Thursday, May 23, 2013

That's right, the Vast Majority of Episcopalians are no longer Christians

Los Angeles Diocese Wins Summary Judgment in Property Case


Saint James Church
NEWPORT BEACH, CA (ANS) -- St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach, California, has received a serious set-back in its legal case and in their fight to retain their property from being confiscated by the Episcopal Church, of which it was formerly a part, after it withdrew from it and joined the Anglican Province of Uganda and the Diocese of Luwero in August of 2004.
Steps to disassociate from the Episcopal Church were initiated by the leadership of this evangelical Anglican church as a result of widening differences of biblical interpretation an example of which was evidenced when controversial decisions made at the General Convention in the summer of 2003, most notably, the confirmation of the first openly gay Episcopal bishop, Gene Robinson.
In August 2004, this decision, along with other theological differences, led the Rector, wardens, vestry, and a nearly unanimous congregation, to vote overwhelmingly to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church and to affiliate with the conservative Anglican Church of Uganda.
 St. James Church was soon joined by All Saints Church in Long Beach and St. David's Church in North Hollywood. All three churches were then sued for their property by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and the national Episcopal Church.
 Since 2004, the church has received national attention over its legal case against the Episcopal Church, but now, in a story by George Conger of Anglican Ink, the church's case, that it should be able to retain the property, has been rejected by an Orange County (California) Superior Court Judge.
 Conger wrote that the Judge had ruled that a Bishop of Los Angeles had "no authority to give the parish of St James in Newport Beach a written waiver exempting the congregation's property from the reach of the Episcopal Church's Dennis Canon."
 He went on to say, "In a ruling for summary judgment handed down on May 1, 2013, Judge Kim Dunning ordered the parish to hand its multi-million dollar properties over to the Diocese of Los Angeles."
 "The decision was unexpected," Daniel Lula - an attorney for the parish -- told Anglican Ink, as the matter had been set down for trial later this month.
 In an email to his congregation, the Rector, the Rev Richard Crocker said: "We have received notice this morning from our attorneys that the court has handed down a significantly negative ruling in our court case. This of course changes the landscape of next week's trial," he noted, inviting the parish to a meeting with Mr. Lula "to offer explanation of what we know about the ruling at this point."
Conger stated, "In her decision, Judge Dunning said the Episcopal Church's rules governing parish property on the diocesan and national level took precedence over civil property and trust laws. She dismissed as non-binding a 1991 letter signed by the then Canon to the Ordinary D. Bruce MacPherson, later to become the Bishop of Western Louisiana, on behalf of Bishop Frederick Borsch that released the diocese's claim to the property."
 Bishop MacPherson said in a deposition, "The purpose of the conversations between the Diocese and St. James was for St. James to hold title to its property in its own name free of any trust . . . [as] part of an agreement in order for St. James to secure substantial donations for its building program."
 Conger then wrote, "However, this waiver did not amend the parish bylaws and diocesan canons she held. Even if it did, according to the present leadership of the Episcopal Church's interpretation of the canons 'the Bishop of the Diocese did not, and does not, have authority to amend any of these instruments.'"
 Judge Dunning cited the declaration by the Episcopal Church's expert witness Robert Bruce Mullin in support of her deference to canon law over the evidence of the deeds and waiver noting the "Mullin declaration concerns 'religious entity governance and administration,' and this court is bound by it.
 "The court further stated that it believed a parish was a subordinate unit to a diocese and had no existence outside the diocese. While the Episcopal Church could exist without St James, St James could not exist without the Episcopal Church - and as it had no existence independent of the diocese, the loss of its property to the diocese could not harm it."
 Conger continued by saying that in 2011 the California Supreme Court rejected an argument of the Episcopal Church that the 1991 letter had been declared invalid by its first review of the case in 2009. The Court said, "We express no opinion regarding the legal significance, if any, of the 1991 letter. We merely hold that a court must decide the question," overturning an appellate court ruling that did not allow the parish to put forward a defense.
 In 2005 the Orange County Superior Court ruled the Episcopal Church's allegations were legally defective, but an appellate ruling reversed the trial decision and adjusted the approach to church property law in California. The Parish appealed to the California Supreme Court, who reversed the Appeal Court and returned the case to the Superior Court where St. James answered the complaint, raised affirmative defenses, and began discovery proceedings. This court denied a motion from the diocese, which took a writ to the Appeal Court for summary judgment in the case. This was granted before a trial had occurred and judgment given, and the Parish again appealed to the California Supreme Court. In early 2011, the California Supreme Court ruled for the Parish and sent the case back to the Orange County Superior Court.
 "If the parish does not appeal the decision it will have to vacate the property in the near future," said Conger.
 In his invitation to the parish meeting Mr. Crocker said: "I ask that all members of St. James come together in unity at this time to hear from our attorney and to pray together. The Lord is not surprised by this decision and He is in our midst. But His strength is particularly manifested when we come together in unity and prayer."
Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, sent a letter to Christianity Today magazine offering the campus of his Lake Forest, California mega church to St. James to use if they are forced to vacate their Newport Beach property. Rev. Crocker responded to Warren's offer with the following, "We are overwhelmed by his generosity. It is an encouraging sign of support from Christians in the community."

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

If you are gay and orthodox bishops don't want to ordain you, you can sue them now. Madness

So, if you are gay, and want to be ordained in a denomination that at least yet, doesn't support gay marriage, what you do is to sue the bishop for lack of human rights.


New Zealand became the 13thcountry to legalise same sex marriage two weeks ago. 
This week the Anglican Bishop of Auckland is being taken to the Human Rights Tribunal over allegations he is discriminating against a gay man who wants to become a priest. 
Right Reverend Ross Bay (pictured) has been accused of preventing a gay man entering the Anglican Church's training or discernment programme for priests because he is unmarried and in a sexual relationship with his male partner
Gay activists, anywhere, instead of creating something for themselves, want to take over other institutions, to degrade them. Look at the Boy Scouts in the USA. Instead of creating a Boy Scouts for gays (actually, due to their lack of reproduction that will never happen), they want to join the lines of the Boys Scouts. 

This is the same situation in the Anglican church. Gays may as well, now that they have total freedom, make a church of their own (they have some of them already) and start proclaiming their degraded message.

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said he had been signalling his desire to train for the priesthood since 2006, but had never been accepted into the programme. 
Bay, who approves entrants to the Anglican Church's clergy training programme, has been the Bishop of Auckland since 2010.
Bay, who approves entrants to the Anglican Church's clergy training programme, has been the Bishop of Auckland since 2010.
 Well, just as adulterers are not accepted in the program, or any other who doesn't live up to God's standards should not be ordained, or at least, someone who recognises that their life style is so much against God's Word, should not be ordained so lightly. But this people, just want to be "affirmed" in their sinful lifestyle. 

The case is illustrative of the sort of litigation that will become commonplace once same sex marriage is legalised. 
At the end of the day this is not about ‘legal equality’ – already granted by civil partnerships – or ‘love’ – nothing currently stands in the way of such relationships.
It is largely about the desire for affirmation and recognition.
 
What infuriates and drives some sections of the gay rights lobby is the fact that some other members of society - in this case leaders in the Anglican church - refuse to accept, affirm and celebrate their sexual relationships. 
And so in complete disregard of the directive of Jesus and Paul not to take fellow Christians to court (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 6:5-7) they end up doing just that – thus underlining the key issue at stake in this debate – a disregard for biblical authority.
So many christians were duped into believing that gay marriage would bring "equality" and  would not interfere with other's liberties, but this case shows the gay agenda, and what some had been saying that such a change in the law and views, would ultimately be (liberal) christianity's doom.

In conclusion, these people don't accept christianity's view on sexuality, or the command to avert court.

These people don't care about Scripture, or God, period.

Liberal Christianity, you assured all that this wouldn't happen. yet, it didn't take that long for bible loving christians to be proved right.