Thursday, September 07, 2006

By Their Fruits Shall You Know Them: An Analysis of AAC and Network Activities

An excellent analysis by Catherine Thiemann, Diocese of San Diego

Over the past ten years, the Episcopal Church has been subjected to increasing attacks for its breadth of theological perspectives and its hospitality to all. Since the consecration of New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly gay man living in a committed monogamous relationship, the attacks have become more strident. A small but vocal faction, comprised of people both inside and outside the Episcopal Church has used significant resources to paint a false picture of our Church. These actions are similar to the attacks of the McCarthy Era, when a lie would be told often enough until it was deemed to be true. Half-truths are particularly useful to this approach because they require of the truth-teller a more detailed and sophisticated response than the attacker wields in the initial assault. The Internet only assists this kind of campaign of misinformation, offering a hood of anonymity to those dishonorable enough to wear it.

Regrettably, it is necessary to make a careful rebuttal of the unkind and dishonest representations of our Church which are antithetical to the spirit and words of Jesus, who calls us to be “one as the Father and I are one.” The American Anglican Council and the Anglican Communion Network have created, through expensive DVDs, websites, and slick printed material, a gross distortion of our church that must be confronted.

Read it all here

3 comments:

SUSAN RUSSELL said...

Dear Pilgrim,

Thanks for a "softball" on a Friday afternoon when I'm taking a break from sermon writing to blog-surf:

1. "why did the Puritans ultimately leave their country for America, if their beliefs were so welcomed in the C of E?"

A. Because the Puritans in question were not willing to extend to those who held other views the same latitude of personal belief that the CofE was willing to extend to them. (See also: walking apart ... or "Mayflowering" apart as the case may be!)

SUSAN RUSSELL said...

Pilgrim ... and yet the seeds of that Elizabethan Compromise grew into an Anglican Comprehensiveness that was for generations the hallmark of this particular ... and occasionally peculiar ... people of God. We have NOT always "gotten it right" but there was been in the DNA of Anglicanism a willingess to live with difference that has been distinctive part of its ethos.

I believe the author's point is we're in danger of losing that.

And I believe she's right.

TreadingGrain.com said...

to quote a song of your generation, "paranoia will destroy ya."