Open Rebellion in the Church of England

from Stand Firm by Greg Griffith

Peter Ould has a good take on the recent "declaration of war" by revisionists in the Church of England, who figure they need to get with the program and start putting some facts on the ground, seeing as how over here in the Episcopal Church the same strategy has resulted in agenda gains almost unimaginable 30 years ago.

Seems the liberals are tied in knots over Rowan Williams' recnt statement on the actions of TEC's General Convention. Peter writes:

Now we get to the nub of the complaint of Inclusive Church – the Archbishop’s unequivocal condemnation of sexual relationships outside of marriage. The best that can be offered against it is an almost decade old correspondence between Rowan and a psychiatrist. So if Rowan held a revisionist view in the year 2000, what has happened since?

Well chiefly, Rowan became Archbishop of Canterbury and started moving in theological circles beyond the ivory towers of western academia. He encountered the Global South and the millions and millions of Anglican Christians who dwarfed the tiny remnant churches in the UK and North America. He discovered that the mind of the church was on global scale conservative and orthodox. His ecumenical discussions with Rome and the Eastern Orthodox reminded him that the revisionist perspective was absolutely minuscule, that almost everywhere outside of the small liberal talking shops of the Western Church the understanding of the biblical doctrine of sexual expression was very clear, that the witness of the Holy Spirit through his church was unambiguous.

But as we have discussed before, when listening leads you to a result not shared by the revisionist lobby that isn’t counted as listening – it’s bigotry.


Indeed, and as Peter points out elsewhere, when it comes to gay activists in the church, "listening actually means 'hearing until you agree'."

Peter sees this - rightly, I think - as a battle for power with liberal activists in the clergy order pitting themselves against CoE bishops:

The revisionists will make ties with liberals in North America (which completely undermines any criticism of ACNA that they may have and also implies a direct criticism of the TEC leadership who are trying to litigate against similar practices in their jurisdictions) and they will push forward for “liturgical and sacramental recognition of the God-given love which enables many LGBT couples to thrive”, i.e. same-sex blessings.

This is a direct challenge to the Episcopal authority of the Church and nothing but a clear and firm response from the House of Bishops to it will do. Essentially, the revisionists like Giles Fraser have looked across the Atlantic, seen the effect that “facts on the ground” and a weak and impotent House of Bishops have produced and fancy their chances here. They are quite blatantly preparing to take on the church hierarchy, to challenge them to either do something about their gross misconduct (for that is what a clergyman living in a sexual relationship outside of marriage is doing) and to get them to either “martyr” them or cave in. They will literally out themselves (and others) and then wait to see what happens.


To Peter's question in his headline - "Are We About to Go to War?" - I would answer: Oh you've been at war, pal. A cold war, perhaps, that's just now turning into a real shooting war, but war all the same. Here's hoping that enough people in the right places in England understand that the time for negotiation is past, and that the liberals are out to win. Capitulation and compromise equals defeat, and defeat looks a whole lot like the chaos here in TEC. They won't be able to say they haven't been warned.