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WND FAITH UNDER FIRE
State moves to restrict Catholics in politics
Official contends church must register as 'lobbyist' to speak out
Posted: June 01, 2009
9:30 pm Eastern
By Drew Zahn
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Bishop William E. Lori
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport in Connecticut has filed a federal lawsuit following assertions by a state official that rallying church members at the Capitol in Hartford constitutes a violation of lobbying law.
Six weeks after 4,000 Catholics in Connecticut rallied in opposition to a proposed state law known as Bill 1098, which d
The bill, proposed last week by the co-chairmen of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee, Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, and Sen. Andrew McDonald, D-Stamford, would reorganize the internal structure of local parishes to remove priests and bishops from financial oversight to replace them with boards of laypeople.
"The [church] shall have a board of directors consisting of not less than seven nor more than thirteen lay members," the bill states, then assigns all financial oversight to the board, specifies the board's governing duties and even dictates how often the boards shall meet. The bill further mandates that archbishops and bishops not be allowed to vote on the boards.
...
McDonald told the Connecticut Post the impetus for the bill was the publicized case of a priest in Darien, Conn., who was convicted of stealing up to $1.4 million from lay donations, demonstrating the need for laypeople to be more involved in their parishes' financial affairs and to be able to hold their leaders accountable.
If they're as unreliable as you say, then how come I've found other news agencies reporting on the topic?
Originally posted by Wyn Hawks
...world nut daily is as reputable as the bridgeport ct bishops walter w. curtis and edward m. egan who tried to cover up the activities of pedophile priests...
Christianity is under attack everywhere in this country not just Catholicism.
i think that the state shouldnt be able to decide how the church should run its self although if the church was into illegal activities like the priest they should be prosecuted but the separation of the church and the state goes both ways not just one
The Chinese government does not allow unregistered churches to have church buildings. For this reason, many members of these churches congregate in their homes, forming "house churches." Many independent congregations today belong to unnamed churches, rather than to the founding indigenous churches described above. Most of these groups devote time to study of the eschatological and apocalyptic texts, from which they derive strength and faith in the midst of persecution. A high view of Christology also helps them to hold fast to their faith. The worship experiences and preaching of such groups are often charismatic.
The primary distinction in Chinese church life is that between registered and unregistered churches. The government wants all churches to register through the TSPM or the CCC. Many of the independent churches have declined to register, because they believe in the separation of church and state, of theology and politics. And, of course, because the government is officially atheist, they see it as naturally in conflict with religion.
No great theological chasm exists between registered churches and unregistered churches. Many Chinese Christians attend both. I have visited the official seminaries and Bible colleges of the Three-Self movement and have heard sermons preached in churches aligned with Three-Self their teaching and preaching are as biblical as any lectures and sermons of evangelical seminaries and churches in the U.S. And the great attention to biblical studies in the unregistered churches does not necessarily indicate high orthodoxy. There are many heresies and superstitions in these churches, especially in rural areas -- and it is in these locations that Chinese Christianity is growing by leaps and bounds.
However, there is a difference between registered and unregistered churches in political attitude. Most of the churches aligned with the TSPM and the CCC adhere to the theology of Romans 13:1, 4 ("let every person be subject to the governing authorities . . . [they are] God’s servant for your good") and 1 Peter 2:13 ("For the Lord’s sake accept the authority of every human institution"). They hope to be God’s agent of salvation within the political reality. In response to the communist view of religion -- and the TSPM has no illusions about communism’s atheist views -- the TSPM has been accommodating, finding ways to cooperate with the state’s mission.
The political attitude of the unregistered churches reflects the theology of the Book of Revelation. They assume that the Chinese government, being communist in ideology, is pagan and satanic -- similar to that of the Roman Empire, the beast and the dragon in Revelation. Most unregistered churches do not believe that Christianity should collaborate with a government that does not love or honor God. By and large, they don’t find the communist government a trustworthy partner or think that the state’s fallenness is redeemable. Many unregistered churches attempt to focus on theology and to be detached from politics.