A good summary of the "GS" meeting and Good St. George (and Göran, too)

Please take a few minutes and visit Changing Attitudes for a good summary of the recently completed meeting of the schismatics. Of particular interest is the exposition of certain "untruths" being propagated by one Mr. David Virtue (A flagrant adulterer). It's worth reading.

David Virtue reported that “Everyone is upbeat, cheerful and at peace. The archbishops and bishops are smiling; they are not fighting liberal and revisionist archbishops and bishops who have a different religion. Only God knows what they really believe, but whatever truncated Christianity they have, you won't find it here. There is no tension here. There is joy and peace. No one is being asked to reconcile the irreconcilable. This is Anglicanism at its finest."

This is David’s typical idyllic, fantasy version of the reactionary and progressive parts of the Anglican Communion.

And then … on Tuesday Greg Griffiths (who wasn’t in Singapore) posted on Stand Firm that “...after Archbishop Rowan Williams' video address to the Global South-to-South Encounter audience was over, there was silence. No one applauded, and glances around the room revealed lots of head-shaking and eye-rolling.”

David Virtue (who was there) sent an email to various people[.] David abuses Stand Firm and uses language which, if Changing Attitude used such language, he would torment us with for eternity.

The comments thread on both Stand Firm and VirtueOnLine usually display the most prejudiced opinions in the Communion and the most vitriol towards the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Presiding Bishop, +Gene Robinson and the Episcopal church in general. Commentators now turned their fire on Greg for having posted David’s email in the first place and on David for attacking Stand Firm (not for the first time) and for using such abusive language.

The gobbledygook coming from the meetings final statement Fourth Trumpet is nothing new. In fact, not one new "thing" was spoken. Instead, it was the same vitriolic battle cries.

The Church Times has a report that focuses on the new Nigerian archbishop telling the gathering that they do not want "foreign" money - that they cannot be bought.

In the opening address, the Arch­bishop emphasised the “absolute necessity for economic empower­ment in the Global South”, and warned against “the treachery of another gospel which is afraid of and denies the deity of Christ”. “It is not God’s will that we re­main perpetually dependent on the handouts from the sacrifice and self-denial offerings of other people. More so, when sometimes these handouts are given with strong strings attached to buy loyalty or compromise on critical issues of faith. “We should dig deep wherever we are, and educate our members on the grave danger of living on other people’s resources. We must work together on equal partnership in the fellowship of the gospel, with whose who are sincere and who live according to the truth of the gospel. Grants, donations, gifts, and any form of assistance given rather patronisingly should be rejected.”

Perhaps this is a good place to quote former Archbishop of Capetown, South Africa, The Most Rev'd Desmond Tutu:

Good is stronger than evil;
love is stronger than hate;
light is stronger than darkness;
life is stronger than death.
Victory is ours, through him who loves us.

On a nicer topic, today is the Feast Day of St. George, patron of England. Let us seek his intercession in the current schismatic era.

Today is also our brilliant brother in the Lord, Göran Koch-Swahne's name day. Grattis, Göran!

(For those of you unfamiliar with the Swedish language, Göran is the Swedish version of the name George.)