It takes two to bicker. Is there a creative way for those loyal to the Episcopal Church to unilaterally stop bickering with those trying to tear it apart? What would that look like on the national, diocesan, and congregational levels? What should it look like?
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, says that churches need to be brave, imaginative and honest in the fight against the spread of HIV and Aids. In a message for World Aids Day, issued for the first time as a video available on the internet on YouTube, Williams described as ‘a scandal’ the limited access to drugs and treatment in deprived parts of the world.
There is now an entire website devoted to the question, “Is it Christmas?” Check out the answer here. In a similar vein, click here to
Ian T. Douglas: “I’m sad that Bishop Charleston is suggesting that bishops not go to Lambeth 2008 without considering what the Conference will and will not be. Bishop Charleston’s position is based on the assertion that the 2008 Lambeth Conference will be similar to recent Lambeth Conferences in both form and function.”
The 40 minute program intersperses clips from Tutu with critiques by former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan Bishop of Pittsburgh, Stephen Green (Director of Christian Voice), Anne Widdecombe MP and Canon Chris Sugden (Anglican Mainstream).
I just wonder a bit whether, you know, when an Archbishop condemns something, suddenly in, I don’t know, the bedsits of north London, somebody may say oh, I shouldn’t be having pre-marital sex, or in the cells of Al-Qaida, somebody says, goodness, terrorism’s wrong, the Archbishop says so. – Rowan Williams speaking in 2006
“I am happy with this letter, which is considered as an unprecedented step to bring the Islamic and Christian faiths and civilisations closer.” Speaking at a press conference held Monday at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation, Dr Habib Ali Al Jafri, Muslim propagator, said Muslims and Christians make up 55 per cent of the world’s population, and this new closeness serves as the first firm step towards returning to peace, brotherhood and harmony between people.
We have been through this kind of thing before — which is what makes today’s situation so disappointing. After all, Copernicus discovered that the earth was not the center of the universe and the Roman Catholic authorities tried to squelch his findings in the name of Scriptural literalism. When Galileo put forth Copernicanism — he was charged with heresy, made to recant, and spent his life under house arrest.
If we are Christians according to the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, we cannot withhold our belief in the Holy Catholic Church established on earth by Jesus Christ our Lord. There are branches of this church in every land.