Lesbian pastors Phyllis Zillhart and Ruth Frost were “received” onto the ELCA clergy roster September 19, 2010. Bishops Peter Rogness (St. Paul Area) and Craig Johnson (Minneapolis Area) officiated. Zillhart and Frost are also a “couple” with a daughter. How was she conceived? In 1993 Zillhart was artificially inseminated with the sperm of a gay […]
The Importance of Fathers to Churchgoing
“In short, if a father does not go to church, no matter how faithful his wife’s devotions, only one child in 50 will become a regular worshipper. If a father does go regularly, regardless of the practice of the mother, between two-thirds and three-quarters of their children will become churchgoers (regular and irregular). If a […]
The Problem of the Modern Wedding
It’s unrealistic about marriage. A Guardian blogger complains: “The modern wedding, with its stupendous cost (£20,000 on average) and duration, is really a celebration of the participants. They really are unique and precious snowflakes, just as they have suspected all along. In fact, they are each and both of them just the unique and precious […]
Democracies don’t have famines
“If it were possible to sum up in one sentence Ethiopia’s struggles with famine over the past quarter-century, I’d suggest this: It’s not the rains, it’s the rulers. As Peter Gill makes clear in Famines and Foreigners, his well-turned account of the country’s miseries since the 1984-85 famine and the Live Aid concert meant to relieve […]
Mission Support. Who’s fooling whom?
Two ELCA congregations – Roseville Lutheran (Roseville, MN) and First Lutheran (Freeport, IL) were recently honored for giving a combined total of $830,000 to the ELCA for mission. Did they increase the Global Mission budget by $830,000? Nope. Because the ELCA operates on a unified budget, it’s not possible to increase money for mission. If […]