Poets, activism, dancing in church

After succeeding in getting a White House poetry event cancelled -- poets against a war in Iraq intended to turn it from a genteel tea party into a protest -- poets are organizing against the war. Wednesday Feb. 12, the date of the cancelled event, will now be A Day of Poetry Against the War. Included on their site is a page listing news stories about their cause.

In other activism, New York Episcopalians are donating money to rebuild a mosque bombed in the recent U.S. war in Afghanistan, despite criticism from conservatives who say things like, "First of all, there are thousands of Christian churches you could be building in Africa, for people who desperately need churches. Secondly, Islam is a religion we are in confrontation with."

Switching coasts, but staying in the same denomination, a San Francisco Episcopal congregation is tearing itself apart over all-night raves held in the church. I heard of this conflict in December and talked it over with some friends who are both journalists and church-goers; we wondered when it would hit the news, and now it has. The news hook: the congregation's rector is quitting over the conflict, which many say is not so much ravers vs. non-ravers, but conservatives vs. liberals.