Radicals Turning Up the Heat a Bit

Oh boy! Here they come--outraged, outraged radical Anglicans--right and left--in a frothy lather about our dear HoB and anyone who might reasonably suppose the HoB did well:

That such statement can come from someone in such high office in the Communion is an indication of the heart of darkness in the once Christian and self-proclaimed civilized West that is slowly eroding the Communion of its Christian foundations. Such encroachment on the Lordship of Jesus Christ upon his holy and catholic church – his rightful property – must end.

That's Poon reacting to Kearon's approval of the HoB. See the juicy hyperbole in boldface? See what I mean about Akinola's statement being mild, his rhetoric being tawdry? Poon shows you here how it is done. Whew! The hair on the back of my neck stood up--how 'bout you?

Here's a lefty:

We should either come out and say what we're doing and why (with strong biblical and theological support), or we should stop doing it. If we take the first option, let's face the consequences, if any. It is neither honest nor helpful to do something and then say we're not doing it. It smacks of the worst kind of American imperialism to tell the primates that we've honored their requests, when we really haven't

Note the initial fallacy of neglected alternatives--why are those the only permissible options, especially when exactly what we should do is still being discerned? And let me make a prediction: we will hear more about "American imperialism" in the near future.

It's not necessarily that, as Jake suggests,

The Church is a harlot. But she's all we've got.

I'm not sure reaching for Hosea is so helpful here. Why can't compromise and discernment be messy? Why can't an honest compromise leave everyone disappointed? Maybe this is what a virtuous church looks like when its members are in passionate discord and sedition is in the air. The presumption that the Church should have repented, as if a Church even can do such a thing except in an unhelpfully hazy, metaphorical sense--and the presumption that the Church should have gone further than GC2006 and GC2003 or else betray its fidelity to God seem to misread what might well be going on in the HoB and AC. Moderates are genuinely trying to discern without railroading those who wish to remain at the table. There's nothing unfaithful in the sacrifices that come with the process fo compromise.

And how odd to see left and right join hands in an effort to make sure that process of compromise, that effort of discernment--and nobody should say it is insincere (see Harmon's accusation of false witness in italics up top)--should fail.