A group of black activist clergy says they plan to organize against Christian conservatives they accuse of using same-sex “marriage” and abortion to distract from other moral issues including the war, voting rights, affirmative action, and poverty. The Reverends Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Joseph Lowery are attending a three-day black clergy conference in Dallas. Sharpton says there are no homosexuals coming to black churches asking to get married. He said tours are planned in swing election states starting next month to bring out black voters and to push Democrats to take tougher stands on social justice issues. But a spokesman for evangelical conservatives says Christian conservatives agree with black churchgoers on key issues. Rev. Richard Cizik of the National Association of Evangelicals says stereotypes should not be used to cause division.

- AP

The choice of Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori by bishops and delegates to the Episcopal General Convention in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday makes her the first woman to lead any church in the global Anglican Communion. But her election to be presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA complicates relations among Episcopalians and with other Anglicans, which already are strained by the Episcopal Church’s 2003 confirmation of the openly homosexual Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Many of the world’s Anglican archbishops believe Robinson’s consecration violated biblical teachings, and that women should not even be priests, much less bishops. Jefferts Schori, who voted for Robinson and has supported same-sex “blessing” ceremonies, says she cannot stop conservatives who disagree with her from leaving the Episcopal Church. “That is their decision,” she says. “I will remain at the table, and I will leave the table and follow after to some degree as I am able.” But conservative Episcopalians say her election showed a total disregard for the pain it would cause. Rev. Kendall Harmon, a conservative Episcopal leader, tells Associated Press that the new presiding bishop was chosen with complete disregard for Episcopalians who disagree. “We have whole pockets of this church that don’t agree with the ordination of women,” says Harmon. “Nobody brought up the pain.” Rev. Martyn Minns, another conservative Episcopal leader, says the election of Jefferts Schori will deepen the Episcopal Church’s divisions with other Anglican churches over Robinson’s confirmation. “She voted for Gene Robinson and supports same-sex blessings,” the clergyman says. “She’ll bring into sharp relief the difference between being an Episcopalian and being an Anglican.” When she begins her nine-year term in November, Jefferts Schori will inherit a shrinking and fractured church. ECUSA’s membership, as in other mainline Protestant groups, has been declining for years. More than a quarter of the 2.3 million Episcopalians are 65 or older. The Anglican Communion Network, which represents ten U.S. conservative dioceses and more than 900 parishes within the Episcopal Church, is deciding whether to break from the denomination. The network is to meet at the end of July to craft its response to the convention. But Rev. David Anderson, who heads the conservative American Anglican Council, says “mom and pop are leaving” the Episcopal Church. He says, “we’re seeing the erosion at a consistent rate.”

- AP

West Virginia Methodists have rejected a resolution that would have required a discussion of their bishops’ opposition to the Iraq war during Sunday school classes. On the final day of West Virginia United Methodists’ annual meeting, members said they rejected the resolution because it would dishonor U.S. forces fighting in Iraq. More than half the denomination’s bishops had called the war an “unjust and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq.” West Virginia Methodists also rejected a resolution calling for open membership in the church. The vote was prompted by a church court decision that pastors can decide whether someone seeking membership is worthy. The ruling upheld the authority of a Virginia pastor who denied membership to an unrepentant homosexual man.
- AP