Only Connect

Covenant: briefing paper for General Synod February 2009

2009-02-12T09:26:00.000+01:00

I've put on the MCU website a briefing paper on the Covenant for today's General Synod debate.

It assumes readers have GS 1716, the official briefing paper, available here via Thainking Anglicans.

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Bored of liberal Christianity

2008-12-20T14:02:00.002+01:00

There's a interesting debate entitled Bored of liberal Christianity on the Ship of Fools website. MCU gets a passing reference.

Thanks to Dave Marshall, MCU membership administrator and a shipmate on the Ship of Fools.

Assisted dying

2008-12-15T19:55:00.005+01:00

Craig Ewert

The death of Craig Ewert broadcast on Sky TV brought the issue of assisted dying to the top of the media agenda, briefly.

Naturally the media turn to religious leaders for comment on moral social questions and, equally naturally, most comment is socially conservative. MCU takes a careful view but has come down on the side of decriminalising assisted dying with strong safeguards.

From Ekklesia

The Modern Churchpeople's Union (MCU), a historic society to promote open theological debate within the Church of England, was one of the religious bodies to come out broadly in favour of Lord Joffe's previous Bill.

In a detailed submission on MCU's behalf to the Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill in 2006, Professor Paul Badham, who holds the Chair for Theology and Religious Studies in the University of Wales, argued for a 'good death' as a legitimate Christian option and understanding.

He wrote: "It is interesting that, though historically Jesus died a cruel death at the hands of his enemies, the fourth Gospel presents it as his own choice: 'No one takes it from me. I lay it down of my own accord.' From a Christian perspective death is not viewed as a disaster, but as gateway to fuller life. In the early Church this was very firmly believed."

Dr Badham went on to argue that "before St. Augustine changed Christian attitudes to this question, many of the early Christians continued to hold the stoic understanding of suicide as 'a noble deat'. The beliefs of the early Christians provide an interesting counter balance to those of their successors today who give priority to the prolongation of life at all costs."

However MCU said at the time that legislation on the matter needed to be very carefully controlled and monitored, arguing against a time limit on any declaration of intent which ìmay put pressure on a patient to ask for implementation of assisted suicide before that date.

New MCU Administrator

2008-12-08T20:41:00.001+01:00

We are pleased to announce that Christine Alker has been appointed the post of Administrator She started work on 1st December.

Christine is administror of the influential conferences of the Centre for Radical Christianity in Sheffield.

We look forward to benefiting from her skills and experience. She joins us at a time when we are expanding our activities, and we are delighted to welcome her into our team.

As Administrator Christine is now the first point of contact for enquirers. The email address office@modchurchunion.org and the telephone number 0845 345 1909 are now both directed to her.

Her postal address will bethe new MCU Office, but at the time of writing she is about to move house and we do not know what this new address will be.

Jonathan Clatworthy remains General Secretary. He still lives at 9 Westward View, Liverpool L17 7EE, so post for the MCU can still be sent to this address. However my email and landline number have changed. I can be emailed on jonathan@clatworthy.org. The landline is 0151 727 6291, aka 0845 345 1908.

Talking across the boundaries

2008-11-20T20:38:00.003+01:00

Extract from:
A foot in many camps - a reply to Stephen Kuhrt
by Chris Sugden in the Church of England Newspaper November 21 2008
Anglican Mainstream

Sugden discusses the flavours of Anglican Evangelicals in the light of the falling out at the recent NEAC gathering (Thinking Anglicans and here).

The article includes:

As a further illustration of this problem of identity, consider the
public meeting on July 12 in the Rochester Diocese arranged by Affirming
Catholicism, in which Fulcrum took part. The aim of the meeting was
"Exploring what Diocesan and National Groups have to offer to the life and work
of the Church of England at this present critical time". Questions to be
considered were: Why so many groups that encourage us to belong? What do they
stand for? Where is the unity . . . and the diversity? Half hour
presentations were made by: Fulcrum (Graham Kings); Inclusive Church
(Erica Wooff); Modern Churchpeople’s Union (Richard Hall); Changing Attitude
(Sue Brewer); Affirming Catholicism; WATCH - Women And The Church (Charles
Read); Society of Catholic Priests (Michael Skinner). What do
these groups have in common and what differentiates them?
The meeting was reported in the Rochester Diocesan Link (October 2008) thus: "The debate ranged across subjects such as the ability to talk to one another across difference and to explore what binds us even when we are sharply divided. This includes debates about Covenant and questions around sexuality, ascertaining the right balance and looking at points of controversy, and having regard to the Gospel, the Bible, the Church and the Communion; it also means affirming the Church’s
mission, in obedience to Holy Scripture, to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ
afresh in every generation. Most groups did not want to advocate a slavish
reading of Scripture; some groups were clearly campaigning groups, others saw
themselves as support organisations, yet others as doing the research which
campaigning groups could use – but why not look them up on their varying
websites?" ENDS
I could find no report of the Conference on the Fulcrum
website so do not know if Fulcrum agreed with any or none of these statements,
nor whether all supporters of Fulcrum would share the same view of them. So
there may be varieties of the Open Evangelical stream: some having common ground with the Modern Churchman’s Union which that same month had hosted Gene Robinson as a speaker. And some who do not.

Pluralist on MCU

2008-11-15T09:54:00.004+01:00

Pluralist, in his thoughtful and informed way, has commented on the latest MCU press release (below).

In terms of the shifting balance of church party politics he has a point: it's very hard to judge how things will go. If GAFCON or women bishops result in the conservatives leaving the CofE (Anglo-Catholics or Evangelicals) the consequences will take a generation to become visible. For liberals there are two separable questions. The more important is, what will be the place of the Broad Church inheritance? And also, what will the future be for the MCU?

My guess is that the Broad Church has a healthy future. That is, to be exact, there will continue to be those who value the breadth and inclusivity of the Church of England. They may very well look different to their predecessors ('broad' is a relative term and as dependent on those it opposes as on its own self-definition) but they will claim Broad Church inheritance in any case: history is written backwards.

I'm not sure about 'suffering' from the dual role of the Broad Church. MCU has a valuable role as a home, permanent or respite, for those who find themselves located with (for the most part) evangelical congreagations but who are travelling away into a more liberal theological position. This is important but secondary, a consequence of its primary focus on promoting theological reflection and ecclesial action from liberal tenets.

But I agree whole heartedly about the difficulty of leading the organization - and not just for its President, Bishop Saxbee. Turbulent times cannot be kept outside. Each of the present associations of clergy will either have to redefine themselves and their relations to external change or they will shrivel like grapes to raisins. I also guess that those which survive will do so by sustaining a relatively high degree of flexibility, internal fluidity and thus risk-taking (in the small, risk averse world of ecclesiastical politics).

We shall see. But the MCU has more life in it yet.

Paul Bagshaw

The release was also picked up at Episcopal Café.

defend diversity, oppose covenant

2008-11-13T19:50:00.000+01:00

ENGLAND: Liberal Anglicans defend diversity, oppose covenant

By Mary Taylor, November 12, 2008

[Episcopal News Service] The council of the Modern Churchpeople's Union (MCU) met November 6 in London's Docklands to develop a strategy for the defense of liberal theology.

Firmly opposed to the proposed Anglican covenant, the group plans to extend its network beyond England, improving links with the Episcopal Church, building branches in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, recruiting a range of ages and denominations, and increasing support among bishops and academic theologians.

The council members, many of them Church of England clergy, agreed that the organization will be re-branded, re-named, and re-constituted to reflect more fully its openness and diversity. Furthermore, the group decided that an administrator should be appointed and a system of working groups set up.

The Rev. John Plant, a parish priest in Warwickshire who chaired the MCU meeting, was joined by most of the council's 32 members, including the Rev. Jonathan Clatworthy, a Liverpool-based priest and MCU general secretary, and Professor Paul Badham, professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Wales and MCU vice president.

Founded in 1898, the organization was originally named The Churchmen's Union for the Advancement of Liberal Thought. This soon became The Churchmen's Union, then The Modern Churchmen's Union. The change to 'Churchpeople's' was an inevitable, though arguably belated, innovation in the 1980s.

The original aims and objectives -- "to unite [those] who consider that dogma is capable of reinterpretation and restatement in accordance with the clearer perception of truth attained by discovery and research" -- are consistent with MCU's view 110 years on. Asked after the November 6 meeting how he would like to see MCU develop, Clatworthy said, "It is important to offer an account of Christianity which is consistent with modern scientific understandings of the world, open to new insights and constructive in its social and moral judgments."

In July, MCU members welcomed Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as a guest speaker at their conference, "Saving the Soul of Anglicanism."

Among MCU's many supporters is the Most Rev. Barry Morgan, Archbishop of the Church in Wales, who chaired the July conference in Hoddesdon, England, and is one of the organization's vice presidents. Speakers included the Rev. Canon Professor Marilyn McCord Adams, of Oxford University; the Rev. Canon Dr. Charlotte Methuen, of Oxford University; Bishop Michael Jackson of Clogher, Church of Ireland; Bishop Frank Griswold, 25th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church; and Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana.

Griswold told the July gathering that the search for truth is a communal one, and that "the Holy Spirit can do different things in different places."

Mwamba spoke of "delusions of grandeur" among some of the African primates and noted that many church members throughout the continent had not been consulted about issues of human sexuality, and were "frankly not bothered with the debate."

"Some of our primates act like ecclesiastical Mugabes," he said, making reference to Zimbabwe's tyrannical president who has led his country into a humanitarian crisis and financial collapse.

Speaking in opposition of the Anglican covenant, proposed as a way to maintain unity amid difference throughout the communion, Adams told the July gathering, "There is no single version of humanity within the church."

Badham, in his MCU booklet Liberal Anglicanism, argues that the church seems willing to "abandon two centuries of liberal scholarship and -- in the case of homosexuality -- to return to an ethic based on biblical taboo."

Further information about MCU is available here.

-- Mary Taylor is a freelance journalist based in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Science and Religion

2008-09-12T09:27:00.003+02:00

From Pluralist's Anglican Collider

Some particles are fired anti-clockwise, representing a backward motion. These include the Fulcrum particle, the GAFCON particle, the Reform particle and the Anglican Mainstream particle. Although they have different characteristics, they tend to stick together in part or whole, although the Fulcrum particle is a little more ambiguous and rather small if apparently influential. Some particles are more destructive than others. Other particles are fired clockwise, and these include the Inclusive Church particle, Affirming Catholicism particle and the Modern Churchpeople's Union particle. Again these tend to come together, so have to be fired separately at the other lot. Some of these have characteristics of weak energy, and need more effort to have any impact. In addition there are a number of free radicals, such as the Sea of Faith particle, and there are even some that seem increasingly detached and spiralling out of control, such as the Forward in Faith particle that finds some peculiar particles for interaction, such as the GAFCON particle despite obvious incompatibilities.

MCU Conference photos

2008-08-18T16:20:00.012+02:00

Some photos from the MCU Conference in July:
Trevor Mwamba
& Barry Morgan
the lecture hall worship
in the garden
the lounge

Holding together but going nowhere

2008-08-18T13:58:00.005+02:00

Jean Mayland

Jean is pictured here at the MCU stall at the Lambeth Conference

This is how I would describe the state of the Anglican Communion in the light of the summary of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s final address and the extracts from the final reflections given in the Church Times of 8 August. The Church Times also gave some space to the blogs of some bishops and the spoken views of others. On the whole they reported favourably on the Conference although some expressed the view that they did not really know exactly what had been decided.

How did it all feel from the point of view of MCU? It was MCU’s first experience of being at Lambeth with a stall and a fringe event. For me personally this was the third Lambeth conference, which I had attended in one capacity or another. The greatest difference was the lack of openness and the security. The press were not allowed to go to worship or plenaries, which is most unusual at international gatherings. We had to go to endless trouble to obtain passes. These were deemed essential for safety but when we arrived and not all were ready we were told that we did not really need them and they were too expensive to do more as they cost £4 each! I stood my ground and insisted we had them. People actually needed them if they wished to eat in the one restaurant where we were allowed to go. I am convinced that the passes had nothing at all to do with Islamic terrorists but were aimed at keeping gay people, women and yes- liberal theologians away from bishops!

There were lively fringe events and presentations but sadly few bishops came. Last time I remember fringe events of all kinds being full. We had been warned by security that we could not go to each others events and had even obliged to supply lists of approved helpers with the official passes. In the event no one checked up on us and we all went to each other’s events and enjoyed them and learnt a lot. It is a great pity the bishops did not do the same. We did rather better at the MCU event than did many others. We had over 60 people present and quite a number of bishops. We were well supported by Wales and Scotland. John Saxbee, our President made a good speech and there was some interesting conversation.

In the ‘Church Times’ the Bishop of Winchester complained about ‘well funded lobby groups.’ I had part in 3 of the stalls within the Inclusive Church grouping- WATCH, Changing Attitude and Modern Churchperson's Union. For 6-7 hours day for weeks before the Conference I sat at my computer contacting volunteers, working out rotas, planning fringe events and dealing with security issues. I am 72. I did so because I care about those on edge and open Anglican theology.

The groups had their centre not in luxury but in a church hall rented for the purpose where media work was carried out, meetings held and evening meals cooked by volunteers. As these were eaten at 6.30 I could never participate as the stalls did not close until 7pm and then we had to cash up. I then drove to Canterbury's other university and put my Sainsbury's ready meal in the oven- something I never do at home! I shared the kitchen with Chinese language students, music students and a Sudanese Moslem woman who had come to make sure her son worked for his finals! Other volunteers shared student houses, made their own sandwiches and avoided the expensive food on campus. People gave up holidays and paid their own expenses. One set of volunteers worked late into the night to prepare the give away paper 'Lambeth Witness' and another and another set got up early to try to distribute it in the face of every possible obstacle put in our path. Jonathan Clatworthy had some excellent articles and reflections in a number of editions.

The ‘market place’ was housed partly in a sports hall and partly in a kind of egg box like tent attached to it. We were in that bit which was very humid and hot .As the hot humid atmosphere in the market place rose so the camaraderie increased and gay people chatted with hard line groups who wanted to 'heal' them. The most popular stall in the whole place was that of 'The Episcopal Church' (TEC) who gave away hundreds of free fans!

Sometimes the ‘market place’ was quiet and we could walk around and visit other stalls and go into the posher cool bit to refresh ourselves. Then bishops and spouses would swarm in and we would try to accost them and speak with them. Our ploy was to invite them to our reception and then try to engage them in conversation. With the invitation we gave them one of our fliers. We soon found that the one headed liberal theology seemed to terrify many of them and so we changed and gave away the one about interpreting the Bible today! Jonathan also went ‘visiting’ some of the other stallholders and had useful conversations with them. Towards the end of the first week we were glad to welcome representatives of the Student Christian Movement to help on our stall and sell some of their literature and badges. They certainly brought down our average age and gave us renewed hope for the future of liberal theology. Another welcome assistant was a schoolboy from Canterbury who spent hours helping on our stall and was a tower of strength. Near the end of the fortnight, when our energy was flagging, Richard Truss et al turned up with new ideas for the stall and Elizabeth and Richard Darlington came with new energy and a new technique once the ‘Reception’ was over.

We soon stopped trying to sell our booklets and gave them away. We had pictures of our recent conference, which Joan Dorrell brought and ‘print offs’ from some of the talks, which John Plant had produced. These proved very popular. Clare Nicholson and Stephen Cox were our stalwarts at photocopying them. Jonathan did not sell as many of his books as he hoped but in the face of all the competition he did really well. The ‘Times’ reported that only one of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s books sold while Gene Robinson sold 50. Jonathan sold 14 and gave 2 away- one to the press and one to a person who had been so helpful with accommodation.

From our viewpoint the bishops talked in secret little groups in their ‘big top’ surrounded by a ring of police and only emerged once to go to London to tell society how wicked it was not to do more about the debt. Many of us had worked in or visited Africa and experienced the poverty. We do all we can to press for justice and support the aid agencies but we also know about violence against women in Africa and the persecution of gay people. They are the real victims and scapegoats in this whole process.

Now we can read the results of Lambeth – in my case with great depression. We are told the Communion held together (for the moment at least) but it is not going anywhere. There are no plans or processes to facilitate moving forward together but in different ways according to our culture and mission. There is the threat of a covenant, which is a thoroughly un-Anglican concept, and a promise of a moratorium on gay blessings and consecrations but no mention of a time limit. We are threatened with a Communion based on fundamentalist interpretations of scripture to please the Africans and a hierarchical system of control to please the Roman Catholics. We want neither for neither are Anglican. It seems to me that a vital role for the MCU is to continue to keep an eye on the Covenant process and maintain steady flow of good theologically based critical comment.

Many people in our parishes are blissfully ignorant of all this and just go on in their own sweet way. Others are deeply disturbed. Just to mention two e-mails I have received since I came home. The first was from someone with whom I used to work at CTBI -'I thought of you a lot during Lambeth. There was one Sunday morning that I listened to Sunday programme, then just couldn’t go to the C of E church, bishop and all for confirmation. I feel more and more at home with the Quakers, but if I become a Quaker, I really don’t want it to be because I’m taking refuge from the Anglicans! '

Another person wrote, 'As a gay and partnered Anglican looking to a civil partnership and blessing next year and as a man wanting to exercise gifts and training in LLM, I am nearly exploding with frustration as nothing seems to have moved forward, in fact I feel that things are more entrenched if anything... I know you have been there and still journeying with women's ministry issues, how do you do it and still remain faithful to a church, which does not seem to want to know?

The answer lies in developing a spirituality for a long haul and getting practised at lifting oneself up from blow after blow.

At the beginning of the Conference, Gene Robinson and some other American Bishops, who had panted up the hill carrying their robes after a two hour marathon in the Cathedral, joined us in a Eucharist in field outside the city walls by a simple wooden cross. In a very real way Christ was there. We trust that in the struggles ahead God will be with us and all who suffer on the fringes.

After the Lambeth Conference - back to business for the Anglican Central African Provincial Bishops

2008-08-08T18:19:00.003+02:00

from Anglican Information

After the Lambeth Conference - back to business for the Anglican Central African Provincial Bishops

ANGLICAN INFORMATION observes that the Central African Bishops* did not boycott the Lambeth Conference as they might have being technically part of the Global South alliance that has taken a hard line on the current crises in the Anglican Communion. They chose sensibly to attend Lambeth in a spirit of dialogue and concern for the unity of the Communion and in support of Archbishop Rowan Williams whose heroic efforts to avert schism seem to be paying dividends.

The Bishops from Central Africa did not, of course, include the excommunicated Nolbert Kungonga of Harare, Zimbabwe who is now claiming support from the GAFCON group most of whom stayed away from Lambeth.

Bishop Trevor Mwamaba of Botswana, formerly Dean of the Province, until arbitrarily sacked by former Archbishop Bernard Malango, has had a good Lambeth.

He began in the pre–Lambeth week by delivering a keynote lecture to the annual Conference of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union in Hertfordshire, U.K. Chaired by the Archbishop of Wales this annual major academic gathering also featured several other distinguished speakers, including the former Presiding Bishop of the American Episcopal Church.

Mwamba’s lecture entitled ‘A Holy Mess and the Grace of Ambiguity’ is available online on the MCU website at www.modchurchunion.org. In a wide ranging erudite address he covered a sweep of Church history speaking of schisms and difficulties through the ages and tellingly quoting the third century Church Father and African bishop of Carthage, St Cyprian: ‘It but remains that each of us should in regard to this same matter, bring forward his opinion, judging no one, nor depriving anyone of the right of communion if he should think differently’.

Mwamba is an absolutely orthodox bishop but he is unwilling to allow that Anglicans should be divided amongst themselves. Nor is he willing that the current controversies about sexuality should cause Africans to divert their attention from the real issues of the day such as HIV/Aids, poverty, corruption and hunger.

Mwamba is quoted favourably by a number of international news agencies he said of the Lambeth Conference: ‘The Conference has been excellent I would even say it has been divinely inspired. There was a growing sense of oneness, a sense that we all have a lot in common. We have been transformed by the relationships we have formed’.

Mwamba a favourite candidate: The press are describing Trevor Mwamba as a favourite for the position of next Archbishop of Central Africa, a position which remains vacant until all the currently empty sees are filled.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION reports that Bishop Mwamba is highly respected by priests and people in the Province, not least in Malawi. Whilst he was Dean, he was on the point of achieving resolution of the longstanding impasse over the Diocese of Lake Malawi case by instigating an independent Provincial Court to investigate the unfortunate Court of Confirmation that failed to endorse the election of the new bishop, on the grounds of being a former member of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union. The then Archbishop Bernard Malango squashed this initiative – hence the continuing lack of resolution.

Mwamba is a relatively young man and future consideration of an Archbishop of Canterbury chosen from the wider Anglican Communion, as is likely within the next ten years, means that he must also be an emerging long-term candidate for the top position in the Communion. He is a bishop who is able to bridge the gap between the West and Africa and indispensable requirement in today’s Anglican Church.

Meanwhile back in Zimbabwe or more precisely South Africa: The International Herald Tribune reports the unexpected but welcome news that power sharing talks in Johannesburg between Zimbabwe’s rival parties which last week broke down, seem now to have picked up again. Both sides also seem willing to extend any deadline for agreement.

With the summit of the Southern African Development Community due to start in South Africa on 16th August, the Botswana government has said it will not recognize Robert Mugabe as head of state if he attends.

Nolbert Kunonga of Harare: We can only hope and pray that a resolution to Zimbabwe does emerge. It is essential for the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, not least because as today’s Zimbabwe Daily News reports with a headline “Zanu –PF Bishop Kunonga at it again” the disruption of a funeral at St Mary’s Churchyard, Chitungwiza, 20 kms north east of Harare. Kunonga apparently directed the violent disruption by mobile ‘phone as group of his supporters vowed that the mourners (loyal to Bishop Sebastian Bakare) would never be able to conduct the funeral.

Intriguingly, the article claims that the Kunonga faction are now affiliated to the Anglican Province of Kenya – ANGLICAN-INFORMATION as yet have been unable to gain confirmation of this extraordinary claim.

Letter to the Guardian

2008-08-06T21:31:00.000+02:00

To The Editor, The Guardian,

Dear Sir,

It is hard to see the justification for the Archbishop of Canterbury's allegation that liberals are to blame for the current rift in the Anglican Communion (The Guardian, 4th August).

Liberals have come to their current conclusions because they have heeded the calls of previous Lambeth Conference resolutions. The crisis is because many traditionalists have refused to do this.

Rather than listen to gay people (Resolutions 1978, 1988 and 1998), the Church has silenced them. The Resolutions in 1978 and 1988 called for deep and dispassionate study 'which would take seriously both the teaching of Scripture and the results of scientific and medical research', yet the Anglican Communion office in London only contacted the Royal College of Psychiatrists for information last year when we personally urged them to do so. Is it any wonder then that some bishops in the Anglican Communion still deny the existence of gay people in their countries?

Liberals study the Scriptures but also recognise that the Scriptures have been used to oppress as well as liberate human beings in the past. And whatever happened to the call to Anglican Provinces to assess human rights in relation to homosexual people? - Gloucester Cathedral's memorial to the victims of the Nazi holocaust includes a remembrance of homosexual people alongside others who were targeted, but the targeting of gay victims continues and the Anglican Communion is silent, and some bishops even support such laws in their countries.

The admission of Gentiles to the church before official permission was granted was a hotly debated dispute in the early Church, but thank God the Archbishop did not chair the meeting in Jerusalem that discussed it - we might not have a Church at all today!

Yours faithfully,

Rev Gillian Cooke and Dr Alan Sheard

Religion and the Environment

2008-08-06T21:30:00.002+02:00

Nick Reeves in today’s Guardian picks up on a statement by Riazat Butt that "There is hardly a religious leader in the world now who is not preoccupied by the problems of pollution and climate change" (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/06/activists.climatechange).

He adds: ‘What the faith groups can offer is a framework - ethical, spiritual, imaginative and intellectual - for the pursuit of all the good that relates to human destiny’.

On the other hand, ‘as Archbishop Bartholomew warns, cohorts of secularists continue to pursue greedy and harmful lifestyles believing that techno-fix solutions alone will be our salvation. The truth is that blind faith in the ability of technology to sustain a growing global population - hard-wired to materialism - that has already breached environmental limits is bonkers’. (Archbishop Bartholomew is the Orthodox Archbishop of Constantinople: really Orthodox, that is, not a fringe sectarian Calvinist trying to present his views as characteristically Anglican.)

Spot on – but perhaps the underlying reason is worth spelling out more clearly. When we look at the philosophies behind the contrasting attitudes we can see why it works out like that. The two dominant options (there are others) are: either the world was created by a benevolent intending mind with a purpose, or it has come into existence simply as a result of atoms obeying impersonal laws of nature, without any intention behind it.

If you believe the first, it makes sense to expect that we can all live together in peace without wrecking the planet. It’s up to us to work out how, and adapt our behaviour accordingly. Likely policies are to produce and consume less, and to be much more careful about the side-effects of new technologies.

On the other hand if you believe the second, there is no purpose or design in the way the world works, and if there are to be any purposes or designs at all they will be the ones humans create. For humanity’s leaders to artificially change the climate, or ecosystems, or the food chain, is not to destroy a designed system but to create a design for the first time. Even if we all decide to live a stone age life without harming the environment, perhaps we’re about to be wiped out for some other reason anyway. Who knows? So if we want to ensure our continuing survival, all we have is human science and technology.

Here in our environmental crises lies a real practical difference between belief and unbelief, and it seems to me that the cult of technology accentuated by unbelief is doing more harm than good.
Jonathan Clatworthy

Who’s obsessed with homosexuality?

2008-08-04T18:43:00.002+02:00

One of the reports on the Lambeth Conference was The Times’ ‘Lambeth voices: a panel of Anglican bishops share their views with Faith Online’. Here’s a quote from 30th July: I find that many of our North American friends blame us and criticise us for bringing in the issues of sexuality and homosexuality but in fact they are the ones who are bringing these issues in. Here at Lambeth, you come across many advertisements for events organised by gay and Lesbian activists which are sponsored by the North American Church. If you visit the marketplace at the conference, you will notice that almost half the events promoted on the noticeboard promote homosexuality and are sponsored by the North Americans. And in the end, we, the people who remain loyal to the original teaching of the Anglican Communion, which we received from the Apostles, are blamed. They say that we talk a lot about sexuality and that we need to talk more about poverty, about AIDS, and injustice. They are the ones who are bringing sexuality into this conference. It’s not us. We want to talk about the heart of the issues which divide us, not only sexuality. That is just a symptom of a deeper problem.
Interesting how things are changing. Throughout the twentieth century there was a tendency for evangelical opinion in the English-speaking world to coalesce around one or two ethical issues, a sharp contrast with liberals who vary much more widely in their interests. Without doubt the current focus on homosexuality was an evangelical initiative: liberals and catholics have never been so bothered about it. Now however the tune seems to be changing. At the end of the GAFCON conference Peter Jensen declared that their agenda was not homosexuality but what he called ‘loyalty to Scripture’; and it now appears that anti-gay church leaders are increasingly claiming that it’s liberals who are obsessed with it.
It is certainly true that the Lambeth Conference Marketplace was better represented by pro-gay than anti-gay organizations. I was greatly surprised as it’s usually the other way round. I put it down to the fact that at the time when the bookings had to be made it looked as if liberals would have to lobby hard to retain their place within Anglicanism and conservatives had less to worry about. And of course you lobby when you want change but when you don’t want change you accuse your opponents of being obsessed.
I suspect that there is more to it. The focus on homosexuality suited the hardliners for a while, as it provided the best chance of uniting evangelical opinion around a single campaign. It was never going to work for ever. Increasing numbers of evangelicals are getting bored with the issue, rightly wanting to engage with other matters like world poverty and global warming. Worse still, as the affluent West becomes more tolerant of homosexuality increasing numbers of evangelicals are meeting open gays and discovering that they are not the devil incarnate.
My hope is that the campaign against homosexuality will soon decline. My fear is that it will be replaced by some other campaign, equally designed to foster a sectarian, black-and-white picture of goodies and baddies, equally willing to sacrifice some unfortunate minority in the interests of providing those who need it with a sense of belonging to a select Gnostic elite of true believers.
Jonathan Clatworthy

Does gay tolerance lose members?

2008-08-04T18:42:00.002+02:00

‘The consecration of a gay Anglican bishop has led to sexual license, a new form of colonisation and ridicule for the church, it was claimed yesterday by bishops attending the Lambeth conference in Canterbury... “In some places [eg parts of Africa] the church is ridiculed as the gay church so membership is lost”’ (The Guardian 2 August).
Interesting argument. While GAFCON fulminates against the British and Americans for allowing their moral stances to be influenced by contemporary society instead of condemning homosexuality, these other bishops are positively demanding the right to be influenced by their societies instead of permitting homosexuality.
Well: should we allow ourselves to be influenced by our society or not? It depends how you think we find out what we ought to do. If you think all truth is bound up in a single big book with a black leather cover and anything not to be found in it is not to be trusted, then you ought to ignore the standards of the society around you. Put homosexuals to death, don’t eat pork or shellfish, and I’m not sure why you’re reading this because the Bible doesn’t say anything about the internet. On the other hand, if you think truth is to be found by learning from the people around us and the way God has created the world, then perhaps there are times when the will of God is discerned better outside the church than within it.
Jonathan Clatworthy

Do bishops want a covenant?

2008-08-04T18:41:00.002+02:00

When the bishops at the Lambeth Conference got round to their formal discussions about the Covenant, opinions were divided; but the impression I got from those I spoke to (and this seems to have been the impression of the media) was that opinion was coalescing around two points.
1. There will have to be a Covenant. This is partly because Archbishop Rowan Williams has invested so heavily in it, and many of his supporters will support him even if privately they think otherwise. Others claim it’s the only way to hold the Communion together.
2. Not all Anglicans will sign up to the Covenant. Some will refuse. There is much speculation about who the refusers will be and what they will do.
Put these two points together and we get an interesting result. We need a Covenant to keep us together, and it won’t keep us together. Just remind me why we are to have one...
It’s an absurdity. How to explain it?
The key is that word ‘us’. Your perspective determines who needs to be kept together and who counts as dispensable. To some, GAFCON are on the dispensable fringe; to others the Americans are.
Which means it’s a political game; not so much an attempt to discern the will of God, more a power struggle. This surely explains why there is precious little serious analysis of the theological positions and astonishingly little concern for gays and lesbians themselves.
Jonathan Clatworthy

Should Lambeth decide?

2008-08-04T18:40:00.001+02:00

"I would like to see if we can have some suggestions coming out from this conference from where you can go from here rather than simply talking about the things we have been talking about for years." So said the Archbishop of Hong Kong in one of the few public expressions of frustration by the bishops at Lambeth. (bbc.co.uk 2 August).
While sympathizing with the feelings of frustration, we might perhaps bear in mind what happened ten years ago when formal resolutions were the order of the day.
What authority should they have? The famous Resolution 1.10 on homosexuality of the 1998 Conference has been trumpeted far and wide, and often claimed as the Anglican position on the matter. There is no justification for this, and would be no justification for more of the same. Bishops are neither delegates nor representatives of their provinces. Different provinces appoint their bishops in different ways, and as far as England is concerned the Archbishop of Uganda has recently reminded us that even the Archbishop of Canterbury is appointed by a secular government.
No doubt the internet has made it a great deal easier for churches to examine what their colleagues are doing in far distant parts of the world, and condemn practices of which they would previously have been ignorant. But the fact that we can police each other more easily does not mean that we ought to.
If decision-making powers are to be centralized, we need to be oh-so-careful about who has this new power. At present there are no democratically elected Communion-wide representative bodies. Rather than hand power to one of the unrepresentative bodies which already exist – like the Primates or the Lambeth Conference - perhaps we ought to create something new. Better still, resist the temptation to centralize and allow different provinces to do things differently.
Jonathan Clatworthy

This blog and a new blog

2008-08-02T14:28:00.007+02:00

You will have seen that, over the last few days, there has been a certain kerfuffle on this blog about a posting from Anglican Information which appeared and disappeared, followed by an explanation from John Plant.

Penwatch speculated about 'a little power struggle' - well, difference of opinion is as far as I'm prepared to go, on the whole I think the result of insufficient reflection rather than malice - so, sorry, definitely no conspiracy and no intimidation. (And, just to make it clear, no way is this site going to take lessons from David Virtue.)

Nonetheless the result is a change in direction for this blog. It will - pending discussion over port and coffee in the oak panelled MCU Senior Common Room - focus on specifically MCU matters. I shall continue to edit this blog, for the time being at least. And I apologise to those who visit this blog in order to read more than that.

On the other hand may I invite you over to Not the same stream, a new blog through which I wish to continue some of the same themes as have been followed here (not least, I hope, Anglican Information and the Covenant). There are a number of drawbacks to setting up a new blog, mostly around getting noticed, and so I hope you'll come over to drink in this new bar without, of course, deserting the old one.

Paul Bagshaw

Anglican Information

2008-08-01T13:20:00.001+02:00

Thanks for comments about the appearance and then disappearance of a post from Anglican Information. The first thing to say is that we’re grateful for the services of Anglican Information and insight it gives. However on this occasion there was a question in my mind about whether by posting the comments about Ruth Gledhill that we had broken our ‘only two rules’ of politeness and respect. That is inevitably a subjective judgement but one I continue to think was correct.

That does not mean however that we wish to stifle the debate about the issues themselves. Accusations continue to be made about the death of Canon Rodney Hunter and its right those should be challenged. There are also reasonable questions to be raised about how his death was reported at the time. Comments on those can be found on www.thinkinganglicans.org and www.anglican-information-archive.org .

The MCU welcomes and is committed to open, informed and reasoned debate and I believe our blog, thanks to the work of Paul Bagshaw, achieves a consistently high standard.
John Plant, Chair MCU

Lambeth Conference hots up

2008-07-31T15:23:00.001+02:00

Most of the time it has been so hot here at Canterbury that even the African bishops are complaining.
As you may know Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire, wasn’t invited. He’s here incognito, hidden inside a rapidly moving crowd of television cameras. I don’t know how many talks he’s been invited to give but it’s far more than any other bishop.
A tight lid is kept on the bishops’ formal ruminations, but now and then something emerges. The basic system is the ‘indaba’ groups. It’s a Zulu word but the system is apparently common in Africa: when a decision is to be made, the tribal leaders gather for a meeting and everyone says their piece. Some bishops have been saying the Lambeth equivalent isn’t working the same way; in the African system everyone carries on talking until consensus is reached, without worrying about the time. Can’t do that here: this conference only lasts 3 weeks. But the idea is useful. Where do bishops get on well with each other? In da ba.
Most of the GAFCON bishops are not here, of course. How much difference does it make? Far be it from me to speculate. It could be quite irrelevant, but those who remember the last Lambeth say it’s better this time. One of the Franciscans on the Chaplaincy team says it’s more spiritual. Chris and John Simmonds (on the Progressive Christianity stall) told me about last night’s taxi ride. Unasked, the driver said “What a difference this year’s Lambeth Conference is! Ten years ago bishops were superior, stiff and starchy and talked down to us taxi drivers. They treated us like servants. But this year it’s so different. They have a laugh, they are friendly, courteous and generous. All the taxi drivers are talking about it”.
Those of us sitting in the marketplace have quiet spells, suddenly interrupted by crowds of bishops appearing at once after a session. We bounce up to them with a leaflet that says ‘Liberal Theology’ in large print. Some express disapproval; but if they try to avoid us and keep to the other side of the aisle they fall into the clutches of WATCH. On the other hand we’ve been surprised and encouraged by how many say things like ‘This is just what we need’; and far more have heard of us than we expected.
Many bishops are finding the programme too much like hard work. This morning they were talking about ‘human sexuality’. This presumably means they didn’t mention the birds and the bees. If anything interesting has yet emerged, it’ll be a while before we find out.
Jonathan Clatworthy

Bishop Bakare speaks from the Lambeth Conference

2008-07-30T23:18:00.002+02:00

From: Anglican-Information

Zimbabwe: Bishop Bakare speaks from the Lambeth Conference

Meanwhile at the Lambeth Conference at the University of Kent, Canterbury and concerning Zimbabwe: As reported by the Anglican Church of Canada website and various others, Bishop Sebastian Bakare Bishop of Harare, who replaced excommunicated Mugabe mouthpiece, Nolbert Kunonga warned on the recent Memorandum of Understanding signed on 21st July by Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsangerai.

‘History did not bode well for this undertaking – a similar undertaking signed in 1981 between Mugabe and Joshua Nkomo to end the civil war in Matabeleand, made Nkomo a member of the Mugabe government and effectively ended all opposition and the disappearance of Nkomo’s ZAPU party.’

Bishop Bakare said: “I am very fearful for the future coming from our history.’ – ‘I want to believe that the opposition party is aware thet Mugabe isn’t there just to hand in power – The MOU provides little hope.”

He went on to speak of Anglicans who “have stood up to the police – it’s their Church they’re fighting for… that’s the courage people have developed. What Zimbabweans’ urgently need is a deep sense of security without fear, the basic necessities of food and medicines and a climate where the rule of law is observed and human dignity is respected.”

Latest reports today speak of an impasse in the MOU talks and Morgan Tsangerai’s negotiators refusing the offer of a Vice-Presidential position for him – quite rightly as he won the Presidential election, even though it was heavily rigged.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION reminds readers of how close to Nolbert Kunonga and Robert Mugabe former Archbishop Bernard Malango has been and how easy it would be for the poison (an effective metaphorical one this time) of the Mugabe regime to contaminate the thinking of some of the bishops of the Anglican Central African Province.

Lambeth depression

2008-07-27T20:22:00.003+02:00

I have watched the lack of news dribbling out of Lambeth with increasing depression. Sorry if that's evident in this post.

Why keep the media out so completely unless you think that episcopal deliberations are not to be shared with the wider public?

You may wish to keep bishops talking sideways to one another to avoid divisive clashes over contentions resolutions. However the result is that power is leached from the bishops and given to a small group - the Windsor Continuation Group, perhaps, or the people who set their agenda - which can meet and make decisions away from any scrutiny.

The announcement of the Faith and Order Commission was a curious affair. Newspaper headlines about the inquisition. The ABC saying he was just 'running a flag up the flagpole to see who salutes' - and how, without a process of voting is he to get an accurate count of the number of salutes? And anyway it was continuation of the work of the standing theological commission.

The Archbishop used the phrase 'council and covenant' in his opening address. It suggested that a new programme is being wheeled out slowly into the Conference (for it doesn't do to give the bishops everything at once - they might tell people outside the walls). Some of that is coming clearer and, when the covenant are announced (I doubt they will be much debated) the picture will become a little clearer. He also talked about the Anglican Communion as a Church, singular. He is very careful with language and I'd be surprised if that was a mistake (I saw a blog of a press conference where he dodged the issue).

A distinct non-Foca Global south gathering may suggest new regional entities in the communion. More likely (given past experience) it may mean another attempt to take power. Archbishop Chew and Michael Poon make a very influential combination.

But the overview for the next decade seems simple: more of the same. Concentrate decision making. Look to top down structures as though authoritarian equals authority, as though international means better, as though narrow conformity means a properly macho church.

But there may be two benefits. First, that that the church becomes so top down the bottom will scarcely notice. Second, perhaps those who do notice will begin not just to object to what is being done to them but also to develop alternative models of church governance. Inclusive models. That might prove interesting.

Follow Pluralist.

Paul Bagshaw

Zimbabwe sets an example for the Anglican Central African Province?

2008-07-23T11:57:00.002+02:00

From Anglican Information

The recently published Zimbabwean ‘Memorandum of Understanding’, an agreement to talks that has seen Robert Mugabe shake hands with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, has just been signed [It is set out here, and an open letter from Morgan Tsvangirai on signing it is here]

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION like most observers approaches this extraordinary document with great caution. However, it does represent an unexpected and unprecedented step forward brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki. Hopefully it will be the beginning of a change in Zimbabwean politics although it is hard to see how the ‘Junta’ surrounding Robert Mugabe will agree to it and how Mugabe will not desperately try at least to secure some kind of immunity from prosecution. Practically anything is better than the current nightmare that is today’s Zimbabwe of fear and hunger.

At least this M.O.U. deserves some prayers for upon the future of the Zimbabwe regime hangs the fate of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe, currently victimised by Mugabe mouthpiece ‘Archbishop’ Nolbert Kunonga.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes that the Anglican Central African Province could ironically take a leaf out of the M.O.U. precedent by getting into some cordial and sensible discussions with all the interested parties in the dioceses of Lake Malawi and Upper Shire where negotiated solutions to episcopal elections still await. Perhaps the bishops will come back from the Lambeth Conference in a conciliatory mood after all the efforts to stabilize the Anglican Communion and restore dialogue? If Zimbabwe can do it – so can the Central African Province – conciliarity - that is after all how Anglicanism actually works.

Tradition Awareness Day

2008-07-22T14:50:00.004+02:00

Shamelessly pinched from the brilliant MadPriest.

Perhaps the MCU should sponsor the day - but not too assertively, of course.

From a divided land to a divided Church

2008-07-21T10:06:00.004+02:00

Duleep de Chickera, Bishop of Colombo

Sermon by the Right Reverend Duleep de Chickera, the Bishop of Colombo

I commend to you Duleep de Chickera's sermon to the assembled bishops - here in its entirety.

Before the service, said Ruth Gledhill in The Times,

Speaking quietly but with passionate insistence, the slightly-built bishop said: "Certainly the crisis is complex. It is not a crisis that can be resolved instantly and the journey ahead is a long and arduous one, a journey that will demand our prayers, our faithfulness, our mutual trust in each other and our trust in God who makes reconcilation possible."
Bishop de Chickera, himself a cricket fan, joked that perhaps the bishops should take a few hours off to sort out their differences as gentlemen and players.
He said: "Sri Lanka is a land of five world religions: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and cricket. Those of us who organised this conference planned an afternoon aside for cricket - and a game called baseball for the uninitiated."

His prescribed balm for the wounded Communion was:

...our communion must return to the discipline and the practice of self-scrutiny. We have a rich tradition that supports this discipline - the retreat, the quiet time, contemplation, meditation, spiritual counsellors, all of which enhance this practice and discipline of men and women coming to God in stillness to evaluate and examine their lives:- the parable of the plank and the speck of dust. ...
... we need to resuscitate and declare again and again, and that is the challenge of unity in diversity. As I look around and see you, I see this wonderful unity in diversity. Shortly, when the sacrament is administered, lips from numerous countries, numerous nationalities, numerous cultures will touch the same cup. We are united in spite of the fact that we are different, because in Christ we are equal. There's enough to go around if none will be greedy. ...
... the prophetic voice. Very often people say: "all this talk of reconciliation is not complete unless we address and deal with the injustice of the world." And so the Anglican Communion must articulate this prophetic voice regardless of where we serve in the world. Now as many of you will be aware, the prophetic voice has two strands, and it is imperative that these strands are held together. The first is the prophetic voice is a voice for the voiceless. There are those who for political reasons, cultural reasons, economic reasons, military reasons, cannot speak for themselves, or if they do, they do so at tremendous risk. And so the Anglican Communion must speak on their behalf - whether it is the crisis in Sri Lanka, whether it is the crisis in Zimbabwe, or Sudan, or Afghanistan or Iraq. The voiceless must be given a voice through the leadership of the Anglican Communion. The second strand that goes with a voice for the voiceless, is the calling into accountability of those who abuse power: authoritarian regimes who oppress and suppress the people. The prophetic voice will ask poignant, relevant questions: "why", and sometimes, "how dare you?"

All well worth reading.

The way to women bishops

2008-07-21T09:46:00.004+02:00

Christina Rees

From Christina Rees, Women and the Church (WATCH)

The recent General Synod meeting in York was momentous! At last, the Church of England has affirmed women’s place in all three orders – as deacon, priest and now bishop. This is such a great step forward, and one long overdue. It is hard to believe that 30 years ago a motion in General Synod calling for women to be ordained as priests and bishops was only narrowly lost.

This month’s Synod vote is cause indeed for celebration, but the struggle is far from over. The overwhelming acceptance of women as bishops and the deep appreciation for the ministry of our women clergy seemed to come as a shock to some Synod members. We can expect that those who remain opposed to women’s ordination will strive with all their might to regain as much of the ground they feel they lost with the vote in York, by seeking to influence the content of the proposed Code of Practice. Over the next few months WATCH will need to be especially vigilant in order to ensure that the contents of the Code of Practice will not recreate the Act of Synod or lead to other types of discrimination against women clergy.

From some of the media coverage and personal reports, one could be forgiven for thinking that Synod showed a lack of charity to those who remain opposed to ordaining women. This was not the case: Synod voted with substantial majorities to go ahead with opening the Episcopate to women and to have a Code of Practice containing arrangements for those who will not accept the ministry of a bishop who is a woman. Synod repeatedly rejected arrangements which would have changed the structures of the Church and the nature of our Episcopacy.

So what is WATCH planning between now and the next meeting of Synod, when drafts of the legislation and the Code of Practice will be debated? Over a year ago we submitted suggestions for the content of a Code to the Legislative Drafting Group. In the light of the vote in Synod, however, we will be preparing more specific proposals and submitting them to the Legislative Drafting Group. You can be sure that the suggestions we make will be very much influenced by the strong principle of keeping the nature of the Episcopate of the Church of England intact and in not creating a separate class of bishops. Of course, the Church will continue to respect and make arrangements for those who in conscience cannot accept the consecration of women as bishops. WATCH will commend the good practice exercised over the past 20 years by the women who are bishops elsewhere in the Anglican Communion.

WATCH will also need to continue to address the hearts and minds of people up and down the land (all of whom, after all, live in Church of England parishes), and of the members of Synod who will be voting next February. It was quite evident this July that both Forward in Faith and Reform had been very active with their strategies for attempting to subvert the will of General Synod and of the wider Church. They are very well resourced with their avowed intent to perpetuate the arrangements of the Act of Synod and to consolidate their disproportionate influence on the processes and decision-making bodies of the Church. WATCH needs your support now as much as ever for this next crucial stage, in order to make sure that both the legislation and the Code of Practice will be free from discrimination and reflect the real position and desires of Church members.

Beyond the final vote for women as bishops, which we hope will be taken within the next few years, WATCH will be looking at fresh ways of developing women’s leadership skills and planning new support networks for women working in the Church. We will need to discover exactly what types of support clergywomen at all levels would find most useful.

I hope to be writing to you again over the next six months to keep you posted on what’s going on and how WATCH is working to ensure that the proposed Code of Practice keeps faith with all those of a fair and open mind who seek to serve God and the people of this nation through the Church of England.

Not at Lambeth

2008-07-17T11:30:00.003+02:00

There will be little coverage of Lambeth here. Not because it's not important, but because I don't think I will be able to add anything to the acres of comment that there will be.

I hope to reproduce some of the publicity material being produced by MCU, InclusiveChurch and others on the liberal wing from the Lambeth Conference marketplace.

(Good idea, the marketplace. It lets everyone have their say and make a lot of noise, and it keeps them away from all the bishops except those who choose to put their nose in. If you've real influence you use other routes but the major lobby groups can't stay away because that would be an admission of how peripheral they are. It's expensive and so I hope it helps subsidise the Conference.)

I recommend Elizabeth Keaton Tell Secrets; Jim Naughton at Episcopal Cafe; Dave Walker at The Cartoon Church and the Church Times Blog; and Riazat Butt at The Guardian, and Ruth Gledhill at The Times who has a way of getting hold of documents.

Anyway, I'm off for a few days, avoiding Canterbury, and will try to catch up when I'm back. Happy Lambeth watching.

Paul Bagshaw

Let asylum seekers work

2008-07-17T11:19:00.002+02:00

Justice for asylum seekers

The following speech (via Independent Catholic News) was given by the Anglican Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu at St Margaret's Church, Westminster last Friday before a rally calling for the government to allow Zimbabwean refugees to work in the UK.

But I would put in one caveat. There are talented and able asylum seekers from many countries who are forced into destitution by this government and refused permission to work, including some who have been here many years and were working legally till the rules were changed. Yes, let those from Zimbabwe work - but they are not a special case, all failed asylum seekers who cannot be returned should be able to work and to contribute to this society. The way they are currently treated is inhumane and immoral. Paul Bagshaw.

====================

It's great to see you all.

You and I are the fortunate ones. We have the freedom to move, freedom to speak. Thank God for it.

Right now, there are millions of people in Zim, suffering under a callous, brutal regime, and there are millions who have escaped that dear country with their lives.

Our Prime Minister said, and I applaud him for it,

"I condemn those orchestrating the latest horrific escalation of violence. They must immediately end the violence, allow local and international monitors complete access and cooperate with the UN to allow a full investigation of the human rights abuses."

60 years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was published. Article 9 said, No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.

Article 23 said, Everyone has the right to work.

Why should exiled Zimbabweans be compelled to twiddle their thumbs in this country, waiting, waiting to return home, when they could be honing their skills, flexing their muscles and contributing to the British economy by being allowed to WORK?

Without work exiles here are falling into destitution.

The people of this country do not want to see this happen to people who have taken refuge from an oppressive and cruel regime.

The government talk of vouchers and benefits. But surely now that the government is not going to put into practice forced repatriation for failed asylum seekers why not grant them conditional leave to remain for a year and a day!

When it comes to restoring justice to oppressed people we must take risks and be magnanimous.

I welcome the government's commitment for no forced return for Zimbabweans. But this is not enough.

Free Zimbabweans in detention, who can't go home.

And if they stay here, they must not stay in limbo.

Give them leave to remain for a year and a day and allow them to find work they have much to contribute.

Martin Luther King said:

Cowardice asks the question, "Is it safe?"
Expediency asks the question, "Is it politic?"
Vanity asks the question, "Is it popular?"
But conscience asks the question, "Is it right?"
And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one's own conscience tells one that it is right."

We need every Zimbabwean here, in South Africa and back home, to prepare for the reconstruction of their country.

Every day I get emails and letters from gifted Zimbabweans who are here, wanting to work, wanting to study and are frustrated. They can't use their God-given abilities because of the rigidity of regulations applied indiscriminately.

The thin-end-of-the-wedge argument in the case of Zimbabwe must not be given currency.

Zim has become a basket case instead of the bread basket which the Creator intends it to be.

We are here to say, 'Restore Zim'. 'Restore Zim'.

With goodwill, the determined efforts of a very talented nation and international support, Zim can rise again.

I know our Prime Minister wants that. He has pledged support for that day.

And remember that anyone who comes to Equity must come with clean hands.

If you call for sanctions, you must also leave no Zimbabwean destitute or incarcerated in inhuman conditions or left in limbo.

We want action now.

If detainees are not going to be deported, please release them NOW.
For those many who are not going to be forcefully removed please give them conditional permission to work now.
Please give them your support now.

And for us may all our communities engage with Restore Zim.

Give your donations for Restore Zim to Tesco's Bank.

Join us in this civil coalition.

The choices facing the Central African Province

2008-07-17T09:42:00.002+02:00

Archbishop Walter Makhulu

From Anglican Information

From Jim Naughton writing on the Episcopal Café website – The Lead, 16th July, 2008.

‘The biggest Anglican news event in London yesterday transpired relatively unnoticed. Rosemary Makhulu the wife of the Most Rev’d Walter Makhulu was laid to rest from All Saints Church, Fulham. The last I heard Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah and Zanele Mbeki wife of South African President Thabo Mbeki were expected to be amongst the mourners.

In another sign of the state of affairs in the Communion, consider that during his tenure as Primate of Central Africa, Makhulu used his office to advance the cause of Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress in their struggle against apartheid, while his successor the recently-retired Bernard Malango, hero to American conservatives, used his office to protect the interests of Robert Mugabe. The Province of Central Africa is currently without a primate because two diocesan sees are vacant and an election cannot be held, a state of affairs that suits the interests of American conservatives as Malango’s successor might be a bishop in the mould of Makhulu, but leaves many Africans without episcopal or primatial leadership.’

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION comments that this is a good assessment of the situation in the Province of Central Africa where so much trouble can be laid at the feet of former Archbishop Bernard Malango and his associations with schismatic Americans.

And what of the future? The Provincial bishops are now covertly divided between a Malango/Mugabe faction who say all the right things from the American conservative dissident point of view and a pro-Canterbury moderate grouping epitomised by the sacked Dean (dismissed by Malango) Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana.

Of the vacant sees mentioned by Jim Naughton (notwithstanding Harare and Manicaland in Zimbabwe) Lake Malawi already has an elected (by overwhelming majority) bishop in the person of the Rev’d Nicholas Henderson. Henderson’s consecration has been delayed largely at the behest of forceful lobbying by Malango and now excommunicated Nolbert Kunonga when they were in power. This faction and their supporters remain frightened of the result of the election because the successful candidate is ‘unapproved’ by conservative and schismatic Americans and is pro-Canterbury. The people of Lake Malawi (who are also loyal to Canterbury) are equally determined to have the bishop of their choice.

Malango’s latest Provincial successor in the person of acting Dean Albert Chama of Northern Zambia is unfortunately only a cipher for Malango. Malango is still a power behind the scenes and currently interfering in the elections for a new bishop in Upper Shire diocese where again the people (pro-Canterbury) are resisting an imposed candidate.

Thus the Provincial bishops are split between former Malango and closet Mugabe sympathisers/appeasers and the group revolving around Trevor Mwamba with his proven track record of sensible action and dialogue and who, unlike the others, commands the respect if the people.

A third faction in this mêlée is detectable in the person of James Tengatenga of South Malawi as a bishop who has a distinctly mixed history. On the one hand he is indisputably racist in a way that would long ago have had a white bishop censured and removed from office. He was also a principal player in contriving the election of Malango to Upper Shire diocese when Malango was under a cloud of accusations of embezzlement in Zambia. On the other hand, he is still on the wrong side of the fence from Malango’s point of view and that of Malango’s conservative American paymasters. Tengatenga spends much time in white society particularly with the American Episcopal Church and he is a member of the Anglican Communion’s Consultative Council.

So between the four factions, Malango, Mwamba, Tengatenga and the schismatic Americans, once again Africans are forced to fight on in a confusing stalemate proxy battle for the soul of the far off American Episcopal Church. If the Malango/Mugabe faction eventually wins it will not only spell disaster for the Province but for the Communion as well. The prospect of a Central African Province ruled by dissident Americans essentially uncritical of the Mugabe regime (Nolbert Kunonga is now claiming support from GAFCON) is frankly horrific.

This is a far cry from the days of former Archbishop Walter Makhulu and his beloved wife Rosemary.

2008 Conference Talks

2008-07-14T10:19:00.003+02:00

The Conference talks are now posted online. They can all be accessed through the conference page here. Please note: the Word files are large and likely to be slow - you may prefer the pdf files.

They are:

Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan - R S Thomas' Religious Poetry. Questions not answers: A way forward for the Anglican Communion?

Bishop of Botswana, Trevor Mwamba - A Holy Mess and the Grace of Ambiguity.

Rev Dr Janet Wootton - A Dissenter's View of Anglicanism and Establishment.

Professor Marilyn McCord Adams - Unfit for Purpose, or, Why a pan-anglican Covenant at this time is a very bad idea!

Bishop of Clogher, Michael Jackson - Anglicanism, blessing or curse, the Irish Experience.

Andrew Brown, A journalist's view of Anglicanism (pdf only).

There turned out to be a consistent theme - the need to listen and to allow diversity. This was aimed largely at the conservatives, as you might expect from the liberal perspective. Marilyn McCord Adams, for example, set out why at least some conservatives couldn't listen and wouldn't enter into dialogue.

But Janet Wootton did her best to pierce the cloth ears of the liberals - and Andrew Brown tried, and largely failed, to depress his audience.

Discussion on the papers would be very welcome.

The use of science II

2008-07-12T12:33:00.002+02:00

***www.NewScientist.com - NEWSFLASH***

On the 28 June, The Science Education Act was passed as law in the State of Louisiana. This piece of legislature now allows teachers in this US state to present non-scientific alternatives to evolution, global warming and cloning - including ideas related to intelligent design.

Opponents fear that Louisiana teachers are now free to present evolution and other targeted topics as matters of debate rather than broadly accepted science, and could have national implications.

"Academic freedom is a great thing," says Josh Rosenau of the National Center for Science Education in Oakland, California. "But if you look at the American Association of University Professors' definition of academic freedom, it refers to the ability to do research and publish." This, he points out, is different to the job high-school teachers are supposed to do. "In high school, you're teaching mainstream science so students can go on to college or medical school, where you need that freedom to explore cutting-edge ideas. To apply 'academic freedom' to high school is a misuse of the term."

"It's very slick," says Forrest. "The religious right has co-opted the terminology of the progressive left... They know that phrase appeals to people."

READ THE FULL STORY HERE

With thanks to David Morling.

The use of science I

2008-07-12T12:27:00.003+02:00

From the Saturday Post [Zambia]

Anglican church, homosexuals
By Paul Kokoski
Wednesday July 09, 2008

I commend Anglican conservatives for creating a new power bloc within the Anglican communion to oppose homosexuality.

The Bible clearly and unequivocally condemns homosexual acts (Gen 1:27-28; Gen 2:24; Matt 19: 4-6; Rom 1:24-27; 1 Cor 6:10; 1 Tim 1:10). Men and women with homosexual tendencies must certainly be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity. Nonetheless, homosexual acts must be considered wrong and intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.

There is also no scientific evidence to confirm homosexual activity as a normal behaviour. Homosexuality is neither an entirely innate condition nor is it unchangeable. The so-called "gay gene" has never been found. As natural law implies, sexual orientation does not constitute a quality comparable to race, ethnicity, gender or age in respect to non-discrimination. Unlike these, homosexual orientation is an objective disorder and evokes moral concern. In suggesting otherwise, one is merely exploiting tolerance in the service of a particular ideology.

I take it that Mr Kokoski's assertion of fact 'There is also no scientific evidence...' will not be changed by the provision of scientific evidence concerning human sexuality.

What can you say?

Statement on ex-bishop Konunga

2008-07-12T00:34:00.002+02:00

Statement from the Anglican Diocese of Harare by Bob Stumbles, Deputy Chancellor CPCA.
Diocese of Harare, Church of the Province of Central Africa
E-mail: dioceseofharare.cpca@gmail.com

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION has been asked by the Anglican Diocese of Harare to circulate the statement below, through our mailing lists. It refers to the continued occupation of Diocesan Property by deposed and excommunicated Nolbert Kunonga who has been using the Mugabe state apparatus to harass and intimidate Anglican worshippers loyal to Bishop Sebastian Bakare.

The statement was originally drafted in April, 2008 – unfortunately it continues to be relevant and might have been written yesterday as nothing has changed since then - except an increase in violence against worshippers. The resurgent Mugabe regime now reinstalled after a manipulated election has encouraged Kungona who is one of its most vocal supporters.

Statement

By what right and authority does Nolbert Kunonga claim ownership of the Cathedral of St Mary and All Saints and all the parishes and all the assets in the Anglican Diocese of Harare? The straightforward answer is – he has no right whatsoever. Nolbert Kunonga, the ex-Bishop, of the Anglican Diocese of Harare, (the Diocese) has been excommunicated (banished) from the Anglican Church. Since about September 2007 he has not been recognized as an Anglican nor has he been associated with the Anglican Church since then.

Some months ago he announced that he had appointed himself Archbishop of an "Anglican Province of Zimbabwe" and had selected a few associates, also excommunicated Anglicans, as Bishops subservient to him. He had already unlawfully seized the Cathedral and churches in the Diocese for his own use.

In August 2007 he broke away and deliberately defected from the Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa (CPCA). The CPCA is the ecclesiastical body which controls all the Dioceses throughout Botswana, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe – including the Diocese of Harare of which Mr Kunonga was once the Bishop. Like all other Dioceses within the CPCA, the properties in the Diocese (the Cathedral, churches, and other buildings as well as other assets) are owned by the CPCA not by Kunonga. They were acquired with funds raised by Anglicans for the benefit of Anglicans. The occupation and use of the Diocesan offices, churches, houses and other property by Mr Kunonga and his close associates, therefore is a premeditated, irreverent, intentional act amounting at least to invasive and unlawful possession and use of another's property; trespass; the unlawful preventing of entry to property to its rightful owners and the taking of the fruits of benefice under pretended title which in law is called spoliation.

Although he has been expelled from and is rejected by the Anglican community worldwide and is not permitted to have anything further to do with Anglicanism, Mr Kunonga maintains he is the head of a fictitious Anglican body. He and Harry Rinashe, William Morris Gwedegwe, Claxton Mabhoyi, and Alfred Munyani (apparently described as "bishops" by Mr Kunonga) chose to remove themselves from the Diocese to form this organisation as did Barnabas Machingauta, Secretary to this group. Their so-called "Anglican" church of Zimbabwe simply does not and cannot exist because there are already five Anglican Dioceses which cover the entire country, are part of the CPCA, and are recognized worldwide.

Mr Kunonga and his group are not Anglican shepherds of any Christian flocks. The Bible says that he who climbs into a sheep pen by some other means instead of entering by the gate, comes to steal and plunder. The sheep never follow him. Rather, they keep away from him because they do not recognize the stranger's voice. By their words, action and habits, Mr Kunonga's group pretend to be what they are not.

Bishops are told not to embark upon bouts of brawling and not to be quarrelsome or grasping (1 Timothy 2). Yet this small Kunonga circle behave in a disreputable, profane way towards the Diocese. They take no notice of and make a mockery of the law and of Christian values and principles. Since August 2007, allegedly with the support of just a few senior police officials, they have directly or indirectly threatened, assaulted and chased away from church services peace-loving Christians who wish to worship in the house of the Lord – not in the house of Kunonga. His group and assistants allegedly cruise around in cars and by other means to see where church services and other events are being held by Anglican worshippers, and immediately call in riot police and others to disrupt the event and order the innocent people to leave the premises. Some church goers are beaten and arrested in the process. His group call the police to remove Diocesan vehicles from Anglican Priests in the Diocese. The group prevent Anglican congregations from entering the Cathedral of St Mary and All Saints by padlocking all the doors. The group's agents have demanded from the Diocese "severance packages" for all those (including Mr Kunonga and his "bishops") who were once priests in the Diocese but who voluntarily decided to resign and support Mr Kunonga. The offices of Bishop Sebastian Bakare, the legitimate Bishop of the Diocese, were padlocked in an attempt to prevent him from attending to his administrative work.

What crime does Mr Kunonga and a few senior police officers allege the Diocese and its parishioners has committed to justify the invasions of churches by riot police and others, the removal of Diocesan vehicles and the forceful barring of Anglicans from worshipping in Anglican Churches? Is this treatment permissible in terms of the Zimbabwean constitution? Is it a crime for a lawfully constituted body to use its own property? Surely, the fundamental right of freedom of worship has not been torn out of the law books.

Mr Kunonga's emphatic behaviour early on heralded an intention to persecute and abuse the faithful churchgoers (about 98% of the entire Diocese) and deprive them from having access to their usual places of worship on CPCA property. These churchgoers do not admire or accept his conduct. Instead they support wholeheartedly the CPCA, and the lawfully installed and enthroned Bishop of the Diocese, Bishop Sebastian Bakare who has taken over from Kunonga.

Despite his persistent efforts to shut down churches and oppress congregations, the vast majority of parishioners still flock in huge numbers to worship where they can under the leadership of Bishop Bakare. They abhor the intimidatory tactics of the Kunonga group to blockade and keep them away from the Lord's house. They strongly disapprove of the attempts to make the CPCA churches accessible only to Mr Kunonga so that he, his group and assistants and no others may with unbridled impunity use the possessions and spend the money of the very Diocese they have spurned, turned their back on and left. The law, commonsense and logic all tell us that if you resign or are dismissed from your employment, you cannot turn around and tell your employer that he must leave, because you are not going to depart from the work place and intend to take over the property of the business and operate the business yourself. However, regardless of the law, Kunonga is endeavouring to do just that.

He and his group have exposed their true colours. Their goal does not seem to place particular emphasis on the propagation of the Gospel. Theirs are not the acts expected by faithful, law-abiding, wise and understanding people. Just look at their harsh treatment of parishioners, their apparent self-aggrandisement, materialism and hunger for power, the trail of relentless persecution. Their announcement of their status as Anglican Archbishop and Bishops expresses an illusion, a mirage incapable of fulfilment. Significantly none of them are now recognised by the Church as anything but discredited, excommunicated Anglicans, whatever they may try to portray.

The most salient facts are -

1. Mr Kunonga and his associates have all been excommunicated from the Anglican Church worldwide and are no longer clerics nor Anglicans.

2. Mr Kunonga and his associates have broken all ties with and purposely left the Anglican community to become members of another organisation which has no connection whatsoever with the Diocese or Anglicanism.

3. Consequently, for both the above reasons, they have no right to possess, hold, use, occupy or spend any of the assets of the Diocese as these are owned by the CPCA.

4. The group are trespassers unlawfully attempting to control the assets of their previous employer.

5. Those who have chosen to follow Mr Kunonga and his self-styled "bishops" or to act on their instructions or help them in any way in projecting, causing or supporting violence, intimidation, quarrelsome or grasping behaviour are themselves parties to illegal and in some cases criminal acts.

6. Mr Kunonga and others are responsible for any loss, damage or injury caused to the Diocese and individuals by their acts or omissions since August, 2007 and are liable to recompense the Diocese and affected individuals.

7. It would be a fitting and humane gesture if Mr Kunonga and those supporting him were to withdraw graciously from occupying, using or claiming any right to the assets of or interfering with the Diocese of Harare immediately. Such a move would show there is a sense of righteousness, justice and understanding in their hearts and minds. What is more, it would hopefully lead to an element of forgiveness and restore to them some of the respect in which they were held before they embarked upon an exercise which has damaged their integrity and brought low the reputation of the Church of God.

Bob Stumbles
Diocesan Chancellor
Deputy Chancellor of the Church of the Province of Central Africa

Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui criticises GAFCON

2008-07-11T12:26:00.003+02:00

Archbishop Paul Kwong

with Bishop Louis Tsui and Bishop Thomas Soo

From Episcopal News Service

The Anglican primate of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui has criticized the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), held in Jerusalem this June, for bringing "severe harm" to the Anglican Communion.

Archbishop Paul Kwong said that Anglicans with different opinions on human sexuality issues should address their concerns through dialogue.

He criticized bishops from the "traditionalist camp" for refusing to dialogue, as some have announced their intentions to boycott the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference when more than 650 Anglican bishops will meet July 16-August 3 in Canterbury, England.

Kwong's comments were included in the July 6 issue of the "Echo," the weekly magazine of the Anglican Province.

While acknowledging that the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui is opposed to recent developments in the Episcopal Church for ordaining an openly gay bishop and blessing partnerships of same-gender couples, Kwong said the church rejects traditionalists' plans to set up a Primates Council without the mandate of the Communion.

He urged all Anglican provinces to respect the traditional mechanisms and organizational structures in place for dealing with existing challenges, and to solve their differences through dialogue.

Glimmers of hope?

2008-07-11T10:02:00.003+02:00

I knew it was a bad idea to try to blog while doing too many other things as well. I will put up my comments on the other speakers, including Bishop Gene Robinson, in the next few days.

From my perspective it has been a very good conference - good speakers with depth and substance to their talks, and good conversation with them and around the conference.

I think Janet Wootton's talk - challenging the complacent assumptions of Church of England members (and of the Communion more widely) of our own importance and of the ways in which the rest of the Christian community regards it -to have been the most important for the MCU. Her challenge to the casual way we accept Establishment was sharp, good humoured and forceful. I guess we won't hear it - too disturbing.

And a lot of the conference did what it was meant to do - to support and encourage liberals who may have been feeling beleagered. There is a sense that the ecclesiastical wind has changed with Foca and the vote of women bishops in Synod - and the liberals have taken heart. We can and should stand up for the kind of church we want.

And, somewhat cynically, perhaps it means people think they can start to settle back into the church they had been used too, as if into a worn and comfortale armchair. It won't be possible. Too much has already changed. But maybe now the agenda will be about the kinds of changes we can hope and work for. It's just beginning to look as if the future for the church won't be dominated by defending against the most conservatives.

That said, Andrew Brown is to speak next and last, and his talk is much more pessimistic. We'll see what response he gets.

Paul Bagshaw

Lead, don't manage

2008-07-11T09:53:00.004+02:00

Bishop Gene Robinson

News Release July 10, 2008

The Archbishop of Canterbury “needs to be a leader, not a manager now” – Bishop Gene Robinson

The openly gay bishop who has not been invited to the forthcoming Lambeth Conference last night said all Anglican leaders had a duty to care for the souls of all their flock, whatever their sexuality.

Rt Rev Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, said it was time for the church to decide what it was going to stand for to its gay members – whether it would be somewhere they would feel welcome or rejected. He called on the Archbishop of Canterbury to show leadership on the issue, rather than just try to manage it.

Bishop Gene was speaking at the annual conference of the Modern Churchpeople's Union held in Hertfordshire and chaired by the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan.

He warned that telling gay people to go to some churches was akin to telling an abused wife to go back to her husband. He also compared the church’s attitude to him as that to parents whose son or daughter tells them they are coming out. He said:
“What is happening now in the Anglican Communion is what happens in a family when a kid comes out. It goes through a process of grieving and resistance to change until it can find a revised world view. .This church is not ours to win or lose, it is God’s church . It may be looking pretty rough now but God will take care of it. It may look a bit different in the end but God is not going to abandon his church so we don’t need to be so afraid.

“We are not at liberty to think we are on the selection committee for God’s family, our job is to be on the welcome committee and the sooner we learn that in the Anglican Communion the better off we will be.

“I don’t believe God stopped revealing himself when the canon of scripture was closed. God promises to be with us and never let us go. We are promised that the spirit will lead us into all truth. I believe that God is now leading us to the full inclusion of people of all types of sexuality. Maybe where we’re headed is just to acknowledge that all of us are incredibly diverse and God loves us all.”

Bishop Gene said he felt it was vitally important for him to attend the Lambeth Conference, even if he can only be there informally.

“Why am I going to Lambeth? I’m going to do my very best to let whatever light of Christ there is in me to shine. I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want those guys to meet and not be reminded of my presence. I want to remind them that they are in charge of their flock and they have gay people there and that gay and lesbian souls are every bit as worth saving as straight souls. I want them to have a chance to meet me and get to know me – because it is in meeting and communicating that the world is changed. I want gay people to know that they are God affirmed.

“If you want to see what the church is like after it has stopped obsessing about sexuality, come to New Hampshire.”

Describing his own experience, Bishop Gene said it was his integrity and belief in God that got him through the hatred he faced as a gay man in the church.

“The Bible told me about God’s love when the church turned its back on me,” he said. “I owe my life to this book (The Bible) because it communicated God’s love to me. I didn’t want to be like I was. I prayed every day for God to take it away from me. But in the end I listened to God.”

In an emotional speech, he paid tribute to the courage of Rt Rev Frank Griswold, former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopalian Church who consecrated him as a bishop, despite his sexuality. Both wore bullet-proof jackets during the much publicised ceremony. He called on Dr Rowan Williams to show similar nerve.

“The Archbishop of Canterbury is trying to manage a very difficult situation when really what is called for is strong leadership. He needs to be a leader, not a manager now.”

He said he firmly believed he (Bishop Gene) and his chief critic within the church, the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, would sit around God’s table together in Heaven one day with all Christians.

“I believe that with my whole heart and we will get along together – God will see to that. So we may as well get on together while we are here too.”

Get on the welcome committee

2008-07-11T08:33:00.006+02:00

Bishop Gene Robinson

News Release July 10, 2008

“Gay and lesbian souls are every bit as worth saving as straight souls” – Bishop Gene Robinson

The openly gay bishop who has not been invited to the forthcoming Lambeth Conference last night (Thurs) said all Anglican leaders had a duty to care for the souls of all their flock, whatever their sexuality.

Rt Rev Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, said it was time for the church to decide what it was going to stand for to its gay members – whether it would be somewhere they would feel welcome or rejected.

He was speaking at the annual conference of the Modern Churchpeople's Union held in Hertfordshire and chaired by the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan.

Bishop Gene warned that telling gay people to go to some churches was akin to telling an abused wife to go back to her husband.

He also compared the church’s attitude to him as that to parents whose son or daughter tells them they are coming out. He said: “What is happening now in the Anglican Communion is what happens in a family when a kid comes out. It goes through a process of grieving and resistance to change until it can find a revised world view... This church is not ours to win or lose, it is God’s church . It may be looking pretty rough now, but God will take care of it. It may look a bit different in the end but God is not going to abandon his church so we don’t need to be so afraid.“

We are not at liberty to think we are on the selection committee for God’s family, our job is to be on the welcome committee and the sooner we learn that in the Anglican Communion the better off we will be.

“I don’t believe God stopped revealing himself when the canon of scripture was closed. God promises to be with us and never let us go. We are promised that the spirit will lead us into all truth. I believe that God is now leading us to the full inclusion of people of all types of sexuality. Maybe where we’re headed is just to acknowledge that all of us are incredibly diverse and God loves us all.”

Bishop Gene said he felt it was vitally important for him to attend the Lambeth Conference, even if he can only be there informally. “Why am I going to Lambeth? I’m going to do my very best to let whatever light of Christ there is in me to shine. I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want those guys to meet and not be reminded of my presence. I want to remind them that they are in charge of their flock and they have gay people there and that gay and lesbian souls are every bit as worth saving as straight souls. I want them to have a chance to meet me and get to know me – because it is in meeting and communicating that the world is changed. I want gay people to know that they are God affirmed. If you want to see what the church is like after it has stopped obsessing about sexuality, come to New Hampshire.”

Describing his own experience, Bishop Gene said it was his integrity and belief in God that got him through the hatred he faced as a gay man in the church. “The Bible told me about God’s love when the church turned its back on me,” he said. “I owe my life to this book (The Bible) because it communicated God’s love to me. I didn’t want to be like I was. I prayed every day for God to take it away from me. But in the end I listened to God.”

He said he firmly believed he and the Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, would sit around God’s table together in Heaven one day.“I believe that with my whole heart and we will get along together – God will see to that. So we may as well get on together while we are here too.”

Anglican Covenant is unfit for purpose

2008-07-10T17:30:00.002+02:00

News Release, July 10, 2008

Anglican Covenant is unfit for purpose
Regius Professor at the University of Oxford

One of the foremost theologians in the UK today warned that conservatives in the church are destroying any possibility of compromise for the Anglican Communion.

Professor Marilyn McCord Adams, Regius Professor at the University of Oxford, said that GAFCON's concluding statement was a clear sign that there was no will to work through differences within the Communion.

She warned that it was likely to lead to excommunication, while the Archbishop of Canterbury's plea for patience was not likely to be listened to.

She was speaking at the annual conference of the Modern Churchpeople's Union held in Hertfordshire and chaired by the Archbishop of Wales, Dr Barry Morgan.

Canon Professor McCord Adams said, "By upping the ante for any covenant 'confessing Anglicans' would sign, GAFCON's concluding statement is a recipe for 'walking apart'. The reason is that GAFCON is insisting on conservative polity and conservative content. Conservatives can live with liberal polity as long as they have the majorities needed to dictate institutional policy.

"The current crisis arose, because in TEC and Westminster, sex and gender conservatives have lost such majorities. Liberals can live with conservative content, if liberal polity holds out hope of working from within to change institutional policy. Liberals have lived with sex-and-gender policies for centuries, but not - in TEC and New Westminster - their hour seems to have come."

"The trouble is conservatives cannot live with liberal polity and liberal content. Neither can liberals live with conservative polity and conservative content. GAFCON's clear lines in the sand already count liberals out."

She said that GAFCONers regard listening to liberals as being "unfaithful" to the word of God.
"God's Word written declares homosexual activity to be an abomination, and Christians should not even entertain the possibility that God's Word is false. Such GAFCONers regard liberal readiness to listen and dialogue as proof positive that liberals are incapable of conscientious commitments!"

She added that GAFCONers will not be able to recognise liberal readers as family members.
"Several African provinces have already excommunicated TEC and New Westminster. They are joined by Sydney and the Bishop of Rochester in boycotting Lambeth because they do not 'feel at home' with bishops who laid hands on Bishop Gene Robinson. How long will it be before this 'depart from me, I never knew you!' verdict gets applied to Scotland, Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, other parts of Australia, parts of the Church of England as well?"

The Rt Rev Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, will address the MCU conference tonight.

Unsound faith?

2008-07-10T09:39:00.002+02:00

From Anglican Information

Anglican Province of Central Africa – Bishops show ‘demonstrable unsound faith’

On the eve of the important decennial Lambeth Conference of worldwide Anglican Communion bishops, and at a significant major pre-Lambeth Conference Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana has delivered an important lecture.

Speaking at the annual conference of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union held in Hertfordshire, England, Mwamba addressed an international gathering of the Anglican Communion’s oldest and highly respected Theological Society. Chaired by the Archbishop of Wales in an address Bishop Mwamba said: ‘The debate over homosexuality is diverting attention away from the real challenges that the Church faces in Africa.’ He went on, ‘I dismiss the doomsday predictions of those who glimpse the break-up of the Anglican Communion at a drop of a hat.’

This latter would include previous Archbishop of the Central African Province the now retired and discredited Bernard Malango. Malango spent much of his final period as Archbishop charging round the world proclaiming schism, denouncing the Archbishop of Canterbury and infamously absolving his friend former Bishop of Harare, Nolbert Kunonga from serious legal allegations regarding 41 charges including incitement to murder.

It was the now excommunicated Kunonga, and Malango who were prime movers in November 2005 in declaring the election (by overwhelming majority) of the Rev’d Nicholas Henderson as Bishop of Lake Malawi to be unapproved on the grounds that Henderson was of ‘demonstrable unsound faith’ because, as an academic, he had once been a member of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union. This bizarre accusation was made all the more strange by the fact that Bishop James Tengatenga of South Malawi was and still is an International Editor of ‘Modern Believing’ the respected quarterly journal of the MCU.

Tengatenga interviewed by the Malawi Nation newspaper on 6th July said he had been planning to go to the Lambeth Conference for the past five years and as a member of the Lambeth Planning Group he said that he, ‘did not believe in boycotts but dialogue and contact’ – a reference to the recent schismatic Jerusalem GAFCON Conference.

Of demonstrable unsound faith? - Presumably, by the standards set by the House of Bishops of the Central African Province in November 2005 both Mwamba and Tengatenga should join Henderson in being declared of ‘demonstrable unsound faith’? Acting provincial dean Albert Chama, who is, at least for some, of ‘demonstrable uncertain faith’ by his willing attendance at the Lambeth Conference and his apparent complicity in the actions and associations of Bishops Mwamba and Tengatenga has yet to speak on the matter.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION asks: Now that the truth is out in the open, why was Henderson condemned in a Luddite fashion in 2005, effectively for being an academic, for what Mwamba and Tengatenga are openly associated with? It is not surprising that the priests and the people of the Diocese of Lake Malawi and latterly the Diocese of Upper Shire, Malawi are in open revolt for justice against the machinations of their episcopal oversight. The people are ‘demonstrably not of unsound faith’ and cannot be fooled.

The quicker the nonsense of the duplicity of the Bishops’ Court of Confirmation in 2005 is overturned the quicker some semblance of peace and order will return to at least part of the Central African Province. Perhaps, whilst discussing at Lambeth what to do about dissident Nolbert Kunonga and Zimbabwe someone will knock a few Central African episcopal heads together to get some sense into them?

Homosexuality debate is not main agenda

2008-07-09T18:12:00.002+02:00

Modern Churchpeople’s Union
News Release July 9, 2008

Homosexuality debate is not main agenda for African churches -Bishop of Botswana

The debate over homosexuality is diverting attention away from the real challenges the church in Africa faces.

That is the message of the Bishop of Botswana, the Rt Rev Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba.

He was addressing delegates at the Modern Churchpeople’s Union conference today. In his lecture, titled, Saving the Soul of Anglicanism, Blessing or Curse, the African Experience, he dismissed the perception that all African churches were concerned about homosexuality and that they saw it as an issue likely to divide the Anglican Communion.

He said, “Looking at the future of the Anglican Communion from an African context, my contention is that it will continue renewed in faith and mission inspired by appropriate structures and instruments of unity."

“I dismiss the doomsday predictions of those who glimpse the breakup of the Anglican Communion at a drop of a hat. The simple reality is that the majority of African Anglicans, about 37 million of them, are frankly not bothered with the debate on sexuality. A bishop from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told me that the people in his diocese were not in the least interested in the issue. This is just the tip of the iceberg because in my own Province of Central Africa contrary to what the renegade ex-bishop of Harare, Dr. Nolbert Kunonga, and David Virtue have said the debate on sexuality is not also an issue. We can multilply these examples across Africa."

The Windsor Commission was right in recognizing the existence within the Anglican Communion of a large constituency of faithful members who are bemused and bewildered by the intensity of the opposing views on issues of sexuality.

This group embraces worshippers who yearn for expressions of communion which will provide stability and encouragement for their pilgrimage. Their voices have been eclipsed by the intensity of sounds on opposing sides of the debate.

“Africa has over the centuries suffered much and been manipulated to serve foreign interests. As in politics so in religion with American Episcopalians dissidents caught in an internal power struggle, they seek with all they have at their means to influence some African bishops in reshaping Anglicanism. GAFCON and its new creation Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (FOCA) can have its space and place in the Communion but the spirit of African Anglicans is not inclined to schism but reconciliation."

Anglicans now need to speak out on issues that unite, not divide them, said Bishop Trevor, and come together to talk around the same table.

“It is time we focused our energies in doing God’s mission in the world and strengthening the many things we have in common rather than on those on which we differ."

“Let us then straight, gay, liberal, conservative, moderate, Anglo – Catholic , Evangelical, tradionalist, Africans and Americans, Asians, Europeans get into each other’s worlds and be enriched in the discovery of our oneness in Christ and together enlarge God’s kingdom of love where everybody has a seat at the table."

“Let’s beware of excommunicating each other here on earth. For we shall find in heaven we are still bound together at the table of Christ’s love. Archbishop Akinola sitting next to Bishop Gene Robinson for such is the kingdom of God.”

PA release - interview with Frank Griswold

2008-07-09T17:47:00.003+02:00

Bishop Frank Griswold, retired Presiding Bishop of TEC

July 09 2008 16.241

US CLERIC URGES TALKS OVER GAY BISHOPS ISSUE

By Martha Linden, PA

The US cleric who presided over the consecration of the Anglican world’s first openly gay bishop today criticised the boycott of the 10-yearly Lambeth Conference by traditionalists.

The Most Rev Frank Griswold said it would have been better for bishops to air their views at the conference rather than staying away.

As the then leader of the US Episcopal Church, he presided over the consecration in 2003 of the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, who has a male partner, as Bishop of New Hampshire.Bishop Griswold was advised to wear a bullet proof vest during the ceremony because of the controversy over the appointment.

He said: "When there are disagreements and strains within a body such as the Anglican Communion it is all the more incumbent upon everyone to be present and to air their views honestly and with charity and to seek to enter into one another’s realities."

"If you are not there, if you draw back, then you cannot be part of that exploration."

"I think everyone should be there, it is particularly important when there are strains or disagreements."

His remarks come on the eve of the Lambeth Conference, which will get under way in Canterbury next week with 650 bishops and their spouses attending from around the world.

The conference is being boycotted by traditionalist bishops in protest over the consecration of Bishop Robinson.

The Anglican Communion said so far 76% of those invited are attending and registrations are still being received. Many bishops chose instead to attend the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) in Jerusalem last month, a grouping opposed to liberalisation of Church teaching in areas such as homosexuality.

Bishop Griswold declined to criticise the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, for not inviting Bishop Robinson to the Lambeth Conference. He said: "I think that for many people the action of the Episcopal Church is highly problematic and I can understand why the Archbishop felt he could not invite him."

Bishop Griswold was speaking today at a conference organised by the Modern Churchpeople’s Union, a liberal Anglican society, in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire. The conference will be addressed tomorrow night by Bishop Robinson, whose presence in the UK will coincide with the Lambeth Conference.

An African perspective

2008-07-09T15:45:00.007+02:00

Rev Musonda Trevor Mwamba, Bishop of Botswana

I knew Bishop Trevor Mwamba would be a star, and he was. He gave us a mixture of stories, reflection, sharp comment and provoking observations that were very much enjoyed.

He is not a liberal. He is committed to the broad inclusivity of the Anglican Church, to listening to all kinds of voices in the Church, and to coping with our differences with care and mutual respect.

We are not the labels we tag ourselves with: straight, gay, liberal, conservative, moderate, Anglo – Catholic , Evangelical, tradionalist, and to the extent that we believe these labels, we believe a lie, and add ‘anguish upon anguish’. We must first learn to be still and know who we are.

...
I'll just pick out one of his threads: 'ears'

Elochukwu E. Uzukwu in his insightful book, A Listening Church: Autonomy and Communion in African Churches, talks about developing a Ministry “ with Large Ears” or Leadership of Communities in the Service of Listening.

He gives an example of the Manja of the Central Africa Republic whose totem for the chief is the rabbit because it has “large ears”. The Manja stress listening as the most important characteristic of the chief. His “large ears” bring him close to God…and close to the conversations taking place in the community. He has the last word – in Botswana they say the chief speaks last – because he speaks after having assimilated and digested the Word in the community. He is the guardian of the dynamic, life –giving Word which creates and re – creates the community. “Word” means truthfulness, fairness, honesty, communication.
For the chief to be fair, he must be a patient listener and listening takes plenty of time.

The problem in the Anglican Communion is that the bishops have “short ears”. Which means we are hard of hearing all deafened by the noise of our respective agendas. The great tragedy speaking as an African bishop is that having ‘short ears’ make some of our Primates in Africa act like ecclesiastical Mugabes.

Overall,

the spirit of African Anglicans is not inclined to schism but reconciliation.

I'll post the whole thing sometime next week.

Paul Bagshaw

Bishop Michael Jackson and the Church of Ireland

2008-07-09T13:01:00.006+02:00

St Macartan's Day Service in Clogher Cathedral Every parish placed a stone at the Clogher stone.

I missed the first half of Bishop Jackson's talk and thoroughly enjoyed what I did hear.

He was given the title: Anglicanism, blessing or curse - the Irish experience. As blessings he identified being the Irish Church as part of the whole - catholic and reformed, as part of a global communion, both traditional and radical, resting first of scripture and then also tradition and reason.

As a church which had been part of the United Church of England and Ireland and which was disestablished in the nineteenth century, the Church of Ireland can understand both the C of E and other churches of the comunion which have never had the experience of establishment.

The Church of Ireland also valued being part of the Porvoo agreement and working with Protestant Episcopalians across northern Europe, including the rediscovery of the worth of the ministry of the diaconate.

The church, he said, is an experiment in Godly living.

'Curse' on the other hand, was too strong. But as a church which crossed many of the boundaries of Ireland - South and North, Catholic and Reformed - and which had a history deeply engaged in relations between England and Ireland - there was a bitter and difficult legacy.

Anglicanism must model the unity of diversity.

Paul Bagshaw

Reformation lessons

2008-07-09T12:42:00.004+02:00

Martin Luther

Charlotte Methuen, Lecturer in Oxford University, talked about the Reformation. From her title

‘In the which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments be duly administered': The Ecclesiology of the Church of England in the context of the European Reformation.
I was expecting something less than gripping - I was quite wrong.

And, again, this is not a summary of what was said but some snippets I've pulled out.

She made the important observation that many times in the past people have thought that the curch was crubling around our ears. She also observed that a knowledge of our church history has become much less in the last few years - and needs to be rediscovered or reasserted.

She pointed to the ecclesiological questions of authority which were central tothe Reformation and are so now: who has authority to call an authoritative council of the church? who has authority to determine the interpretation of scripture? by what authority may we lay claim to the truth of God?

The beauty of Anglicanism, she said, is that there is no one single way to be Anglican. A greater unity can come out of the meeting of different people in dialouge and debate - so long a debate is kept open, that there is no manufactured consensus, and where dicussion is not dominated by those who start from the answers.

(Charlotte Methuen's talk will not go straight on the website but will be delayed until October.)
Paul Bagshaw

Liberals welcome vote on women bishops

2008-07-08T20:58:00.003+02:00

Vivienne Faull

(Daily Telegraph)

MCU News Release July 8, 2008

Liberals welcome vote on women bishops

Liberals last night welcomed the Church of England's decision to proceed with plans to ordain women as bishops.

At the annual conference at the Modern Churchpeople's Union they supported the General Synod's vote which passed the plans with a statutory code of practice.

Jonathan Clatworthy, general secretary of the MCU, said, "This paves the way for equal treatment for women and men through all the layers of the church, without discrimination. We consider this to be of fundamental importance. The code of practice has yet to be drawn up and we would urge those charged with the task to protect this vital principle so that the church fully reflects the best insights of the 21st Century."

John Plant, chair of the MCU, said, "We believe this affirms the vocation of women and, at the same time, allows the church to be inclusive of those who take other views. We hope this allows traditional catholics and conservative evangelicals to continue to contribute to the rich diversity of Anglicanism."

R S Thomas - the search for God who's gone

2008-07-08T18:11:00.006+02:00

R S Thomas

The Archbishop of Wales, Barry Morgan, spoke on the poet R S Thomas. It was a very good opening to a conference focused on Anglicanism: focused on the mystery, the indefinability and absence of God, the necessity of doubt, uncertainty, paradox, and at the same time, a faithful, prayerful life.

Barry Morgan asked,

How might the poetry of this man help Anglicans and the Anglican Communion in its present crisis? And as I frame the question I am acutely aware of its paradox. R. S. Thomas would not have been much bothered about the Communion since he was not much concerned about either diocese or province.

Later in his lecture he observed,

It is not the case that for Thomas, God had no reality beyond his language about Him. He attempts to engage with the mystery of God’s transcendence but realises that God is a reality greater than him and that he will never be able to comprehend God’s inner nature and being. This is a totally orthodox position that does not offer cast iron certainties but explores difficulties and paradoxes. Thus he writes of the natural world as a place of great beauty and a place where God is revealed:

‘Many creatures reflect you,
The flowers, your colour, your tide,
The precision of your calculations.’ Laboratories of the Spirit (Alive)

On the other hand he writes of the cruelty of nature and the way creatures prey on one another and the great waste inherent in the evolutionary process – “the impersonal, pitiless, beauty of nature.” Autobiographies. p.118
Either God has no part in this cruelty, so that there is another power as great or greater than Him or else God is in some way responsible for the cruelty. It is summed up in his autobiography when he sees the sea as a mirror full of beauty and glory bearing the reflection of clouds and birds and yet “under the deceptively innocent surface, thousand of horrors, as if they were the creator’s failed experiments.” Autobiographies. p.78

...

We too, like Thomas, can feel:

‘And in the book I read
“God is Love”. But lifting
my head, I do not find it so.’ Laboratories of the Spirit (Which)
It is the heart of the dilemma of anyone who is a religious believer. How do you reconcile a world where beauty, violence and cruelty seem to exist side by side? It is an unresolved theological problem for all Christians but Thomas is willing to face it. Belief in God is not always straightforward.

No easy answers but living with doubt uncertainties and paradox - and the admission that we falter: God does not bludgeon us into belief but gives us the freedom to respond.

And this doesn't give a good summary in the least - the whole talk will be on the MCU site in good time. In the meantime I've decided that blogging is incompatible with my other conference responsibilities - but I'll carry on anyway.

Paul Bagshaw

At the MCU Conference

2008-07-08T16:41:00.003+02:00

The Most Rev Barry Morgan
Chairing the Conference

At the MCU Annual Conference in the midst of showers my intention is to put up somewhat impressionistic observations as best I can in between my other job of managing the sound system.

The conference talks will be put on the website as soon as they are available (and as soon as I've recovered). There will also be sumaries of the talks and press releases here.

The first surprise was to see a TV camera. It turns out a camera crew is following Barry Morgan for a programme - I'll see if more details are available sometime. Gene Robinson is here - its strange to see people wandering around in the flesh who I know only through their pictures. And, of course, its good to see old friends and acquaintances from previous conferences agai.

Paul Bagshaw

Affirming Liberalism - 2 lectures

2008-07-07T09:14:00.002+02:00

Affirming Liberalism has posted two lectures (.pdf) which may be of interest:

Canon Professor Keith Ward, Why the Future Belongs to Liberal Faith

Mark Chapman, Affirming Liberalism

Gay witness from Africa

2008-07-07T09:00:00.005+02:00

Integrity USA want the bishops at Lambeth to hear some different people. But it has been hard to get the voices of gay Africans heard at the Lambeth Conference.

Getting LGBT people physically to Lambeth was proving very difficult because it's hard for them to get passports/visas because so many of them can't get jobs because they are gay -- or in the case of straight allies, because they are sympathetic to the LGBT cause. The British immigration people don't care why they are jobless -- they won't let them in if they don't have a job back home.

So a scratch video project was created -

Among those we talked to is
* a transgendered [F to M] Nigerian
* a partnered lesbian activist in Uganda
* a transgendered [M to F] Ugandan
* one of a pair of gay 20-something twins in Kenya
* a gay Ugandan farmer whose dream is to own two acres of land to grow his sugarcane
* gay partners in Kenya who dream of having their union blessed
* a gay Nigerian who was beaten badly simply for being gay

There were many more. We also interviewed some of their straight allies -- a Ugandan bishop, a Kenyan Anglican priest, a Ugandan law professor and feminist; and a Kenyan Methodist minister.

But the project is not yet complete and more money is still needed.

"Another question is do they really know that we have gay people in our churches? Do they really know that they worship in those same churches and when they preach sermons which are going to send them away rather than to bring them to Christ what are they really doing? What do they think when people run away from Christ rather than come closer to Christ? Do they really know that this is a reality? Those are questions that they should ponder, they should sober up, come together and reflect, not fight amongst each other. We are one. God is not happy, and God wants us all together." A gay Kenyan

All here.

Say nothing about women

2008-07-07T08:52:00.003+02:00

Sister of Charity Louise Lears

The Church of England may be discussing women bishops. In at least one part of the Roman Catholic Church it is forbidden to ask for women to be ordained.

Louise Lears was excommunicated by Saint Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke apparently because of her belief that all church ministries, including women’s ordination, should be open to women.

More details here.

Statement by the Most Reverend Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Cape Town

2008-07-07T08:48:00.002+02:00

Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town

From ACNS

"The African Union's resolution calling for negotiations to settle Zimbabwe's political crisis is a welcome first step towards fulfilling the AU's potential to work for an Africa without conflict.

"Now space must be created to ensure that the negotiations are productive.

"Both parties have to be genuinely willing to address one another's fears and aspirations. If the talks are to succeed, Zanu-PF needs to recognise the legitimacy of the MDC. In addition, the talks will go nowhere if Zimbabweans continue to live in terror of being attacked and killed for not having red ink on their fingers.

"We acknowledge and give thanks for what the SADC mediation process has delivered so far. However, it needs now to be expanded, and I urge SADC to establish mechanisms on the ground in Zimbabwe to bring about a climate free of political violence.

"We pray for negotiations between partners fully committed to finding one another and ending the desperate suffering of their people. A lasting settlement would breathe hope and transformation into our common life in Southern Africa."

Davis Mac-Iyalla arrested and freed

2008-07-07T08:33:00.002+02:00

Davis Mac-Iyalla

Davis Mac-Iyalla was arrested on July 4th in London. He is an asylum seeker on the grounds that he has a reasonable fear of persecution in Nigeria. He was taken to Oakington detention centre in Cambridgeshire.

He was arrested the day before he was due to address Pride London in Trafalgar Square. He was later freed after an intensive lobbying campaign. Peter Tatchell said,

“I am delighted that the Home Office has finally seen sense and released him.

“But he was only freed because he has lots of supporters and a first-class solicitor, Abigale Evans of Wilson and Co.

“Many gay asylum seekers are not so lucky,” Mr. Tatchell pointed out.

“They end up in detention for months.

“Davis should never have been detained in the first place.

“Treating a victim of homophobic persecution like a common criminal is outrageous, said Mr Tatchell insisted.

Detention is a risk for all asylum seekers who are routinely treated like criminals whatever the grounds of their claim.

In Iran, for example, people are routinely tortured and killed if they are known to be homosexual and yet the government will refuse asylum to gay applicants and send them back if they can.

July Signs of the Times

2008-07-05T09:46:00.002+02:00

The July edition of Signs of the Times is now available on the MCU website:

Do we speak the same language? Jonathan Clatworthy (Editorial)
Are we speaking to each other, or just shouting? Jonathan Clatworthy
The Covenant will not do, Paul Bagshaw
When will they get it? Jean Mayland
"Fresh Expressions" - but of What? Anthony Woollard
Reflections from the Silk Route, Jean Mayland
Revelation, Paul Smith, David Morling, Paul Bagshaw

Eye witness in Zimbabwe

2008-07-05T08:50:00.002+02:00

From Anglican Information

Meanwhile on the ground in Zimbabwe from a correspondent in Harare

Today Mugabe is returning in triumph from Egypt. People in the townshps are being forced into buses to go out to the Airport to welcome him. I saw a bus packed inside and on the roof with screaming Zanu PF youth in their blue caps. The man hanging out of the door obviously had advanced Aids and a mad looking leering face. When my car came alongside he shook his fist at me.

But by and large things seem to be returning somewhat to normal although an MDC Youth leader returning from a 'safe house' was beaten on Monday 'for having left the area during the election'. A friend, about whom we have reported before, is collecting basics to take her family back to their slashed tent. Currently there are no blankets and it is mid winter – it can get really cold at night. Bishop Bakare who has a relief agency operating has promised some help from funding he is receiving.

Some rare good news: The police arrested Zvandasara, who failed to be elected to parliament on a ZanuPF ticket, for questioning, but alas he was not held. Zvandasara was responsible, just before the election, for the beating of the MDC Chairman. The MDC councillor, Mr Chiroto, drove him to hospital. He was still out when they (Zanu-PF) came to his home. So they siezed his wife. She was beaten and raped and then killed by having a nail driven through her head before she was finally shot in the ear. Her funeral was pictured in the edition of the Zimbabwe Independent which was on the streets on Saturday June 28th. Why Zvandasara was not charged is clearly political as Chiroto's young daughter and maid went to the police and made a full report.

Inflation continues to soar. I found a very large loaf, weighing 2.5 Kg yesterday. It cost 105.billion, which is about 20p. We tried to get a school jersey for one of the children today. It cost 3.1 trillion. We got some knitting wool instead.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION comments: The Zimbabwe inflation figures, currently at 8,000,000%, are now meaningless as it is impossible to keep up. People either risk using foreign currency (a severely punishable crime) or they resort to direct barter and subsistence farming scratching a living, literally from the soil. The lucky ones have monies sent in from relative abroad.

You can buy Zimbabwean dollars denominated in hundreds of millions, as curiosities on Ebay for about £20.00 vastly more than their actual value.

The elite of the regime continue in their gated mansions with their Mercedes and Hummers courtesy of vast foreign accounts which are still freely accessible through London, New York and European capitals – it’s time for some concerted action on the part of western politicians.

Please continue to pray for Zimbabwe, for the Central African Province, for the Anglican Communion and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Central Africa Province, GAFCON and Mugabe

2008-07-05T08:46:00.003+02:00

From Anglican Information

The Central African Province and the Mugabe regime
Africans used by GAFCON organisers

The future of the Anglican Province of Central Africa - now rests ironically in the hands of Robert Mugabe. Today, the ‘President’ of Zimbabwe returns to his mansion fresh back from the recent African Union summit in Egypt which was predictably muted in its condemnation of him and his murderous regime. Mugabe has in any case ‘warned’ African nations not to interfere.

Just under half of Africa’s (mostly smaller) countries have populations living in abject poverty whilst their Presidents and ruling elites enjoy obscene wealth and privilege backed up by rapacious foreign exploitative interests which care little for human rights and much for mineral and mining ones. The Chinese are notorious (there are also disgraceful examples on the part of British companies) in this respect and readers will recall the recent shipment of Chinese arms destined for the Mugabe regime that was held up by the refusal of South African dockers to unload it. Sadly, it is now understood that the weapons, which are to be used against the Zimbabwean people, did eventually make it to Zimbabwe by a circuitous route through Angola.

The Anglican Communion: In a similar fashion, it is becoming obvious that the recent divisive GAFCON (Global Anglican Future) conference in Israel is really the product of Africans being used by conservative American Episcopalians, with some other extremist hangers-on, hell bent on an internal North American struggle in the Episcopal Church and an undermining of the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The sadness of this is that the naturally conservative and traditional views of some African Provinces are being manipulated and hijacked through their leaders who, like their political counterparts, seem to have megalomaniac tendencies.

As reported in today’s Mail and Guardian Online, Janet Frisk a theology lecturer at Rhodes University, South Africa and an ordained priest said the move by the new offshoot of GAFCON with the regrettable (for English speakers) acronym FOCA (Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans) was, ‘motivated by power rather than doctrine’. Fisk’s position is echoed by Bishop Wilson Sichebo of Matabeleland, Zimbabwe and President of the influential Zimbabwe Council of Churches, who noting that his diocese remains loyal to Canterbury, said ‘what is sad about the whole affair (the attempted GAFCON schism) is that it is not caused by differences in doctrine, but by the lust for power and recognition.’ He went on to comment, as Bishop Trevor Mwamba, former Dean of the Central African Province and Bishop of Botswana, has frequently said: ‘The divisions are distracting the Church from the real issues it should be confronting, such as providing access to antiretroviral for those who are HIV positive, supporting victims of violence and fighting poverty.’

The Archbishop of Canterbury: Rowan Williams has said of the GAFCON exercise and its concomitant ‘Jerusalem Statement’, that: ‘there is much that is positive and encouraging’ but that its proposals lack legitimacy, authority and by implication integrity.

In short Africa, as usual, the Anglican Church included, is being used in a rapacious fashion by outsiders who play to the conceits and pockets of corrupt leaders, including Archbishops, whilst the people suffer. There is no evidence that the millions of Anglicans in Africa over whom these individuals preside wish to sever links with Canterbury but plenty that they wish to address the real issues of the Gospel in their day to day lives.

Thankfully, the Anglican Central African Province bishops are attending this July’s authentic Lambeth Conference, despite the efforts of previous Archbishop Bernard Malango to deliver them into the hands of GAFCON and FOCA. Nevertheless, through his protégé, acting Dean Albert Chama, he remains influential and if the Mugabe regime is successful in ‘facing down’ any opposition the situation looks dire for Bishops Sebastian Bakare of Harare and Peter Hatendi of Manicaland and the loyal Anglicans in that beleaguered country. There are enough of the Provincial Bishops who will willingly drift back into complaisance with Mugabe to cause enormous difficulties.

Unfortunately, it does look as if Mugabe is back to stay and if so the poison of the regime is destined to percolate into surrounding countries and back into the Anglican Church. This will call for immense fortitude and a serious re-evaluation of leadership in the House of Bishops lest the Anglican Church end up mimicking the worst of the self-serving political regimes.

Zimbabwe has no President

2008-07-01T23:04:00.001+02:00

From: Catholic Information Service for Africa
(Nairobi)

1 July 2008
Posted to the web 1 July 2008

Pretoria

Churches in South Africa announced Monday that Zimbabwe has no president because the run-off election featuring Robert Mugabe alone was a sham.

"We call on African and other states of the world not to recognise the de facto presidency of former President Robert Mugabe," said Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, president of the South African Council of Churches.

He called for more sanctions on Zimbabwe. "While we recognise that further sanctions will hurt the poor and suffering Zimbabweans, we have come to the conclusion that the people of Zimbabwe are already burdened with untold suffering. The time has come for all states to apply and intensify universal sanctions against Zimbabwe as part and parcel of the negotiations for power-sharing in Zimbabwe."

The Southern African Development Cooperation (SADC) and the African Union (AU) should work harder to help set up a transitional government to bring together the opposition and Mugabe's party, said SACC General Secretary Eddie Makue.

"The run-off elections in which Mr Robert Mugabe ran alone were neither free nor fair, therefore this presidency is illegitimate."

Makue said the transitional government should, amongst other things, bring an immediate end to the violence and human rights violations while it negotiates a more stable, long term socioeconomic and political situation.

Letter to The Rector, All Souls’ Church

2008-07-01T19:29:00.001+02:00

To: The Rector, All Souls’ Church, Langham Place, London

01 July 2008

Dear Mr Palmer

I understand that today All Souls’ is giving a platform to three Bishops intimately involved in the “Gafcon” process in a conference organised by “Anglican Mainstream”.

Bishops Jensen, Orombi and Venables will no doubt use the opportunity to peddle their homophobic and destructive views and it saddens me that All Souls would want to endorse this through hosting the event. Their views are well-known and, in a secular context, could well be construed as incitement to hate on the grounds of sexual orientation.

It is a shame that the Anglican Church and, on this occasion, All Souls in particular, continues to deny the God-given reality of homosexuality and His blessing that gay Christians know in their daily lives. I have looked at the list of speakers at the conference and see no hope of a contrasting Biblical view being put forward. The event, therefore, cannot be justified on the grounds of providing a balanced forum for different perspectives.

As a former worshipper at All Souls’ and as a gay Evangelical, it disappoints me that your church is willing to contribute today to the destructive persecution of gay Christians and the fragmentation of the Anglican Church worldwide.

Yours sincerely

David W Talbot

Relationships deteriorate

2008-07-01T19:01:00.002+02:00

Andrew Brown in Meet the Focas (they really should spend some of their money on an agency that will find them a proper name) returns to the metaphor of a divorce though saying that a schism is harder to define. Yet it happened

yesterday, when a gathering of 200 mostly African bishops signed up in Jerusalem to a new church to be known as the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, or Foca (it's not pronounced the obvious way). The Focas pretend they are still part of the Anglican communion and that theirs is not a schism but this is mere tactical manoeuvring, the equivalent of telling the press that no one else is involved and you're all still friends. They have their own money, their own bishops, their own theological colleges and now their own statements of doctrine. They have no use for the Archbishop of Canterbury, nor for the greater part of the Church of England.

Their money may have come in the first place from America, and their numbers from Africa, but their firmest base, paradoxically, may well be in England. A group of fervent evangelicals centred around the Oxfordshire priest Canon Chris Sugden has been working towards this schism with patient determination for the last 10 years at least.

And, like a divorce, when there is no longer anything to gain from politeness, people are likely to speak their minds more honestly. And it seems to me the language has just got worse. Brown says,

Though their [Foca's] beliefs may be variously ridiculous and incoherent, there is a solid spine of hope and hatred to them.

They hate liberalism of all sorts, and they hope God will reward them if they can crush it. Now they have an international base, they will spend decades trying to drive it out of England. First gay people have been the target; the next battle will be over women bishops, because in a conservative reading of the Bible it is always wrong for women to give orders to men. So while they are perfectly happy to tell male bishops to get stuffed, the thought of having to do so to a woman is quite intolerable to them.

What remains to be seen is whether the great bulk of the Church of England, bewildered where it is not outmanoeuvred, will recognise the schism for a real threat or go on supposing that surely we can all be friends. That's not the way that most divorces end.

Theo Hobson, from a different perspective says, The Evangelicals are moving in for the kill. He says,

The conservative Evangelicals of Foca have no desire to form a breakaway church. Their desire is to take over the Anglican Communion, and you don't achieve that by walking away.

Perhaps its time to attempt something which liberals have never been good at: getting organised. It's time to for liberals to identify their own sticking points and not merely react to the evangelical agenda. It's time to say, thus far and no further.

But it's a lot easier said than done. Liberals are easy to distract and very hard to get focused. Has InclusiveChurch stuttered when it should be speaking clearly? Maybe some liberals who don't think they're nice people should get together to meet the Foca's head on.

FOCA

2008-07-01T09:06:00.002+02:00

As always MadPriest gets the best: www.focas.org.

And, if you like, you can bid for www.foca.org. What's it worth?

Well, FOCA

2008-06-30T21:26:00.003+02:00

GAFCONites avoiding any imperial overtones

The Archbishop of Canterbury has responded (here) to GAFCON's final statement with welcome and somewhat unusual directness.

I have followed press and blog comment on the GAFCON conference but not commented on it here largely because I found it very difficult to know which way to jump: schism or no schism, a new dawn for conservatives or the last hurrah of a dying campaign?

But the Archbishop has set my mind at rest: schism it is. A minor element of Anglicanism has found itself sufficiently marginalised to have fallen off the edge. The mechanics will no doubt take a while to work out - this has been a slow tearing of the fabric of communion - but those who wish to do so may now find the pure orthodox leadership they crave, and leave the rest of us in peace.

I understand why they prefer a 'movement' to division: in England and Australia at the very least there is no legal question to be answered - those who leave the communion leave their property, salaries, pensions and status behind them. But this is a movement of the orthodox, not of martyrs, so they don't really want to risk impoverishment (and, besides, such conditions would severely reduce the number of followers).

I understand why they prefer a clear schism: so that the leadership of the orthodox can be established clearly and without contamination by heterodox or suspect or even other leaders. (I note, for example, the significant absence of Archbishop John Chew (Wikipedia) from all these shenanigans).

And it increasingly seems to me that GAFCON marks the beginning of the end of the conservative campaign to shape the Anglican Communion in their own image. Some disgruntled conservatives in the US will leave and go elsewhere, some will come under the new Province proposed for the US and will find this to be the start of their problems rather than the end of a pilgrimage, others will remain within Anglicanism no doubt feeling deflated and betrayed.

Nor will this be a new dawn for liberals, though they may breathe a little easier. Liberal bishops attract attention because they are the exception. The Communion will still (and probably rightly) remain a conservative institution at all levels. The question of the standing of homosexuals in the church will remain contentious though we can now hope that the intensity of debate might be lessoned such that a proper period of discernment could follow.

(Incidentally, I don't think it's an accident that this coincides with the end of the Bush regime and the anticipation of a new start with Obama. Churches follow the wind as closely as a racing yacht.)

Some time ago Dave Marshall asked

But assuming there is a split, where will this leave 'liberal' Church? After years of finding an accommodation with conservative orthodoxy, isn't it going to be left with a mass of conservative-shaped infrastructure that will effectively give those conservatives who remain a veto on liberal and progressive initiatives for years to come?

and my answer there was pessimistic.

But I just wonder whether there might now be a shift in the debate? Savitri Hensman is on my wavelength when she talks about the importance of the laity in our understanding of the church. Since the early 1960s (with people like Bishop John Robinson, Kathleen Bliss, George Goyder, supported by a WCC office focused on the laity) the place of the laity in the Anglican Church - or, at least, the Church of England - has slipped steadily down the scale.

The centralising agenda of the Communion (which precedes and has been furthered by Rowan Williams) and the desire for top-down authoritative decision making will not go away because a Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans has been created (and what penance would their confessor prescribe, do you think?).

Yet, logically, the Anglican Covenant is now dead in the water. There is no point of setting up a structure to discipline Provinces if those loudest for the prosecution walk off into another structure altogether. The Covenant was shaped to keep the conservatives on board and yet many of them have jumped ship. It was intended to expel TEC and the Anglican Church of Canada - but that's now a political impossibility (and probably was anyway). It may even have been a one-shell cannon, given all the other structural problems with its proposals, and someone's put water on the fuse.

So if (and I've never been able to read the minds of bishops I've met, let alone ones I haven't) centralising remains strong but its central project is fatally wounded then perhaps there is room for a new debate about the future shape and identity of the Anglican Communion. Perhaps part of that debate might include the the place laity in the reception of doctrinal change. Even, and I know this is radical, maybe church leaders could learn to listen to lay members of the church and be changed by them.

Under God, anything's possible.

Paul Bagshaw

Writing in judgement

2008-06-30T21:15:00.002+02:00

David Johnston (see below) has put the employment tribunal's written judgement on his site here. He also says,

The website will be active until July 31 and then it will be closed: it has served its purpose, and I am moving on to a new life in a new country, ‘leaving the past behind and pressing on to what lies ahead’. I do not want my life to be defined in terms of this unhappy episode, which is only a very small part of what has been a rewarding and exciting life. Soon all this will be a dim memory, and I believe the best is yet to be. I freely forgive all who have hurt me, and I ask forgiveness from all whom I have hurt. The nature of conflict is that everyone suffers, even the innocent.

And, as an extra, he has also posted his dissertation on reconciliation: Moving towards embrace.

Ethos of Anglicanism "betrayed"

2008-06-30T19:36:00.002+02:00

Ethos of Anglicanism "betrayed"

Modern Churchpeople's Union, News Release, 30 June 2008

The Modern Churchpeople’s Union is a theological organization founded within the Church of England. It promotes liberal theology based on scholarly learning.

As liberal Christians we reject outright the claim of The Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans to be the representatives of orthodox Anglicanism. Their claim to be traditionalists is as bogus as their claim to speak on behalf of half of the world’s Anglicans.

Contrary to their claims, the Anglican Communion is traditionally one that embraces difference and respects diversity. Since the reign of Henry VIII the Church of England has sought to encompass a range of opinions because it recognized that no one group has special access to truth. Therefore engagement with those with whom you disagree is essential in pursuit of truth.

The formation of FOCA is nothing less than a pre-emptive first strike by those who are determined to have their own way come what may. Their abandonment of serious theological discussion and debate is a betrayal of the ethos of Anglicanism.

Jonathan Clatworthy, General Secretary of the MCU said: “They tried to take over, using homosexuality as a rallying-cry and threatening to split the Anglican Communion. Finding their more extreme demands rejected they have finally decided to go their own way. This will be an opportunity for the Anglican Communion to reaffirm its traditional openness and diversity, recognizing that nobody has all the answers”.

John Plant, Chair of the MCU added: “We deplore their personal attacks on the Archbishop of Canterbury who has been selfless and courageous in the quest to find a way forward. This group routinely calls for discipline but feels free to ignore it whenever it applies to them.”

Next week’s MCU Conference, “Saving the Soul of Anglicanism” reflects more authentically the true ethos of Anglicanism. It will provide a proper context for listening and theological debate. The conference will be chaired by Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan and speakers represent the diversity of Anglicanism including Bishop Gene Robinson and Bishop Trevor Mwamba, bishop of Botswana and Dean of the Province of Central Africa.

Not the Empress of India

2008-06-28T11:36:00.004+02:00

The Archbishop of Canterbury is not the Empress of India

There's probably not much on which I would agree with Charles Moore - but I love this headline. I hope that Rowan embroiders it on a sampler and hangs it over the marital bed, just to remind him who he is not, and that Jane is not Prince Albert.

I do think the question of the shift of the centre of gravity in the Anglican Communion away from England (and the US) is an important part of why our present troubles are so divisive and apparently intractable. Though I'd probably have placed emphases in different places.

And the article contains some useful remainders - in particular, They [conservative Africans] should not think themselves more truthful because they are more quarrelsome. And, On both sides, the thing has turned ugly.

I also liked a sentence from his final paragraph:

Most of the troubles in religion come from what my friendly bishop calls the "fidget, fidget, fidget, fidget" of church bureaucracy and church politics.

Paul Bagshaw

Beyond description

2008-06-28T09:19:00.004+02:00

Church Times:

Life in Zimbabwe deteriorates ‘beyond description’

THE SITUATION in Zimbabwe is “beyond description”, the Bishop of Harare, Dr Sebastian Bakare, reported from the city on Tuesday.

...
Bishop Bakare said that food was becoming an even more serious issue, as people driven from the rural areas sought refuge in the cities. “We’re trying to do what we can to identify those people and give them the little we can from some organisations that are willing to give us some food. Otherwise, that is a very serious problem we are facing now,” he said.

“A lot of them have wounds — we have no medicine, and wounds have not been attended to. They must wait for natural healing — you can imagine what that means. I think God will provide, but at the moment they are experiencing a lot of suffering.”
...

Throughout the crisis, Anglicans in Harare continue to battle for the right to worship in their own church buildings. Dr Bakare returned on Tuesday from taking the funeral of the wife of a senior priest in his diocese. He had been turned away by riot police from the church at Mbare; so he held the funeral service in a private house instead. With the coffin in procession, he was refused access to the diocesan cemetery by the deposed former Bishop, Nolbert Kunonga.

He described the day as “very challenging. Kunonga was not prepared to allow us to bury this lady. It was very embarrassing. I can’t say more. I told him, this is our cemetery. You cannot allow us not to bury our dead. It was terrible. This priest has served the diocese for more than 40 years, and that was what we had to experience in bidding farewell to his wife.”

But Kunonga’s power was running out, Dr Bakare said. “He has been using the police to frighten people, but the police are fed up: they don’t care for him now. All he can do now is exert psychological pressure. He’s on his way out.

“Our people are not giving up, and our congregations are growing bigger and bigger. We feel we have the upper hand spiritually, and, whatever Kunonga is doing, he hasn’t got the people behind him.”

Dr Bakare said that, while he is coming to the Lambeth Conference, “My heart will be in Zimbabwe. But this is God’s Church, and God will take care of these people. My presence doesn’t make a big difference. I’m coming to Lambeth in order to be inspired to carry on with this mission we find ourselves in in Zimbabwe.”

All here.

Open Letter to Zimbabwe Council of Churches from New Zealand

2008-06-28T09:15:00.002+02:00

The mark of the voter -
and protection from the militia?

From the Zimbabwe Independent (Harare) here

DEAR brothers and sisters in Christ,

We have been deeply disturbed by the continual reports from Zimbabwe of ever increasing levels of violence and deprivation.

We appreciate that it is an incredibly difficult time for you as you seek to minister God's love for all people in the lead-up to the presidential run-off election on June 27. We are shocked by the rising level of hunger, the lack of medical treatment and the growing numbers of vicious attacks on people, including those working for the churches, Christian Care and the Student Christian Movement.

When so many are dependent on relief assistance for their basic supplies we were saddened to hear that groups including Christian Care can no longer (freely) distribute the food people so desperately need.

What is perhaps saddest of all is the failure of the Zimbabwe government to protect its people from these injustices and its deliberate efforts to interfere with the election.

On this basis, and recognising the life we share together as the body of Christ, we ask you to support the right of all Zimbabweans to participate in safe, free and fair elections on June 27 by speaking out publicly and directly to those involved. We believe the churches have a responsibility to encourage people to vote while assuring them that their efforts will contribute to the restoration of the country. At such times it is important for the churches to stand strongly within the prophetic tradition and speak out courageously in favour of those who have been made poor at the hands of the powerful.

In previous elections the international church community has provided election observers. Under the current circumstances, when there is so much international attention and where the results are so critical, it is important the churches advocate for adequate election observers throughout the country, including from churches in neighbouring countries, the Vatican, the World Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches.

Finally, the ability of reporters to travel widely and safely to report on what is happening in both national and international media will contribute greatly to ensuring the elections are free and fair. We encourage you to defend this freedom and to support media representatives however you are able. The world is watching and we can use the news we receive to strengthen the international support for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.

We assure you that the churches of Aotearoa New Zealand continue to pray for the people of Zimbabwe, the church community and the long term future of the country. Together we are participating in the "season of prayer" in response to your great need and in the gospel that proclaims freedom and hope even when fear prevails. Be assured that we care very deeply for your country and long for the day that peace will prevail and hope be restored.

In the Name of the risen Christ,

*David Moxon, Co-presiding Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia.

*John A Dew, Archbishop of Wellington

*Roman Catholic Church of New Zealand

*Brian Turner, President Methodist Church of New Zealand

*Rodney Macann, National Leader Baptist Union of New Zealand

*Pamela Tankersley, Assembly Moderator Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand

*W V (Bill) Robinson, Year Meeting Clerk

*The religious Society of Friends in Aotearoa New Zealand

No Sir, it's not cricket

2008-06-27T09:10:00.003+02:00

New York Times: Since the closure of an N.G.O. that was feeding children through the local school, 12-year-old Tonderai is living off one meager meal a day that his mother, Elizabeth, right, struggles to provide for him and his three siblings

All we can do is wring our hands, sorrow for those who suffer, and pray.

Mugabe has orchestrated violence against his opponents in a form of civil war. The lines are drawn according to political allegiance, not ethnicity or class. Fear is personalised and individuals are terrorised to vote Mugabe.

It is democracy which Satan might have devised for hell.

Of course, Mugabe does not act alone. Some of the youth militia may be dragooned into violence against their instincts - but the war veterans and, especially, Zanu-PF activists and leaders, the senior people in the intelligence services, police and army are either personally committed to the regime or trapped on a treadmill from which there is no escape. This is hell's economy: inflation in violence to match inflation in currency. Every act of violence is a deposit in the bank of future retribution - each violent episode demands more violence to stave off the day when an account will have to be given and repayment made.

The international community can do nothing. Gestures, like stopping Zimbabwe play international cricket or stripping Mugabe of his knighthood, are sops for outside readers of the media. They are small, necessary acts which expose the inability of Governments to make any difference.

Perhaps the collapsing economy will destroy the Mugabe regime, perhaps a change in the leadership in South Africa will hasten that day, but many more people will be hurt, killed, and impoverished along the way.

Paul Bagshaw

Reflections on sexuality in Canada

2008-06-27T08:52:00.004+02:00

Adam and Eve by Enrico Baj

From the Anglican Church in Canada (here)

Primate's Theological Commission asking for responses

General Synod 2007 asked the Primate’s Theological Commission to consider two topics related to human sexuality:

The theological question of whether the blessing of same-sex unions is a faithful, Spirit-led development of Christian doctrine
Scripture’s witness to the integrity of every human person and the question of the sanctity of human relationships

The commission was also asked to consult with the wider Canadian Anglican church as they prepare their response, and a group of Anglican scholars have already submitted the following essays (which will later form part of a book).

This collection is intended to foster dialogue, so if you are interested in submitting your own response to the questions, please email it to the Rev. Dr. Alyson Barnett-Cowan, Director of Faith, Worship, and Ministry.

Essays in response to the commission's questions

Introduction by George Sumner, Catherine Hamilton, Peter Robinson

What Would John Henry Newman Do? by George Sumner

Scripture and Doctrine in the St. Michael Report and The Primate’s Questions: A Reflection on Scripture and Theology in the Canadian Anglican Context by Christopher Seitz

Words Do Not Stand Still by Roseanne Kydd

Sex and the Garden: Genesis 3 and the Sanctity of Human Relationships by Catherine Sider Hamilton

What next?

2008-06-27T08:45:00.002+02:00

From Anglican Information

June 26th 2008

Update on an MDC activist who is in hiding in Harare, Zimbabwe...................

Yesterday she decided to go back to check on her house following the threats that Zanu-PF Youth would burn it down. Her house was all right, but her teenage son, left to look after the chickens, was out of food. So far he has managed to escape the all night forced jogging which is meted out to non Zanu-PF Youth. By the middle of the day the Youth were going round the township, banging on doors forcing the people to come to another rally. This began about 2.00pm. The people were told that everyone must vote, while in the booth they must make a note of the serial number of their voting paper. This information must be handed over to the Zanu-PF Polling Agent as they left the polling station. When the votes were counted anyone voting for the opposition,or spoiling their paper, would 'be in for it.' There will be no protection from MDC Polling agents as they have been pulled out because of the risk to their lives. Later they said anyone voting for the MDC would be killed and burial would not be allowed.

After this an MDC lady of about 50 was dragged into the middle of the stadium, made to lie on her face, and viciously beaten. A whip had been made out of tyres, and the rubber edges were sharp. This lady was below my informant in the party hierarchy. At the end she was told to get up and go, but could not do so.

It was shouted out that anyone who helped her would get the same treatment. During the meeting others were taken to 'a special place for beating.' 9-11 year old chidren were also taken there and asked if they knew whether their parents, or anyone else was MDC.

No one was allowed to leave the meeting which went on till it was dark.

When my friend eventually got to her 'safe house', she had a call from her neighbour to say that her house had been visited again and 10 Kg of mealie meal and $10 billion demanded. The neighbour paid up for her.

Today the neighbour has rung again to say that the canvas wall of her home had been slashed in the night, and some of her things were scattered around her yard.

She remains defiantly a MDC supporter.

What next?

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION notes that even though Morgan Tsvangerai has wisely pulled out of the Zimbabwe ‘elections’ in order to save his people from more injury and death – the violence now goes on under its own unstoppable anarchic momentum.

It is good that Nelson Madelea has now spoken, accusing President Robert Mugabe of ‘a tragic failure of leadership’. Mandela’s standing as a world leader is immense and contrasts with the unbelievable intentions of Anglo-American the London based mining giant to invest £200 million GB pounds into a platinum mine in Zimbabwe. Their address is: Anglo-American PLC
20 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AN - letters of protest will no doubt be unwelcome.

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes that any such investment at the present time will simply put money into the pocket of the Mugabe regime to enable it to continue to finance terror. We will also publish the names and address of any banks or finance houses we can find who are currently trafficking money for the regime through London, or New York. British American Tobacco and Barclays Bank also have operations in Zimbabwe – (they say they are remaining for the good of their employees) as do BP and Shell (who are reviewing their presence in the country) these Western firms should be held up to public scrutiny as should Chinese investment which seems to have no concern for human rights at all but an enthusiasm for mineral rights that knows no bounds – there are currently 70 fully armed Chinese soldiers in Harare at this time.

All of this support for the Mugabe regime and the (still not renounced) continued backing of former Archbishop Bernard Malango of the Anglican Central African Province. Malango is now living comfortably in his brand new home in Lilongwe, Malawi – source of funding unknown. He is still creeping around the Diocese of Lake Malawi pretending that the situation regarding the Church in Zimbabwe has nothing to do with him – apparently he has become shy of reminders that it was he who got Kunonga elected, who spared him from a serious court case and who is still his close friend. Malango can be a nasty piece of work when cornered (the other bishops say feebly ‘he’s not a man to say no to’ ) - so caution is advised.

The Anglican Diocese of Harare, Zimbawe

Meanwhile amidst the gloom some cheering and well-deserved support for Bishop Sebastian Bakare who is still working in the front line trying to regain the diocese of Harare from Mugabe mouthpiece, excommunicated protégé of still as yet unexcommunicated Bernard Malango - ‘Archbishop’ Nolbert Kunonga.

From loyal Anglican seminarians – St John’s Anglican Seminary, Zambia - an extract from their letter which they have asked us to publish.

‘Dearest Bishop Bakare,

It is with great faith that we the Seminarians at St John’s Anglican Seminary are praying to God for both the Church and you our beloved Bishop on the trying moments you are passing through. We have not only shared with you the Seminary life at St John’s but the pain of being a believer in God and trying to help save the Church from the hands of those that persecute it. St John’s Seminary in Kitwe, Zambia has constantly prayed that God may help the Church in Zimbabwe. Even as the people shall bravely go to vote (written just before the withdrawal of Morgan Tsvangerai’s candidacy) may the grace of God go with them and help them to be decisive and courageous.

“God may you look upon the nation of Zimbabwe with mercy.......... May the enemies of your will and word over Zimbabwe never triumph – may the blood of those who have died reach you and cry for help.”

To our beloved Bishop we pray that you shall not tire but be strengthened by God day by day. Remember we will always be wit you in spirit – may God bless you.’

From: The Student Body

From Anglican Information

Little controversy in Wales

2008-06-26T09:14:00.003+02:00

the Archbishop of Wales, The Most Rev Dr Barry Morgan, chair of the MCU Conference

The MCU Conference Saving the soul of Anglicanism: the nature and future of the Anglican Communion will begin in a couple of weeks.

The Western Mail responded to a press release with an article entitled Gay Bishop at Conference (here). They spoke to the Archbishop of Wales and others saying,

As news of the conference emerged last night, traditionalists in the Anglican Church said the move would be closely monitored by church officials in the Southern Hemisphere.
...
Dr Morgan said: “People forget that Lambeth ’98 did actually say that there was a need to carry on listening to the experiences of homosexual people. You can’t do that unless you meet them face to face and listen to what they have to say to you – we are not doing any more than that.”
...
Dr Morgan did not fear that his participation in the conference in Hertfordshire with the US bishop, organised by the Modern Churchpeople’s Union, would cause a split in the Church in Wales. He said: “We haven’t got the extremes of opinion in Wales that are present even in the Church of England.”

The Rev Will Strange of St Peter’s, Carmarthen, a prominent conservative in the Church in Wales, said he did not think the Archbishop was intending to stir controversy among traditionalists – many of whom are based in the developing world – by attending the event, but said: “It will be noticed.”
...
Jonathan Clatworthy, secretary of the Modern Churchpeople’s Union, said: “If there is one principle which can, and should, hold the Anglican Communion together, it is that none of us has all the answers; each of us may be wrong, however strongly we feel.”

All here.

The conference has been sold out for several weeks. Papers will be posted on the MCU website and, all being well, will be blogged here.

News from Zimbabwe

2008-06-25T08:30:00.003+02:00

From Anglican Information

Letter from Zimbabwe. From our correspondent in Harare

First, the good news: God willing, one congregation, St Peter's, Meyrick Park, Mabelreign, will return to their church building next Sunday for an 11 o'clock service after the Kunonga 'priest's' service is over. This was announced last Sunday by a lawyer in the congregation, who is also the Diocesan Registrar. The congregation have been meeting as usual in the Roman catholic Church Hall at Mabelreign. The lawyer said they had gone back to the courts because of police harrassment and the closure of 53 Anglican churches in the diocese.

The original judgement by Judge Rita Makarau that the churches should be shared was now to be followed. Talks had taken place with the Kunonga people who had apparently agreed not to disrupt the services further. When this notice was given out there was a huge cheer, clapping and ululating. People stood up waving their arms in excitement. One thing we have realised in the last months is that the church is the people not the building, but we are still rather fond of our place of worship.

However - it remains to be seen whether or not the police have indeed withdrawn!

Now the bad news: The political situation has deteriorated out of all recognition. With inflation exceeding two million percent and food desperately short, members of the opposition are no longer just at risk of beating, but at risk of their lives. Our first hand informant is a prominent MDC member,living in a shack in one of the poorest areas of town. The family had their home destroyed at the Murambatsvina in 2005, but have managed to get going again living in a glorified tent supplied by the Roman catholic Church. Now they are subjected to endless rallies, which they have to attend. In addition they were collected from there home by the Zanu-PF youth for beating. The mother was subjected to two hours of intimidation and watched others being beaten, but they actually relented when she handed her two months old baby to them when it was her turn.

But they assured her that they would come and burn down her house. The police were informed but did nothing. We asked her if her children (11, 9 and 7) understood what was going on.
'Oh, yes,' she said cheerfully, 'They have watched people being beaten'.

Since this happened she, her husband who has a job, and her five children have slept rough, despite the wintery conditions. They are now in a 'safe house'. The teenage son has been left behind with a neighbour to feed the chickens. She feels herself to be lucky as when they came for another MDC leader, who was in hiding, they took his wife and hacked her to death with machetes. The body was found in a field, but burial has been impossible as they assure the family that anyone who arranges it will be arrested and........

At night the Zanu PF Youth either call people to Pungwes (‘Parties’ all-night sessions of re-education including forced singing of Zanu-PF slogans and songs), or they march about the township shouting.

Any youths they find are told to join them on pain of a beating. On one night it was estimated that 800 youths were involved. Some obviously stay with them because they are fed.The food is taken from the people. If your home is selected for a donation you must either give them Z$10 billion, or 10Kg of maize meal, or you are beaten. In the better off townships this is going on, but on a smaller scale. They seem to target the poorest of the poor. Presumably as food gets shorter and shorter theymust move into the low density suburbs. So far there has been no concerted attacks on Europeans, but some of their servants have been targetted for the crime of working for a European.

No one has any idea as to what will happen next.

Thank you again for all the prayers.

Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights

In addition ANGLICAN-INFORMATION has received from ZADHR detailed documentation of the medical outcome of many cases of beatings (including of pregnant and nursing mothers) death through beating, burnings, crushing and other means of torture. They are too numerous and too horrible to list here but they have all been perpetrated by government sponsored Zanu-PF gangs attacking people for voting the wrong way. There is more information on the ZADHR website: www.kubatana.net

Resistance and collaboration in the Anglican Province of Central Africa

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes that Central African Provincial Bishops, Sebastian Bakare of Harare and Peter Hatendi of Manicaland remain bravely in the front line in Zimbabwe with their priests and people, replacing renegade and now excommunicated ‘Archbishop’ Nolbert Kunonga and Bishop Elson Jakazi.

The Central African Anglican Province is at a critical juncture as world opinion at last moves into condemnation of the atrocities committed by the Mugabe regime: In the United Nations Security Council even China, and Russia have shifted to condemn Mugabe and more significantly surrounding African nations including, Botswana, Angola, Senegal and even South Africa are now beginning to criticise the Zimbabwe regime.

However, a significant problem for the Central African Bishops remains in that some of their number, especially those associated with former Archbishop Bernard Malango, have been very close to the Mugabe administration and that taint is hard to shake off. Strictly speaking, under the terms of the recent excommunication Malango should also be defrocked and certainly suspended from any priestly activities which he still seems to be conducting. Instead, Malango still appears to be exercising dubious political influence and interference in the Province both personally and through his protégé acting Dean Albert Chama.

The Provincial House of Bishops cannot continue indefinitely to appear to be moving in two opposing directions by, on the one hand, resisting the Mugabe regime and denouncing its mouthpiece Kunonga, whilst, at the same time, tacitly supporting it through the continuing active legacy of Bernard Malango.

A message to the House of Bishops: ‘Get rid of Bernard Malango and his supporters, they are ruining your good work and brave resistance and seriously damaging your credibility!’

Signs of the Times

2008-06-22T11:11:00.004+02:00

Somewhat behind the times, the April edition of MCU's magazine Signs of the Times is now on the website:

What do we expect of church leaders? Jonathan Clatworthy (Editorial)
Recollections of confirmation, Mary Roe
The Bug with a Propeller up its Bum, John MacDonald Smith
Travelling from Chalcedon to Córdoba, Graham Hellier
God's pilgrim people, Savitri Hensman
Learning for a Living – Why Clergy Education Matters, Lorraine Cavanagh
Reflections From A Train, David Marshall
Seeing Christ in Human Rights, Donn Mitchell
To Lambeth in the Summertime (Poem), Audrey Theodosia Bryant

==========================

To Lambeth in the Summertime

Audrey Theodosia Bryant

Oh Lambeth, lovely Lambeth, I want to go to Lambeth,

To hear the talk and walk the walk

And listen and be heard;

But who'll be there at Lambeth?

Will they be fair at Lambeth?

And who will come to quarrel with the word?

We have so many languages and not just spoken languages,

The languages of thought and deed

And body language too,

The nuance in the deference

Which makes a lot of difference

In how you take to me and I to you.

As Christians we all love us, everyone will love us,

And be open to our differences

Or else we won't be there.

We pray that they will see the light

And come to know that we are right

And heal the diversity we share.

And one and all bless Rowan in his thankless role of goin'

To referee the holy struggle to

Come to some accord.

Developing a vision

Is a sort of evolution

(Darn! Shouldn't use that damned divisive word).

28th January 2008

Modern Believing - July edition online

2008-06-20T19:35:00.003+02:00

The July edition of the MCU journal Modern Believing is now on the MCU website here.

Articles are:

Reflections on the Craig–Flew Debate, Paul Badham
Applied Theology for the Retired Minister in Secular Employment (MSE), Dorrie Johnson
The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, Barney Hawkins and Ian Markham
In a Divided World is there a Future for Sustainable Security? Paul Rogers

Books reviewed and books received are also on the site (with links to Amazon to encourage you).

From the Diocese of Lake Malawi

2008-06-20T09:09:00.002+02:00

From Anglican Information.

Meanwhile some recent correspondence from the Diocese of Lake Malawi -
still bravely standing up for justice.*

*Please note that a culture of intimidation is no longer entirely restricted to Zimbabwe and sadly some of the Anglican bishops are prepared to punish clergy and threaten laity in the dioceses of Lake Malawi and Upper Shire, should they appear to ‘step out of line’.

We have now recorded a number of examples of such actions in our files and have therefore withheld the names of correspondents – however, we will confidentially forward any e-mail responses should readers wish to reply and engage in dialogue.

From a correspondent:

‘Ngati timayenda ndi mzimu oyera tilolenso kuti mzimuyo atitsolele, Mtendere wa Ambuye Ukhale ndi Inu masiku onse!
Ukhalenso ndi inu. (If we live in the Spirit, we should allow the Spirit to guide us)

Are Christians in this Province surprised at the way our political leaders are behaving, especially in Zimbabwe? No, if our Church leaders behave like dictators, our leaders will behave the same way. In Chichewa we say Fisi sabeleka galu meaning ‘a hyena will always produce a hyena, not a dog’.

As Christians we should pray hard that our Church leaders should be exemplary in the way they live and manage Church affairs. These same bishops mediate political impasse in our country but they fail to mediate the problems of the church in a Christian way. For example, they chose Bishop Trevor Mwamba (Bishop of Botswana, the popular previous Dean of the Province) to mediate the problems in Lake Malawi Diocese but somehow let the devil confuse the process (a reference to the arbitrary sacking of Mwamba by former Archbishop Bernard Malango). Leaders what exactly is it you want to see before you can reconcile and reach a compromise with the Church?

This Province will in due course choose a new Archbishop for Central Africa (when all the currently vacant sees are filled). Can we pray for a God-Fearing leader who can once and for all bring peace to this confused Province. Don’t the bishops of this Province question their own integrity. Bad society produces bad leaders.

May God open the eyes of our bishops to reflect and meditate on this letter.’

A concerned Anglican citizen

And from another correspondent:

‘Could someone enlighten me about what role the retired former Archbishop Bernard Malango is playing at St Thomas’s Anglican Church? (St Thomas’s is at the Lake Malawi Diocesan Headquarters) For four weeks on the trot he has been conducting Mass. Talk of giving someone a yard – they want to take a mile! Surely the congregation has a right to know of these changes.’

A member of the congregation

ANGLICAN-INFORMATION observes that following the terms of the recent pronouncement of excommunication on Bishops Kunonga and Jakazi – Malango himself should be excommunicated or at least suspended from any duties as he has been the principal supporter of the Zimbabwean renegades who owe their very positions to him – no wonder the St Thomas’s congregation is unsettled.

Anglican Information

World Council of Churches - Pray for Zimbabwe

2008-06-20T09:05:00.002+02:00

PRAY FOR ZIMBABWE, WCC INVITES CHURCHES WORLDWIDE

From Anglican Information

Churches worldwide are being invited to celebrate a day of prayer for Zimbabwe on Sunday, 22 June, as the beginning of a season of prayer for the people and government of the African country, which is facing a critical time.

The day of prayer for Zimbabwe, which is an initiative of Christians in the country, will take place shortly before the runoff election for the presidency scheduled for Friday, 27 June.

"It is impossible to overstate the importance of this election, its fairness, its outcome and its aftermath", affirms the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a letter to the WCC member churches. "Events in the coming weeks will challenge the people of Zimbabwe and the world to find means of overcoming violence in the exercise of democracy, and the results will influence the future of the nation and the region", he adds.
Full text of the invitation letter:

Letter on Zimbabwe to WCC member churches

(Original here)

Beloved friends in Christ,

At the initiative of brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe, we in the World Council of Churches invite you to join us in observing Sunday 22 June 2008 as the beginning of a season of prayer for the people and government of Zimbabwe.

On Friday 27 June 2008, the citizens of Zimbabwe will return to polling booths to cast ballots in a runoff election for the presidency. It is impossible to overstate the importance of this election, its fairness, its outcome and its aftermath. Events in the coming weeks will challenge the people of Zimbabwe and the world to find means of overcoming violence in the exercise of democracy, and the results will influence the future of the nation and the region.

On Sunday 22 June we request churches to observe a day of prayer for Zimbabwe; on that Sunday, and in the days that follow, we ask you to join millions of Christians throughout the world as we lift up Zimbabwe and its people to the Lord, ask God's blessing and pray that peace may prevail. We offer the following prayer as a petition to God for the people of Zimbabwe.

Eternal God:
In your sight nations rise and fall, and pass through times of trial.
We pray with and for Zimbabwe in this hour of national decision,
and we ask your divine blessing on all the people of the land.
May Zimbabwe's leaders seek justice by means that are just;
May the voters take action to promote the common good;
may international observers and mediators be guided by your wisdom.
Lead us not into temptation, Lord, and deliver your people from evil:
Empower us all to overcome anger, jealousy, division and violence;
help us to respect one another despite our differences;
and teach us the things that truly make for peace.
This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.

Through this and other prayerful actions, we will continue to support the people of Zimbabwe through the days and weeks ahead. In the love and unity of the triune God, we thank you for joining in this season of prayer.

Blessings,

Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia
General Secretary, World Council of Churches

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church.

Being told off in public by daddy

2008-06-18T20:27:00.004+02:00

The Bishop of London, The Rt Revd and Rt Hon. Dr Richard Chartres, preaching at St Bartholomew the Great in April 2008

Penwatch is right to observe (commenting on an earlier post) the contrast between the media froth around the blessing of a same-sex marriage in a London Church and what seems to be less interest in violence and intimidation in Zimbabwe. Nonetheless both are significant in differing contexts and to differing degrees.

To keep up with the bewildering amount of media comment on the blessing see Thinking Anglicans. What is interesting is not that the Bishop of London should respond publicly but his circulation list -

Clergy in the Diocese of London
Diocesan Readers
Churchwardens
PCC Secretaries
PCC Treasurers
Deanery Lay Chairs
Members of the Diocesan Synod
Members of the Bishop’s Council

I wonder what criteria are used to decide when everyone in the diocese, including the laity, should be circulated with an admonitory note from Bishop to incumbent?

I also wonder whether a public dressing down is as much as the Bishop is willing and able to do by way of discipline?

Mapping Terror in Zimbabww

2008-06-18T20:20:00.004+02:00

Just click on the map (the page may take a while to load).

Pastoral Letter from Bishop Sebastian Bakare

2008-06-18T19:10:00.002+02:00

From Anglican Information

Anglican Diocese of Harare, Zimbabwe, Pastoral Letter from Bishop Sebastian Bakare - 18th June 2008

We have been asked to circulate a Pastoral Letter from Bishop Sebastian Bakare, who as readers will know has replaced the renegade, pro-Robert Mugabe, Nolbert Kunonga as the official Anglican Province of Central Africa Bishop of Harare.

We have been (and still are) critical of former Archbishop Bernard Malango of the Central African Province and some of his supporters for originally contriving to get Nolbert Kunonga elected to Harare and subsequently for supporting him and the Mugabe regime – something Malango has never disavowed and something which some bishops in the Province have been conspicuously silent about. These facts should never be naïvely forgotten as collaboration with a resurgent Mugabe regime is an ever present danger in the small world of Central Africa where everyone knows everyone and nothing is secret.

Despite broken episcopal reeds in the background Bishop Bakare has courageously taken over the Diocese of Harare on behalf of the Province and is now with his priests and people facing regular threats and intimidation on the front line of Zimbabwean politics and state-sponsored violence.

We are daily receiving reports from Zimbabwe, so many that we can hardly keep up, but they all speak of violence, intimidation, coercion and fraud on the part of the Mugabe regime directed against any who would disagree with them, not least the Anglican Church and its clergy and people.

We have the highest regard for all those bishops, priests and people of the Central African Province in Zimbabwe who at this terrible time are working hard to be true to the Gospel of Truth and to oppose the tyrannies of the current regime.

It is good to see how Bishop Sebastian is able to count on the support of the Anglican Communion at this time - we call on all our readers to remember them in prayer.
ANGLICAN-INFORMATION

Pastoral Letter June 2008 From Bishop Sebastian Bakare,
Bishop of Harare, Province of Central Africa

Mt 5:11-12: "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

There are two words which catch my attention in this passage connected to the environment we live in: Persecution and falsehood. The word falsehood according to Webster's Dictionary means "lack of accuracy, deception, lying, incapable of telling the truth". Persecution according to the same dictionary means "to afflict or harass constantly so as to injure or distress, oppress cruelly, especially for reasons of religion, politics or race".

In his second Epistle to the Corinthians, Paul describes a similar situation whereby he says, "Five times I received from the Jews the 40 lashes minus one, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers". (11:24-46)

Matthew is writing his gospel when the small Christian community was falsely accused of being a forbidden sect that was doing things contrary to Jewish rituals. Sometimes they were accused of being cannibals eating the body of Christ and drinking his blood at their gatherings. Some of the accusers knew very well that there wasn't such a thing as drinking blood and eating human flesh, but to simply say Christians were practising cannibalism was enough reason to persecute them. The source of persecution therefore is falsehood.

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, falsely say all kinds of evil things against you because of me".

In Zimbabwe today falsehood has almost become a national disease. Some newspapers and electronic media thrive on spreading falsehoods. They twist the truth for falsehood. All forms of persecution – torture, killings, arrests are done by those for whom falsehood has become a doctrine that keeps them to sustain their status quo.

Persecution meted against the powerless has existed as long as human beings have been around. It causes untold material loss and human suffering. No one chooses or wishes to suffer. Members of our Diocese are being persecuted on allegations by former members of our church that they are gays, lesbians or MDC. Some politicians and police officers have embraced these allegations as truth and are out there to persecute the church of God. Our church buildings remain locked and are declared no-go areas by the police. Some police officers implementing the so-called "directives from above" have gone to the extent of forbidding us to pray even under a tree "because we are gays, lesbians or MDC".

My dear sisters and brothers

The Bible tells us that the truth shall make us free. I invite you therefore to stand for the truth, shame the devil and shun falsehood. Falsehood they say thrives only for a short time, and shame remains attached to a liar like a shadow that departs only when one dies. For us in this Diocese falsehood levelled against us has a meaning, i.e. our faith is being put to the test. Those who are not strong enough will fall away.

The sight of helmeted riot police in front of our churches preventing the faithful from praying will go down as a shameful chapter in the history of our country which considers itself to be Christian. After all it is carried out by people who themselves are members of various denominations.

According to Matthew there is a reward given to those who stand firm and are prepared to accept the inconvenience of worshipping outside their church buildings, in private homes, schools halls, swimming pools and under trees. The suffering that we are going through becomes the fruit of courageous witness to our faith in Jesus who himself was falsely condemned to death. We believe in a God who has power to create something new that can burst out at his own chosen time – therein lies our hope. Meanwhile we remain steadfastly faced with people who have an astonishing capacity to fabricate falsehood and have become blind, aggressive, destructive and vicious. As it is said in 1 Peter 5:8: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith."
Let us carry on with our pilgrimage. God – Immanuel – is with us.

Finally I have both bad and good news to share with you:

We could not celebrate our annual Bernard Mizeki festival (N.B. Mizeki was a 19th century Anglican Catechist and Martyr in what is now Mozambique and Zimbabwe – feast day 18th June) this year because some former members of our church under the leadership of Kunonga made sure we could not get near the shrine for the whole of June. This was not because they have devotion or love for Bernard Mizeki, to the contrary. We are, however, grateful to the Bishop of Lebombo in Mozambique who provided an alternative venue at Bernard Mizeki's Church, Chimoio where some of our pilgrims were able to go and join our sisters and brothers there in commemorating Bernard Mizeki Day.

The good news is that we continue to be supported and prayed for by many parts of the Anglican Communion. Apart from a message of solidarity and prayers from the Archbishop of Canterbury, we had three visitors in the past month, namely:
· the Bishop of Massachusetts, Tom Shaw, sent by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America
· the Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba
· the Bishop of Tonbridge from the Diocese of Rochester.
All came to stand by us and have first hand experience of what we are going through in this Diocese. The presence of these brother bishops in our midst made us feel connected with the wider Anglican Communion and indeed the body of Christ. We would like to thank many of our brothers and sisters beyond our national boundaries who are holding us in their prayers and enable us to carry on with our mission to witness to the gospel of Christ.

Your Bishop

+Sebastian Harare
18th June 2008

Torture camps in Zimbabwe

2008-06-17T18:49:00.002+02:00

Images of people suffering in Zimbabwe
from This is Zimbabwe

Channel Four news item

TORTURE CAMPS IN ZIMBABWE EXPOSED

We have a major report from Zimbabwe tonight. We have spoken to a high ranking security official who discloses that there are now some 21 torture camps dotted across the country, that 21 people have died in one of them and that they are rough and abusive places.

His testimony certainly suggests that the most appallingly-wide reign of terror is underway in Zimbabwe and is designed to prevent anyone voting for Morgan Tsvangirai again. Jonathan Rugman is on the case.

And we’ll be talking to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Gutierrez and Mark Malloch Brown, the foreign office minister responsible for southern Africa.

(This report will only be available online in the UK. It cannot be viewed abroad for the safety of our subject. Ed.)

Read our report here:
http://tinyurl.com/3usjk8

Liverpool in the wrong

2008-06-17T14:34:00.003+02:00

David Johnston's site has added links to his blog and to some of the documents relating to his case. More will follow.

The documents include:

Correspondence between the Bishop of Liverpool, James Jones, and the Diocesan Secretary, Mike Eastwood, and notes from the Human Resources Advisor dated around September 2006, which demonstrate that the bishop was already working behind my back to get rid of me, after I told him of my impending divorce.

All here.

And my apologies to him for misspelling his name in a previous post, now corrected. PB.

Covenant: extract the teeth

2008-06-17T14:23:00.001+02:00

The Diocese of New York has come a judgement on the proposed Anglican Covenant: extract its teeth.

Thus the primary difficulty with this covenant lies in providing for the dissolution of the very communion it seeks to preserve. It is therefore our recommendation that the appendix and section 3.2.5 (and its subsections) be deleted. What remains would then be worthy of the name “Covenant” — a promise to remain together, united in Spirit and in Mission come what may.

All here

The end of illiteracy in Zambia

2008-06-17T14:10:00.004+02:00

Lusaka shop

From the Times of Zambia

by Doreen Nawa

Zambia is working to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) targets,including putting all children into primary school and at the same time reducing illiteracy levels in the country.

As part of this campaign St Stephen's Anglican Church in Lusaka’s Garden Township constructed a community school at the cost of K125 million, which will cater for 350 children from grade one to grade seven.

The Bishop of Lusaka Anglican Diocese, David Njovu, says his church saw a need to contribute to education in the country after it observed the increasing numbers of orphans and vulnerable children in their area of existence.

This marks a shift in governmental education policy towards working with other agencies, recognizing it can't do the job on its own.

Stephen Anglican Church priest in charge Father Frank Hakoola is well aware of the challenges in this community and while many others would have baulked at the idea of starting a school in a church and later constructing a school block within the premises, teachers were in short supply, and pupils conducted their lesson in one open space in the church, the man of God embraced it.
“When we started a school in the church many people never thought we would come this far. As I am speaking last year we had 19 pupils who sat for the Grade seven examinations and out of this number only two failed to make it to grade 8.
“Admittedly as a church, we had to do a lot of work to try and win these people (sponsors) over, as many were lagging behind, but once they saw that we were committed to this task they decided to support us,” says Fr Hakoola.

The clergy disclosed that the major problem the school was facing was the shortage of teachers. The school has only seven teachers meaning one teacher per grade and the teachers were volunteers who were not on a salary catering for 350 pupils daily.

All here

Update from David Johnston

2008-06-16T19:57:00.005+02:00

David Johnson: vindicated

David Johnston has emailed a brief comment:

The tribunal found in my favour.

It was a unanimous verdict that I had been unfairly dismissed.

There were lots of journalists at the hearing so the newspapers will probably be full of it tomorrow.

I am exhausted after such a long fight. I am happy to have been vindicated but it is tinged with sadness.

I will update the website later [here] with all the documents so you can read all about it for yourself.

Thanks for all the messages of support.

The glare of publicity

2008-06-16T14:37:00.004+02:00

David Johnston

David Johnston, previously Director of Communications in Liverpool Diocese, is taking his ex-employers to an employment tribunal alleging unfair dismissal. He has set up a website to publicise his side of the story here.

The Liverpool Echo says here

His sacking followed an article in a Sunday tabloid newspaper in November 2006 which wrongly reported the father-of-three was having an affair.

The paper was forced to print an apology after it conceded details of the article were untrue.

Ruth Gledhill at The Times has more here and here.

Messy business by the look of things. Ruth Gledhill is right to say

If the Church of England was still labouring under the delusion that by putting all its disciplinary hearings behind closed doors it was going to escape the glare of publicity on its inner dealings, this fantasy will be dismissed for good next week.

Unfortunately (and speaking ahead of events) it is most likely that Diocese of Liverpool will experience the process as a matter of embarrassment and unwanted expenditure. If so, the lesson they may learn is that they need to handle the media better.

It would seem unlikely that they will learn the lesson that the Church needs better employment practices and greater clarity of rights and responsibilities. After all, there have been previous examples of poor practice.

Thanks to Dave Walker's Church Times Blog for the link.

Tithe, or get out

2008-06-16T10:44:00.002+02:00

From New Vision (Kampala) and here.

By Robert Wabomba

A pastor in Mbuya, Nakawa, a Kampala suburb, last Sunday expelled worshippers without offertory and cautioned those who offer coins not to return to the church the following Sunday.

Before the main service began, 'the man of God' told all those without tithe and offerings to stand up for special prayers. Nearly half of the church members got onto their feet in anticipation that the pastor would unleash special powers that would see them out of poverty.

However, they were in for a big shock. In a strange turn of events, pastor Joshua assured the worshippers that they ought to be ashamed to walk into God's house without a single coin.

"How can you come into God's house empty-handed?" the pastor asked the stunned audience. "God has given you free air, which you breathe everyday but you cannot even be thankful by offering anything to his servants?" Joshua rapped. "In God's name, I order all of you to disappear from here before he turns his anger on you like he did to the Egyptians," Joshua roared. As if on cue, the worshippers scampered out of the church before he opened his eyes.

After he was done, Joshua apologised to the remaining congregation but stressed that he was fed up with the low collection in the church yet it was always fully-packed before the sermon. The evicted worshippers were heard complaining about how they could be chased from God's house, their only consolation whenever they had problems.

I leave you to make up your own mind.

Zimbabwe and the Central African Province

2008-06-15T11:11:00.002+02:00

From Anglican Information - part 2

And in Zimbabwe: Renegade ‘Archbishop’ Nolbert Kunonga continues in his attempts to destroy the legitimate Provincial Anglican Diocese of Harare, using all the might of the Mugabe regime. At the same time Anglican bishops such as Sebastian Bakare and the (formerly retired) newly appointed Bishop Peter Hatendi are in the front line of the struggle as they seek to rescue the dioceses of Harare and Manicaland from the hands of Nolbert Kunonga and his cohort Elson Jakazi, both of whom were recently excommunicated.

The future of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe remains closely tied to the Mugabe regime and the outcome of the forthcoming presidential elections. We are still daily receiving terrible reports of beatings, burnings and murder, including atrocities against women and children, enacted on the orders of Mugabe’s generals who are now in effective control of the old dictator.

The recent Provincial Pastoral Statement (3rd June) belatedly issued, after considerable pressure from organisations such as ours, by the Anglican Provincial Bishops, has on close examination proved to be a compromise paper tiger, especially as it fails to name Robert Mugabe and thereby allows an interpretation that Mugabe likes to make ‘that it is the opposition MDC causing the trouble’. The Provincial Bishops appear to be hedging their bets ready for the almost inevitable Mugabe victory on 27th June in elections, which by now cannot be considered ‘free and fair’ by anyone.

There is a hesitancy and a confusion of voices on the part of the Central African Provincial Bishops. They appear to be moving in two opposing directions at once. This reflects growing divisions within the Provincial House whose members are now torn between the old pro Malango/Chama faction who were close to Bishop Nolbert Kunonga and Robert Mugabe and the other bishops who view with growing alarm developments both in Zimbabwe and Malawi. As Pauline Makoni the daughter of Bishop Peter Hatendi, the new Bishop of Manicaland, Zimbabwe, tellingly wrote to acting Dean Chama (quoted this week in the UK Church Times) warning the hierarchy of the Province to support her father:

“I recall the anguish he suffered on his retirement when those who asked him to continue left him to bear the brunt of false accusations while privately assuring him of their intention openly to process their position”. This is an oblique reference to a lack of support from former Archbishop Bernard Malango and his supporters, and to the potential for the same kind of mischief that still exists to this day amongst some of the bishops who owe their positions to Malango.

ANGLICAN -INFORMATION says it is time for a change in the Central African Province, which is now one of the most troubled in the Anglican Communion. It is important that the Provincial bishops free themselves entirely from the lingering taint of Robert Mugabe that still yet clings to some of them and that they reverse the contempt with which they are viewed in Malawi.

The only way out of the mess would be to re-instate the highly respected and popular Bishop Trevor Mwamba of Botswana (previously sacked by Bernard Malango) as Dean. He is noted as a bishop of integrity who understands and follows the Provincial canons and especially, is one who listens to the voice of the people.

Upper Shire and Lake Malawi

2008-06-15T11:07:00.002+02:00

From Anglican Information - part 1

In Malawi, Diocese of Upper Shire, elections to vacant bishopric – update. Friday, 13th June. A Judge in Chambers has temporarily lifted, on a technicality (due to undated papers of affidavit by the plaintiffs’ Commissioner for Oaths) the injunction against the House of Bishops, brought by members of the clergy to stop the Bishops imposing their own candidate on the diocese.

At the Upper Shire episcopal elections held in February to find a replacement for former Archbishop Bernard Malango, the clerical and lay representatives had voted unanimously against acting Dean Albert Chama’s preferred choice of the Rev’d Alinafe Kalemba, Dean of Leonard Kamunga Theological College, Zomba. Despite intimidation against them by the bishops, clergy of the diocese had brought an injunction to prevent the House of Bishops forcing Kalemba on the diocese.

However, in a nod towards the need to resolve this properly the Judge has given leave for a Supreme Court appeal in Blantyre by the diocesan clergy, that they might continue to press their case that the Bishops are in breach of the canons.

Despite this, it now appears that a brief window of opportunity has emerged in the interim for Bishop Albert Chama to force Alinafe Kalemba on the diocese. Of course, this would be an unwise move as the courts may well later declare the ‘election’ invalid with Chama himself in contempt and in any case Kalemba will find it hard to impose himself on a reluctant diocese. Unfortunately, Albert Chama’s track record of scant regard for procedural niceties does however point in the direction of likely autocratic action on his part. We will update you further as we receive news – in the meantime the people and clergy of the diocese have asked that we issue a call for prayer for a resolution.

Meanwhile in the Diocese of Lake Malawi in a similar case, as reported by us many times in the past, the injunction granted to the House of Laity against the House of Bishops holds good and a Court Hearing is still awaited. This will determine that a Provincial Court should be convened to investigate the way in which the Court of Confirmation (presided over by former Archbishop Bernard Malango) was conducted when it failed to endorse the overwhelming vote for a new bishop almost three years ago. Readers will recall that all parties in any case had synodically agreed to a Provincial Court when Bishop Trevor Mwamba was Dean of the Province, but the Malango/Chama faction later reneged on the decision fearing it would expose them.

The difference remains in Lake Malawi that the diocese still does have a legitimately elected bishop to whom the people have remained loyal despite intense pressure and intimidation from former Bishop Malango and now his successor acting Dean Chama. It is unlikely that they will give up their demands that proper constitutional procedures be followed in order to resolve the matter.

(Added later - The Nyasa Times picked this up and printed it, with the by line 'Nyasa Times reporter', on June 22. Here.)

A wedding has taken place

2008-06-15T10:23:00.005+02:00

Virgin and Child
at the Church of St Bartholomew the Great
in the City of London

A 'wedding' between Revd Peter Cowell and Revd Dr David Lord has been met by the predictable conservative protests. (Here, Sunday Telegraph)

The couple were already civil partners. Their church service was arranged in the form of a wedding though without legal significance. Blessings have been taking place quietly in a small number of Anglican churches but this one, as a wedding, has attracted much wider attention (AP article here; BBC here).

The Australian Herald Sun has the important details (here):

The Rev Dr David Lord, formerly of Hamilton [NZ], walked down the aisle with hospital chaplain the Rev Peter Cowell, 50, at the 12th-century St Bartholomew the Great Church, in the City of London.

The church's rector, the Rev Martin Dudley, defied his bishop to conduct the traditional ceremony for the two gay priests, London's Sunday Times reported.

There were bridesmaids and best men, an exchange of vows and rings, and a showering of rose-petal confetti. Only the bride was missing from the ceremony attended by 300 guests.

A champagne reception was held in the Great Hall of St Bartholomew's Hospital, where Dr Lord, an ordained priest, works as a doctor. It is there they met five years ago.

The Times had elements of a society wedding report (here),

Both Cowell, an honorary vicar at Westminster Abbey, and chaplain at St Bartholomew’s hospital, and Lord, an Anglican priest from New Zealand, wore morning suits. The service was a blessing of their civil partnership. The liturgy was based on the Book of Common Prayer. Following hymns, readings from the Bible and Shakespeare, the couple exchanged vows and rings before taking communion.

Dudley said last night: “Unrepentant would be the right word. I have made no secret about this. I have done something that was a very nice pastoral, godly occasion. There were 300 people at the service, and 200 communicants. At least a tenth were clergy.”

The Telegraph concentrated on the ecclesiastical consequences:

The archbishop stressed that priests who broke these rules would be disciplined. However, a number of clergy have since performed so called "blessing services" for homosexual couples. These are significantly different from wedding services: they involve no wedding rite; there is no exchange of vows, no bridesmaids or pageboys. Most are carried out quietly. Despite being controversial, not one has resulted in disciplinary proceedings.

The fact that one vicar has actually conducted a proper wedding service, using such traditional liturgy and furthermore, between two priests, makes the issue impossible to ignore.

Good. High time openness was given greater prominence in the church.

And congratulations to the couple.

GAFCON briefing paper

2008-06-14T09:48:00.004+02:00

The Lead (Episcopal Cafe) has published an anonymous but apparently genuine briefing paper for GAFCON here.

My guess would be that it is one of many papers circulating amongst GAFCON invitees. It may have been made public because (from one of its statements) its author is annoyed at the secrecy of the present arrangements, seeing it as contrary to the spirit of the Gospel and counter-productive (though secrecy has helped keep the attention of liberal bloggers on the content and intent of the conference, e.g. here). It may have been leaked because of its relatively irenical tone, which probably puts it author on the 'left' of the gathering - though whether that's because it's safer to leak, or is an attempt to embarrass its author amongst harder line colleagues, is impossible to tell.

Nonetheless its introductory paragraphs are more in sorrow than arrogance, recognising the good intent of liberals. But motivation makes no difference: liberals are still wrong.

To pick out one interesting phrase:

Over the last ten years we have journeyed together in the search for a definition of faithful, orthodox Anglican identity.

'Identity' is a highly complex phenomenon belying its meaning:

The quality or condition of being the same in substance, composition, nature, properties, or in particular qualities under consideration; absolute or essential sameness; oneness. (OED)

The author here acknowledges that orthodoxy is not a given, that the distinction between 'faithful' and everyone else (i.e. not just the faithless but also those who claim to be faithful but are wrong) is hard to make but needs to be actively made, and that 'oneness' requires much more than similar theological attitudes. The journey is as important as the content of orthodoxy.

The next paragraph states:

We see a parallel between contemporary events and events in England in the sixteenth century. Then, the Catholic Church in England was faced with the choice of aligning itself with either Rome or Geneva. But, when forced to decide its identity, it sought to distinguish itself from both the practices of the Papacy and the excesses it associated with the more radical reformers. Now, after five centuries, a new fork in the road is appearing. Though this fork in the road may present itself publicly as a choice in relation to aberrant sexuality, the core issues are about whether or not there is one Word, accessible to all, and whether or not there is one Christ, accessible to all.

This is the summation of the conflict. Sexuality became (and was chosen as) the shibboleth issue by which to divide friend from foe. In less divisive conflicts, where the goal is to shift the identity of the church a little or, more commonly, to prevent a shift, this would have been enough.

But the self-styled 'orthodox' clearly now believe they have failed and cannot succeed in their goal of shifting the identity of the Anglican Communion, or even just TEC, in what they deem to be an orthodox direction. The fork in the road is theirs, not the whole church's: what do the 'orthodox' do when they cannot win the battle for the soul of the whole Communion?

It is not sufficient to draw a line in the sand to achieve schism: it is also necessary to construct a distinct and separate identity for some of those who were previously all part of one community, whatever their differences.

So a new identity had to be constructed - with its own leadership, media and channels of communication, in-jokes, labels and identifying markers and, critically, its own finances, tests of membership and means of excluding the unwanted.

(The irony of a constructivist approach by those whose claim is to see 'reality as God intends us to see it' will probably be missed by conference delegates.)

Identity is constructed of three elements: the positive assertion of who 'we' are, the negative opposition to 'them' - enemies, outsiders, threats; and a field boundary beyond which the question is irrelevant. Who 'we' and 'they' are depends on context: e.g. we are orthodox against the liberals within the Anglican Church, but we are all Christians and not Hindus within the world's religions.

Amongst conservatives as a whole, and the GAFCONites in particular, the construction of a new identity is (I believe) coming to a head. Because they have lost the war they must now address internal battles: are they a segment in a Balkanised Communion or out of it altogether? Who should have effective power - well-funded, well-educated northern bishops or the indigenous leadership of the global south? How do they deal with things that currently divide them: ordained women, lay presidency? Do they need a shared attitude towards Islam or Israel - and, if so, whose? How do they train the next generation of orthodox leaders, and where, and by whom? How do they recognise (what are sufficient tests of) fellow orthodox from different parts of the world? How do they relate to non-Anglican but similarly orthodox ecclesial communities? Who speaks for them?

To create a new identity is to draw sharper and more rigid boundaries round who 'we' are. It is also to bottle up in an untested fragile and rigid structure divisions which have been suppressed by the threat of a common enemy bigger than internal differences.

To create a new identity is not easy. But it is not impossible either and, I suspect, it will be achieved (if with further splits, arguments and false dawns along the way). The only question is how big the new group will be and inevitably many of those who began the journey will not be there at its end and will nurse a sense of resentment and dissatisfaction for a long time to come.

In my judgement the journey to find 'a definition of faithful, orthodox Anglican identity' will work and schism will thus be embodied.

Paul Bagshaw

Scottish Church leery of the Covenant

2008-06-13T15:04:00.005+02:00

Members of the SEC's General Synod

Never enthusiastic about a Covenant (see here), the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church (here) turned the proposed lukewarm welcome of the Draft Anglican Covenant into a statement of their displeasure:

The Rev Canon James Milne then presented background to the Anglican Covenant discussions stating that he believes there are good reasons why the Scottish Episcopal Church should remain part of the covenant process. He then proposed, and the Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane seconded, Motion 3 [That this Synod affirm an ‘in principle’ commitment to the Covenant process at this time (without committing itself to the details of any text)] but this Motion was amended by Synod to read "That this Synod affirm an 'in principle' commitment to continue to participate actively in discussions regarding the future shape of the Anglican Communion at this time (without necessarily committing itself to the concept of a convenant)". A number of people spoke for and against the amended Motion, before it was carried (65 votes for; 56 against). Motion 5 was then carried.

I don't suppose that invitations to the Lambeth tea party will be rescinded. However this will put them at loggerheads with the conservatives who see a strong and punitive Covenant as a sine qua non of the 'future shape of the Anglican Communion'.

Account of the first day of Synod here.

Akinola's true world-view

2008-06-13T09:57:00.007+02:00

Archbishop Peter Akinola,
Primate of All Nigeria

Archbishop Akinola, leader of the 'Non-Canterbury Federal Conservatives' (see below) gave a speech to the Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry, Pittsburgh, on May 17th (here - .pdf).

This may well be old hat to many, but I thought it worth looking at his words with care to try to tease out a little of how he thinks, the primary categories he uses and the logical links between them which, together, make up his world-view.

Of course, Akinola doesn't have a 'world-view', he has Truth: God's truth, revealed in Scripture, learned through faith, the only 'life anchoring realit[y]'.

He stands at the heart of a culture war or crusade. On the one side is the 'community of faith', on the other, everyone else. This war is being fought simultaneously on two fronts. The first is against Islam (especially in Nigeria where the clash has been sharp and often violent for decades, though this is not mentioned in his speech, see here for example): 'Europe has gone apostate, [cp Jude 5-7] leaving a huge religious vacuum which is now being aggressively filled by Islam.'

The second front is against moral decadence and apostasy. The western world in particular is morally decadent - the sign and the cause of its turning away from God's truth. Churches are most culpable: in subordinating themselves to secular culture the churches have abandoned their God-given role of standing on Truth. In this way churches become sham: 'We end up with what looks like Church but in reality is not.' The Church must judge the world, not the other way round.

In his speech Akinola takes Jeremiah as his model:

he was set apart [consecrated] for an unusual assignment to destroy, to overthrow, to pluck up and to break down all the socio-cultural evils and the prevalent apostasy that man in his corrupt and rebellious mind had set up. But he was also to plant and build up genuine God-consciousness, faithful worship of YHWH and sound morals all of which man had destroyed.

This is a deeply dualist view. On the one side are all the evils of the modern world: decadence, corruption, rebellion, secularisation, inclusiveness, political correctness, multi-culturalism, feminism, 'faithlessness, endless controversies; a world full of heretics and apostates', the legitimation of 'human frailty that makes nonsense of most of what [we] believe, preach and practise.'

On the other side is reality, 'genuine God-consciousness', the 'uniqueness and Lordship of Jesus the Christ', faith which is 'primary and fundamental' for theology, theology as the obedient study of God through God's self-revelation in the Bible. The Bible is the basis and fundament of all faith, all theology, and also 'God’s manual for man’s life.'

The connecting logic is, first,

1) there is a choice: take the right one.
2) those who are on the side of the right have a duty, a divine compulsion, to try to save as many as possible from their chaotic perdition.
3) God has placed me as leader, called me as prophet, equipped me for this task, it cannot fail.
Therefore, 4) to be powerful in word and deed, in humble obedience under God, is essential to face the powers of evil in the world.

It also follows that those who claim to be Christians but who are not with the faithful people of God are heretics and apostates and beneath contempt.

In a war, and especially in a civil war where both sides wear the same uniform, details and differences of opinion are less important than maintaining the sharp distinction between 'us' and 'them' so as to keep 'us' firmly together. So the most important question of Akinola's speech to an audience of future church leaders was the one he opened with: whose side are you on?

And to which section of the sadly polarised Church do you belong?

The once comprehensive Anglican Communion has been remade in the dualist image of Akinola.
==============

There is no meeting place because Akinola, and those who think like him, refuse any meeting place. There is none because there is a fundamental epistemic divide between 'world-views' and 'Truth'. There is no possibility of finding common ground while Akinola and others claim both that they are right and also claim the power to exclude any who do not believe in the way in which they believe.

The Covenant is an attempt to square the circle by shifting debate off the issues into the territory of constitutional change - to the question of who decides how debates are to be decided. It both obfuscates the conflict, which may be necessary to find a way forwards, and would also (at present) hand decisive power to the most conservative.

And it would certainly not be fair to quote David Marr's description of Akinola as 'A carpenter and peddler of patent medicines before he saw the light,' but I'm sure he checked his sources. (Here.)

Paul Bagshaw

Jensen: to be right is to destroy the Communion

2008-06-13T09:28:00.008+02:00

Archbishop of Sydney,
Peter Jensen

Graham King puts Archbishops Akinola and Jensen in the 'Federation conservative' category (see below) though he distinguishes 'Non-Canterbury' federation conservatives from others in that group.

A recent article in the Sydney Morning Herald (which is well worth a read in full) suggests a reason why Archbishop Peter Jenson doesn't find himself in the 'Non-Canterbury' sub-group:

Jensen knows he can't take the immense wealth of the Sydney diocese into a new church. "I can't. I'm part of a constitution, which is virtually unchangeable, of the Australian church. I wouldn't want to. I love the church. It would be bad for Christianity, bad for the gospel."

The property is a set of golden fetters.

Accordingly the plan (or, at least, one plan) is for the GAFCON conference

to collapse the church into a sort of Balkan confusion in which national branches turn their backs on each other, bishops dabble in one another's territory, and dingo fences cut across the landscape to keep "orthodox" Bible-believing, homosexual-denouncing Anglicans safe on one side of the wire, and "liberals" on the other. If the split comes, it will shatter national churches as well as the international communion. It will be particularly messy for Australia.

which will enable conservatives to promote their moral and ecclesiastical agenda without facing the legal problems that congregations have faced in the USA when they tried to leave and take the real property with them. A little like American foreign policy Jenson matches the claim to interfere elsewhere with fierce protectionism at home:

He, on the other hand, patrols his own boundaries vigorously. Women priests are forbidden. Single men can't expect to be given a parish and no openly gay priest will find employment in the diocese. Visiting Anglican luminaries with uncomfortable views are not allowed to preach.

But this is not double standards. It is a hard-headed calculation about the central issue:

"This dispute is not really about homosexuality," claims Jensen. "It's really about authority and who runs the church. And fairly clearly, to most of the rest of us, God runs the church through the Bible."

Exactly. And who runs the Bible?

All here.

MCU: Federation Liberal

2008-06-13T09:13:00.004+02:00

Graham King

In an article by Graham King called Reading and Reshaping the Anglican Communion (full article on the Fulcrum site, where the graphic is legible; edited version in CEN via Religious Intelligence) the MCU features as 'Federal Liberal'. That is,

those who are liberal on sexual ethics and have a low regard for the ecclesiology set out in the Windsor Report and many of its recommendations.

which I guess we accept (given the broad brush of these categories and King's own caveats).

What is intriguing is that he puts Affirming Catholicism, Changing Attitude, Inclusive Church (parts), and our own President Bishop John Saxbee, as 'Communion Liberal':

those who are liberal on sexual ethics but have a high regard for the ecclesiology set out in the Windsor Report, if not all its recommendations.

MCU finds itself in the company of John Chane, Bp Washington, Marilyn McCord Adams, (Professor at Oxford) Integrity USA and Inclusive Church (parts).

Canon Dr Graham Kings is vicar of St Mary Islington and theological secretary of Fulcrum.

More from Zimbabwe

2008-06-12T18:44:00.004+02:00

Documentation from Zimbabwe

The BBC has had a reporter, Ian Pannell, in Zimbabwe for a few days. He came out with documentary evidence of the campaign against the MDC. It makes clear that the campaign is being co-ordinated by the

Joint Operations Command, made up of the heads of the military and state security organisations. On the supervising committee are: senior Zanu-PF official Emmerson Mnangagwa, who has denied reports he is now running the country as chairman of the JOC; Edna Mazongwe, who is the speaker of the outgoing Senate, and Joshua Malinga, a campaigner for the rights of disabled people, who was a senator.

More here.

Will it work? Probably, but nonetheless he also broadcast an interview with a man who had been beaten and was in hospital and was still going to vote MDC.

MDC Secretary Tendai Biti has been arrested and is likely to be charged with treason, here. Morgan Tsvangirai has been arrested, again, here.

Ecumenical News Information reports

Zimbabwe police and security forces have raided the Harare offices of several Christian groups, arresting the general secretary of the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe and other officers and staff.

here, but no further information.

Comment on the Covenant

2008-06-11T20:54:00.003+02:00

Lifted straight from The Lead at the Episcopal Cafe:

Over this past week, we've been running articles written by different deputies to this coming General Convention about the proposed Anglican Covenant that is to be part of the discussion at the coming Lambeth Conference and, most likely, the next General Convention.

There's one additional essay to run next Monday, but central essays are now completed and posted.

You can read the official text of the Covenant here.

The "official" Episcopal Church study guide to the Covenant is here.

With those in hand you're ready for

The article on Section 1 (Tobias Haller)
The article on Section 2 (Marshall Scott)
The article on Section 3 (W. Nicholas Knisley)
The article on the Appendix (Sally Johnson)
The essay on the future Covenant process (Mark Harris)

Enjoy!
You might also want to check out the resources from the conference held earlier this year at the Desmond Tutu Center.

Earliest of Churches?

2008-06-11T19:58:00.003+02:00

Has the Holy Spirit verified the claim
by direct revelation?

Archaeologists claim to have found the world's oldest church dating from shortly after Christ's crucifixion.

The Church is in Jordan and may date back to between 33 AD to 70 AD.

A mosaic found in the church describes these Christians as "the 70 beloved by God and Divine". Mr Husan said they believed to have fled persecution in Jerusalem and founded churches in northern Jordan.

But

The claim was treated with some disdain in online chatrooms focusing on biblical knowledge with most contributors suggesting the claim was made up to boost Rihab's tourist status.

And

Rihab is home to a total of 30 churches and Jesus and the Virgin Mary are believed to have passed through the area.

It's all in the Daily Telegraph here so it's got to be true.

Bleakness from Zimbabwe

2008-06-11T19:19:00.003+02:00

Two members of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
who claim they were beaten by Robert Mugabe's supporters

Sorry for the break in transmission. I've been away from the computer for longer than anticipated.

There is nothing but bleakness from Zimbabwe. You can read The Reign of Thuggery (New York Review of Books) with analysis and the first hand account of a visitor.

Mbeki has given the dictator and his inner circle political and diplomatic support in many forums, including the United Nations, even as the rest of Zimbabwe's population suffers the consequences of economic collapse. Over the past eight years, agricultural production in Zimbabwe has fallen by four fifths, unemployment has risen to 85 percent, inflation has risen to an annual rate of more than one million percent, and three million Zimbabweans have fled the country. (The current population is estimated to be 12 million.) Most, ironically, have gone to South Africa, feeding the xenophobia that climaxed on May 19 in an explosion of violence. Since then dozens of people have been killed and more than 25,000 displaced.

Or you can read the account of lawyers, especially human rights lawyers, on the receiving end of ZANU-PF and state violence (here).

Regrettably it has become commonplace to hear of regular and increasingly frequent attacks against members of the legal profession, both in the private sector, and those within the public service in Zimbabwe. The incidents - which have ranged from denial of entry into police stations, denial of access to clients, verbal and physical attacks on lawyers and prosecutors attending police stations, pointing of weapons at lawyers, surveillance of lawyers, their homes and activities, arrest and detention of lawyers, threats and attacks against the families of lawyers, death threats, and public physical assaults on lawyers amounting to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment - have been well documented and are a matter of public record.

The Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw visited Zimbabwe on behalf of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and at the invitation of Bishop Sebastian Bakare of Harare to witness the ongoing religious and political violence among the people of Zimbabwe. A report is here, and here

Other church people have continued to suffer, along with the rest of the population:

A United Methodist Church Reverend lost an eye when soldiers and militias near Nyazura in Manicaland province attacked him on Saturday. The 42 year-old Reverand, Takura Bango, is in an intensive care unit at a hospital in Mutare. He is due to go for an operation in the next 48 hours on his right eye. ...

MDC MP elect for the area Pishai Muchauraya said soldiers, led by a Major Dangirwa, and militias were responsible for the attack on Reverand Bango. ‘The attack was brutal. They used logs and sticks to beat him up saying he supported the MDC. He lost his right eye in the attack and the beating only stopped after they realised what they had done to him,’ Muchauraya said.

The MDC MP added that dozens more were left injured on Saturday as soldiers and militias went on a rampage. The beatings were punishment for attending an MDC meeting on Friday. Muchauraya said Major Dangirwa made it clear the MDC was banned from holding any rallies in the province. In another attack, last week Monday, an outspoken and well known Mt Selinda mission chaplain was abducted, following his powerful sermon on the injustice, corruption, misgovernance and the illegitimacy of the Mugabe regime from 1980 to date. War veterans later invaded the mission and abducted the Reverend, who was later released after intense interrogation.

All here.

And there's much much more, and it's all bad.

Covenant Week in the Cafe

2008-06-04T15:20:00.002+02:00

Over at the Episcopal Cafe they're starting a Covenant Week.

Published so far are:
Section One: Claiming our inheritance - Tobias Haller
Section Two: Common ground - Tobias Scott
Section Three: Birthrights and pottage - W. Nicholas Knisely

All good heavyweight stuff.

The beginning of the end? Again?

2008-06-04T15:12:00.002+02:00

Bishop Donald Harvey, left, formerly of the Anglican Church of Canada, with Archbishop Gregory Venables of South America

Archbishop Gregory Venables has been talking to the Anglican Journal (Canadian) here.

The South American primate who has welcomed dissenting Canadian Anglican parishes into his province says he sees the beginning of the end of the world-wide Anglican Communion.

“I believe we’re in the early stages of divorce,” Archbishop Gregory Venables, presiding (national) bishop of the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone, told a news conference during a meeting of the Anglican Network in Canada from April 25 to 26.

On the whole I agree with te Archbishop's analysis, and with its significance, I just draw different conclusions.

In an interview with the Anglican Journal, Archbishop Venables noted that air travel and the Internet have re-structured international networks.
“We’re no longer living in a world where everything is done locally,” Archbishop Venables said. “The church is a little late in coming to that.” Instead of insisting on geographical church provinces, “hopefully, this will be resolved so we can realign or restructure so everyone can follow their concerns.”

So: that would be a church of ever smaller interest groups, until we have all found the prefect church, membership 1, me.

All here

Paul Bagshaw

UK Government, Churches and Zimbabwe

2008-06-04T15:04:00.003+02:00

The Herald reports UK Ropes in Churches for Regime Change

THE British government is seeking to engage churches in Zimbabwe and Britain to boost its regime change agenda ahead of this months' presidential runoff.
The British's latest move, dismissed by Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa as interference in Zimbabwe's internal affairs, follows the failure by the British to effect regime change through civic groups, non-governmental organisations and opposition parties.

But like most of what The Herald prints this should be regarded with suspicion. What is much more likely is that the Mugabe regime wishes to present further justification for what it is doing anyway, and for other reasons - harassing Anglicans, and other churchgoers, because they do not bow the knee to Mugabe.

All here

Anglican Information on the Bishops' Pastoral Statement of Zimbabwe

2008-06-04T14:57:00.001+02:00

As our readers are well aware ANGLICAN-INFORMATION have been calling for a considerable time for a proper pastoral statement from the bishops of the Anglican Central African Province about the shocking situation in Zimbabwe. However, the bishops of the Province have long been silent to the point of suspiciously apparent complaisance with the political machinations in Zimbabwe and to the detriment of the Anglican Church in that part of the world.

Now at last, on the very day when dictator Robert Mugabe has the audacity to parade himself at a United Nations sponsored Food Security Conference in Rome, whilst his country starves and is beaten into quiescence, the Anglican bishops have allowed their names to appear in public criticising what is happening in Zimbabwe.

Note, however that they have still failed to name Robert Mugabe in person. It’s small world in Central Africa and for some of the bishops old friendships and new fears live together uneasily.