‘Gay survey’ to take place within Church of England

A national survey is set to take place to reveal the number of gay clergy within the Church of England, the Guardian newspaper has reported.

The survey is being backed by the Inclusive Church network, which aims to prove that homosexuals perform an important role in the regular running of the Church body.

Canon Giles Goddard, Chair of the Inclusive Church told the Guardian: “It's very early days but we need realistic information on how many LGBT clergy there are. It's about demonstrating to people that we're here and we need to be respected and recognised. We want to play our full role in the life of the church.

“Those who are in partnerships shouldn't have to hide it. But we are not going to out anyone. Any personal information will remain confidential – we would withhold details that might reveal someone's identity, that could make them vulnerable.” Read more
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A Review and Analysis of Research Studies Which Assessed Sexual Preference of Children Raised by Homosexuals

[...] Pro-homosexual researchers frequently claim studies find "no differences" between children raised by homosexuals and heterosexuals. Amazingly, these claims are made in the abstracts of research studies that actually uncovered differences (Williams, 2000). The tendency to deny or downplay differences has been noted by pro-homosexual parenting researchers. After reviewing 21 studies, Stacey and Biblarz (2001) concluded that in regards to gender, sexual behavior and sexual preference, homosexually parented children are different from heterosexually parented children. But despite such findings, many continue to proclaim "no differences" in order to galvanize support for homosexual access to fertility services, adoption, custody, and same-sex marriage. Encouraging support for a cause is fine, as long as the information being disseminated is true. But in this case, it isn't.

Other researchers have reviewed homosexual parenting studies in general and concluded that they're either too problematic to make definitive claims (Belcastro, Gramlich, Nicholson, Price, and Wilson, 1993; Baumrind, 1995) or so methodologically flawed that no conclusions can be drawn (Lerner and Nagai, 2001)

Pro-homosexual parenting researchers and other activists can't have it both ways. Either the findings of these studies are valid and homosexual parents are more likely to raise non-heterosexual children, or these studies aren't valid and assertions of "no difference" can't be made.

I think that although these studies can't be used to make definitive statements, they are suggestive that homosexual parents are rearing disproportionate numbers of non-heterosexual children. This isn't surprising since parents are the primary influencers of children. Children raised by parents with different lifestyles, values, and attributes, are likely to be different from other children (Baumrind 1995). Stacey and Biblarz (2001) wrote, "... it is difficult to conceive of a credible theory of sexual development that would not expect the adult children of lesbigay parents to display a somewhat higher incidence of homoerotic desire, behavior, and identity than children of heterosexual parents."

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the methodological flaws in the existing homosexual-parenting studies (including small, non-representative samples, lack of control groups, and non-longitudinal designs) highlight the need for scientifically rigorous and unbiased research, so that more definitive conclusions concerning sexual and gender identity outcomes of homosexually parented children can be drawn. In the meantime, we look to existing studies for suggestive trends. Read more
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Same sex adoption: our new life as Dad and Daddy

The day our lives changed for ever was the day we first met our son. It was like a blind date, but with social workers playing the role of matchmaker. They had read the reports, they had met us and we’d agreed: we could be perfect for each other.

But you can never predict the outcome of a blind date. And it’s the same with adoption. For the child’s sake, you are not introduced until it’s all been set in stone. On that cold January morning, as we walked up the foster carer’s garden path, our only certainty was that nothing would be the same again.

When Sally opened her front door, I caught a glimpse of Scott behind her. He ran into her living room. As we followed him in, I got my first proper look at him, and he was every bit as gorgeous and wonderful as he’d appeared on the photos and video they’d given us.

“Who’s this?” Sally asked Scott, as he looked us up and down with a shy smile. Just short of his third birthday, his fosterers had prepared him for meeting his two new dads with the help of a book of photos and a DVD that we’d put together.

We don’t know what the first word he ever spoke was, but the first words I ever heard him speak were our names. “Philip and Michael,” he said. Who can be certain, but he seemed to understand who we were. We came away from that first two-hour encounter elated. He had been affectionate and adorable. In my gut, I felt that the blind date would work out. Read more
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TEC and C of E: the makings of a progressive alliance

[...] Meanwhile, back in the UK we’ve been facing similar issues but dealing with them in a different way. As my American friends have often observed, we’re not as open as you; there’s a different relationship with the hierarchy and we tend to get on with things without being too public about them, while trying to work with the structures to bring about change. I don’t defend that – it’s just the way we are.

But that’s changing now. Not a moment too soon, you might say. Over the past few years different groups within the Church of England – Changing Attitude, the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, Inclusive Church, Women and the Church, the Modern Churchpeople’s Union, Affirming Catholicism and many more from across the theological spectrum – have been working more and more closely together on a range of issues - for example, women bishops, the inclusion of people of colour, and of course questions of human sexuality. We’ve been coordinating our activities and sharing our vision, our knowledge and our experience. The Lambeth Conference in 2008 was an example of that - those of you who were there will remember the way in which progressive groups in the US, Canada and the UK tried to work together, and the challenges and learning processes which that involved!

On 27th July 2009 the Archbishop of Canterbury’s response to the General Convention in Anaheim was published. The immediate reaction, in the UK as much as in the USA, was one of dismay. While we understood what the Archbishop was seeking to do, the reflections contained a much clearer statement of his understanding of the place of LGBT people – or rather, the lack of place - within the Anglican Communion than we had previously heard, and they also seemed to acknowledge in a much more fatalistic way the prospect of a two-track communion.
A meeting already planned for the following Friday was quickly expanded and was made into an open meeting for anyone or any group concerned about the reflections and wishing to respond. It’s fair to say that the meeting was quite low key; there was a general feeling that once again LGBT Christians and their friends and colleagues had been show n to be excluded , and after years of trying different ways to end that exclusion this was a further rebuff.

However, there was also general agreement that a “tipping point” had been reached. Various concrete suggestions were made as to the way forward – for example, getting better statistics about the number of LGBT clergy and lay people in the church and how many same-sex blessings and thanksgivings have been carried out in England; raising the visibility of LGBT clergy and their supportive congregations; forming closer links with TEC; and a joint Statement.

The statement “On the Archbishop’s Reflections” was drafted the next day and published the following Tuesday with the signatures of 13 groups from across the Church of England, and the tacit support of several others. It is only part of a work in progress, and we are meeting again in September to take forward the other ideas. But it’s the first time we in the C of E have made so public a joint stand on these questions, and we hope that this collaborative working will continue to bear fruit.
What of the future? We certainly welcome better and stronger links with the US and Canada – as we say in the statement “We will seek to strengthen the bonds of affection which exist between those in all the Churches of the Anglican Communion who share our commitment to the full inclusion of all of God’s faithful.”

The big question facing us all is how we respond to the suggestion of a two-track Communion. The feeling within the progressive groups of the Church of England is that such a thing should be resisted, and if the Covenant were to bring this about it, too, should be resisted. However, and this is a new thought for me, there may be another way. The Episcopal Church in Anaheim passed various resolutions which reaffirmed its inclusive polity and brought greater clarity about the way forward TEC may take. In that context, and having passed those resolutions, what is to stop TEC signing the Covenant? We are awaiting a further draft, but unless it contains radical strengthening of any judicial measures, it seems to me that TEC would be able to sign it, as a sign of its mutual commitment and in the context of its present policy of ensuring that it is open to LGBT people both single and in relationships. Result; a Communion strengthened and affirmed in its breadth and diversity and once again bearing a global witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

And for the Church of England? We still have a long way to go. The measures to bring about full recognition of LGBT Christians are still a few years off, and as presently drafted the Covenant might delay those measures even further. Maybe the Church of England shouldn’t sign it. In which case, I suppose, we would be outside the main body while TEC would be inside. Read more
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A New Therapy on Faith and Sexual Identity

The men who seek help from evangelical counselor Warren Throckmorton often are deeply distressed. They have prayed, read Scripture, even married, but they haven't been able to shake sexual attractions to other men -- impulses they believe to be immoral.

Dr. Throckmorton is a psychology professor at a Christian college in Pennsylvania and past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association. He specializes in working with clients conflicted about their sexual identity.

The first thing he tells them is this: Your attractions aren't a sign of mental illness or a punishment for insufficient faith. He tells them that he cannot turn them straight.

But he also tells them they don't have to be gay.

For many years, Dr. Throckmorton felt he was breaking a professional taboo by telling his clients they could construct satisfying lives by, in effect, shunting their sexuality to the side, even if that meant living celibately. That ran against the trend in counseling toward "gay affirming" therapy -- encouraging clients to embrace their sexuality.

But in a striking departure, the American Psychological Association said Wednesday that it is ethical -- and can be beneficial -- for counselors to help some clients reject gay or lesbian attractions.

The APA is the largest association of psychologists world-wide, with 150,000 members. The association plans to promote the new approach to sexuality with YouTube videos, speeches to schools and churches, and presentations to Christian counselors.

According to new APA guidelines, the therapist must make clear that homosexuality doesn't signal a mental or emotional disorder. The counselor must advise clients that gay men and women can lead happy and healthy lives, and emphasize that there is no evidence therapy can change sexual orientation.

But if the client still believes that affirming his same-sex attractions would be sinful or destructive to his faith, psychologists can help him construct an identity that rejects the power of those attractions, the APA says. That might require living celibately, learning to deflect sexual impulses or framing a life of struggle as an opportunity to grow closer to God.

"We're not trying to encourage people to become 'ex-gay,'" said Judith Glassgold, who chaired the APA's task force on the issue. "But we have to acknowledge that, for some people, religious identity is such an important part of their lives, it may transcend everything else." Read more

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Psychologists repudiate gay-to-straight therapy

The American Psychological Association declared Wednesday that mental health professionals should not tell gay clients they can become straight through therapy or other treatments.

Instead, the APA urged therapists to consider multiple options - that could range from celibacy to switching churches - for helping clients whose sexual orientation and religious faith conflict.

In a resolution adopted on a 125-to-4 vote by the APA's governing council, and in a comprehensive report based on two years of research, the 150,000-member association put itself firmly on record in opposition of so-called "reparative therapy" which seeks to change sexual orientation.

No solid evidence exists that such change is likely, says the report, and some research suggests that efforts to produce change could be harmful, inducing depression and suicidal tendencies.

The APA had criticized reparative therapy in the past, but a six-member task force added weight to this position by examining 83 studies on sexual orientation change conducted since 1960. Its comprehensive report was endorsed by the APA's governing council in Toronto, where the association's annual meeting is being held this weekend.

The report breaks new ground in its detailed and nuanced assessment of how therapists should deal with gay clients struggling to remain loyal to a religious faith that disapproves of homosexuality.

Judith Glassgold, a Highland Park, N.J., psychologist who chaired the task force, said she hoped the document could help calm the polarized debate between religious conservatives who believe in the possibility of changing sexual orientation and the many mental health professionals who reject that option.

"Both sides have to educate themselves better," Glassgold said in an interview. "The religious psychotherapists have to open up their eyes to the potential positive aspects of being gay or lesbian. Secular therapists have to recognize that some people will choose their faith over their sexuality."

In dealing with gay clients from conservative faiths, says the report, therapists should be "very cautious" about suggesting treatments aimed at altering their same-sex attractions.

"Practitioners can assist clients through therapies that do not attempt to change sexual orientation, but rather involve acceptance, support and identity exploration and development without imposing a specific identity outcome," the report says.

"We have to challenge people to be creative," said Glassgold. Read more

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Six Christians burned alive in Pakistan riots

Six Christians were burned alive in Pakistan yesterday when hundreds of Muslims attacked and looted their homes, sparked by rumours that pages from the Qur'an had been desecrated.

The dead, including four women and a child, were killed when Christian homes were torched by hundreds of supporters of a banned Muslim organisation in the Punjabi village of Gojra, in eastern Pakistan.

Tensions have been running high between the two communities over allegations that Christians had defiled pages from the Muslim holy book, despite authorities insisting that the rumours were unfounded.

Television footage from the area showed houses burning and streets strewn with debris and blackened furniture as mobs ran at each other. There were reports in the local media of exchanges of gunfire between Christian and Muslim communities and that rioters had blocked a railway line. Read more
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'Dumbing down' row over value of degrees

Universities were yesterday embroiled in a furious row over dumbing down after a parliamentary inquiry revealed the number of first-class degrees had almost doubled in a decade. Amid the war of words, senior Tories vowed to publish data that they claimed would reveal the true value of degrees.

Different universities demand "different levels of effort" from students to get similar degrees, according to the report from the commons select committee on innovation, universities and skills, suggesting that top grades from some colleges were not worth the same as others.

It calls for the watchdog overseeing standards in universities to be radically overhauled or scrapped and new guides set for degree marking, noting that while 53% of students achieved a first or 2:1 in 1997, that had risen by last year to 61%.

Universities claimed that standards must be high because colleges remained popular with overseas students, but the committee said it was "absurd and disreputable" to justify academic prowess in that way. Phil Willis, chair of the committee, said it was "extremely concerned that inconsistency in standards is rife". Read more
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Gunman kills three in Tel Aviv gay nighclub

A black-clad gunman has killed three people and wounded several others in an attack on a Tel Aviv nightclub.

Israeli police said the gunman entered Cafe Noir, a youth club for gay teenagers in central Tel Aviv, and sprayed the interior with automatic rifle fire, killing three people and injuring 11.

Yaniv Weisman, who witnessed the incident, said: "This was a hate crime, a premeditated attack. Those hurt were very young."

A police spokesman confirmed the deaths at the gay club, describing the incident as "criminal, rather than nationalistic". Read more
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'Whip me if you dare' says Lubna Hussein, Sudan's defiant trouser woman

Lubna Hussein, the Sudanese woman who is daring Islamic judges to have her whipped for the "crime" of wearing trousers, has given a defiant interview to the Telegraph.

As the morality police crowded around her table in a Khartoum restaurant, leering at her to see what she was wearing, Lubna Hussein had no idea she was about to become the best-known woman in Sudan.

She had arrived at the Kawkab Elsharq Hall on a Friday night to book a cousin's wedding party, and while she waited she watched an Egyptian singer and sipped a coke.

She left less than an hour later under arrest as a "trouser girl" - humiliated in front of hundreds of people, then beaten around the head in a police van before being hauled before a court to face a likely sentence of 40 lashes for the "sin" of not wearing traditional Islamic dress. Read more
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Home Secretary: I can't stop Garry McKinnon's extradition

The judgment handed down by the High Court on Friday on the Gary McKinnon case was clear. It upheld the decision of the Home Office — that extraditing McKinnon did not constitute a breach of his human rights as defined by the European convention. It emphasises the fact that it would be unlawful for the home secretary to intervene to prevent his extradition.

The court was equally clear that he should be tried in the United States because the crimes he is accused of committing — although they were conducted from a computer in his bedroom in the UK — did not remotely affect people in this country. They affected critical government security systems in America.

This case has provoked strong feelings — and it is understandable why many are sympathetic to the cause of someone who appears simply to be a misguided, vulnerable young man who has Asperger’s syndrome. I can make no pronouncement of McKinnon’s guilt or innocence. But the crimes he is accused of are far from trivial and he should be tried fairly for them in a court of law and in the country where the impact of those crimes was felt. As the High Court judgment makes clear, McKinnon will not, if convicted, serve any of his sentence in a “supermax” prison. Read more
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Harriet Harman: you can’t trust men in power

HARRIET HARMAN has demanded that one of Labour’s two top posts should always be held by a woman — because she believes men cannot be trusted to run organisations on their own.

Labour’s deputy leader secretly tried to change party rules two years ago to ensure that it could never again be led by an all-male team, but she was foiled.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Harman reiterates her belief in the principle and says her role as Gordon Brown’s second-in-command has changed for ever the way the party will be run.

“I don’t agree with all-male leaderships,” she said. “Men cannot be left to run things on their own. I think it’s a thoroughly bad thing to have a men-only leadership.” Read more
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New welcome strategy aims to increase attendance

Friendliness advice is now on offer for parishes, as a new resource pack is released to help churches encourage visitors to become regular worshippers.
New welcome strategy aims to increase attendance

The Everybody Welcome package includes a leader’s manual, booklets for members, and a DVD of interviews and footage demonstrating the effects of a good welcome. The course gives tips such as: train a dedicated ‘Welcome Team’ to look out for newcomers, analyse whether the service is sufficiently engaging, and check the quality of post-service refreshments.

The course has been designed by the Archdeacon of Walsall, the Ven Bob Jackson, and Lichfield’s director of Parish Mission, George Fisher. Archdeacon Jackson said: “The first hurdle for visitors is are we going to find friendliness when we turn up? And I think in most churches, and certainly the better ones, they do. The big problem is how to get in. Anyone can attend a service, but how do you start belonging to a church community?”

The course gives advice on how to make a variety of people feel comfortable, including the bald, overweight and alcoholic. It also offers education on basic social skills, such as the importance of making eye contact, smiling and finding out people’s names. Read more
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Vatican Backs Archbishop Williams’ Response to Convention Actions

The Roman Catholic Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity said it shares the concerns of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams that the Anglican Communion’s unity be maintained through common faith and practice based on scripture and tradition.
The July 29 statement from the Vatican office came two days after Archbishop Williams issued his reflection on actions taken at this month’s General Convention. The statement said the Vatican “supports the archbishop in his desire to strengthen these bonds of communion, and to articulate more fully the relationship between the local and the universal within the church.

“It is our prayer that the Anglican Communion, even in this difficult situation, may find a way to maintain its unity and its witness to Christ as a worldwide communion,” the statement concluded. Read more
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Why men are to blame for the crunch

But then who was the first person to explain the Credit Crunch to me and say why it was all going to go wrong? Yup, a man (and a financier to boot). And what is the Women and Work commission's motivation for getting women into 'top jobs'? Yep, so they can get paid as much as men.

I routinely characterise the credit crunch as "men behaving badly" - because it's almost impossible to find a woman to blame.

The reckless chief executives of banks who went on a borrowing and lending binge: all men.

SuitedThe financial engineers who packaged up poisonous subprime debt and mis-sold it as AAA solid gold: they were long of Y chromosomes.

The central bankers and regulators who slept while the dangerous financial party was in full swing: blokes.

The finance ministers who didn't want to recognise that the surge in house prices was perilous, for fear of alienating voters: yup, it's my gender again. Read more
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Why FCAUK will not be ‘Good News’ in Southwark Diocese

On Monday 6th July The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans United Kingdom (FCAUK) was launched in Westminster Central Hall. The addresses given during the morning focused upon the specifics of what has been happening in the Episcopal Church in America together with more general warnings of a similar ‘drift’ towards liberalism here in the United Kingdom and what might be needed in response to this.

It was the latter theme that dominated the afternoon with a series of films and interviews providing examples of UK dioceses ‘cooperating’ with ‘orthodox’ churches alongside examples where the opposite was seen to be the case. Whilst the film clips largely concentrated on the more positive examples, the interviews then conducted by William Taylor (Rector of St Helen’s Bishopsgate) and Christine Perkin (wife of the Vicar of St Mark’s, Battersea Rise and a member of its leadership team) focused on examples where conservative evangelicals felt oppressed and mistreated by their diocesan structures. The overall message of the afternoon, therefore, was that enough was enough: through the formation of FCAUK and action in regard to clergy selection and appointment, authorising church plants and the withholding of finance, those responsible for misgovernment, heresy and oppression in the Church of England would no longer be able to get away with it.

As one present at the conference to witness all this, what particularly alarmed me was the entirely uncritical nature of the ‘interviews’ conducted by Mr Taylor and Mrs Perkin. Candidates for ordination required to gain experience of the wider church shared their angst at this without the slightest searching question being put to them and a similar approach was then taken to frustrated church planters.

Included within the latter and most alarming to me personally was the last of these interviews, seemingly designed to form the climax of the afternoon, with the Reverend Richard Coekin, leader of the Co-Mission network of churches in South West London. During his interview Mr Coekin explained he was now looking to FCA to supply him with Episcopal oversight to replace that of his ‘liberal bishop’ Tom Butler. Read more
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Credit card crisis to grip Britain, IMF warns

Britain’s credit card debt crisis will get significantly worse in the coming months with a wave of consumer payment defaults, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

The organisation expects £1.5bn of consumer debt across Europe will not be repaid, much of it in Britain which has the highest number of credit card borrowers on the continent.

Analysts say failure to pay credit card bills is likely to increase as unemployment rises and the number of personal insolvencies, which reached 29,774 in the first quarter of the year, continues to rise.

The IMF said the crisis would echo the problems already felt in the United States, where it expects 14 per cent of the country’s £1.16bn credit card debt to go unpaid this year, the Financial Times reported. Read more
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How the forces finally learnt to take pride

In the genteel atmosphere of the Coldstream Guards' officers' mess, Lieutenant Mark Wakeling was known as "thug". Amongst his fellow guardsmen, he prided himself on being the toughest, the fittest and the most aggressive.

He not only laughed at homophobic jokes – he was the "straightest of the straight" amongst the young officers. When one of his platoon admitted to being gay, he immediately started the discharge process.

Nobody realised that behind the excessively macho behaviour was a young man who lived in fear that his own homosexuality would be discovered. Eventually, the pressure became too much and he cut short his military career and resigned his commission. "I scurried away like a frightened rat," he explained yesterday, bitter regret still evident in his expression more than a decade later.

This month, for the first time in its history, the cover of the British Army's official publication Soldier magazine shows Trooper James Wharton – openly gay – clad in his dress uniform, complete with Iraq medal, next to the headline "Pride". It is the most obvious sign that almost a decade after the military lifted the ban on homosexuality it is finally comfortable with its new clothes.

British servicemen and women now march at Gay Pride in uniform, all three services have become Stonewall diversity champions and a few months ago the head of the British Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt made history when he became the first army chief to address a Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual and Transgender conference. "Respect for others is not an optional extra," he said. Read more
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Minister: flu panic is danger to NHS

Ed: Told you so (and here).

Ministers moved to quell swine flu hysteria last night, as concerns grew that the National Health Service might be overwhelmed by hordes of "unnecessarily anxious" people who could make a full recovery at home.

Amid rising government worry about how NHS staff will cope as the virus spreads, health secretary Andy Burnham warned that panic itself could push services to breaking point. Health Department officials said there was a danger of a "panic pandemic" that could hinder the treatment of more serious cases.

Calling for calm, Burnham said that although swine flu presented a huge challenge for the country, it was not a life-threatening condition for the vast majority of people.

He told the Observer that it was vital not to over-react and claimed the government had the situation under control. "It is very important for everybody to keep a sense of perspective," he said. "It has been a mild virus in the vast majority of cases, with relatively mild symptoms from which people recover fully fairly quickly. Read more
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US shock jock Savage targeted 'to balance least wanted list'

Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has suffered a major setback in her legal battle with American 'shock jock' Michael Savage after her officials were accused of banning him from the country on racial grounds.

Emails written by Home Office officials privately acknowledged the ban on Mr Savage would provide 'balance' to a list dominated by Muslims - and linked the decision to Gordon Brown and Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

The officials admitted their action could look 'duplicitous' and cited his 'homophobia' as a reason the move would receive public support.

Read more
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