Left Cold

The Bishops of Nigeria have released a response to the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent reflection on the future of the Anglican Communion.

Their last three paragraphs demonstrate what seems a position that is utterly intractable and unwilling to recognize cultural difference. . .at least as far as the international Christian community goes. . .

. . .and a paragraph standing alone that simply chilled me to the core.

There are, indeed, serious insults in our common life as Christians that do not invite any response other than complete and utter shock. This is certainly one of them:

. . .One would have expected that those who had embarked on this religious misadventure would be encouraged to judge their actions against our well-established historic tradition.

A cancerous lump in the body should be excised if it has defied every known cure. To attempt to condition the whole body to accommodate it will lead to the avoidable death of the patient.

We encourage the Archbishop of Canterbury to persuade those who have chosen to “walk apart” to return to the path chosen by successive generations of our forbears. . .

Read the complete statement