Michael Piazza, the pastor of the world’s largest gay church, Cathedral of Hope, has resigned from his post in order to lead a social justice activist group. Piazza’s desire to devote himself to activist was reinforced by the anti-gay marriage amendments ratified by 11 states, as well as the growing number of civilians killed in Iraq and the lack of health care and education for America’s poor. “‘As a gay person who has been in lovewith the same man for 24 years, I am sick and tired of my relationship being used as a threat to turn out right-wing voters,'” Mr. Piazza wrote in his letter of resignation. “‘The fight for justice cannot wait.'”

The Presbyterian Church USA received a letter threatening arson attacks on churches while people were inside, unless the General Assembly changed its “anti-Israel and anti-Jewish” policies on the Middle East by today, November 15. The letter was postmarked from Queens, N.Y.

“How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow.” — Lamentations, 1:1. Horrific American press reports from Falluja seem down peppy in comparison to coverage provided by the British press across the political spectrum. From the British Independent, hardly a leftist paper: “A drive through the city revealed a picture of utter destruction, with concrete houses flattened, mosques in ruins, telegraph poles down, power and phone lines hanging slack and rubble and human remains littering the empty streets. The north-west Jolan district, once an insurgent stronghold, looked like a ghost town, the only sound the rumbling of tank tracks.” Why is the American press soft-peddling this story? Perhaps because — despite a penchant for sensationalism — American media is uncomfortable with narratives of irrevocable consequences, especially when they’re of biblical proportion.