Anglican Mainstream

AM is introducing a new feature, the Roll of Honour, which will be added to over the next months. This idea originated with our friends and colleagues, the American Anglican Council, across the Atlantic who created a ‘Wall of Honour’ upon which notices of deposition of orthodox leaders – clergy and lay – by the Episcopalian Church establishment have been posted. Countless posts have gone up, and the ordeal for many is not over yet!

 

Bishop Bob Duncan is one of the most recent and well-known examples of those who have had to pay heavily for their orthodox Christian convictions. However, Bishop Bob has since found sanctuary in the Province of the Southern Cone — and God bless Bishop Greg Venables for his courage and willingness to put his head above the parapet! 

 

We at AM are aware that there are many people who have followed in Bishop Bob’s footsteps. They have paid dearly for their Christian convictions but have not enjoyed a similarly (and deservedly) happy ending. Why? Because the venue of their ordeal has not been the church – where such Shining Knights as Greg Venables have literally saved the day – but rather ‘the world’ and its structures and systems which are now dominated by illiberal liberals or present-day radicals. If nothing else these radicals have tenacity and determination, and entertain no doubts as to the obvious rightness as well as the inevitable success of their ‘progressive’ ideology. Conservative views are positively toxic and need to be excised from the body politic. So much for live-and-let-live; now it is one ideological view and one view alone which is permitted in the public realm.  

 

So, a primary reason for the establishment of our Roll of Honour is to honour these brave souls. They have had to forfeit work or profession, reputation, finance and the pleasures of ‘normal’ life – not to mention the toll their ordeal has taken upon their families. These individuals deserve our recognition, appreciation and support. We will try to provide email contacts as well so that our readers can get in touch with them.

 

But more here is at stake than honouring these unknown, unsung heroes. A bit of background information is necessary here. In the UK, a very few Christian groups tried to push back against the almost inexorable gay tide which brought about the SORs and Civil Partnerships (gay marriage in all but name). Many Christians, even devout evangelical and orthodox High Church people, had not a clue what was actually happening, nor what would necessarily be set in place because of these developments. Their churches were too stressed and stretched in other realms, had other, more up-beat interests or did not ‘do’ contentious, muddy so-called political issues.

 

Many still do not realise what has actually occurred – and what will be happening because of it. For a start, what will society look like after bisexuality and all the other sexual ‘orientations’ presently in their closets become culturally legitimized and legally protected? How will we respond as open bisexuals, polyamourists, polygamists and zoophiles ‘come out’ and demand, naturally enough, the same rights and privileges to form families etc as those presently enjoyed by the les/gay communities? How will we feel as our children are taught all about these matters and how to remain ‘safe’ as they explore and celebrate their sexuality (or sexualities)?  How will we feel as we are forced to perform gay marriage ceremonies in our sanctuaries or promote ‘alternative lifestyles’ at our places of work?

 

Because so much else grabs people’s immediate concerned attention (negatively) and interest and affection (positively), and because there is no obvious and dramatic cause-and-effect (yet), the penny is still not dropping. But it will.  

 

Becoming acquainted with the situations our heroes have had to contend against will, we hope, raise awareness of these specific cultural struggles which remain invisible but in which we are all caught up, whether we realise it or not. We hope that our readers will be motivated and energized to engage with them in the open life of the church and Christian ministry. 

 

We chat about many important things now over coffee after the service, which is as it should be.  Do we include these issues? Are they  ever mentioned in the bulletin? Do we hear sermons on them?  By neglecting them, there is the possibility that we facilitate a dangerously false sense of security, well-being and wholesomeness – Things are really okay – when they are not.  There is a huge reality gap between the public life of our churches in the West and the fact that people are presently being intimidated, sued, fined and fired for living and speaking according to the Gospel. To judge from what goes on in our churches, most seem contentedly, even blithely, unaware of even the existence of these matters; or if they know, it is a case of ‘not in my back garden’.      

 

This is the other primary reason we are commencing our Roll of Honour. We hope the examples of our heroes will encourage all of us to move out from of our comfort zones, stop the denial and engage the challenges which God sees fit to send our way.