It's no secret that the gap between the rich and the middle class has grown over the last decade. The rich are getting very, very rich while the poor and middle class are--while not worse off--certainly no better. (Depending on your time frame, however, the poor actually are doing worse.)

This graph shows the average annual income of the top one percent earners in 2005 was more than $1 million, while the middle 60 percent is just above $50,000 per year. That compares with the $500,000 the top one percent earned just ten years before, versus an average income of just below $50,000 for the middle 60 percent. In other words, while the top one percent doubled their income, the middle 60 percent only modestly improved.

More striking is that the average income of the bottom 20 percent seems not to have moved in the last 25 years. Factor in inflation, and the bottom 20 percent is doing much worse. (Women too, it seems, haven't done well. But instead of making less, they're just staying home. And interestingly, feminists are making arguments for doing so.)

There's plenty of debate over why the income of the top earners has so vastly outpaced that of everyone else. It's tempting to argue that the top one percent is making its money off the backs of those less well off. And America, being the nation of individualists it is, has been generally content to allow the rich to get much, much richer. Plus, globalization has brought millions of new laborers into competition with those already in developed economies.

But another argument seems compelling. New York Times writer Tyler Cowen summarizes it this way:

The reason is supply and demand. For the first time in American history, the current generation is not significantly more educated than its parents. Those in need of skilled labor are bidding for a relatively stagnant supply and so must pay more.

Technological change has put a premium on workers who understand, can manage, and can profit from such advances. According to this argument, education--not abuse by the rich--makes the difference between advancing in the economy or falling behind.

But the difference between the educated and the un-educated is not a matter of wealth but of upbringing. After all, the poor can value education as much as the rich, and often do. And, education is not simply a matter of IQ, according to James Heckman, a professor at the University of Chicago and Nobel Laureate. Heckman says in his paper "Schools, Skills and Synapses" (available for download here) that "the workplace is increasingly oriented towards a greater valuation of the skills required for social interaction and for sociability." These skills are taught in the home, Heckman says.

Heckman makes no argument for marriage support programs or other family-supporting policies. In fact, he says the state, for economic reasons, should intervene early in families deemed to be unable to nurture well-educated (in terms of IQ and sociability) children. Yet, his analysis could be used to support traditional, Christian views of the family. "Those born into disadvantaged environments are receiving relatively less stimulation and resources to promote child development ... [Statistics show] the dramatic rise in the proportion of children living in single parent families. The greatest contributor to this growth is the percent living in families with never married mothers."

But, Heckman says, having two parents--even wealthy ones--isn't enough for healthy child development. "The proper measure of disadvantage is not necessarily family poverty or parental education. The available evidence suggests that the quality of parenting is the important scarce resource. The quality of parenting is not always closely linked to family income or parental education." In other words, there's no inherent reason that children who grow up with wealthy parents, or well-educated ones, should become wealthy themselves.

Unfortunately, more American children are growing up under "disadvantaged" circumstances. And this is having a negative impact on the American economy, because these children, even if they have high IQs, don't have the social skills for success. "A greater fraction of young Americans," Heckman says, "is graduating from college. At the same time, a greater fraction is dropping out of high school."

Churches could use Heckman's paper to argue for a different kind of social ministry, one that emphasizes parenting skills as much as poverty alleviation. Also, it shows once again, that the soft patriarchy model of the family is quite good for all involved. But, to me, it mostly argues that God had it right when he created male and female to be fruitful and multiply.

While the media keeps reminding us of the bad news--which is one of its jobs--I keep reading stories that try to put our current economic woes into perspective. Here is a paragraph from an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal ("Where's the Outrage? Really. By Arthur C. Brooks.)

In some countries, a depressed economic climate means mass unemployment, political instability and large-scale deprivation. In America this decade, we have reached the point at which even in a down economy, our unemployment rate does not reach 6% (lower than the rates in Canada and the European Union, let alone those in the developing world). Any unwanted unemployment is terrible; but it is worth remembering that this stability especially benefits the economically vulnerable.

Furthermore, no matter what the state of our economy, we can realistically count on uninterrupted provision of critical public services, high business start-up rates, the world's highest levels of charitable giving and volunteering, and countless other benefits that come from living in a successful nation.

We may well be unsatisfied with the current state of affairs. Some Americans are suffering, and cannot be faulted for seeking substantial political change in the coming election. But most of us are reasonable people, and can see the difference between correctable problems within a strong system of democratic capitalism and the kind of catastrophic failure that justifies real outrage.

This reality should be a part of all our conversations about the current economic crisis--which is a crisis in some ways, and in some ways not.

UPDATE: Friday, Aug. 1, 9:30 a.m. BST

Here's the link to the op-ed published in The Times of London

Here's the sound bite:

"St Francis of Assisi said: "Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary use words." We believe that our absence at this Lambeth Conference is the only way that our voice will be heard. For more than ten years we have been speaking and have not been heard. So maybe our absence will speak louder than our words."

* * *
Thursday, July 31, 2008, 4:30 pm BST

HENRY LUKE OROMBI, Archbishop and primate of Uganda, will have a commentary piece published in The Times of London, which will post online at 9 p.m. BST (British Summer Time).

Times religion correspondent Ruth Gledhill leaked word of this piece on her blog this afternoon. Here's what she wrote:

...in tomorrow's Times, the Archbishop of Uganda, Henry Orombi, will accuse the Arcbishop of Canterbury of a betrayal at the very deepest level. He will argue that even the Pope is elected by his peers, but Dr Williams in his office is little better than a remnant of colonialism. 'The spiritual leadership of a global communion of independent and autonomous Provinces should not be reduced to one man appointed by a secular government,' he says. Nor is the absence of Uganda, Nigeria and other Global South churches a sign that they want to leave the Communion. Far from it. It is a sign of how much they care that it endures. Read it all from when it goes online at 2100 BST and in the paper tomorrow, it is strong stuff!

This op-ed, if it holds up to be as strongly worded as Ruth suggests, opens up an additional set of questions, beyond biblical authority, human sexuality, or border crossings:

Should England retain the Church of England as its established church? Could the Anglican Communion itself play a deciding role in selecting the archbishop of Canterbury, who serves as 'first among equals' in the communion?

Lambeth is about to enter its Final Three days and events here on the grounds of the University of Kent and events off-campus seem to be spinning beyond the control of any one person or committee.

As expected, the Lambeth Reflections document has begun to take shape. And, now in its third draft, it is already huge. 18 pages. And, drafters have yet to address these areas:

* Gender and power
* The Scriptures
* Sexuality and Listening
* The Convenant
* The Windsor Process
* Leading in God's mission
* Conclusion

Just this afternoon, there were three press conferences nearly back to back, including one by Quincy Bishop Keith Ackerman. See below for additional updates:

Tuesday was the first full day of the "Loving God and Neighbor" conference that is bringing together Christian, Muslim, and (a few) Jewish leaders on the campus of Yale University.

The day's meetings were kicked off by two articulate and compelling Muslim speakers.

First was the remarkably articulate and charming Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal of Jordan (who attended Princeton for his undergraduate work and holds a Ph.D. from Cambridge). Prince Ghazi characterized the "Common Word" document issued in 2007 by 138 Muslim scholars and clerics as "our extended global religious handshake." This was not a concession to Christians, he said. The statement was "about equal peace and not capitulation."

The first item on his list of tension-producing factors between Muslims and Western Christians was "the question of Jerusalem and Palestine" and during a break in the meetings he re-emphasized the issue of the control of and access to Jerusalem as a factor that would have to be resolved before any lasting d?tente could be achieved.

Did Ghazi go over the top when he claimed that hostility to Muslims in Western countries was at a high enough level to warrant worries about internment camps - or even concentration camps - in the near future?

Filed: 7:05 AM, July 30, 2008

Senator John Kerry kicked off the "Loving God and Neighbor in Word and Deed" conference (also known as the "Common Word" conference) Monday night with a largely unsurprising, but welcome speech. He was, after all, preaching to the choir: Christian and Muslim leaders from around the world who want to find a way to live together peacefully.

Kerry began by telling his roughly 150 listeners that the meeting they were attending at Yale University "can help change the world," while warning that pessimism about future relationships between the Muslim world and the West hands demagogues who play to pessimism about the inevitable violent clash of cultures and religions. "You have placed yourselves among those who are on the right side of the debate," he told them. "We must love one another or die."

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

ROWAN WILLIAMS, the Archbishop of Canterbury, addressing about 650 bishops at the Lambeth Conference this evening, issued a strong call for "the traditional believer" and the "not-so-traditional believer" to "speak life to each other."

Continue reading for the full text.

Update, 9 p.m.: According to one bishop who unexpectedly popped into the Lambeth press room after dinner, the delivery of the archbishop's address was announced this morning. It was not listed on the official program. There was no applause, just silence, he said, following the address.

This bishop from India told CT, "I can see how the archbishop is sincerely, emotionally involved. I can appreciate his struggle. The absence of some bishops has caused him pain, and it comes out again and again when he speaks. As head and guardian of the family, he is keen to get the family back together.

"He is making a very sincere attempt to tell the members of the communion that we have to be generous, and as I understood it, sacrifice. To keep the family together, everyone has to take a step forward, which means you need to sacrifice something. I need to identify what I need to sacrifice to keep my family together."

According to another unconfirmed report, TEC bishops are again meeting in a provincial session.

MOUNEER ANIS,Bishop of Egypt and primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, was scheduled to meet today Monday, July 28, with leading bishops at the Lambeth Conference.

A leading conservative, Anis released an open letter on the web. Here's one important comment:

The Lambeth Conference has been a time of great fellowship and strength; it has also been a time of disunity and conflict. Everything is going fairly well, but I do not believe that there is hope of a solution from this Lambeth conference. However I hope that we would be able to come up with a road map for a final solution of the current crisis.

Back in January, when I was in Cairo, I interviewed Bishop Anis. See below for an edited transcript of his views on outreach to gays, the crisis in Anglicanism, and how the proposed Anglican convenant might help resolve their differences.

Less than 1 week after the official opening of the Lambeth conference in the UK, the conservative Common Cause Partnership has issued a press release, declaring their joint intention to request that leading Anglican primates recognize their 1,300 congregations as the new North American Province.

Granted, this was a widely anticipated move. But this effort puts the fat in the fire on a day when Lambeth attendees are having tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace following their very public march through official London for adoption of the Millennium Development Goals to fight global poverty and improve the standard of living for the world's 3 billion poor people.

Here's the full press release below.

July 24, 2008

COMMON CAUSE PARTNERSHIP WELCOMES JERUSALEM DECLARATION

The Common Cause Partnership leaders issued a statement today welcoming the Jerusalem Declaration and the statement on the Global Anglican Future and pledging to move forward with the work of Anglican unity in North America.

"We, as the Bishops and elected leaders of the Common Cause Partnership are deeply grateful for the Jerusalem Declaration. It describes a hopeful, global Anglican future, rooted in scripture and the authentic Anglican way of faith and practice. We joyfully welcome the words of the GAFCON statement that it is now time 'for the federation currently known as the Common Cause Partnership to be recognized by the Primates Council.'

"The intention of the Executive Committee is to petition the Primates Council for recognition as the North American Province of GAFCON on the basis of the Common Cause Partnership Articles, Theological Statement, and Covenant Declaration, and to ask that their Moderator be seated in the Primate's Council.

"We accept the call to build the Common Cause Partnership into a truly unified body of Anglicans. We are committed to that call. Over the past months, we have worked together, increasing the number of partners and authorizing committees and task groups for Mission,
Education, Governance, Prayer Book & Liturgy, the Episcopate, and Ecumenical Relations. The Executive Committee is meeting regularly to carry forward the particulars of this call. The CCP Council will meet December 1-3, 2008."

The Common Cause Partnership links together nine Anglican jurisdictions and organizations in North America.

Together, the American Anglican Council, the Anglican Coalition in Canada, the
Anglican Communion Network, the Anglican Mission in the Americas, the Anglican Network in Canada, the Convocation of Anglicans in North America, the Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas, Forward in Faith North America and the Reformed Episcopal Church represent
more the 1,300 Anglican parishes in the United States and Canada.

The Common Cause Partnership Executive Committee is: The Rt. Rev'd Robert Duncan, Moderator; The Venerable Charlie Masters, General Secretary; Mrs. Patience Oruh, Treasurer; The Rt. Rev'd Keith Ackerman, Forward in Faith North America; The Rt. Rev'd David Anderson, American
Anglican Council; The Rt. Rev'd Donald Harvey, Anglican Network in Canada; The Rt. Rev'd Paul Hewett, Federation of Anglican Churches in the Americas; The Rt. Rev'd Martyn Minns, Convocation of Anglicans in North America; The Rt. Rev'd Chuck Murphy, Anglican Mission in the Americas; The Rt. Rev'd Leonard Riches, Reformed Episcopal Church; The Rt. Rev'd Bill Atwood, Anglican Church of Kenya and The Rt. Rev'd John Guernsey, Church of the Province of Uganda.

Here's my admittedly instant analysis:

1. It suggests that conservative Anglicans are pressing their agenda forward, while the rest of the Anglican Communion is spinning its wheels in fruitless 'indaba' meetings.

2. It illuminates a strategy that GAFCON primates plan to address this issue of the legitimacy of a new North American Province by placing the new Primates Council as the emerging new center of Anglicanism.

Thus, the new global Anglicanism transcends recognition by the Archbishop of Canterbury. There will no longer be a single answer to this question: Who is Anglican?

3. My follow up point is that if this new Province gains recognition and credibility, Canterbury-based Anglicanism becomes severely weakened in almost every way. It becomes a photo-op site of pilgrimage, not the hub of a worldwide communion.

4. What's the metaphor? Well, this seems too convenient perhaps, but the Indymac Bank take-over crosses my mind.

Just as federal regulators have taken over the failed Indymac Bank, one of the largest bank failures in American history, conservatives perhaps aspire to running the Anglican Communion by cutting it into two pieces the "good bank" with good assets and the "bad bank" with bad/non-performing assets.

And, you can just guess what happens to the bad bank.

PS The British press is following the money or lack thereof at Lambeth. Some are reporting that the conference is 1 million GBP or more in the red.

Baylor University's board of regents has fired president John Lilley, whose presidency began and ended with disputes over tenure.

In 2006, associate professor of church-state studies Francis Beckwith was denied tenure. His appeal became a cause celebre in some evangelical academic circles, and he eventually prevailed. Lilley, however, continued to be viewed with suspicion by some Christian observers.

But it was April's decision to deny tenure to 12 candidates that really set the drumbeats going. Most years, about 10 percent of faculty up for tenure are denied. This year, the 40 percent rejection rate sparked accusations of a "purge" and capricious standards. Seven of the ten faculty who appealed ended up receiving tenure.

A press release from Baylor says board member Harold Cunningham will be acting president until an interim president is named.

Updates to follow. The Waco Tribune-Herald will no doubt have coverage throughout the day.

In March, the trustees of Westminster Theological Seminary suspended professor Peter Enns over theological concerns regarding his book Inspiration and Incarnation.

The controversy got a lot of people talking about the authority of Scripture and two weeks ago even made the front page of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

No doubt the discussion will continue in theology circles (Enns will be on a panel discussing his ideas on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament at the upcoming Evangelical Theological Society meeting, for example).

But the higher ed part of the story though, seems to have more or less come to a close today. Enns and WTS issued a joint statement announcing the end of his employment at the school. A hearing on whether he whether he should be dismissed was to begin August 25.

Everyone who either grew up as an evangelical Christian or dated one has heard or spoken this line: "It's not you. I just want to spend more time with God."

I always thought this line was a crock, not because wanting to spend more time with God wasn't admirable, but because it was typically used as a cop-out, a way to ease the discomfort of ruining someone's junior year of high school.

(See, I have this friend, and he had this girlfriend ...)

I think we can agree that few relationships, especially those where both members were Christians, end because one person's quest for godliness is inhibited by the other's indifference. But this story from the Christian Post presents a more difficult issue: What to do when the guy in your Christian band stops believing in Jesus?

Christian metalcore band Haste the Day has asked guitarist Jason Barnes to step down after months of spiritual searching by their close friend concluded with his loss of faith in God.

"This is going to come as a shock to many of you," the group wrote to fans in their official MySpace page Friday. "After much prayer and thought given to the matter, we asked Jason Barnes to step down from his involvement with Haste the Day."

In their statement, the seven-year-old band from Indianapolis explained that Barnes had been "searching and searching for real meaning in his existence."

"After several months of reading literature and talking with friends, Jason had determined that he felt there was no God and certainly no Jesus," the group revealed.

"We as a band do not have problem with those that do not believe in Jesus, nor do we cast judgement (sic) on those that do not believe in Jesus," the band continued. "We just want to love on people like Jesus would and hopefully share a little bit about what he's done and doing in our lives."

After you get over the lameness of the band's name, which sounds like a rip-off of Saves the Day, you realize this situation doesn't have a simple solution. From an evangelical perspective, the band members had to weigh whether Barnes was more likely to return to God if he remained in the band or was removed from it. (In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul tells the church of Corinth to expel an immoral brother for his own good, though the reason is for sinful behavior, not lack of belief.) Then, from a music-making perspective, the band needed to decide whether Haste the Day could stand for the same things with a non-Christian in the band.

Churches deal with the same question when they assemble their worship band, an often-rotating group of musicians selected by a worship leader. I have heard complaints before about non-Christians performing during a Sunday service, and I've known worship leaders who have stepped down without solicitation because they didn't feel their lives were congruent with their words of praise.

I can't think of any parallels from the world of Christian punk culture I matriculated through, but I do remember when Pedro the Lion lost his way.

IN UPPER EGYPT along the Nile, hundreds of miles south of Cairo, the growing population is scrambling over the scarce resources of land and water. Egypt's population is currently just over 80 million and if current trends continue, it will surpass 100 million by 2025. (By contrast, its neighbor Israel is not expected to have more than 10 million people by 2025.) In this region, there is an ancient monastery (and a contemporary church building) at Abu Fana (shown here above right). In late May, Abu Fana was the venue for much violence between Muslims and Coptic believers.

Here's an updated dispatch from our Cairo correspondent:

By Cornelis Hulsman

An attack on the monastery of Ab? F?n?, located roughly 200 miles south of the Egyptian capital Cairo, has prompted Coptic emigrant Christians in the West to demonstrate against Egyptian authorities.

On May 31, Muslims from neighboring villages burned monastic cells and a chapel on an area of disputed land, roughly one kilometer away from the old monastic buildings of Ab? F?n?. The fence surrounding the area was run over; water pumps and new crop plantations have been destroyed.

Three monks from the monastery were briefly kidnapped and ill treated. This resulted in all three monks requiring admission into the hospital for treatment. The governor of Minia, Ahmed Dia el-Din, considered the violence "criminal."

Police arrested 13 Muslims and two Christians who were involved in the fights and who have since been brought before the prosecutor-general. Additional policemen were positioned around the area prevent further conflicts.

Inhabitants of neighboring villages say there are pre-existing conflicts over land. Accusations directed against Christians of building a fence on areas of disputed land and of being behind the death of a Muslim were thrown around during these confrontations. They also believe Christians "always" get their way once news is published and demonstrations take place on their behalf in Western countries, which is further adding to the ill-feelings and tensions.

Governor Ahmed Dia el-Din found several police reports about disputes over land that span several years. Villagers living on the edge of the desert have been reclaiming desert land for at least 20 years.

The monastery itself has also greatly expanded in the past ten years. For many decades, only one monk resided there. Four years ago, there were six monks living in Ab? F?n?, while there are currently 18 monks residing in the monastery. They are assisted by tens of laymen who help in the reclamation of desert land. Around seven years ago they built a large cathedral. Due to this reclamation work, the land of the villages and that of the monastery now border each other.

Egypt suffers from overpopulation, encompassing 80 million inhabitants on an area that is roughly twice the size of New Jersey. The remaining area is desert. Land has become a scarce commodity over which conflicts can easily develop. More than 20 people have recently been killed in land conflicts between two Muslim families elsewhere in Egypt.

Conflicts over landownership mostly occur when documents proving ownership are not clear. Desert land belongs to the state; consequently, when someone wishes to purchase this land, they have to turn to the government to obtain the necessary permission.

This however, frequently does not happen and people will instead draft so-called "orfi" contracts, agreements between two parties that lack the proper registration with the government. It was in this fashion that the Ab? F?n? monastery obtained part of their land. Accordingly, the governor rejected the monastery's claim to posses valid land titles, and it is from this that the current conflict stems.

Egyptians clergy are known to have purchased land or built on vacant land by utilizing "orfi" contracts in order to avoid often difficult and time consuming government procedures. Egyptian Christians often accuse the government of favoring Muslim institutions and enacting bureaucratic obstacles for Christian projects.

Church leaders and monks will not seek violence in search of solutions for land conflicts. "But if it does come to fights," Coptic researcher Raed al-Sharqawi says, "it then results continuously in intense feelings of sympathy for Copts from parties in the West, which then in turn results in actual financial support for their monastery.

"Thus, conflicts can end up benefiting Christian projects in Egypt, yet at the same time such activism greatly harms the general climate of Muslims and Christians living together."

* * *
Cornelis Hulsman is editor-in-chief of Arab-West Report. The electronic magazine Arab-West Report sent a fact finding delegation consisting of Egyptians, a Dutchman, a German and a Korean, four Christians and two Muslims into the area to interview the governor, monks, Christian clergy, villagers, and sheikhs. For additional information see: www.arabwestreport.info

The careful choregraphy of Lambeth, set out for the Anglican Communion's 600 plus bishops in attendance, is not going according to the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' original plan. One of the first to step out of line and off script is Daniel Deng Bul, the newly elected archbishop of Sudan.

From Juba, the capital of the south Sudan, Bul and his fellow Christians have known brutal conflict for decades. While the violence is declining in the South, the Darfur region in western Sudan, of course, is where genocide is a daily reality.

Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul

The growth and spread of the Episcopal Church of Sudan is miracle to behold in light of the national bloody conflict. Sudan's bishops decided to attend Lambeth, unlike their conservative colleagues in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Nigeria, among others.

Yesterday, the Sudanese bishops issued the following joint statement:

Remember those open-exchange letters last fall between Muslim and Christian leaders? The first, "A Common Word Between Us and You," was signed by 138 Muslim scholars and clerics and called for a new level of engagement between the two faith groups based on what they said was the "common ground" between Islam and Christianity: love of God and love of neighbor.

The response, "Loving God and Neighbor Together," was penned by scholars at Yale Divinity School and heartily affirmed the need for deeper understanding between the two faiths (though that letter focused more on relational bridge-building and less on theology). Some 500 Christian leaders signed the document, including pastors Bill Hybels and Rick Warren, missions expert Jonathan J. Bonk, National Association of Evangelicals' president Leith Anderson, theologian John Stott, and CT editor in chief David Neff. (The letter was also met with criticism from prominent evangelical leaders.)

Now the two letters seem to be bearing their intended fruit, as next week Yale will be hosting a three-day conference bringing together 150 Christian and Muslim leaders for workshops and panel discussions on global interfaith relations. The conference was planned by the drafters of "Common Word" and the Yale Center for Faith & Culture's director Miroslav Volf, who will be teaching a Yale course on religion and globalization this fall with Tony Blair.

The conference is one in a series intended to promote relational ties and peacemaking initiatives. The other conferences will be held at Cambridge (October), the Vatican (November), Georgetown (March 2009), and the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute in Jordan (October 2009).

Next week's conference and those following it will likely inspire similar disagreements as did the original letters about whether Christianity and Islam share as much "common ground" as the first letter suggested, and what our faithful response should be to calls for interfaith understanding. (Evangelism? Separation? Peacemaking? All of these in different contexts?) Fortunately, the evangelicals attending - David Neff, Nigerian pastor Tokunboh Adeyemo, Robert Schuller, and Warren Larson, director of the Zwemer Center for Muslim Studies at Columbia International University, among others - have already been thinking biblically about the implications of the letters, and should be able to translate the conference's outcomes to those of us eager to see its results.

See CT's prior coverage of the letters:

Foreign Correspondence | by Jocelyn Green
Muslim and Christian leaders seek common ground in conciliatory letters.

Speaking Out: The Peacemaking Process | by J. Dudley Woodberry
A call to evangelicals to respond to a significant Muslim overture.

Wheaton College Administrators Remove Names from Christian-Muslim Statement | by Ted Olsen
'My eagerness to support the statement's strengths caused me to move too quickly,' president Duane Litfin tells student newspaper.

"It's only when the tide goes out," says Warren Buffett, "that you learn who's been swimming naked."

For a good long time, the American health care system had its drawers down, but it didn't matter too much. HillaryCare was summarily dismissed in the early '90s. The problems it might have fixed weren't felt badly enough. Lately arguments for universal health care have been about the unavailable care for the uninsured. But still, no action. The vast majority in the country have health insurance, even if they pay more and more for it every year.

But now, even doctors can't afford to pay for health care. Oncologists, who have to pay for drugs before they're delivered intravenously to patients at the doctor's office, have had trouble lately paying up. As a result, they've learned to be more cautious about the costs of the treatments they recommend to their patients. The Wall Street Journal reports:

In a survey of 167 cancer doctors reported last year in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, 42% said they regularly raised the issue of costs when discussing treatment options with patients. The study, conducted by Deborah Schrag, an oncologist at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, found that 23% of oncologists said costs influence their treatment decisions, and 16% said they omit discussion of very expensive treatments when they know the cost will place great strain on patients' resources. ...

John P. Whitecar Jr., an oncologist in Columbus, Miss., says 89% of his cancer patients are on government insurance. He has watched his income plunge 75% in the past three years because of rising treatment costs and declining reimbursements. He says he's borrowed money to keep his office afloat.

At what point should a Christian say, "This simply costs too much. Putting my family in debt or significantly straining their resources is not worth my life. Maybe God wants me in heaven."

Certainly life is priceless. But is more life equally invaluable?

Dying is different these days. Once, vast resources could go toward treating a man suffering from a heart attack. If he lived, he could continue living for decades, and those resources justifiably provided years of good living. Now, people die slowly, consuming those vast resources over the course of years--and often crippling relatives financially.

Joanne Lynn writes, "One hears people say, 'He's not dying yet,' of a person living with fatal lung cancer. Generally, that means he's not yet taking to bed, losing weight, and suffering from pain, as would be expected when dying is all that he can do. But the category is used as if one is either 'temporarily immortal' - which is the usual state of human beings - or 'dying,' in which case the person is of a different sort, having different obligations and relationships. 'The Dying' are expected to do little but wrap life up and go. But this dominant myth about dying does not fit many people. Many elderly people are inching toward oblivion with small losses every few weeks or months."

We are, of course, all always dying, thanks to sin. Our outer man is decaying. It seems these days its a good thing to remember and a good thing for Christians to try to re-teach our culture.

Economists have begun thinking about the "cost/benefit dilemma of end-of-life medical care." One writer on the Freakonomic blog says, "When Teddy Kennedy was diagnosed with malignant brain cancer a few weeks ago, the senator who championed universal health care opted for the rarest and most expensive treatment [unlikely to be provided by any state-paid insurance] - surgery followed by radiation and chemotherapy. But with or without surgery, the prognosis for patients with glioblastoma like Kennedy's is poor, with an 18-month survival rate for those over 60 less than 10 percent."

Wealthy and not at all ready to give up the ghost, Kennedy -- like nearly every American would who can make the choice -- is "fighting" for his life. Even the very, very old these days are opting for surgery and other risky and costly medical procedures that could extend their lives.

Yet, what is that extra time worth? Any universal health care system seems unlikely to provide expensive and marginally beneficial treatment. The government would decide it's not worth $1 million in taxpayer money to give an 85-year-old six more months of life. But unless and until the state starts making those decisions for us, we Christians need to think this one through: How much is longer life worth?

Here's another one: How should pastors help their parishoners decide? This is enough. It's time to see God.

This blog post has been moved. For the article, please see "Crackup of Anglican Communion at Hand, Evangelical Bishops Say."

Continue for the press release from GAFCON primates:

Entertainment Weekly
Informative, investigative, and intelligently written, EW is the standard bearer of entertainment magazines. If you want all of the inside scoop, go to Variety, but if you just want most of it, presented in a fun way without being gossipy or "fanboy," EW has the write stuff - especially now with the sharp-witted Diablo Cody, Oscar winner for Juno's script, as a back-page columnist.

MovieWeb, ComingSoon
Want to know what's coming down the pike - not just in the next few months, but even a couple years from now? I rely on these two sites to keep me informed on upcoming releases - when they're due, who's directing, who's starring, what's the latest news on each, images, trailers, and so on.

IMDb
The Internet Movie Database has just about everything you could possibly want to know about any movie ever made. Want to know if 1961's The Guns of Navarone won any Oscars? (It did: Best Special Effects.) Or who played Juror No. 11 in 1957's 12 Angry Men? (It was George Voskovec.) It's all here.

Looking Closer
Jeffrey Overstreet was the first critic on the CT Movies team when we launched in 2004 (he'd been writing Film Forum for CT for a while), and I've always appreciated his insights into the movies. I've learned more about how to watch a movie from Jeffrey than from anyone. His Looking Closer blog keeps me abreast of what's happening in film, music, and more, and his thoughtful commentary goes the extra mile.

FilmChat
If I only went to one website a day to find out what I had to know that would be relevant to CT readers, Peter T. Chattaway's FilmChat blog would be that one-stop shop. It's comprehensive, but especially zeroes in on films, themes, and news relevant to a Christian audience. Bookmark it.

Mark Pinsky isn't the only Orlando Sentinel employee notified this week that he's being laid off (nor is the Sentinel alone in its cuts).

But as of August 1, his byline will be missed by religion reporters around the world. Over his 13 years on the religion beat, first at the Los Angeles Times then at the Sentinel, Pinsky established a reputation for being one of the best reporters on the beat. His beat was broad, but in the hometown of Campus Crusade for Christ, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Strang Communications, Pinsky developed a particular expertise in evangelical Christianity. He recounted his experience and reporting in a book, A Jew Among Evangelicals, and in a 2005 Columbia Journalism Review article.

Pinsky also established himself as must-read reporter on the nexus of faith and entertainment culture. Westminster John Knox recently published an expanded version of his 2001 The Gospel According to The Simpsons, and in 2004 published his similar book, The Gospel According to Disney.

CT readers will remember his February 2001 cover story on Ned Flanders, or some of the other reporting he's done for us over the years.

Last month, Reed Business Information announced that it was laying off another great religion journalist, Publishers Weekly senior religion editor Lynn Garrett, whose coverage of religion publishing was second to none. Regardless of whether we're starting to see a trend of cuts in religion journalism, it's sad to see that two indispensable bylines on religion and culture have been dispensed with.

This afternoon, the Senate finally voted on the so-called PEPFAR reauthorization bill.

The Associated Press reports:

The Senate has approved spending $48 billion over the next five years to treat and prevent the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Africa and elsewhere around the world.

The legislation more than triples the current $15 billion program that has brought lifesaving drugs to some 1.7 million people with HIV/AIDS.

The bill passed by a vote of 80-16. That sets up negotiations with the House on a final compromise. President Bush has been a strong advocate for the global AIDS program.

Also, I received in my email inbox, this news release from the Global AIDS Alliance:

Washington, July 16 -- Today the US Senate passed a crucial bill, backed by President Bush, that reauthorizes the US program on global HIV/AIDS while also authorizing much greater funding for programs to address tuberculosis and malaria.

"The bill is a tremendous achievement, and I commend Senators Biden and
Lugar, who authored the bill, and Senator Reid whose determination to
bring the bill forward was indispensable," said Dr. Paul Zeitz,
Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance.

"The amount per year, about $10 billion, is less than 1 percent of this
year's federal budget, and thas is a small price to pay for a program
that will save millions of lives and foster good will around the world,"
said Zeitz.

The bill, S. 2731, was approved by the Foreign Relations Committee in
March and was endorsed by both Senators Obama and McCain, but it was
then stalled by several Republican legislators. Today several hostile
amendments were defeated, and the bill was approved 80 to 16. The House
appears ready to approve the Senate version.

"Myths and disinformation were used by Senators Kyl, Bunning, DeMint and
others to try to undermine this bill, but in the end the truth won out,"
noted Zeitz. "This bill will expand American leadership on global
health and foster hope around the world. Once fully funded, it will not
only help poor countries but serve America's interests as well."

The bill lays out a five-year strategy for confronting AIDS, TB and
malaria, while authorizing, though not actually providing, a total
funding level of $48 billion for global health programs. The bill also
lays out a policy framework on such closely related issues as gender,
care for orphaned children, nutrition, and health care worker shortages.

This story will hit the front pages of newspapers tomorrow. Watch for an update soon.

Gary B. Trudeau's Doonesbury, which newspapers publish either with the comics or the editorial cartoons, just wrapped up a series about Iraqi Christian refugees. Roland (in this series a Fox News correspondent) is trying to cover the story of an Assyrian family in a way that is flattering for the Surge. Doonesbury treats the imaginary Iraqis with a great deal of dignity. Fox News doesn't fare so well.

Fox News actually did run an Associated Press story about "Christians Fleeing Violence in Iraq" in early May, which brings up the matter of ransoms most Christians pay for "protection."

The background--not in the comic strips, although alluded to--is that Iraq's Christians, the largest non-Muslim religious group in Iraq , are represented disproportionately in the refugee population (although it should be mentioned that the Assyrian diaspora dates back to World War I). It's such a huge drain that some churches in Iraq have no members left. Christians can be identified by their names and ID cards, and they are often targeted for violence. The Assyrian International News Agency (AINA) is calling it genocide. So, many Assyrians leave as soon as they can. Others, like the family in Doonesbury, wait until something unbearable happens.

A dispatch from one of CT's correspondents in the Middle East:

By Matthew Snyder

Prince El-Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, uncle to Jordan's King Abdullah II, recently launched an internet network aimed at countering the growing tensions between the West and the Arab/Islamic world.

The Electronic Network for Arab West Understanding, or ENAWU project involves the partnership of 12 organizations from across the Middle East and Europe, including the Center for Documentation and Research on Arabic Christianity (CEDRAC, Lebanon) and Prince Hassan's own Arab Thought Forum.

"Noah created an ark for the salvation of humanity," Prince Hassan said. "Can we create an ark for the salvation of our common humanity?"

The Arab world has seen a spike in hostility between Muslims and Christians in recent years. Sectarian violence in Iraq has forced many Iraqi Christians to flee their homeland.

In Egypt, Christian girls often feel pressured to don the hijab, or Islamic headscarf, to avoid harassment. Tensions between Muslim and Christian groups have plagued Lebanon for decades. ENAWU's supporters believe that by providing resources, such as an archive of more than 20,000 articles and reports from Arab media, and encouraging dialog, their project will help to alleviate such tensions.

"The aim is clear," said Father Dr. Samir Khalil, founder and director of CEDRAC. "Understanding the other to arrive at dialog and peace. Understanding does not mean we necessarily agree with the other."

Cornelis Hulsman, editor-in-chief of the Arab West Report and one of ENAWU's directors, strongly emphasized the media watchdog role of the project.

"We have a problem with media reporting that is often selective, biased, and inflammatory," Hulsman said. "We have seen a number of tensions which were directly the consequence of poor reporting and that should be countered."

According to Pakinam Sharqawy, professor of political science at Cairo University, the participation of students will be essential to the success of ENAWU because "dialogue among youth is less politicized, more open ? our youth are more prepared to understand others."

ENAWU is also looking to tap into the contacts and networks of Arab organizations as well as the vast repository of information, and potential participants, on the western shores of the Atlantic.

"We're really hoping to build relations with relevant organizations in the United States," Hulsman said.

In earlier coverage of Prince Hassan, he told CT in an exclusive interview:

I believe in conversation and not in conversion. The study of Christianity or Islam is not just about the ecclesiastical context particular to every faith group. We used to talk with a definite article about "the" monotheistic faiths. Today, I show my respect of the other by talking about monotheistic faiths in the context of a broader partnership for humanity, involving Christians, Muslims, Jews, and nonbelievers for that matter. When you talk about ethics and morality, each faith group has difficulty with the semantics.

Click here for the full interview.

Fox News is reporting this morning that its former news anchor and former Bush administration press secretary Tony Snow has died of cancer. Snow was 53.

Read the Fox News obit here, and read Snow's 2007 article "Cancer's Unexpected Blessings" for Christianity Today here.

Here's a brief excerpt from that article:

The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul, traipsing though the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes (Spain), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment.

There's nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue - for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do.

Christianity Today online readers showed more support for Sen. Barack Obama than Sen. John McCain in our poll this week for the first time since January.

Obama passed McCain (41%) by garnering 51 percent of the vote during our poll that closed yesterday. In June, McCain led Obama 50 to 33 percent. The two were tied in March at 26 percent.

Here's a rundown of results from Jan. 4 (1,613 votes), March 3 (1964 votes), April 1 (2,668 votes), June 9 (3,007 votes), and July 10 (3,189 votes). Be sure to take the polls with a grain of salt - they are conducted online and are usually left up for about three days.

This graph is also cross-posted at Christianity Today's new election 2008 blog.

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First there was non-Catholic Sally Quinn, co-editor of On Faith and wife of my hero, displaying incredible religious ignorance or insensitivity when she took communion at the funeral for her friend, Tim Russert. Here was her reaction:

I had only taken communion once in my life, at an evangelical church. It was soon after I had started "On Faith" and I wanted to see what it was like. Oddly I had a slightly nauseated sensation after I took it, knowing that in some way it represented the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Last Wednesday I was determined to take it for Tim, transubstantiation notwithstanding. I'm so glad I did. It made me feel closer to him.

Wow. Really missed the point there, unless Russert died for her sins (not to denigrate the saintly journalist or our Lord).

Then a University of Central Florida student claimed he was receiving death threats for "smuggling" the communion wafer out of church.

Webster Cook says he smuggled a Eucharist, a small bread wafer that to Catholics symbolic of the Body of Christ after a priest blesses it, out of mass, didn't eat it as he was supposed to do, but instead walked with it.

Catholics worldwide became furious.

"Would you believe this isn't hyperbole?" asked PZ Myers, the often-offensive atheist blogger.

Myers thought the reaction of many Catholics was ridiculous (I agree), and let his readers know it in a manner with which I don't agree: by trashing those who think Christ's body has taken the form of a "GOD--MNED CRACKER!"

"There are days when it is agony to read the news, because people are so god--mned stupid. Petty and stupid. Hateful and stupid. Just plain stupid," he wrote. "And nothing makes them stupider than religion."

Breaking news, Wednesday, July 9, on HIV legislation stalled in the US Senate for weeks. A source in Washington emailed me this afternoon, saying:

A few minutes ago [Senate leader] Reid brought it [PEPFAR reauthorization] to the Senate floor...He said he had 17 signatures on a petition in favor of the bill. He sounded very determined and insistent and fed up with the delays. Then [Senator] Kyl objected, so Reid has filed for cloture, which will be voted on Friday morning. We are very disapponted at Kyl's action. Every day, AIDS kills about 6000 people and infects another 7000, so delay is the last thing we need. Kyl's delays have hurt President Bush's leadership at the G8 Summit.

What does this mean?

Jon Kyl, the junior senator from Arizona, pretty much has sterling conservative credentials and a "solidly conservative voting record" in the words of the Almanac of American Politics. So what is his beef with the reauthorization of PEPFAR, perhaps the most relatively untarnished legacy program of the Bush administration?

Certainly, sticker shock and mission creep are legit concerns. But here's some op-ed commentary, published in the Tuscon Citizen:

Yet despite the program's widespread support and irrefutable success, Kyl and a handful of Republicans think the price tag of $50 billion over five years is too high.
It would be one thing for legislators thing to balk at expanding a program that had not delivered its intended results, but quite another to stop one that works.
PEPFAR works. PEPFAR has been a model of humanitarian assistance for all the world to see. Some call it the greatest triumph of American foreign policy since the Marshall plan.
In these contentious legislative times, the PEPFAR debate in Washington has been an exercise in compromise, with lawmakers putting humanity above partisanship.
Both parties in Congress and the White House have put aside differences over how the money ought to be spent because they place the value and potential of this program above partisan gain.
But as long as a group of recalcitrant senators continue to block this bill, they take away an opportunity for the United States to exercise global leadership and save countless lives.
Time is running out. Sen. Kyl must see reason and clear the way for PEPFAR's reauthorization to give the president more credible talking points in Japan.

Opponents of the bill have yet to persuasively explain their objections to this legislation or put forward a reasonable way forward. Senator Kyl and others who oppose PEPFAR own an explanation on why stalling this admitted expensive (and by the way successful) program makes sense.

Ministries headed by evangelists Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn are both changing the way they operate even as a Senate probe into alleged lavish spending by six prominent ministries continues, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Monday, July 7.

"Both Joyce Meyer and Benny Hinn have indicated that they are instituting reforms without waiting for the committee to complete its review," said Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, in an update on the investigation he began last year.

"Self-reform can be faster and more effective than government regulation."

Roby Walker, a spokesman for Joyce Meyer Ministries in Fenton, Mo., confirmed that changes are being made but could not release details on Tuesday.

Don Price, a spokesman for Benny Hinn Ministries in Grapevine, Texas, also declined to comment in detail but said "reforms and improved governance practices" were being shared with Grassley's office.

Grassley's update noted instances of "whistleblower intimidation" where former employees "have received phone calls reminding them of their confidentiality agreements and threatening lawsuits if the agreements are breached."

Jill Gerber, a spokeswoman for the committee, would not disclose which ministries were involved in such calls, and declined to elaborate on the changes planned at Hinn's and Meyer's ministries.

Grassley's update described the responses from Hinn and Meyer as "in good faith and substantively informative," but said the others are "incomplete" or "not responsive."

Broadcaster Kenneth Copeland has reportedly said his Texas-based ministry will not respond even if a subpoena is issued. Grassley's memo said staffers are "consulting with Senate attorneys about next steps."

In other cases, staffers continue to contact ministry lawyers and officials in hopes of further cooperation.

"Sen. Grassley still very much wants to avoid subpoenas and hopes that those ministries will agree that subpoenas would be an unnecessary step," Gerber said.

The other ministries under investigation are: Bishop Eddie Long's New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga.; Creflo Dollar Ministries in College Park, Ga., and Randy and Paula White, who co-pastored Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla.

Legendary philanthropist Sir John Templeton died at 95 today in the Bahamas, where he had lived for decades, according to the New York Times.

Templeton was known for funding religion and science projects, donating millions to religious leaders, scholar, and scientists.

CT wrote a story on Templeton in 2005 with comments from Joel Carpenter, former religion officer for the Pew Charitable Trusts.

"Sir John's theology is very eclectic. He has pushed [grants] to be religiously and theologically inclusive. However, the people who are most vitally interested in the relation of science and religion are traditional orthodox Christians. No one in the evangelical world is doing faith and science in the same way Templeton is."

Leaders in the worldwide Anglican Communion (numbering up to 70 million) were anxiously awaiting today's vote in York on the ordination of women bishops.

Read the BBC report here

A large number of traditionalists left the 26 million-member Church of England back in 1994 after the church's ruling synod approved the ordination of women to the priesthood. The other shoe has now dropped with the synod's approval of women bishops.

In recent days, there have been persistent reports than hundreds of Anglican/COE clergy were prepared to bolt from their parishes and presumably migrate to Roman Catholicism. That may still happen. It all depends on the level of accommodation that the synod offers.

Of course, these events are a precursor to the once per decade Lambeth Conference, which opens in Canterbury on the campus of the University of Kent next week.

Many Anglican women leaders may press for limited accommodation since they believe this kind of action is discriminatory against their ministry and creates a de facto two-tier system for clergy.

The UK Press Association reports:

The synod members voted to approve work on a national statutory code to accommodate those within the Church who object to women bishops.

The synod rejected compromise proposals for new "super bishops" to cater for objectors - and also their preferred option of creating new dioceses.

The decision to go ahead with work on the code came after more than six hours of debate by the General Synod which saw extraordinary scenes, with one bishop in tears as he spoke of being "ashamed" of the Church of England.

The Rt Rev Stephen Venner, Bishop of Dover, who is in favour of women bishops said: "I have to say, Synod, for the first time in my life, I feel ashamed.

"We have talked for hours about wanting to give an honourable place to those who disagree.

"We have been given opportunities for both views to flourish. We have turned down every, almost every realistic opportunity for those who are opposed to flourish."

Since the format at the Lambeth event will be geared toward conversation, not debate, amendment, and passage of resolutions, it is also murky whether women's ordination will be subject to significant discussion at all. Conservatives are not in unity of women's ordination. But I can't find a single truly conservative woman bishop in the entire Communion. Can you?

China will provide free copies of the Bible to athletes, spectators and anyone else who wants one at the Olympic Games, the Associated Press reports.

About 10,000 bilingual copies of the Bible will be distributed and another 30,000 copies of the New Testament will also be available during the games, but none will be provided in public hotels, according to the AP. The cover of the Gospels will sport an Olympics logo. Places of worship for other religions will also be available.

The country has had to combat reports that said there would be restrictions on Bibles being brought into Beijing. See CT's other coverage of China.

In the four decades since Paul Ehrlich published his demographic jeremiad, The Population Bomb, demographers have largely worried that the earth is getting too crowded. Contemporary proponents point to supposed signs of climate change, food shortages, and commodities inflation as evidence that Ehrlich was right. However, now comes word that in some parts of the world the key problem is not too many people, but too few. Russell Shorto's absorbing June 29 article in The New York Times Magazine informs us:

In the 1990s, European demographers began noticing a downward trend in population across the Continent and behind it a sharply falling birthrate. Non-number-crunchers largely ignored the information until a 2002 study by Italian, German and Spanish social scientists focused the data and gave policy makers across the European Union something to ponder. The figure of 2.1 is widely considered to be the "replacement rate" - the average number of births per woman that will maintain a country's current population level. At various times in modern history - during war or famine - birthrates have fallen below the replacement rate, to "low" or "very low" levels. But Hans-Peter Kohler, Jos? Antonio Ortega and Francesco Billari - the authors of the 2002 report - saw something new in the data. For the first time on record, birthrates in southern and Eastern Europe had dropped below 1.3. For the demographers, this number had a special mathematical portent. At that rate, a country's population would be cut in half in 45 years, creating a falling-off-a-cliff effect from which it would be nearly impossible to recover. Kohler and his colleagues invented an ominous new term for the phenomenon: "lowest-low fertility."

The hypothesis Shorto presents is that nations that have only half-heartedly embraced modern society's welcoming of women into the paid workforce by failing to provide state financial incentives or career flexibility inadvertently end up providing strong disincentives for couples to have children. Shorto notes that as modern culture continues marching around the world, population shrinkage is far from solely a European problem. He reports that countries as diverse as Iran, South Korea, and Thailand are also facing alarming drop-offs in fecundity.

One thing left largely unexplored in this lengthy piece, however, are those traditionalists - of whatever faith - who reject the modern project to push both parents into the paid workforce and who opt instead to raise their children without recourse to state surrogates. While a second income is an economic necessity for many parents today (even given the existence of financial incentives to work), the article fails to consider that many - if finances were not an issue - would prefer to be home with their children during their formative years. How better to pass on religiously based knowledge, traditions, and character traits to the next generation and avoid the corrosive, occasionally life-denying, tenets of modernity?

Hat tip: Yehiel Poupko.