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ECUSA: Lambeth Commission Representative Denies Persecution of Orthodox

ECUSA REPRESENTATIVE ON LAMBETH COMMISSION DENIES PERSECUTION OF ORTHODOX ECUSA CLERGY

Special Report

By David W. Virtue

An Oxford theologian said the Lambeth/Eames Commission ECUSA representative simply denied all the stories of Episcopal Church persecution of orthodox clergy, parishes and people, saying they did not exist and that all was sweetness and light, with ECUSA "embracing differences."

Asking not to be named, the theologian said the denial was "repeatedly made." Liberal Irish Archbishop Robin Eames chairman was easy to convince as he holds similar views to those of Frank Griswold, ECUSA's Presiding Bishop and that it was therefore not difficult to persuade the rest of the commission to buy into the idea that nothing was inherently wrong with the Episcopal Church.

According to a report in TOUCHSTONE magazine an unnamed UK bishop on the Eames Commission revealed that the purpose of the Windsor Report was to 'come down hard' on the 'backward' Africans!

The bishop allegedly opined that the entire "unpleasantness" was due to the fact that bishops in Africa and elsewhere had not yet caught up to the Americans, and the cultural laggards would have to be told in no uncertain terms that they can't hold back the entire communion. He predicted that the commission would "come down hard" on bishops from the Southern hemispheres who are engaged in "outrageous irregularities," such as offering episcopal oversight to "fundamentalist Anglicans" in the U.S. What was striking in his conversation is that there was not a single reference to the possibility that the New Hampshire matter might entail questions of theological or moral consequence, never mind truth. It was entirely a matter of some slow learners making themselves a bother.

This is entirely consistent with remarks that three American bishops have made with regard to African Anglicans.

At the Lambeth Conference in 1998, retired Newark Bishop John Spong made similar disparaging comments about Africans being "pre-Copernican" and "fundamentalist" in their thinking, views that resulted in Africans accusing the bishop of being racist. Spong did not apologize for his remarks.

Pennsylvania Bishop Charles E. Bennison has made similar comments likening the growth of the church in Africa to the growth of the Nazi Party, and Presiding Bishop Griswold has also opined that the African Church has yet to get on board with regard to more updated understandings of human sexuality and more.

Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola in his response to the recent Windsor Report called it "patronizing".

Just days before the Windsor Report was due to be released Nigerian Archbishop Peter Akinola on a swing through the U.S. formed the Church of Nigeria in America (CONA). The formation of the convocation of congregations came about for Nigerian Anglicans in the U.S. who could not in conscience attend Episcopal Churches because they are seen by African Evangelical Anglicans as apostate in morals and theology.

In announcing the formation Akinola, leader of the world's largest Anglican province with more than 18 million adherents said there were an estimated 250,000 Nigerian Anglicans in the United States who found the Episcopal Church theologically and morally unacceptable. Last year's consecration of V. Gene Robinson, the world's first openly homosexual Episcopal bishop had caused too much "pain, agony and a sense of alienation" for Nigerians to remain in the American Episcopal Church.

"The Episcopal Church has created a new religion that says what is sin is not sin," he said. "It doesn't take the Gospel seriously. We are not in communion with the Episcopal Church now."

But other biases are not unknown in the Episcopal Church especially when it comes to the Middle East and the simmering war between Israelis and the Palestinians. The Episcopal Church has consistently taken a pro-Palestinian line on issues relating to the Middle East, and while it says that Israel has the right to exist, its words and actions convey a not so subtle anti-Semitism.

The silence of the Episcopal Church with respect to the announced JIHAD by Muslims, not all of whom could be classified as extreme is deafening and the desire to find common ground between Christianity and Islam has African Anglicans who must face slaughter on the streets and martyrdom is bewildering. Equally the pro-homosexual stance of North American Episcopalians and Anglicans makes them more vulnerable to attacks by the forces of Islam.

But the silence on Islamic terror towards Christians and Israel is not limited to those abroad. Not long ago Bishop Ed Little of Northern Indiana and Bishop Geralyn Wolfe of Rhode Island, both of Jewish heritages, attempted to make a presentation to the House of Bishops concerning its not so subtle anti-Semitic stance. They were told there was not enough time to bring this matter before the House, said Bishop John-David Schofield in a recent address to his diocese. Meanwhile Church publications continue to promote only the Palestinians in the Holy Land.

But the slow evisceration of orthodoxy in the Episcopal Church will only increase now that the Windsor Report has failed to reprimand the ECUSA for its apostasy. The future looks grim.

END

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