Anglicans Ablaze: Anglicans adrift

"Has Anglicanism become so diverse in its beliefs and practices that we must tolerate all groups that identify themselves as “Anglican”? This is a view that I have often heard liberals propound.

On a purportedly conservative web site I ran into a variation of this view in recent days. I was criticized for making broad sweeping statements about Anglo-Catholics and Anglo-Catholicism. Those who identify themselves as “Anglo-Catholics” are quite diverse in their beliefs and practices, it was argued. What I was saying might apply to some but not to others. In making these kinds of statements I was being intolerant and uncharitable. Or so I was told.

While I understand that the element of diversity might make my statements inapplicable to some Anglo-Catholics, it did not necessarily follow that in making these statements that I was being intolerant and uncharitable. This was purely a value judgment on the part of those who criticized me for my imprecise statements.

I was also taken to task for drawing attention to the major differences in the reformed Church of England’s understanding of the gospel and the Anglo-Catholic movement’s understanding of the gospel, the modern tendency to gloze over these critical differences, and the New Testament’s affirmation of only one true gospel and its strong condemnation of even angels who preach a different gospel. The claim of wide diversity in contemporary Anglo-Catholic belief and practice was also trundled out in rebuttal. My views were again characterized as intolerant and uncharitable."

For more from Robin, see:
Anglicans Ablaze: Anglicans adrift