Wednesday, February 12, 2014



Stand Firm contributors are staying on the case of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent public statements lauding the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

The questions and debate about authorship and approval spilled over onto various Facebook threads.  Peter Ould, Anglican blogger and brother of SF’s own David, linked to an article he wrote, suggesting that the gushing statements were produced by members of the Archbishop’s staff and just got past him before he could review them and suggest changes.

A debate ensued on Peter’s FB thread, with several SF contributors weighing in.  The following exchange took place,

Yes, Stephen Trott, Presbyter in the Church of England, asserted that Sarah Hey’s points were just symptoms of overheated emotion.
But there’s more.  In for a Vicar, in for a Bishop,

As Sarah continues to debate, CofE Bishop Pete Broadbent comes in and joins the call for a “cold shower.”
Seriously, can any of you imagine what would happen to an Episcopal cleric (yours truly, for example), who tried to close debate with a lay woman by saying, “Go home, get undressed, stand under the cold shower and you’ll come back to your senses”?  How about if I posted a piece here on SF, analyzing some atrocious screed by the Presiding Bishop, or a lesbian seminary dean, or some other female church figure, asserting that her words were the result of, well, you know, hysteria?  Can you say “Title IV, Do Not Pass ‘Go,’ proceed to Reconciliation”?
The same people who demand that we have gentle dialogue about controversy, and that we speak in politically correct terms about this, that and the other apostate, heretical or otherwise anti-Christian manifestation of just about anything, will sink to the lowest sarcasm and dehumanization of those who challenge them.
Although Sarah’s FB debate opponents think that Americans just don’t get British methods of expression, I think we get this hypocrisy all too well.  To have been in The Episcopal Church for more than five minutes is to understand it intimately and painfully.  Certain people are due human “respect and dignity,” while those who dispute their opinions are not. 

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