Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG

Summer of Schism: Cantuar slams Gafcon

A strong statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams warning of the risks being taken by Gafcon. He urges them to think carefully, says the way ahead will be problematic and challenges those who have accepted clergy disciplined for 'scandalous' behaviour in another jurisdiction to think again. Here I understand him to have been referring to priests such as TEC's Sam Pascoe, stripped of his licence for an inappropriate relationship with an adult parishioner and then reinstated under a Ugandan bishop. Read it all below. This pic shows London's Rev Rosemary Priestly with her baby Joseph, seven weeks, at a press conference at Westminster Abbey this morning to promote the argument for women bishops to be approved by General Synod this coming weekend without any special legal protection for opponents. Senior clergy from the Abbey, St Paul's and Southwark were there, as well as MPs and Baroness Howe of the Lords. Responses from CofE's Bishop of Durham and TEC's Bishop John Chane of Washington below.

A very 'Anglican' schism

When is a schism not a schism? When it is done by Anglicans. A new  global Anglican fellowship, a province for North America which means formalising the brokenness that exists already, remaining in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury but broken communion with the liberals, a strong 'Jerusalem Declaration'. It is pretty much as we reported today online and tonight in The Sunday Times. Read it all for yourself, below.

Gafcon: a longer look

Our story today follows up the press conference yesterday with Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya. He confirmed that Gafcon will today and on Sunday firm up plans for the new "church within a church" that he said was being referred to in the committee as 'Gafcon' but which I've temporarily christened the Global Anglican Communion. Below I've tried to take a longer look at the whole thing, as much for my own benefit as anything, to have as a reference when writing about this in future. It is clear that Gafcon is not a one-off but going to be a permanent structure. Another conference of this nature will probably take place in Jerusalem in two years, after the pilgrims received a warm welcome from the Israeli tourist authority. A senior Israeli representative actually told delegates on their pilgrimage to the garden at the foot of Temple Mount that Jewish and Christian people must stand together against the 'common enemy'. And no, that 'enemy' is not homosexuality...

Theologian calls on Rowan Williams to resign

Theologian Jim Packer, 81, who had his Anglican licence removed and is now a priest with the Anglican Network in Canada, under Gregory Venables' jurisdiction, has called on the Archbishop of Canterbury to resign. He was speaking at Holy Trinity, Eastbourne and Dave Walker has more details at his Church Times blog. My contention, voiced here at Gafcon, is that the views of a preacher unlikely to be recognised by Cantuar and who according to David Virtue does not deign to use mobile, computer or any of the new technologies actually do not matter very much. But Virtue in the press room here at Gafcon tells me he is still important. Am interested in what readers here think and have posted full text of his remarks below.

What's going on at Gafcon

This is a rare photograph ofthe millionaire Howard Ahmanson, pictured here at Gafcon in Jerusalem. He has made a name as a funder of the conservative Anglican cause in the US, as revealed by Jim Naughton in Following the Money. He has a delegate's badge around his neck, but has to my knowledge played no public role in the conference. I can't help but feel that his presence here is significant however. He is a friend and prayer partner of the chief executive of the American Anglican Council, David Anderson, who is also at Gafcon, and has a history of funding Christian right missions with an anti-gay objective.

Give trads their own diocese says Guildford bishop

If he was in a grave now, John Gladwin would be turning in it. At the least he must be spluttering into his coffee or tea or port or whatever it is bishops in Chelmsford prefer these days. His successor at Guildford, dear Christopher Hill, one of the goodest and truest of catholic men in England today, has posted a pastoral letter on his diocesan website making the case of structural provision for the opponents of women priests. In other words, an extra-geographical diocese as outlined in the Manchester report. He seems to think General Synod next month might even go for something like this, and warns a code of practice will not work, that it will in effect mean 'goodbye'. An interesting development I think, given what is happening in Jerusalem, where I am filing this from. Although it will be fiercely resisted by some, really it's not such a big deal. There are already two dioceses in Europe, one Episcopal, the other Anglican, overlapping each other completely. This perhaps could be a possible form for the church within a church model, for the ecclesial renewal that the Roffen has just spoken of here in Jerusalem, as recorded on my previous post.

Nazir-Ali: there must be development in terms of doctrine

The Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, has just delivered a strong address to Gafcon where he managed to shift the focus of the conference from defensiveness one of a positive and combative engagement with 'militant secularism'. He was surprisingly moderate in talking about how doctrine should develop in terms of the local culture. Gafcon, he said, was a miracle. 'And if you are anything gathered here together, you are the beginnings, the miraculous beginnings we can even say, of an ecclesial movement for the sake of the Gospel and for the renewal of Christ's church.' He did not speak from a text. Gafcon say the transcript will be available shortly but meanwhile, here are some extracts from my own recording. Our news story is also now online.

Gafcon: 'There will be no split'.

Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, primate of Kenya and leader of that country's four million Anglicans, confirmed last night that there will be no split at Gafcon. See our news report. This is significant because he is heading the committee that is drawing up the final communique that will be issued on Sunday night. It also confirms the word here that the agenda is now reform from within, as we reported earlier. The figure that is crucial in all this is not based in Africa at all, although he is in the Global South. The formidable Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, pictured here at Gafcon, has become the key player on the Anglican conservative wing, shifting the emphasis from the US conservatives to the South. Significantly, Pittsburgh bishop Bob Duncan, who heads Common Cause, isn't even here, although he was in Jordan and looked after the Pakistani and Sudanese bishops who weren't allowed into Israel after the others left to be with Archbishop Akinola. Bishop Duncan's address in Jordan has been emailed out widely.

The only gay at Gafcon

In the early 1990s, when he was in his 20s, Iain Baxter spoke passionately at the Methodist Conference in the UK arguing the case for chastity outside marriage and fidelity within it. His speech helped sway the conference and that became its official policy, although in practice the Methodists are more liberal. Iain became a Christian at 14, at about the same time he was starting to understand that he was gay. Pictured here in the Garden of Gethsemane, he knew all the words to the evangelical songs the 1,242 Gafcon attendees sang this morning in the very spot where Jesus wept at the top of the Mount of Olives. He has been welcomed by the organisers at Gafcon as the official representative of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. (Update: Iain has also been invited to be one of the speakers at Jerusalem Pride which coincides with Gafcon, taking place in Jerusalem on Thursday afternoon, and I've posted the text of his speech below.)

Gafcon: 'The Banned'

The eight men and women pictured here are on the official list of those to be denied entry to Gafcon should they try to show up. 'Not allowed in' it says at the top of the page, given to security officials at the conference. 'The Gafcon 8' as they have been christened, they are Colorado Bishop Robert O'Neill, Nigerian gay activist Davis MacIyalla being embraced by the Church of England's Rev Colin Coward, Louie Crew, Susan Russell, Scott Gunn and Deborah and Robert Edmunds. Bishop O'Neill is staying with Jerusalem primate, Bishop Suheil Dawani, who never wanted the conference here in the first place. Father Edmunds is Bishop Suheil's new chaplain, meaning, as Jim Naughton comments on Thinking Anglicans, that an Anglican meeting is banning entry of the bishop's chaplain in the bishop's own diocese.

Archbishop Akinola on error and apostasy

This is Dr Peter Akinola, Archbishop of Nigeria, addressing Gafcon this evening. 'A sizeable part of the Communion is in error and not a few are apostate,' he said, questioning whether the Communion could be rescued from within or without. It was an important rallying call that will set the tone for the rest of the conference. I wrote a story published in the paper, but here are some extracts from the address.

'A conference of this magnitude would normally require several years of extensive planning, consultations and fund raising. We had barely five months to put this conference together. The Lord raised men and women who gladly and willingly offered their time, skill and money to make it happen.'' The figures he gave were £2.5 million for the total cost of Gafcon, with $1.3 million raised in three weeks in Nigeria alone, of which $900,000 was given to him in a cheque from one person. Nigeria has even managed to pay for its bishops from the US to attend.

Earlier, Bishop Suheil Dawani, who had pleaded with the organisers not to hold the conference in his diocese, preached at the Anglican Cathedral of St George's on the importance of Lambeth, and how pilgrims were always welcome in the Holy Land. For more on that, see Gafcon's own site. (This pic by Matthew Davies, the rest by me.)

Conservative Catholics open sanctuary to conservative Anglicans

The Catholic Knight reflects the thinking of a number of Catholics watching Anglican events closely from Rome. The problem is, just as they complain we don't understand them - Basil Hume used to tell me, 'We just don't do things like that' - it is clear they don't understand us either. My own understanding, after talking to a lot of senior Gafconites last night, is that a formal split is not underway and that means is to be sought of reforming the church from within. Read the Archbishop of Sydney's little bro on why you 'can't split a marshmallow'. The conveniently renamed 'instruments of communion'  might be put to one side for a while, but significantly, communion will be retained with Canterbury, equally significantly renamed the 'focus of unity'. Although it was pointed out to me that in some cases, this will be with the 'office' of the Archbishop, and not necessarily the present incumbent.

Bishop of Durham sees the funny side

There's not much light relief around in Anglican affairs at the moment. Returning from Chris Morgan's requiem in Llandaff, a sad event, and heading off to Gafcon in a few hours, I was immensely cheered to see that one of my favourite bishops, Dr Tom Wright, has been persuaded onto the Colbert Show during his US tour for his new book. I must say, I never knew that theology could be so amusing. Watch, and see for yourself.

Gafcon versus Gay Pride

Have just found out that Gafcon clashes with next Thursday's Jerusalem Pride, the seventh Gay Pride march in the city. Is this an extraordinary coincidence or God's strange sense of humour? I always suspected He had one. If they need some moral support, Rabbis against Gay Pride won't have to go far this year. This photo by Noa Raz is from last year's march.

Akinola 'barred' from Jordan

Extroardinary scenes at Gafcon, where David Virtue tells me the Nigerian primate Dr Peter Akinola has apparently been denied entry to Jordan and so has gone direct to Jerusalem instead. This has left the organisers in a bit of a fix: Dr Akinola is one of the key players in the Global South and the whole Gafcon movement. Southern Cone primate Greg Venables who is not in Jordan either. So the 100 or so who are at the small, behind-closed-doors meeting in Amman are packing their bags and tomorrow morning, getting on a bus to Jerusalem. The plan originally was not to go to the Holy Land until Sunday. The main conference will begin in Jerusalem on Sunday with more than 1,000 delgates, including 280 bishops, launching Gafcon in dramatic service on the Mount of Olives. And guess what folks, I'll be there, bringing you a live blog from the spot. Bet you can't wait!

British evangelicals: 'The worst caste' says top Hindu

Our report on the Hindu Forum's analysis of caste, alleging covert evangelisation of Untouchables by British MPs, is going in the paper tonight. But in the meantime, a reader has sent me some interesting comments about Christianity, apparently made by the Hindu Council's Anil Bhanot. Someone using that name and designation has certainly made them on a Google Hindu forum, which I've joined in order to check them out. Besides describing evangelicals as the 'worst' caste of Christianity, the Anil Bhanot on the forum, who has Hindu Council in his signature, also says the Second Commandment - the prohibition on 'graven images' - is the work of the Devil, not of God.

Gay blessing: 'Four bishops in the sanctuary'

The headline doesn't refer to the Bart's blessing, but to one of the many others there have been in the Church of England previously. Who can the bishops have been? That is what we religion writers are trying to establish, after this wonderfully provocative release came out from the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement who are, incidentally, sending a representative to Gafcon. I've posted it in full below, along with the legal opinion by diocesan chancellor James Behrens, commissioned by Anglican Mainstream.  He concludes that the service was illegal. We've also received the Bishop of London's letters to Father Martin Dudley and the diocese, which are up on Thinking Anglicans so I won't post them here.

'Dud the Stud': Why I did it.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have expressed 'great concern' about the gay 'marriage' presided at by Father Martin Dudley, Rector of St Bartholomew the Great in the City of London. Read on for the latest developments in this explosive story.

TEC: May the Force be with you, and also with you!

Like many English Anglicans I guess, I have assumed myself to be in possession of an innate understanding of The Episcopal Church of the US. This rather arrogant assumption came from the knowledge that we are both blessed by the same language, similar liturgies and have roots in the same historical tradition of a reformed Catholicism. It was rather like being a vicar's daughter made me imagine that I knew all there was to know about the Church of England when I began writing about it for The Times two decades ago. The Socratic awakening there came almost immediately. I wised up early to the knowledge that I knew next-to-nothing. But it was only recently, in a conversation with Jane Williams at a Lambeth Palace reception to mark the departure of communications chief Jonathan Jennings, that I suddenly grasped a little more insight into TEC, and realised simultaneously how little I had known before. As mentioned previously on this blog, it is as Bernard Shaw wrote: two great nations separated by the same language. We are two great churches separated by the same religion. Jane is a great teacher, she somehow increases your knowledge while aiding the illusion that you've thought up the answers yourself. Anyway, another friend has sent me this essay by Garrison Keillor, a further aide to understanding that I thought readers of this blog might enjoy.

Sacked vicar wins case and accuses Bishop of Liverpool of 'lying'

Rev David Johnston, the communications officer sacked after a Sunday newspaper claimed falsely that he was having adulterous affair when in fact his marriage had broken up before his new relationship began, has won his case for unfair dismissal. He has been awarded more than £14,500 by an employment tribunal in Liverpool. Having accused Bishop Jones of lying, claimed the Bishop does not like Liverpool and was unhappy at not getting York, which went instead to Sentamu, Mr Johnston came out of the tribunal, victorious, and called on Bishop Jones to resign. As I related in a blog a couple of days ago, Mr Johnston set up a website and blog of his own to report the case. No-one expected it to end quite so quickly. What is particularly interesting to me though is that I understand that various canon lawyers from the traditionalist wing have been watching this case carefully. If next month's General Synod does indeed allow women to be bishops, without enshrining legal safeguards for traditionalists, it is not out of the question that a test case for constructive dismissal will be brought against the Church. In a statement last night, the diocese accepted the tribunal's decision but completely rejected the accusations made against the bishop at the hearing and stated that the bishop was and would continue to be a loyal ambassador for the City of Liverpool.

Loving you now, but breaking all the rules

What is there not to like in the service of blessing billed as the Church of England's first gay 'marriage' between two clergy? See Fulcrum for the latest, although some links are here also. A commentator says there that he has been to many similar services over the past 30 years, and I also have understood it to be happening regularly. But Episcopal Cafe has the order of service. And it is the Prayer Book language used here that is particularly appealing and also, perhaps, provocative. If the liberal movement had from the start couched its reforms in the language of tradition rather than modernity, the ecclesiological landscape facing us now might indeed be very different. Everything, as they should have known from the start, is in the Word.

Kew goes plastic-bag free

Someone in Kew - and we don't know who - likes to holiday on nudist beaches. I'm posting this blog as my contribution to the Church of England's Shrinking the Footprint campaign, and to foster community spirit where I live. From 1 July, Kew will be plastic-bag free and this blog is to invite you all to a party in the parade on 30 June to celebrate. Modbury in Devon was the first town in Europe to go plastic-bag free. There will be music, food and lots of bins to chuck those bags in. Would Kew be the second, if it wasn't for that naughty shop on the corner that is refusing to join in? I am posting this blog partly in penance for the sin of non-recycling, in the hope that I'll be granted a sort of indulgence by the local traders.

CofE cleric faces employment tribunal battle

If the Church of England was still labouring under the delusion that by putting all its disciplinary hearings behind closed doors it was going to escape the glare of publicity on its inner dealings, this fantasy will be dismissed for good next week. And there is no better way of finding this out than by sacking your communications officer! Our news story on this is in Saturday's paper. The Rev David Johnston, pictured, will from Monday be at an Employment Appeals Tribunal in Liverpool. But - and I suspect this is a first - he has set up a website dedicated specially to the case. On the site, which even has the name 'Liverpool Diocese' in the url, readers will be able to comment on his blog as the case progresses, read background papers to the case and so on. Meanwhile, the diocese has employed its own special media consultant who will be at the hearing every day.

Render unto Caesar

Early wake-up call this morning to go on Nick Ferrari's Breakfast Show to talk about Matthew McVeigh, the eight-year-old Scottish Catholic boy who has been refused admission to his local cub scout group because he refused to pledge allegiance to the Queen on religious grounds. Fantastic isn't it that an eight-year-old can have such a grasp of the implications of the Act of Settlement. I'm still learning about it myself and I'm 48. I'm more impressed by these American boy scouts, who just a couple of hours ago found themselves truly having to 'be prepared' when a twister flattened their camp. They went to work immediately, healing the sick and injured and restoring order to their flattened environment.

Seven in ten marriages 'forced'

More than seven in ten marriages involving an English citizen and a spouse born in Asia could have an element of  'force or coercion' about them, according to document published today that contains some of the strongest language used by community leaders to date. The Muslim Arbitration Tribunal claims that forced marriages reflect a 'crisis that has loomed within the Muslim community without being noticed or dealt with for the past two decades.' The tribunal, founded last year and based in Nuneaton near Coventry, says the official figures of 300 forced marriages a yar represent the tip of the iceberg. Muslim lawyers on the tribunal council based their figures on decades of experience within the community, and from observing their own friends and families.

West 'held hostage' by Islam says Rome

As Richard Owen reports, the Vatican is today warning that interfaith dialogue in the West must not allow itself to be held hostage by Islam. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue pictured here, has this week discussed new guidelines for interfaith dialogue and he said the Church 'has to have regard for all religions,' not just one. 'What was interesting about our discussions was that we did not concentrate on Islam because in a way we are being held hostage by Islam a little bit,' he told the Catholic website Terrasanta.net. 'Islam is very important, but there are also other great Asiatic religious traditions. Islam is one religion.' The Catholics are organising a Christian-Muslim summit in Rome in October, it being their response to the Common Word document published to mark the anniversary of the Regensberg address. The document was addressed to the Catholics and 'the other churches' too, and on their behalf the Archbishop of Canterbury earlier this month hosted a gathering of Christian leaders to discuss  present relations with Islam. (Read Tauran's London lecture on this on the Jesuit site ThinkingFaith.)

Widespread ...... Brown & stuff

I had unpublished this post, but have now republished but deleted the content and substituted this in order to get the original off Google cache. See David Ould and Adrian Monck for some of the background. Once the cache has disappeared, as according to this it should shortly, then I might delete this post as well. Or not.

(Update: In Andrew Brown's Church Times column today: 'The same day, the front page of The Times had been entirely taken up with a straightforward and perfectly true Ruth Gledhill exclusive about the Von Hugel Instritute's report on the place of Christianity in British public life.' Is it just me, or do I detect a perfectly-formed tongue-in-a-cheek in that sentence?)

Church critiques Government's 'moral compass'

As the Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu finally got God to improve the weather so he could do his parachute jump, our front page story today contains some details of the ground-breaking new report commissioned by the Church of England on the Government's failure to take seriously its contribution to welfare in Britain. We've got more inside the paper, plus a commentary and a leader. The report, Moral, but no Compass, was commissioned by the Bishop of Hulme, Stephen Lowe, from the Von Hugel Institute, with the support of the bishops and archbishops. It is not published until Monday. Readers here might like to see some extracts which I have reproduced below. Meanwhile, our story was mentioned twice this morning on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, and others quick off the mark include John Richardson on Chelmsford Anglican Mainstream, the Cultural Anarchist, and Philip at Bharat Rakshak. (Not forgetting the DTs of course.)

'Bring back Jonathan Petre' says Guardian relig corr

Nazir-Ali certainly has a way of getting them all going. Coverage of his recent interventions, which you can read in full over at the 'Stinking Anglicans' as mischievous friends of mine refer to it, has provoked an unexpected broadside against The Daily Telegraph's new religion editor, Father George Pitcher, who doubles up as a curate at St Bride's . The startling thing about this is the origin of the attack. It is the Guardian's new religion correspondent, Riazat Butt, a Muslim who succeeded Stephen Bates and who is herself an exceptional writer with a lovely and enviably light style. She says: 'I can't believe people are having a pop at my piece. Have you read George Pitcher's? It's execrable. I don't care if he sues me. It's a bloody awful piece of writing. It's so flawed on so many levels you'd need to deforest the Amazon to list the reasons why. Bring back Jonathan Petre.' 

'St John' of York

An unknown graffiti artist near the station in Leeds has put into pictures what many of us feel can barely be said adequately in words. It is such a shame the Church of England has no process of canonisation. Now that would be something worthwhile for the Lambeth Conference to discuss. The Archbishop of York's statements on Zimbabwe appear to have prompted the drawings, but our good St John is proving a fearless and admirable Christian leader in so many other respects as well. His intervention last night at the IJPR was the subject of my last post. Besides consumerism the target of that speech was, I suspect, the Prime Minister's proposals on detention without charge, as criticised  in today's paper by Phillippe Sands.

Sentamu hammers Brown's Labour Government

Am slowly getting back on top of this difficult job. The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, spoke last night at a dinner given by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research at Braziers' Hall in the City of London. Here is a brief extract. The full text of his barnstorming attack on Gordon Brown's Government is below. Worth a read, if you have a moment or two to spare. For a brief summary, our news story is also online. I've posted this in full because the Archbishop, whose parachute jump at the weekend was sadly rained off, is becoming known for his 'gesture politics'. This speech proves that his words are equally worthy of note, perhaps more so. I'm meant to be seeing Gordon Brown at a Downing Street faith do next Thursday so let's hope he doesn't read this blog!

ABY: 'I come lately from the city of York where, in 1190, at Clifford Tower, in York Castle, a mob who called themselves Christians set the tower alight, filled with Jews who had sheltered there for safety – many died in the inferno, some took their own lives and those who escaped the fire were massacred.  I belong to a religious tradition which, at times, has organised Crusades and Inquisitions, treating Jews as less than human.  For me, as a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew, I am sorry and deeply ashamed.  And especially over the Holocaust: where God was violated and blasphemed.  Lord have mercy!' Read it all below.

Faithbook on Facebook

'Faithbook, a new social networking facility for people of different faiths on Facebook, goes live tomorrow,' said the press release yesterday. I'm sorry to say I didn't get too exercised. Surely this was just one more of many thousands of groups on Facebook, my own included.  But in fact it is much more than that, as our news story shows. Senior members of the nine main faiths, including Judaism, Islam and Buddhism, have signed up and are contributing to discussions. The group, set up by the Movement for Reform Judaism with the help of Simon Cohen of Global Tolerance, is also taking the scriptures of each faith seriously,  with illustrations and plans for analysis of the common ground between the faiths as found in the scriptures. See Dave Walker's interesting take on it in The Church Times.

 

Christopher Morgan: a tribute

Heartbroken to learn today of the death of Christopher Morgan. You can read our obituary, which is now online. There will be an inquest. As his friends knew, Chris had been troubled for a little while but we all thought he was on the mend. The former Religious Affairs Correspondent for The Sunday Times, he had recently had a couple of stories in the paper. One clergyman who was in regular touch with Chris spoke to him as recently as last Wednesday, when Chris seemed full of plans. But sadly, Chris took his own life last Friday. His close friend the Arcbishop of Canterbury said: 'This is a devastating loss. Christopher was a skilled professional who had a rare grasp of how religious institutions work but also had a profound personal spirituality.' Like all his close friends, the Archbishop is understood to be in deep shock at his death and grieving for his family. The funeral will be a Requiem Mass at 7.30pm at Llandaff on Friday 20 June. The Arcbishop of Wales will preside and the Archbishop of Canterbury preach. There will be a private committal for the family the following day.

Anglican bishop: 'We are all as guilty as Josef Fritzl'

The Bishop of Stafford, Gordon Mursell, has in his latest newsletter claimed that we are all as guilty as Josef Fritzl, the Austrian child torturer. This is because of our for failure to act on climate change. We are in effect locking up our children and grandchildren and throwing away the key, because we are imprisoning them in a world with no future, he says. Incredible, isn't it! I'm at one here with Libby Purves, who has also blogged it. And I am also in accord with the excellent Frank Furedi, who explains why the Bishop is the Church's new witchfinder-general and any stepping out of line on global warming the new heresy in an article on Spiked. (Update: the bishop has clarified his remarks and, in a typically Anglican shoot-the-messenger litany that I can only conclude is taught to all clergy at theological college, he says he meant what he said, but people are only getting upset because the media have had the presumption to report him. Goodness the arrogance of the laity. How dare we take advantage of being a free press. Stop digging bishop! The hole is getting bigger. Truly this is a disaster of environmental proportions.)