Much of what Rowan Williams writes and says carries the air of a man who has grown accustomed to being received seriously regardless of the soundness of his ideas, and who is used to having even the most incomprehensible of his pronouncements met by the irritating acquiescence common to other “bearded lefties.” But sounding profound is not the same thing as being profound, and we should not let the man’s spiritual standing distract us from the reality that he is wholly dangerous to the power of Western ideas.
Documenting his many missteps is a little like cataloguing the utterances of Prince Phillip, but without the compensation of the consort’s dry sense of humor. An example: In response to protesters whose actions were steadily destroying the income, and thus upkeep, of London’s St. Paul’s cathedral, Williams claimed that Jesus Christ would have been an Occupier. Former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey took a different view, noting that the protesters were “opportunistic and cynical,” and questioning the way in which senior clergy “mismanaged” the situation; his skepticism was vindicated when protesters began to defecate inside the cathedral and spray-paint graffiti ”” including “666” ”” on its walls.
With all of this in mind, Rowan Williams will, no doubt, fit in nicely in his new post as master of Magdalene College at the University of Cambridge
ouch!
At last! Someone has recognized the emperor has no clothes….It seems as if Rowan Williams has presided over the collapse of the Anglican Communion, and told himself how smart he was as he did it. His comments about 9/11 by themselves were guaranteed to alienate and cause painful moments for all Americans. Unfortunately the TEC has followed in his path and still doesnt realize how disastrous their actions have been. Sad times.
I hope that the Anglican Communion will no longer be burdened with the “The Listening Processâ€, that interminable process advocated by the ABC, which seemed to require that the whole Anglican Communion fixate on the needs of homosexuals to the exclusion of the Communion’s need to fulfill its traditional role of providing spiritual sustenance to faithful Anglicans who hold to Scripture and look to it for guidance.