News

By John-Henry Westen

ELDEN PRARIE, Minnesota, November 11, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A gathering of Minnesota pastors from different Christian denominations was temporarily evacuated due to a bomb threat yesterday. Minnesota’s Grace Church housed a ‘Summit’ of Evangelical pastors and Catholic priests meeting to strategize on the threat to the traditional definition of marriage. Prominent among the speakers at the conference was Calgary Bishop Fred Henry, the Canadian Catholic Bishop who is facing human rights tribunal investigation for his open and honest expounding on Catholic teaching on homosexuality.

Local police patrol Sergeant Jamie Good told LifeSiteNews.com that the bomb threat was called in and after a search after the evacuation determined the threat unfounded. The priests and pastors returned to their conference undaunted after the incident, while homosexual activists remained in protest outside the church.

The Summit, the first of its kind in the state, was designed from pastor input and for pastors. In addition to worship and prayer, the day covered a broad range of topics including the scriptural basis for social and civic engagement, a historical perspective of church and state issues, legal challenges, and the need for racial and denominational reconciliation.

“The only thing that stands in the way of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Minnesota is the church,” Chuck Darrell, a spokesman for the Minnesota Pastors’ Summit, told 5 Eyewitness News. “If the definition of ‘one man-one woman’ is to be protected, the church is going to have to do it, and they’ll have to be vocal.”