eChurch Blog

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

LISBON, July 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Portugal’s Constitutional Court today reaffirmed the country’s definition of marriage as between one man and one woman.

Judges ruled 3-2 against two lesbians who attempted to use a constitutional loophole to challenge the law.

Teresa Pires and Helena Paixao, both of whom have children and are divorced, were turned away from a registry office in Lisbon in 2006 when they attempted to “marry” and were told the law stipulates that marriage is between people of different genders.

The lesbians filed a complaint in a Lisbon court in 2006 but the case was rejected.

The two then challenged that ruling on the grounds that Portugal’s constitution forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation.

However, after considering their appeal, the Constitutional Court also rejected the case and said in a statement posted on its website that the constitution does not state that same-sex “marriages” must be permitted.

AP reports that the lesbians intend to take their legal battle to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.

Acceptance of same-sex “marriage” and homosexual “rights” has met with resistance from religious groups and conservative politicians in this predominantly Roman Catholic country.

A recent Eurobarometer survey shows that 70% of Portuguese surveyed reject same-sex “marriage” and 80% disapprove the idea of homosexual couples adopting children.

Earlier this year, the leader of Portugal’s ruling Socialist Party, Jose Socrates, announced his support for homosexual “marriage,” sparking controversy and protest throughout the country and within the Socialist Party (PS) itself.

“This is the moment for the PS, in its national congress, to affirm its desire to propose to Portuguese society the right to civil marriage for people of the same sex,” said Socrates in a political speech at the Belem Cultural Center in January.

Mario Soares, former President of Portugal and a founder of the Socialist Party, reacted negatively to Socrates’ comments, stating that “homosexual marriages are complicated questions of conscience … but there are certain radicals who want to move forward [with it] to show that they are leftist.”

Portugal’s Parliament, however, voted by a large majority last year against proposals tabled by smaller parties to allow same-sex “marriages.” The Socialist Party said at the time the issue needed further study.

By Thaddeus M. Baklinski

Albania Considers Legalizing Same-Sex “Marriage”

TIRANA, Albania, July 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Albania’s recently re-elected Prime Minister Sali Berisha announced yesterday that his government is preparing a bill to legalize homosexual “marriage,” despite hostility to the idea from many quarters in the small Balkan country.

“A law that could provoke debates and reactions aims to put an end to discrimination and will allow civil unions between same-sex persons,” Berisha said in a government statement. He added that there is “a certain hostility towards minorities” in Albania and called on citizens to respect “the standards of other European countries.”

The plan to introduce the legislation is seen by critics as an attempt by Berisha to bring the country closer to the European Union. The former Communist country joined NATO in April, and has applied to be considered for joining the EU.

From 1944 to April 1985, Albania was dominated by Communist dictator Enver Hoxha, who enforced a severe policy of isolation and atheism. After Hoxha’s death in 1985, the country slowly reengaged with the outside world, and reformed its government structures after the fall of Communism.

The proposed bill will most likely provoke controversy and debate in a country where the majority of the population are Muslims, with large Orthodox Christian and Roman Catholic minorities.

Opposition to the legislation by Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox leaders has been “vehement,” according to a BBC report.

A spokesman of the Catholic Church in Tirana said: “We cannot accept that law, we are categorically against it.”

“We will firmly oppose that law,” Islamic leader Selim Muca told AFP.

Berisha, who leads the right-wing Democratic Party that won the June 28 election and controls 74 of Parliament’s 140 seats, is regarded as a conservative leader of one of Europe’s most conservative countries, where homosexuality was illegal until 1995. The unexpected move toward recognizing same-sex unions caught many legislators by surprise.

Media reported that as Berisha presented the bill before the assembly, some members of the parliament laughed.

The Lutheran World Federation

MONTREUX, Switzerland/GENEVA, 31 July 2009 (LWI) – The changing contexts of humanitarian crises today provided a common ground for joint reflection on the future of church-based humanitarian and development initiatives at this year’s Annual Forum of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS).

“The understanding of humanitarian crises has changed in recent decades,” said Rev. Eberhard Hitzler, LWF/DWS director. “Failed states, recurring drought and climate change have turned disasters from exceptional events to chronic crises. In this context, the role and identity of faith and church-based humanitarian organizations has to be reassessed.”

The 2009 Annual Forum, held 4-6 May, in Montreux, Switzerland, brought together over 50 participants from churches and church-based development and humanitarian agencies. Case studies on DWS field program work in various countries offered perspectives on localization and partnership, and the role of the Lutheran communion in humanitarian aid.

DWS is the internationally recognized humanitarian arm of the LWF, with field programs in 36 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe.

Localization

Localization is a key element in the DWS strategy, since the engagement of an international humanitarian and development organization is inherently time-limited. The LWF department works actively toward sustainable local solutions for country programs, transferring them to local ownership wherever circumstances permit.

The Tanzanian program, Tanganyika Christian Refugee Service (TCRS), was cited as one of the positive examples of transition from a DWS country program to a locally-managed organization. TCRS started providing assistance to refugees in the 1960s as a DWS country program. It gained national non-governmental organization (NGO) status, becoming a DWS associate program in 2006. The program is governed by a national board of trustees, of which the majority of members are appointed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.

This allows the program to continue and empowers the church to share Lutheran values in its diaconal work. “TCRS, under the guidance and leadership of the church, maintains its historical reputation as a major and long-standing partner of the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees] in refugee operations,” TCRS director Mr Mark Leveri told the forum.

Emergencies

Emergency response was the subject of a case study from Brazil.

In November 2008 over 400,000 people lost their homes after devastating floods covered the Itajaí valley in eastern Brazil. The Lutheran communion raised national and international awareness about the emergency. Through the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) it distributed 140 tons of food, clothing, health and hygiene products in the main towns affected. Working through local parishes and congregations, it also reconstructed 200 homes for affected families.

“The churches acted on immediate social assistance, spiritual assistance and personal needs,” said IECLB synodal pastor Rev. Mariane Beyer Ehrat. “The state responded to the macro problems—infrastructure, rehabilitation of roads, emergency healthcare and food distribution, as well as restoring water, electricity and telephone services.”

Refugee Camp Management

Ms Sofia Malmqvist, who coordinates the DWS Kenya Somali refugee program, gave a presentation on managing refugee camps in partnership with the UN.

The camps receive refugees from Somalia, distribute food and water, and serve as transit centers. They also provide training opportunities within community development, including peace-building and conflict resolution, gender equity and human rights, child development and empowerment, and youth protection and development.

Malmqvist is one of five Church of Sweden workers seconded to DWS field programs in a two-year initiative. “In the various protection and operational management training materials, it is clear there is a need to build effective partnerships,” she said, “but projects need their independence.”

Christian Concern for our Nation

The Proposed EU Equal Treatment Directive

Freedom at Risk by Prof. William Wagner

“Discrimination” and “Equality” laws may well force Christians into silence, to act against their conscience or risk being on the wrong side of the law. Thus, many Christians around the world are paying close attention to the E.U.’s so-called “Equal Treatment” Directive. This Directive extends “discrimination” law based on sexual orientation, religion or belief, to the provision of goods, facilities and services. Included within the parameters of discrimination is something the directive calls harassment.

Unfortunately, the Equality and Human Rights Commission recently endorsed the harassment provision of the proposed Directive. In doing so, the EHRC gravely threatens freedom of speech and the free exercise of religious conscience in the United Kingdom. “Harassment,” as vaguely defined in the Directive, allows an individual to accuse someone of discrimination merely for expressing something the individual allegedly perceives as creating an offensive environment. For example, once someone decides to perceive an offer of prayers or words of comfort by a hospital chaplain based on his faith as offensive, that person can bring legal action against the chaplain and the hospital, even if the chaplain at the hospital intended no offense. To further chill fundamental freedoms, the burden of proof then shifts to the chaplain to prove that the accuser was not offended.

Discussions about faith or sexual ethics, during the provision of a service to the public or commercial service, provide endless opportunities for individuals to allege offence – and to silence those whose views are informed by ancient sacred tenets. Censuring an idea simply because the idea is informed by a religious worldview, prevents thousands of years of wisdom from informing the civic ethic. A citizen who attempts to inform the civic ethic should not be punished or persecuted simply because the citizen’s ideas are informed by sincerely held Christian truths.

In a democracy, freedom of expression is not needed to protect the ideas of people with whom those in power agree – it is needed to protect people who express ideas with which those in power do not agree. Thus, the test of a functioning moral democracy is not whether the government protects speech with which it agrees – it is whether it will protect expression which is against its own viewpoint. Instead of censuring or punishing speech, good governance always allows more speech. Selective enforcement and punishment of expression sends a bitter chill throughout the citizenry in a democracy. Institutional integrity cannot exist without personal virtue. Good governance and civic institutional integrity rest on the virtue of its citizens. Christian ideas support and nurture this virtue and should, therefore, always be permitted within the marketplace of ideas.

Professor William Wagner teaches Ethics and Constitutional Law at the Cooley Law School. Before joining academia, he served as a federal judge in the United States Courts.

To view the EHRC response to the GEO Consultation which endorses the harassment provision in the Directive (which CCFON and CLC oppose), click here.

Please see the CCFON and CLC main response to the GEO consultation on the EU Equal Treatment Directive by clicking here.

Please also see the CCFON and CLC Appendix to our Main Response to the GEO with commentary on the EHRC response to the GEO consultation by clicking here.

Irish Pro-Life Crisis Pregnancy Centers under Attack by Health Minister

By Hilary White

DUBLIN, July 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Ireland’s health minister and the government-sponsored abortion referral service she helped to create have attacked pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, despite the country’s constitutional guarantee of legal protection for the unborn. Calling the pro-life groups “disingenuous,” the Crisis Pregnancy Agency (CPA) accused them of manipulating vulnerable pregnant women into making a decision against abortion.

The CPA, the brainchild of Health Minister Mary Harney, said it is “launching a campaign” against the “rogue” pro-life agencies which it accuses of a “bias” against abortion in favor of life and motherhood. At the same time, CPA sponsors several of the country’s leading abortionist organizations and openly refers women for abortions overseas, including to the Irish Family Planning Association, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood International.

“The agency is aware of the existence of organizations that provide services which can involve a hidden agenda and who attempt to manipulate the decision a woman might make. The agency is strongly encouraging women to use services that provide high-quality counseling,” said Katharine Bulbulia, chairman of the agency.

Mary Harney called efforts to convince women not to abort their children “quite appalling.” She said, “The traits common to these organizations are that they misrepresent their services, they try to delay the appointment, they expose these women to highly upsetting images of late-term abortions or they may give misinformation about health issues. Some have even breached client confidentiality by phoning members of the women’s families.”

But Pat Buckley, the Dublin-based European affairs officer for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, told LifeSiteNews.com that he is appalled that pro-life counseling services have been denounced and attacked by the government of an officially pro-life country. The Eighth Amendment of Ireland’s constitution says “The state acknowledges the right to life of the unborn, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”

Despite the constitution’s right-to-life clause, Harney set up the CPA that says it aims to reduce the number of crisis pregnancies by, in part, providing “contraceptive services” and facilitating referrals for women to abortion facilities in the UK. Buckley confirmed that Mary Harney has been “very supportive” of the idea that “women’s rights” must include the “right to abortion.”

“In my opinion,” he said, “it is improper for a government minister to be acting contrary to the Irish constitution.”

Buckley called Harney’s statements “outrageous” saying, “She should retract, and if she’s not prepared to retract she should resign.”

Buckley said that when Harney was setting up the CPA, the pro-life group Human Life International (HLI) had written asking for a meeting, but this was never granted. HLI also formally objected to being excluded from the planning and funding of CPA.

“Unless there is some other agenda at work,” he said, “why is the Irish government doing this?”

The CPA announced the launching of a tax-funded outdoor advertising campaign, featuring an image of a woman being controlled like a puppet and the caption “Don’t allow yourself to be manipulated. Certain crisis pregnancy counselling information services want to influence your decision.”

According to CPA’s website “Positive Options”, only those services that quickly refer a woman to a pro-abortion agency for “medical services” are “trustworthy” and “non-judgemental.” The “rogue” agencies, it warns, will show “inappropriate images, videos or DVDs as part of a counselling session, which are designed to influence a woman’s decision.”

Although Harney and CPA declined to mention names, it is likely they were aiming at groups not directly funded and controlled by CPA, such as Abbey Women’s Centre Dublin and Ask Majella Pregnancy Advisory Services. These advertise in the Dublin telephone directory under the category of “pregnancy testing and counseling.” Life Pregnancy Care Service and Cura, the crisis pregnancy service run by the Irish Catholic bishops, are both funded and recognized as legitimate by CPA and also advertise under the same category.

Also advertising under that category, but omitting any wording revealing their strongly pro-abortion position, are CPA-approved Positive Options Crisis Pregnancy Services, Dublin Well Woman and the Irish Family Planning Association, which not only refers women for abortions overseas but is Ireland’s leading pro-abortion political lobby group, pressing for the removal of the constitutional clause protecting the unborn.

CPA’s pro-abortion bias was revealed in 2004 when Cura came under heavy criticism when it agreed to distribute pamphlets produced by the CPA that gave information referring women to overseas abortion facilities.

A group of Cura volunteers was dismissed in May 2005 when they refused to distribute the pamphlets and went public with their complaint in the Irish Catholic newspaper. The three volunteers, Phil Murray, Mary Kelly and Ann Farren, later received an apology from the CPA and were reinstated. The bishops later conceded that the volunteers had been right and began lengthy negotiations with CPA for the withdrawal of pro-abortion “Positive Options” material from all CURA centers.

George Pitcher is Religion Editor of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. He was ordained priest in the Church of England in 2006 and is Associate Priest at St Bride’s, Fleet Street, in London – the “journalists’ church”.

The Christian Institute

Children are this week attending the UK’s first atheist summer camp, set up to rival traditional camps led by the Scouts and Christian organisations.

The organisers of Camp Quest UK claim that children attending are encouraged to “think for themselves and to evaluate the world critically”, but critics have accused the camp of bashing religion.

The five day camp, attended by 24 children aged eight to 17, is being held in Somerset. Besides outdoor activities, children are taught about evolution, philosophy, and ‘pseudoscience’.

Campers are also offered a prize if they can disprove the existence of ‘unicorns’ they have been told inhabit the camp.

Because these unicorns cannot be seen or touched, and their presence is only recorded in an ancient book, Camp Quest’s critics say they are an unsubtle metaphor for God.

Camp Quest is intended to cater “specifically for irreligious children or the children of nontheistic parents” and “all those who embrace a naturalistic rather than supernatural world view”.

The Camp Quest motto is “It’s Beyond belief” and its website says it offers “a godless alternative to traditional religious summer camps, such as vacation Bible schools”.

Camp director Samantha Stein said: “There is very little that attacks religion, we are not a rival to religious camps. We exist as a secular alternative open to children from parents of all faiths and none.”

She added: “We are not trying to bash religion, but it encourages people to believe in a lot of things for which there is no evidence.”

Camp Quest was founded in America in 1996 by atheist lawyer Edwin Kagin. Miss Stein was inspired to launch the UK version when she read about it in Professor Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion.

Prof Dawkins’ Foundation for Reason and Science is listed on the Camp Quest website as an organisation supporter, together with the British Humanist Association.

Simon Calvert of The Christian Institute said: “One of the problems that parents will have with these camps is that the organisations behind them have a quite particular agenda about undermining religion, not just in the minds of children, but also in the public square.”

A spokesman for the Church of England said: “We would defend the right for anyone to set up an event like this, as long as the young people are happy to attend”.

“But in his imitation of the type of youth events that religious groups have been running for years, Dawkins makes atheism look even more like the thing he is rallying against.”

Religious Intelligence

By: Paul Richardson.

For the time being the hardliners appear to have won in Iran but it is likely to prove a hollow victory. Forces have been unleashed that could prove fatal not just to the Islamic Republic but to political extremism of a religious nature elsewhere in the Muslim world.

There are reasons for caution in coming to a final verdict. As Newsweek columnist, Fareed Zakaria, has pointed out, the revolutions which toppled communism in Eastern Europe were inspired by the three most important forces in the modern world: democracy, nationalism, and religion. Only democracy worked clearly against the regime in Teheran. The hardliners could play the nationalist card when they accused the British Embassy and the BBC of being behind the disturbances.

But the religious factor is complicated. An important strand of opinion is moving against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, even though most Iranians may well remain devout Muslims. There are cracks in the governing religious establishment and signs that popular opinion has shifted against rule by Mullahs.

Outsiders forget how radical Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s revolution was. His idea that Iran should be guided by a supreme leader (velayat-efaqih) who would ensure that laws were always in conformity with the teaching of Islam gave clergy a veto over the democratic process. Many Shi’ite clerics do not consider this to be in accordance with the traditions of their religion. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani takes this view, fearing that Islam will be discredited if it is closely involved in politics. Sistani has refused to meet Ahmadinejad and under his influence Iraq is providing the Shi’ite world with an alternative model to the Iranian system of clerical control, not the outcome expected by opponents of the Iraq War who warned it would propel Baghdad into Tehran’s sphere of influence.

Doubts are spreading amongst Iranian clerics who have hitherto accepted the system put in place by Khomeini. The Association of Teachers and Researchers of the holy city of Qom has called the disputed election into question and labelled the new government illegitimate. Experts have labelled this the most historic crack in the 30-year history of the Islamic Republic. In their statement the clerics criticised the Guardian Council for failing to study complaints of vote rigging. Another group, the Society of Scholars of Qom, congratulated Ahmadinejad on his re-election after initially refusing to do so.

Discontent in Iran is being fuelled by economic problems. In some ways, the protests against the election can be seen as a response to the crisis in the global economy. There may well be more such protests in other countries where governments fail to command popular respect. Although oil prices have been rising, recession has combined with sanctions to reduce demand. Iran’s oil and gas revenues look set to fall to $33 billion this year from a high of $82 billion in 2007. The country is running a deficit, unemployment is high, and inflation has reached 20 per cent. The Iranian economy is not predicted to grow in 2009 or 2010.

No wonder the students and the middle class of Tehran are discontented. They are suffering under restrictions and curbs on their personal freedom issued by a theocratic regime that has proved incompetent at managing the economy. Ahmadinejad may appeal to a section of the masses when he attacks corruption and elitism but he appears a fool to educated citizens when he denies the Holocaust or tells the UN General Assembly he senses the hidden imam expected by devout Shi’ites may soon be going to appear.

Most Iranians probably do remain devout Muslims but I have been struck by how many exiles in the West are turning to Christianity, probably in disillusion with the course Islam has taken in their own country. When the number of dissidents within the ruling establishment at Qom and elsewhere is added to those who have rejected Islam altogether (if only in secret) and to those who take Sistani’s view about the relationship between faith and politics, it probably adds up to a sizeable total who are opposed to the current regime on religious as well as economic grounds.

The consequences of what is happening in Iran are likely to be profound for the whole Muslim world. Although radical Shi’ites and al-Qaeda hate each other, the rise of radical Islam in Teheran and the 1979 revolution did much to encourage religious extremism throughout the Middle East. The sight of the regime hanging on to power by shooting demonstrators in the streets has undermined its legitimacy. Already elections held over the past two years in Morocco, Jordan, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kuwait and Lebanon have seen extremist religious parties lose votes.

In each case, local factors were important but it is impossible to dismiss a general trend which points to diminished support for radical Islam. The Egyptian intellectual, Saad Ibrahim has even said he hopes to see Islamist parties evolve into ‘Muslim democratic parties akin to the Christian Democrats in Europe’.

Faced by such a development the West needs to be careful. We cannot accept an Iranian bomb or the abuse of our diplomatic staff but we must not by our interference give the Mullahs a chance to beat the nationalist drum.

Religious Intelligence

Friday, 31st July 2009. 3:56pm

By: George Conger.

US Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has decried the press coverage of the 76th General Convention, writing to the Episcopal Church the media has misinterpreted the key votes of the Convention in search of scintillating headlines.

However, the ACNA’s Archbishop Robert Duncan has claimed the votes to repudiate the communion’s moratoria on gay bishops and blessings and Bishop Jeffert Schori’s statement that it was heretical to believe “that we can be saved as individuals,” was further evidence of the Episcopal Church’s moral collapse.

In a letter dated July 22, Bishop Jefferts Schori lauded the legislative accomplishments of the July 8-17 General Convention in Anaheim, California. She noted the reduced national budget recognized the difficult “economic realities of many dioceses and church endowments” but stated the church “will continue to serve God’s mission.” “Times of leanness,” the presiding bishop noted “are opportunities for strengthened faith and creativity.”

At General Convention, the Episcopal Church “deepened our commitments to mission and ministry” through its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals; initiated a domestic poverty programme for Indian reservations; updated the church’s disciplinary canons; adopted national health plan and lay pension plan; and updated the liturgical calendar.

However, what “captured the headlines” were the votes on resolutions D025 and C056. The “consequences” of these votes had been “misinterpreted or exaggerated,” she said, urging Episcopalians to “read them for yourself.”

“Some” had “insisted that these resolutions repudiate our relationships with other members of the Anglican Communion,” Bishop Jefferts Schori said. However she believed “we have been very clear that we value our relationships within and around the Communion, and seek to deepen them. My sense as well is that we cannot do that without being honest about who and where we are.”

For Archbishop Duncan, General Convention “blessed the values and behaviours of a re-defined Christianity,” that enabled a “revisionist” Christian anthropology, “budgeting litigation rather than evangelism, and confusing received understandings of Scriptural truth, not least concerning the necessity of individual salvation in Christ Jesus.”

General Convention clearly showed that “there is a choice to be made,” he said on July 21.

“The choice is between two religions, two roads, two cities, two sets of conflicting values and behaviors,” Archbishop Duncan said. In Deuteronomy, Moses “sets the choice as between blessing and curse, life and death.”

“For contemporary Anglicanism the present choice is this stark,” Archbishop Duncan said, urging Episcopalians to choose life.

Quaker news release 31-07-09

Quakers consider committed relationships

The minute recording their decision is as follows:

Minute 25 Britain Yearly Meeting 31 July 2009

Further to minute 17, a session was held on Tuesday afternoon at which speakers shared personal experiences of the celebration and recognition of their committed relationships. These Friends had felt upheld by their meetings in these relationships but regretted that whereas there was a clear, visible path to celebration and recognition for opposite sex couples, the options available for couples of the same sex were not clear and could vary widely between meetings. Friends who feel theirs to be an ordinary and private rather than an exotic and public relationship have had to be visible pioneers to get their relationship acknowledged and recorded.

This open sharing of personal experience has moved us and added to our clear sense that, 22 years after the prospect was first raised at Meeting for Sufferings we are being led to treat same sex committed relationships in the same way as opposite sex marriages, reaffirming our central insight that marriage is the Lord’s work and we are but witnesses. The question of legal recognition by the state is secondary.

We therefore ask Meeting for Sufferings to take steps to put this leading into practice and to arrange for a draft revision of the relevant sections of Quaker faith and practice, so that same sex marriages can be prepared, celebrated, witnessed, recorded and reported to the state, as opposite sex marriages are. We also ask Meeting for Sufferings to engage with our governments to seek a change in the relevant laws so that same sex marriages notified in this way can be recognised as legally valid, without further process, in the same way as opposite sex marriages celebrated in our meetings. We will not at this time require our registering officers to act contrary to the law, but understand that the law does not preclude them from playing a central role in the celebration and recording of same sex marriages.

We have heard dissenting voices during the threshing process which has led to us this decision, and we have been reminded of the need for tenderness to those who are not with us who will find this change difficult. We also need to remember, including in our revision of Quaker faith and practice, those Friends who live singly, whether or not by choice.

We will need to explain our decision to other Christian bodies, other faith communities, and, indeed to other Yearly Meetings, and pray for a continuing loving dialogue, even with those who might disagree strongly with what we affirm as our discernment of God’s will for us at this time.

Following the decision, Martin Ward, clerk of Quakers Yearly Meeting said: “This minute is the result of a long period of consultation and what we call “threshing” in our local meetings, culminating in two gathered sessions of our Yearly Meeting. At these sessions, according to practice, we heard ministry arising out of silent worship which led us to discern the will of God for the Religious Society and record it in this minute.”