In some cultures and eras, apostates face certain death. In America, it's the church that's dying from apostasy.

Apostate — it's not exactly a common word. But for those doomed to hear its rare pronouncement, it can mean imminent death or serious eternal consequences.

Like repentance, apostasy implies a rejection or abandonment of a practice, ideal, or belief. And one religion's penitent is another one's apostate.

This irony became apparent in the first formal court case involving charges of apostasy in Kuwait. The court found Hussein Qambar Ali guilty for converting from Islam to Christianity in December 1995. Since Shari'ah law in Kuwait (and many other Islamic societies) prescribes the death sentence for apostasy, the court called for Ali's execution, along with the termination of his marriage and the distribution of his possessions to heirs.

"Apostasy in the Islamic world is serious," said Ali. "Anyone, even an ordinary person, has the right

After King Henry VIII's break with England he seemed intent on creating an English Catholic Church, for instance the Statute of Six articles upheld many basic Catholic articles. Only two serious changes marked the new way within the Church of England. The first was the suppression of the monasteries; the second was the publication of the English Bible for use in the churches. In the latter years of William Tyndale's life he produced translated portions of the Old Testament (including the Pentateuch) and an improved edition of the New. In 1536 he died, burned at the stake. Yet, during his imprisonment Miles Coverdale published an edition of the Bible which was essentially Tyndale's work, supplemented by Latin and German versions. Then, a year after Tyndale's death, the Matthew Bible appeared. It was the work of another English reformer named John Rogers, it was virtually a well-edited compilation of Tyndale and

Educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, and possibly later at Cambridge. He became tutor to the family of Sir John Walsh. While living in Walsh's household, Tyndale saw at first hand the ignorance of the local clergy. The bishops had banned the English Bible since 1408 because they feared the Lollards, who had their own translation (the Wycliffe Bible). Because this translation had been made only from the Latin Vulgate and was inaccurate, Tyndale set out to make a translation from the Hebrew and the Greek. He hoped to win the support of the learned bishop of London, Cuthbert Tunstall. But the bishops were more concerned with preventing the spread of Lutheran ideas than promoting the study of Scripture. In due course Tyndale obtained financial support from a number of London merchants, especially Humphrey Monmouth.

Because England was no safe place to translate the Bible, Tyndale left for the Continent,