The Episcopal Diocese of Spokane, Washington, has maintained Camp Cross—a 130-acre property on the west side of Lake Cœur D’Alene, Idaho—for more than a century. Each week throughout summer, the church hosts themed retreats, from Arts and Music Camp to…
What 12 Denominations Tell Us About American Christianity
For the last seven or eight years, I’ve been keeping a spreadsheet that has a whole bunch of membership data from every denomination that has a consistent track record of keeping good data and releasing (at least some of it)…
A year into retirement, Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry prays for Trump, mulls what’s next
Retired Episcopal Presiding Bishop Michael Curry prays for President Donald Trump even when it’s hard to take that step, he said at a Texas Tribune Festival session on Thursday (Nov. 13), in conversation with New York Times national reporter Ruth…
Love for neighbor can guide church through change, Curry says
The American church is in a time of transition, and it is not yet clear what form the church will take in the future, Bishop Michael Curry told the Texas Tribune Festival Nov. 13. Curry, who is now retired as…
Why The Anglican Schism Is About More Than Women And LGBTQ Issues
In the wake of the historic schism that has fractured the worldwide Anglican Communion, lazy and ignorant narratives have already begun to emerge. The secular media and even some progressive Christian outlets would have you believe this is a simple…
Ahead of Their Time
Cameron Awkward-Rich first got national notice for reading aloud his early poems, on stage and on videos: my students, years ago, showed me those videos as dramatic introductions to trans and asexual identities.
Episcopal Church removes priest who founded Christian psychedelic society
In 2016, a priest in the Episcopal Church had what he described as a profound, “very Christian” encounter with psychedelics in a study on religious professionals and psilocybin. Five years later, Hunt Priest said his experience inspired him to pivot…
‘She is the future of our church.’ Winnie Varghese named first woman dean of St. John the Divine.
Born to immigrant Indian parents and raised in Dallas, Varghese first encountered the historic cathedral not in person, but in the pages of her local newspaper. She remembered, as a 12-year-old, reading about a winding procession of camels, elephants and…
‘Once the church of presidents … now an engine of resistance’
Acknowledging a history marked by power in high places that included 54 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence and 11 presidents including George Washington, the top officer of the Episcopal Church in the United States declared the…
The Episcopal Church refuses to help Trump Make Apartheid Great Again
On Wednesday, May 21, President Donald Trump once again sullied the presidency and our nation’s reputation by ambushing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with a made-for-social-media propaganda stunt that was peppered with lies and misleading video about an alleged white…
While denying refuge to Black Africans, Trump welcomes white South Africans
Refugee resettlement has resumed in the U.S., but only for white South Africans President Donald Trump considers to be victims of the country’s post-apartheid government. The first group of 49 Afrikaners landed at Washington Dulles International Airport May 12, The…
Trump at the National Cathedral: We’ve already fought this war
What did Donald Trump think would happen when he showed up at Washington National Cathedral Tuesday morning for the traditional interfaith prayer service attached to most presidential inaugurations since 1933? Did he think the Episcopal Church would change its theology…