Author Archives: David

ACNA becomes Politically Correct

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It was probably inevitable: the pull towards surreptitious halo polishing thinly disguised as righteous breast-beating was too strong to resist.

A group of ACNA clergy has published a letter lamenting the lack of diversity within its ranks, a promise to do better and an acknowledgement that Man’s real problem is not sin, it’s racism.

Read the whole thing here:


A Letter to Fellow ACNA Clergy: On Anti-Racism and a More Diverse and Just Anglicanism

[….]
We see and grieve the racism and discrimination that exists and has a deep cultural and structural influence in our society, in our communities, and in our churches. The recent tragedies of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd are simply the latest in a long line of harrowing examples of these deeply embedded systemic realities. We see and grieve that our brothers and sisters of color, including many in our own dioceses and parishes, have been and continue to be profoundly affected by these realities.

Against this backdrop, we offer the following confessions and make the following commitments.

Confessions

We confess that we have failed to see, understand, and address the expressions of racism, both personal and systemic, that plague our society, communities, and churches.

We confess our slowness to listen to the dismay and discouragement of our brothers and sisters of color, especially those in our own province, and have neglected to cultivate hospitable spaces for them to flourish.

We confess that our ignorance, complacency, and silence have undermined our fidelity to the Great Commandment to love God and love our neighbor (Matt. 22:36-40), which fundamentally calls us into disciplines of anti-racism.

Liberals experience epiphany: suddenly decide to take Bible seriously.

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Theological liberals try not to take the bible too seriously, so they don’t particularly care when, as an art project, someone rips it up and plasters satanic images over an image of Christ. No Anglican bishops denounced this; after all, it’s only a book and there is nothing you can do to it that rises to the level of blasphemy.

Except when Donald Trump uses it as a political prop. Then, suddenly, blasphemy!

This was blasphemy. In the most authentic and repugnant sense, it was blasphemy.

If only Susan Bell and Michael Coren would pay attention to what it says instead of who is holding it.

Anglican Church of Canada Primate announces she is a racist

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She is a racist, she tells us, because she is white.

Let’s examine this heartfelt confession. The OED defines a racist as:

A person who is prejudiced against or antagonistic towards people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized

Linda Nicholls believes, sincerely we must assume, that anyone who has the misfortune of being born with a skin colour that is white, off-white or merely pasty is innately biased against his or her more fortunate brethren who have been endowed with a less pink complexion. She believes that bias against another’s race is itself determined by race. And Linda Nicholls is a member of the benighted race that is cursed with that bias.

That really does make her a racist.

From here:

Last year, in the months before General Synod and the primatial election, an acquaintance told me that she had heard someone publicly share that I am racist. My initial response was to be deeply hurt and to try to find out what I had said or done that would lead to those remarks. How had I acted? What had I said? How could this be when I abhor the thought of racism?

Since then I have recognized that I am racist. I am a white, privileged Canadian who is enmeshed in the cultural expectations and assumptions of the society in which I was raised. I have benefitted because I was born into the class and colour of those who have systemic power. As someone with power I unconsciously participate in and collude with racism and have absorbed attitudes deep within me. I am as enmeshed in racism by the benefits I have received as is the person enmeshed in racism by discrimination. The only aspect of disempowerment I have experienced directly has come from my gender as a woman. Even there, others had begun the battle for rights and recognition over the past one hundred years, and I enjoy the fruit of their hard-won justice.

Diocese of Huron has a Pride Pentecost

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From here:

Celebrating Pentecost with Pride

Pentecost will be celebrated on Sunday, May 31, but the season of Pentecost will continue for the next several months.

[….]

One could easily say that the Holy Spirit came down upon the people at the Stonewall Inn, lighting a fire within them to advocate for change. Still today, we see many examples of homophobia, transphobia, heterosexism and cissexism running rampant within the world and our society. This time of quarantine and isolation has empowered certain people to speak out against inclusive sex education, to call for the repeal of laws that protect against discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, and claim that gender-confirmation surgery and other transition-related procedures for trans* people “should be outlawed altogether”. People are being empowered through social media to commit “Zoom-bombing” and other acts of hate crime with little repercussion.

I only have a few questions: what is the asterisk for in “trans* people”? Is it a wildcard? What is cissexism and would I break out in a rash if I had it?

If your curiosity is piqued enough to want to see what a Pride Pentecost looks like and you are not worried that it might trigger your phobias, you can view it here.

Anglican Churches in Ontario closed until September

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In Ontario, the Anglican Church of Canada will not be meeting in its churches before September, regardless of government regulations.

I have no idea whether this is the right decision or not but I do wonder how many parishes will have ceased to exist by September.

ANiC has not made any announcement for Ontario yet.

From here:

The past three months have been difficult as we journeyed through a time of wilderness with the closure of our church buildings and as we have creatively adapted our ministries to respond to the emergency situation. Inspired from the witness of scripture, a time of sabbath rest invites our clergy and lay leaders, as well as the whole Church, to take time apart from our usual patterns in order to bring renewed energy and knowledge and skill to the practice of ministry.What this means is that regardless of where the Government of Ontario is with its reopening plan, our churches will not be reopening for in-person worship until at least September. This decision was made in consultation with public health experts as well as our diocesan executive officers and chancellors, with the well-being and safety of all our parishioners and the communities we serve uppermost in our hearts and minds

Let your yes be maybe and your no maybe not

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The Diocese of Toronto has decided that same-sex marriage is both legitimate and not legitimate. In polite company, this is known as an antinomy. Or, in plain language, rubbish.

The good news is, there is almost no one who cares anymore what the Anglican Church of Canada thinks about anything. So the fact that it has decided to stake its reputation – what is left of it – on a statement that raises illogicality to the status of dogma is of little interest to anyone who continues to inhabit objective reality.

From here:

“Marriage in equal measure means that our Diocese chooses to hold in creative tension two views of Holy Matrimony that are, at once, contradictory and yet legitimately supported and honoured by our bishops, clergy and laity. This place of creative tension follows a long season of study, reflection, conflict, revelation and struggle. Clergy and laity in this Diocese will be supported in holding and teaching a theology of marriage as being between a man and a woman or a theology of marriage that does not require the couple to be of opposite gender.”

Bandwagon Bishops

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Anglican bishops like nothing better than jumping on a fresh bandwagon to parade their glistening halos for all to admire. Racism isn’t exactly fresh, of course, but it is in the news, so it’s only fitting that our Canadian bishops are using the opportunity to intone such pieties as this from Melissa Skelton:

It is difficult to decide where to start on any communique to all of you related to racism and racist acts today. Whether it’s stories from here in Canada related to aggressive acts toward Canadians of Chinese, Japanese or Filipino heritage, discrimination against a First Nations man just doing his banking, the disturbing increase in anti-Semitism world-wide, or the stark images of African-American men pursued, threatened and murdered in the US—the times we are in continue to remind us that not only is racism not dead, racism seems to have become stronger or perhaps more exposed in the midst of this pandemic.

It goes on…. and on; if you wish to bore yourself silly with the rest of it, you can do so, but I won’t quote more here.

Those who persevere will discover that what is missing from Skelton’s concatenation of cliché’s is any explanation of why she finds racially inspired evil to be any worse than, say, murder motivated by jealousy or envy or love of mammon or plain dislike. I don’t remember the 10 commandments reserving special condemnation for racially inspired killing, lust, idolatry, theft or covetousness. All men and women bear God’s image. To act as if that were not so is wrong if the person is of a different race. But it is just as wrong if the person is of the same race.

The reason, although I sure she would not admit it, is because denouncing racism is a cause beloved by the political left (what would they do without it?) and all causes of the political left are beloved by bishops; it’s so predictable that I’m tempted to think it’s genetic. Underpinning the fantasies of the left are the lies that man is innately good; that those who are less than good are, nevertheless, perfectible if they only they make the effort; that society is also perfectible and, thus, anything short of utopia is to be an object of scorn.

In their heart of hearts, this is what Anglican clergy believe. What they should believe is Jeremiah 17:9.

Also missing from Skelton’s “Pastoral Message” (how is it in any sense pastoral?) is any robust condemnation of the rioting, looting and violence being perpetrated by those who are bent on destroying what is left of our civilisation. The left want our civilisation gone because, after Christianity, it is based on capitalism – hated by the left even more than racism – and because it isn’t utopia. And Anglican bishops want what the left wants.

Anglican Church signs Just Recovery document

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The Anglican Church of Canada has signed a document that suggests that, since we are busy trying to sort out how to get back to work in the middle of a pandemic, while we are at it we might as well also fix the “climate emergency”, redistribute wealth, eliminate all inequality, get rid of fossil fuels, allow unrestricted immigration, provide free healthcare for all, and bring back the rainbow coloured unicorns and flying pigs.

After all, isn’t that what the church is really all about?

From here:

The other principles of Just Recovery include a paramount focus on people’s health and well-being, a stronger safety net and direct relief, prioritizing the needs of workers and communities, and building resilience to face future crises.

The Just Recovery document has been signed by the Canadian Labour Congress, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Toronto Environmental Alliance, the Canadian Federation of Students and many more.

Anglicans and politics

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The Anglican Church of Canada’s Primate, Linda Nicholls has written an article explaining how the church decides to align itself with a particular social or political cause. She says:

Let me share how our church approaches that discernment and share a recent example in the life of our church. The general secretary and I are sometimes approached to add our signatures to a public letter on a significant public issue. Deliberation on the issue requires careful listening to a variety of sources. It is governed first by statements and resolutions of General Synod. Then we turn to Church House staff with knowledge of the issue and to our archivist, Laurel Parson. We also explore where our current partnerships and working relationships are implicated by what we might say.

We explore the theological questions embedded in the issue. What gospel principles are at the core of this matter? Where does our baptismal covenant intersect with it? Is this an issue of justice; dignity of human persons; care for creation or love of neighbour?

One might be tempted to leap recklessly to the conclusion that “gospel principles” would nudge the church into questioning why, during the pandemic, Canada’s health care system finds the time to continue murdering babies in abortion mills but has to postpone almost all elective surgery. Or, if it wants to look farther afield, condemn China’s crushing of freedom in Hong Kong or, indeed, of its own people.

But why bother with these peccadilloes when another chance to condemn Israel presents itself?

From here:

We write to you with great concern about Canada’s silence regarding the plans of the current coalition government of Israel to propose a vote in the Knesset (likely July 1st) on annexing a significant part of the occupied Palestinian territories. These plans constitute a grave breach of Canadian and international law, specifically Article 147 of the IV Geneva Convention, prohibiting the appropriation of property. This silence of the Canadian government is puzzling in light of the recent vote at the UN affirming the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, Canada’s policy position on Palestine-Israel, and its staunch support for the rule of law.