Yet another reason to be thankful you don’t live in South Carolina…

“This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story,” Sanford said. “A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.” — Luv Gov. (and Promise Keeper) Mark Sanford

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Pnina Conforty was a successful Israeli baker, until word got out that she believes Jesus is the Son of God. The revelation led local Orthodox officials to strip her business of its “kosher” status. They argued that a Messianic Jew could not be trusted to follow strict Jewish laws governing preparation of kosher food.

Now, Israel’s high court has sided with the baker, the Jerusalem Post reports.

The Standing Committee of the Diocese of Nevada has posted the minutes of its April 18, 2009 meeting online. They contain the following:

“There was a lengthy discussion regarding the election of the Bishop in Northern Michigan.

Motion – To consent to the ordination of Kevin Thew Forrester. The Motion failed.”

The Diocese of Nevada has been posting summaries of its standing committee actions for about two years and its leadership has stated that “transparency” is a key diocesan value.

The updated tally:

Dioceses SUPPORTING Thew Forrester’s election: 32
Dioceses OPPOSING Thew Forrester’s election: 62

Thanks to the transparency of most standing committees across the nation, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette can report that a majority of the church’s 111 standing committees and councils of advice have decided to withhold consent to the election of the bishop-elect of Northern Michigan.

Barring last minute reversals by some of the 62 standing committees that are withholding consent, Thew Forrester’s bid will be rejected. The latest unofficial returns from the consent process:

“Yes” to bishop-elect Kevin G. Thew Forrester: 33 (more…)

Rabbi Schmuley Boteach was a part of Michael Jackson’s inner circle for a time and describes his efforts to help the King of Pop find salvation, healing, wholeness, a Purpose-Driven Life, if you will.

He has written an extraordinary article for the Jerusalem Post about the superstar’s spiritual wanderings.

I think Rabbi Boteach is correct when he calls this “an American tragedy.” Jackson’s life and his death are an indictment of our country’s sick, shallow, celebrity-obsessed culture.

People has an extraordinary story about Michael Jackson’s final week. It tells you more about his death, in a few paragraphs, than CNN would tell you in an entire afternoon.

The story features electronic messages, sent out earlier this week, by a Jackson fan from the United Kingdom who was invited to watch the King of Pop practice for his big comeback tour. The fan was horrified by what she saw and expressed doubts that Jackson had the health or strength to go on stage in London. Her comments, in hindsight, are spot on. …

There are plenty of folks who think America is a “Christian nation.” I’d like to ask them: What does Michael Jackson’s life and death say about our country, our culture, and our celebrity-crazed nation’s spiritual health?

How does our idolization, fascination, and/or obsession with the likes of Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith, Madonna and John and Kate plus Eight square with any Christian (or Jewish or Muslim) value.

We have created a sick, Freak Show culture that poisons our minds and — all-too-often — devours and destroys the Idols we place on our National Stage.

BULLETIN
AP Source: Michael Jackson dies in LA hospital
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY and DERRIK J. LANG
AP Music Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A person with knowledge of the situation says Michael Jackson has died in Los Angeles.
The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity, says the King of Pop died at age 50 in a Los Angeles hospital.

In an e-mail, the Right Rev. Alfredo Morante, bishop of Ecuador (Litoral), said today (06/25/09) that he will withhold consent to the election of the Rev. Kevin G. Thew Forrester as bishop of Northern Michigan.

But the bishop isn’t sure if he’ll vote no by ballot or vote no by simply abstaining (abstentions are counted as “no” votes.) As of today, 90 days into the consent process, Bishop Morante says he still hasn’t received the paperwork from the presiding bishop’s office that he’d need in order to cast an actual vote.

Bishop Morante also predicts that his diocese’s standing committee will join him in withholding consent once they gather “to take up this distasteful matter.”

Thew Forrester’s theology raised concerns for Bishop Morante. Church leaders, Bishop Morante said, shouldn’t “disagree so much with the doctrine of the church, with Christianity’s fundamental and vital doctrines.”

Farrah Fawcett died today at age 62. She was the prettiest of Charlie’s Angels. Her looks launched 12 million wall posters. She won an Emmy for “The Burning Bed” and critical acclaim for her role in “Small Sacrifices.”

Fawcett also appeared with Robert Duvall in “The Apostle” — one of the best movies ever made about religion in the Bible Belt.

The Texas beauty was a Christian, and she received the last rites of the Roman Catholic Church before passing this morning, her longtime partner Ryan O’Neal said.

“She’s now with her mother and sister and her God. I loved her with all my heart,” O’Neal told People. “I will miss her so very, very much. She was in and out of consciousness. I talked to her all through the night. I told her how very much I loved her. She’s in a better place now.”

h/t: Caleb Powers

A Connecticut church is in hot water after performing a gay ‘exorcism’ on a teenager, the Associated Press reports.

I’ve only attended one ‘exorcism’ in my life — and that was in Argentina.

The Governor of South Carolina isn’t the first politician to tango with an Argentinian beauty. Former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills, then 65, fell from grace after he was caught carousing with Annabella Battistella, then age 38.

Fox, who was described by Time Magazine as a “bosomy stripper”, billed herself as “Fanne Fox: The Argentine Firecracker.”

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Southern Baptists praised the election of President Barack Obama but said at their national meeting on Wednesday that they oppose his views on abortion and other social issues.
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The Orthodox Church in America is ending relations with the Episcopal Church and will instead form ties with the Anglican Church in North America, The Living Church reported today.

Richard Cizik was the National Association of Evangelicals’ top man in Washington, hob-nobbing with the nation’s elite and infuriating Christian right leaders by departing from the (Republican) party line on the environment and other topics. But his comments on gay marriage ended up being his undoing.

His replacement, Galen Carey, has now been hired, according to a story from Sarah Pulliam of Christianity Today.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Southern Baptists are facing a membership decline that could shrink the nation’s largest Protestant denomination by nearly half in 40 years, its convention president said Tuesday.

The Rev. Johnny Hunt, a megachurch pastor from Woodstock, Ga., told convention members gathered in Louisville that Southern Baptists need give more to worldwide missions and attract minorities.

“I really do believe we need a revival,” Hunt said in a 45-minute address to kick off the two-day convention.

The denomination is declining at a rate that could shrink its membership from 16.2 million to 8.7 million by 2050, Hunt said.

Hunt, himself a Native American from the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina, urged members to recruit minorities, whom he called “our brothers in ethnicity.”

The Rev. Richard Land, head of the denomination’s public policy arm, has said the convention’s minority membership, including blacks, Asians and Latinos, had grown to about 18 percent by 2007.

According to U.S. Census figures, minorities make up 34 percent of the nation’s total population.

The convention, which formed in 1845 after a dispute with northern Baptists over slavery, is expected to vote this week on a resolution acknowledging the historical importance of President Barack Obama’s electoral victory.

Hunt also said that despite hard economic times, members must dig deep and continue to give to the convention’s Cooperative Program, which supports missions around the world.

“All of us ought to do more,” he said.

Giving to that program was down slightly by 0.65 percent for the fiscal year 2007-08 after four straight years of growth. Donations to the program for 2007-08 totaled $204 million.