Anglican Journal: Bishop sues blogger for defamation

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Leave your comments here; I would be interested to know how long they stay up (or if they even appear):

Bishop Michael Bird of the diocese of Niagara has filed a defamation lawsuit with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against blogger David Jenkins.

The suit alleges that, in his blog Anglican Samizdat, Jenkins has published comments about Bird that were injurious to his “credit, character and reputation…in his office as spiritual leader and Bishop of the Diocese and in his occupation as priest…”

Hamilton lawyer Graydon Sheppard, who is representing the bishop, told the Anglican Journal that the lawsuit was a last resort measure from the bishop. “He, and to some extent, his wife, have been under constant attack for more than two years by this blogger…” Jenkins, he added, “has gone beyond fair comment and debate about doctrinal matters.”

What is it like, being sued for libel?

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It is like participating in a poker game while in the middle of a fencing match. There is thrust, parry, bluff, counter-bluff all of which must be executed with one hand because the other is holding your wallet containing money for the bets – and it is open, spewing its contents in all directions.

The legal system is a wonderful thing.

Today is World Press Freedom day

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From here:

The United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom Day or just World Press Day to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Declaration of Windhoek, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in 1991.

There are a number of comments I could make about this but I don’t want to make my lawyer cry.

The Anglican Church of Canada loves the world

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God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The Anglican Church of Canada so loves the world that its hierarchy is meeting in an air-conditioned Ottawa convention centre to press the Canadian government to squeeze more taxes from its citizens to subsidise affordable housing. And to try and prevent “resource extraction” companies from drilling for Canadian oil: the same oil that the ACoC’s hierarchy burned on their way to Canada’s capital; come to think of it, perhaps they prefer the more inclusive Saudi oil.

It’s a whole other world.

From here:

More than 800 Anglicans, Lutherans, and partners will gather at the Ottawa Convention Centre July 3 to 7, 2013, for a historic joint national meeting.

Inspired by the theme “Together for the love of the world,” members of the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada will gather for worship and decision-making on areas of shared work, including mission and development.

Several key events will highlight the churches’ commitment to God’s mission in the world. Anglicans and Lutherans will be invited to make statements on two priority social justice issues: affordable housing and responsible resource extraction. On July 6, Anglican and Lutheran youth from Ottawa are to lead people at the assembly to Parliament Hill where they will participate in an act of public witness and worship.

Pedants of pornography

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From here:

The new academic journal Porn Studies, due to start publication in spring 2014, has called for submissions of articles, scholarly papers and book reviews.

U.K. publisher Taylor & Francis says it will be “the first dedicated, international, peer-reviewed journal” devoted to the study of pornographic products and services in the contexts of culture, history, economy, society and the law.

Content will explore the “intersection of sexuality, gender, race, class, age and ability.”

Several educators and authors have provided endorsements for the journal, which will be edited by two women – British academics Feona Attwood and Clarissa Smith.

“Porn Studies is a wonderful and much-needed resource for anyone interested in pornography and its relationship to wider cultural contexts,” Ronald Weitzer of George Washington University said. “The journal addresses virtually every aspect of porn and will challenge readers with novel, cutting-edge articles on the topic.”

In 1964 when Justice Potter Stewart made the famous observation that, although he could not define pornography, he knew it when he saw it, he could not have anticipated that in 2013, academics would still be trying to figure out just what it is “in the contexts of culture, history, economy, society and the law”.

I suppose the heartening thing about this is that there must still be a vestige of shame left in academia. After all, everyone knows that these prurient pedants simply want to look at naughty magazines but at least they have the decency to erect a smoke screen of respectability to conceal their scholarly concupiscence.

On Satire

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G. K. Chesterton said: “A man is angry at a libel because it is false, but at a satire because it is true.”

But what is satire? The ever helpful Wikipedia tells us:

Satire is a genre of literature, and sometimes graphic and performing arts, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, its greater purpose is often constructive social criticism, using wit as a weapon.

While satire originated in Egypt, it became more fully developed in Ancient Greece where it took one of two forms: Satire after the style of Horace: humorous, self-deprecating commentary that laments contemporary follies; or after the style of Juvenal. Juvanalian satire is scornful, sarcastic and polarised.

Unbeknownst to me I have unwittingly succumbed to the influence of Rowan Williams whose ten year stint as Anglican in Chief has insidiously infused my thinking with via media muddle. I have concocted an Hegelian middle ground between Horatian and Juvenalian satire, one that is both excruciatingly funny while being bitingly sarcastic. I have empirical evidence of this: my 11 year old granddaughter roars with laughter at my musings (no, I don’t show her all of them), confirming the former and I find myself deep in the mephitic bowels of an ecclesiastical lawsuit, confirming the latter.

For those who think some of the things I have written are a trifle tasteless, I recommend a quote from Malcolm Muggeridge – whom I met briefly in the 70s and, you will be relieved to know, I irritated by asking impertinent questions:

Good taste and humour are a contradiction in terms, like a chaste whore.

Same-sex blessings in the Diocese of Rupert’s Land

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In spite of assurances given during the 2010 Anglican General Synod that the ACoC was not approving the local option (each diocese decides for itself) for the blessing of same-sex unions, many dioceses have done just that. The latest to do so is the Diocese of Rupert’s Land.

Here (page 5), you will find a regurgitation of the, by now, familiar litany explaining why the diocese feels compelled to do something that 60 million Anglicans believe they should not do. The Diocese has prepared a “protocol”:

The Bishop and clergy of Rupert’s Land have completed preparation of a protocol for the pastoral practice of blessing same-sex unions. The protocol says why same-sex unions may be blessed in Rupert’s Land parishes and how this should be done.

The “protocol” is quick to point out that:

Different Anglicans and different parishes hold different convictions on this point, arising from differing interpretations of scripture and tradition.

It omits to mention that the number of Anglicans – or, indeed, Christians – worldwide  that agree with the diocese’s interpretation is miniscule.

“Diversity” is honoured – probably because conservatives contribute most of the money and, for that reason, the diocese can’t afford to chase them out – much as it might secretly want to:

Diversity of views is honoured and appreciated. Congregations and individuals are called to show pastoral generosity to one another. No cleric and no parish is required to participate in same-sex blessing.

Clergy opposed to blessing same sex couples will have to refer them to the bishop who will then refer them to clergy who have seen the light and are not opposed. So recalcitrant clergy might just as well get with the program since it’s going to happen anyway:

Clergy opposed to same-sex blessing should refer couples to the bishop.

Let’s be clear, though, that this is not a “marriage”, even though it bears an uncanny resemblance to one:

In order to be clearly distinguished from a marriage liturgy, the rite of blessing for a same-sex union will not include an exchange of legal consents, an opportunity for objections, a declaration of union, a rite of civil marriage, a signing of the parish marriage register or a nuptial blessing.

Repeat after me: “this is not a marriage.”

An interview with Tito Zavala, Bishop of Chile

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An interesting interview with the Presiding Bishop of the Southern Cone.

Read it all here:

On crossing borders – the local ACoC bishop is Michael Bird, incidentally:

Did you ask permission of the local Anglican Church of Canada bishop to visit here?
No, because I am coming to another, different Anglican church.

On why “reconciling” ANiC and the ACoC à la Justin Welby’s recipe won’t work – the ACoC has “another gospel…. not the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ”:

Do you or GAFCON have any plans to reconcile ACNA with the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada?
We don’t see our role in that way. The new Archbishop of Canterbury wants to work for the reconciliation of the church around the world. I don’t know how he will do it. I don’t know if TEC or the ACC will change. We will not renounce what we believe. Our understanding in GAFCON is that TEC and the ACC have another gospel; it is not the biblical gospel of Jesus Christ. If they move back to the Bible we can be in communion.

On what really sets Canterbury’s policy:

You have spoken of “the heavy machinery” or bureaucracy behind the Archbishop of Canterbury. How much does it run things?
I met the last Archbishop of Canterbury. Rowan Williams is a very nice man. But all the machinery behind him, the bureaucracy, is led by liberals; the Anglican Consultative Council is controlled by liberals; the Anglican Communion Office is controlled by liberals as well.

On the worldwide Anglican Communion of which TEC and the ACoC are not a part according to Zavala:

Don’t we really have two separate international entities now, the FCA and the more liberal rest of the Communion? And the Archbishop of Canterbury is trying to straddle them both. Do we really have a global Communion anymore?
Anglicans are one universal body. We have internal tensions. That is happening now. Maybe we will have to live forever with those tensions. We had that issue in the Southern Cone in 2003. Why not leave the Communion? We decided no, because we are true Anglicans. Instead we broke communion with the ACC and TEC.

On how Canadian church services are short:

Tell me more about the Anglican Church in Chile.
Most Chilean pastors are full-time priests but we often meet in schools. Our church services can be three or four hours long. If the sermon is less than an hour, the pastor is not considered a good preacher. People sometimes walk 1½ hours to get to church. Some services begin at 11, stop at 1 for lunch and resume from 2 until 4.

How seeker friendly churches looked in the 16th Century

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A few years ago, I visited the monasteries of Meteora in Greece. The Great Meteoron monastery is the largest and oldest and was established around 1340 by St. Athanasios Meteorites.

The Great Meteoron monastary has impressive 16th Century frescoes decorating the narthex – the area where the unbaptized had to wait while Communion was taking place in the sanctuary. To edify the newcomers, the frescoes depict not only notable events in Christ’s life such as his Resurrection, but the gruesome deaths of early Christian martyrs. Rather than a cheery church greeter, the 16th Century seeker was assaulted by images of people being skinned, roasted and having appendages, intestines, eyes and just about anything else that we usually consider permanently attached, removed. The idea was not only to create an indelible impression of the sacrifices made by those who founded the church, but that the neophyte should count the cost before making a rash decision.

The odd thing is, the tactic was more successful than our contemporary mania of making the church so doctrinally malleable, so comfortable with secular culture, that its members can do and believe almost anything without so much as an ecclesiastical eyebrow being raised.

And, just as bad, so can the clergy.