Irish Independent: Liberal dogmatism killing Church unity

LIBERALS are fond of brow-beating the Churches about sectarianism and disunity. These twin evils, they say with some justification, are harmful to society because they set one group against another and because sectarianism is, at the very least, uncivil.

It now transpires that all this liberal bleating about sectarianism and disunity was exactly that, bleating. But it was also hypocritical because when it suits their agenda liberals are very inclined to use sectarian language of their own and have no hesitation adding to the already deep divisions between the Churches.

The Anglican Communion, of which our own Church of Ireland is a part, has just finished its once-a-decade Lambeth meeting in England which gathers together all the Primates of the Anglican world.

Or at least it should gather them all. But this one didn't. Fully a quarter of Anglican bishops stayed away from the event because liberal Anglicans have plunged their Communion into a crisis over the issue of homosexual clergy.

The Church of England itself is also in crisis because of its recent decision to ordain women bishops.

For liberals this is a matter of principle. Equality is equality. If men can be made bishops, then why not women? Likewise, if sexually active heterosexuals can be made priests and bishops, then why not sexually active homosexuals as well? The questions are unanswerable, once you absolutise equality. Read more
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