Friday, December 13, 2013

Fool Us Repeatedly, Shame On Us
By Bishop David Anderson

May our Lord bless you on this third Sunday in Advent.
The news from around the world is mixed on Anglican issues, but court decisions in the United States are continuing to abridge individual rights of freedom of religion and speech. First, from the Church of England, we understand from Ruth Gledhill that Dr. Jeffrey John, currently the Dean of St. Albans, has been passed over as a bishop appointee for the conservative, evangelical diocese of Exeter, and this is the tip-off that he has been deemed morally qualified to be shortlisted on episcopal appointments throughout the church. Gledhill reminds us that although John is in a civil partnership with the Rev. Grant Holmes, he is supposedly in a celibate status. I'm sorry, but the conservatives have been lied to by the ecclesiastical left for so long that my skepticism reaches to almost hysterical fits of laughter. Is that a "wink, wink" or does someone have an eye twitch? Fool us once, shame on you, fool us repeatedly, shame on us.
In the USA, Colorado administrative law judge Robert N. Spencer has told the Masterpiece Cakeshop, run by a Christian who believes in the Bible, that he must violate his own religious beliefs and freedom of expression in order to accommodate the wishes of a homosexual couple. The two men who were married in Massachusetts wanted a cake in Colorado to celebrate. The Christian baker will have to violate his own religious beliefs, pay fines and penalties or go out of business. Where do we get these judges? One man's Constitutional freedom of religious belief and speech has been suppressed by a judge in favor of non-constitutional, recently invented rights, asserting that doing unnatural things is not only all right, but protected behavior...Read more. 

Source: American Anglican Council

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