Another interesting essay from my (very) liberal mate Harry Cook ... Rowland. ¬¬¬¬¬ Religion Works Essays by Harry T. Cook July 25, 2008 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To read "Irrelevance 'R Us," this weekend's essay, please scroll down. The Anglican Circus McGurkus came this week to jolly old England as bishops strolled about the closes and garths of Lambeth Palace pretending they represent something serious in the world. The American bishops are getting the evil eye from some of their African counterparts because the former include in their number V. Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire, who is not welcome to sit in with his fellow prelates, given that he is openly gay. Would they like it better if he were still in the closet? Harry T. Cook __________________________________________________ Harry T. Cook By Harry T. Cook Lacy vestments, priestly pear-shaped tones, prayer books with gilt-edged pages, solemn processions, church basements called "undercrofts," priests' houses called "rectories" and church lobbies called "narthexes" have not, in the end, made Anglican Episcopalians appear terminally ridiculous and irrelevant. Each came close, but neither singly nor together did they succeed. It took the so-called "spiritual leader" of the whole Anglican enchilada, the Most Reverend Dr. Rowan Williams, to accomplish that by leaving undone that which ought to have been done, viz., issuing an official invitation to the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire, to join all the other Anglican diocesan bishops at the once-a-decade assemblage known as the Lambeth Conference. Archbishop Williams excluded Bishop Robinson because the former was concerned that the latter would become a distraction in that he is the first openly gay bishop in Anglican history. (Be so kind as to take careful note of the adverb in the previous sentence. It could have been "honestly" or "frankly," because any Anglican who knows anything knows that Bishop Robinson is far from being the first gay bishop.) Honor Moore took care of that by outing her late father, the Rt. Rev. Paul Moore, sometime Episcopal Bishop of New York. In other words, if Paul Moore had been open and honest about his male lover of 30 years, he would have been a candidate for exclusion from Lambeth. It is Gene Robinson's winning honesty that included him out. Whatever made Rowan Williams think that deliberately excluding Robinson would make him invisible? Not that the New Hampshire bishop made a fuss on his own behalf. He didn't need to. When Williams let it be known that a full invitation to Robinson "would be impossible," any fool realized that Robinson would become the story - as he has and will be. The history of the Lambeth Conferences is a Ph.D. dissertation waiting to be written by someone who loves mucking around in institutional irrelevance. It will get more exciting, though, as the 2008 conclave is studied and Gene Robinson is the main subject. Nice work, Rowan. Williams' preoccupation is with the African bishops and their noisy counterparts in the United States who say they sense the sight, sound and smell of perversion in the prelatial personage of Milord New Hampshire. Why? Because "the Bible says" homosexuality is a sin against God. It says so in Exodus [sic - Rowland] (written and edited circa 500 B.C.E.) and St. Paul appears to rail against it in his letter to Roman Christians (circa + 56 C.E.), though Paul may have had male prostitution on his mind as he dictated that passage to his scribe. Truth be told, it isn't the homophobic American contingent that bothers Williams. It is such African bishops as Peter Akinola of Nigeria. African Anglicans number in the millions, and new dioceses are erected all the time, even as Episcopal congregations in the United States dwindle on down the path to extinction. Peter Akinola is open himself - open about his utter hatred of homosexual persons and open about his biblical fundamentalism. Williams can count, and when you've got 10 million African Anglicans up against at best two million American ones, well. . . Members of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (as we are officially known) need to rise up in protest against the exclusion of Gene Robinson from Lambeth by refusing any longer to be known as "Anglicans." Moreover, we should demand that American bishops on break from their ponderous disputations with the Akinolistas* over church doctrine, decline Her Majesty's invitation to take tea at Buckingham Palace and use the time to arrange earlier flights back home. On the way out, they should dump the royal tea in the nearest harbor and declare the independence won for them by braver men 200 and more years ago. ______________________________________________________ * Credit for this coinage goes to Robert C. Cook, Ph.D., assistant professor of music, University of Iowa. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ © Copyright 2008, Harry T. Cook. All rights reserved. This article may not be used or reproduced without proper credit.
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