conservative movement

Former senator Jesse Helms, an unyielding champion of the conservative movement who spent three combative and sometimes caustic decades in Congress, where he relished his battles against liberals, Communists, and occasionally a fellow Republican, died on the Fourth of July. He was 86. ''It's just incredible that he would die on July 4, the same day of the Declaration of Independence and the same day that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died, and he certainly is a patriot in the mold of those great men,'' said former North Carolina GOP representative Bill Cobey.

Pittsburgh's bishop could face discipline if he continues to support efforts to split his diocese from the Episcopal Church, the presiding bishop of the national church warned in a letter. Representatives of the Pittsburgh diocese are set to vote Friday during their annual convention in Johnstown, Pa., on constitutional amendments that would start the process of splitting from the national church. Pittsburgh bishop Robert Duncan is among the leaders of a conservative U.S. movement that believes the Episcopal Church is abandoning the primary authority of Scripture, with biblical teachings on sexuality being the flash point of the debate.