NPR on the Anglican Troubles
I thought Barbara Bradley Hagerty did a good job on this story on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday this morning. She seems to understand the issues, background, and the polity of TEC and the WWAC ... which is much more than many "religion reporters" do.
I was especially proud of Susan Russell! From the transcript:
As to the Episcopal Church following culture, not the Bible? Hogwash! Plenty of Episcopalians have argued from Scripture that same-sex relationships are not inconsistent with the Bible. Furthermore, there is this: In states that have a popular vote on SSBs, most (including my own state of Missouri) vote 3-to-1 against domestic partnership, civil unions, and marriage for lesbians and gay men. The Episcopal Church is most decidedly not "following the culture." We are swimming upstream with all our soul and strength.
But Father Reed and his ilk have their lines memorized, and they shall not be moved.
Give it a listen ... or a read.
I was especially proud of Susan Russell! From the transcript:
"It would be as if Sarah Palin were to take a small, but vocal, percentage of very conservative Republicans and decide that they were going to create a parallel United States without having the White House at the center," Russell says.And this:
George Pitcher, an Anglican priest at St. Bride's Anglican Church in London and religion editor at the Daily Telegraph, agrees. He says the communion welcomes conservative views.The Rev. Ryan Reed of St. Vincent's Cathedral (Fort Worth) says conservatives have tried to stay in the "big tent" of Anglicanism, and he defends their schism:
But, he says, "when they want to say this is the one true way, and we want to impose it on all Anglicans, then it's at that stage that the broadly tolerant Anglican Communion says, 'Well that's not the way we do things.'"
"The problem," Reed says, "is in the last 30 years, the boundaries of that tent, or those views, have expanded so far that you can find leadership in the Episcopal Church that is radically not Christian in terms of their understanding of the cross, the Resurrection, the uniqueness of Christ, the authority of Scripture."This is such a crock! Yes, he and his fellow leavers have been hammering that soundbyte since 2003, but "that don't make it so." If there are non-Christians in the clergy, why haven't the conservatives filed presentments against them? Because the neo-cons know in their hearts they're focusing on adiaphora, not on the core tenets of the Christian faith.
Reed says the Episcopal Church is following culture, not the Bible.
As to the Episcopal Church following culture, not the Bible? Hogwash! Plenty of Episcopalians have argued from Scripture that same-sex relationships are not inconsistent with the Bible. Furthermore, there is this: In states that have a popular vote on SSBs, most (including my own state of Missouri) vote 3-to-1 against domestic partnership, civil unions, and marriage for lesbians and gay men. The Episcopal Church is most decidedly not "following the culture." We are swimming upstream with all our soul and strength.
But Father Reed and his ilk have their lines memorized, and they shall not be moved.
Give it a listen ... or a read.
posted by Lisa Fox at 6/21/2009 01:50:00 PM
3 Comments:
I had to think about WWAC for a moment. At first I thought it might be a sideshow of the wrestling world. Took me a while. I'm slow that way. :-)
The episcopal church is NPR at prayer. It was inevitable you'd find each other.
As far as I can tell, from West to East, the cultures of the world at most are tolerant of lgbt persons and most are decidedly hostile, even deadly. The Anglican Churches are very much intertwined with cultures, and those cultures and these Churches are more violent toward lgbt persons than not. Our conservatives are not counter-cultural in this regard--at all!
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