Tag Archives: Rev Bob Bettson

Anglican priest wobbles miserably on Charlie Hebdo

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The Anglican Journal published a reasonably good article on the Charlie Hebdo Islamic terrorist murders. Predictably, it rankled with some reverends: here is Rev. Bob Bettson telling us that the nub of the issue is not free speech at all: it is really all about not upsetting people – “Muslim brothers and sisters”, in particular:

I would echo the previous comment and say that this situation is complicated. Free speech carries responsibility with it. I was part of a Muslim Christian dialogue in Calgary representing the Anglican Church when the Danish cartoon came out. We as a group of Muslim and Christian leaders expressed our concern with the degrading and sophomoric cartoons, and expressed the hope they would not be reprinted in Canada. We acted in solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters. The Charlie Hebdo massacre is deplorable. But lets not make this about free speech, because the kind of free speech exercised by Charlie Hebdo is sometimes like pouring gas on a fire. We condemn the massacre as religious leaders. But we also don’t make the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists into heroes–which they were not in any sense.

You will note that Bettson calls Charlie Hebdo’s humour “sophomoric”; I am flattered that when Michael Bird sued me, Bettson used the same epithet about Anglican Samizdat: an endless stream of ridicule and sophmoric [sic] humour.

But to the point: Bettson reckons that “Free speech carries responsibility with it”. It does: it carries the responsibility to offend. If it never offends, it isn’t free. Liberals, whether political or religious, have a totalitarian temperament that has little use for freedom of any kind: it could lead to people disagreeing with them, disrupting the harmony of their inbred little utopias.

Global South primates and bishops meet in Toronto

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From here:

Archbishop Ian Ernest, primate of the province of the Indian Ocean, said decisions by the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada on issues involving homosexuality have torn the fabric of communion.

“These are sad events,” he said. “Things will never be the same again.”

Another primate, Archbishop Mouneer Anis of Egypt, launched a harsh critique of the communion leadership’s unwillingness to deal with issues. Successive archbishops of Canterbury have tried to hold the communion together, but failed to use their influence to bring cohesion to autonomous provinces, he said.

Anis said the recommendations of primates meetings have not been carried out. The Lambeth Conference in 2008 was characterized by what he called “divide and rule” tactics, with no decisions being made.

Justin Welby appears to be determined to turn a blind eye to the disintegrating Anglican Communion and places his hope in “mission and in reconciliation”. Oddly, he seems to entirely miss the point that those who are “focusing on one or two sins” are not conservatives but liberals: when a faction in a church – North American Anglicanism in this case – decides to bless something that is sinful – and Welby is acknowledging it is sinful – it is the faction that is doing the focussing.

In a brief address, Welby said that in every generation, church members have thought their problems were “terminal.”

“Churches are sinful,” said Welby. “None of us are right. The trouble with the Anglican Communion will not be solved by focusing on one or two sins. All of us need to come to the cross.”

He said in different contexts the problems may be different — sexuality, persecution, corruption, abuse of power, complacency, poverty.

Welby said Anglicans are called to be bridge builders, who will “find ourselves struggling with unity.” He sees the future growth of the communion in mission and in reconciliation.

Bishop Patrick Yu, a tame faux-conservative Toronto bishop, in what can only be a case of genetic predisposition to obstinate optimism in the face of overwhelming contrary evidence, thinks: “Our problems are not so intractable”.  He also can’t understand why the ACoC is “lumped” with TEC; I can’t understand why someone political enough to be a bishop can’t understand the implication of inviting Katharine Jefferts Schori to the last few ACoC general synods.

“We are always lumped with the Americans,” he said. In the Diocese of Toronto people are not “judged or driven out” on the basis of being traditional in their theology. “We do not persecute conservatives.”

Yu said in spite of differences in the communion, there is hope for reconciliation and a new commitment of resources to mission and evangelism. “Our problems are not so intractable,” he said.

Incidentally, Rev Bob Bettson, the author of the article, thinks AS purveys an “endless stream of ridicule and sophmoric [sic] humour more suited to a fraternity newsletter than anywhere else.” That must be why he reads it.