The Church Times has a report on the Wednesday vote:
ACC resorts to secret poll to modify ejection plan
And Power is the issue, as well as sex and scripture, Dr Williams tells ACC by Pat Ashworth
Other extensive reports on the ACC, in the paper, are subscription-only until next week. They will be linked when they are available.
The Church of England Newspaper has these reports:
Archbishop’s plea for unity over gay row
Americans and Canadians find few converts to their theology
and Andrew Carey comments on the Presidential Address here
The conservatives actually LOST the vote the other day. It’s obvious if the Americans and Canadians continue to become increasingly mindful of their actions and statements, there will be no “expulsion” from the Communion.
And, we North Americans can be very good at PR.
I was sorry to see from the report in CEN that no-one had any questions or comments after the presentations. Apparently no-one who disagrees with the direction that ECUSA and the Anglican Church of Canada is going wants to engage in any further dialogue on the issues. If that’s the case, it’s hard to see why our representatives were asked to make their presentations to start with! There is still a lot to talk about — no matter how deeply we may regret the hurt and dismay that the actions of New Westminster or the decision of General Synod have… Read more »
There were definitely people who wanted to speak after the North American presentations and who requested to do so. That report is erroneous.
The fact that both North American teams took up their entire alloted segments, and the heat, also played a role.
Sadly, the lines are firmly drawn – acceptance or rejection of the 1998 Lambeth Resolution on Human Sexuality; acceptance or rejection of Robert A.J. Gagnon’s hermeneutical principles on how we interpret certain scriptural passages (The Bible and Homosexual Practice [2001]). For many in attendance at Nottingham there is no “middle ground,” as exemplified by other hermeneutical approaches, such as Luke Timothy Johnson or Walter Wink’s, which are also faithful to scripture, i.e., the total picture which includes the narratives of how, in the present, lives have been transformed by the risen Christ, including the lives of homosexual persons.
There was no time left for questions after either session, so the chair made no attempt to solicit any responses. The Americans overran their time, in fact. The chair’s action seemed entirely reasonable to me.
As Kendall has pointed out, the heat was also a strong factor. But the decision to cancel the evening session did remove another opportunity for others to speak, which was a pity.
Really, getting some dialogue going was more important than getting out of the heat. Still, how much questioning and answering was going on informally outside the formal session? Surely that was possible, no? Even after the vote, there should be dialogue on this–you people who were there, how much dialogue between the opposed sides is going on, formally and informally???
>”The conservatives actually LOST the vote the other day.”< Ahem! They didn’t. Not unless you believe the bizarre response from the inclusives, who evidently had a bad hair day. But even then, would you find a close vote that so surprising? The ACC membership is by no means representative of the church, as far as numbers are concerned -if it had been, ECUSA would have been seen off long before this. I asked our minister why there seemed to be so many liberals on the ACC. “Simple” he replied. “Evangelical ministers, loving their Lord, have their heads down preaching the… Read more »
That pretty well says it all. The number of people who hold a view is by no means an indication of its veracity, of course, but one might be excused from gaining the impression that the church is evenly divided on the issue of the primacy of the Bible. It is not. Those who have sought to promulgate erroneous teaching are a small but very vocal minority, and despite all the screeds that have been written, there is little or no theological underpinning, but a series of assertions backed up by accusations of homophobia and lack of love when anyone… Read more »
What is interesting about the vote is that around 8 people who could have voted (were present, and eligible to vote) did not do so.
Robert wrote: “I am informed that those who have assented to erroneous teaching are losing members hand over fist…” Another common, but deliberately misleading allegation. My “progressive” (actually pretty mainline, except in OUR diocese) parish has been growing at a double-digit rate, esp. since all the brouhaha over GC2003. Every month we seem to add more members, like myself, who’re transferring from more conservative parishes in our Network-affiliated diocese. Mind you, we should ALL be a bit humble about our so-called church “growth” numbers when we realize the percentage of the populations in the Western world who are unchurched. And… Read more »
Absolutely, David. Much more so in Europe, where in the UK 93% of people do not attend church at all.
David, I clearly stand corrected as far as your church is concerned, but I did say that I’m not in touch with things outside the UK.
I am in total agreement with the sentiments in your last paragraph. I too feel that we have been sidetracked by the homosexuality issue, but this was not of our making! I am sure that the devil will use every means to divert us from our true mission. (Been re-reading “The screwtape letters, by the way!)