Dr John Sentamu warned “enough is enough” in view of the “general disregard for truth” regarding Dr Williams, a Christian leader he described as “remarkable” and “gifted”.
“It deeply saddens me that there is not only a general disregard for the truth, but a rapacious appetite for ‘carelessness’ compounded by spin, propaganda and the resort to misleading opinions paraded as fact, regarding a remarkable, gifted and much-maligned Christian leader I call a dear friend and trusted colleague ”“ one Rowan Williams,” he told the Synod.
The British Press is so manipulative. ‘Blocked’ = failed to get the votes, from the committee at large, which included the ABC and ABY.
No one can serve two masters. The ABC has tried to placate liberal-minded and tradition-minded folk by proposing every conceivable scheme toward a compromise. Obviously, no compromise is possible. Why would anyone or any group surrender a position when to do so means surrendering the truth (… as they see it)? The forum in which the ABC finds himself trapped is a consequence of certain relativistic notions applied to authority in the church. Additionally, the very data of the Faith have been emptied of meaning so as to produce a centre-less discussion. What is truth? Certainly, in protestant precincts truth is subject to the authority of everyone and his dog(ma).
One camp claims it is doing right by advocating women’s ordination, etc. The other camp claims it is faithful to Tradition and wants all Anglicans to be so. Ironically, both claim an authority that belongs to neither group, given that the authority which split Anglicans from the See of Rome is an usurpation of the authority properly belonging to the Apostolic See. Anglicans simply have too many popes. The circumstance in which Dr. Williams finds himself could hardly be considered a surprise. The polite agreement among Anglicans and deference to the position of the ABC has evaporated and what remains is the inevitable loss of civility that results when human beings become fanatical about contradictory positions to the point of demonizing one’s opponents. Dr. Williams’ is becoming the scape goat (if he hasn’t already) in a religious war that that might just become the catalyst for schism. Finally. And, the “anglo-catholic” troupe will finally have to admit what RCs have known all along, i.e., that the Anglican Communion is protestant.
There is no way for the ABC or any Anglican hierarch to overcome the disparity between the two camps. No one in the CofE possesses the necessary authority to state unequivocally the authoritative position to which all camps should be configured and around which consensus can be achieved. The CofE and much of Anglicanism is subject to mob rule. Is it any wonder that the mob, acting as mobs do, turns on a ready made target? The ABY, the one friend willing to fire a few warning shots over the heads of the townsfolk, may find himself hanging from the same tree as the ABC if the mob rules against him.
The ABC doesn’t deserve the nastiness. Though, for all his flip-flopping in other matters, he may deserve a little chastisement from Dr Jeffrey John.