The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, expressed frustration with “the rawness of the anger” which characterized the divisions in the Church of England and the worldwide Anglican communion, which has split over the issue of ordaining homosexual priests. “‘While we may disagree,'” said Williams, “‘we need to learn how to do it with a bit more grace.” The Guardian’s Stephen Bates reports.

Former president Bill Clinton spoke yesterday at Manhattan’s liberal Riverside Church, urging mainline Protestant voters to challenge the Christian conservative movement that dictates much of the Republican Party platform, writes Joel Connelly of The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Riverside Church is leading a nationwide campaign called “Mobilization 2004,” which is aimed at countering the conservative “Voters’ Guides” distributed by groups like Christian Coalition. Mobilization 2004 calls for voters to follow 10 “‘prophetic justice principles,” including Principle No. 6, “‘Disdain the Arrogance of Power,'” and Principle No. 7, “‘Guard Freedom of Thought and Discussion.'”

The firing of a University of Georgia cheerleading coach, after she allegedly used religious criteria to keep a Jewish cheerleader off the premier cheer squad, has focused attention on the promotion of religion in team sports from high school to professional teams, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Michelle Hiskey. The Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which is involved in the cheerleading controversy at U.G., employs two chaplains and an intern to work with teams at the school, though they say no one is pressured to take part in Christian activities.

“‘This is powerful stuff. If anyone ever accused me of playing God, this is as close as you can get. I am not God, I play no God, I just do God’s work.'” An American scientist from Kentucky working in New Zealand, Dr. Panos Zavos, is expected to announce that he has begun experiments in creating embryonic clones of a dead girl and man using DNA extracted from their corpses. Read more.

Republican delegates from Alabama to this week’s New York convention were disappointed that the party’s platform doesn’t focus more on the public display of the Ten Commandments, reports the AP. Delegates such as state Sen. Bill Armistead wanted the platform to endorse a bill outlawing court rulings abridging a public “acknowledgment of God.” The bill was written in part by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was removed from his office after defying a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse.