My college friend Jane used to refer to the weeks between July 4th and Labor Day as "the Silly Season." Although things of importance do happen throughout the Summer months, they often happen with less regularity. As a result, news broadcasts turn to all sorts of "fluff" stories. You know the ones I mean. The newest arrival at the local petting zoo; a nearby farmer's unusual crop or oversize produce; someone trying to break the world record for pole sitting. Anything to fill up airtime and keep reporters busy.
We are experiencing our own "Summer lull" in the hallowed halls of the Anglican Communion. The major Synods are over, and even those that took place after July 4th produced little of substance in the wider scope of things. Of course, there are the Covenant response process and the Listening Process, but neither of those is supposed to be completed until later in the year, and nothing of substance is likely to appear before the Fall. And while many will spend the Summer speculating, there will be no real news from the Bishops of the Episcopal Church until their September meeting in New Orleans.
Many Anglican blogs, both liberal and conservative, have been taking the time to look critically and constructively at the proposed Covenant. As one might expect, there is not a lot of agreement, but good conversations are happening. In other places, the lack of "hard" news has resulted in some pretty nasty postings and comments. Someone pointed me to a couple of David Virtue's "satires" on his Virtueonline.org. I stopped reading David's dreck a long time ago, unless someone noted something they thought I ought to look at. A quick scan of his recent "satires" showed that none of them were as venomous as he can sometimes be and that there was not really anything of note that merited serious attention.
One conservative site that I have been reading regularly is StandFirm. I think they have some sort of system set up whereby they constantly monitor the web 24 hours a day, because news of things Anglican will often appear there before anyplace else. Now and again posters there have insightful commentary and critiques. Sarah Hey's "Little Stone Bridges" series and Matt Kennedy's ongoing series of reflections on the 39 Articles are two examples. However, when there is a lull they seem to delight in creating a tempest in a teapot. The two most recent examples are the news from Seattle about the Rev. Ann Reading and a post by the Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton. I am not going to discuss the "rightness" or "wrongness" of the actions of either of these women. That has been done ad infinitum elsewhere. What continues to amaze me is the vehemence with which the majority of regular posters and commentors of StandFirm pursued both these women in what can only be described as witch hunts.
Looking back over the posts of the last couple of years, and scanning some of the comments, I find that such witch hunts are not uncommon at StandFirm. Many of these folks have appointed themselves keepers of Anglican Orthodoxy, and the result reminds me of the Spanish Inquisition. It is probably long past time for me to refrain from visiting StandFirm regularly. Why should I make myself ill reading the dreck there? I am sure that if there is anything worth reading, other blogs I read regularly will note it, and I can go check out those particular posts.
Peace,
Jeffri
Seeing as how you "are not going to discuss the "rightness" or "wrongness" of their (sic) actions", may I ask you a question?
ReplyDeleteIs a "witch hunt" still a "witch hunt" when you actually catch a real witch?
They DID actually catch two witches in the Episcopal church recently, if I recall correctly.
ReplyDeleteRemember the Melynyks, and Maury Johnson? Real live witches... and prominent Episcopalians.
I have never seen (read) anything as bad as what happened on SF last week.
ReplyDeleteFor as long as I can remember I have been engaged in a conscious "listening process" of my own. Even if my bishop won't lead the diocese in one, that's no excuse for me not to do my part to hear the other side. But, my listening process is over.
As I have said for a long time, I don't think TEC can survive unless it somehow gets rid of the dead weight of the haters. Let them go, let them have their property. Give them some money. It would be worth paying them just to have them leave.
Linda McMillan
Austin
Unbelievable. So, the comments that bloggers at Stand Firm have made about what Ms. Kaeton said about Anne Kennedy are `bad` but what Ms. Kaeton actually said is NOT `bad`?? I, too, am tired of the `listening process` and here`s why: to people like you, `listening` means `come over to my way of thinking`. There is no `dailogue` and people like you don`t actually want that. What you want is to have your cake and eat it, too. I suppose you know what happened to the person who made that phrase famous. Well, you can`t have it both ways. If you want `us` to listen, then perhaps you should do some listening yourself. It must be lovely living in your fantasy world.
ReplyDeleteActually, Ally, I never said anything one way or the other about Elizabeth's post. I felt what she first wrote was over the top, but she edited it quickly. Also, the folks at StandFirm cannot blame Elizabeth for identifying Anne by name and blog when Anne's blog is public. Further, for a mother to write about leaving a broken bowl on the floor for the better part of a day is a little disconcerting. Some of the StandFirm folks likened Anne's post to Irma Bombeck or Peg Bracken. In which case, why wasn't Elizabeth's post like Art Buchwald or Bill O'Reilly?
ReplyDeleteAlso, there are legitimate concerns about Ann Reading's claim to be both Christian and Muslim. I share them.
What I object to is the tone and the vehemence with which many of the StandFirm folks go after those that diasgree with them. They do not just point out facts (and in some cases do not even wait for the facts), they make snide demeaning comments and engage in a lot of name calling.
And the accusation you make about to "people like you, `listening` means `come over to my way of thinking`. There is no `dailogue` and people like you don`t actually want that" the same can be said about many on the conservative side of the spectrum. Not to mention, if I were going to cut of dialogue, I would not have published your comment.