Trump order lets faith leaders blend politics in sermons

From California-

The Very Rev. Paul Blanch from the All Saints’ Episcopal Church is also part of the same forum. Blanch hails from the United Kingdom and has been in Redding for two years, and although he’s not yet an American citizen, he knows what it’s like to live in a country where faith and politics cross.

“I come from a country where church and state are intertwined,” he said. “In the U.S., the strength and the genius of the Founding Fathers was the separation of church and state.”

From his standpoint, Blanch believes the order promotes bigotry, especially against women and LGBTQ groups. And having served and counseled a diverse crowd of people in the past, especially those who were asked to leave their church because of their sexual orientation, he sees the order as “contrary to the gospel” serving only white Christian Americans.

“It will give people legally the right to exercise prejudice,” he said. “It makes me question how long I can stay in the US.”

More here-

http://www.redding.com/story/news/local/2017/05/07/trump-order-lets-faith-leaders-blend-politics-sermons/101288010/

also here-

http://www.myplainview.com/news/politics/article/Trump-order-makes-some-preachers-ecstatic-others-11126333.php

Trump is encouraging pastors to push politics. Here's how that's gotten them in trouble before

From The LA Times-

All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena

Two days before the 2004 presidential election, a guest speaker at All Saints Episcopal Church in Southern California gave a sermon in which he pitted Jesus debating against presidential candidates George W. Bush and John F. Kerry.

The Rev. George F. Regas, the church’s former rector, did not make an endorsement. He said “good people of profound faith” could vote for Bush or Kerry. But he also strongly criticized the Iraq war and said Jesus would have said Bush’s Iraq strategy had “led to disaster.”

The IRS opened an investigation into the sermon the next year, and wrote a letter to the church saying investigators thought the priest’s words were illegal.

More here-

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-trump-religious-freedom-20170504-story.html

We Will Not Pray For Donald Trump By Name Because He Is A 'Trauma Trigger' Says Christian Minister

From Christian Today-

An Episcopal church in California in the US has stated it will not pray for Donald Trump by name.

This is because the name of Trump is considered to be a "trauma trigger" - and a risk to health and safety.

It is traditional in Anglican churches worldwide to pray for a nation's leaders. Church of England parishes regularly pray for the Queen and Episcopal churches in the US pray for the President and the Government.

"We are in a unique situation in my lifetime where we have a president elect whose name is literally a trauma trigger to some people – particularly women and people who, because of his words and actions, he represents an active danger to health and safety, says Mike Kinman, Rector of All Saints Pasadena in his blog.

He defends the Trump name boycott as justified because his church must be kept as "a place of safety from harm".

More here-

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/we.will.not.pray.for.donald.trump.by.name.because.he.is.a.trauma.trigger.says.christian.minister/103939.htm

As Ed Bacon takes his leave of All Saints Church: Larry Wilson

From Pasadena-

When I was visiting with Ed Bacon in his memorabilia-filled office at All Saints Church the other day, and he referred to the time when John Frank Scott was his predecessor as rector there, I asked about what era that would have been.

“Well, let’s see, it was during the FDR years,” Bacon mused. “Funny how I remember it that way. It’s like in the Bible, where something is referred to as in ‘the years when Claritas was a Roman governor.’”

The intersection of government and religion is by no means a foreign subject for anyone who, like the Reverend Doctor J. Edwin Bacon Jr., serves as the rector of All Saints, the most prominent Episcopal church in the West, as Bacon has for 21 years, and whose last service as rector here will be this Sunday, May 1.

For it’s not just the fact that the All Saints campus sits directly across Euclid Avenue from Pasadena City Hall that makes a “public church,” where both religious and very much not people often find themselves gathering.

More here-

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/opinion/20160426/as-ed-bacon-takes-his-leave-of-all-saints-church-larry-wilson

Keep politics out of the pulpit

From LA Times-

Under federal law, it is illegal for churches and other so-called 501c(3) nonprofit organizations to “participate in, or intervene in … any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”
But in recent years the Internal Revenue Service has failed to aggressively enforce the law...

That soon may change. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, which had sued the IRS seeking to require it to enforce the law, says it has reached an agreement with the IRS under which the agency has adopted procedures for “reviewing, evaluating and determining whether to initiate church investigations.”

IRS investigation of political activity by nonprofits has been complicated by allegations that the agency improperly targeted tea party and other conservative groups that sought tax exemptions.

Read more:

http://host.madison.com/news/opinion/column/guest/los-angeles-times-keep-politics-out-of-the-pulpit/article_1208e44a-7570-5436-9dff-1b80519fcaa4.html#ixzz3AAyZK79n

A Muslim Convention in a Church? You Better Believe It

From California-

On Saturday, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) held their 12th annual convention at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, Calif. It was a historic moment that generated significant controversy over the church's decision to host a Muslim organization's convention. Multiple news media outlets including the LA Times and New York Times covered the debate in the days leading up to the convention. I wasn't quite sure what to expect as I headed to the church that morning, but I guessed I might run into a few protestors there. Sure enough, they were there to greet me when I arrived.

Just outside the front doors stood several men holding signs that insulted the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). They had planted themselves there several hours prior to the start of the convention and were making it quite clear that they were vehemently opposed to Islam and any Christians who associated with its followers. Interestingly enough, though, these men weren't engaging Muslims convention-goers in this debate. They were actually yelling at peace protesters who showed up to support the Muslims! I was floored at this wonderful gesture of solidarity.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wardah-khalid/muslim-convention-in-a-church-you-better-believe-it_b_2318802.htmlv

Church Opens Arms to Muslim Group, and Is Taken to Task

From The New York Times-

When the Muslim Public Affairs Council arranged to hold its annual convention at All Saints Church in Pasadena, Calif., this Saturday, leaders of both organizations believed it would be a bold demonstration of progress in interfaith relations.

But now the organizers of the convention have had to call in the local police department and private security guards after a conservative Christian group posted an article accusing All Saints, an Episcopal church, of harboring Muslim extremists, and the church received a barrage of hate mail.

“I’ve been called names all my life from the ultraconservative reactionary position,” the church’s rector, the Rev. J. Edwin Bacon Jr., said in an interview on Thursday, “but this is a level of demeaning that I’ve not seen before. Demeaning not just of me, but of the Muslim faith, of this organization, the Prophet Muhammad and the Koran. It tells me that there’s a culture of fear in America, a perversion of Christianity which has turned it into the religion of fear, which it of course is not.”

More here-

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/14/us/pasadena-church-criticized-for-hosting-muslim-convention.html?_r=0

Episcopal Church Receiving Hate Mail For Agreeing To Host Muslim Conference

From CBS California-

All Saints Episcopal Church has received hate mail after agreeing to host the national convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council next weekend.

Reverend Ed Bacon said he’s received emails that are inflammatory and filled with inaccuracies: “…scapegoating Muslims, totally misreading what Islam is all about, telling us we can’t call ourselves a Christian body because we’ve allowed Muslims into our church.”

“They’re saying we have abandoned our Christian roots, that we are gullible and being used by terrorists, all of which is totally unfounded,” Bacon said. “It’s toxic stuff.”

The reverend said the hate mail isn’t coming from members of his church; he said it’s been sent by people identifying themselves as fundamental Christians.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/12/05/episcopal-church-receiving-hate-mail-for-agreeing-to-host-muslim-conference/

Patt Morrison Asks: George Regas, keeping faith

From The LA Times-

Yep, that was George Regas in that photo — the man in the purple ecclesiastical robe and handcuffs. The rector emeritus of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena chose to get busted this month outside the downtown federal building protesting the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. A few days earlier, scores of mostly conservative ministers across the country had deliberately defied the IRS ban on candidate endorsements by tax-exempt churches. Regas had tripped that wire inadvertently seven years ago, with a sermon that caught the IRS' ear and could have cost All Saints its tax exemption. He's retired from the pulpit, but time has not staled nor circumstance withered Regas' appetite for engagement.

Some pastors are purposely defying the IRS law, evidently to generate a court challenge. You did it accidentally, on the eve of the 2004 election, with your sermon, "If Jesus Debated Sen. Kerry.

I think the L.A. Times are the ones who got me in trouble! They had a section devoted to what happened in religious communities [before] the election. They characterized my sermon as "a searing indictment" of President Bush's war, and I have the feeling that got the IRS involved.

So was it a searing indictment of the war?

It was a blazing indictment of how the war was being executed by the president, but it also had things to say about Kerry. Eventually [the IRS] said the church would retain its tax-exempt status [even though it] judged the sermon a violation of the law.

More here-

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-morrison-regas-20111022,0,4840615.column

Will All Saints expansion clash in Pasadena's historic core?

From The LA Times-

A decade after announcing an ambitious expansion effort, one of Pasadena’s oldest and most widely known churches is on the brink of breaking ground on the $45-million project.

But now some city preservationists are worried that the proposed buildings at All Saints Episcopal Church will clash with the majestic look of the surrounding architecture in the city’s historic core.

All Saints officials expect that by October they will have the final environmental impact report for the project, which includes four multi-story buildings for classrooms, offices and event space; a columbarium; and a one-level subterranean parking lot.

“We have such a desperate need for the buildings and desire to get it done; it’s a shame it’s taken this long,” Bob Long, a member of the parish’s building committee, told the Pasadena Sun.

Long said the church has raised nearly half the $45-million construction cost, but has now suspended the fundraising campaign until the environmental review process is complete.

Sue Mossman, executive director of the preservation group Pasadena Heritage, is concerned the new structures won’t be compatible with the architecture in the Civic Center area. Pasadena Heritage put the church, built in 1924, on its 2011 watch list of endangered landmarks.

More here-

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/08/will-all-saints-expansion-clash-in-pasadenas-historic-core-.html

Pasadena's All Saints Episcopal Church and preservationists battle over architecture

From LA Times

In Pasadena's historic civic district, there's a conflict between two images of sacred space.

The dispute involves a church, but it's a battle over architecture, not theology, that's dividing residents of the well-heeled city.

For years the large and venerable All Saints Episcopal Church and its often-spotlighted rector, the Rev. J. Edwin Bacon, have been in a deadlock with preservationists who say the church's expansion plans are intruding on the architectural history of the district.

The original Gothic Revival-style church built in 1923 stands across the street from Pasadena's California- Mediterranean-style City Hall and within the confines of the Pasadena Civic Center District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as an example of civic art in the "City Beautiful" architectural style of the 1920s.

All Saints leaders and congregation members said the parish, with its 3,500 congregants, 125 ministries and 13,000 meetings a year, has become increasingly cramped and needs new spaces to meet, worship and incubate local nonprofit start-ups.

Preservationists clarified their respect for the church and its history in the community. But they said the distinctly contemporary design created by architect Michael Palladino of Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP — who worked on the Getty Center, among other high-profile projects — is out of context in the historic district.

More here-

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/environment/la-me-beliefs-all-saints-20100724,0,7213573.story

Pastors plan to defy IRS ban on political speech

LA Times piece about the challange to the IRS in California and the counter group trying to keep politics out of the pulpit. You might be surprised who's on which side.

Meanwhile, a separate group of 180 ministers, rabbis and imams also has sought to counter the "pulpit initiative." Members of the Interfaith Alliance -- which includes the nation's top Episcopal bishop -- have signed a pledge to refrain from electioneering in their houses of worship.

"Political activity and political expressions are very important, but partisan politics are . . . . a death knell to the prophetic freedom that any religious organization must protect," said the Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, who signed the pledge.

All Saints survived a nearly two-year IRS investigation after former Rector George Regas spoke out against the Iraq war on the eve of the 2004 presidential election. Bacon repeatedly said the church did not engage in campaigning.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-pulpit25-2008sep25,0,6331764.story