Martin Beckford writes in The Telegraph of an interview program on British TV which will be broadcast this weekend, in which several religious leaders "explain the basic tenets of their faith and how they know that God exists".
One of the five leaders is Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. Of his belief in God he says:
“I think I’d prefer to talk about being confident that God exists, or trusting that God exists.
“It’s not knowing as you know a state of affairs in the world, it’s much more of a sense that you’re in the presence of something greater than you can conceive. I suppose from my teens I have just been aware of that something greater than I can put words to in whose presence I live.”
Sounds good to me, but I wonder if the ABC's explanation of his faith in God will be sufficiently strong for those in the Anglican Communion who would wish for a tad more certainty from their leader.
When asked if hell exists and what it is like, he said: “My concept of hell, I suppose, is being stuck with myself for ever and with no way out.
“Whether anybody ever gets to that point I have no idea. But that it’s possible to be stuck with my selfish little ego for all eternity, that’s what I would regard as hell."
No comment.
Asked why the Church of England is still struggling to admit women bishops long after Britain had its first female Prime Minister, he said: “The Church has got to solve this on its own terms and yes that does take longer and it can be embarrassing sometimes.
"You look at society and you realise people don’t fully understand why the church is taking so long, and what the terms are in which the church is trying to sort it out.
Indeed, it must be terribly embarrassing to be on such a steep slide into obsolescence. And it's quite true that people don't understand why the church takes so long to sort out the matter of women bishops, not to speak of teh gay and lesbian bishops and clergy matter, which is nowhere near to being sorted out and which a good many wish would just go away.
I'm afraid I may have to give up writing about the ABC, for he has become too easy a target - like shooting fish in a barrel.
H/T to JB Chilton at The Lead.
LOL! Oh, stop! Hahaha! Please, I can't take it any more! Hell is like being stuck with himself and his little ego, and it's embarassing how long it is taking the C of E to catch up to 'the world' on matters of women (let alone LGBT). Oh, this is much too easy! Hahahahaha!
ReplyDeleteQuite a strange man - mostly. He seems a bundle of strange ideas!
ReplyDeleteYou can't make this stuff up. The post writes itself.
ReplyDeletemimi,
ReplyDeleteI'm seeing you as a stalwart Cajun lady with a shotgun, and a big pike wth a beard in a barrel.
Cartoon!
It is strange he doesn't realize that the World has got it's ideas about the Emancipation of Slaves, Women, Gays & c from the Gospel - and that that Gospel has been carried out into the World by the Church...
ReplyDeleteChurch oranisations (and not least the State and the Academy) may have preached Antagonism, Hierarchy, Segregation, Prosecution all they wantet, but what has been heard in the World is the Gospel.
How come he doesn't know this?
IT, who could do it? The cartoon, I mean.
ReplyDeleteHow come he doesn't know this?
Göran, I don't know. He's a mystery to me.
I am quite happy with his statement on belief and you are quite right in asserting this lack of certainty as the basis of right-wing distrust of him. But it is also the basis of distrust for the more liberal/radical as the management of recent events and the proposed covenant seem to betray the cloud of unknowing.
ReplyDeleteBut it is also the basis of distrust for the more liberal/radical as the management of recent events and the proposed covenant seem to betray the cloud of unknowing.
ReplyDeleteIndeed! He seems a man divided against himself, and I can't imagine what it must be like to live like that. Plus, he seems to have no managerial talent at all. He never should have accepted the offer of Canterbury
Ah well, you touch on a subject close to my heart. They are not managers at all. They receive no teaching, training or instruction in the arts of organisations and how to run them. There is an inherit assumption that simply because one has archived a level of academic prowess in a field then you must obviously be able to manage complex organisations. This as we know is rubbish. Clergy in trainingr receive training in the legalities of sacremental obligations, a quick guide on what the PCC is for and how to ignore it and that's about it. Lay people with the appropriate skills and abilities very frequently are sidelined because that would mean the clergy giving up the power and control that they exercise. That and the fact that they invariably cost more than clergy. Look at my old job...3 clergy are now responsible for the stuff i used to do and still can't produce the quantity/quality that I did on my own.
ReplyDeleteMP will now magically appear and cast aspersions on my churchwarden status. Perhaps not, he says he's busy.
archived? that should be achieved.
ReplyDeleteTheMe, perhaps archived is the better word.
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to worry about MP appearing here. What are the chances? He only graces my comments about twice a year.
So they let you go and hired three priests who can't do the job? Hmmm.