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Day: September 15, 2006

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Current Events, Perspective

Good point

From Whoops, a pontiff by Stephen Bates:

On the other hand, if you cannot, as part of a lengthy and profound academic lecture, cite a 600 year-old text for fear of stirring the aggravation of noisy politicians half way around the world, what CAN you do? We might as well all retreat into obscurantism. And keep our mouths shut, for otherwise, who knows who we might offend. And if, as a result of the outrage, some Catholics get killed or their churches burned down by offended scholars and textual exegesists it might be thought that Manuel’s original point had rather been made.

Current Events, Perspective

Muslim reliance on reason

From the AP via the Buffalo News: Turkish Lawmaker Compares Pope to Hitler:

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey’s ruling Islamic-rooted party joined a wave of criticism of Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, accusing him of trying to revive the spirit of the Crusades with remarks he made about the Muslim faith. A Turkish lawmaker said the pontiff would go down in history “in the same category as leaders such as Hitler and Mussolini” for his words.

Don’t forget to add Atatí¼rk to that list.

Salih Kapusuz, a deputy leader of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party, said Benedict’s remarks were either “the result of pitiful ignorance” about Islam and its prophet, or a deliberate distortion.

I prefer to think the Pope had complete understanding. Mohammed added nothing. He simply took a lot of Orthodox Christianity, some Judaism, and twisted it into a new ‘faith.’ He was the Joseph Smith of his day, and Islam was the Mormonism of its time.

“Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence,” [Pakistani] Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.

I like that – we’re not intolerant – and we’ll riot and kill if you say we are. Oxymoron!

“What he has done is that he has quoted very offensive remarks by some emperor hundreds of years ago,” she added. “It is not helpful (because) we have been trying to bridge the gap, calling for dialogue and understanding between religions.”

Aslam said Muslims had a long history of tolerance, adding that when the Catholic kingdom of Spain expelled its Jewish population in 1492 they were welcomed by Muslim nations such as the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

Yes, yes, Islam is tolerant, like Saudi Arabia where practicing Christianity is outlawed (you will be sentenced to death for doing so, or for even owning a Bible), like Pakistan where churches are regularly bombed and Christians are shot dead in their churches, like Turkey and Turkish controlled Cyprus where the Ecumenical Patriarchy is held captive, priests are killed, Christian women are harassed by Muslim gangs, Christian schools are closed, and Churches are seized and converted into mosques?

Media, Perspective

Could I have exhibited insight?

Father Jake Stops the World has an interesting post on the future of the Episcopal Church (TEC). In Will a “Two Church Solution” be Traded for Invitations to Lambeth? he quotes an article by Ruth Gledhill in the Times: Clergy seek ‘two-church solution’.

Ms. Gledhill makes an observation concerning the end of TEC as a member of the Anglican Communion and a possible union between TEC and Utrecht, observations that coinside with my own. In her blog, Ruth Gledhill —“ Articles of Faith, she makes very similar observations to ones I made. Specifically in Love in the Ruins (updated) she says:

…it is not beyond the realm of possibility that TEC could itself decide it has had enough and seek communion with another body, such as the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht. This church is in communion with Canterbury, and is liberal on women and gays. I can imagine a scenario where, should the whole thing become a much looser federation, enabling the Methodists among others to come on board, the Old Catholics could end up part of the wider Communion in any case.

Maybe it would just then become The Communion, TC, with separate bodies such as the Episcopalians, the Anglicans, the Methodists, the Old Catholics, the Lutherans and numerous others all included.

In Possibilities for the Episcopal Church (June 20, 2006) I said:

In my estimation the stage is set for TEC to break from the Anglican Communion. They have created a sort of union of the left and liberal. They have also set the stage to become the money and the power behind a ‘new’ union (see we’re doing a new thing).

I find it very interesting that Bishop Joris Vercammen, the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht, presided at the convention’s June 19 Eucharist, ostensibly in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the Bonn Agreement. Utrecht has already substantially adopted the ‘ordination’ of women and is well on the way to blessings of same sex unions.

In October 2005 when Utrecht met with the Abp. of Canterbury there was much discussion on the issue of overlapping jurisdictions. There are Anglican Bishops in locales under the jurisdiction of a Utrecht Bishop. Since Utrecht and the Anglican Church are in full communion there should only be one Bishop per jurisdiction.

Utrecht used a made up, far less serious excuse to eject the PNCC from the Union (not that the PNCC wanted to remain in union with Utrecht based on Utrecht’s liberal positions).

Could TEC become the new ‘Rome for the liberals’? Could Utrecht align with the TEC? Could Utrecht disavow their relationship with Anglicanism in general and join with TEC, the IFI (who have been in on and off discussions with Utrecht for years), the ELCA and the UMC in a sort of liberal, anything goes movement?

Wow, did I scoop the Times? Did I exhibit foresight? Hey, you never know…

Thanks again to the Young Fogey for the pointer to this.

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