wfn.org | [ELD] Interim positions in government relations office announced

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

>Episcopal Life Daily
>August 11, 2009

Episcopal Life Online is available at  http://www.episcopalchurch.org/elife.

>Today's Episcopal Life Daily includes:

* PEOPLE - Interim positions in government relations office announced
* WORLD REPORT - TAIWAN: Typhoon Morakot causes severe flooding
* WORLD REPORT - HONG KONG: Christian leaders not happy with drug test
proposal
* WORLD REPORT - KENYA: Greed destroying the environment, church leaders  say
* WORLD REPORT - PHILIPPINES: Arroyo's '$20,000 New York dinner' draws
flak from church leaders
* WORLD REPORT - SOUTH AFRICA: Archbishop Tutu mends fences with  President
Zuma
* OPINION - Letters: Episcopal Life Monthly August 2009
* DAYBOOK - August 12: Today in Scripture, Prayer, History
* CATALYST - AD 381 - Heretic, Pagans, and the Christian State

>_____________________

>PEOPLE

Interim positions in government relations office announced

Director of Advocacy search temporarily suspended

[Episcopal News Service] Changes in responsibilities at the Episcopal
Church's government relations office in Washington, D.C. have been
announced, and the search for a director for advocacy has been
temporarily suspended, according to an August 11 press release from
the Office of Public Affairs.

Alex Baumgarten, international policy analyst in the Office of
Government Relations (OGR), will serve as its interim director
beginning September 1. Maureen Shea will retire from her position as
OGR director on August 28. Meanwhile, Mary Getz, OGR's grassroots
coordinator, will oversee the administrative work of the Washington
office.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_113239_ENG_HTM.htm

More People: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81831_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>WORLD REPORT

TAIWAN: Typhoon Morakot causes severe flooding
August 11, 2009

[Episcopal Relief & Development] Typhoon Morakot dropped close to 80
inches of rain, causing the worst flooding in a half-century and
killing at least 40 people in Taiwan and along the coast of China
August 8-9.

Full story; http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_113242_ENG_HTM.htm

HONG KONG: Christian leaders not happy with drug test proposal

>By Francis Wong

[Ecumenical News International, Hong Kong] Hong Kong Christian leaders
are warning against proposed government drug tests for schoolchildren
because of fears they could stigmatize the students involved.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_113213_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

KENYA: Greed destroying the environment, church leaders say

>By Fredrick Nzwili

[Ecumenical News International, Nairobi] Protestant churches in Kenya
are warning that greed is destroying the country's environment,
bringing drought, famine, hunger, malnutrition and general scarcity.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_113206_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

PHILIPPINES: Arroyo's '$20,000 New York dinner' draws flak from church
leaders

>By Maurice Malanes

[Ecumenical News International, Manila] Christian leaders have
lambasted Philippines President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her
entourage for reportedly spending US$20,000 for a dinner in New York
during a visit to the United States earlier this month.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_113211_ENG_HTM.htm

>- - - - -

SOUTH AFRICA: Archbishop Tutu mends fences with President Zuma

>By Munyaradzi Makoni

[Ecumenical News International, Cape Town] Nobel Peace Prize Laureate,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who strongly opposed Jacob Zuma becoming
president of South Africa, says the country's leader should be given a
chance to prove himself in office.

Full story: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_113208_ENG_HTM.htm

More World news: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81808_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>OPINION

>Letters: Episcopal Life Monthly August 2009

[Episcopal News Service] Letters that appeared in the June 2009
edition of Episcopal Life Monthly are available at
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_113221_ENG_HTM.htm.

More Opinion: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_ENG_HTM.htm

>_____________________

>DAYBOOK

On August 12, 2009, the church remembers Florence Nightingale, nurse
and social reformer (1820-1910)

* Today in Scripture: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/82457_ENG_HTM.htm

* Today in Prayer: Anglican Cycle of Prayer:

http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acp/index.cfm

* Today in History: On August 12, 1827 William Blake, English poet and
artist, died. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake's work
is now considered a significant contribution to the history of both
poetry and the visual arts.

>_____________________

>CATALYST

"AD 381 - Heretic, Pagans, and the Christian State" from Penguin
Books, by Charles Freeman, 256 pages, hardcover, c. 2009, $27.95

[Penguin Books] A provoking and timely examination of one of the most
important moments in Church history.

In 381 AD, Theodosius, emperor of the eastern Roman Empire, issued a
decree in which all his subjects were required to subscribe to a
belief in the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This edict
defined Christianity; all other interpretations were now declared
heretical. Moreover, for the first time in a thousand years of
Greco-Roman civilization, free thought was unambiguously suppressed.
Yet surprisingly, this political revolution, intended to bring inner
cohesion to an empire under threat from the outside, has been
airbrushed from the historical record. Instead, it has been claimed
that the Christian Church had reached a consensus on the Trinity which
was promulgated at the Council of Constantinople in 381.

This groundbreaking new book shows that the Council was in fact a
shambolic affair, which only took place after Theodosius's decree had
become law. In short, the Church was acquiescing in the overwhelming
power of the Emperor. Freeman argues that the edict and the subsequent
suppression of paganism not only brought an end to religious and
philosophical diversity throughout the Empire, but created numerous
theological problems for the Church that have remained unsolved. The
year AD 381, Freeman concludes, marked "a turning point which time
forgot."

To order: Episcopal Books and Resources, online at
http://www.episcopalbookstore.org, or call 800-903-5544 -- or visit
your local Episcopal bookseller, http://www.episcopalbooksellers.org