Archbishop of Canterbury Opposed Gay Sex and Adoption
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Archbishop of Canterbury voiced opposition to same-sex couples adopting children and insisted that the Bible is “clear” that gay couples should not have sex, previously unpublished writings show.


Justin Welby also privately warned of a crisis facing the Church of England as a result of dwindling numbers and financial pressure which could even pose “serious questions of viability” within the next seven to 10 years.

And he openly questioned the formality of the Established Church, wondering aloud whether Jesus would have approved of “big buildings” and elaborate clerical dress.

His comments are disclosed in the first biography of the new leader of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, who will be formally enthroned in Canterbury later this month.

It charts his transformation from a highly paid City oil executive to life on a clerical stipend before his rapid promotion through the ranks of the Church.

It also reveals some of the most unguarded comments of the future Archbishop yet published, dating from his time as a little known parish priest just over a decade ago.

More recently, he voiced frustration at being branded a homophobic “European Taliban” for advocating traditional views on sex.

Archbishop Welby comes from the evangelical wing of the Church of England, which espouses traditional views on such issues. » | John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor | Friday, March 08, 2013

Christians in Mideast Losing Numbers and Influence
Nuns attended a Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday at the foot of the Mount of Olives outside of Jerusalem. Photo courtesy of The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: JERUSALEM — Christians used to be a vital force in the Middle East. They dominated Lebanon and filled top jobs in the Palestinian movement. In Egypt, they were wealthy beyond their number. In Iraq, they packed the universities and professions. Across the region, their orientation was a vital link to the West, a counterpoint to prevailing trends.

But as Pope Benedict XVI wends his way across the Holy Land this week, he is addressing a dwindling and threatened Christian population driven to emigration by political violence, lack of economic opportunity and the rise of radical Islam. A region that a century ago was 20 percent Christian is about 5 percent today and dropping.

Since it was here that Jesus walked and Christianity was born, the papal visit highlights a prospect many consider deeply troubling for the globe’s largest faith, adhered to by a third of humanity — its most powerful and historic shrines could become museum relics with no connection to those who live among them.

“I fear the extinction of Christianity in Iraq and the Middle East,” the Rev. Jean Benjamin Sleiman, the Catholic archbishop of Baghdad, said in a comment echoed across the region.

The pope, in a Mass on Tuesday at the foot of the Mount of Olives, addressed “the tragic reality” of the “departure of so many members of the Christian community in recent years.”

He said: “While understandable reasons lead many, especially the young, to emigrate, this decision brings in its wake a great cultural and spiritual impoverishment to the city. Today I wish to repeat what I have said on other occasions: in the Holy Land there is room for everyone!” >>> By Ethan Bronner | Tuesday, May 12, 2009