"What this foreshadows is that within the next 3 to 5 years more than 2,000 churches across the country will be forced to close, merge or be sold regardless of cash reserves or endowment because there will simply not be enough people in them to keep the doors open," read the Aug. 23 survey.

Not only will hundreds of Episcopal clergy will be "forced into early retirement," said the organization, but many will have to take secondary employment "in an attempt to keep the doors open to a handful of aging congregants."

Researchers argue that the Episcopal Church has given an inaccurate depiction of the amount of followers by repeatedly claiming that 2.3 million U.S. Episcopalians regularly attend services. "More than two-thirds of this figure have either died, left the church, or attend twice a year, along with tens of thousands still on church rolls who have never been - and should be - removed."

The survey showed future prospects of sharp decline in attendance for the Episcopal Church in the U.S., with 2,219 churches having congregations of aging parishioners in their mid-60s or older.

"There are virtually no young people coming forward to fill the gap," they said.

Virtue Online also noted that parishes with congregations between 201 and 500 "must generate and pull in a new generation of Episcopalians if they are to be sustainable for the long haul."

However, "many of these will face stiff competition from a new generation of Evangelical converts and those leaving the Episcopal Church."

Forrest Wilder, a Texas Observer columnist who has been following the NAR and its influence on political figures, told The Christian Post that it is not a specific church, denomination or organization, but is a movement of an "interlocking array of churches, ministries, councils, personal friendships and alliances" that are connected for a common cause.

That common cause, Wilder argued, is to promote Christian dominion over society, culture and government through the influence of its ministries.

Jackson says of the NAR's mission, "It has to do with church planting, overseeing a number of these emerging, some would call, post-denominational churches. There really isn't a headquarters; there really isn't a movement."

However, a letter sent to CP under the promise of anonymity states, "The NAR is not an organization. No one can join or carry a card. It has no leader."

The NAR, Tabachnick said, "teach[s] quite literally that these 'mountains' have fallen under the control of demonic influences in society and therefore, they must reclaim them for God in order to bring about the kingdom of God on Earth."

Internationalizing the yuan, also known as the renminbi (RMB), brings with it a host of financial and political benefits. Notably, it allows China to build up claims on the rest of the world in yuan rather than increasing exposure to foreign currencies, especially a dollar that it distrusts.

"Chinese economic dominance is more imminent and more broad-based -- encompassing output, trade, and currency -- than is currently recognized," he writes in a new book, 'Eclipse: Living in the Shadow of China's Economic Dominance'.

Using an index of country shares in the world's gross domestic product, trade and net exports of capital stretching back to 1870, Subramanian calculates China is already on the cusp of overtaking the United States as the world's leading economy. On conservative assumptions, it will soon carve out an unassailable lead.

"By 2030, this dominance could resemble that of the United States in the 1970s and the United Kingdom around 1870. And this economic dominance will in turn elevate the renminbi to premier reserve currency status much sooner than currently expected," he writes.

In promoting the yuan's use overseas, China's leaders are seizing an opportunity to gain a foothold in Asia at the expense of the United States, Europe and Japan, all weakened by the global financial crisis, Garcia-Herrero said.

Subramanian duly laces his book with caveats but nevertheless concludes that the economic world in 2030 will be unrecognizably different from what it is today as poorer, more populous countries grow faster than advanced economies.

"A key message is that the dominant West will have to start readjusting to the new reality of relative but not necessarily absolute decline," he writes. "In particular, the economic dominance and hegemony of the United States will be under challenge from a rising China."

For churches in Africa, the Old Testament has historically occupied a prominent place in theological thinking. "Our theology is constructed with the image of God in the Old Testament," reflects Charles Klagba, theological consultant for the Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA).

"It is for that reason the reaction of many churches on this continent to the epidemic is very much influenced by the belief that illness is a punishment for individual sins," he says. "This theology is very vivid in the Old Testament. This interpretation has reinforced the stigma and hindered the ministry of the church to be competent."

Deconstructing this theology and giving birth to an alternative approach that can give hope to people have been at the centre of Klagba's encounters with theologians, pastors and church leaders.

"I engage churches and theological institutions in a serious re-reading of the Bible in order to reshape for themselves their discourses that are rooted in the daily concerns of the people." His journey, he said, could be termed a "theology of deconstruction."

His ultimate objective is fostering new readings of the Bible that make the whole church an HIV-competent and healing community. With a focus on re-reading the Bible in the HIV era, workshop topics include ethics, mission, African religions, sexuality, gender and Christian education.

"Participants, somehow, come out transformed. Many clearly commit themselves to engage in some kinds of action as a result of this transformation," he says.

Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney, spoke to the Daily Telegraph about his thoughts on eliminating Jesus Christ from educational texts. Jensen called the move an "intellectually absurd attempt to write Christ out of human history." Jensen explained that Christ was an important figure in history to all people.

"It is absurd because the coming of Christ remains the centre point of dating and because the phrase 'common era' is meaningless and misleading," he said to the Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Fred Nile, a minister in New South Wales, told The Daily Telegraph that the announcement was a "final insult" to Christians in Australia and "an absolute disgrace." Nile said he feels the move is an attempt to remove any traces of Christianity from the country. "The direction of the national curriculum is towards almost a Christian cleansing to remove from our history any references to the role Christianity had in the formation of Australia and still has today," he told The Telegraph.