| Saturday May 26, 2007 |
By Tom Ehrich |
When the Archbishop of Canterbury pointedly excludes the gay Bishop of New Hampshire from the 2008 Lambeth Conference of all active Anglican bishops, he is saying two things, both of them unfortunate.
He is saying, first, that the long-standing Anglican tradition of finding the middle ground and humble submission to reality is being sacrificed to the surging ambitions of Global South prelates. The so-called doctrine of "adiaphora"--that some things matter more than others--is gone.
Second, Rowan Williams is saying that the escalating and not insignificant conflict between Third World and First World Christians, or between Global South and Global North, or between white-skinned former imperialists and their dark-skinned former subjects, is really all about sex and the need of African Christians to combat Islam, not on the basis of ideas, values or beliefs, but by matching extreme Islam's medieval attitudes toward sexuality.
He is saying, first, that the long-standing Anglican tradition of finding the middle ground and humble submission to reality is being sacrificed to the surging ambitions of Global South prelates. The so-called doctrine of "adiaphora"--that some things matter more than others--is gone.
Second, Rowan Williams is saying that the escalating and not insignificant conflict between Third World and First World Christians, or between Global South and Global North, or between white-skinned former imperialists and their dark-skinned former subjects, is really all about sex and the need of African Christians to combat Islam, not on the basis of ideas, values or beliefs, but by matching extreme Islam's medieval attitudes toward sexuality.
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