Retiring Bishop of Huron troubled by sexuality divisions

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The Diocese of Huron’s Bishop Robert Bennett is unhappy that the Anglican Church of Canada is divided over marrying same-sex couples. At least, he claims to be.

It’s hard to believe he is crying anything but crocodile tears, though, since Bennett willingly contributed to the division by authorising same-sex blessings in 2013 and same-sex marriages in 2016. Does this make him a hypocrite? You decide.

From here:

bennettAmong the most troubling things he witnessed as bishop, Bennett said, was the divisiveness caused by the issue of human sexuality.

“I think it’s taken a great toll both within congregations and the House of Bishops,” he said. “That issue—and it’s still there—is always front and centre in the house, and it makes it very difficult for me, and I think everybody else, to embrace and focus on what we’re really about as church.”

Discord over human sexuality came to a head in the diocese of Huron only a matter of weeks after Bennett became diocesan bishop, when members of St. Aidan’s Church, in Windsor, voted to leave the Anglican Church of Canada and join the conservative Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). Members were upset about recent moves in some dioceses to bless same-sex unions. In 2011, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that the parish could not legally separate itself from the diocese.

Bennett said he had also found it difficult to see the shrinking of congregations in the diocese, attributable partly to declining populations in some areas and partly to the “vortex of change” set in motion by the secularization of culture.

United Church’s atheist minister, Gretta Vosper, faces defrocking hearing

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Gretta Vosper is interesting not just because she manages to believe she can be an effective Christian church pastor while disbelieving in the founder of the Christian church but because she is blazing the trail which, I am reasonably certain, will be taken by many Anglican Church of Canada clergy eventually. We already have our very own atheist theology professor. Imagine the heady Hegelian euphoria of endless indabas between theist and atheist clergy trying to reach the nirvana of good disagreement. It’s enough to make Justin Welby swoon.

Vosper tells us:

In 2013, I embraced the term “atheist” which means, literally, no belief in a theistic, supernatural being.

Atheism does not mean merely an absence of belief in God’s existence, it means asserting truth of the statement “God does not exist”, along with all the disagreeable consequences that accompany that idea. Vosper sounds more like an agnostic than an atheist. But, these days, being an atheist is cool while agnosticism just sounds indecisive and wishy-washy. And Gretta Vosper is undoubtedly more interested in coolness than truth.

From here:

The sub-executive committee of the Toronto Conference of the United Church of Canada is asking the church’s general council to conduct a formal hearing to determine whether or not Vosper should be defrocked.

Alan Hall, executive officer of Ministry and Employment for the United Church of Canada, said, in an email, that it could be a few weeks or months before a final decision is reached.

He said that there will be no provision to appeal the decision within the church courts.

The announcement made Thursday noted that Vosper will be allowed to continue in her role as a minister, with no restrictions, at West Hill United Church until a decision has been made at the hearing.

“The way forward is costly in terms of emotional and spiritual energy. The way forward is costly in terms of time and finances for both Ms. Vosper and the church,” said an online statement issued by the committee.

“At the same time, the sub-executive moved forward believing that a clear answer was required.”

The decision comes a week after Vosper spoke to defend herself against a report made by a review committee that found her “not suitable” to continue in her role because she doesn’t believe in God.

“From the outset of this process, we have urged the Toronto Conference to recognize that their decisions would impact not just one minister, but an entire congregation, and many more members of this church,” said Vosper in an online statement issued by her lawyers Thursday. “In spite of the many letters of support and concern about this process, the sub-Executive had continued down a path that can only result in division.”

1100 other contradiction addicted individuals have signed a petition to prevent the defrocking:

A petition in support of Vosper that rejects the report’s recommendations and a hearing had over 1100 signatures on Thursday.

Diocese of Toronto elects partnered homosexual bishop

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The Diocese of Toronto has elected three new suffragan bishops, one of whom is the Rev. Canon Kevin Robertson, “the first openly gay, partnered bishop-elect in the diocese and perhaps in the Canadian church”.

Considering the state of the Anglican Church of Canada, I suppose this was as inevitable as it is non-newsworthy; still, here is the announcement:

Bishop-elect Robertson was elected on the fourth ballot of the second election. He is 45 and the incumbent of Christ Church, Deer Park in Toronto. After earning his Master of Divinity from Trinity College in 1997, he was ordained deacon the same year and priest in 1998. He and his partner Mohan have two children.

“I’m very overwhelmed,” he said on the chancel steps after the elections. “I didn’t really expect to be standing here on the steps, but I’m deeply, deeply honoured. I realize this is an historic day in the life of our church. It’s no secret that I’m the first openly gay, partnered bishop-elect in the diocese and perhaps in the Canadian church as well, and I know that for some people that’s a real challenge and for others it’s the fulfillment of what they’ve been hoping and praying for for a very long time. The peace and unity of the church is really important to me and I will work to continue that peace and unity as a bishop.”

Bishop-elect Robertson said his election is a turning point for the church in accepting and supporting LGBTQ people. “I think General Synod (in July) was a turning point for the national church and my election today is a turning point for our diocese, and I’m honoured to be a part of that. I’m really encouraged by the developments over the past couple of months – both General Synod and today bode really well for the full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the life of our church.”

He said he will be a bishop for the whole church. “I think LGBTQ clergy and lay people might naturally gravitate towards me looking for some leadership around the issue of full inclusion, but I absolutely see myself as a bishop for the whole church, including people who have a very different view of things than I do. I’m their bishop, too.”

And now for something completely different: an atheist professor of theology

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Gerald Robinson is an atheist who teaches theology at Toronto’s Trinity College. It will surprise no one to learn that he is an Anglican who attends an Anglican Church of Canada parish where, no doubt, he feels quite at home amongst like-minded clergy.

He has written a book called Theology for Atheists; we can only assume he is angling to become the next ACoC Primate.

From here:

Award-winning Toronto architect Gerald Robinson is an adjunct professor of theology, in the divinity faculty at the University of Toronto’s Trinity College.

He’s a member of the Anglican congregation that worships in Trinity College Chapel and regularly attends services in the chapel. He calls it his parish church, his “go-to” place to worship. So what is he doing socializing with atheists in Scallywags, a Toronto pub?

Robinson is also an atheist who describes himself as an Anglican/Atheist/Christian—a description that must raise many eyebrows. Some will dismiss it as contradictory, incomprehensible.

Robinson says Jesus never claimed to be God, that nowhere in the gospels does he make that claim. Free Jesus from the doctrinal cluttering, and he is still the “greatest teacher the world has ever known,” whose message of peace, love and tolerance is sorely  needed by a troubled world.

[….]

In his 168-page book, Robinson addresses such subjects as heavenly warfare, faith or reason, and miracles. He raises such questions as: Can atheists have a theology? Do atheists have souls? Can an atheist be a Christian if he or she denies the divinity of Jesus?

He answers with an emphatic “yes.”

To his credit, he has one thing right:

As an Anglican, he suggests that the Anglican/Episcopal Church makes the lowest demands for conformity of belief and could lead the way.

The way where, one wonders?

hell

The offense of the Cross

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The Cross offends the world – and an increasing number of church denominations – for a number of reasons. The Church of Sweden has found a new one.

The Swedish Church’s head of communications, Gunnar Sjoberg, thinks it is offensive to wear a cross in support of persecuted Christians; he makes no mention of whether he finds persecuting Christians to be offensive.

Coincidentally, around the same time Sjoberg made his pronouncement, membership in his church plummeted.

From here:

“Provocative and un-‎Christian”: ‎That is how Gunnar Sjoberg, the head of communications for the Swedish Church, chose to ‎comment on the August social media campaign #MittKors (“MyCross”), which urged Christians and ‎others to wear a cross in support of the world’s persecuted Christians. ‎

The campaign was a reaction to Christians being murdered or kidnapped and enslaved by the Islamic State group, the Islamic terrorists pillaging village after village throughout the ‎Middle East, and one would think this campaign would be given unanimous support.

But ‎then, one would be mistaken. ‎

[….]

Sjoberg says, “The ‎cross of Christ may end up being used as a weapon against another faith and not as a ‎symbol of support for Christians,” thus choosing not to engage with the issue. This is cowardly and unjust, although it is in line with the Swedish Church’s documented lack of moral compass. Sweden’s ‎largest daily newspaper, Aftonbladet, has a similar and equally offensive reaction, ‎comparing the cross to the swastika and the #MyCross campaign to that of Nazi ‎propaganda, thus playing shamelessly into the hands of the extremists who have made ‎Christians into the world’s most persecuted group. ‎

Alberta government issues thinly veiled threat to Christian schools

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Alberta’s NDP government has an anti-bullying policy in schools. To the NDP mind, a school that refuses to have gay straight alliance clubs or cross-gender lavatories is guilty of bullying – as defined by the Humpty Dumpty Theory of Language.

To discourage such defiant flouting of gender politics pieties, the Alberta government is bullying schools into compliance.

From here:

Education Minister David Eggen says he’s willing to strip two Christian schools of their public funding if they won’t abandon their Christian principles and allow clubs promoting homosexuality and/or transgender students in washrooms of the opposite sex.

These measures are part of the New Democratic government’s anti-bullying policies that single out sexual minorities for protection, though surveys indicate that physical appearance and grades are far more likely causes of school bullying.

Last month, Spruce Grove Baptist pastor Brian Coldwell, who is also chairman of an independent Christian school board with two small schools with 200 students, said neither cross-gendered washrooms nor gay straight alliances would be allowed in his schools.

Asked about Coldwell’s comments at a school opening where he was joined by Premier Rachel Notley, Eggen said, “It’s not acceptable, not just for the kids that are attending those schools, but it sends a negative message across the province, that I’m quite concerned about as well.” According to the Edmonton Journal, Eggen also said he “won’t rule out” defunding Coldwell’s schools.

R.I.P. David Jenkins

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Avian celebrations would be premature however, since this David Jenkins was the Bishop of Durham who cemented his credentials as an authentic Anglican bishop by denying the virgin birth and bodily resurrection of Jesus – among other things.

To distinguish between the two of us, a few years ago I wrote a song about Jesus’ resurrection called Risen Lord. Here it is, dedicated to the other David Jenkins:

World Day of Prayer for a minute part of Creation

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The size of the earth is 0.000000000000000000019% of that of the entire universe, a fact that goes to show that mainline denominations are not nearly as inclusive as they would have us think. They are only praying for the earth, leaving the rest of Creation to fend for itself.

No matter; much as I dislike pollution as much as the next man, it seems fairly obvious to me that the church has made an idol out of environmentalism, the catchphrase used to conceal the real agenda of wealth redistribution, an activity near and dear to the hearts of liberals in every denomination.

No right-thinking liberal believes that God actually answers prayer, of course – that’s why we needed the Paris get-together on climate change last year, when the world’s elite flew their private jets across half the world to tell the rest of us we are using too much gas in our cars.

Entropy is causing the universe to run down. Eventually all activity will end – even Anglican clergy having conversations, hard to believe, I know – and the universe will end up motionless and dead in thermodynamic equilibrium at a few degrees above absolute zero. In spite of the combined best efforts of Al Gore, the Pope and Fred Hiltz.

Meanwhile, to take up the slack left by the negligent environmental department of the World Council of Churches, I suggest we all start praying for the black hole over-population in the vicinity of SAGE0536AGN. It’s very worrying.

To end on a positive note: according to Revelation 21, God will reverse entropy and remake the universe. The only problem is, mainline churches no longer believe the Bible.

From here:

Christians around the globe are uniting in a World Day of Prayer for Creation September 1 – a move which was started by the spiritual leader of the Orthodox churches. The day of prayer – and the Season of Creation that runs from today to the Feast of St Francis of Assisi (4 October) – was launched by the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios in 1989. Last year Pope Francis called on Catholics to join in; and the Anglican Consultative Council – while not specifying any particular period – has repeatedly called on Anglican Provinces to set aside a liturgical season of prayer for creation and the environment.

[……]

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Revd Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, said: “As Christians, we have hope. We believe God does not abandon creation and that we ourselves can become beacons of that hope by sowing the seeds of a different future.

He called on Christians worldwide to pray together for “God’s beautiful work” and also to take practical action, by calling on governments to ratify the last year’s Paris agreement on climate change.

Married homosexual clergy make their case in the Sunday Times

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A number of Church of England married homosexual clergy and laity have written a letter to the House of Bishops in support of “the full inclusion of LGBTI people in the Church”. You can read the letter here.

It was also sent to the Sunday Times, making it more of a political machination than anything else, particularly coming hot on the heels of the announcement by the Bishop of Grantham that he is in a “gay relationship”, albeit a celibate one. What exactly is a celibate gay relationship? Two men who just cuddle in bed? I haven’t seen it explained anywhere.

Also lacking an explanation is how the bisexual element mentioned in the letter is to experience “full inclusion” since, for optimal satisfaction – and, let’s face it, that’s what this is all about – the Bs in the LGBTI huddle would need to marry two people, one of each sex.

What I find most interesting in the letter is the list of signatories. It comprises 50% clergy and 50% laity. I’m sure the overall ratio of clergy to laity is not one to one, so it seems apparent that the Anglican church has a disproportionate number of homosexual clergy in its otherwise rapidly shrinking ranks. The Anglican obsession with marrying people of the same sex is primarily one of clergy desperate to legitimise their unbiblical matrimonial arrangements.

Here is the list:

Clergy
The Revd Andrew Foreshew-Cain and Stephen Foreshew-Cain
The Revd Richard Harris and Ricardo Goncalves.
The Revd Garry Lawson and Timothy H. Wane
The Revd Clive Larson and John Markham
The Revd Paul Collier and Mr Collier
The Revd Canon Jeremy Davis and Simon McEnery
The Revd Geoffrey Thompson and Tony Steeles
The Revd Prof Mark Cobb and Keith Arrowsmith
Laity
Jeremy Timm & Mike Brown
Ruth Wilde & Ellie Wilde
Jack Semple and Ross Griffiths
Paul Jellings and Andrew Carter
Erica Baker and Susan Strong
Karen and Samantha Bregazzi-Jones
Keith Barber and Tim Mills
Simon Dawson and David Mooney
In addition a further seven clergy couples and Readers have indicated their support for this letter whilst wishing to remain anonymous in order to protect themselves, and often their Bishops, from attack.

Anglican Church of Canada takes a prophetic stand on euthanasia

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After a year of studying, conversation, theological reflection and discernment, the Anglican Church of Canada has produced a report on Canada’s recent law permitting state sponsored assisted suicide. The report boldly proclaims that it is a reality – it is actually happening. Really! It is!

The ACoC is neither for nor against euthanasia because it doesn’t want to upset anyone; upsetting people is reserved for same-sex marriage.

From here:

In a nod to changing times, the Anglican Church of Canada’s latest report on physician-assisted dying, rather than opposing the practice, recognizes it as a reality. The report offers reflections and resources around assisted dying and related issues, such as palliative care.

[….]

In a statement accompanying its release, Primate Fred Hiltz acknowledged that everyone would like the fact that the argued neither against nor in favour physician-assisted dying. “A report like this is not going to please everybody because it doesn’t give a direct answer, and that will frustrate some people,” Hiltz said. “But…to give a direct answer is, in fact, to alienate people over very sensitive and complex issue.”

The article goes on to note that the law ‘allows assisted dying only to those who are either near death or whose death is “reasonably foreseeable.”’ The Anglican Church of Canada itself falls into that category and, I understand, will soon request to be put out of its misery.