Grass roots vs. hierarchy: Spirituality, religion collide

From Daily World-

Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, recently announced that he would step down by year's end. A few days later, the Church of England rejected a Williams-backed unity plan for global Anglicanism, a church fractured by issues of gender and sexual identity. The timing of the resignation and the defeat are probably not coincidental. These events signal Anglican's institutional failure.

But why should anyone, other than Anglicans and their American Episcopal cousins, care? The Anglican fight over gay clergy is usually framed as a left and right conflict, part of the larger saga of political division. But this narrative obscures a more significant tension in Western societies: the increasing gap between spirituality and religion, and the failure of traditional religious institutions to learn from the divide.

Until recently, the archbishop of Canterbury was chief pastor for a global church bound by a common liturgy and Anglican religious identity. Expectations for religious leaders were clear: Run the church with courage and vision. Bishops directed the laity, inspiring obedience, sacrifice and heroism; they ordered faith from the top.

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http://www.dailyworld.com/article/20120423/OPINION/204230311/Grass-roots-vs-hierarchy-Spirituality-religion-collide?odyssey=nav%7Chead