"Gay" conquest of Anglicanism continues.

Toronto -- The doctrinal distintegration of Anglican Christianity at the hands of sodomites progresses steadily. Since the autumn of 2003 when the Episcopalians of New Hampshire chose a "gay" man, Gene Robinson, to be their bishop, Anglican ministers in North America and Great Britain have gone ahead with blessing "gay" unions

Early in June, 2004, the Anglican Synod of Canada affirmed the integrity and "sanctity" of same-sex relationships. This, one member of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Lambeth Commission studying the matter said, puts same-sex unions on a par with marriage and pre-empts the discussion on its doctrinal status

On July 1, 2004, same-sex blessings became official in the state of Vermont following the approval of Bishop Thomas Ely (National Post, June 19). In England, Canon Jeffrey John who has lived with his "gay" partner for over 20 years and whose nomination as Bishop of Reading had to be cancelled because of protests in July 2003, was appointed Dean of Westminster Cathedral.

On July B the Rector of St. George's Episcopal Church in Glenn Dale, Maryland, had his "union" with a live-in partner publicly blessed in the church. The Bishop of Washington, D.C., John Chane, presided (Religion & Ethics Newsletter, July 3, 2004).

Back in Canada, Quebec City Westminster, BC, the four ministers who had opposed Bishop Michael Ingham's promotion of church-approved sodomy since 2002 resigned in May 2004 and they and their parishoners have joined the Anglican Communion of Canada, another addition to the already existing splinter groups who are all trying to preserve "traditional" Christian moral teachings within an Anglican framework.

Meanwhile, other Anglicans in Canada, Australia, and elsewhere have found peace of mind and heart by joining the Catholic Church. The Anglican Church of Canada as a whole pays no attention to any of this however, not even to the African and Asian communities which have expelled North America from their Communion. Needless to say, African communities themselves are not united.

Retired Capetown Archbishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa, for example, is full of laughter and jolliness. Visiting Toronto for the July 13, 2004, funeral of Ted Scott, the former Anglican primate of Canada (1971-1986), Nobel Peace prize winner Tutu, 73, praised the deceased. Scott was much concerned with fighting apartheid but also pushed for women's ordination and the acceptance of active homosexuals in the ranks of the faithful and the clergy. Said Tutu: rather than bickering about human sexuality they should be concerned about dehumanizing poverty, the crisis of AIDS, unnecessary war, and the "obscenity of spending huge sums on defence" (Star, July 14).

Comment

Tutu's remarks are clever No doubt he believes what he says; yet his words cover up a devastatingly false logic.

Everyone should be concerned about poverty, war, and military spending, but we cannot do so by ignoring sin. John the Baptist came to call the Israelites to personal repentance. Jesus came not to reform the social order but to forgive sin and then told people to "sin no more." Social disorder is the consequence of personal sin, not the other way around. The homosexual lifestyle is unacceptable because it is contrary to God's will and God's created nature. Its result will be new forms of social disorder, particularly the assault on the social institution of marriage.

With respect to the Anglican faithful who are battling "liberalism," they have our admiration and support. The quarterly periodical The Rock (Editor: Right Rev. R. C. Crawley, 10989 Hill Crescent, Ladysmith, BC, V9G 2A3) expresses this battle very well. Yet at the same time we see no prospect that their former church community will revoke its present stance, and neither as do they. Matters have gone too far and--as we have said earlier--Anglicanism today is further away from Catholicism than forty years ago. Has not the time come for orthodox believers to consider a more drastic and derisive solution and abandon the band-aid of splinter groups?