Posted on 12/21/2006 10:26:14 AM PST by sionnsar
A leftie Episcopalian finally drops the F word:
What are we to say to this barrage of ill-formed, hostile, preposterous and yet by now tiresome attacks on our church -- not to mention the cunning and sly organizing effort to disrupt and harm our church?
What are we to make of this incessant monomania .in which "biblical authority" is routinely trotted out with neither a definition nor a designated arbiter, and in which, in the name of Christ, vitriol is spewed and a single-minded agenda of condemnation and exclusion is upheld?
That would mean a whole lot more coming from people who think suing conservative Christians out of their meeting houses is a virtue.
For one thing, the older Anglican tradition of respect has gone.
The liberals killed that three years ago when they gave Robbie a pointy hat despite the objections of most of the Anglican world.
In its place is accusation, leading to denunciation on the basis of absolutist claims which themselves are never examined.
How's that Scriptural case for making Gene Robinson a bishop coming along?
Never mind that our church has consistently shown our allegiance to Scripture and the historical creeds.
HAW, HAW, HAW, HAW, HAW, HEE, HEE, HEE, HEE, HEE, STOP IT, YOU'RE KILLING ME, MAN!!
There is another thread as well. It is the contempt for a church which in its own makeup mirrors something of the plurality of the nation, in which dialogue - even within difference - is honored, in which some (but not all) secular modes are treated with respect.
Except if you don't happen to believe that practicing homosexuals should become bishops in which case go to hell.
What we do see lurking behind these infamous attacks is a wholesale rejection of modernity, its messiness, its permissiveness (against which our adversaries are guaranteed the right to say no),
We get to make Gene Robinson a bishop and stuff him down the throats of the rest of the Anglican Communion. You get to think that's a bad idea. As long as your pledge checks clear and your parochial assessment is paid in full.
its unwillingness to sign on one truth, its tolerance of differences.
Its worship of the Zeitgeist.
Many of us have learned to live in this climate and without selling out remain faithful to the gospel.
A few sentences ago, an "unwillingness to sign on one truth" was a good thing. How can that be squared with John 14:6? Oh, wait. Pluriform truths. Never mind.
Who are these people who will not talk with us, who attack us incessantly and who envision a pure church of order and discipline (where according to Canon Anderson the guilty are punished)? Who then are these people? We have a descriptive phrase, harsh indeed, but by now it fits. These are ecclesiastical fascists.
Lisa Fox thinks the description is apt.
Personally, I think these people have behaved in ways that are so very, very far beyond the bounds of our Anglican polity that the name "ecclesiacal fascists" does indeed fit them quite well.
Oh and Schofield's a homosexual.
Go to my personal blog if you want to argue that one, and try to convince me that [Schofield] is not a shame-filled, self-loathing homosexual
Tom Woodward also thinks the F word is a good description.
If Bill is wrong in his analysis, then so is the term. I, for one, am tired of being called a heretic, an apostate, an enemy of the Gospel of Christ in writing and in public -- especially after 43 years of fairly dedicated service to Jesus Christ in his church. I believe what I and other people have been subjected to is a form of fascism. We do try at Episcopal Majority to be careful with our language. Given the context of this article, the phrase, at least to me, seemed appropriate.
Tommy? As far as being called names is concerned, a lot of us over here on the conservative side are really tired of having words like hatred, bigotry and, well, fascist thrown our way simply because we believe that practicing homosexuals shouldn't be bishops until a coherent Biblical case is made for the idea. Motes, beams and all that, Tommy.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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