Yes, there will be a hotly contested U.S. election in 2022. And pretty much every secular and religious faction is keyed up awaiting the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on whether to revise or revoke its rulings that legalized abortion.
Big decisions like this typically land in late June.
Other lingering disputes on the news coverage agenda include the following.
* As the U.S. Senate struggles with a rewrite of the Catholic President Joe Biden's elephantine social-spending bill, the Catholic bishops' conference vehemently opposes any inclusion of abortion funding.
The bishops, along with Orthodox Judaism's synagogue union, also fear (.pdf here) this law will cripple funding for widespread religious preschools. In yet another church-state debate, Biden hopes to end religious exemption from anti-discrimination rules, which went into effect in January.
* Inside the world of Mainline Protestantism, the unending dispute over the Bible and LGBTQ+ issues may produce the biggest U.S. church split since the Civil War at the United Methodist Church's General Conference. Early in 2022, a commission must decide whether the twice-postponed conference, now scheduled for August 29-September 6 in Minneapolis, can finally occur despite two years of COVID-related snarls and, some say, stalling by the UMC establishment.
* The T in LGBTQ won new Methodist attention as just-retired Pennsylvania Bishop Peggy Johnson and her husband, a Methodist pastor, publicized the latter's gender transition while identifying publicly as a "cisgender" male.
Last March, a sizable body of U.S. conservatives announced plans to leave the denomination and unite with former mission churches overseas — primarily in Africa and Asia — to form the "Global Methodist Church," led temporarily by Virginia Pastor Keith Boyette (540-898-4960). This new denomination will, on disputed issues in moral theology retain the doctrines of current UMC.
* Less noticed by Americans are tremors in the global Anglican Communion, which is said to encompass some 80 million baptized members in 47 national branches. COVID willing, all bishops will attempt to gather at the Lambeth Conference next July 27-August 8 in Canterbury, England. It's the first conference since the 2008 meeting avoided decisive actions to modernize church teachings on sexuality, while conservative bishops — mostly from growing Global South churches — met in Jerusalem to form the activist Global Anglican Future Conference.
Will conservatives boycott the 2022 session? Will Lambeth set any firm policy?
To date, the Anglican branches in the United States, Brazil and Scotland have officially approved same-sex marriages. In Canada, Anglicanism allows dioceses to offer marriages without formally rewriting church law and has begun trying out new rituals (.pdf here) that celebrate "gender affirmation and transition." Blessing rituals short of formal matrimony are authorized in New Zealand and, as of September, the Church in Wales.
Approval for such blessings, but probably not weddings, is raised by an elaborate consultation in Anglicanism's founding body, the Church of England. A snarky piece in "The World Ahead 2022" edition of The Economist said few Brits want to worship a "homophobic" or "smitey Almighty" any longer. The newsweekly thinks the Church of England may well approve blessings.
But others report that liberal victory is iffy. Though a majority of bishops want change, legislation must pass separate votes by the clergy and by the lay delegates at a General Synod. The Synod's delegates began five-year terms in November "after the most fiercely contested elections in its 50-year history," according to America's Living Church magazine. Conservatives warn that late in 2022 the bishops might risk fury by sidestepping Synod legislation altogether and allow same-sex blessings on their own.
Also note two other items.
* The Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting (June 12-15, Anaheim CA Convention Center) will highlight efforts to counteract horrid sexual predation scandals and accusations of misogyny and racial insensitivity, which are roiling other sectors of U.S. evangelical Protestantism. Will pastors on the SBC right oppose these efforts?
* At the behest of Pope Francis, Catholic dioceses around the world will spend 2022 officially discussing how to create a "synodal church" with more open and collaborative government. This process culminates in a special Rome assembly of bishops in October, 2023.
Here are some key sources for monitoring Anglican developments:
* For the Anglican Communion headquarters, click here and e-mail address is aco@anglicancommunion.org. The official Anglican Communion News Service is here. For Lambeth Conference info, click here.
* The Church of England: www.churchofengland.org. Media contacts 0207-898-1293 or comms@churchofengland.org or press@lambethpalace.org.uk.
* British church periodicals include the Church Times and Church of England Newspaper.
* ( Liberal caucuses in the Church of England: Inclusive Church and Thinking Anglicans. Conservative caucuses in the Church of England: Anglican Futures and the Evangelical Group of the General Synod.
* Official news from the U.S. Episcopal Church via the Episcopal News Service. Managing Editor Lynette Wilson is at lwilson@episcopalchurch.org or 917-244-0143.
* Conservative U.S. media: Living Church, and its online Covenant newsletter. See also the more more tendentious site, VirtueOnline.