The following statement has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin: "Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither."
No better example of this truism can be found than in Rowan Williams [Pictured] seeking to find common ground between the homophobes who appeal to "orthodoxy" and those who appeal to the Gospel of grace within the Anglican communion of which he is the Archbishop of Canterbury.
"Leaders from five Anglican provinces said Friday they will boycott a once-a-decade world Anglican summit because the U.S. Episcopal Church ordained a gay bishop.
"The five leaders from Africa and South America said they could not share communion with Episcopal bishops who in 2003 consecrated V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire.
"The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the U.S.
"Friday's announcement came from Archbishops Peter Akinola of Nigeria, Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, Benjamin Nzimbi of Kenya, Henry Orombi of Uganda and Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone, which is in South America.
"'There is no serious space for those of an orthodox persuasion ... to be themselves or to be taken seriously,' the archbishops said in a statement. They lead some of the largest or fastest-growing Anglican provinces in the world."
[See here for the full article.]
Seeking common ground between religious haters and those who believe in the Gospel of inclusion puts both sides on a level playing field, thereby elevating those who allow "tradition," "pseudo-science," and "faulty biblical exegeses" to be considered on a par with those within the Anglican communion, as well as in other denominations (For example, see here.) who understand, and seek to put into practice, Jesus' teachings about loving others and neither judging nor condemning others.
Moreover, Rowan Williams makes the mistake of many intellectuals who find themselves in positions of political power: they seek to conciliate, even in the face of the discrimination against, and grinding oppression of, LGBT people that are largely fostered and cultivated by most within the institutional Church.
Those who attempt such conciliation thereby show themselves to be "weak," and not really committed to justice for all of God's children.
By so doing, these attempts at conciliation under these circumstances further emboldens the homophobes such as Akinola and his ilk as they see such attempts at conciliation much as sharks smelling blood and they then gain even further strength to go in for the kill.
If one truly believes in "justice for all," and if one finally understands that Jesus tells all who would follow Him that love trumps legalism, he/she will not seek common ground, or attempt sweet reason, with the enemies of justice, equality, Jesus Great Commandments to His followers, and with Jesus Himself, regardless of his/her position within any church or denomination.
To the degree that both sides are placed on a par with each other, thereby giving credence to both the false gospel of exclusion and the Gospel of grace, that denomination or church will not only not get conciliation, but will show itself to be lukewarm or ignorant regarding the Gospel, embolden the bullies, and show itself to be ripe for the picking by those who have substituted their own prejudices and mind-sets in the name of "orthodoxy" for Jesus' plain, unmistakable Commandments to us to love God and to love our fellow human beings!
When such an attempt to reconcile the Gospel with a false gospel is undertaken, that church or denomination will not only fail in this endeavor, but deserves to fail in this endeavor, and deserves to splinter as the Anglican communion is sure to do.
There can be no attempt to reconcile the Gospel of grace with the false gospel of legalism, and what we see playing out in the Anglican communion is just one example of that fact; a fact that is increasingly being seen in most other denominations within the institutional Church.
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