John Watton is the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Central Newfoundland.
Here he is in his his latest Facebook video post:
And now for something completely different: a bishop in a box with his trousers undone
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The Anglican Church of Canada is Antisemitic
It hates Jews.
I can think of no other rational explanation for the latest missive from the ACoC on the war in Gaza. It calls for a ceasefire before Hamas has been defeated and the kidnapped Israeli hostages have been released.
It ignores the fact that civilian casualties are being caused by cowardly Hamas terrorists using civilians as human shields.
It ignores the fact that Israel warns civilians that buildings are going to be bombed, advises them to leave and Hamas shoots them as they do.
It ignores the fact that Hamas houses its headquarters in hospitals, mosques, kindergartens and schools in order to cause maximum civilian casualties when attacked.
It believes civilian casualty numbers produced by cowardly terrorist thugs who allow no freedom of the press, no free elections, or free anything else, rather than numbers from the IDF, whose government has all of the above.
And it expresses no outrage over the deaths of Muslims in these conflicts. Why? Because no Jews are involved:
Ethiopian conflict: 395,000 – 800,000 cumulative deaths
Yemeni civil war: 377,000 deaths
Deaths at the hands of Boko Haram: 368,000
Deaths from the war in Syria: 350,000
The Anglican Church of Canada reserves an especially vitriolic hatred for Israel. It hates the fact that God chose Israel. It hates Jews.
From here:
Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
Thank you for writing yesterday and for your remarks in response to our letter of October 18th, in which we urged you to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to allow potable water, food, medical care and more to reach the people of Gaza.
Thank you for your decisions and statements made in recent days, reiterating the importance of both Israel and Hamas respecting international law, ensuring the swift and unimpeded passage of humanitarian aid, and of protecting Israeli and Palestinian civilians. Thank you for evacuating Canadian citizens to safety.
Much has happened in the weeks since our last letter. The siege of Gaza has worsened, resulting in the deaths of more than 11,400 Gazans, including 4,700 children. All hospitals in Gaza City are now closed, as hundreds of thousands of people require medical care. More than one million Palestinians have now been forcibly displaced into smaller and smaller areas in southern Gaza, where humanitarian aid remains at critically low levels. Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has increased dramatically, and East Jerusalamites live in fear and danger of racist attacks, including assaults upon Christians and Church leaders.
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Anglican church of Canada has a Transgender Day of Remembrance
On November the 20th.
Is this to remember the thousands of children irreversibly mutilated in body mind and spirit to appease the insane god of gender confusion worshipped by half-witted Anglican bishops?
Of course not. It’s to “invite repentance for the words and actions of transphobia perpetuated in our society and in our churches.”
You can read all about it here; that is if you manage to get past the gibberish in the first paragraph without falling victim to debilitating brain fog:
At the heart of the gospel is the truth that we created [sic] in the image of God. In every human being, the divine is present. As we grow from children to adults, we are shaped by many factors – family, culture, geography and faith – including our discovery of how we will live into the call of the image of God we are gifted with. In every generation, cultural expectations and gender definitions interact with the image of God, sometimes affirming and sometimes undermining the unconditional love of each human being in all our diversity.
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At last Justin Welby finds a clear way forward
For the last ten years the Archbishop of Canterbury has been trying to reconcile the differences disrupting the Anglican Communion. As is often the case in the Anglican church, it is mostly about sex.
The more he tries, the worse it gets, to the point now where both liberals and conservatives are urging him to resign. In his quest to answer one of the most difficult and profound questions ever to face mankind – who is allowed to grope whom – his own groping in darkness has ended; he has seen the light.
It’s no wonder he has made such a mess of things; he’s been barking up the wrong tree ever since he attended Alpha. Jesus isn’t the light of the world after all! Hindus are.
In his own words: “Hindus are so often being the light that we need”.
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Diocese of Niagara has first sinless parish
St. George’s church in Lowville is progressive. They don’t believe anything in particular, other than the sanctity of diversity: you can make the Bible say anything you want, so long as you don’t think it is actually true:
Unity in diversity
To write “What we believe” does not mean that every member of the parish must have the same beliefs. That would be inconsistent with our position that Christians must interpret Scripture for themselves.St. Paul was clear about this. A Christian community, which he called the Body of Christ, is the sum of its members’ gifts and abilities. We may each interpret our faith in our own way.
Even better, you don’t have to be a Christian, since Jesus is merely a doorway to something more important: the sacred in our lives, an elevated state that can also be reached through other religions:
Our theology is broadly compatible with that of the organization Progressive Christianity. We accept the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as a doorway to greater awareness of the sacred in our lives. However, we accept that other faith traditions can offer insights into sacred wisdom.
I’ve saved the best until last: we aren’t sinners! There is no judgment. We don’t need saving. We don’t need a Saviour.
We don’t need a church. Oops.
Coming to church on Sundays should be a joy, not a duty. The modern Anglican perspective is that we are worthy to be in God’s presence, not ‘miserable sinners’. That is why we make our Sunday worship joyful, not gloomy.
Like the followers of St. Francis of Assisi, we stress the goodness and joy of the natural world. We celebrate our physicality as part of our sacredness, which mirrors the coming into the world of Jesus Christ as Son of God.
Like us, Franciscans follow whats (sic) called an alternative orthodoxy, and reject the doctrine of Original Sin. That is the belief that we were all born sinful, awaiting and expecting punishment from a vengeful and judgemental God. The idea comes from a particular reading of the book of Genesis Chapter 3, which describes the disobedience of the mythical first people. Instead we believe that God’s Spirit of goodness and love is present within us from the moment of our creation.
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The anti-Israel bias of the Anglican Church of Canada
On October the 17th, the Anglican Church of Canada issued the following statement condemning the murder of Jews by Hamas:
On Saturday the world watched in horror as Hamas launched a rapid, devastating barrage of violence against Israel. Rockets, drone attacks, the killing of civilians and the taking of hostages have ignited long simmering tensions between Israel and Palestine. Israel has responded with ongoing rocket attacks and the death toll on all sides rises daily.
On October the 18th, the ACoC wrote a letter to Justin Trudeau demanding respect for international law in Gaza. This was provoked by the bombing of the Al Ahli Arab hospital which is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. Unlike the devastating barrage of violence in the prior statement, the bombing fell into the much worse category of a crime against humanity. Because it was not aimed at Jews.
The Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem, in one deft move, have not only demonstrated their anti-Jewish bias, but collectively shot themselves in the foot: the rocket that destroyed the hospital was fired by Hamas.
From here:
In the strongest terms, the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem condemns this atrocious attack that has transpired in the heart of Gaza. Initial reports suggest the loss of countless lives, a manifestation of what can only be described as a crime against humanity. Hospitals, by the tenets of international humanitarian law, are sanctuaries, yet this assault has transgressed those sacred boundaries. We heed the call of Archbishop Justin Welby (Archbishop of Canterbury), who implored for the safeguarding of medical facilities and the rescission of evacuation orders. Regrettably, Gaza remains bereft of safe havens……… An urgent appeal resonates for the international community to fulfill its duty in protecting civilians and ensuring that such inhumane horrific acts are not replicated.
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Justin Welby bombs his own twitter (X) feed
Yesterday Justin Welby quoted the BBC saying: Hundreds feared dead or injured in Israeli air strike on hospital in Gaza:
He is correct, of course, it is an appalling loss of innocent lives. The problem with his tweet, though, is that the hospital was bombed by Hamas, not Israel.
Welby later, in a face-saving backpedal, said “We must exercise restraint in apportioning blame until the facts are clear.” He should have said “I”:
What he failed to note was that the rocket was intentionally aimed at civilians, it just hit the wrong ones.
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Contrasting prayers during wartime
The first is a combined effort from the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada:
God of peace and justice,
Our hearts weep as the rockets fall in Israel and Gaza,
As families are bereaved
As men, women and children are taken hostage,
As anger and hatred are fuelled again.In the land you chose for your people and your Son we pray
for those bereaved by the violence,
For the wounded and injured,
For the hostages
That your love will surround and comfort them.We pray for strength and compassion
for all offering medical care, especially our partners, the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital
and Augusta Victoria Hospital.We pray for Bishop Sani Azar and Archbishop Hosam Naoum and all Christians in the Holy Land for their safety and their leadership in this time of crisis.
We pray for all leaders in Israel and Palestine that a just and lasting peace will be found.
In the midst of our grief and sorrow we trust in your unfailing love for all people, and
for your Land, and ask that your wisdom would prevail, for we ask in the name ofJesus Christ, who brings the world eternal peace.
In contrast, here is Archbishop William Temple’s prayer during World War 2:
‘Lord bless our country and all who serve it. Uphold our courage through all that comes. Make us worthy of victory, and establish peace and good will: through Jesus Christ our Lord.’
The most obvious difference, other than the lengths, is that the latter prayer includes the idea of victory, country, service and courage. The archbishop doesn’t seem particularly interested in a lasting peace with the Nazi’s; I don’t think I am reading too much into this by concluding he is praying for them to be defeated.
All of this is absent from the first prayer because the ACoC is unwilling to take a side – unless the issue is climate change, of course. Perish the thought that we might pray for Hamas to be defeated.
There is more in a similar vein from William Temple here:
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Bishop Anna Greenwood-Lee tweets sympathy for Gaza inhabitants
The bishop of the Diocese of British Columbia has expressed her concern for the humanitarian crisis developing in Gaza, as well she should.
The only problem is, on October 7th, the day Hamas started raping grandmothers, beheading babies and shooting every Jewish civilian they encountered, she made no mention of the fact. Although to be fair, Hamas was inclusive: they also shot some Muslim civilians.
Instead, she lamented that the life of whales is disrupted by ships’ propellers.
I wonder if it has occurred to her that the misery in Gaza is more the fault of Hamas than Israel?
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Anglican Church of Canada publishes more essays on euthanasia
The Anglican Church of Canada has not made any definitive statements on state sponsored euthanasia or MAID, Medical Assistance in Dying, to use the preferred euphemism. Instead, it has published essays.
Now it has published yet more essays which you can find here. All 234 pages of them.
I haven’t waded through the essays, although I did skim them in the vain hope of finding a statement like:
“The Anglican Church of Canada asserts that life is a God-given gift which only He has the authority to end” or:
“The Anglican Church of Canada believes that a person has the God-given right to end his life for a reason of his own choosing or because he has simply had enough.”
I didn’t see anything like that.
Come to think of it, I don’t particularly care what the ACoC thinks about euthanasia. I suspect no one else does either. And I would like to know how many in the ever-dwindling ACoC flock read all 234 pages.
There is a Journal article here:
The Anglican Church of Canada has published the first round of a collection of essays reckoning with the questions of life, death, faith and dignity surrounding medical assistance in dying (MAID). Faith Seeking Understanding: Medical Assistance in Dying collects thoughts from clergy, caregivers and academics within and adjacent to the Anglican community in a volume available now as a PDF or an ebook through the church’s website. Submissions remain open until Nov. 17 for proposals of further essays or reflections either adding to or responding to the content released in this initial version, reads a note in the collection’s early pages.
This collection represents the church’s first written document on MAID since In Sure and Certain Hope, a document released in 2016, the same year the practise became legal in Canada.
It contains a range of perspectives and questions on MAID from the definitions of freedom, human dignity and self-determination underlying the thinking behind the treatment to whether it is compatible with Anglican beliefs as expressed through liturgy. In their submissions, some authors argue for the church to compassionately embrace the practise while others argue Christians should speak out against it.
