by Steve Bell
The primates of the worldwide Anglican communion appeared…to have stepped back from moves to exclude the US Episcopal church over its liberal position towards gay people.
A report…said the Americans had largely done everything required of them in reining back on consecrating gay bishops and expressing their regret for straining relations with other Anglicans.
The report left US conservatives fuming. Dr Kendall Harmon, canon theologian of South Carolina, said: “It’s a really poor report. It is shocking that a report like this could have been written at this stage. It’s way too soft.” Dr Phillip Aspinall, the Archbishop of Australia, deputed to speak for his fellow primates, said: “There was very intensive listening, characterised by graciousness, patience and care.”
Conservatives have been demanding that the Episcopalians be required publicly to repent their actions, or be thrown out of the 78 million worldwide church. As the Americans financially underwrite much of the communion’s activities, this would have had serious consequences.
Watching a religion discussing ethics within the context of political ideology on one hand — and the budget on the other — is always worth a chuckle.
Hey, at least these folks get to have a discussion even if it’s only among the capos.
Money is everything to conservatives.
“Primates” is such a fine term for them. I can just see them sitting around in trees, picking at parasites as they discuss the finer points of religion and other people’s sexual behavior.
Okay, I know, I know. Cheap shot.
#2 — tempting, though.
This makes me proud to be episcopal – a punks faith. We’re out there with an attitude and nothing to hide. Hairy armed, yellow toothed, dark ale drinking vicars, who will as soon as punch in a scrum as have morning tea at the country ladies guild. Founded by a serial killer, Henry VIII, a dress wearing English king made famous as an enthusiastic stalker of younger women, it shook catholic hegemony and inspired backward England’s meteoric rise to a superpower. The only thing conservative about episcopals is our use of toothpaste. They are willing, if not too eager to argue and to fight on a contentious issue.
Hairy armed, yellow toothed, dark ale drinking vicars
No wonder you Brits scared the hell out of everybody for so long. 🙂
Jesus is the bitch of the dollar, I can just imagine him being gangbanged by all the presidents in the Dollar bills.
#4, Edwin,
Apt summary.
It is a sad day when an entire denomination has sold its soul to the devil for money. This only proves that money is the god of the church, and immorality is passed off as a social norm.
The Anglican church of Canada will do what the ECUSA has done within a couple of years. NZ and the UK aren’t far behind. These conservatives are on the losing side.
I pulled my wife & I out of that whole comedy eight months ago when they came up with a presiding bishop who referred to Jesus as ‘her’. The whole Anglican/Episcopal escapade is doomed. The denomination is heavily infiltrated by Masons, Gnostics, Buddhist New Agers, Hindu New Agers, and witches. Once the Episcopal bishops became majority Gnostic, they owned the show.
The African and Asian Anglicans are refusing the Episcopalian money out of principle at great cost to their programs and lives. They stand for Jesus without compromise. All Episcopal money comes with unrighteous strings attached.
In America, the African Primates are sponsoring new Anglican churches that also stand for Jesus without compromise. Unfortunately for the Episcopal church, that means all the tithers are leaving. The Episcopal church may keep the buildings, but they will be empty soon. I am sure they won’t sell the churches to the new Anglicans, just out of spite. They have been padding their membership for decades; now they are padding their income as well.
In the future, the third world Anglicans will get fed up and offer sponsorship worldwide for any church which wants to come under their authority and follow their priorities. At that point it will be war. The unbelievers in the Anglican church will start beatings and burnings.
In the meantime, I joined a Methodist church where I can help people grow in faith, hope and love in Jesus Christ of Nazareth. John Wesley was a good Anglican, but his movement just couldn’t stand the Anglican B.S.
Which Bishop would that be timbo? I notice your website has information on how to detect witches and heal people without needing any of that demonic medicine!
Timbo … this tither hasn’t left and isn’t leaving the Episcopal Church, and my parish, which has taken no stand one way or the other on the non-issue distraction about homosexual persons, is growing. So your comments are obviously an overboard over generalization.
for #11, the presiding bishop, voted in by all the other bishops. As for medicine, I scheduled myself for a cataract operation on the 26th. When have you tried prayer as an alternative means of healing?
for #12, the new bishop in my diocese is closing churches, suing churches and threatening priests who don’t sign an oath to go along with his agenda — which is contrary to the Lambeth Quadrilateral. The priest he installed over our mission was the most liberal he could find. The priest wanted to bring in circular labyrinths, to desanctify the congregation. He told me If I spoke against the labyrinths, he would declare me contentious, a first step in kicking me out of my church.
I almost forced the bishop’s hand at the last diocese convention with a toothless resolution that simply stated that Gnostic literature was contradictory works of fiction and should not be given credibility at all. That would have forced all the Gnostic priests to either abstain or vote against it — showing the magnitude of the problem and ripping the diocese in half. He came up with a loophole to stop it. He watched me the rest of the convention.
Eric, doing nothing is a decision of overall approval of the leadership’s direction. The liberal line is, “It’s not making any difference to MY church and it’s a trivial matter anyway.” My liberal priest harped on that fiction, while demanding money be sent to support the denomination’s agenda!