Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has yet to decide whether or not he'll invite openly gay Archbishop Gene Robinson to the Anglican Communion's September conference, but his unorthodox actions are definitely bolstering the religion's left.

California bishop Marc Andrus (pictured) has released a statement expressing his staunch solidarity with Robinson:

I will be seeking to learn how I can best be in solidarity with Bishop Robinson, through prayerful action.

The tactic of isolation and exile being employed against Bishop Robinson is retrogressive behavior that moves us towards a past from which Christ is always seeking to redeem us. I ask the people of the Diocese of California to pray with me about our common life with all of God's people and the earth.

Akinola leads the queer-hating crusade to control America's conservative Episcopal churches, which has successfully wooed a number of Virginia-based churches, including Bishop Martyn Minns' congregation.

Minns, meanwhile, will not be invited to September's festivities.

Irish Catholic priest Michael Hogan won't be standing on the pulpit this Sunday. The holy man has taken a leave of absence after the The Sun published pictures of him from the popular gay sex website, Gaydar.

In light of the revelations, Hogan released the following statement:

I apologize profoundly for the hurt and embarrassment caused to the parishioners of Feakle and Killanena-Flagmount, my bishop, fellow priests, to those who know and trust me both within and outside the church community.

I acknowledge that these are serious matters that affect me on a personal level and in my vocation and ministry. I am immediately requesting my bishop to grant me time away from my ministry so that I might deal for myself with these issues.

I would appreciate the prayers and support of those who know me at this most difficult and trying time. It is my intention not to make any further public comment at this time.

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The Russian government may allow gay pride, but some religious figures aren't having it. The Russian Orthodox Church released a statement wagging a righteous finger at the "sexual minorities march". How quaint.

The Russian Orthodox Church considers unacceptable the sexual minorities parade, which infringes on our multiethnic nation’s moral norms, on public order, and in a long run - on our people’s future.

What's more, it seems gay pride's just selfish displays of decidedly offensive behavior:

Aggressiveness in promoting gay ideas even under a human rights disguise is obviously provocative. The gay activist nave no respect for other people’s rights and do not even consider that what they do may offend others.

Stop gay propaganda in Russia - Moscow Patriarchate [Interfax]

The 300,000-strong The Presbyterian Church in Ireland will release a report later this year in which they tacitly affirm the potential power conversion therapy. The Social Issues and Resources Panel announces:

It is sufficiently documented that there are those who have moved from a position of having same sex attractions to being heterosexual...

This is entirely possible for some whose sexual identity has been part and parcel of a confused personal identity.

Some may claim that such people were never truly homosexual or lesbian in the first place. That may be so and it is important to note that for many, even should they wish to undergo counseling their same sex attractions may not change...

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The ongoing Anglican Communion's queer internal struggle took a decidedly high school direction this week. Two of the most controversial American bishops have not been invited to next year's international Anglican Communion conference, according to the Archbishop of Canterbury's office.

Neither openly gay Gene Robinson, nor Bishop Martyn Minns - who leads a breakaway Virginia church aligned with anti-gay Bishop Peter Akinola. Secretary general of the communion, Canon Kenneth Kearon told reporters that while Robinson may get a last minute invite, Minns definitely off the list. Washington Post reports:

Robinson may be invited to attend the Lambeth Conference as a guest, but Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams is not contemplating inviting Minns, Kearon said.

"The question of Gene Robinson ... I think has exercised the archbishop of Canterbury's mind for quite some time... However, for the archbishop to simply give full recognition at this conference would be to ignore the very substantial and very widespread objections in many parts of the communion to his consecration and to his ministry.

Bill Maher's a fucking genius. Not only does his eulogy of Reverend Jerry Falwell expose the new cultural rule, "Death isn't always sad", but the outspoken social commentator also offers the gay rights movement a revolutionary suggestion: become a religion. "Forget civil rights, just make gayness a religion. I mean, you're kneeling anyway." Why didn't we think of that?

From this day forward, you queer couples are no longer "life partners". You are "a nunnery of two". Bill Maher has spoken...

Mankind may have originated on the African continent, but homophobia certainly didn't. That's what South African gay activist Nonhlanhla Mkhize said in a statement commemorating International Day Against Homophobia.

Mkhize definitely has a point. The idea of homosexuality came from the West, a special colonial social import. So, too, are declarations of homosexuality's sinfulness and, thus, homophobia. Indigenous or not, homo-hating sure did stick...

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It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for: the publication of activist hooker Mike Jones’ tell-all memoir, I Had to Say Something: The Art of Ted Haggard's Fall.

The 240-page volume gets down and dirty on Jones’ first shameful encounters with the disgraced Evangelical leader, their three-year working relationship and Haggard’s inevitable, damned descent into sex, drugs and orgies...

CONTINUED »

As of this writing, there are 1,928 news articles on Reverend Jerry Falwell's death. No surprise there - the Evangelical changed the course of American politics. His Moral Majority helped lead the Christian right into office, his sermons regularly pushed anti-gay agenda and the abortion debate drips in his righteous venom.

On the other hand, however, he gave millions of people hope, founded a university dedicated to educating his followers and donated to charity. Falwell's politics may have been evil, but as Al Sharpton remarked last night on Larry King Live, Falwell had some good in his heart, however misguided. Needless to say, the reactions to his death have been mixed.

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The Lesbian Death Angels - a group dedicated to setting "the world back on its axis one hex at a time" - have claimed responsibility for 73-year old Reverend Jerry Falwell's death. The boastful baddies issued a press release reading thus:

[We], concerned that Rev. Falwell's followers will misattribute the cause of their leader's demise to their antigod or to some weenie group like Soulforce, have announced that, in a mass worldwide action, they hexed at 10:30 am today and that the subject of their hex was the Rev. Jerry Falwell. In other words, they are claiming to be responsible for Jerry's death and wish the world to know that they are proud of it to boot.

One member, coochie-loving, spell-casting Connie L. Ingus, remarked: ""Proselytizing is usually so rude". Indeed.

The press release also warns that the ladies will hex again. It did not, however, name a specific target. Be Afraid. Be very, very afraid.

Lesbians Claim Credit For Falwell Demise [bilerico]

Evangelist Jerry Falwell has died. Liberty University colleagues found the Moral Majority leader and all-around homo-hater "unresponsive" in his office earlier today. Paramedics rushed the reverend to a local hospital, but apparently God had other plans for the man who used His name to build the formidable Christian right.

San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Ron Godwin, the university's executive vice president, said Falwell, 73, was found unresponsive around 10:45 a.m. and taken to Lynchburg General Hospital. Godwin said he was not sure what caused the collapse, but he said Falwell "has a history of heart challenges."

"I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast," Godwin said. "He went to his office, I went to mine, and they found him unresponsive."
....
Falwell, a television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority, became the face of the religious right in the 1980s. He later founded the conservative Liberty University and serve[d] as its president.

Hopefully the G-Man will have some mercy on Falwell's misguided soul. That is, of course, if God exists. Hey, Jerry, what's the word?

Italy's Democrats of the Left party reaffirmed their support of gay rights in the primarily Catholic country. Speaking after Sunday's so-called "Family Day" (a conservative orgy of the traditional variety), party leader Piero Fassino told the press: We will not step back from recognizing the rights of homosexuals." Fassino also promised to support the controversial same-sex amendment.

Catholic World News reports:

"Secularism will not give in" to religious principles, Fassino said. As for the proposal to grant legal recognition to same-sex unions, he said that the principle of equal rights for homosexuals is "a non-negotiable and absolute value."