News for Week Ending 9/1/2014

Decision striking down bigamy law finalized

According to Religion News Service, Federal Judge Clark Waddoups has finalized his decision of last December striking down part of Utah’s bigamy statute as unconstitutional. The family in the TLC reality show Sister Wives challenged the statute after they were investigated following the debut of the show. Waddopups found that the law violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments. He upheld the provision that no one can be the beneficiary of more than one marriage license at a time. The decision is expected to be appealed.

Supreme Court urged to take up same-sex marriage cases

According to The Washington Post, winning plaintiffs in same-sex marriage cases in Virginia, Utah, and Oklahoma are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the same-sex marriage question in the coming term. The decisions from the three states have been stayed pending appeal. The plaintiffs argue that the present uncertainty about same-sex marriage should removed sooner rather than later and that same-sex marriage should be available everywhere in the country.

Okoh visits D.C., concurs with Anglican dissidents

David Virtue, in an essay titled “The State of the Anglican Communion: Midterm Report,” noted that Archbishop of Nigeria Nicholas Okoh visited Washington, D.C.,  the week of August 17, 2014—Virtue was vague about the exact dates—to meet with the new leader of the Anglican Church in North America, Archbishop Foley Beach, and other dissident Anglican leaders. The visit seems to escaped the notice of all regular news outlets. The Virtue “report” occasional makes for interesting reading, but it is more useful for illuminating the thinking of the radical Anglican right than it is for providing actual facts.

More developments in Fort Worth case

There have been more developments in the appeal of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth to the decision of the Texas Supreme Court. (See Pittsburgh Update story here.) The U.S. Supreme Court is to consider whether to accept the appeal in its September 29, 2014, conference. An amicus brief was filed July 21 by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and by the Rutherford Institute on August 27. The deadline for briefs in the case has been extended to September 26. Details can be found on the Supreme Court Web site here.

Diocese of Pittsburgh announces new resources for disaster preparedness

The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has created a collection of Web pages offering resources related to disaster preparedness. According to a story on the diocese’s Web site, the new material is “designed to help parishes plan so they can recover from disasters, reach out to help their own parishioners and be a resource to other areas when a major disaster occurs.” The new Web pages can be found here.