At the end of the recent General Synod when an alliance of orthodox Christians and pro-gay progressives defeated the Bishops’ report on Marriage and sexuality, the Archbishop of Canterbury issued a rallying cry to a perturbed and divided Synod and whatever part of the wider Church was listening in.
It had three elements:
1- “We need a radical new Christian inclusion in the Church.
2- “It must be based on good, healthy, flourishing relationships, and in a proper 21st century understanding of being human and of being sexual.”
3- “The way forward needs to be about love, joy and celebration of our humanity; of our creation in the image of God, of our belonging to Christ – all of us, without exception, without exclusion.”
The problem these words present, is that they involve a distortion of Christianity. They preference a non-Christian ideology that gives us a sub-Christian or even perhaps an anti-Christian version of the faith.
That is a very serious charge to make. Because if it is true, it challenges the authority of an ancient office and both the direction and integrity of the Church of England.
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Kendall Harmon’s blog, offering this Con/Evo review of the response of the Archbishop of Canterbury to the recent failure of a call at the Church of England General Synod to ‘Note’ the Bishops’ Report on Gender and Sexuality; betrays the sort of anxiety that propelled the schimatic departure of the writer from TEC into the schismatic ACNA.
To accuse the Archbishop of Canterbury of leading the Church of England towards heresy is, as the writer himself admits; “… is a very serious charge to make. Because if it is true, it challenges the authority of an ancient office and both the direction and integrity of the Church of England.”
The point for members of the Church of England is that conservative Americans who have already left the official Anglican Communion, have absolutely no right to dictate the policy of the Church of England, nor to encourage further schism on the basis of their own Sola Scriptura puritanical agenda. The issues addressed by Archbishop Justin have an importance far beyond the parsimonious ideas of stone-age pundits on gender and human sexuality.
Father Ron Smith, Christchurch, New Zealand
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