from provinces in the developing world, which now comprise the majority of Anglicans worldwide. Those bishops fear that pro-gay decisions anywhere within the communion will undermine their evangelism, especially in regions where Muslim extremists are gaining ground. "It allows people in Islam to say, 'Look, here's what Christians do,'" said Canon Bill Atwood, general secretary of the Ekklesia Society, a Texas-based conservative mission to overseas Anglicans. "It makes moral mockery possible." The two-day meeting, which begins Wednesday, is being closely watched by Protestant denominations who share the communion's deep divisions over homosexuality. The outcome could also affect Anglican relations with other religions. Pope John Paul II told Williams this month that Robinson's election has caused "serious difficulties."

in efforts to unify the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches.

Williams, who has the led the communion for only nine months, is under enormous pressure to prevent a breakup. "I pray for a solution which will hold us together," he told Vatican radio.

He has expressed personal sympathy for gay clergy and, as archbishop of Wales, ordained a man he knew was in a gay partnership. But since being enthroned as archbishop of Canterbury, he has upheld a 1988 resolution approved by Anglican bishops that said gay sex violates Scripture.

Williams intervened last summer after evangelicals complained to him about the Rev. Jeffrey John, an openly gay clergyman who had been appointed bishop of Reading in the Church of England. John then declined the post, saying he did not want to hurt the church.

"It looks as if (Williams) weighed out two priorities," said Diarmaid MacCulloch, Oxford professor of the history of the church, "support for gays and church unity. On balance, he's going for unity of the church."

The archbishop's options are limited. Unlike the Catholic Church, there is no centralized authority in Anglicanism. Each province is autonomous and Williams cannot settle issues of doctrine. The primates also have no collective legislative authority and cannot vote to punish a member.

But Williams does have the right to decide whether a denomination can affiliate with the communion, and the primates can band together to influence him.

"Whoever he invites to the family gatherings is Anglican," said the Rev. Ian Douglas, professor of world Christianity at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. "If he doesn't recognize them as in relationship with the See of Canterbury, that body won't be Anglican."

The American Anglican Council, which represents U.S. conservatives, will petition the primates in London to "guide the realignment of Anglicanism in North America." They have not said what form that would take, but some council supporters have said they want Williams to expel the Episcopal Church and recognize conservatives as the true Anglicans in North America.

It would be an extreme move that conservatives and liberals agree is unlikely to occur at this meeting. Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Southern Africa has suggested an alternative: forming a high-level commission to study how the communion can live with differences over homosexuality.

Conservatives, however, say that would be the equivalent of doing nothing.

"If that happens, then we're all out of here," said the Rev. Peter Moore, a leading U.S. conservative and head of the evangelical Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry in Pennsylvania.

The head of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, has been trying to reach out to conservatives leading up to the summit. He has insisted his vote to approve Robinson "wasn't settling questions of sexuality. I was affirming the choice of a diocese."

Robinson, scheduled to be consecrated next month in New Hampshire, declined to comment. But he has said he will not step down as John did in England. At the Episcopal convention where he was confirmed, Robinson said he would not be responsible if the communion divided over his election.

"I'm carrying a lot on my shoulders," he said. "I'm not going to carry that."

Update:

Eames "optimistic" about primates' gathering

By Dan England

[Episcopal News Service] Speaking just inside the gates of Lambeth Palace,
where 37 primates of the Anglican Communion are meeting, the Most Reverend
Robert (Robin) Eames, Archbishop of the Church of Ireland, said today that
he is "optimistic that the Anglican Communion will emerge from this stronger
than it has ever been." He characterized the meeting as exhibiting
"openness, frankness and honesty" and an eagerness to "maintain the Anglican
Communion."

He emerged from the closed conference after the heads of every province of
the Anglican Communion, save one, had met for seven hours. Eames said that
each participant had been "telling the story of how the provinces have
reacted" to the "developments that the Archbishop of Canterbury thought
necessary to bring to our attention. "Those stories represent the cultural
differences right across our Communion." He emphasized his opinion that the
primates were "moving towards a consensus...to maintain the collegiality,
cooperation and the common faith" and said repeatedly that the bishops had
expressed their desire to "to maintain the Anglican Communion." He
described predictions of the breakup of the Communion as "unfounded."

Later today, the bishops will meet for Evening Prayer, followed by dinner. A
working session will take them into the evening, which will end in silent
prayer and Compline. A final press conference will be held tomorrow at
Church House in London, tentatively scheduled for 6 p.m. London time.

--Dan England is the Director of Communication at the Episcopal Church

Spam Traps for MT and Typepad Blogs

***Dave asked the question about what to do with blog spamming. So far, blacklist management has been the only answer. I have a solution that unless the spammer is very persistant he will have to manually enter comments on your blog.

First you will need to create a spam trap blog. Create an entry that will accumulate spam messages. Look at the source of that entry and write down the entry_id. The HTML will look like this:

<input type="hidden" name="entry_id" value="398723987" />

This ID will become the entry_id for all your comment forms. For my examples this will be spam_id. Replace spam_id with the number of the spam blog entry. New lines in the examples below will be in bold and modified lines will be in italic.

For MT blogs you will need to create a new index template with the file name obscure_script_name.js. In this template you will put the following code:

function doLoaded1 () {
    document.comments_form.entry_id.value = obscure_variable_name;
}
onload = doLoaded1;

For the individual archive itself:

<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="<$MTBlogURL$>obscure_file_name.js"></script>
</head>
...
<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
...
var HOST=....
var obscure_variable_name = '<$MTEntryID$>';
...
<form ...>
<input type="hidden" name="entry_id" value="spam_id" />

For Typepad the obscure_file_name.js template changes slightly to this:

function doLoaded1 () {
    if (!document.comments_form) return;
    setFormValues(document.comments_form);
    if (document.comments_form.author.value)
        document.comments_form.bakecookie.checked = 1;
    document.comments_form.entry_id.value = obscure_variable_name;
}
onload = doLoaded1;

The individual archives look like this:

...
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="<$MTStaticWebPath$>comments.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="<$MTBlogURL$>obscure_file_name.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
hostName = '<$MTBlogHost$>';
obscure_variable_name = '<$MTEntryID$>';
</script>
</head>
...
<form ...>
<input type="hidden" name="entry_id" value="spam_id" />

Further cloaking can be done by having a .php program generate the javascript. To see how innocuous this looks, click on the permalink of this post and show the HTML source.

The Shape of the Universe

Nature is reporting that the shape of the universe is a Poincaré dodecahedral space. For diagram part a below 12 spherical pentagons that have a 120-degree corner angle pack into the sphere. For diagram part b below 120 spherical dodecahedra that have a 120-degree corner angle pack into a hypersphere.

Satellite Study Confirms Global Warming

A new study of satellite data confirms ground-based measurements of global warming over the last 25 years.

Global Warming Trend of Mean Tropospheric Temperature Observed by Satellites

Konstantin Y. Vinnikov^1* and Norman C. Grody²

We have analyzed the global tropospheric temperature for 1978 to 2002 with the use of passive microwave sounding data from the NOAA series of polar orbiters and the Earth Observing System Aqua satellite. To accurately retrieve the climatic trend, we combined the satellite data with an analytic model of temperature that contains three different time scales: a linear trend and functions that define the seasonal and diurnal cycles. Our analysis shows a trend of 0.22° to 0.26°C per 10 years, consistent with the global warming trend derived from surface meteorological stations.

1 Department of Meteorology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA.

2 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS), 5200 Auth Road, Camp Spring, MD 20746, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kostya@atmos.umd.edu

This study contradicts previous satellite studies that found no such trend. The authors explain the descrepency as follows:

Attempts were made to understand why our trend estimate is so different from those of our predecessors. Differences in instrument calibration can affect the results, so we first considered this as a possibility. As mentioned earlier, we used the operational data provided by NESDIS, which incorporates the latest calibration of the MSU and AMSU instruments. However, both the Christy and the Wentz groups added the same empirical adjustments to the NESDIS calibration, which are a function of the warm target temperature. But, because they both used the same calibration adjustments, one can only explain their large differences in trend (0.0 versus 0.1 K/10 years) by their different analyses. Our analytical technique of estimating the trend by simultaneously removing instrumental biases together with seasonal and diurnal variations is radically different from theirs and can possibly explain why our trend estimate is different from that of Wentz et al. by a factor of two. Also, as part of this investigation we found that the results of the trend analyses can depend on how the data are globally averaged. When only close-to-nadir observations are used, as in our case, part of the Earth's surface is not covered by observations. A gradually decreasing satellite altitude due to orbital decay also affects the coverage by changing both the footprint size and the number of orbits per day. However, the size of the data gaps is latitude-dependent, as is the trend itself. Because the temperature field is mostly zonal, spatial averaging must include preliminary filling of data gaps by zonally averaging the observed data or by interpolation of the data along latitudinal circles. Our analysis shows that traditional averaging algorithms that ignore gaps in the data produce significantly biased estimates of global averages, with artificial trends related to changes in the altitude of the satellites. For example, when applied to the channel 2 observations of nine MSU satellites, such averaging produces an obviously erroneous trend for 1978 to 2002 of –0.15 K/10 years. This estimate is opposite in sign to the trend that we obtained with the use of an unbiased algorithm. In our analysis of the MSU channel 2 data, we found nothing that would even remotely suggest the existence of a cooling trend in the troposphere temperature for the 1978-to-2002 period. In conclusion, generally accepted analyses (26–29) indicate that the global surface temperature is warming at a rate of 0.17 K/10 years, which is less than the estimated midtroposphere trend of 0.22 to 0.26 K/10 years obtained here. However, our analysis of satellite data confirms earlier findings based on 1959-to-1989 observations of radiosondes (30) and surface stations (26–29) that observed changes of globally averaged air temperature in the troposphere are at least one-third larger than temperature changes near the surface (31). We see good agreement between the surface and satellite observed warming trends. Our analysis also shows that the trend estimates depend on the particular connections used between instruments as well as the number of satellite observations used in the analysis.

26.	J. Hansen, R. Ruedy, J. Glascoe, M. Sato, J. Geophys. Res. 104, 30997 (1999).[ISI]
27.	J. Hansen, R. Ruedy, M. Sato, K. Lo, Science 295, 275 (2002).
28.	P. D. Jones, M. New, D. E. Parker, S. Martin, I. G. Rigor, Rev. Geophys. 37, 173 (1999).[CrossRef][ISI]
29.	P. D. Jones, A. Moberg, J. Clim. 16, 206 (2003).[CrossRef][ISI]
30.	A. H. Oort, H. Liu, J. Clim. 6, 292 (1993).[CrossRef][ISI]
31.	K. Y. Vinnikov, A. Robock, R. J. Stouffer, S. Manabe, Geophys. Res. Lett. 23, 1801 (1996).[ISI]
32.	Sponsored by NOAA grants COMM NA17EC1483 and NAO6GPO403. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of NOAA. We thank M. D. Goldberg for recommending this study; A. Robock, R, Stouffer, A. Kagan, M. Weinreb, G. Ohring, D. Tarpley, I. Laszlo, A. Ignatov, J. Sullivan, S. Grodsky, R. Etkins, and N. Kovyneva for their useful comments and discussions; and Z. Chang for initial processing of the satellite data.

Feeling the Pain of Social Exclusion

In this week's Science there is an interesting report and review article that conclude the emotional pain of rejection is neurologically equivalent to physical pain. This disproves the old maxim, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Here's part of the review article:

The Greek philosopher Zeno of Citium (356 to 264 B.C.), the founder of Stoicism, considered pain to be one of nine forms of grief. We often speak about the loss of a loved one in terms of painful feelings, but it is still not clear to what extent such metaphors reflect what is actually happening in the human brain? Enter Eisenberger and colleagues (1) on page 290 of this issue with a bold neuroimaging experiment that seeks to discover whether the metaphor for the psychological pain of social loss is reflected in the neural circuitry of the human brain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), they show that certain human brain areas that "light up" during physical pain are also activated during emotional pain induced by social exclusion.

You might wonder how one measures the feeling of social exclusion while the subject is lying in an MRI machine. Eisenberger et al. circumvented this obvious problem in a clever way. In their study, the 13 participants observed a virtual ball-tossing video game while brain blood flow was monitored by MRI. During a baseline period, subjects were led to believe that they were only observing the game. During the experimental phase, however, they became active participants in the game. Within a few throws of the ball, the two other "players" (actually computerized stooges) stopped throwing the ball to the subjects, leading them to feel excluded (2). The subjects experienced emotional distress as indicated by substantial blood-flow changes in two key brain areas. One of these areas, the anterior cingulate cortex, has been implicated in generating the aversive experience of physical pain. Eisenberger and colleagues demonstrate that the greater the feeling of social distress, the more this brain area becomes activated. The other brain region, in the prefrontal cortex, showed an opposite pattern of activity, becoming more active when the distress was least. In other words, the two brain areas involved in the distressing feelings of social exclusion responded in opposite ways to the degree of social pain experienced. This suggests that the anterior cingulate is more important for elaborating feelings of emotional distress, whereas the prefrontal cortex, already implicated in emotional regulation (3), counteracts the painful feeling of being shunned.

These results are consistent with the idea that aversive feelings of social exclusion and physical pain arise, in part, from the same brain regions. They dovetail nicely with what we know about separation distress in other animals. In our work a quarter of a century ago, we examined the neurochemistry of social attachments in animals (4, 5). We found that the same neurochemicals that regulate physical pain also control the psychological pain of social loss. Indeed, plant opioids (such as morphine) as well as endogenous brain opioids (especially endorphins)--known to alleviate physical pain--also alleviated separation distress (as measured by isolation cries) in dogs, guinea pigs, chicks, rats, and primates (6).

References and Notes

1. N. I. Eisenberger, M. D. Lieberman, K. D. Williams, Science 302, 290 (2003).
2. To visualize the game, see www.psy.mq.ed.au/staff/kip/cyberball.htm.
3. K. L. Phan et al., NeuroImage 16, 331 (2002) [Medline].
4. J. Panksepp et al., Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 4, 473 (1980) [Medline].
5. J. Panksepp, in Progress in Theory in Psychopharmacology, S. J. Cooper, Ed. (Academic Press, London, 1981), pp. 149-175.
6. J. Panksepp, Affective Neuroscience (Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1998) [publisher's information].

Supporting gays, but not gay marriage

Steve B. pointed me to an interesting story in the Philadelphia Enquirer concerning MAFS (Mentally Anguished Fence Sitters). This group is conflicted concerning the debate about gay marriage. Not only is this applicable to the issue at hand, but also what do we do when our value system conflicts with itself. In this case, where you believe that all people should be treated with respect and dignity due them as being created in the image of God and a belief that gay marriage is wrong. I count myself amongst this group at least in the religious area. Civil laws don't give me much angst (civilization will not end if there are civil unions), but how we treat this as individual Christians and as a church does. I really don't have a good answer to that question.

They have accepted the gay man next door, the lesbian couple down the street. They have agreed that gay Americans should not be discriminated against.

But same-sex marriage is something else.

"I am not a bigoted person," said Vincenza Maiorano, a 20-year-old Temple University junior from Northeast Philadelphia. "I'm in favor of gay rights and antidiscriminatory legislation for gays. But within the context of Catholicism, marriage is blessed by the church and reserved for a union of a man and woman. Gay people don't have the right to marry."

For people such as Maiorano, the images of two tuxedos at the altar, or two wedding dresses under the chuppah, are just too unsettling.

Maiorano is part of a hard-to-track, demographically diverse group that includes liberals and conservatives, city folk and suburbanites, the religious and the nonreligious.

Some - dubbed "Morally Anguished Fence Sitters," or MAFS - are intellectually troubled by their heartfelt anti-gay marriage stance, and have a hard time squaring it with their support of gay rights. Others are less conflicted.

Even so, they all consider gay marriage an uncrossable line.

"I'm a MAFS," said David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values, a nonpartisan think tank on the family, based in New York. "On the one hand, people like us don't want to be bigots, and we believe in equal dignity for people, regardless of sexual orientation.

"On the other hand, we believe children deserve a mother and father and are worried about a law that would write that idea out of the script. People are torn about this."

John Musumeci, 51, owner of Alloway Village Hardware & Feed in Salem County, feels no such discomfort.

"I don't care about sexual orientation, but gay marriage is a step too far," said Musumeci, a former Navy man and nuclear engineer. "Marriage is for procreation of the human species. There's a fundamental principle that's wrong when a government or a church says two girls or guys can marry."

A confluence of events

These days, gay marriage remains a topic of widespread debate. Many Americans are still whirling from a confluence of events over the summer that placed gay life at the forefront of U.S. culture.

Since June, Canada legalized gay marriage; the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas sodomy law, a ruling that many believe could pave the way to gay marriage; and the Episcopal Church elected an openly gay bishop.

Meanwhile, court watchers are awaiting a ruling in a Massachusetts case - said to be imminent - that could make that state the first to allow gay marriage.

In addition, television has been filled with gay-centric shows, while photos of men kissing men and women kissing women have been making the newspapers.

Polls show that these events and trends might be changing many Americans' minds about gay rights, which had been receiving growing support until recently.

Between 1992 and 2002, the percentage of Americans who said it was wrong for people to engage in homosexual sex fell from 75 percent to 56 percent - "a huge drop," according to Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey at the University of Chicago. He attributed that in part to the deaths of elderly Americans who disapprove of gay life, along with an increased acceptance of homosexuals encouraged by the Clinton administration.

But in a recent reversal, a Gallup poll taken after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June showed that Americans' approval of civil unions between homosexuals decreased from 49 percent to 40 percent.

A 28th Amendment?

And support for a 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, banning gay marriage, has begun to grow. Polls show that half of Americans favor it, although when it came up at a Senate hearing last month, there was little support.

Two dozen conservative groups have declared this "Marriage Protection Week," starting today, an idea endorsed by President Bush. They are trying to gather support for the amendment, which would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

Could this change in trends reflect the attitude of MAFS and others opposed to, or ambivalent about, gay marriage?

"Even very liberal people say gay marriage makes them uncomfortable," political scientist Alan Wolfe said. Wolfe, director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, added, "There are significant numbers of people who support tolerance for homosexuality, but marriage is the issue where they draw the line. Marriage is an ideal image Americans want to protect."

Some heterosexuals reject gay marriage on religious grounds, citing biblical verses that they believe prohibit it. Others say that while sexuality is private, marriage is public - and that gay people should keep their love lives unseen. Another concern given by some is that gay marriage will drain the benefits system, such as health insurance, a notion that is still being debated.

Many are confused by an idea that seems radical and difficult to understand.

John Di Pasquale, 71, of Springfield Township, Montgomery County, describes himself as a liberal who was part of the avant-garde Beat Generation of the 1950s. He is against the conservative call for a constitutional amendment that would prohibit gay marriage.

Di Pasquale believes that "whatever homosexual people do in the privacy of their bedrooms is OK." He thinks gay people should be able to adopt and raise children. But, he said, "I think gay marriage is ludicrous. It puts the whole institution in a bad situation. A marriage is a man-and-woman situation. And marriage is sacred."

Jim Fenton, 68, of Bridesburg, who is relatively conservative on political and social issues, said he was "not for or against gays," adding that his attitude is, "just don't bother me and I won't bother you." But, he said, "same-sex marriage ruins the fabric of the family, whether there are children or not. And families are the backbone of the nation."

Adapting a more conciliatory tone, Patricia Little, 37, director of a University City group that works with inner-city teenagers, said she always has felt comfortable with gay colleagues and friends. Still, she does not agree with the notion of gay marriage, because it's not supported by her born-again Christian-Presbyterian views.

"It boils down to what the Bible says," Little explained. "For me, it's Leviticus, First Corinthians, Romans, and the Adam and Eve story, of one man with one woman. Still, I do not condemn or treat homosexual people differently."

Although some critics in the gay community say it is not possible to support homosexuals and object to gay marriage - "if you're not for it, you're against us" is the attitude - representatives of gay-marriage groups take a more understanding view.

As hard as it is for gay people to hear anti-marriage views from these middle-of-the-roaders, criticizing MAFS would be unfair, according to David Smith, an official with the Human Rights Campaign, the country's largest gay-advocacy group, based in Washington.

"People who are uncomfortable with same-sex marriage or with images of gays kissing in newsmagazines are not bigoted," Smith said. "People are operating out of what they've been taught as they've grown up, which is, unfortunately, that being gay is wrong. People are trying to come to terms in their own minds with this, and are working through the issues."

Similarly, Evan Wolfson, executive director of Freedom to Marry, a New York City-based national group working for acceptance of gay marriage, sees a class of Americans he calls the "confused middle."

"They grew up not knowing gay people, and they're struggling with this issue," Wolfson said. "But they are thinking things through, and their positions are much further along than a decade ago. And they'll be in a better place a decade from now."

Smith said younger Americans were more accepting of gay culture and tended