Approaching Sodom > Is the Episcopal Church in America already on fire?

 

Episcopal Church celebrates first trans dean — woman in lesbian marriage to trans-identified pastor

By Michael Gryboski, Editor Thursday, September 03, 2026

The Rev. Micah Cronin, believed to be the first trans-identified dean for an Episcopal Church cathedral, preaching at All Saints' Cathedral of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Aug. 30, 2026. | YouTube/AllSaintsMKE

A Wisconsin cathedral has installed what is believed to be the first trans-identifying dean in the history of The Episcopal Church.

The Very Rev. Micah Cronin, a woman who identifies as a man, took the helm of All Saints' Cathedral in Milwaukee on Aug. 16, according to Episcopal News Service. The cathedral draws an average of just 70 worshippers on a given Sunday.

Cronin is married to a woman who goes by the Rev. Elias Henry, also a trans-identified pastor, who serves at The Corner House, a Lutheran, LGBT-affirming campus ministry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Cronin laid out her story in an introductory email to the congregation last month: raised Methodist, she joined TEC at 19, the same year she decided to self-identify as trans. 

“For clarification, this means that I was raised as a girl. For my whole adult life, I have been known and loved as myself — Micah,” wrote Cronin. “The churches I was raised in were not able to receive me as I am. But as a young person, I heard through the grapevine that the Episcopal Church would accept me.”

“I knew that no matter what I had to follow Jesus. The small Episcopal parish I walked into years ago made it possible for me to do that, through their kind, steadfast, gentle acceptance, and above all, their love.”

Cronin's appointment lands amid a decades-long freefall for The Episcopal Church. Like most U.S. denominations, it's bleeding members, and its progressive turn has driven much of the exodus.

When TEC consecrated the Rev. Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop in 2003, scores of congregations voted to leave in protest.

In 2010, the denomination reported that the number of active baptized members in their churches had dropped just below 2 million. By 2023, that number decreased to approximately 1.547 million people.

In a church where Jesus is glorified, the numbers grow. Where numbers diminish, it is often because God has removed His candlestick - The Holy Spirit, because of error.

For its 2024 Parochial Report, released last October, TEC omitted a membership tally, explaining that there were questions about how to properly chart the numbers.

The report noted 19,624 baptisms of children and adults in 2024, a considerable decline from 2014, when the denomination reported over 28,000 total baptisms. 

In 2024, three Episcopal dioceses in Wisconsin were merged into a single regional body, in large part because the entities had suffered considerable membership decline.

The decision, which was given final approval by the 81st Episcopal Church General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, was technically a reunification, as the three dioceses were initially founded as one statewide body in 1847.

At the time of the reunification, the new Diocese of Wisconsin included 101 congregations and approximately 11,500 baptized members, with Bishop Matthew Gunter serving as its leader.

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Another school shooting in the USA by a lunatic with three guns > 19 shot, mostly children, two kids dead; Shooter ID'd as trans, former student

 

Is it just too easy for a nut job to get a gun, or three, in the USA? 

19 Shot at Catholic Church in Minnesota: Officials

Two children were killed and 17 other people were injured at a Catholic church and school in Minneapolis on Aug. 27, officials said.

A man opened fire from outside the building as children attended Mass at Annunciation Church and School just before 8:30 a.m., Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara told reporters during a briefing.

Bullets struck 19 people, including 14 children. Two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed. Two other children are in critical condition.

The shooter killed himself in the rear of the church, O'Hara said. All or most of the shots were fired from outside, he added.

“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children, and other people worshipping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible,” the police chief said.

O'Hara declined to release details about the man beyond saying he was in his early 20s and used a rifle, shotgun, and pistol.

Officers are searching the man’s vehicle and plan additional searches related to the incident, officials said.

Annunciation Church runs a school for students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The school year started on Monday.

Officers on the scene included personnel from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that he was briefed on the shooting.

“The FBI quickly responded and they are on the scene,” he said. “The White House will continue to monitor this terrible situation. Please join me in praying for everyone involved!”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said on X that he was briefed on the shooting.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said during the briefing: “There are no words that can capture the horror and the evil of this unspeakable act. Children are dead. There are families that have a deceased child. You cannot put into words the gravity, the tragedy, or the absolute pain of this situation.”

The shooting took place after a series of others in the city this week, including one on Tuesday afternoon that left one person dead and six injured. The shooting on Wednesday appeared unrelated to the other shootings, according to the police.

The madness of transgenderism leads to a massacre in Minneapolis

Minneapolis shooting suspect identified as Robin Westman who was former student at Catholic school:

The Epoch Times

The shooter who opened fire at a church on the south side of Minneapolis on Wednesday morning has been identified.

Law enforcement sources told the Associated Press that Robin Westman attacked the church, adjacent to Annunciation Catholic School, as school children were celebrating Mass at the start of the academic year. Westman once attended the school.

The assailant, Robin Westman, formerly Robert, whose name was legally changed after identifying as a woman, opened fire from outside the church, using a rifle, shotgun, and pistol, to fire through the stained-glass windows after barricading some of the doors. - The Independent

Authorities have confirmed that two children were killed and 17 others were injured, 14 of them children, two of whom are in critical condition. A witness from inside the church said the shooter “pepper-sprayed through the stained-glass windows into the building, 50 to 100 shots.”

The shooter was described as a man in his early twenties, dressed all in black and armed with a rifle, a shotgun, and a pistol. No motive is known at this time, and he took his own life.

President Donald Trump has offered condolences to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

A distraught Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rejected offers of “thoughts and prayers,” saying at a press conference: “You cannot put into words the gravity, tragedy or absolute pain of the situation.”

FBI Director Kash Patel says the attack is being investigated as domestic terrorism and a hate crime against Catholics.

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Tim Walz's 'Christian' Church > "A Trainwreck of Heresy and Blasphemy"

 

The website Protestia calls the church, "A Trainwreck of Heresy and Blasphemy"

God the Hen, God the Baker: Tim Walz’s ‘Church’

Is About What You’d Expect

Aug 9, 2024 7:00 am By Robert Spencer

Hey, Tim Walz isn’t so bad. In an age when leftists compete with one another in how much they can repudiate and mock traditional values, it is surprising and refreshing to discover that the Democrats’ shiny new vice-presidential candidate, America’s dad, is a regular churchgoer. Walz’s Christian piety, however, is not exactly the sort of thing that would put you in mind of Augustine, Aquinas, Martin Luther, Mother Theresa, or any other prominent Christian you’d care to name. In fact, it’s just the sort of thing you’d expect: the far left at prayer.

The Daily Caller reported Wednesday that Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz attends a church, all right, but you will not be surprised to learn that it’s not exactly a bastion of Christianity as it has been known up until these enlightened days. Walz attends Pilgrim Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn., where the worship is as woke as it can be. If it weren’t for the folks walking around in robes and the occasional prayers, Walz might sometimes get confused and think that he is at a Democrat party meeting, for Pilgrim Lutheran is little more than the Democrat platform in ecclesiastical trappings.

Pilgrim Lutheran’s stances on everything are tediously predictable, and 100% in line with the latest far-left wisdom. The Caller notes that “materials published by Pilgrim Lutheran Church instruct parishioners not to refer to God using male pronouns, push congregants to support reparation funds, encourage them to celebrate Ramadan and include a modified gender-neutral version of the Lord’s Prayer, among other liberal practices.” Of course. Anything else would be racist, bigoted, sexist, and “Islamophobic.” Pilgrim Lutheran’s leadership would no doubt rather be burned at the stake rather than be accused of any of those beyond-mortal sins.

Walz’s church is, of course, not singular to his corner of the Minnesota Soviet Socialist Republic. Woke churches have spread all over our fair land, and are full of the blue-haired, gender-confused, and heavily tattooed whenever they feel the need to give the appearance that God or Gaia or Almighty Whoever heartily approves of their activities.

Pilgrim Lutheran itself is an outpost of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), which ditched traditional Protestant Christianity quite some time ago in order to chase after the left’s latest cultural fads and imbue them with a patina of sanctity. And so it is no surprise once again that the ELCA not only has female bishops but lesbian bishops, as well as female bishops who are really men but have demanded that everyone around them pretend that they’re women.

There is more. Read the rest here.

Canada - European View of the Great Canadian Experiment in Madness

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"The predatory psychopath has been able to figure out how to cloak himself in the guise of compassion" 

- Dr. Jordan Peterson

Canada’s woke nightmare is a vision of Britain’s future

Drug decriminalisation, gender ideology, legal euthanasia – the country seems to

have adopted every policy on the progressive wish list

29 August 2023 • 2:47pm

Steven Edginton, Telegraph

video 38:05

Under Justin Trudeau, Canada has sought to position itself as the global bastion of progressive politics. In my latest Telegraph documentary, seen above, I went to the former British colony to find out how Canadians are dealing with Trudeau’s radical reforms; from the promotion of gender ideology in schools and the mass legalisation of drugs, to his extreme new suicide laws and clamp downs on freedom of speech.

I began my investigation in one of the country’s most liberal cities, Vancouver. Possession of up to 2.5 grams of hard drugs, including heroin, cocaine and fentanyl, has been legalised in the city as part of a three year experiment which began in January of this year. If the aim was to combat the opioid crisis that already beset the city then it appears there is still much to be done as vast tent sites line the streets, patrolled by roaming zombie-like drug addicts.

As we filmed on Hastings Street, infamous as the epicentre of Vancouver’s homelessness crisis, I witnessed a topless man shoot a needle into his arm five feet from me. Though it wasn’t quite as bad as San Francisco, where my cameraman and I came under attack from angry vagrants, the scenes were still shocking.

It’s not just the homeless who patrol the streets of Vancouver. Chris Elston, better known online as Billboard Chris, campaigns against the imposition of gender ideology on children, whether through Canada’s education system or via dangerous operations to “transition” children. As his nickname suggests, Chris walks around Vancouver wearing signs protesting gender ideology, encouraging lively debates with passers-by which he puts on X, formerly Twitter.

Chris kindly allowed our crew to join him on a walkabout, where we found many Canadians horrified by the use of puberty blockers in children and the promotion of biological men in women’s sports.  

We did encounter some opposition of course, mostly through the odd shout or flicking of the finger. So much for Canadian politeness.

One aggressive gentleman, tall, ageing and angry, began a tirade against Chris with the rather bizarre singular message that he is “queer”.

For those who do question gender ideology there can be severe consequences. We spoke to a nurse, Amy Hamm, who faces losing her licence to practise after two members of the public complained about a poster she was involved in pledging support for the gender-critical author J K Rowling.  

The promotion of transgenderism in Canadian schools has led to a fierce backlash from some parents, not least from some of the country’s ethnic minority communities. While multiculturalism has become a key pillar of Justin Trudeau’s vision of Canadian identity, not everyone fits in with his mould of the enlightened immigrant.

In Toronto, I caught up with a family originally from India to discuss their experiences of modern Canada. Neerunjun, a social worker fired by his company for refusing to take the Covid vaccine, discussed how his eight-year-old son was asked to wear the opposite sex’s clothes for a school day promoting cross-dressing. He let his child have a day off instead of submitting to such woke indulgence.

Part of Canada’s social revolution can also be witnessed in its extreme new euthanasia laws. In 2016, the ruling Liberal Party passed legislation enabling assisted suicide for terminally ill Canadians. Next year the legislation will be expanded to include those with mental health problems. As Christianity declines across Canada, and the liberal obsession with “bodily autonomy” and “personal freedom” reaches its logical conclusion, a new dystopia is forming. As Dr Konia Trouton, a euthanasia advocate, told me, “we are an organised society but within that organisation we have to allow some freedoms and opportunities, this is not a communist system where we can try and reign that in”. The campaign group Euthanasia Prevention Coalition estimates that 13,500 people chose state-assisted suicide last year.

For a nation to be truly woke, it must have its own narrative of oppression. In America, activists focus on the country’s history of slavery and racist laws. In Britain, they focus on the Empire. In Canada, where historically there were very few black people, the nation’s story of guilt centres on a so-called genocide against its indigenous population. Supporters of this narrative point to the discovery of hundreds of disturbances in the earth around an Indian residential school in Kamloops, which is supposedly evidence of a mass grave site. 

However, no bodies have ever been found and many question the idea of a genocide as being at best an exaggeration and at worst a total fabrication. We interviewed a man who questioned the genocide story, and was fired from his job as a teacher as a result. Canada’s Justice Minister David Lametti has said he is open to punishing those who deny the indigenous genocide narrative, similar to bans on Holocaust denialism.

To prevent wokeism from spreading it is important to have a strong opposition party. Canada’s Conservatives have been historically weak in pushing back against Trudeau, however, their recently elected leader, Pierre Poilievre, has injected fresh energy into the party. Whilst there are some who still question Poillievre’s conservative credentials, his strategy seems to be working; one recent poll gave his party a twelve point lead over Trudeau’s Liberals.

However, the most successful opponents to Canada’s social revolution have so far not been politicians but members of the public. Our film highlights some of these brave individuals, including Dr Jordan Peterson, perhaps the most high-profile Canadian in the world other than the country’s leader.

During my travels I found ordinary people appalled at Canada’s surrender to drug dealers, its contempt for freedom of speech, its enforcement of gender ideology on children and a breezy willingness to terminate the lives of its own citizens. However, for all the depressing stories of people losing their jobs, or being hounded by the government, these cases were equally inspirational. Whilst Canada is a warning to the West, there are also individual messages of hope from those brave individuals fighting for their freedom.

How has Canada changed in recent years? Have you noticed the impact of progressive politics? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section at the Telegraph.

European Politics > EU Court's Ruling rejected by Poland as 'Corruption'; Was it really a political protest or a far-left protest in Warsaw?

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Justice minister rejects 'corrupt' EU court's ruling against

Poland's judicial reform

Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro on Monday denounced the Court of Justice

of the European Union as 'corrupt' and rejected its ruling that a controversial

Polish judicial reform violated EU law

Issued on: 05/06/2023 - 15:52

Modified: 05/06/2023 - 17:38

Text by: FRANCE 24

The Luxembourg-based court's verdict "was not written by judges but politicians because it constitutes a clear violation of European treaties," Ziobro said, adding that "the European Union's top court is corrupt".

The European Union stepped up its rule-of-law fight with member state Poland on Monday when the bloc's highest court confirmed that Warsaw had refused to comply with EU rules on judicial independence for which it has already lost more than 500 million euros ($535 million) in fines.

The Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Poland's 2019 justice reform infringed EU law after the European Commission, the bloc's executive branch, said that the Polish Supreme Court lacked the necessary independence and impartiality.

“By today's judgment, the Court upholds the Commission's action,” a court statement said.

It was the latest in a streak of setbacks for the nationalist conservative ruling party in Poland, with many Poles furious at what they consider a dramatic erosion of democracy in the country. That sentiment boiled over into a massive anti-government protest in Warsaw on Sunday, probably the largest demonstration in Poland's post-communist era, with an election coming up in the autumn.

Opposition leader Donald Tusk, who had called for the march, estimated that 500,000 Poles turned out.

“Bad news for the government,” declared the conservative Do Rzeczy news portal about the EU court ruling. The state broadcaster, TVP, which acts as a propaganda arm of the ruling party, said that the EU court had overstepped its powers and “attack Poland again. The court exceeds its powers.”

The court decision was, however, welcomed by lawyers and other legal experts who hope it might restore independence to the judiciary.

The EU court argued that “the value of the rule of law is an integral part of the very identity of the European Union as a common legal order and is given concrete expression in principles containing legally binding obligations for the Member States.” It said Poland didn't meet these obligations.

Amid a plethora of condemnation and criticism, the court said that “the measures thus adopted by the Polish legislature are incompatible with the guarantees of access to an independent and impartial tribunal.”

Poland's minister for the European Union, Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk, said that some parts of the ruling were no longer valid or had been abolished.

The court said that Polish law requires judges to divulge membership in an association or party and allows that information to be made public. The court ruling said that the provisions were “liable to expose judges to risks of undue stigmatization.”

The disagreement over the functioning of the Supreme Court is only one of several disputes that the conservative government in Warsaw has with the EU institutions. It claims the bloc is undermining Poland’s inalienable rights to make independent decisions.

The EU institutions have insisted that Poland, under the populist Law and Justice party, has been on a slippery slope away from the EU’s rule of law principles.

Thereby admitting the political bias of the EU.

The dispute centers on the independence of Polish Supreme Court judges when they review EU law.

Only last week, the United States and the EU’s top justice official criticized Polish plans for another law that could keep political opponents from holding public office without full legal recourse. The EU threatened to take measures if it became fully clear such a law would undermine democratic standards.

In the standoff centering on Monday's ruling by the Luxembourg court, Polish authorities already have had to pay about 550 million euros ($588 million) in fines since October 2021, when the system of 1 million euros in daily fines started. The daily fines were halved in April.

In the legal standoff between Brussels and Warsaw, EU authorities are also withholding the release of around 35 billion euros ($37 billion) in pandemic recovery funds.

After the collapse of the Soviet empire, Poland joined the EU along with other Central and Eastern European nations. Since they emerged from autocracy, they were long models for other emerging democracies. Critics now say that Poland and Hungary are slipping again toward one-party authoritarian rule.

Or, perhaps they just don't want to follow the EU down the Garden path. The EU is leading its countries in both godlessness and Islamization. In other words, away from anything resembling Christianity.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)

Hundreds of thousands join protest against Poland's

conservative Law and Justice Party

By Joe Fisher

Leader of main opposition party Civic Platform Donald Tusk and former Polish President and leader of the 

Independent Polish Trade Union Solidarity Lech Walesa take part in the '4th June March' in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday. 

Photo by Pawel Supernak/EPA-EFE

June 4 (UPI) -- Opposition party leaders are heading one of Poland's largest protests in Warsaw on Sunday, marching against the conservative Law and Justice party.

People from across the country came out in force on the 34th anniversary of the trade union, Solidarity, defeating the Communist Party in 1989's election. With another election coming this fall, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski tweeted that Sunday's demonstration may foreshadow the results at the polls.

Trzaskowski estimates that 500,000 people took part in the protest. No official number has been calculated.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk and former President Lech Walesa were among the prominent opposition leaders in attendance, the BBC reports. Walesa was the leader of Solidarity in the 1980s.

The Law and Justice Party has been in power since 2015. In that, critics contest that the party has weakened the country's democracy. It has targeted the rights of marginalized groups like the LGBTQ+ community and restricted reproductive rights, according to The Guardian.

For a country that is strongly Catholic, these are difficult issues. Can abortion access be called a reproductive right? Should it be called an anti-reproductive right? Surely, all women should have the right to not give birth, but that right should end once she is pregnant. There are many ways to avoid pregnancy; there is only one way to avoid birth once you are pregnant, and it is not God-approved!

The Civil Platform, led by Tusk, organized the protest, but other opposition parties were also involved. Protesters called for more trade union representation and rights for the transgender community.

Of the guesstimated 500,000 protesters, it appears not too many were actually celebrating Solidarity or there would be no need to call for more. 

Transgender rights are quickly fading across Europe as the UK and Scandinavia have realized that transitioning children is equivalent to child sexual abuse and worthy of very big lawsuits.

The protest also opposes a new law that would allow the government to ban people from serving in public office for 10 years. It also creates a commission to investigate Russian involvement with politics in Poland.

Last week, the European Commission released a statement on the law.

"The European Commission is very concerned by the adoption of a new law in Poland creating a special committee to investigate Russian influence on the internal security of Poland between 2007 and 2022," it said.

"This new law raises concerns that it could be used to affect the possibility of individuals to run for public office, without fair trial."

President Andrzej Duda has proposed making amendments to the law to respond to these criticisms.

Approaching Sodom > Left Abandons Truth - Leaves it for Right-Wing < Melanie Phillips

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MELANIE PHILLIPS SHOCKED THE LEFT BY

SAYING THIS OUT LOUD

written by Phil Schneider 

May 31, 2023 2.1K views

Israel Unwired

The left-wing today has completely shunned the ideas of liberalism and adopted cultural totalitarianism. Melanie Phillips says it so well and so eloquently. She understands and knows how to explain the nature of the absurdity of cancel culture better than anybody else today. Reason, argument, discussion, and open-mindedness have been tossed out the window.

How did this happen and when did this happen? This was not the norm in the crazy 60’s. In the 70’s and 80’s, this was not the case either. It seems to have begun sometime in the 21st century. The political landscape was very volatile in the 60’s, between McCarthyism still being a force, civil rights marches on Washington, and race riots across the United States. But, there was no cancel culture even after a popular President, a Civil Rights Leader, and Presidential candidate were all assassinated. It was just a very emotionally charged atmosphere.

The Vietnam War pitted masses of youngsters against the leadership of the United States. But, even the opposition to the Vietnam protesters knew that the Vietnam War was not going well. The protesters had a point – even if they were extremists. And the protesters knew that Communism was indeed a threat that needed to be contained – just not via American lives in Vietnam. Each side knew that the other side had legitimate logic backing it up.

But today, young people – in the masses – are flocking towards hard to fathom values that are completely at odds with basic concepts of existence – such as the very existence of genders. And these ideas are not based on respecting the values of others, as anyone who thinks otherwise is repudiated and cancelled as a member of the Dark Ages.

Discussion and difference of opinion are not praised but tossed aside as negative phenomenon. What has really been thrown away is the placing of any concept of truth at the top of a pedestal of priorities. That is why Melanie argues that truth has become a right-wing concept. What a horrible tragedy for mankind.

Can this be reversed? Can the left-wing repudiate the obsessive focus on gender issues and woke concepts of reality? Today it seems hopeless. But the world does not only spin out of control in a negative fashion. Sometimes, concepts that were thought to have been gone from the world come back into fashion.

What is needed on the left is a big dose of some old-fashioned open-minded liberalism. Difference of opinion needs to be embraced. Striving towards truth needs to be a common goal among those who disagree. Recognition that no specific political persuasion can rule over the other needs to be the norm.

Was liberalism ever open-minded? At 75 years of age, I cannot remember a time when it was. 

A Twitter follower asked one time what the difference between left-wing and right-wing was? I answered, "Truth". Truth is something that seems to be related to belief in God. No such belief leaves one with no fear of lying. But 'fear of God' makes one wary of lying. Jesus said, "I am the Truth". If you refuse to believe in Jesus, you have no reason to tell the truth. This blog is dedicated to the truth.

It is indeed a battle over the culture. The culture of basic decency.

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Approaching Sodom > Christianity rapidly diminishing in England and Wales

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When the pre-incarnate Christ visited Abraham before destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham argued for the Lord to abandon the idea of destroying Sodom if there were as few as 10 good people in the city. There weren't. God's angels rescued Lot, his daughters, and briefly, his wife for a total of four.

The numbers of Christians in the western world are dropping precipitously while many professing Christians are being led so far astray they are in danger of Jesus declaring, "depart from Me you wicked evildoers; I never knew you!"

Less than half of England, Wales is Christian for first time in census history

By Joe Fisher

The prevalence of Christianity is declining in England and Wales, according to the latest census data

from the U.K. Office for National Statistics. File Photo by Hugo Philpott/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 29 (UPI) -- The prevalence of Christianity is declining in England and Wales, according to the latest census data from Britain's Office for National Statistics.

Religious identification is an optional part of the survey that about 94% of respondents answered in the 2021 survey, up from about 93% in 2011. Among those, about 46% or 27.5 million people described themselves as Christians. It is the first time a census has reflected less than half of the populations of England and Wales being Christian.

No single religion surpassed Christianity in the survey. The second most common response to the question was "no religion," which accounted for about 37% of answers or 22.2 million people. This represents an increase of 12% over 2011 figures, when about 14 million people said they subscribed to no religion.

Linda Woodhead, a professor from King's College London, said selecting "no religion" does not mean a person does not have a belief system.

"Some will be atheist, a lot will be agnostic -- they just say, 'I don't really know' -- and some will be spiritual and be doing spiritual things," she said to BBC.

Which, if they are not in line with the Bible, would not be a good thing.

The changes in Christianity and "no religion" responses were greatest in Wales, where "Christian" was chosen at a 14% lower rate and "no religion" was chosen at a 14.5% higher rate.

London has the most diverse religious makeup, according to the census. More than 25% of respondents described their religion as one other than Christian.

"One of the most striking things about these census results is how at odds the population is from the state itself," Andrew Copson, chief executive of Humanists U.K., told the Guardian.

"No state in Europe has such a religious setup as we do in terms of law and public policy, while at the same time having such a non-religious population."

Religion was introduced as a voluntary part of the census in 2001. There was an option to write in another religion not listed on the census. The most common write-in answer was "Pagan" with about 74,000 responses. Alevism, an Islamic tradition most common in Turkey, has 26,000 responses and the Indian religion Jainism had 25,000.

"Shamanism" saw the greatest increase in answers among other religions, climbing from 650 to 8,000 in the last decade.

Non-religious write-ins were led by "Agnostic" with 32,000 and "Atheist" with 14,000.

Is this the point of the invasion of Muslims into Europe, to reduce, or even completely annihilate Christianity? Is this left-wing ideology?

How long before God's Judgement falls?

Approaching Sodom > UMC Splintering; Street preacher arrested for reading Bible near obscene LGBTQ event

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Oklahoma megachurch leaves UMC over ‘irreconcilable’

theological differences; changes name

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Sunday, March 27, 2022

Asbury Church Senior Pastor Tom Harrison preaches during the traditional service in Tulsa,

Oklahoma, on March 27, 2022. | Asbury Church

A megachurch in Oklahoma has dropped “United Methodist” from its name and started fully disaffiliating from America’s second-largest Protestant denomination due to what it describes as the United Methodist Church's “slow and steady drift” from its historic Christian mission.

Asbury United Methodist Church in south Tulsa is now officially called Asbury Church, the megachurch says in a statement on its website, adding they “have begun the process of disaffiliating from the denomination.”

“We do not know where or when we will affiliate with a new denomination,” the church continues. “Currently, our main focus is protecting the assets and interests of Asbury and fully disaffiliating from the UMC.”

Asbury Church’s announcement comes weeks after the UMC delayed its General Conference meeting for a third time earlier this month, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.

Postponed to 2024, the General Conference is expected to be contentious as delegates negotiate a denominational split over theological differences, including the full inclusion of LGBT members into the denomination and the ordination of ministers in same-sex relationships.

On Jan. 30, Frazer United Methodist Church, a congregation of about 4,000 members in Montgomery, Alabama, disaffiliated from the mainline Protestant denomination, saying in a statement to The Christian Post that the congregation intends to join the Free Methodist Church: “[W]e believe that the Free Methodist Church is a better fit for our present identity and future fruitfulness.”

The Rev. Tom Harrison, Asbury Church's senior pastor, said the split had been inevitable for some time, according to Tulsa World.

“There isn’t one issue driving this separation; rather, after years of operating under vastly different approaches to theology, ministry and Christology, it was determined by the leadership of the Church, in conjunction with the pastoral staff, that these approaches are irreconcilable and no longer sustainable,” Harrison explained. “As Asbury Church, we will continue to pursue our mission of helping others follow Jesus.”

The UMC has been engaged in a long battle over the church’s teachings on sexuality, prompting more conservative churches to leave the denomination. The UMC’s official stance, as outlined in the Book of Discipline, labels homosexuality a sin, bars the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals and prohibits the blessing of same-sex marriages.

However, progressive United Methodists have, on several occasions, defied the rules by ordaining openly gay clergy or officiating same-sex marriages.

The Asbury megachurch says it might consider joining the Global Methodist Church, a more conservative Methodist denomination, which has announced it will officially launch in May.

“This future denomination will be made up of former United Methodists from North America, Africa, Europe and elsewhere who uphold the authority of Scripture,” Asbury says in its statement. “The formation of this new denomination has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The creators of the GMC previously said they would hold off on launching until after the General Conference.

The denomination’s website says thousands of Methodist clergy and laity from around the world have worked together for “over three years to lay the groundwork for a new, theologically conservative Methodist denomination steeped in the great ecumenical and evangelical confessions of the Christian faith.” 

“It is anticipated that some theologically conservative local churches will find annual conferences willing to negotiate fair and just exit provisions, while others will, unfortunately, face obstacles placed in their paths,” the denomination said in a statement.

“The Transitional Leadership Council decided it was time to launch the Global Methodist Church, so those who can leave early will have a place to land, to begin building and growing, and making room for others to join later.”

The Rev. Keith Boyette, chairman of the Transitional Leadership Council that has been overseeing the creation of the GMC, has said theologically conservative churches and annual conferences “want to be free of divisive and destructive debates, and to have the freedom to move forward together.”

Seattle police arrest street preacher for reading the Bible:

‘Risk to public safety’

By Anugrah Kumar,

Christian Post Contributor

Street preacher Matthew Meinecke | Twitter/Journalist Jonathan Choe

Seattle police arrested a street preacher on charges of being a risk to public safety for reading his Bible aloud at a public park near an LGBT pride event.

Matthew Meinecke, who identifies himself as The Seattle Preacher on Twitter, was surrounded by Seattle police officers as he was reading his Bible and was subsequently arrested and fingerprinted at a police station before being released.

“SPD has enough resources to send 10 police officers to arrest a preacher reading his Bible in a public park. Because it's such a horrible crime now!” Meinecke wrote on Twitter, posting a video showing his arrest.

Certainly, the abundance of police was to discourage rioting as LGBTQs are not known for tolerance.

“So at this point, we can no longer stand by. The risk that you pose for public safety by remaining here can be mitigated if you leave. It’s your last chance,” a police officer can be heard saying.

The preacher told the officers, “I don’t want to leave because I’m not in danger.”

“I was at the Seattle Center, reading the Bible, not aggressively preaching, not stirring people up, not anything. People throwing things. People vandalizing our property. I think about 10 police officers showed up," the pastor told journalist Jonathan Choe with the Discovery Institute.

“Your job is not to silence me and move me. Why are they so offended by words? I just believe in using the word of God.”

The preacher also posted a video showing a protester seizing his Bibles and ripping pages while shouting, “Get the f--- out of here! Get your holy water off my ovaries, b----! Get the f--- out!”

Another person shouted at him, saying, “Forget about your imaginary fairy in the f---ing sky.”

Meinecke said he saw “a bunch of naked people walking around over here, not even 200 feet away. … Naked grown men around little children.”

And were they arrested? Not very likely!

Last weekend, Meinecke was also arrested during a Roe v. Wade protest, Choe added on Twitter. “Far-left extremists ripped up his Bible and assaulted him. But they got away.”

In a video Meinecke shared online, he added: “We’ve got a city full of crime. We’ve got needles all over the place. Lawless homeless camps everywhere. We’ve got assaults. We’ve got broken glass. We’ve got Antifa running the place. But they’ve got time to send in 10 police officers to arrest a street preacher reading his Bible in a park.”