Double standards

Sydney Anglican Archbishop Glenn Davies has said to supporters of same-sex marriage:
‘Please leave us.’  Source: Guardian. Photograph: David Moir/AAP

The Bishop of Liverpool rebuked the Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, after he called for gay marriage supporters to leave church saying he ‘seems to want to exclude people rather than to engage with them’.

That's rich.

From the Guardian: "Archbishop Glenn Davies said last week that those who supported same-sex marriage should abandon the church. If people wish to change the doctrine of our church, they should start a new church or join a church more aligned to their views – but do not ruin the Anglican church by abandoning the plain teaching of scripture,” he said. “Please leave us.”

The Australian Newcastle Herald reports that "Anglicans have joined two other Australian dioceses to support same-sex marriage church blessings at a Hunter Synod where Bishop Peter Stuart said he had "spoken frankly" to a Sydney archbishop against the move. Newcastle Anglicans strongly supported changes to church rules that could allow clergy to bless same-sex marriages and protect clergy in a same-sex marriage from church discipline."

The Dean of Newcastle, the Very Reverend Katherine Bowyer supports the diocese's move to bless same-sex marriages. She rejected comments by the Archbishop of Sydney that supporters of same-sex marriage should leave the church, saying differing views deserve respect.

Her views and those who side with the Bishop of Liverpool have nothing to do with traditional Church teaching.

The Archbishop of Sydney is correct. If Western Anglican leaders had adopted the same approach many of us would still have a church to attend.

Dean Katherine Bowyer's attitude typifies the double standards of liberal Anglicans amply illustrated by Mae Cymru the Welsh offshoot of the feminist organisation Women and the Church.

Mae Cymru recently tweeted an article from cruxsolablog An Open Letter to John MacArthur (re: Beth Moore). The author states:
"Recently John MacArthur commented that Beth Moore (Christian leader and teacher) should “go home.” As I have pondered this over the last few days, I wondered what Paul would say to John. So, I wrote an open letter.

It is not my intention to comment on the letter's content. Readers of the letter can draw their own conclusions but I was drawn to the double standards of the new breed of Anglican.

The membership secretary of Mae Cymru the Ven Peggy Jackson, Archdeacon of Llandaff and scourge of  orthodox, often cradle Anglicans is a late convert to Anglicanism. Their idea of engagement is exclusion dressed up as inclusion.

Before Barry Morgan imported her from the Church of England as his hatchet woman the then Rev Canon  F A Jackson wrote in a paper for GRAS (Group for Rescinding the Act of Synod):

"New individuals with conscientious difficulties over women’s ministry will simply have to make personal decisions and individual choices, to find accommodation as best they can – just as many already have to do over a host of other current issues, some very uncomfortable, where people find themselves representative of a view which is not that sanctioned by the ‘church’ as a whole, and upheld through Synod and Parliament." 

Ten years later with attendance figures still plummeting, thousands of often cradle Anglican women and men have been abandoned by their Church.

Far from relenting Jackson has attempted to turn the screw ever tighter by seeking to exclude from ordination anyone who does not conform to her wishes, misrepresenting genuine theological doubt about sacramental assurance as misogyny.

The concept of twin integrity has been all but abandoned. As Sir William Fittall said in response to a complaint:
"To expect someone whose theological conviction does not enable him to receive the sacramental ministry of women routinely to turn up to a celebration of Holy Communion when he cannot discover in advance whether he will be able to receive Holy Communion seems to me to be asking too much."

Following the appointment of a third woman bishop in the Church in Wales half the bench will be female.

The diocese of St Davids has been quickly feminized after the appointment of the first woman Bishop. She lost no time in appointing a woman Dean. Two female minor Canons have also been appointed. If the Canon in Residence is a female cleric the sub-Dean is the sole male priest at Wales' premiere place of pilgrimage.

There is no indication for pilgrims who will be celebrating yet the Cathedral online Worship Sheet merrily quotes St David's last words to his followers, “...Be Joyful, Keep the faith and do the little things that you have heard and seen me do...”

The Bishop of Liverpool should have looked closer to home before whinging about the Church in Australia.

Double standards

The thought police are having a field day.

From renowned philosopher to star Australian rugby player, alleged statements and views that do not correspond to 'correct' thinking spell trouble from people who believe they have the right to tell us what to think.

The BBC reported that Conservative academic Sir Roger Scruton had been sacked as head of a government housing body following comments in an interview with the New Statesman in which he referred to  Islam, China and George Soros.

Downing Street said, presumably without checking, that the comments were "deeply offensive".

Claiming that Scruton had been misreported, Adrian Hilton, AKA Archbishop Cranmer, tweeted: In an educational context, any academic supervisor would consider this a serious breach of ethical standards, and would fail him. To manipulate a quotation in order to fabricate an interpretation which inflicts harm on the interviewee is devoid of morality and integrity.

This is unethical journalism. You can't interview someone and then edit their comments so that readers will infer racism, when clearly Roger Scruton was referring to the generational replication of communist ideology.

Sir Roger has written An apology for thinking in The Spectator.


The Independent reported that Israel Folau is to be sacked by Rugby Australia after refusing to respond to attempts to contact him following his "homophobic and hateful" social media outburst, ruling him out of this year’s Rugby World Cup.

According to the Mirror England rugby star Billy Vunipola could also face disciplinary action from the RFU for refusing to unlike an Instagram post published by Israel Folau. "Rugby is an inclusive sport and we do not support these views" the RFU said in a statement.

That is, selectively inclusive. As in new Anglicanism, orthodoxy is excluded.

Many people of Polynesian heritage take their religion seriously. Folau is alleged to have said that "hell awaits" homosexuals. That does not make him homophobic and hateful. In communicating his Christian beliefs to others based on his understanding of scripture he is warning others so that they may be saved, as was the Christian street preacher who was arrested for breaching the peace because he was being "islamophobic".

One of the errors Sir Roger Scruton was accused of was questioning the definition of Islamophobia. He said he stood by comments he has made in the past that Islamophobia was a "propaganda word invented by the Muslim Brotherhood in order to stop discussion of a major issue".

Robert Spencer claims in Jihad Watch that the term was invented in the 1970s:

"According to the French philosopher Pascal Bruckner, 'At the end of the 1970s, Iranian fundamentalists invented the term ‘Islamophobia’ formed in analogy to ‘xenophobia’. The aim of this word was to declare Islam inviolate. Whoever crosses this border is deemed a racist. This term, which is worthy of totalitarian propaganda, is deliberately unspecific about whether it refers to a religion, a belief system or its faithful adherents around the world'.”

The double standards are plain to see. Christianity is kicked around as a fabrication while Islam has become inviolate.

The video above shows the continuing plight of Christians in Africa. They are being murdered and dispossessed by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in what amounts to a program of ethno-religious cleansing but there is no mention of the atrocities in the mainstream media. By contrast, petrified by accusations of Islamophobia extended coverage of the Christchurch massacre was assured.

Closer to home from a Diocesan press release Llandaff is to hold 'A day to explore spirituality and prayer' in a joint event with their neighbouring Monmouth Diocese.

One of the highlights, will be the opportunity to "learn about spirituality and prayer in the Islamic traditions" while Islam denies that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the Cross to save others.

Sadly that has become the norm reducing the opportunities for more people to be saved as Christ Himself commanded.

Postscripts [14.04.2019]

1. The Australian Christian Lobby stands with Israel Folau and supports his right to express his beliefs.

“When a belief is disagreed with, however vehemently, it should be critiqued, not censored. That is how a mature, democratic society works.”

Censoring a belief does not change the fact that it is part of the identity of millions of people. In fact, it will only cause greater conflict and friction over time.”

2. Watch: 'They just turn up at night and kill Christians'

Nigerian priest shares his harrowing experience of persecution.

"They come at night shouting and by sunrise they leave a trail of destruction with dead bodies of women, children and men whose only guilt is their Christian belief."

Postscript [17.04.2019]

Belfast Telegraph - Peter Lynas: Today’s secularism leaves no space for Billy Vunipola... or Ashers

Double standards

Following yesterday's sexual exploitation story, there has been a revealing interview with a former Home Secretary, Jack Straw, who described how vulnerable white girls are regarded as "easy meat" while Muslim women are out of bounds. Similar double standards were evident when the bodyguard arrested for the killing of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was showered with rose petals by lawyers. Demonstrators in Pakistan had earlier accused Christians and Jews of double standards by suggesting that they respect our prophets while we do not respect theirs. What respect is there for Jesus of Nazareth who healed the sick, proclaimed "love thy neighbour" and said, "Suffer little children to come unto me"? He brought life not death but for some Islamists death is not good enough. Be warned, unless you are a hardened Muslim fanatic the suffering here should make you weep yet to raise a voice against alien beliefs is regarded as racist. This problem must be confronted. It is too late for excuses. Judging by events in Pakistan, if the sexual predators had been subject to Sharia law, what justice would there have been?


Postscript
Further evidence as come to light here and here.