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Yeah, right!
Globe and Mail religion writer Michael Valpy hoists his partisan flag high. From the opening sentence of today’s column, it is crystal clear which side in the Anglican affray he deems worthy of support. No pretence of journalistic objectivity here.
The spiritual leader of Canada's 800,000 Anglicans warned them yesterday they face the same risk as their U.S. counterparts of being booted out of the world Anglican Communion unless they slam their church doors against full acceptance of homosexuals.
The Anglican primates said nothing about slamming any doors on anyone. Everyone is welcome to hear the gospel proclaimed at any Anglican church (or, at least, those that still do that sort of thing). The issue, of course, is whether a favoured group of sinners is to be celebrated and/or elevated to leadership without a prior credible profession of repentance and faith.
Predictably, one of the chief instigators of the Current Unpleasantness doesn’t like the primates’ communiqué.
Bishop Michael Ingham of B.C.'s Anglican Diocese of New Westminster where same-sex blessings are authorized, predicted in an interview yesterday that the primates' action would "further the disaster" for the Christian church in the West.
What disaster might the bishop be referring to? The precipitous declines in Anglican membership, attendance, and giving? Can’t be: Bishop Ingham himself is on record attributing those to falling birth rates, so the disaster he speaks of must lie elsewhere. (The attribution is erroneous, but that’s beside the point here.) Perhaps, in Bp Ingham’s eyes, the “disaster” is threatened budget cuts to Anglican Journal? Or could it be increasing numbers of Anglican Church of Canada bishops? Who knows?
Mr Valpy’s column includes several unattributed nasty attacks against certain primates. (Guess which ones.) Undisclosed sources call the Tanzania summit “venomous”. And then there’s this:
Senior Canadian clerics, speaking for background, suggested that the targeting of the Episcopal Church was largely fuelled by anti-Americanism. They also noted that Global South Anglican leaders are getting money from rich conservative Episcopalians to intervene in the U.S. church's affairs.
I’ve been following the Anglican dispute for a good while now, and I’ve never before seen anti-American prejudice suggested as a root of alleged animosity. Who are those “senior Canadian clerics” anyway? And what does “speaking for background” mean, exactly? It looks like it’s just cover for making anonymous personal attacks.
The charge that sinister but unspecified “rich conservative Episcopalians” are funding the whole thing is an irrelevant ad hominem argument. The cowardly mysterious Canadian clerics appear unable to disprove the arguments brought by the primates and so must resort to innuendo and character assassination.
Archbishop Hutchison, the Canadian primate, reportedly threatened to talk about the illicit blessings of same-sex unions and acceptance of gay priests in the British, Australian and other churches if the Canadian church came under attack.
First I’ve heard of that, too, and it strikes me as an empty threat. My response—if per impossibile I were a primate—would be, “Bring it on”, or words to that effect.
Archbishop Hutchison said in an interview after the meeting with his church's newspaper, The Anglican Journal, that the primates' action on the U.S. church is something Canadian Anglicans "will have to look at seriously."
As both Binky and I pointed out yesterday, it’s big of our primate to suggest taking the communiqué seriously, given that he signed it.
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[...] Episcopal Church asked to “slam doors” [...]
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[...] Episcopal Church asked to “slam doors” [...]
[...] Episcopal Church asked to “slam doors” [...]
[...] What a contrast between that clear-minded and forthright statement and the wishy-washy pronouncements issued by some Anglican church leaders. [...]
[...] Along the way, Michael Valpy keeps intact his impeccable record as an objective reporter of religious affairs. [A]nti-gay primates — who are in the majority — have made clear that no church that disagrees with them belongs in the Anglican Communion. [...]
[...] Retired Anglican archbishops support same-sex blessings By StatGuy Six retired Anglican Church of Canada archbishops have released a statement expressing their hope that next week’s General Synod will vote to authorise same-sex blessings. The favourite mouthpiece reporter of the liberal Anglican elite, Michael “no-pretence-of-objectivity” Valpy, has the story. As Canada's Anglican Church prepares for its historic – and possibly schismatic – decision on blessing homosexual unions, six of its most senior clerics Thursday called for a yes vote that would show “justice, compassion and hope for all God's people.” [...]
[...] A rather tendentious perspective on the outcome, but that’s what we’ve come to expect from Mr Valpy. Anyway, historically, the Anglican Church of Canada is an episcopal church, so the bishops have that prerogative. Or, at least, they used to. Many of us wish they still did. [...]
[...] Another online poll gone horribly wrong By StatGuy The pro-homosexual agenda of Anglican Bishop Michael Ingham has received a ton of free publicity from Globe and Mail reporter Michael Valpy in recent months, but the newspaper’s readers are not fooled. This Globe online poll was taken after General Synod concluded. [...]
[...] Churches that follow bad advice hit the skids By StatGuy Liberal journalists can be so entertaining. They presume to hector churches on how best to vitiate compromise update their theology. (Anybody we know come to mind?) Keep up with the times, you laggards, or you’ll become irrelevant. Everyone who’s anyone will stop paying attention to what your church has to say. [...]