Nov 9, 2010

ERUPTIONS: Looking at the stark reality of all that exists around us sometimes gives me good reason to complain

A spiritual setting?
I think a current/key responsibility at the Anglican Communion is that many of us are urgently called to continue to determine what kind of ¨spiritual setting¨ is healthy for most everyone we meet.  In my case I´ve found I must also speak up and say what is not healthy, for me and some others like me who can not speak out for themselves.  Not distancing myself from any of our brothers and sisters at any level of everyday religious life gives me fresh awareness of how thing really are as opposed to how I think they should be. 


I must not pretend there are no clouds and there is no pain, no real abuse, no dangerous demonizing of others going on at Church. It is one thing to be a ¨listener¨ and have open ¨conversation¨ and read everything available and it is yet another for me to deny/ignore real abuse at Church.  I must not ignore the terrible devastation that occurs when outright deceit is revealed to me/us at The Anglican Communion and so shouldn´t Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.  I´m called to be far more accountable to you and to me and I pray that you are too.

Many are still living through the aftermath of the  look away/turning-of-the-head syndrome in ¨continuing¨ places such as San Joaquin, Ft. Worth and Pittsburgh at The Episcopal Church.  Meanwhile, at many province of the Anglican Communion fellow Anglicans are also being tormented, lied to and ridiculed at Church.  The Anglican Churches of Nigeria and Uganda HERE  are particularly morally challenged because of the demonizing/criminalizing of LGBTI Christians and their citizens of other religious denominations...the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and The Primates Meeting say nothing as the blood flows at The Anglican Communion.


Remaining ¨understanding¨  of  pogroms at provinces of The Anglican Communion isn´t enough action to take.  Minding my own business isn´t enough.  I haven´t done enough.  It has cost millions of dollars in meeting/arranging/speculating and plotting by our ¨spiritual leaders¨ to gather but those ¨meetings/conferences¨ have often caused and continue to clearly cause much of the ongoing real suffering and exclusion of Anglicans in provinces around the World.  There is no statement of compassion for the abused by the Archbishop of Canterbury, of York or by the Primates Meeting.The Anglican Province of the West Indies* (Archbishop Drexel Gomez of Anglican Covenant ¨designing¨ fame), especially Jamaica, and Global South Anglican Provinces are real places where family, friends and neighbors are actively poised to righteously act-out against others in the name of God.  Some of our sisters and brothers are marginalized and excluded at the altar or made into criminals, jailed and terrorized by pontificating religious extremists who prefer to think of themselves as Godly Anglicans.  In more than 70 countries,  gay and transgender people are still imprisoned or executed and bullying and murder and hate crimes are common. This must change as we ought all be responsible for the personal well-being of all Anglicans/others everywhere and address superstition, blatant lies and exploitation at Church...the ignoring/silence of violence and murder by our spiritual leadership is in itself a crime of hate and sets a unsuitable standard for honesty, wisdom and justice at The Anglican Communion.  There is no Trust, how could there be Trust when frightened Anglicans are demonized by other/dangerous Anglicans daily.


All of us ought be responsible because some of our religious leaders insist they are more holy than us as they instigate spiritual and physical harm.  These preachers preach shame and blame against LGBTI people at Church and beyond Church.  Many actually think they know the true hearts of others because of their tidy set of selective Scriptural pronouncements and own backward judgement/twisted instincts of right vs. wrong.

LGBTI and heterosexual women Episcopalian/Anglicans and others worldwide suffer and have suffered because self-righteous ¨believers¨  and everyday abusers who deny authentic humanity at Church and in everyday life. 

The words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu :

"Boldly, I urge all faith leaders and politicians to stop persecuting people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity." He adds "Every day people live in fear because of who they love. We are talking about our family members, our flesh and blood, our humanity. LGBT people are in our villages, towns, cities, countries — and our whole world." HERE


Please  say no to ongoing abuse by questioning/examining the true motives of well known despotic and manipulative leaders at Church at the communion.   Reviewing past real experience with the exclusion and the marginalizing others at Church is the experience that ought be discussed in full light.  Saying no to the persecution of others with different ¨gender identities¨ ought be a healthy sign of progress and not a cause to angerly attempt to punish aledged ¨fallenness¨ at the Anglican Communion. 

I don´t think we ought to continue to  ignore or actively endorse/contribute to anyone/anything who/that taints our religion with prejudice, deceit, thievery, hidden punishing agendas, generating fear and sometimes even initiates vicious campaigns of outcasting driven by raw hate. 

The God who I know suggests, strongly, that I be responsible in all my affairs, all of them and attempt to love God and my neighbors too (that would be by not abusing them or you).

* SPECIAL NOTE: The only countries in the Western Hemisphere where Homosexuality is criminalized are inside the Anglican Province of The West Indies (Archbishop Drexel Gomez, West Indies, Chair of the Anglican Communion Covenant). The Countries are--Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago and correspondingly ¨hate crimes¨ are most numerous in the West Indies Province HERE  yet Bishop Gomez lectures the world on acceptable Anglican Family ethics and morals.

· Thanks to Juan Carlos/photo
· Thanks to Tom/photos
· Thanks to Archbishop Desmond Tutu
· Thanks to Gay Uganda, sidebar
· Thanks to Wikipedia


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