The lengths to which some people will go...

I don’t know how many of you have been following the Episcopalian church and its deepening schism over the past few years.  (Yes, I will read just about anything in pursuit of procrastination.)  I woke up this afternoon, turned on the computer, perused through my newsletters and came upon this article titled,  Episcopals Split as Conservatives Form a New Group.  

Now, I’ve been reading this stuff for a while.  Apparently, some churches within the Episcopalian/Anglican community in North America have been getting too liberal for their more conservative comrades.  Some groups already split in previous years over the ordination of women as priests or bishops, among other more liturgical matters.  However, the straw that broke the camel's back was “the decision to ordain an openly gay bishop and to bless gay unions.”*  This has spurred the dissenting forces within the North American Episcopal community into action, hence the formation of a new group, which will allow the more conservative North American dioceses, who would have preferred the authority of the more conservative African and Latin American bishops, to have their own, localized authority – in the form of a bishop from Pittsburgh, who will be the archbishop and primate of the Anglican Church of North America – and to breakaway from the authority of the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury.  (At least, that’s how I’ve understood things.)

If you know me at all, you will see the next bit coming a mile away.

What strikes me most about all this is that these people who have left to form their own group, have basically chosen to do so on the basis of being allowed to practice their discrimination and bigotry on their own, unchecked.  

"We support this constitution as it reflects the very qualities that all of us . . . have hoped for in the new Anglican province -- biblically grounded, Christ-centered, mission-driven, outwardly focused, committed to evangelism and discipleship, and proudly Anglican," said Bishop Martyn Minns of the group Convocation of Anglicans in North America and a key player in creating the province.***

Don’t like gay people?  Don’t think they deserve equal rights to the rest of us? Are you as horrified as we are at that they have  the gall to participate in our hierarchy?  Come split with us.  Want to participate in the  time-honored, age-old discrimination of women?  Don’t think women are equal enough to men in any way which allows them to be priests or bishops?  Come split with us.  We, like you, feel that treating certain members of society as second-class citizens should be officially sanctioned through our religion.  Who's going to stop us?  We can justify our views through our God and our books, just like many other churches do.  Furthermore, nobody can do a thing about it.  We are excused for our views even admired for them - because we are a religious organization.

Told of this new Anglican entity, David C. Steinmetz, Amos Ragan Kearns professor of the history of Christianity at the Divinity School at Duke University said in a phone interview, “It’s really an unprecedented and momentous event,” that all of these dissident groups had agreed to bury their differences.**

So, let’s all join together to further the cause of discrimination against women and bigotry again gay people everywhere.

Tax-free.

Certainly a momentous event.

Humankind should be very pleased with itself.

The lengths to which some people will go…