Duplicity

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I watched the film Duplicity last night. I rather enjoyed it: it was all about who was being “played” and by whom. That is to say, taken for a ride, conned, stung, swindled, double-crossed, duped, suckered, bamboozled; the answer in the film is supposed to be a surprise, so I won’t give it away.

Which brings me to evangelical leaders in the ACoC: I think they are being played. I had the pleasure of attending an Essentials gathering today where the speaker was John Bowen, an evangelical who remains within the ACoC and is the motivating force behind Fresh Expressions in Canada.

I was curious as to how he manages to cope in the ACoC and also whether he had any sense of being paraded as a token evangelical; his answer was that being permitted to preach the true Gospel is what is important and he still has that leeway. An apparently reasonable answer.

But who is really being played here? I suspect that evangelicals who remain in the ACoC preach the gospel only within constraints that the ACoC places on them. As Malcolm Muggeridge used to say: like playing hymns in a whorehouse. There is a game afoot: evangelicals do what they think they can get away with and the ACoC gives them enough latitude to make them think they are a welcome part of the institution. But who is really playing whom?

Consider:
The ACoC is suing and persecuting those who can no longer put up with its antics. Those who remain within the ACoC are helping to finance the lawsuits.

The ACoC has its liberal agenda set, yet it wants to be seen as inclusive so it needs token evangelicals to flaunt at the appropriate moment. It has no interest in what the evangelicals have to say: it pretends to listen and goes its merry way unimpeded.

The ACoC allows programs like Alpha and Fresh Expressions, but its intent is to capitalise on the success of such programs by making use of the techniques while altering the content to something that fits the ACoC’s anfractuous view of reality.

So who is being played?

Stand up! Stand up for Jesus ye soldiers of the cross

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This hymn has taken on new meaning in the Diocese of Niagara. At the last Niagara synod, all priests who are not in favour of same-sex blessings were asked to stand up to identify themselves; whereupon the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit duly noted their names.

The Diocese of Love and Inclusion also fired two priests. One was a conservative priest who had a thriving congregation; he was told he “just didn’t fit in”. He was given severance, but hasn’t actually seen any of it. The other was a liberal priest who did not manage to persuade an Anglican and Lutheran congregation to merge; she was told that “if you can’t do it, we’ll find someone who can”. She was given 6 months to find a new place to live, but the utilities in the rectory were all disconnected  by the diocese, so she had to leave immediately.

The Pursuit of Excellence in Ministry at work.

Crisis in the Anglican Church of Canada? I think not!

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On February 26th, 2008, the Right Rev. Colin R. Johnson, Bishop of Toronto had this to say:

Anglican Church is doing just fine
Crisis in the Anglican Church of Canada? I think not! While it is always a matter of great regret when anyone chooses to leave, surely recent reports of schism in Canada need some context. Of the approximately 2,300 parishes in Canada, about 15 have voted to “walk apart.”

Well, Colin, ANiC now has 3 bishops, 68 priests, 12 deacons, and 30 parishes with average Sunday attendance of around 3500  –  larger than 13 ACoC dioceses.

The Diocese of new Westminster is 2 weeks into the trial that will determine ownership of ANiC parish buildings, the Diocese of Niagara has been awarded $95,000 costs even though they were seeking $320,000, leaving them $225,000 in the hole – a deficit that is conspicuously absent from their published financial statements.

Crisis? What crisis?

Rowan’s Carbon Codswallop

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Rowan Williams enlightens us on what is really important:

The Archbishop said that climate change was “probably” the most important issue the world is facing today and stressed that it was a matter of justice as well as caring for the environment.

He said: “As usual the poorest are likely to suffer the most though the richest have contributed most to pollute the atmosphere and accelerate global warming.

“So we can pray that a proper sense of responsibility (not least to the generations who will follow us) and of justice guides the hearts and the minds of the politicians who will meet in Copenhagen.”

The Archbishop urged Christians to get involved with events and campaigns taking place between now and December. He plans to be in Copenhagen to support last minute campaigns for a suitable deal to emerge from the talks.

Obviously no-one has told Rowan that the earth has been cooling since 1998, global warming is, at best, scientifically questionable and has made at least one rich person – Al Gore – richer.

I wait with anticipation the day when Rowan tells us that the most important issue[s] the world is facing today are sin, redemption, Jesus, heaven, hell and our choices on the aforementioned. It could be a long wait.

I wonder what the carbon footprint of hell is?

Obama exerts his charm in Egypt

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In Thursday’s speech in Cairo, Obama declared:

I’ve come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world — one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect.

He gently chided Hamas:

“Hamas does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have to recognize they have responsibilities. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian aspirations, to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, recognize Israel’s right to exist,” Obama said.

but didn’t bother to mention this:

Hamas members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Gaza have approved a new bill “to implement Koranic punishments,” including hand amputation, crucifixion, corporal punishment and execution. Drinking, owning or producing wine is punished by 40 lashes, while drinking in public adds three months’ imprisonment. Several laws are directed against Hamas’s Palestinian rivals, including a law intended to inhibit non-Hamas negotiators by sentencing to death anyone who was “appointed to negotiate with a foreign government on a Palestinian issue and negotiated against Palestinians’ interest.”

For the New Beginning, as long as there’s no waterboarding, Obama can overlook the occasional execution, amputation and crucifixion.

He also forgot to mention that at home he has ushered in Gay Pride Month;  perhaps, since the US is apparently one of the largest Muslim countries in the world, it will be followed by a month of Sharia stoning.

Surely, charm or no charm, his inconsistencies are going to cause the unravelling of Obama at some point.

Equal rights for gay penguins

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Some things that are so serious that it would be unbecoming to poke fun at them. This is one:

Two “gay” male penguins have hatched a chick and are now rearing it as its adoptive parents, says a German zoo.

The zoo, in Bremerhaven, northern Germany, says the adult males – Z and Vielpunkt – were given an egg which was rejected by its biological parents.

It says the couple are now happily rearing the chick, said to have reached four weeks old.

The zoo made headlines in 2005 over plans to “test” the sexual orientation of penguins with homosexual traits.

Three pairs of male penguins had been seen attempting to mate with each other and trying to hatch offspring from stones.

The zoo flew in four females in a bid to get the endangered birds to reproduce – but quickly abandoned the scheme after causing outrage among gay rights activists, who accused it of interfering in the animals’ behaviour.

The six “gay” penguins remain at the zoo, among them Z and Vielpunkt who are now rearing the chick together after being given the rejected egg.

Yesterday morning when I was walking my dog – a 75lb golden retriever – we met a dog that was a mixed breed of cocker spaniel and poodle; a cockapoo, its owner informed me. The dog was mixed up in more than one way since, as soon as it spotted my dog, it decided to try and have sexual intercourse with my dog’s head – which was about the same size as the entire cockapoo – by enthusiastically humping it in a characteristically male way. My dog just stood and looked puzzled. It turned out that the cockapoo was a female; clearly a case of a gay dog’s essence being trapped in a bitch’s body, I thought. The owner of the transgender gay cockapoo was about to pull his amorous dog off my dog’s head when I stopped him. “Don’t!” I cried – “we mustn’t interfere with their behaviour ”.

Well, that last bit isn’t quite true.

Michael Ingham just doesn’t get it

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Some more interesting comments from Michael Ingham in court yesterday:

Turning to Bishop Ingham’s insistence that no one is being asked to leave any parish except priests who are still in place after having relinquished the bishop’s license, Cowper asked how—not from a legal but “a human point of view”—the bishop could expect members of the dissident parishes to remain in the diocese if they fail to win the lawsuit?

“It’s not likely they will stay, is it?” the lawyer asked.

“I’m not convinced of that,” replied Bishop Ingham. “One should never underestimate the attachment of Anglicans to their buildings.” The reply elicited groans from some in the court supporting the dissident congregations.

The bishop went on to suggest that some people will want to remain where they have been baptized, married, or where relatives are buried. He said it was his understanding that members of dissident congregations had been told by their leaders they could have the Anglican Church of Canada and take their buildings with them. However, he admitted he had not been at any of the meetings of these congregations where these matters were discussed.

Ingham’s belief that ANiC parishioners would return to the ACoC just to keep their buildings can only mean:

Ingham hasn’t read Proverbs 26:11 recently;
He  is judging Christians by his own – rather dim – moral lights;
It hasn’t occurred to Ingham that for some people, principle is more important than a building;
He radically underestimates the level of disagreement he is facing both in Canada and world-wide;
He thinks ANiC leaders have lied to their parishioners;
He has completely lost touch with reality and just doesn’t get it.

Perhaps all of the above.

The Diocese of Niagara’s bishop, Michael Bird seemed to suffer from a similar delusion: he invited ANiC parishioners to return (well, except for me). Not much came of it, though: the diocese is occupying ANiC parish buildings on Sunday mornings, but there are no congregations. Even one of their own priests declared in a flash of uncharacteristic insight that the Diocese of Niagara parishes are not viable.

The celebrity abortionist

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Every day in the USA there are:

45 murders

3,500 abortions

134 deaths by traffic accident

1,200 deaths caused by smoking

13 deaths due to heroin overdose

And this year so far:
1 abortionist murdered.

Even though George Tiller’s murder was wrong, why is it getting all this attention? Rev. Katherine Ragsdale calls him a “saint and a martyr “, Katherine Jefferts-Schori allocates a moment of hand-wringing, Keith Olbermann says it is all Fox News’s fault.

What sort of society have we made for ourselves when the one murder of 2009 that garners such disproportionate attention from news media, pundits and churches is that of a man who made his living by killing babies. For all the cries of horror and outrage, Tiller’s murder was no worse than the 44 others that occurred on May 31, 2009.

Proclaiming the Gospel in Canada by fighting a rearguard action while in full retreat

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As the Diocese of New Westminster continues its court battle to gain possession of ANiC buildings, the decision was made at its synod to limit same-sex blessings to the 8 parishes that currently perform them:

For the foreseeable future, the blessing of the union of gay and lesbian Anglicans will continue to be limited to eight parishes in the diocese.

General Synod meets next year and will again take up the issue. The two archdeacons who proposed continuing the diocesan moratorium, Stephen Rowe and John Struthers, argued the Diocese of New Westminster should wait for the national synod’s action.

Noting that some other Canadian diocesan synods have voted to ask for a same sex blessing from their bishops, Struthers said: “Others have now joined us in running the race. We no longer run alone. The finish line is in sight.”

“I believe that we must stay the course of limiting the number of parishes authorized to bless same sex unions to allow the church beyond our diocesan borders to complete its work,” Struthers said.

The rectors of some parishes that opposed the blessings argued for continuation of the moratorium. The Rev. John Oakes of Holy Trinity Vancouver said the conditions that lead to the 2005 moratorium still apply.

The advocates of SSBs see this as a strategic move – a minor compromise – in the greater battle of making SSBs the norm in the ACoC; they are confident of victory.

It is sad that the withered remnant of Christianity that remains in the diocese New Westminster cannot come up with anything better than argue for the continuation of the moratorium on SSBs. They are in full retreat, seem resigned to eventual defeat and can think of nothing better than to attempt to delay the inevitable: Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to surrender.

The trial between New Westminster and ANiC continues

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Michael Ingham was on the stand yesterday and, according to the report on the diocesan website, he said something rather odd:

The bishop said his own view of homosexuality had been changing at this time. While he had originally been quite conservative on the issue, after 25 years in ministry, having met and counselled homosexual people, “I had come to regard them as normal human beings…

An extraordinary confession since it means that during the previous 25 years of ministry, Ingham must have viewed homosexuals as abnormal human beings. This is not the view of a conservative Christian, who would regard a homosexual urge as a temptation to be resisted not as an indicator that a person less than a normal human being. Ingham’s view for 25 years was – well, homophobic.

This paragraph towards the end is a stark admission of heterodoxy:

Rather, the brief says, Anglican tradition is “dynamic” and the interpretation of doctrine is shaped by the history, society, and culture of the day. “Doctrine cannot be frozen in a single historical form.”

This is a shameless admission that New Westminster has abandoned any pretence of its doctrine adhering to biblical principles: instead it is taken from history, society and the culture of the day. A brazen confession that the diocese is in hot pursuit of the vanities of an increasingly decadent civilisation, never quite catching up, and convincing no-one except a diminishing retinue of salaried help and liberal hangers-on. It is no longer a Christian church.