BBC radio Sunday programme:
Gay clergy
The Archbishop of Canterbury is trying to prevent the Anglican Communion falling apart over the issue of homosexuality and the ordination of gay clergy.
This week a letter appeared on web sites, which was supposed to have been signed by fourteen Anglican Archbishops from the global south, and which attacked Rowan Williams personally. After stating that they appreciated Dr Williams’ acknowledgement that there was an overwhelming consensus in the church believing that same sex is unacceptable, the Archbishops write “We wonder, however, whether your personal dissent from this consensus prevents you from taking the necessary steps to confront those churches that have embraced teaching contrary to the overwhelming testimony of the Anglican communion”.
Rowan Williams has not publicly responded to the letter so far, although one or two of the alleged signatories to it say they did not sign and that the letter should not have been sent in the form it was.
Interview with Ruth Gledhill of The Times. Listen (5m 37s Real Audio)
Observer Joan Bakewell comment column Bishops in a muddle about marriage
And, an additional item from yesterday’s Guardian. Philip Pullman writes, in connection with proposed UK legislation to curb incitement to religious hatred, about Identity Crisis
Joan Bakewell talks so much sense – pity we can’t get anything even remotely as sensible from the Church!
I think a lot of good sense is spoken by people in the Church, although part of the richness of Anglicanism is that noone can speak for “the Church”. Several recent comments of the Archbishop of Canterbury spring to mind. For example: “We don’t become trustworthy by reasserting all the time the strength of our inner constancy, but by patient scrutiny of our weaknesses. In human terms, people learn to trust others when they see that they are still willing to learn and to develop. The mistake we are so often guilty of is to think that we can make… Read more »
Dear Badman, I think I sould cry “Foul” ! You edited what the ABofC said… and changed it’s focus and meaning: A fuller unaltered quote is: “The liberal heritage as we have been defining it, the welcoming of creativity and diversity in the political process and the social map, is not a polar opposite to the classical Muslim understanding of social identity. The real opposition is between a classical MUSLIM AND Christian acceptance of interpretation and reflection in charting the believer’s duties in the public sphere, and the crude and violent absolutising of a single narrow cultural expression of faith,… Read more »