Monday, July 02, 2007

Floods are Judgment on Society, say Bishops


Apparently some bishops in the Church of England have borrowed some of the Kool-Aid so widely consumed in Evangelical Christian circles in this country:

The floods that have devastated swathes of the country are God's judgment on the immorality and greed of modern society, according to senior Church of England bishops. One diocesan bishop has even claimed that laws that have undermined marriage, including the introduction of pro-gay legislation, have provoked God to act by sending the storms that have left thousands of people homeless. While those who have been affected by the storms are innocent victims, the bishops argue controversially that the flooding is a result of Western civilisation's decision to ignore biblical teaching.

"In the Bible, institutional power is referred to as 'the beast', which sets itself up to control people and their morals. Our government has been playing the role of God in saying that people are free to act as they want," he said, adding that the introduction of recent pro-gay laws highlighted its determination to undermine marriage.

Increasingly, when I see suspect "institutional power," the imminent danger is the institutional church that has set itself up to control people and their morals. The civil laws of a nation should be seeking to govern only civil legal rights, not the morals and/or religious beliefs of the citizens. These bishops are obviously falling into the theocratic mind set of the Christianists in the USA.

3 comments:

John said...

Whilst you're at it, showing us why we should be amused/perturbed by Anglican Bishops :p, look up the Bishop of Southwark and his drunken adventures.

Anonymous said...

I can't believe "my" bishops. I think they have been dipping into the Holy Wine and watching too many Omen & other end of the world movies.
Just another example of why my fellow Episcopals are living the church in parts of the country where the congregations/diocese don't support Integrity.
What nonsense and a slap in the face to anyone who has suffered personal loss due to the floods.
I would like to see them say their diatride to the faces of families who have lost a loved one during the flooding.
As far as I'm concerned, these aren't men of the cloth, they are complete and total idiots.

Anonymous said...

Hey, a Queen is Head of the Church. Expect some latitudinarianism. No wonder John Henry Newman went "home to Rome." Those Thirty-Nine Articles are right out of Calvinism, and Puritans balked? Dividing the Church for petty reasons. Unite behind her Majesty and her Lord Archbishop of Canterbury. Elizabeth rules. Odd, it was Elizabeth I that devised the Elizabethan Pact, after Henry's son Edward and his nemesis Mary of Scots bloodied everyone. Kill for God. The Arabs and Jews thinks just like the Bloody Queens.