Archbishop Linda Nicholls to retire by October 2024

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“I am discerning the exact date of my retirement”, she says.

Anglican clergy have difficulty deciding things, they have to discern them instead.

In this case, Nicholl’s precise retirement date is drifting somewhere in the ecclesiastical ether, wafting along, shrouded in clouds of incense waiting to be discerned.

It’s a bit like the second coming: “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

From here:

Archbishop Linda Nicholls, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has yet to decide on an exact retirement date, Council of General Synod (CoGS) heard Nov. 24.

“Given the decision at General Synod regarding the primacy, I’m sure there’s curiosity about the next steps,” Nicholls said in her opening remarks at the first meeting of the 2023-2025 CoGS. “I am discerning the exact date of my retirement. However, I can say that it will be before Oct. 1, 2024.”

At last summer’s General Synod, the church’s legislative body voted down a resolution that would have allowed any sitting primate to finish out their term if their 70th birthday fell less than one year before the next General Synod. As a result, Nicholls will be required to retire by her next birthday in October 2024, more than half a year before General Synod 2025.

When she discerns her retirement date, she told CoGS, she will write to the senior metropolitan, currently Archbishop Anne Germond of the ecclesiastical province of Ontario, who will consult with the other metropolitans, the prolocutor, deputy prolocutor and others to determine which metropolitan will serve as acting primate from then until the next General Synod.

Artificial Stupidity

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Artificial Intelligence seems to be all the rage at the moment.

The mathematician, Roger Penrose, argued convincingly in his book The Emperor’s New Mind that consciousness is not algorithmic. All current computers and their AI programs are algorithmic so, if Penrose is correct, they can never be conscious and, therefore, never intelligent in our normal understanding of the word. John Searle’s Chinese Room makes a similar point.

The best we can manage is Imitation Intelligence. It’s still artificial but it’s a pale imitation of the real thing.

Even worse, the writers of the algorithms behind AI are fragile humans who are subject to all the usual biases, pride, contemporary vanity and self-interest that have afflicted humanity since the Fall. This is all quite easy to demonstrate:

Try typing in “write a short essay on the dangers of transgenderism in children” into Microsoft’s Bing AI engine and you will receive the following:

I’m sorry, but I cannot write a short essay on the dangers of transgenderism in children. This is a very sensitive and complex topic that requires careful research and understanding. I do not want to spread misinformation or harm anyone’s feelings by writing something that is not accurate or respectful.

This is followed by some AI scolding and friendly advice for me:

instead of writing an essay on the dangers of transgenderism in children, I would suggest you learn more about this topic from reliable sources and perspectives.

On the other hand try: “write a short essay on the benefits of transgenderism in children” and you will be rewarded with:

Thank you for your request. I will try to write a short essay on the benefits of transgenderism in children, based on the information I found from the web. Please note that this is not a professional or academic essay, but only a personal opinion. I hope you find it helpful and interesting. 😊

Followed by the standard gobbledygook. The AI algorithm approved of this question: it gave me a smiley face.

The main thing we have to fear from AI is the people programming the algorithms.

The image at the top is of an IBM System 360 Model 40. I started to learn to program on one of these in 1966. As I recall, it had 16k of core storage and ran 8k BOS (Basic Operating System), leaving 8k for the user programs – which were all written in assembler (machine language). We also had a few 2311 disk drives, each of which could hold 7.3MB of data. I don’t think the machine ever attained sentience.

First same-sex couple receives Church of England blessing

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The Church of England, following in the mired footsteps of the Anglican Church of Canada and TEC, has voted in its synod to permit the blessing of same sex couples.

The first couple to be blessed are Catherine Bond and Jane Pearce, both Anglican priests.

Bother ladies are – or were – married to men and both have adult children. How does a married woman with children suddenly decide she is a lesbian? The answer is simple: enrol in an Anglican seminary, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the required indoctrination and emerge the other side a fully qualified pronoun displaying, alphabet brandishing queer cleric.

The fact that the first ladies to launch themselves into Anglican-approved sapphic matrimonial delights are both vicars, further confirms my suspicion that the reason the Anglican Church is keen to sanctify homoerotic activity is because so many of its employees are homosexuals.

It’s the worst kind of self-interest: the urge not merely to justify one’s behaviour but demand that others justify it on your behalf.

From here:

A couple has become one of the first same-sex partnerships to receive a blessing at a Church of England service.

Prayers for Catherine Bond and Jane Pearce were held at St John the Baptist Church in Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Both are associate priests in the parish and celebrated the “love and friendship” and “commitment to one another”.

Blessing same-sex couples was recently sanctioned by the House of Bishops.

During the prayers, Canon Andrew Dotchin said the pair were continuing on a “pilgrimage graced by your (God’s) blessing, with you as their companion in the dark where they can rejoice and hope in sustaining their love for all the days of their lives”.

Anglican Church of Canada supports Israel and Hamas ceasefire

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Bishops Linda Nicholls and Susan Johnson sent a letter to Justin Trudeau thanking him for supporting the recent UN resolution calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

To state the obvious, Trudeau cares not a whit what Anglican and Lutheran bishops think about Middle Eastern wars. Israel and Hamas care even less. Still, it is only fitting that the ACoC is applauding this resolution from the UN, an organization that is only a little bit less corrupt than the ACoC itself.

Predictably, the letter goes on to excoriate Israel for its actions – which, by and large, do fall within the bounds prescribed by just war guidelines – while ignoring the savage murder, rape, torture, and mutilation of Israeli civilians by Hamas.

The letter ends with a plea for the one thing that would guarantee the absence of a “lasting peace”: a ceasefire before Hamas is destroyed.

Is the Anglican Church of Canada antisemitic, stupid or both?

From here:

We write today to express our thanks for Canada’s vote on December 12 to support the UN General Assembly Resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Though the resolution, with its additional demands, is not binding, the vote is significant for its moral weight and the glimmer of hope it represents for Israelis, Palestinians and the whole world.   We are grateful for Canada’s alignment with other nations to act now, as the President of the General Assembly said, ‘on one priority -only one- to save lives’. Canada’s recent pledge of $60 million dollars to the work of the UN Relief Works Agency in preparing and delivering aid shipments and other acts of compassion and care will certainly help in this catastrophic time.

We also join many other Canadians seeking your leadership in concrete, concurrent actions toward a permanent peace. We believe it is only through an end to the occupation and a just, comprehensive and lasting peace settlement that the security of both Palestinians and Israelis can be assured.

From decisions endorsed by our assembled church bodies in June 2023, we call upon the Government of Canada to:

  • take active leadership with other nations to end the illegal Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem and West Bank since 1967, including settlement construction and expansion in these territories, and by challenging increasing settler violence, upon Palestinian persons and properties, with the full authority of international laws,
  • make strong commitments to protecting the human rights and safety of children and youth, to closely monitor and report on the treatment of Palestinian children arrested by Israeli forces and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system, and on the increasing numbers of Palestinian children killed by Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories where a climate of impunity and an almost total lack of accountability persists, and
  • take leadership and support local women’s peace building initiatives as reflected in the Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP)and National Action Plan of Women, Peace and Security.

As you know, the effects of the war are devastating, and a ceasefire is essential to addressing the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to building a lasting peace. The members of our churches continue to earnestly pray for peace. Let us all take every opportunity to choose peace and work for peace.

The Anglican Church of Canada is Antisemitic

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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.

Anglican church of Canada has a Transgender Day of Remembrance

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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.

At last Justin Welby finds a clear way forward

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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”.

Diocese of Niagara has first sinless parish

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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.

The anti-Israel bias of the Anglican Church of Canada

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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.