(First Baptist Church of Clarendon) is building a new church sanctuary and child-development center with eight floors of apartments on top, most of them subsidized for low- and moderate-income renters. A U.S. District Court judge threw out a First Amendment challenge to an affordable housing project above a church in Arlington County on Monday, ruling... Continue Reading

Court declares) that property ownership can only be decided by the dictates of civil law, rather than the constitution of a denomination. Declaring that property ownership can only be decided by the dictates of civil law, rather than the constitution of a denomination, the Washington County (Pa.) Court of Common Pleas has again ruled in... Continue Reading

If approved, an overture from Boston Presbytery would direct the Presbyterian Church (USA) Board of Pensions to change its policies regarding benefits for the same-sex spouses and partners of ministers and church personnel. Asking for policies that do not penalize couples, the benefits would be based on the state law governing the couple’s relationship. Currently,... Continue Reading

To the Elders and Ministers of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Dear Brothers: As you know, the decisions taken by our General Synod in relation to Erskine College and Theological Seminary on March 3 were quickly challenged by the Chairman of the Erskine Board of Trustees, Mr. Scott Mitchell. Within a few days Mr. Mitchell... Continue Reading

Carol Shanholtzer is a medical technologist who serves as an Elder at Faith Presbyterian in Minnetonka, MN. She wrote this paper on behalf of the Presbyterian Coalition. The report recommending adoption of the New Form of Government (Nfog) will be discussed at the 2010 PCUSA General Assembly. Scripture Is Demoted There is no statement in... Continue Reading

The Mississippi nFOG overture will be among more than 100 overtures considered by the 219th General Assembly July 3-10 in Minneapolis, Minn. Even if the proposal doesn’t gain traction, Herrin said, he hopes it will put the Coalition’s critique of nFOG in the hands of GA commissioners. Several presbyteries have offered ideas on how to... Continue Reading

A main argument in both cases is that the denomination’s so-called “trust clause” was adopted after the congregations were formed, and therefore their property cannot be claimed in trust for the denomination without specific action to grant such a trial The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) congregation in Lancaster, N.Y. (just east of Buffalo) has shifted... Continue Reading

A copy of the filing from Judge Griffith in the case of Taylor et al vs. ARP General Synod has been filed with the Abbeville County Clerk of Court, in favor of the Plaintiffs. Following is an extract of the application of the injunction: The Preliminary Injunction For the foregoing reasons, it is appropriate to... Continue Reading

Following is the full text of the Preliminary Injunction in the case of Taylor et al vs. ARP Synod, filed with the Abbeville County Court of Common Pleas Thismatter is beforemeon the motion ofPlaintiffs Dr. Richard Taylor,Dr.Parker Young, J. David Chesnut, and the ErskineAlumniAssociation forapreliminaryinjunction pursuant to Rule65 ofthe South CarolinaRules ofCivil Procedure. TheCourt has... Continue Reading

Church leader explains why: “In these last hours of the last days, you guys are standing out in the crowd. You’re getting God-smacked on a regular basis, and you’re too stupid to learn to obey.” The tragedy-rocked Virginia Tech community is preparing for the Blacksburg arrival of anti-gay protesters from the Topeka-Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church... Continue Reading