Anglican Rift Exposes Ugly Drift
December 19th, 2006 | by Jersey McJones |Tis’ the season to hate gay people…
All this month, this alleged season of giving and caring and love, nine Episcople churches throughout Virginia, whose name is apparently supposed to be taken literally, held votes to decide whether to split from the Epicople Church. Two of them, Truro Church and Falls Church, have opted to congregate with the Anglican Church in Liberia, headed by The Most Reverend Peter Akinola, a man known to condone violence amongst his flock and supports the criminalization of homosexuality, but hey, he went to seminary in Virginia - so who cares, right? I wonder how many Nigerians would be welcome to come on down to Virginia to live - and “congregate.” All this because of the consecration of gay bishops - celibate gay bishops. Boy, I bet the Catholics wish they could find more of those! Oh, and also a woman (oh, the horror!) was consecrated as well! THIS MEANS WAR! (Well, rift, anyway…)
So irony upon irony, hypocrisy upon hypocrisy, the Episcople Church is in crisis. Crisis over gays, crisis over women, crisis over church property post-split. What does all this mean? Well, if you’re an atheist, like me, it means a good laugh. If you are religious, then it’s time for some soul searching. Does it matter if a celibate cleric is gay or not? After all, how many times have we heard from the Religious Right, “It’s not that we have anything against gays, it’s just the acts of homosexuality we abhor?” More times than I can count. Can a woman not teach the Word as well as any man? After all, how many times have we heard, “It’s not that we want to oppress women, we just want them to stick ny their man through the bonds of mutual respect?” Again, many, many times. And how many times have we heard, “The state may not interfere with religion,” only to see the threat of lawsuits looming over church property now.
Gay? Celibate.
Woman? Competent.
Property? The Church.
So what is it, Virginia Episcopalians? Is it that you just flat-out hate gays, want to repress women, are litigious to the bone, and suddenly have a deep abiding love for Africans?
Get real.
JMJ
