Anglicans Butting Heads

It appears the Anglican Communion is headed for a meltdown -- and this is something we ought to be following, if only so we realize the gay marriage/gay rights issue isn't just an LDS challenge. The Anglican Communion is the worldwide community of national churches with historical ties to the Church of England. The Episcopal Church is the US member of the Communion. Here's an article from the Times Online, basically admitting that schism is now upon worldwide Anglicans (with conservative US Episcopal congregations likely to formally exit the US Episcopal Church as well).

There was a last ditch effort at the recent Episcopal General Convention to broker a compromise (specifically Resoluton A161) as noted at the Father Jake weblog (he's an Episcopal priest who attended and blogged the Convention). It failed to pass, leaving the poor Archibishop of Canterbury in a difficult position. This is an issue that one just can't muddle through, it seems. Pick a side or be ripped down the middle.

Comments

[Seth R.]

Good point Dave.

What would it mean for us if the typically much more conservative Latin America populations in the LDS faith mature and begin to represent more of our top leadership?

What if we get a prophet from Latin America?

How will they clash with membership from Western Europe? Asia? Will we be able to keep things centralized and correlated worldwide? The Roman Catholics have had a mixed track record in this respect. Will we fare any better?

Or will the LDS Church decentralize into various competing or conflicting epicenters of Church policy centered in places like Buenos Airies, Tokyo, London (and of course, Salt Lake)? Will the "Asia Conference" differ in its views and approach from the "Latin America Conference" (to borrow a descriptor from other denominations). Can Salt Lake successfully mediate between them?

[dobrodoctor]

This issue of the anglican communion splitting is yet another excellent proof in real life of why the church needs to be One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic. Without any final authority over issues of faith and morals and how to interpret the Bible, history will repeat itself again and again as the churches have been doing since 1517. It's Deja Vu all Over again

[Mark Butler]

Seth R, there is a world of difference between cultural conservatism, theological conservatism, and administrative hyper-fideism. In regard to the Latin American church, which do you mean?

Are we talking BRM style dogmatism coupled with a neo-absolutist Mormonism, the cultural conservatism of nearly all the present leadership, or a you-must-do- exactly-as-I-say dictatorism, or a combination of all three?