Is There a Place for Conservatives in the Episcopal Church?

From The Living Church-

Richard Kearney in Strangers, Gods, and Monsters: Interpreting Otherness demonstrates how the modern nation-state “excludes those who do not conform … to its identity logic.” But in doing so, it often ignores what is demanded by justice: “unconditional hospitality to the alien” (p. 68).

Every nation-state’s exclusionists believe they have the right to expunge those with whom they disagree and deem incompatible with the dominant society. Their arrogance comes from not appreciating the other’s experiences nor the place from which they come. Kearney implores exclusionists to consider how the other’s unique individualism relates to them as fellow beings within the larger society; members of the larger society, in turn, can also relate and accept the other for who they are.

His observations put in context what Paul says:

We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves; let each of us please our neighbor for the good, for building up. For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you fall upon me.” (Rom. 15:1-3)

Exclusionists should thus be agents of hospitality, not casting the other aside but embracing fellow citizens of the nation-state. The other is thereby de-alienated and each citizen recognizes another “as a self capable of recognition and esteem” (Kearney, Strangers, Gods, and Monsters, p .80).

More here-

https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2018/06/18/is-there-a-place-for-conservatives-in-the-episcopal-church/?platform=hootsuite

Queen’s former chaplain leads vicar rebellion over gay marriage

From The Telegraph-

The Queen’s former chaplain is leading a vicar rebellion over gay marriage, as he threatens to break away from the Church of England.

The Rev Dr Gavin Ashenden, who until earlier this year was one of the special chaplains to the Queen, has warned of the prospect of a “declaration of independence” from vicars who feel that those with traditional views are being “marginalised” by the Church establishment.

In a letter published in today’s Daily Telegraph, a group of 23 conservative Anglicans raise the prospect of a split in the Church.

They claim that the most recent meeting of the General Synod - the Church of England’s lawmaking body which earlier this month appeared to signal support for gay marriage - has caused "great concern" to Anglicans, and has deepened tensions between the traditionalist and progressive camps.

“There are times, particularly in the face of social disintegration, when it is the duty of the Church to be counter-cultural," the letter said. 

More here-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/24/queens-former-chaplain-leads-vicar-rebellion-gay-marriage/

Why now? The deeply strange timing of the renegade conservative Anglicans

From Christian Today-

The leader of my Church is distinguishing himself in the Middle East. Compassionate, astute and politically savvy, he's meeting with spiritual and secular leaders in an attempt to draw attention to important causes.

Meanwhile, my Church is in the vanguard of a monumental programme of prayer which will take place in the 10 days between Pentecost and the Ascension. Crossing ecumenical boundaries and taking in congregations small and large, Thy Kingdom Come is a hugely exciting project.

There's much quiet work going on. Clothing and feeding destitute people, helping couples prepare for marriage, providing youth services, night shelters, credit union access points, post offices and a whole lot more.

In other words, reports of the death of the Church of England have been greatly exaggerated. Yes, we're struggling for numbers in places and yes, there are difficult decisions ahead, but we have wise leadership, active local congregations, and great relationships with other churches.

More here-

https://www.christiantoday.com/article/why.now.the.deeply.strange.timing.of.the.renegade.conservative.anglican.bishop/108901.htm

Princeton Theological Seminary reverses decision to honor Redeemer’s Tim Keller

From RNS-

Faced with mounting criticism for its decision to give a major award to the Rev. Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan and one of the country’s best-known conservative Christian thinkers, Princeton Theological Seminary has reversed course and said Keller will not receive the honor.

In an email to faculty and students on Wednesday morning (March 22), the president of the venerable mainline Protestant seminary, the Rev. Craig Barnes, said he remains committed to academic freedom and “the critical inquiry and theological diversity of our community.”

But he said that giving Keller the annual Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Witness – named after a famous Dutch neo-Calvinist theologian – might “imply an endorsement” of Keller’s views against the ordination of women and LGBTQ people.

More here-

http://religionnews.com/2017/03/22/princeton-theological-seminary-reverses-decision-to-honor-redeemers-tim-keller/

Christians in the Hands of Donald Trump

From The New York Times-

On Monday morning of this week a rumor rippled through the world of religious conservatism: It was said that Russell Moore, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s policy arm, might be about to lose his job.

For several years now, Moore has been the energetic and winsome spokesman for a next-generation religious right — one that no longer regards itself as a moral majority, that recognizes that traditional religion in all its forms has become a counterculture in the West and that urges believers to essentially lean into this new dispensation, embracing what Moore has called the “freakishness” of biblical faith in an increasingly post-Christian United States.

In certain ways the progress of Donald Trump, sybarite and heathen, to the Republican nomination seemed to throw Moore’s diagnosis into sharp relief. But it threw the divisions among religious conservatives into relief as well. Moore (and many others) spent the campaign warning that a countercultural Christianity would risk its credibility by supporting a figure like Trump for the presidency. But other leaders, mostly in the movement’s older guard, found ways to cast Trump as a heaven-sent figure, whose flaws and failings were no worse than those of a King David or a Constantine. And when Trump won, shockingly — with strong support from conservative churchgoers, however conflicted they might have been — the Trumpist faction claimed vindication, and among some Baptist pastors the knives came out for Moore.

More here-

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/opinion/christians-in-the-hands-of-donald-trump.html?_r=0

No compromise: Die-hard conservatives walk out of Anglican talks on gay relationships

From Christian Today-

A small group of conservative Anglicans will boycott the Church of England's private talks on sexuality in a reflection of intense divides within its governing General Synod.

Three days of secret conversations begin on Sunday until Tuesday in an effort to reconcile warring factions within synod on gay relationships. But a handful will refuse to take part because they say to do so would be to admit that different positions within the Church were possible.

Christian Today understands the number boycotting the talks will be about 10, out of nearly 500. 

More here-

http://www.christiantoday.com/article/no.compromise.die.hard.conservatives.walk.out.of.anglican.talks.on.gay.relationships/90234.htm

A Confession of Liberal Intolerance

From The New York Times-

WE progressives believe in diversity, and we want women, blacks, Latinos, gays and Muslims at the table — er, so long as they aren’t conservatives.

Universities are the bedrock of progressive values, but the one kind of diversity that universities disregard is ideological and religious. We’re fine with people who don’t look like us, as long as they think like us.

O.K., that’s a little harsh. But consider George Yancey, a sociologist who is black and evangelical.

“Outside of academia I faced more problems as a black,” he told me. “But inside academia I face more problems as a Christian, and it is not even close.”

I’ve been thinking about this because on Facebook recently I wondered aloud whether universities stigmatize conservatives and undermine intellectual diversity. The scornful reaction from my fellow liberals proved the point.

More here-

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/opinion/sunday/a-confession-of-liberal-intolerance.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1&utm_source=TGC+List&utm_campaign=ef063178e4-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_621531349f-ef063178e4-118244925&referer

The death of Tory Anglicanism

From The Spectator-


This week the General Synod edged one step closer towards permitting the ordination of female bishops. The final outcome is likely to be some kind of compromise to appease traditionalists similar to that in 1992 when the ordination of female priests was passed. But unlike that occasion, one crucial voice will not be heard nor probably venture an opinion — the Conservative party, which has distanced itself from ecclesiastical affairs over the past 20 years.

This was not the case back in 1992 when a band of Conservative MPs joined Anglican traditionalists in opposing female ordination. Enoch Powell considered it a ‘blasphemous pantomime’, Ann Widdecombe spoke of her ‘utter grief and anger’, while John Gummer judged that it undermined the ‘whole basis of the Elizabethan settlement’. In the end, many followed clergy and laity out of the Church of England to Rome.

No such protest is likely to greet a parliamentary measure on female bishops. The Conservative party, once the defender of Anglican interests, now looks upon the General Synod with bemusement or worse, uninterest. This distancing from the church reflects the party’s distancing from its Christian roots and, indeed, its secularisation.

More here-

http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9081451/beyond-belief-7/

Religious tensions play out in inauguration

From The Associated Press-

There may be no clearer reflection of this moment in American religious life than the tensions surrounding prayers at President Barack Obama’s inauguration.

Efforts by the Presidential Inaugural Committee to bridge the conservative-liberal divide by including an evangelical failed. Atlanta preacher Louie Giglio, known for his work to end human trafficking, withdrew from giving the benediction after the liberal group ThinkProgress found a sermon he gave in the 1990s, condemning gay relationships.

Meanwhile, the first layperson has been asked to give the invocation, at a time when the number of Americans with no formal religious ties has hit a high around 20 percent. The prayer was delivered by Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of slain civil rights hero Medgar Evers. The ceremony Monday fell on the federal holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

More here-

http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20130126/FEAT04/301260045/Religious-tensions-play-out-inauguration