Worth a look; one of the panelists, an Anglican, comments on the diocese of New Westminster.
Worth a look; one of the panelists, an Anglican, comments on the diocese of New Westminster.
My high school civics class (45+ years ago!) taught me that propaganda is promoted by the use of unfounded “scientific statements” such as
[i] [b]Science has determined that sexual attraction is a natural aspect of someone’s being, genetically determined or fixed early on, like right and left-handedness, evidence of diversity within the species.[/b] [/i]
While there have been MANY scientific studies of sexuality, NO study has inconclusively
shown that homosexual orientation is genetically determined or fixed early on. While this speaker does not speak to homosexuality directly, his implication is that same sex attraction is scientifically proven.
Wrong.
But as a humanist secularist “free thinker,” he is trying to get away with this statement in an effort to reinforce his premise that same-sex marriages should be encouraged, even in the churches–at least those churches that would perform them (such as the Canadian Anglican Church.)
I do appreciate the point of view of the Evangelical Christian but she waffles by allowing that ssm is OK for some, just not in her church.
Whoops!
That should read “NO study has CONCLUSIVELY
shown”
Sorry. Should have proof read!
I thought the Anglican panelist’s comments were… not all that bad. Okay you can tell where she stands and all that. But overall… fairly balanced.
The only thing that caught my attention was:
[blockquote]Some 15 parishes (approximately 0.5% of 2,800 Anglican congregations in Canada) have now left the fold.[/blockquote]
That seemed a bit… low? (Sort of like TEC leadership dismissing the departure of parishes as a “tiny minority”.) Although it might be accurate and therefore not an attempt to be dissmissive.
#3,
She is correct– to date 15 parishes have left the ACoC in order to come under the oversight of the Southern Cone. A couple of things stand out, though, in the ACoC handling of statistics.
Firstly, two months ago they were telling us that only two parishes left the fold. While only God knows how many will make the move, the numbers seem to be growing.
Secondly, while I can only speak for the Diocese of New Westminster, the parishes that have left almost certainly represent the majority of church-going Anglicans in said Diocese. There are about 80 parishes in total, but most of these are made up of small and aging congregations… and most would be described as being in decline, I think.
farstrider: The departing parishes do not represent the majority of parishioners in the Diocese of New West, but what can be said is that the departing parishes do represent the largest parishes in the diocese, the most “lively” parishes in the diocese, and the vast majority of non-white Anglicans in the diocese. The liberal parishes (i.e. asking to do SSB’s) are typically (but not all) the smallest parishes in the diocese. There are some other conservative parishes (also pretty sizeable) who disagree with Ingham but which take a more ACI approach (i.e. Holy Trinity, Vancouver for example). The departures aside, the Diocese of New West is a diocese in serious and steep decline, and this issue has provided a smokescreen to allow the diocesan leadership to avoid the issue. What else is new?!?
The “only 15” parishes does not reflect the flood of people leaving the ACoC.
It is hard not to despise the “people of the lie.” She states
[blockquote]Instead, it agreed that same-sex blessings do not contradict the core teachings of the Christian faith.[/blockquote]
No, it was agreed that same-sex blessings do not contradict the core teachings of the Christian faith, [b]in the sense of creedal.[/b] Of course, there is no creed where we recite, “We will not bless same sex unions.” But also, of course, the mendacious usurpers knew that this qualifier would be dropped minutes after the resolution was passed.
The 15 ANiC parishes do not include the 6 ACiC (AMiA) parishes that left New Westminster much earlier. They are under Rwandan authority at this time. There are also church plants that are underway in many parts of the country that have or are seeking ANiC or ACiC oversight and are both recruiting members and accepting Anglicans from more liberal parishes.
From the [url=http://magicstatistics.com/2006/01/25/anglican-journal-clarifies-the-mckerracher-presentation/ ]analyst of the study of church “growth”[/url] in the ACoC that the bishops did not want released to the public:
[blockquote]”My point to the bishops was, ‘Hey listen guys, we’re declining much faster than any other church. We’re losing 12,836 Anglicans a year. That’s two per cent a year. If you take that rate of decline and draw a line on the graph, there’ll only be one person left in the Anglican Church by 2061.’ The church is in crisis.[/blockquote]
Yet, we have the bishop of Toronto yesterday stating, “Crisis? What crisis?”