(RNS) Domestic membership in the Episcopal Church dropped by 3 percent in 2008, continuing a decline in which the denomination has lost almost 200,000 American members since 2004, according to Episcopal researchers. The Episcopal Church now counts slightly more than 2 million members in about 7,000 U.S. parishes. Church leaders say they are pleased, however,…

WASHINGTON (RNS) The latest Hanukkah tune is coming from an unexpected place this year: the halls of Congress and the pen of a conservative Mormon senator. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is the co-writer of a revamped Hanukkah song that debuted this week on the site of a Jewish online magazine, Tablet. Hatch, a noted songwriter,…

(RNS) An international Anglican commission on Tuesday (Dec. 8) urged Episcopalians to exercise “gracious restraint” by not confirming the election of a lesbian as a bishop in Los Angeles. The Rev. Mary Glasspool was elected a suffragan (assistant) bishop by the Diocese of Los Angeles on Saturday (Dec. 5). Glasspool, 55, has been with her…

ST. LOUIS (RNS) Most of the world’s religions share some version of the golden rule of treating others as you wish to be treated. That notion was important to the theology of Mary Baker Eddy, who founded the Church of Christ, Scientist in 1879. But another central feature of Eddy’s theology — the belief that…

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