oasis e-news
from the LGBT Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of California
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What Matters To Millenials: Pew Study
The Millenial generation -- young adults between 18 and 29 years of age -- has made headlines as both a victim of its own apathy and the current state of the world. But the generation as a whole remains enigmatic. Millenials can't find jobs. They get married later than earlier generations. They live with their parents. They don't vote. They're not religious. They wait to have kids. So what actually matters to Millenials?.They are the least overtly religious American generation in modern times. One-in-four are unaffiliated with any religion, far more than the share of older adults when they were ages 18 to 29. Yet not belonging does not necessarily mean not believing. Millennials pray about as often as their elders did in their own youth. ( See chapter 9 in the full report)
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40 Percent Of Americans Still Believe In Creationism
 A new Gallup poll, released Dec. 17, reveals that 40 percent of Americans still believe that humans were created by God within the last 10,000 years. This number is slightly down from a previous high of 47 percent in 1993 and 1999.
Views on human origins vary based on church attendance. Of those who attend church on a weekly basis, 60 percent believe in creationism while a mere 2 percent subscribe to "secular evolution". These numbers are flipped among those who rarely or never attend religious services. In this group, only 24 percent believe in creationism while 39 percent believe in evolution without divine guidance. This represents the only subset of data reported where "secular evolution" beats out creationism. Full Story.
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LGBT Faith and Aging Conference Set Aug. 17, 2011
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Oakland has graciously agreed to host this s ession on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 from noon to 5:30 P.M. Notes on the most recent planning committee session are here.
For updates on this issue please sign up for our 2011 LGBT Faith and Aging Conference e-mail list.
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A straight writer named Ted Cox undertook to glean insight about what makes so-called "conversion" operations tick. Though he did was not forced by his family into a facility designed to force gay teens into becoming straight, Cox took part in what may have been a close approximation: a voluntary retreat for adults struggling with "SSA," or same-sex attraction. In short: gay men who want to be straight. Cox's article, published first at AlterNet and then at men's online magazine The Good Men Project, described how Cox infiltrated a retreat called "Journey into Manhood," or "JiM" for short. Many of the men at the retreat, Cox writes, were married and had children; they also had a secret they wrestled with and concealed in shame: they had sexual feelings for other men. Full story @ Edge Newspaper.
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Feb. 10 Forum @ CDSP Asks:
Should the Episcopal Church Vote Yes
on the Anglican Covenant?
 | | Ruth Meyers |
Save the date for a Feb. 10 forum with Christopher Wells and Ruth Meyers @ the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley. Christopher Wells, Executive Director of the Living Church Foundation will dialogue with Ruth Meyers, Hodges-Hayes Professor of Liturgics, on the topic of whether the Episcopal Church should assent to the Anglican Covenant. Save the date and join us earlier that evening for Eucharist at 5:30 P.M. and a reasonably priced dinner as part of the weekly CDSP Community Night. The forum is set to start around 7:30 P.M.
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From The Oasis News Blogs, Etc.
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AIDS still thought of as a gay disease in black America
 | | Rev. Irene Monroe |
But the truth is this: while nearly 600,000 African Americans are living with HIV, and as many 30,000 newly infected each year, there is still within the black community one in five living with HIV and unaware of their infection; and they are disproportionately heterosexuals. As long as we continue to think of HIV/AIDS as a gay disease, we'll not protect ourselves of this epidemic.
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Canadian Courts Back Diocese
As Owners of Church Buildings
Schismatic groups hat left four Anglican churches in Canada have learned a simple truth: "you can't take it with you when you go."
Faced with a second court ruling for the Anglican Diocese of New Westminster, leaders of four Vancouver-area churches are threatening to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. At issue is a BC Court of Appeal decision affirming the diocese, and not these parishes, own the church buildings once used by these groups. Upset by the blessing of same gender couples, the groups left the Anglican Church but assert ownership of the church building.
The Appeals Court upheld an earlier decision that the assets of the four parishes: St. Matthew's, Abbotsford, St. John's, Shaughnessy, St. Mathias & St. Luke and Church of the Good Shepherd remain within the Diocese of New Westminster.
When the Synod of the Diocese voted for a third time in 2002 to bless committed, faithful same-sex relationships it was made quite clear that such permission was optional, not mandatory. The diocese notes that no one has ever been required to act against their conscience in this matter.
"The matter brought before the Court was not about sexuality nor the truth of the Gospel. Rather, litigants sought to take possession of diocesan buildings and assets after they had removed themselves from the Anglican Church of Canada," the diocese continues. " The Court of Appeal refused this request, as did the B. C. Supreme Court in November of 2009. In doing so, both Courts have upheld the structures and governance of historic Anglicanism."
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