(no subject)

[djm4_lj]

The Archbishop of Canterbury on the teaching of creationism in schools. Warning: may contain surprising levels of common sense.

Comments

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

I've a lot of time for Rowan Williams. Even when I disagree with him profoundly (e.g. on things like whether people should be barred from positions of responsibility because they are female or because they are queer), he's still articulate and reasoned.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Oh, and other good things about him: he has the most excellent Old Testament beard, which alone should qualify him for high ecclesiastical office, and I always get him entertainingly confused with Rowan Williams, the editor of The Erotic Review.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Er, Rowan Pelling?

It's a good confusion :-)

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Yes, I meant Rowan Pelling. I said I got them confused! *grin*

[sashajwolf.livejournal.com]

The sad thing is that on those issues, he was in vocal agreement with your position before he was appointed to Canterbury. I think he's become somewhat paralysed by his perception of the need to keep the Communion together - it took him a scandalous length of time to say anything about the appalling conduct of Archbishop Akinola in Nigeria, for instance (supporting the banning of same-sex relationships, defaming a gay clergyman and giving passive-aggressive encouragement to violence between Christians and Muslims), and what he has said has been quite wishy-washy. I think he prioritises that considerably more than the Biblical passages on which it is based actually justify. Where the unity of the Communion isn't in issue, though, I agree that he does usually make a lot of sense.

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

Indeed. To be fair to him, I can understand why he is taking the 'keep the conversation going' line. A split in the Communion is a serious possibility, and while Africa and North America might be happy in themselves with that, the situation in the CofE itself would be pretty serious. You could argue that the entire historical and continuing basis of the CofE is a compromise between ecclesiastical conservatives and radicals - splitting along those lines is going to be very bad news for a Church that isn't growing fast. But I don't see how the two sides could conceivably be reconciled, and I don't get the impression that Dr Williams does either.

He's not someone with a reputation for plain speaking and strong leadership, but I think he does have a reputation for giving a very considered view and for seeking to understand peoples' points of view. Obviously, I'd prefer it if he built that in to a strong leading line in favour of my own perspective, which seems utterly morally right to me ... but that's precisely the evangelicals' position too. Which - coupled with the evangelical parts of the Communion being the only ones that are growing - is why I'm not very hopeful.

(And in many ways my view isn't of great import to the debate, what with me being an atheist!)