Church Times - Anglican Mainstream attacks Greenbelt and CMS

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Anglican Mainstream attacks Greenbelt and CMS

12/07/2009 18:50:00

The conservative Anglican 'Mainstream' blog has criticised the Greenbelt Festival and CMS in several strongly worded blog posts. See, first of all, a post by school chaplain Lisa Nolland: Greenbelt, ‘gay evangelicalism’ and CMS: Summer 2009. The piece, which encourages readers to contact sponsors CMS to complain about the presence of Gene Robinson and other gay participants, concludes as follows:

...perhaps most galling is the deeply discriminatory nature of the programme, which presents itself as the antithesis of discrimination. Given the resources and people which such recent events as Sex and the City, The Big Question, and the Moral Maze, showcased, there is no reason why Greenbelt should only push one ideological agenda and only grind one axe, unless it is wanting to slant the argument and deprive its audience of expert opinion on the other side. What about equal air time for it? What about poster boys or girls for the ex/post-gay movement being handed the microphone, instead of just Gene Robinson (again), with his sadly amaturish biblical hermeneutic? Given that Greenbelt has invited so many people who strongly promote a different sexual ethic to that of a traditional Christan sexual ethic, the least they could do is allow equal air time for traditional sexual views.

Another post by ex-CofE priest Charles Raven: Response to Greenbelt, ‘gay evangelicalism’ and CMS – Charles Raven

Significantly, the Church Missionary Society (CMS) is one of the sponsors of this event and its logo appears on every page of the Greenbelt website, yet many in the Global South hold the CMS in high regard for its historic missionary endeavour which did so much to establish the world wide Anglican Communion. If the distinctive evangelical flavour of one of the great evangelical missionary societies of the Church of England can now be so diluted, does this not warn us of the extent to which the gospel has already been deeply compromised in the Church of England as a whole and, no doubt, in the other Anglican Churches of the British Isles? ... it is very difficult to see how the next stage of the struggle for the future of the Anglican Communion can avoid the Archbishop of Canterbury’s own back yard.

Comment: CMS and Greenbelt have not responded at the time of writing, and perhaps they shouldn't. It is now fairly widely recognised that Anglican 'Mainstream' is essentially a blog / opinion site rather than an organisation, that it does not represent a mainstream view and, to quote a former webmaster, 'Once upon a time, the grand-daddy of conservative websites, now fading fast'.

Well, I for one would like to hear what he has to say.

I would like debate, not just the slinging of "I'm more orthodox/traditional than you"

Shouldn't that be what GB is all about?

Fr. S | 12/07/2009 19:31:06

Thanks Dave - a concise summary; as you say, certainly not mainstream: 'Anglican Fringe' maybe? Does Greenbelt still have a fringe? Maybe there'd be room for AM there?

We'd all do well to read Cranmer to get things in perspective: Gay Gordon, Camp David and Gay Shame. The last couple of paragraphs are especially noteworthy.

Phil Groom | 12/07/2009 19:48:49

Interesting. I have heard a few gay Christians who also attend Greenbelt say that they feel that they have been pushed into a gay ghetto by the creation of OuterSpace. Whilst many who have an axe to grind with the 'gag agenda' feel that GN is overrun with gays, those who it affects most feel that there is not as much in the mainstream festival.

Auntie Doris | 12/07/2009 21:53:48

Can I suggest a year-long sabbatical for all Christian groupings - whether AM or Greenbelt or Gene Robinson or anyone else - from talking about sex. That will be a relief to pretty much all of us, of whatever sexual persuasion, who don't think about sex every 7 seconds.

David Keen | 13/07/2009 08:18:57

There's a CMS statement now on the Anglican Mainstream site.

David Keen | 14/07/2009 08:00:39

Link to CMS statement: http://www.anglican-mainstream.net/?p=12906

Dave Walker | 14/07/2009 08:27:31