From the Church Times:
ARCHBISHOP Desmond Tutu’s declared view of an exclusive and homophobic Anglican Communion, which is obsessed with sexuality, will be challenged by conservative Christian voices in a BBC Radio 4 programme, From Calvary to Lambeth, to be broadcast on Tuesday.
Michael Buerk interviewed Dr Tutu in Cape Town, and invited responses to key extracts from the interview from a range of conservative figures, including Lord Carey; the Bishop of Pittsburgh, the Rt Revd Robert Duncan; Stephen Green, the director of Christian Voice; Ann Widdecombe MP; and Canon Chris Sugden of Anglican Mainstream.
The "range of conservative figures" is the same cast of characters who seem to be called upon time after time to express the "conservative" view.
Ann Widdecombe, he explains, “thinks Tutu is blurring all the edges . . . between the sinner and the sin, between orientation and action — above all, between right and wrong”; and that “Tutu’s idea of what Christ is about is too simple by half.” Bishop Duncan “appears to think Tutu, now 76, has lost it — if he ever had it”, says Mr Buerk.
Duncan thinks Archbishop Tutu "has lost it - if he ever had it". What crudeness! What arrogance by Duncan! That's one of the talking points on their side - Tutu is a senile old man. How sad. How low.
Tutu's idea of "what Christ is about" is right out of the Gospels. Oh, Lord, give me that kind of senility. Let me radiate your love in the the barmy manner of Archbishop Tutu.
From Calvary to Lambeth is broadcast on [BBC] Radio 4 on Tuesday 27 November at 8 p.m., and repeated on Sunday 2 December at 5 p.m. [GMT]
On those days when I despair of organised Christianity, it is Tutu who gives me reason to hang on in.
ReplyDeleteHow low, indeed!
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you, GM. I can only hope i'm HALF as senile and simple as the good Archbishop.
"There is none so blind as they that won’t see."
ReplyDeleteIf you can't see Christ in Archbishop Tutu, then you are blind.
Mimi,
ReplyDeleteI'm reminded of a vice-presidential debate from my relative-youth where the famous retort could easily be modified for use against the insufferable +Duncan by any sentient being who has observed the faithful life of ++Tutu: "I knew John Kennedy, and you are no John Kennedy."
Slash and burn, reappraiser radicals, slash and burn.
Jesus said that if he were lifted up he would draw the whole world to himself. There is a certain "know it when we experience it" quality to Christ's love. One cannot be in Archbishop's presence and not experience it. And we sure ain't gettin' it from that lot.
ReplyDeleteNote that it apparently takes 5 right wing extremists to respond to a single Archbishop Tutu.
ReplyDeleteAnd they don't even add up to 1 Archbishop Tutu.
I just want to reiterate what you wrote, Grandmere Mimi:
ReplyDelete"If you can't see Christ in Archbishop Tutu, then you are blind."
"Oh, Lord, give me that kind of senility. Let me radiate your love in the the barmy manner of Archbishop Tutu."
ReplyDeleteOh, yes! I'll have a bit of that kind of senility, too, Mimi, if there's any left over...
I think we're all in agreement that even with the contest at 5 to 1, we will have a winner in Archbishop Tutu. Yay!
ReplyDeleteHow sad is this? Tragic, really.
ReplyDeleteThis line got me... “Tutu’s idea of what Christ is about is too simple by half.”
That is the beauty of Christ for me- the utter simplicity and the clear cut to the heart of the matter.
Kind of like what Tutu says.
Mimi, help me....is there a way that I can actually get bbc4? I don't know where to look for it.
ReplyDeleteSusan, here's a link to their home page. You can listen live, as you see if you look to the right.
ReplyDeleteThe time listed in the article is Greenwich Mean Time, not our time. Their schedule is on the home page, too. I didn't look to see if the schedule for the 27th is up yet. It should be.
The idea being floated by a conservative that “Tutu’s idea of what Christ is about is too simple by half.” just makes me laugh out loud!
ReplyDeleteI think that Duncan is trying to set the Archbishop up as the next Spong-like target for his sharp tongue.
Pisses me off royal!
Thanks, Mimi. Maybe I can add it to my itunes list. I've managed to do that with a couple of public radio stations here.
ReplyDeleteFran, I've always found the Gospel way to be pretty simple and easy to understand. We, humans, sometimes make it much more complicated than it is.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the sort of nonsense that the "conservatives" speak bounces off Abp. Tutu. We get pissed off for him, but he knows that he walks with Jesus, and their stupid and ugly words count for nothing, except that they count against those who speak them.
Far be it from me to defend this lot of the exclusionary and limited gospel, but it is Mr. Buerke stating his impressions of the pious, and not direct quotes. I'm sure there will be plenty of those from the interview.
ReplyDeleteFor my mental and spiritual health, I have to be "Teflon" coated like ++Tutu. What the nay-sayers think about us is none of our business. They will build a church of "safety" for the faithful while discovering that if unanimity and uniformity are their goals, there will be much to divide them.
Meanwhile, there is much to be done for good in the name of Christ. We can't let ++ Tutu get all the good press!
One of Ann Widdecombe's principal talents is that of self-publicity, which almost certainly accounts for her opinion being canvassed on a topic that is absolutely none of her damned business - she converted to Rome more than a dozen years ago on the women's ordination business. She is a dyed-in-the-wool homophobe who has consistently voted against equal rights for gays.
ReplyDeleteOn the scummy Duncan statement, I can do no better than repeat and adapt the Sydney Smith quotation that I posted on MP earlier in the day: "I must believe in the Apostolic Succession, there being no other way of accounting for the descent of the Bishop of Pittsburgh from Judas Iscariot".
KJ, Lapin, we'll see Tuesday when the program airs whether Buerke quoted the two correctly. It seems that he would be going out on a limb if he were too far off the mark in commenting on what they said.
ReplyDeleteIf Ann Widdecombe is a Roman Catholic, why is she being asked about Tutu's opinions on the Anglican Communion?
As far as Duncan, the talking point on the "other side" is that Tutu has lost it. I've read that on the blogs. I would not doubt that he said just that.
Tutu is an inspiration to many of us. I know he can't do the work of the church for us, but I like having him around. He's a shining light.