Different, but inferior?

Traditionalist Anglicans will be familiar with the sort of tactics used by the inappropriately namedEqual Love campaign. In 2010 The Rev Sharon Ferguson, a lesbian church minister fighting to overturn the ban on same-sex marriages revealed that she had been 'sent abusive messages' since launching her campaign. Familiar tactics in a campaign of of half truth and dissimulation.

Complaints from 'equal rights' campaigners about receiving abusive messages and being spat upon are not uncommon despite hard evidence when to my knowledge filth laden hate mail has been received in the opposite direction. 'Different' these agitators may be in the sense of being a vociferous minority but 'inferior'? Such suggestions are used solely to gain support by implying discrimination from people who fail to see that discrimination is, in reality, against those who do not clamour to change everything only to the advantage of minorities regardless of the cost to the majority. What they seek is not equality but dominance, the very thing they complain about in their power struggle using religion and the church as though it were a secular institution rather than the vehicle of faith that brings people closer to God.

In her campaign for so-called equality the Rev Sharon Ferguson said: “The system we currently have is discriminatory and segregates people. It is not acceptable in this day and age. As a person of faith, I want to get married." To get married implies taking a husband when in fact her desire is to share her life with another woman. That is her privilege. The law has been changed to ensure that she and those like her not disadvantaged. But this is not enough for so-called equal love campaigners. We do not judge how couples live their lives but however they wish to see it, a homosexual partnership is not the same as the union between a man and a woman joined together in holy matrimony for the procreation of children. They can call it whatever else they like but it is not marriage as understood by the majority of people handed down by tradition and custom for thousands of years so why pretend that it is? To suggest that these couples are made to feel inferior if they are not allowed to be 'married' is a problem of their own making.

The trendy list of gay marriage supporters is growing and, perhaps unsurprisingly, is now afflicting the Anglicanchurch following its abandonment ofapostolic tradition. Since the Prime Minister decided to come out in favour of gay marriage,politicians and celebrities have joined the clamour to satisfy people who will never be satisfied until the rest of us are completely subjugated. In a classic piece of dissimulation the Guardian has come out in favour claiming that 'the argument that gay marriage undermines straight marriage is as unconvincing as it is insulting'. The reasons they find so convincing are neatly unpacked line by linehere but it is unlikely that campaigners will be interested in the facts.

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To be joined together

Male and female, made for each other, bonding together for a purpose. Whether you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he was a philosopher or just a perceptive Rabbi, this is the definition of marriage most people understand:

³ Some Pharisees came to him to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”

⁴ “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’^{[a] 5} and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’^[b]? ⁶ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” Matthew 19: 3-6.

Footnotes: [a] Matthew 19:4 Gen. 1:27 [b] Matthew 19:5 Gen. 2:24

Joining together male and female is what defines marriage, be it metal, wood or human flesh. Two males or two females may 'bond' in terms of human affection but so does a mother and her child or a person may express love for their pet but that does not, indeed can not, lead to marriage. Claims that same sex couples are discriminated against because they are not allowed to marry are absurd. They have equal rights under civil partnership legislation which puts them on equal basis with heterosexual couples but by definition they cannot be joined together in marriage. Some have suggested that if they were allowed to marry their union would be no different to the union of a heterosexual couple unable to have children. That is as bogus as it is unkind. But it goes further than that. The 'want it all' mentality extends to same sex couples expecting to have children by one means or another regardless of the cost to the child or the claimed heartbreak because a child 'has no mother' when clearly he must have.

Manipulation is the name of the game. This article lists the six ways homosexual activists manipulate public opinion:

• Exploit the “victim” status;
• Use the sympathetic media;
• Confuse and neutralize the churches;
• Slander and stereotype Christians;
• Bait and switch (hide their true nature); and
• Intimidation.

The Anglican church knows all about 'Confuse and neutralize the churches' and 'Slander and stereotype Christians', particularly in England and Wales where US liberalism has spread like a rash losing the bond of trust that existed in our once broad church. Remember how traditionalists were promised an honoured place in the church, how civil partnerships didn't mean gay marriage? No more. Tolerance of minorities has become intolerance by minorities but whatever they say, they cannot redefine what it means is to be male and female.

You don't have to be religious to oppose same-sex marriage, just rational.

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Next, LGBTQI+ takeover?

The Golden Calf, with apologies to Poussin

"Church of England to discuss same-sex blessing"- BBC

"Synod’s ‘welcoming’ transgender motion asks Bishops to consider liturgy" - Church Times

"Church of England to debate blessings for same-sex couples" - Guardian

"Church of England to consider same-sex blessing services" - Pink News

The pressure to accept blessings leading to same sex marriage on a par with the marriage between a man and a woman is everywhere but is it justified? The Church of England is to debate holding services for same-sex couples for the first time.

The plans have been put forward by the diocesan synod in Hereford, which voted in favour of an "order of prayer and dedication" following a marriage or civil partnership, in response to couples who said they wanted it.

This is how "a gay member of the Synod", Jayne Ozanne, explained the move to PinkNews:

She was ?Thrilled? At the ?Overwhelming support the motion has received?.

?It provides an important step on the road to ensuring we are all treated equally by the Church of England.

?I know that many are incredulous at the time it is taking for the Church to understand that we are all loved equally by God, but things are changing and given the strength of support we know that exists I hope this will be debated as soon as possible by the General Synod.?

The Bishop of Hereford, the Right Reverend Richard Frith, said:

"Clergy are already encouraged to respond pastorally and sensitively when approached.

"The motion which is part of a much wider debate asks for guidance on materials to be used in affirming and praying with same-sex couples."

The general synod will now debate a form of service described as "neither contrary to nor a departure fromdanquot; the doctrine of the church.

Individual churches and priests would be able to opt out of holding the services if they wished.

The pressure is summed up in Church Clarity: "an online database that 'scores' (mainly) US churches according to whether they are 'affirming' or 'non-affirming' of LGBTQ persons, and how clearly they communicate their policy. Its stated aim matches its name: it wants to challenge evasiveness and obscurity on what is to many a central, and personal issue." The class comprised mainly of progressive leaning Christians, says: "No person should have to wonder the limits of their 'welcome'."

It is difficult to see how people can claim to be unwelcome when they are established members of a church which permits them to propose a motion which is contrary to biblical teaching. An Introduction to General Synod and how the parish and deanery relates to it can be found here.

The tactics are familiar. If you are not for us you are against us. Such words as equality, love and affirming imply the moral high ground when the object is, in biblical terms, immorality. What they demand in the name of love is the seal of approval no matter what the consequences for the Anglican Church.

Marriage is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. "It is the very basis of the whole fabric of civilised society." That is it. To claim that members of the Church of England will be treated equally only if same sex blessings are affirmed is janggal.

To expect others to sanction that which is contrary to church doctrine is an act of utter selfishness modeled on the movement for the ordination of women. The liberalism they brought with them was based on the notion that there was no biblical objection to their ordination.

They cannot use the same argument in favour of same sex marriage or blessing gay relationships. That bishops of the church can think it acceptable shows just how far the Anglican Church is sinking below the waterline since women were ordained.

The Church of England lost another 34,000 worshipers last year, far more than all the regular worshippers in the Church in Wales and they still fail to see the masalah!

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The Welsh language, same-sex and the Church in Wales

Outside St Davids Cathedral "Another First for Canon Joanna, Bishop-elect."  Source: Church in Wales

"From the beginning, the Welsh language was given equality with English in the constitution and liturgy of the Church in Wales, and throughout the twentieth century some of its priests were prominent in Welsh literature." - The Church in Wales, Facing Difficulties

One hundred years after disestablishment, the Church in Wales' 2020 Vision is to "re-imagine itself in order to serve its communities more effectively... We need a cultural change in the kind of church we are". That is what the Archbishop of Walestold theThe Time Is Now conference in 2014.

For the bishop elect of St Davids the kind of church she wants is based on what has been rejected by the Church in Wales, most strongly by the good people of St Davids. Her stated priority is "To encourage us that we are not simply trying to keep the show on the road but we are trying to live out our gospel of the risen Christ and the reality of God’s Holy Spirit and to live that out in our real communities, encouraging people to live out their faith in surprising and different ways, not feeling guilty that the future may look different from the past but feeling encouraged that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever and is as relevant to Wales in the 21st century as he has been through the centuries until now. But how that plays out may look very different".

Listening to Canon Penberthy on Radio 4 [@12.30] "our gospel" is the gospel according to Dr Barry Morgan. Women clergy, gay blessings and working towards same sex marriage in church. When interviewed Ed Stourton asked what sort of discrimination she had suffered. She replied it was "blank incomprehension" that she would want to exercise her own ministry rather than help her husband. Not the sort of aggravation implied by her earlier "prejudice and discrimination" claim. The implication is that lay ministry was not good enough which hardly fits with the ideas of '2020 Vision'.

So the bishop elect of St Davids, the most conservative diocese in the Province, is a liberal minded woman who on her own admission is not a fluent Welsh speaker either:

"Improving my Welsh is a priority for me now. I was in Welsh-speaking parishes in north Carmarthenshire before and people were very generous and I did learn to take services in Welsh which were received well. But I was always a bit cowardly about the conversations and I think I’ll be looking for money to go on a Welsh immersion course where I will have to take the bull by the horns and have the courage to speak the language. I really want to do it  – we are a bilingual nation and the Welsh language is one of our jewels, if not our life blood."

To quote further from 'Facing Difficulties': "The Church, as ever, wishes to see the Welsh language survive and flourish, but it can do nothing without the support of its members. The Welsh language is a gift from God to all who live in Wales. It is our privilege and responsibility to use and promote it in our future mission and ministry". Surely that should have been uppermost in the mind of the facilitator for the diocese of St Davids.

'Facing difficulties' ends with the question: "How can you promote the use of the Welsh language in the Church in your area?" For a start the facilitator should have ensured that the bishop elect was a fluent Welsh speaker familiar with the diocese which is the spiritual home of the Church in Wales and a place of pilgrimage drawing people from around the world.

Disestablishment was born out of dissatisfaction with English-speaking landowners and "anti-Welshdanquot; attitudes within the Church. Based on the appointment of the bishop elect of St Davids, heritage clearly counts for nothing. Moving forward, or "re-imagine itselfdanquot;, is based not on scripture and tradition but on sexual licence and equality of opportunity in the workplace where secular attitudes to 'equality' count more than theology.

The Electoral College meets behind closed doors so that everything can be done in secret leaving regular churchgoers unaware of how the President stage manages the proceedings in a situation where many members hold their positions under his patronage especially the bishops.

If this candidate matched the diocesan profile either profile was way off the mark or it was prepared to fulfil the requirements of the President who is on record as claiming that "she was deemed to be the best person to be a bishopdanquot;. If the sacred synod had any spunk they would not confirm this election.

Postscript [08.11.2016]

From Western Mail letters: Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Not quite the successors of St David

When the new woman bishop-designate of St David?S was on Radio Four on Sunday morning being interviewed she had at least the decency to admit that the Church in Wales blesses gay marriages.

When the male bishops deviously introduced such prayers, they claimed they were not blessings!

She also unequivocally stated that she is in favour of full same-sex marriage. Well, she is entitled to her beliefs, but if she seriously thinks she (and her male colleagues) are the legitimate actual successors of St David, they deceive themselves.

They may have the medieval cathedrals, the episcopal props and the endowments but they are self-evidently not bishops in the Church of God, pledged under sacred vow to banish away strange doctrines.

Robert Ian Williams

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