I'm wondering if the ABofC's remarks weren't taken slightly out of context.

I mean, it looks fairly straightforward, but the Anglicans are currently embroiled in a *really* nasty row & a lot of its heat is being fed by the 'Net.

So I'm wondering if the irresponsibility he's fulminating against wasn't more directed towards that internal conflict.

Oh, yeah - the self policing mechanism you were referring to in your other post doesn't seem to be very functional in their own religious conflict. The two sides [liberal, orthodox] are at the point of worldwide Schism currently, which directly affects the ABofC's own power & pocketbook. His current stand is neutral, but it can't last & he'll lose a hefty portion of his flock.

I support our soldiers, and I support the bloggers who support them. That is the very freedom that our brave soldiers are fighting to protect -- "unpoliced" blogging.

This Archbishop of Canterbury -- is he High Church (Catholic-style, at least in part), Low Church (Protestant or even Calvinistic), or Broad Church (Nothing at all)? I'm tired of Broad Church bishops. We seem to have had them since the fall of the Stuarts. Dean Inge, Bishop Barnes, and the like in Chesterton's day. Bishop James Pike when I was a boy.

And now Bishop John Selby Spong, who preaches exactly what Pike did, and passes it off as something new. His "schtik" is to argue that none of the doctrines of his church, nor a single word in the Bible, including "and" and "the", means anything at all. And he calls that "true Christianity". It's one thing for an atheist to say "I don't believe a word in the Bible!" It's another thing for a professed Christian to say it. You don't believe a word in the Bible? The Bible says there are mountains. Do you believe there are mountains?

I have had it with these fake, phony, frauds who believe and preach everything that, e.g., Richard Dawkins believes and preaches, while taking money from Christians in order to do it. If they do that to Christianity, I don't want to imagine what they would do to, e.g., Asatru. It's what Akhenaton did in Egypt until General Horemheb restored the ancient faith.

For background on similar apostasy in Protestant churches generally, see Edgar C. Bundy's Collectivism in the Churches (1958). E. Merrill Root said of that book:
"Major Bundy has done brave service in attacking the New Pharisees, the New Sadducees, of the entrenched ecclesiastical hierarchy. His strong, documented, devastating book should hasten the day of Lucifer's defeat and God's victory."

The style of that!

I must say I have mixed feelings about the Anglican/Episcopal church generally. Many good people in it, and I once thought of joining it. My good friend (since 1961) Robin Georg Olsen is in it. But, I asked him if they had statues of the Blessed Virgin in their churches and he sadly replied in the negative. Tragic.

Also, the origin of that church leaves something to be desired from my point of view. Henry VIII divorced himself from one spouse after another and simultaneously divorced England from the rest of Christendom. I now stand with the Roman Catholic church against divorce. In fact, I agree with the Mormons (whose theology is far from Protestant) that marriage is for eternity.

Good point, Steven. The Anglican Church is theoretically still Catholic.

It's often forgotten that Henry VIII did such a bangup job of opposing the Protestants that the Pope awarded him the title of "FIDEI DEFENSOR" ("DEFENDER OF THE FAITH"). This title is hereditary, and it's still inscribed on British coins (usually with the initials "F.D.").