In a denomination where conservative biblical foundational documents have been supplanted by same sex union blessings, approval of actively gay clergy, & abandonment of the supreme authority of scriture, a conservative, biblically faithful, evangelical theologian doesn't feel comfortable. For famed theologian J. I. Packer (81), this discomfort has become unbearable & the prolific author has left the Canadian arm of the international Anglican Communion for the more conservative & orthodox Province of the Southern Cone Anglican fellowship in South America. Packer made the move with 10 other British Columbian Anglican clergy last week.

Packer says he can no longer serve under Vancouver Bishop Michael Ingham, saying he "appears heretical" for sanctioning same sex blessing in BC Anglican churches. In recent years, 28 parishes have voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada for its liberal moves, aligning themselves with other international Anglican provinces that are more conservative.

Packer's perinially best-selling book Knowing God (1973) summarizes biblical evangelical Protestant faith as including the authority of the Bible as the "absolute authority" on divine revelation, teaching, & truth, & describes moral rectitude as outlined in the Bible explicitly disallowing homosexuality as acceptable Christian behavior. Packer & the others who left the Canadian communion have denied that they have left true Anglicanism, but instead aver that the liberal leadership of the Canadian communion have left true Anglicanism. "I'm simply being an old-fashioned mainstream Anglican," he said.

Time magazine named Packer one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in 2005. He serves as the Board of Governors' Professor of Theology at Regeant College in Vancouver, BC. Packer is a foundational signer of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy in 1978, a document that generally defines the conservative evangelical Protestant position on the authority of Scripture. He is an executive editor of Christianity Today magazine & was a general editor of the English Standard Version of the Bible. He has authored more than a dozen books & literally thousands of articles over his long career.

For the full story: Famed Theologian Quits Anglican Church of Canada.

Contrary to some rumor mills on the Internet & otherwise, some Christian sources, it is not true that the former Soviet chief Mikhail Gorbachev has become a Christian believer in God & Jesus. "I was & I remain an atheist," Gorbachev said in Russia's Interfax new agency last week. "I think religion is important for society, & I've willingly visited churches, synagogues, & mosques during my travels. But it can't be said I've done so as someone who believes."

A Lithuanian priest had earlier been quoted in an Italian publication that Gorbachev had visited the grave of St. Francis of Assisi with his daughter, & that he had prayed there. The priest said Gorbachev told him he was a Christian believer. In the Interfax interview, Gorbachev said the priest's story was a fantasy & said that "I visited this grave as a tourist, not as a pilgrim."

For the full story: Former Soviet Boss Gorbachev Denies Conversion to Christianity.

UPDATE MON APR 21 -- According to a St. Louis (MO) Post-Disatch article, the LCMS is continuing to insist that the cancellation of Issues Etc. was financial, although they have admitted that it was by far the most popular program on the LCMS owned radio station, KFUO-AM, the oldest continuously Christian radio station in America. More than 7200 supporters have signed the petition urging the station to reinstate the program, more than 200 showed up to a supporters prayer service in the area, & more than 75 picketed the LCMS headquarters, their signs asking for accountability from the Lutheran denomination. For more details, see Lutheran Radio Program's Demise Is a Symptom of Larger Ills.

Although the show was more popular than any other on the station, & although its hosts had raised more money for the station & the denomination than any others, & although its hosts had always affirmed traditional, biblical, Christian theology & Lutheran heritage, the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) (LCMS) leadership has cancelled Issues Etc. & summarily terminated host Todd Wilken & his producer Jeff Schwarz, effective last Tuesday, March 18, in the middle of Holy Week.

While Wilken & Schwarz were given no notice or explanation, nor was anyone else connected with the program, the LCMS quickly posted a notice stating the show was cancelled for buiness & "programmic" reasons. When thousands of e-mails, letters, phone calls, & petition signatures put extreme pressure on the LCMS, a revised statment was posted that claimed low listnership & expensive costs as the reasons behind the abrupt cancellation & terminations. Although some figures were cited to suport the claims, full analysis of the situation belies the official revised statement

In a March 28, 2008 Wall Street Journal article, Millie Ziegler Hemingway noted what is more probably the actual reason for the program's demise: "the program was in all likelihood a pawn in a larger battle for the soul of the Missouri Synod. The church is divided between, on the one hand, traditional Lutherans known for their emphasis on sacraments, liturgial worship & the church's historic confessions and, on the other, those who have embraced pop-culture Christianity & a market-driven approach to church growth. The divide is well known to all confessional Christian denominations struggling to retain their traditional identity." Issues Etc. was firmly in the traditional camp, although the hosts never directly criticized the LCMS, its leadership,or programs adopted by the leadership that were more pop-culture Christianity.

The Rev. Gerald Kieschnick, LCMS current president, is of the pop-culture Christianity faction, being well known for his statement "This is not your grandfather's church."

A lay-driven movement in opposition to the cancelling of Issues Etc. & the termination of Wilken & Schwarz has generated a petition signed by over 5000 individuals, including pastors, Lutherans, & non-Lutherans from 49 states, 27 denominations, & 25 countries. Letters, e-mails, & phone calls have swamped the LCMS offices in St. Louis. Various friends & supporters have begun raising funds for the Wilken & Schwarz families, including Schwarz's home church, St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Hamel, Illinois.

Whether the conservatives will preserve the faith heritage of the LCMS as they did in the 1970s when a similar split loomed remains to be seen. That a huge wave of conservative Lutheran energy has arisen is beyond dispute.

Answers In Action director Gretchen Passantino, author of this article, was a frequent guest interviewed on Issues Etc. & has signed the petition & provided support for Wilken & Schwarz.,

For the full story: Radio Silence: Houses of Worship.

The California Court of Appeals has agreed to reconsider a ruling by the Second District Court of Appeals under Justice H. Walter Croskey that said all parents whose children are not enrolled in regular or public schools but are home schooled are breaking the law. The earlier ruling stated that California parents "do not have a constitutional right to home-school their children."

An estimated 166,000 students in California are home schooled. The earlier ruling stemmed from a juvenile court case where one child in a family of home schooled children alleged she had been physically abused by her father, precipitating governmental review of the entire family & its parents' choices for their children. Civil libertarians & home schooling advocates immediately protested the ruling as completely outside the long-standing freedoms won & enjoyed for parents in California & across the nation, where an estimated 1.9 to 2.4 million children are home schooled.

The full appeals court will hear the case likely in June. According to home schooling advocacy groups, civil liberty groups, & particularly the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), there is ample legal , educational, & governmental support for home schooling & similar parental rights, & the February 28, 2008 ruling is isolated in its interpretation of the California State Constitution. Although the earlier ruling applied specifically only to this one case, it could be used as precedence & given legal weight in other cases.

ADF senior consel Gary McCaleb noted, "We're very pleased that this decision is going to be revisited by the court, & it's one that is deeply entrenched in the rights of parents. . . to control the education of their own children." ADF is representing the father in the family.

For the full story: Court to Reconsider California Home-Schooling Ban.

Workers engaged in excavating beneath the Greek city of Thessaloniki have discovered a graveyard dating from the first century BC through the fifth century AD that may offer evidence of early Christian & Jewish life in the city whose church the Apostle Paul addressed twice in his New Testament writings (1 & 2 Thessalonians).

The workers uncovered the 1,000 or so graves preparing to install a portion of the Thessaloniki metro. Digging began in 2006 & the first 13 stations are to be completed by the end of 2012.

Most of the graves (886), which ranged from simple holes with the remnants of simple wooden coffins to 5 room family mausoleums, were found just east of the city center, which was the eastern countryside during ancient days.

The Greek government will have supervisory oversight of the site & its contents as they are cataloged & studied by archaeologists.

For the full story: Ancient Graves Found in Greece.

An appeals court in California has ruled against a home schooling family, arguing that no parents in California have a state Constitutionally guaranteed right to control & govern their own children's schooling. The ruling, which applies only to one family, may be used by other courts as justification for outlawing homeschooling, affecting an estimated 166,000 students in California.

The court ruled last week that minor children must attend a public school unless the child attends a private school or is taught by a teacher with a valid state teaching license. The court also ruled that the religious convictions of families do not guarantee a right to homeschool their children.

The case arose when one of the eight home schooled children of Phillip & Mary Long reported "physical & emotional mistreatment by the children's father." Under the supervision of Children & Family Services, the children were appointed an attorney who argued that home schooling the children was not in their best interests, & asked that the judge force the parents to enroll their children in public school. The judge ruled against the children's attorney, who then appealed the case to the (3rd Division) 2nd District Court of Appeal.

Attorneys for the Longs & for the private school through which their home schooling was administered, Sunland Christian School, say they will argue the case to the California Supreme Court &, if necessary, all the way to the US Supreme Court. Pacific Justice Institute is representing the school & the parents.

Homeschooling, which has been gaining in popularity & success over the last 3 decades, includes children who are instructed entirely & independently by their parents; those who group together with other families, sharing the teaching duties among the parents; those associated with organizations that provide oversight, record keeping, testing, & curriculum; those associated with private schools that also offer campus instruction; & those associated with public schools. An estimated 1.9 to 2.4 million students are homeschooled in the United States, according to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI).

Surveys, test scores, & analysis show consistently that home schooled children score higher, advance educationally more quickly, & display greater skills in many areas than do typical public or even private school children. Homeschooling appeals to families with a wide variety of religious commitments, including many families with no religious commitment at all. Although homeschooling is particularly popular among conservative Christians, & often contains a strong Christian foundation in theology & world view, many homeschooling programs are not explicitly religious. According to the NHERI, "Home Schooling Achievement, a study conducted by National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), supported the academic integrity of homeschooling. Among the homeschooled students who took the tests, the average homeschooled student outperformed his public school peers by 30 to 37 percentile points across all subjects. The study also indicates that public school performance gaps between minorities and genders were virtually non-existent among the homeschooled students who took the tests."

For the full story: Homeschooling Families Threatened by Court Ruling.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has conducted a huge survey of Americans that shows nearly half have left the religious affiliation of their childhoods, the number of people who say they are not affiliated with any religion has now grown to 16 percent, & the ethnic background of Catholics is increasingly Hispanic.

The study, The US Religious Landscape Survey, interviewed 35,000 Americans. Among the groupings, 78.4% identified themselves as Christians, other religions were cited by 4.7%, & 16.1% declared themselves "unaffiliated" (0.8% declined to state).

Among those calling themselves Christians, 51.3% were Protestants, 23.9% Catholic, 1.7% Mormon, 0.7% Jehovah's Witness, 0.6% Eastern Orthodox, & 0.3% "other" Protestant. Among the Protestants, 26.3% identified themselves with "evangelical" churches, 18.1% "mainline," & 6.9% "historic black" churches.

Those who identified themselves with other religions included 1.7% Jewish, 0.7% Buddhist, 0.6% Muslim, 0.4% Hindu, 0.3% "other world religions," & 1.2% "other faiths" (including "unitarians & other liberal faiths" at 0.7%, "New Age" at 0.4%, & "native American" at 0.3%).

Among those who identified themselves as "unaffiliated," 1.6% identified themselves as "atheist," 2.4% as "agnostic," & 12.1% as "nothing in particular." Among those claiming "nothing in particular," 6.3% said they were secular & 5.8% said they were religious.

Other than the basic statistical information about current religious identification, the poll showed that 44% have left the religious or denominational affiliation of their childhoods. While nearly one third of Americans were raised Catholic, for example, only one fourth describe themselves as Catholic. Those proportions are also influenced by immigration, as among adult immigrants, those who identify themselves as Catholic outnumber Protestants by a two-to-one margin. Immigrants also account for significant proportions of those who identify themselves as Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist.

For the full story: More Americans Changing Religious Denominations, Study Finds.

Well-known international Christian evangelist Luis Palau says his talks with Communist Chinese officials lead him to believe that foreign visitors to China next year for the 2008 International Summer Olympics will be allowed to bring Bibles with them that they can give away without interference from the government. "I have asked officially from people here & over there. Any person can go in there & take Bibles, as long as they're not selling them," Paulau told the Christian Post on Thursday.

Palau has preached many times in China, but only in venues approved by the government & for government sanctioned & controlled churches.

China persecution watchdogs like China Aid have repeatedly criticized the Chinese government for restricting religious freedom in China, including outlawing all churches that are not registered with the government, preventing any religious evangelism or proseletizing, & arresting & incarcerating many Chinese Christian leaders. Last winter several such organizations, such as the Catholic News Agency, reported that the Chinese government had prohibited Bibles at the Olympics. The assertion was based on a government document listing items banned for athletes in the Olympic village. The documents listed such items as cups, video cameras, & Bibles.

The London Times on-line edition published an article supporting Palau's position, noting in China Denies Bible Ban at Olympics that the government denied the ban & that the list of items prohibited in the athlete's village referred to multiple Bibles for the purpose of dissemination & evangelism, activities the government says do not fall into the responsibilities of competing athletes. Religious rights observers note that the limited legality of personal Bible possession without the freedom to evangelize or give away Bibles is hardly religious "freedom."

Luis Palau is the co-author of a new book called A Friendly Dialogue Between an Atheist & a Christian (Zondervan 2008) in which he discusses the Christian faith & the gospel with co-author Zhao Qizheng, the former Chinese minister of information , a member of the Chinese government cabient. Currently, Qizheng is a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC).

For the full story: China Won't Ban Bibles at Olympics, Assures Evangelist.

Matthew Murray (24), the gunman who shot & killed 4 people in Colorado last weekend, was supposedly acting out of hatred toward Christians when he firstshot 4 people (killing 2) at the evangelical Christian Youth With a Mission (YWAM) missionary training center in Arvada, CO & then 3 people (killing 2) at the evangelical Christian mega-church New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO. On a website designed to provide information & support for people who have left evangelical religious groups, Murray supposedly posted a message that echoes sentiments posted by Columbine High School shooter Eric Harris. In last weekend's posting between his shootings at YWAM & New Life, Murray supposedly posted, "You Christians brought this on yourselves. Feel no remorse, no sense of shame. I don't care if I live or die in the shoot-out. All I want to do is kill & injure as many of you . . . as I can especially Christians who are to blame for most of the problems in the world." The posting has since been removed.

Although Murray took an assault rifle, two handguns, & as many as 1,000 rounds of ammunition to New Life, he was stopped after shooting 2 young sisters & their father in the parking lot by volunteer security guard Jeanne Assam, who shot him multiple times. A preliminary autopsy report says he was killed, however, by a round from his own weapon, an apparent suicide.

Jeanne Assam works for a Christian ministry, is a member of New Life Church, & volunteers as part of the church's armed security force. She is a former Minneapolis, MN police officer who lost her job in 1997 for lying during an investigation of a complaint lodged against her for verbal misconduct on the job. She says she has no regrets & that God was with her as she faced the gunman as he entered the church. “I give credit to God. I say that very humbly. . . . God was with me, the whole time I was behind cover. Based on the firepower he had, compared to mine.” She added, “God was with me. . . . I didn’t think for a minute to run away.”

Murray came from what was described as a very religious family. His older brother is a student at the charismatic Christian Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. Murray began a missionary training program at YWAM in 2002, but never completed the classroom training & was never assigned to field training. He left the school after he & his parents consulted with the school leadership & together agreed that he was not prepared to complete the program. At that time some of his fellow students were frightened of his behavior & speech, noting that at a Christmas party where they were sharing inspirational music, he prmoted 2 songs that contained non-Christian, nihilistic, & violent lyrics.

For the full story: Gunman Posted Anti-Christian Rant Between Shootings.

The Study NewTestament for Gay, Lesbian, Bi, & Transgender is a study Bible that challanges standard New Testament translations that associate homosexual behavior as sinful. Most Christians bookstores in Australia, where it is being published & heavily marketed, refuse to carry the alternative study Bible. Smith & Stirling publishers also publish other materials by the study Bible's editor,Dr. Ann Nyland, who is also the author of the Source New Testament, the basis for the new gay study Bible.

Australia's largest Christian retailer, Koorong, has declined to carry the volume.

Dr. Nyland argues that a correct understanding of the vocabulary of the Greek New Testament leads her to understand the passages most scholars use to condemn homosexual acts actually condemn any sexual acuts including violence, & therefore are not condemnatory of sexual acts between people of the same gender that are loving & faithful.

For the full story: Christian bookshops refuse to stock gay study Bible.