updated late Thursday evening
Reports of GAFCON itself
George Pitcher in the Telegraph Anti-gay bishops are after power, not truth
Martin Beckford in the Telegraph Gafcon: Orthodox Anglicans feel betrayed by church structure
George Conger in Religious Intelligence Israel Minister welcomes Gafcon ‘pilgrims’ to Jerusalem
Judith Sudilovsky at Episcopal Life Online Nazir-Ali to boycott Lambeth Conference as ‘matter of conscience’
Ruth Gledhill in The Times Formation of a ‘church within a church’ for conservative Anglicans
And a comment from someone who has been reporting from GAFCON but today attended a different event in Jerusalem.
Iain Baxter in the Guardian comment is free section Marching with pride in Jerusalem
Posted by Peter Owen on Thursday, 26 June 2008 at 10:34pm BST | TrackBackRuth Gledhill reports the number of bishops unlikely to turn up for Lambeth as over 100.
How sensible to speculate from this bottom-up position rather than the Pigott 250 that seems to have been plucked from nowhere.
One hack rather wickedly suggests that this gives the BBC reporter the chance to write a story saying some 100 bishops have unexpectedly and suddenly decided to turn up at Lambeth - you know what I mean - he quotes his own figure of 250 as an "authorative source" ......
The BBC must ammend this story or give us the workings behind this 250 figure. Facts still matter more than opinions.
Posted by: Martin Reynolds on Friday, 27 June 2008 at 5:24pm BSTI have heard what George Pitcher writes before - at the highest levels - but never have I felt the argument so well put. Indeed there has been rather too much credibility given to these power hungry bishops ........ or was it rope, in fact.
Well done George.
Well done to Iain Baxter too.
He has been a first rate embassy for LGCM and all lgbt folk - indeed all sensible Anglicans at GAFCON. In the BBC Radio4 piece yesterday he was the honest and faithful Christian dealing with an obscure Byzantine world ... he was simply wonderful. It does show that we must never NOT be at these types of gatherings.
He will be spending his holiday working at the LGCM stall in the Lambeth marketplace - if you are there call in and wish him well
Posted by: Martin Reynolds on Friday, 27 June 2008 at 5:43pm BSTThank you for Iain Baxter's article. That march has given me as much pleasure as the attendance of approx 1000 souls at the Nigerian Changing Attitude conference. God loves it when the lost and strays come in from the wilderness on their own feet. May God bless, protect and guide them.
There are several comments about a desire for authoritative power. Power and authority are strongly desired by some souls, and many claim to love Jesus because they that brings them gifts, including the power to evict and harm other souls.
Such "strong" souls might succeed in shoving with butt and flank to push weak souls into the darkness or edges, but God knows where they are. God also knows when the powerful have become so greedy that they attempt to take all from the fields leaving nothing for the weak and the poor.
That's when God intervenes to reaffirm God's commitment and love for ALL creation, including the weak and broken.
That's why God sent Jesus into the darkest times when the "holy priests" had become major agents of repression and dodgers of their own responsibilities.
If Jesus' priests want to break the covenants of peace, to eunuchs and only feather their own nests, then they should not be surprised that they are rebuked and exposed for what they are. It is a warning for members of all religious castes of any faith. If God can discredit the most authorititative and orthodox version of Anglicanism, do not think that God could not do less with any other selfish or violent manifestation.
Posted by: Cheryl Va. on Friday, 27 June 2008 at 11:15pm BST