News 10 Danish church departures
The Copenhagen Post reported that the 4.5 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark lost some 17,000 members in 2012. In interviews with the newspaper, vari- ous clergy said responsibility rested with everything from the global eco- nomic crisis to a June 2012 decision to perform gay marriages in state churches, a growing number of peo- ple who don’t wish to be affiliated with religious communities, a need to reinvigorate worship services, and the media for reporting on the issue and presumably giving people ideas.
Gathering the Lutheran Community
in New York City Lodging for
Servant Trips Youth Ministry
Parish Getaways Clergy Meetings
Visiting Federal Hall on Presidents’ Day
and always Sacred Hospitality
Convenient ●Comfortable ●Affordable Clergy Discounts
Seafarers & International House
123 East 15th Street New York, NY 10003
info@sihnyc.org www.sihnyc.org
An ELCA mission for seafarers and sojourners, with an 84-room guesthouse in the Union Square neighborhood that facilitates your congregational mission while you facilitate
ours. Collectively, God’s Work, Our Hands. 12 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org Giving & not giving
Crafts retailer Hobby Lobby suc- cessfully gave away a 217-acre col- lege campus in Northfield, Mass., but vowed to continue fighting pro- visions in the Affordable Health Care Act which require employers to provide medical insurance that covers contraception, including the morning-after pill. Hobby Lobby gave the property to the National Christian Foundation. Grand Can- yon University, Phoenix, backed out of accepting the free property and a group hoping to found a col- lege named after C.S. Lewis couldn’t raise enough operating funds.
Adoptions challenged
After Russia’s Dec. 28 ban on adop- tions by U.S. citizens, Russian Orthodox Church spokesperson Vsevolod Chaplin told the news agency Interfax that children adopted by foreigners “won’t get a truly Christian upbringing, and that means falling away from the church and from the path to eternal life in God’s kingdom.” Chaplin later said excep- tions should be made for children with medical needs. The U.S. State Department called the ban “politi- cally motivated.” The move followed a U.S. decision in December to make it illegal for Russian officials accused of human rights violations to travel to or hold bank accounts in the U.S.
ELCA interreligious relations We want to hear your stories of engag- ing with people of other religions through an ELCA ministry. What was most challenging? What was most fulfilling? What were the most pressing theological questions and practical concerns? Submit your sto- ries (1,000 words or less) for possible inclusion in a collection of case stud- ies of interreligious life in the ELCA.
Photos, videos or illustrations are also welcome. Email them to erinfo@
elca.org or mail them to Kathryn Lohre, ELCA Ecumenical and Inter- Religious Relations, 8765 W. Higgins Rd., Chicago, IL 60631.
Christianity declines among Britons
F
igures from the 2011 Census show that the number of people
who identify as Christians in Eng- land and Wales has fallen by 4 million over the last 10 years. The numbers fell from 37.3 million in 2001 to 33 million last year. The statistics came as the out- going archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, claimed that English cathedral congregations are growing dramatically, chal- lenging the claim made by secu- larists that the Church of England is fading in Britain. Figures from the 2011 Cen- sus show the number of people declaring themselves to be athe- ists rose by more than 6 million, to 14.1 million. Other polls have detected sim-
ilar shifts. The 2012 British Social Attitudes Survey showed that only about half of Britons claim a religious affiliation, down sharply from 20 years ago when two out of three Britons did. Barely a quarter of young people identify themselves as religious. The statistics show that Islam
is the United Kingdom’s second- largest religion, at 2.7 million. Hinduism is third, at 817,000. The number of self-identified Jews rose by 3,000, from 260,000 to 263,000.
© 2012 Religion News Service For more news, visit
www.thelutheran.org/feature/february
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