OVERREACT MUCH, RUTH?
Roman Catholics? I know you have history, apostolic succession and, well, a coherent theology behind you but in this particular area, you people are way out of your league. Orthodox Christianity? Please. And as far as Presbyterians and other Protestants are concerned, take your stapled clerks or whatever they’re called and get out of my face.
Because nobody and I mean
Those of you who’ve followed this story for a while know that the good Doctor brilliantly made her considerable reputation on this undeniable and fundamental law of the universe (if you don’t know that, click here, here, hereand here). And with the Church of England General Synod’s recent narrow defeat of a measure allowing women bishops, we have a whole new demonstration of it.
If Paul Vale is right, this vote was THE SINGLE WORST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO BRITISH CHRISTIANITY!!
Instead, the verdict exposes the CofE for exactly what it is – a lumbering, divided, grotesque whose lay members would prefer to see it wither away rather than make any accommodation with progress.
Perhaps nothing could have stopped the decline of the Church; there was no future salvation for the CofE. However, by retaining its adherence to barbaric Bronze Age doctrines that demote women to second-class citizens, the emasculation is nearly complete.
Yes – the Church of Henry has been expiring slowly and in agony for many years, but by voting against female ordination, Tuesday’s ballot may well have killed it off, pushing the spear into the side of the half dead institution as it hung limply from its cross.
Okay. Rowan Williams, who apparently was counting on winning this vote to achieve a legacy of sorts, now gets to wonder where he’ll end up on the Worst Archbishops of Canterbury of All Time list.
The Church of England has “a lot of explaining to do” to the church and to wider society after its rejection of legislation that would have allowed women to become bishops, the outgoing archbishop of Canterbury has said.
In a strongly worded speech to the General Synod on Wednesday, Rowan Williams warned that the failure of the vote in the house of laity on Tuesday had made the church’s governing body appear “wilfully blind” to the priorities of secular society.
“We have – to put it very bluntly – a lot of explaining to do,” he said. “Whatever the motivations for voting yesterday … the fact remains that a great deal of this discussion is not intelligible to our wider society. Worse than that, it seems as if we are wilfully blind to some of the trends and priorities of that wider society.”
So that whole “in the world but not of the world” business is basically dead, then? Good to know. Smug alert: in terms that should be familiar by now, Apostasy West’s Susan Russell thinks the Church of England just threw away a golden opportunity.
And I had the same reaction to today’s goings on across the pond. Seriously? Because at the end of the day the victims in this sad, fear based decision are not the women whose vocations have once again been reduced to bargaining chips in a game of church politics or even the conservatives who feel marginalized because of their increasingly minority position.
The real victims are the tender souls yearning for spiritual community and for the Good News of the Gospel and hearing instead from the Church yet-another-reason not to be a Christian. Today’s decision was inward looking, short-sighted and a deep disappointment to all who yearn for a robust proclamation of the inclusive love of God made manifest in Christ Jesus.
Right. The only thing keeping Britons from flooding into Church of England parishes from one end of that country to the other is the fact that the C of E dropped the ball. Once the first female British priest receives a pointy hat and hooked stick, prominent British atheists like Ricky Gervais, Philip Pullman and Richard Dawkins will convert to Anglican Christianity at once, Ireland will convert en masse to Anglicanism and a golden age will dawn in the British Isles. Sounds plausible.
Even people I thought were level-headed went off the deep end. Ruth Gledhill tweeted the following.
You can see how deeply Episcopalianism has taken root in Britain. There’s the same sense of whiny entitlement, the same tantrumish tendency to want what you want RIGHT NOW and the same tendency to view any setback, however small, as a Particularly Grave Crisis. They’re teeing them up for you, Doc.
Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest this. The Church of England will have female bishops. And it’s not going to remotely matter. If anything, that institution’s slow-motion suicide will pick up speed.
Because nobody and I mean
NOBODY!!
goes more emotionally bat crap over minor setbacks than liberal Anglicans.Those of you who’ve followed this story for a while know that the good Doctor brilliantly made her considerable reputation on this undeniable and fundamental law of the universe (if you don’t know that, click here, here, hereand here). And with the Church of England General Synod’s recent narrow defeat of a measure allowing women bishops, we have a whole new demonstration of it.
If Paul Vale is right, this vote was THE SINGLE WORST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO BRITISH CHRISTIANITY!!
Instead, the verdict exposes the CofE for exactly what it is – a lumbering, divided, grotesque whose lay members would prefer to see it wither away rather than make any accommodation with progress.
Perhaps nothing could have stopped the decline of the Church; there was no future salvation for the CofE. However, by retaining its adherence to barbaric Bronze Age doctrines that demote women to second-class citizens, the emasculation is nearly complete.
Yes – the Church of Henry has been expiring slowly and in agony for many years, but by voting against female ordination, Tuesday’s ballot may well have killed it off, pushing the spear into the side of the half dead institution as it hung limply from its cross.
Okay. Rowan Williams, who apparently was counting on winning this vote to achieve a legacy of sorts, now gets to wonder where he’ll end up on the Worst Archbishops of Canterbury of All Time list.
The Church of England has “a lot of explaining to do” to the church and to wider society after its rejection of legislation that would have allowed women to become bishops, the outgoing archbishop of Canterbury has said.
In a strongly worded speech to the General Synod on Wednesday, Rowan Williams warned that the failure of the vote in the house of laity on Tuesday had made the church’s governing body appear “wilfully blind” to the priorities of secular society.
“We have – to put it very bluntly – a lot of explaining to do,” he said. “Whatever the motivations for voting yesterday … the fact remains that a great deal of this discussion is not intelligible to our wider society. Worse than that, it seems as if we are wilfully blind to some of the trends and priorities of that wider society.”
So that whole “in the world but not of the world” business is basically dead, then? Good to know. Smug alert: in terms that should be familiar by now, Apostasy West’s Susan Russell thinks the Church of England just threw away a golden opportunity.
And I had the same reaction to today’s goings on across the pond. Seriously? Because at the end of the day the victims in this sad, fear based decision are not the women whose vocations have once again been reduced to bargaining chips in a game of church politics or even the conservatives who feel marginalized because of their increasingly minority position.
The real victims are the tender souls yearning for spiritual community and for the Good News of the Gospel and hearing instead from the Church yet-another-reason not to be a Christian. Today’s decision was inward looking, short-sighted and a deep disappointment to all who yearn for a robust proclamation of the inclusive love of God made manifest in Christ Jesus.
Right. The only thing keeping Britons from flooding into Church of England parishes from one end of that country to the other is the fact that the C of E dropped the ball. Once the first female British priest receives a pointy hat and hooked stick, prominent British atheists like Ricky Gervais, Philip Pullman and Richard Dawkins will convert to Anglican Christianity at once, Ireland will convert en masse to Anglicanism and a golden age will dawn in the British Isles. Sounds plausible.
Even people I thought were level-headed went off the deep end. Ruth Gledhill tweeted the following.
The Church of England has forfeited right to speak on assisted dying – because it has just committed suicide, assisted by #synodMy response was the title of this post.
— Ruth Gledhill(@RuthieGledhill) November 20, 2012
You can see how deeply Episcopalianism has taken root in Britain. There’s the same sense of whiny entitlement, the same tantrumish tendency to want what you want RIGHT NOW and the same tendency to view any setback, however small, as a Particularly Grave Crisis. They’re teeing them up for you, Doc.
Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest this. The Church of England will have female bishops. And it’s not going to remotely matter. If anything, that institution’s slow-motion suicide will pick up speed.
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