http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1485001,00.html

Church aims to put clergy in the dock with modern heresy trials
By Ruth Gledhill
Bishops are thought to be sympathetic to new measures




CLERGY who deny the Virgin Birth or the bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ will be tried as heretics under a new measure voted on yesterday at the General Synod of the Church of England.

There are many Europeans that are rebelling completely against organized religion right now, is this maybe a response to that?

I hope that US churches don't follow this lead. My fear is the response here will be: we don't want to be influenced by the Anglican Church, since they are coming up with some extreme rules, lets "rebell" and form a Church of the United States. Hence destroying the separation between church and state that was fundamental in the American Revolution.

It's hard to believe I am thinking like this, but with as much as the Bush administration has diminshed the separation between church and state, it wouldn't surprise me if there were groups that would be "misinformed" enough to respond in this way.

Neither party should be responding to this at all, let's hope they don't as any church policies should have no place in American politics whatsoever.

Just proves the argument against "organized" religion.

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Royal wedding confuses Anglican church direction
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2005/f...050217opi7.html

Conservative groups complain the April 8 civil ceremony and postvows service by the Archbishop of Canterbury—although fully legal—runs counter to Church of England traditions against divorce and will deepen rifts at a delicate time for the world’s 77 million-strong Anglican Communion, which includes Episcopalians in the United States.

The church has been shaken by quandaries over doctrine and structure. Chief among them: whether to sanction the ordination of gay clergy, give blessings to same-sex unions and allow women priests to become bishops. Fresh debates are expected at a gathering of Anglican leaders in Northern Ireland beginning Monday.

The royal wedding plans add another point of friction, conservative leaders say.

“We know there’s a head of steam to liberalize the church already,” said George Curry, chair of the Church Society, a group of tradition-minded Anglican clergy and faithful in Britain. “There are theological questions at stake. Charles is now one of them.”

Actually, it’s the bride-to-be who appears to be deeper into the religious quagmire.

Her ex-husband, Andrew Parker Bowles, is alive. For some conservatives, this is more an affront to Anglican tenets than the decision by the widower Charles to remarry.

“The question is ‘is this the couple we want as the future guardians of the church?’” said Curry. “This is not setting a good example.”

-snip-

The Church of England disapproves of the remarriage of divorced people in church except under special circumstances. There are no annulments—as possible with Roman Catholics—that open the way for a new, church-sanctioned wedding.
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It is kind of strange that the Chuch of England is against divorce since it was create to grant divorce.

Catholic Church and Catholic-Lite(Anglicans) aren't going to become more liberal,
people that disagree with their teachings will just leave. It does strike me as odd that the Anglicans think heresy trials are going to help, what punishment do they think a charge of heresy will cause their opponents? It's not the 1500's and people aren't going to be thrown in the tower, or publicly shunned. They'll walk outside the church grounds and probably flip them off .

I think this guy will agree with you.

As an Episcopalian (the U.S. Episcopal Church is part of the Anglican Communion) I don't see heresy trials as a church and state issue at all, it's a matter of how the church should run itself. Without reading the article I think that the church should enforce some conformity amongst its clergy, otherwise how can it stand for anything? But it would be a mistake to go too far and be too rigid, there has to be tolerance for differing views as well. (We certainly have a lot of differing views in the church in this country!) The royal wedding issue is a dilemna for the C of E, and illustrates the problem of them being the state church of England with the monarch their official head. I don't have a huge problem with Prince Charles, his business is his business, and I think that mostly he's been a good prince, but I just don't see him as the ideal head of the C of E and the Anglican Communion. The Church there could do without the headache of having to reconcile these kinds of things by being disestablished.

As far as the resulting punishment, of course all they can do in this day and age (Thank God!) is to defrock the offending priests.

Heresy trials??? What's next? Re-inact the witchcraft laws? Bring back stoning of aduteresses and harlots? The Spanish Inquisition?

Do you really expect the Spanish Inquisition?

http://ratzingerfanclub.com/

As Grand Inquisitor for Mother Rome, Ratzinger keeps himself busy in service to the Truth: correcting theological error, silencing dissenting theologians, and stomping down heresy wherever it may rear its ugly head -- and, consequently, has received somewhat of a notorious reputation among the liberal media and 'enlightened' intellegensia of pseudo-Catholic universities.

Cardinal Ratzinger is one of the leading candidates for Pope.

Noooobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Another Monty Python fan, eh?

Yep. I was wondering who would follow up my line about the Spanish Inquisition. :D

Maybe the church will just exorcise the heretics!

Vatican offers exorcism courses


ROME, Italy (AP) -- A Vatican-linked university is offering courses on Satanism, black magic and exorcism, in a bid to educate clergy and seminarians about the lure of the devil.

The class at Rome's Pontifical Academy "Regina Apostolorum" has arisen from alarm about Satanic practices among young people, especially in Italy.

In one case in Italy in January, eight people believed to belong to a Satanic sect were ordered to stand trial for their alleged role in three ritual killings.

One of the victims was a 19-year-old girl stabbed to death in 1998. She may have been targeted because her killers believed she was a personification of the Virgin Mary, prosecutors allege. The suspects belonged to a heavy metal band called "Beasts of Satan."

For the rest of the article - http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/0...an.satinism.ap/

Sounds like we're back to Manicheanism and Arianism to me. I do see the point of those who question the point of declaring them heretics. It might have to do with the New Testament injunction about not keeping fellowship (IN THE CHURCH) with non-believers. After all, those who deny the virgin birth and the resurrection may follow a philosopher called Jesus, but certainly not a God.