re-education

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jan 09, 2004

Once a byword of drowsy Anglican propriety, the Church Times has acquired a Nina Totenberg-ish whine in its sympathies for school-marm progressivism. The current issue has a number of digs at refractory elements within the Anglican communion, including a blast at "untrustworthy" conservatives and a dismissive piece concerning the Ugandan bishops' letter to Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, in which they rejected ECUSA subventions and insisted "the gospel of Jesus Christ is not for sale." The Church Times sniffs at their temerity:

"Disagreements over sexuality take a back seat to the more pressing realities of civil war, poverty, malaria and HIV/AIDS, and the need to develop educational and economic structures to sustain and deepen rapid church growth," said the Revd Jane Butterfield, mission personnel director.

Read: the Church's really important concerns are this-worldly hardships (war, hunger, destitution). All that religion business -- what God destined the human person for -- isn't worth the fuss. The bishops, poor dears, have fallen into the error of taking that "seek ye first" stuff literally.