First, Martyn Minns has responded to last weekend’s Washington Post article by Bishop John Chane. His response is in a Word document on his own parish website, but an html copy can be seen here. As you would expect, he is strongly critical of Bishop Chane.
Second, Andrew Carey has interviewed the Archbishop of Kaduna, Josiah Idowu-Fearon about the violence in Nigeria, in this week’s Church of England Newspaper, Why should a cartoon bring us to civil war? His views are very interesting.
Posted by Simon Sarmiento on Sunday, 5 March 2006 at 5:21pm GMTI've had the privilege of meeting the good Archbishop and hearing him speak several times. His views are always very interesting.
Do you, Simon, or does anyone here know why he wasn't made Primate in the last go-around? There were rumors of skullduggery, but since there are always rumors of skullduggery in Nigeria, I don't know whether to believe them.
Posted by: Anna on Sunday, 5 March 2006 at 6:07pm GMTMinns' piece continues a pattern of more irrelevant (not to mention pathetic) *comparisons*: "Oh, Sharia law is Nigeria is so much worse/why doesn't +Chane speak out against Saudi treatment of Christians?"
Because +Chane and +PJA both *claim* to be Anglicans, ergo +Chane may appeal to a common authority, and (properly) rebuke a brother bishop? Hello?
If this is the best that the critics can come up with...
[Was highly amused that on the Minns page, one T19 commenter had an HTML code for "the usual suspects in the blogosphere": yup, the commenter was listing my favorite sites---for RELIABLE Anglican news!---here (TA), Father Jake, and Mark Harris. Sad though, to treat their records of accuracy and fairness as something "suspect" :-(]
Posted by: J. C. Fisher on Sunday, 5 March 2006 at 7:00pm GMTNear the end of the article Archbishop of Kaduna, Josiah Idowu Fearon, contemplates the role of religious leaders he says: “This has been bothering me. Where have we failed? What do we teach our followers? How do we live our lives as Christians and Muslims?”
He argues that Christians and Muslims must now move from understanding to appreciating each other’s spirituality. As an evangelical he is aware that might lead to accusations of syncretism or weakness, but he firmly believes that such a step does not involve swapping one’s own convictions for the other’s.
“I’m ashamed of being a Nigerian,” he says towards the end of our interview. He describes the chilling account from the initial rioting in the north where a Muslim mob went into a church and killed people as they worshipped. “It hurts to see this happening. Why can’t we protest lawfully, why do we kill each other?”
Kofi Annan would agree, if one about his speech to the latest meeting of the Alliance of Civilizations:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&article_id=22503
It includes:
"It is important that we all realize that the problem is not with the faith but with a small group of the faithful - the extremists who tend to abuse and misinterpret the faith to support their cause, whether they derive it from the Koran, the Torah or the Gospel. We must not allow these extreme views to overshadow those of the majority and the mainstream. We must appeal to the majority to speak up and denounce those who disrespect values and principles of solidarity that are present in all great religions."
And concludes:
"That message must say that free speech involves listening as well as talking... It must say - but in better, more compelling language than I can find - that diversity is a precious asset, not a threat.
It must be a divine message - heard not in the earthquake, nor in the fire, nor yet in the rushing mighty wind, but in the still, small voice of calm."
Posted by: Cheryl Clough on Sunday, 5 March 2006 at 9:13pm GMTIt seems the clouds are gathering over poor Nigeria!
Posted by: Göran Koch-Swahne on Monday, 6 March 2006 at 12:13am GMTMartyn notes that laws against 'unnatural acts' are still on the books in Virginia. This is despite the Supreme Court's ruling in the Texas case. That they are still on the books does not speak so much to abiding concern about homosexual sex as it does ignorant homophobia and the reluctance of the General Assembly to remove hateful laws from the books. It was a Virginia law forbidding 'mixed marriages' that was finally struck down in the late 1960s.
The same General Ass is busy as we speak crafting a most hateful anti-gay marriage amendments to the state constitution. I find Martyn's concern for Archbishop Akinola's campaign against violence disingenuous at best.