{"id":22909,"date":"2015-05-03T22:06:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T02:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/?p=22909"},"modified":"2015-05-04T15:19:46","modified_gmt":"2015-05-04T19:19:46","slug":"the-anglican-church-of-canadas-marriage-canon-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/the-anglican-church-of-canadas-marriage-canon-report\/","title":{"rendered":"The Anglican Church of Canada’s marriage canon report"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2014, the Anglican Church of Canada set up a commission to consider whether the marriage canon should be changed to include marrying same sex couples. The chair of the commission announced<\/a> that \u201ceveryone [in the commission] has an open mind\u201d.<\/em> It’s hard to believe, I know, but some<\/a> were suspicious of this declaration of openness; after all, in Angli-speak, an \u201copen mind\u201d is code for \u201cwe\u2019ve made up our minds but we want to lull the gullible into a false sense of security\u201d<\/em>. \u201cOpen mind\u201d is just so much more succinct.<\/p>\n

To bolster the fa\u00e7ade, the commission invited<\/a> Anglicans to submit their opinions and many have done just that<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now the report is ready for at least internal consumption, it appears that the sceptics were right. Bishop Linda Nicholls has clearly stated that the commission did not try to determine whether there is any Biblical or theological warrant for marrying same-sex couples. Its task, she says<\/a>, was to squeeze from the Biblical texts a justification for marrying same sex-couples whether one exists there or not: Anglican sophistry at its finest. Apparently, this revelation is \u201cstill not being heard\u201d. This can only mean that the level of deceit has reached such proportions that the few remaining members of the ACoC have turned off their hearing aids in disgust.<\/p>\n

My emphasis:<\/p>\n

Bishop Linda Nicholls, commission member, spoke about the content of the report and initially about the commission\u2019s mandate. \u201cOur task was to provide the support for a change to the marriage canon. It wasn\u2019t a debate whether a change was necessary or right to do, that will be the determination of General Synod,\u201d<\/strong> she said. \u201cIt is a fine point but it is one we have to keep telling people because it is still not being heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report will include a consideration of the Solemn Declaration of 1893 (which established the Anglican Church of Canada), a consideration of the biblical and theological rationale for same-sex marriage<\/strong>, the wording of an amendment to the marriage canon to permit same-sex marriage, including a conscience clause. \u201cWe gathered a legal opinion on the conscience clause and how it might be worded so that it could provide the space for all members of the Anglican Church of Canada if it this were too pass,\u201d said Nicholls. \u201cThe largest section will be the biblical and theological rationale<\/strong>,\u201d she added.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite protestations<\/a> that there are more important factors in being an Anglican than sex, Fred Hiltz has finally admitted that sex really is the uppermost thing on the minds of pastorally sensitive clergy. We all knew that. Even Michael Coren<\/a> knows that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s churning in my gut and rumbling through my soul is that this matter is one of the most critical and crucial matters before our church\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2014, the Anglican Church of Canada set up a commission to consider whether the marriage canon should be changed to include marrying same sex couples. The chair of the commission announced that \u201ceveryone [in the commission] has an open … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2032,1793],"class_list":["post-22909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-anglican-church-of-canada","tag-anglican-church-of-canada","tag-commission-on-the-marriage-canon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anglicansamizdat.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}