Posted on 03/29/2007 10:10:46 PM PDT by Huber
A summary of responses to the 'listening process' called for after the 1998 Lambeth Conference has been published on the Anglican Communion official website.
However, a quick perusal of the relevant sections of the site shows that it is culturally and theologically dominated by Western Liberal assumptions.
The 'glossary', for example, is a glossary of Western expressions: 'coming out', drag, Queer theology, etc. There is no indication here that any English, let alone other-language, colloquial expressions relevant to the issue might exist outside the shores of the UK and North America within the Anglican Communion.
Similarly, Liberal assumptions predominate. A Transvestite is considered "a pejorative term". "Ex-gay" includes someone who "lives with same sex attraction issues within celibacy". Perhaps most tellingly, there is this, unattributed, quotation: ‘"Gay" and "lesbian" are the names we have proudly chosen for ourselves while "homosexual" is a sterile psychiatric/medical term.’ Who, as Tonto once famously asked, is this "we"?
Again, the theological basis of the process is full of Western Liberal angst. Issues of 'pain' and 'sharing' predominate. Fear is assumed to be the underlying barrier to 'listening':
"The issues surrounding human sexuality have made us all feel vulnerable. Some fear the ending of the faith as we know it. Others fear not being accepted. Some fear being split in two with conflicting loyalties. Some fear to ask questions and some fear to answer them."
It is all very reminiscent of an English diocesan jamboree, whereas the attitudes of the Global South are marginalised. The 'Facilitator', Revd Canon Phil Groves, has African experience, but he is English and it shows.
John Richardson 27 March 2007
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. And "jackass" is a name that many of you frequently earn.
When did I get to vote on heterosexual?
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