If You Made This Up. . .

Archbishop of Canterbury's Rowan Williams has caused quite a stir by suggesting that Great Britain should observe sharia law as equal to and/or parallel to British. But, of course, if you're Episcopal these days, even outrageous and damaging nonsense coming from Williams is not a surprise.

However, in Los Angeles, the inmates have also taken over the asylum. To whit, a statement made by the Bishop of that Diocese and reported happily on Indian blogs:

Episcopal Christians Apologize to Hindus

India Abroad, Posted: Feb 10, 2008

LOS ANGELES - The Bishop of the Epsicopal diocese of Los Angeles has issued an apology to Hindus worldwide for what he called "centuries-old acts of religious discrimination by Christians, including attempts to convert them" reports India Abroad. The apology was given in a statement read to over 100 Hindu spiritual leaders at a mass from Right Reverend J John Bruno. The ceremony started with a Hindu priestess blowing a conch shell three times and included sacred chants.

This meeting was the result of a dialogue, started three years ago, between Hindu leaders and Rev. Karen MacQueen, who was deeply influenced by Hindu Vedanta philosophy and opposes cultivating conversions. "There are enough Christians in the world," she said. "What we need to see is more Christians leading an exemplary life and truly loving their fellow man." However the apology has triggered considerable debate among pastors across the US.

I wonder what they are debating:

• If they've fallen down the rabbit hole with Alice?
  
• If the Bishop of Los Angeles should get a medal or be tarred and feathered?
  
• If it's possible to send both Bishop Bruno and the Rev. MacQueen to Canterbury where they can comfortably debate sharia law?
  
• When the Rev. MacQueen will suggest that Christians be persecuted for attempting to convert Hindus?

Out of Africa: Corruption and Hope

A Nigerian scam-artist brings down a small-town treasurer in the Midwest and the fate of the Anglican communion lies in the hands of seven African bishops, the most outspoken being from Nigeria.

Think globalization doesn't affect all of us?

Oh, and there are 10 times as many Anglicans in Africa as there are Episcopalians in the United States. Times do change.

Missionary-doctor David Livingstone would smile at the thought of Nigerians keeping the English on the straight and narrow. Me too.

Highways and the High Way

Highways first--

Everyone can sympathize with those who will be inconvenienced by the extension of Hungryneck Boulevard in Mount Pleasant [ http://www.postandcourier.com/assets/webPages/departmental/news/Stories.aspx?section=localnews&tableId=126777&pubDate=1/17/2007 in today's paper ], and especially with the older black community that must feel as though a tide of population growth is sweeping them away.

That said, George Freeman simply is incorrect when he says, "If you build a road, people will come. You will accelerate growth in the community." The part of Mount Pleasant he refers to couldn't possibly grow any faster than it already has by the addition of a road. All the road will do is prevent major gridlock in the area. As I said in a previous post in regard to extending I-526, they will build, road or not!

Having lived in other congested parts of the country, I have been impressed with the no-nonsense planning of road improvements on the part of the town of Mount Pleasant. So far the work done has been extremely effective. How can anyone could say that road improvements over the past five or so years have accelerated growth? What these improvements have done is improved the quality of life for those who live in the area or those who must drive through it daily.

To which I say, right on!

Now, as to the High Way--

Check out the op-ed page of the Newsless Courier today for a letter signed by former Episcopal Bishop Allison and the Cathedral's Rev. McKeachie for some good-sense reading on the crisis (I use the word advisedly) occuring in the Anglican Communion--developing even as I type.

I can't say better their following response to previous letters:

"Dozens of Episcopal Church dioceses today, in which biblically faithful Christians are marginalized, manifest this tragic irony. Dozens of Episcopal bishops in such dioceses have willfully forgotten that the original Episcopal consecration vows administered until the late 20th century included explicit assent to the following questions:

"Will you then faithfully exercise yourself in the Holy Scriptures, and call upon God by prayer for the true understanding of the same: so that you may be able by them to teach and exhort with wholesome Doctrine, and to withstand and convince the gainsayers?

"Are you ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away from the Church all erroneous and strange doctrine contrary to God's Word; and both privately and openly to call upon and encourage others to the same?

"The forgetfulness, indeed total disappearance, of such commitment since the new Episcopal Prayer Book was adopted in 1979 has caused many Episcopalians to seek the cover of overseas Anglican bishops in order to remain faithfully rooted in the Catholic order and Protestant freedom of the Anglican Reformation.

"Kevin Wilson's claim that under Queen Elizabeth "no one agreed on theology" is nothing but another example of forgetfulness and denial. The disagreements in that era were minuscule compared with those of Episcopal bishops today who have turned their backs on the theological content of the very vows they swore at their consecration.

"For her part, Barbara Mann has forgotten, in her claim that we are not a confessional church, the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion as integral to the well-being of Prayer Book Anglicanism and "established" by the bishops, clergy, and laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America in 1801. Her false claim allows her and others like her to accommodate the church to the world, rather than the world to Christ, against which St. Paul strongly warned in his Epistle to the Romans.

And the Episcopal Diocese of Charleston is indeed one of the fastest growing in the Episcopal Church.

Time for Resolution

How long, oh Lord, how long must we dilly-dally with the heresies of the governing body of the Episcopal Church (U.S.A.)?

Those faithful who read Adam Parker's story in today's Newsless Courier regarding postponement of Mark Lawrence's consecration as bishop http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/Stories.aspx?section=localnews&tableId=126396&pubDate=1/13/2007

must agree that it is time for action on the part of traditional Christians caught in the web of will they--or won't they--vote to accept Mark Lawrence as the duly elected Bishop of South Carolina. Bishops selected AFTER Lawrence have already been consecrated.

It's obvious that the national organization is playing cat-and-mouse games. Why should we play by the rules of those who acknowledge no faith in the divinity of Jesus or the Virgin Birth?

Writing about Schism

Congrats to Adam Parker, who at least attempted to be even-handed in ferreting out the facts in his articles in today's Faith and Values section in regard to events looming in the Episcopal church and Anglican Communion. See http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/Stories.aspx?section=faithvalues&tableId=125382&pubDate=1/7/2007

Shock and Awe, Newsless-Courier Style

Why is it? Here we are in the "holy city," with a church practically on every corner, and yet the Faith and Values section of the Newsless Courier must be written and edited by those who haven't a clue what goes on in said buildings.

The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina (as the Church of England) pre-existed any version of the Charleston newspaper. The colony's official religion was Church of England. After the Revolution, Charleston continued to be rife with Episcopalians. Still today within the Lowcountry the parishes of this diocese are burgeoning with new members, unlike many other Episcopal dioceses in America. So, one would think that the local paper would actually know a few characteristics of the faith. WRONG.

The headline writer (and, for all I know, copy editor and reporter--that is, Michael Gartland, who is in charge of this section of the paper) thinks it news that the Episcopal Diocese of S.C. selects its own bishop. Gasp! Gasp! Presumably they all think the bishops for Episcopal dioceses in the United States are selected by the Pope? Or maybe the Archbishop of Canterbury? If they know he exists, that is. It's another Idiocy of the Day!

Isn't this pathetic? Here we are in the South, where people actually do still go to the religious services of their choice on a regular basis. But we must endure a Faith and Values section (even the name of it is atrocious) written by agnostic ignorami.

Further, in that section, Gartland (I'm presuming he's still in charge of it after this ridiculous "discovery") selects the most asinine and insulting articles off the wire to include for our edification every Sunday. So, today, we also have a story about how parents need to select "Sunday school" classes carefully so that their children will not run into a (Catholic) sanctuary and yell out, seeing a depiction of Christ crucified on the cross, "Wow! What happened to that guy?" Golly, how embarrassing. No mention in any part of the article of belief on the part of parents or children.

See, you need to select your children's church as you would your country club or private school so their ignorance won't embarrass you.

That story didn't have to find space in the P & C. Gartland had plenty of stories about believers out there to select from. So why print this one? To insult believers?

Could it be that he thinks the Faith and Values section is eagerly-sought-out reading for atheists? Probably so.

Georgia, Ohio--What's the Difference?

"Church to tackle divisive issues at meeting," Michael Gartland, Faith and Values section, above the fold, June 11, 2006

AND

Notice : Editor asleep at switch. Continue at risk of confusion.

"Leading the way," Jennifer Berry Hawes, Faith and Values section, below the fold, June 11, 2006

The first of these concerns the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church; the second, St. Andrew's Mount Pleasant Episcopal, "a diocesan trendsetter" (never mind what that is). Gartland's article clearly points out that the Convention begins in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday, June 13th. That's that big city in the Midwest, home to Ohio State? Strangely, Hawes states that "tension is building" as the Convention begins in Columbus, Georgia, where the entire county has fewer than 200,000 inhabitants and a hefty proportion of those are at Fort Benning.

I can see how that WOULD cause some tension, but it would make a good headline: "Episcopalians Debate Gay Bishop Apology at Fort Benning" Makes sense.

Somehow it reminds me of the Katrina refugees who appeared in Charleston, West Virginia, last summer as their overdue arrival was anxiously awaited by volunteers in Charleston, South Carolina.

I mean, once you get east of the Mississippi, it's all the same, right?