A Zombie Communion, Archbishop Welby Calls a Primate's Meeting

It's happened, the moment we've all not been waiting for, when the head of the world's third largest denomination, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, calls a Primates meeting. It's going ahead, the letters are out, and the Primates have been invited to meet, face to face in Canterbury, June, 2016.

So what's it all about? To find a way forward for worldwide Anglicanism to somehow exist while holding irreconcilable differences within itself. Here's Welby:

Useless

"Our way forward must respect the decisions of Lambeth 1998 (which upheld Scriptural teaching on marriage)... recognising that the way in which proclamation happens and the pressures on us vary greatly between Provinces. We each live in a different context.

“The difference between our societies and cultures, as well as the speed of cultural change in much of the global north, tempts us to divide as Christians: when the command of scripture, the prayer of Jesus, the tradition of the church and our theological understanding urges unity."

Zombies

Roughly translated: The Anglican Communion can continue as one big tent provided everyone agrees to disagree and by the way, to break unity with the big tent is against Scripture, Tradition and the will of Christ himself. So take that, trads. If you split from us and our lesbian bishops, you're being disloyal Christians, and anyway, take a pill, it's all contextual anyway.

The GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference) Primates weren't slow to answer:

"It is on this basis that the GAFCON Primates will prayerfully consider their response to the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter. They recognize that the crisis in the Communion is not primarily a problem of relationships and cultural context, but of false teaching which continues without repentance or discipline."

Pathetic

False teaching which continues without repentance or discipline? Right on, and Welby's way forward doesn't seem to envisage much of that, if any at all. But it's a moot point; the Anglican Communion hasn't been a communion since the 1970s, when women were ordained and the orders and sacraments of its various provinces were no longer mutually recognized.

At best, Anglicanism since then has been a fellowship of Churches held together by "bonds of affection," but even these have been strained beyond breaking point by the radical liberalism of what Welby refers to as the "global north."

Oh! I have a Barbour! Whatever.

This has resulted in a so-called Communion that exists in name only, a Zombie Communion of Provinces that don't recognize one another's sacraments, orders, faith or morals. In other words, a sham.

House Elf

Welby has dared to call this hollow man together in the New Year. He shouldn't be disappointed if it blows up in his face.

Welby is known variously as Dobby, Sharkey, House Elf, and Chino.

LSP

Trump Uber Alles

Donald Trump filled Dallas' American Airlines stadium yesterday with 20,000 people to rapturous applause. His rise to GOP front-runner has been meteoric and no wonder, he says all the right things and he says them forcefully. 

Like, Hillary Clinton was the worst Secretary of State ever, or, make America great again and make its people rich; end the kind of crony politics that puts self-serving inside-the-Beltway amateurs in charge of affairs of state; make illegal immigration actually illegal; honor veterans, stamp out gangs; put an end to allowing America to be treated like some kind of patsy by the rest of the world, especially China.

The list goes on and it's popular, no doubt about it. No other Republican candidate has the kind of mass appeal that Trump has, and that's rattled the GOP establishment. According to Mark Halperin there are several lines of attack to bring the Trumpian Juggernaut down. Viz:

    Trump can’t be trusted because he is an egomaniac with a 

    bad character.

    Trump is a liberal and unprincipled.

    Trump is not close to being fit to be a serious president or 

    commander-in-chief.

    Trump is a politician, not a businessman/outsider.

That's Halperin, writing for Bloomberg, and I'd say he pretty much sums it up. There's another line, though, and it's this. "If Trump wins, the Left will be laughing at us until the next millennium." Maybe, it might also be the case that Trump is a demented shark, but he's evidently a shark that appeals to Americans after what seems like centuries of Euro-Communist rule in Obama's White House.

I think he has a chance at the Presidency, especially if there's a financial meltdown in 2016. 

Does that mean we've devolved as a nation?

You, the reader, be the judge,

LSP

Bears Surge Into Texas

Everyone's now aware of the Californian migrant surge into Texas, but the Lone Star State is being hit by another wave of unasked for settlers, bears.

Bears are crossing into Texas from Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana, heading for the Big Thicket in the eastern part of the state.

“They’re coming,” stated biologist, Don Dietz. “I had dinner with a guy two weeks ago in San Augustine County who’s seen a bear twice in the past few weeks.”

According to conservative estimates, as many as 800 bears thrive in the four-county area across the Texas border from Red River County. And while there's a limited bear season in Oklahoma, it's illegal to hunt bears in Texas.

“It’s exciting to think that the bears were here when my family first owned this land and now they’re coming back,” said rancher, Mike Ford, “The landowners that I’ve talked with are excited about it. They appreciate all the native animals, whether they’re turkeys or bears.”

I second that opinion,

LSP

The Gramsci Beat

Are you sick of people saying "narrative"? As though reality was some kind of fruity little story? If so, you might like this:

"The crucial importance of narrative to the leftist project cannot be overstated. Storytelling—or a form of it in which old themes are mined and twisted—sits at the center of everything the Left does. Leftists are fueled by a belief that in the modern world, it does not so much matter what the facts are, as long as the story is well told. Living in a malevolent, upside-down fantasy world, they would rather heed their hearts than their minds, their impulses than their senses; the gulf between empirical reality and their ideology-infused daydreams regularly shocks and surprises them, even as it discomforts or kills millions who suffer the consequences of their delusions."

You can read the whole thing here.

Cheers,

LSP

All Hail Texas

There isn't much in Itasca, apart from an eerily impressive war memorial, and Karen's Authentic Mexican Food.

Karen's has expanded its operation and now includes seating, which it never used to have, but it still offers a fine bean and brisket burrito for around $3. You can have red sauce or green sauce on your bean and brisket, that's up to you. 

I opted for red and drove to Blanton, where I pulled up under a tree, put down the tailgate and ate that burrito. Up until a year or so ago there was an outdoor wooden chapel, open at the sides but tin roofed, to give cover to worshipers and mourners at the nearby cemetery. It had three flagpoles, too, and these would fly the Texan, Confederate and POW MIA flags.

The chapel has gone, sadly, though the flagpoles are still there, and it was tranquil sitting on the back of the truck, with $3 worth of tasty-as-you-like bean and brisket in a delicious tortilla. There was even a cool breeze. I thought back on the times I'd spent there over the last 8 years, mostly on horseback. 

It was a good moment in the Texan countryside and I thank God for that.

Some people scorn Texas. Those people are fools.

LSP

Comrade Corbyn, Clay Golem?

Hundreds of thousands of Bolsheviks, Stalinists, Red Communists and their fellow travelers in the declining Church of England, are rejoicing that Comrade Corbyn has been made head of the Labour Party and plans to save Great Britain from the clutches of a sinister cabal of Old Etonians.

A Clay Golem

But is Corbyn the promised savior of the Islington proletariat or a clay golem, magicked into being by the dark arts of an evil old witch? One prominent member of the US Intelligence community seems to think so.

An English, ahem, Lady

"The question on many people's mind is whether Corbyn is actually a golem, formed from the mud in a toxic waste spill and them magically animated by Madonna," stated a well placed source, on the condition of anonymity.

An Evil Old Witch

Clay golem or regular Red, Comrade Corbyn has been endorsed by demented celebrity millionaire socialist, Russell Brand.

Demented

Workers of the world unite.

LSP

Jeremy Corbyn, Two-Bit Leftie or Islington Shill?

Right wingers in England are worried that the new head of the Labor Party, Jeremy Corbyn, will destroy what used to be Great Britain and make it even less great than it already isn't. How will he do that?

By getting rid of the UK's nuclear weapons and disbanding its Army, Navy and Airforce. "What?!?" you exclaim with shock, "England has an Army, a Navy and an Airforce?" Apparently yes, sort of, and some nuclear missiles too. You never know, the Sceptered Isle might be able to deter Israel, or Iran, maybe even Pakistan or Zimbabwe with its mighty arsenal. Corbyn wants to get rid of that.

He also wants to nationalise the once great Britain's trains, flood the country with Mohammedan terrorists, and pay undergraduate students money to take lesbian theater study degrees at the London School of Economics.

Typical Islington Street Scene

The list goes on, and the MP from North Islington sounds exactly like what you'd expect, from the MP from North Islington. Comsymp Pinko altruist? Compared to Hillary, who isn't.  Two-Bit Lefty? Tick. Islington Shill? Obviously. 

But here's the thing, Piers Morgan hates him. Perhaps he deserves a chance?

Corbyn, not the appalling Morgan.

LSP

The Face of the Anglican Communion

A tiny dried up skeleton has been found in a ghost town in Chile, which experts claim is all that's left of the Anglican Communion.

The desiccated body was discovered near an abandoned church by Oscar Munoz, in La Noria, a ghost town in the Atacama desert. No larger than 6 inches long, the mysterious skeleton was wrapped in a shroud and had 9 ribs, sharp teeth and a bulging head.

Tests carried out at a prestigious California university showed that the skeleton wasn't a monkey but a mutated human.

"I can say with absolute certainty that it is not a monkey. It is human - closer to human than chimpanzees. It lived to the age of six to eight,’ said Garry Nolan, director of stem cell biology at Stanford University's School of Medicine in California. "Obviously, it was breathing, it was eating, it was metabolizing. It calls into question how big the thing might have been when it was born."

How the shortlived anomaly known as the Anglican Communion came to rest in a Chilean ghost town remains a mystery.

LSP

9/11 Never Forget, The Religion of Peace

I won't bore you with my 9/11 stories except to say that I was in DC at the time and there was a moment, when the plane went into the Pentagon, that we were more than half expecting a nuclear flash. First a plane, then a suitcase nuke, sort of thing. That didn't happen.

What did happen is that we launched a war against radical Islam, without naming the enemy, and I was in favor of that. I still am. This led to some arguments in London, a few months later, where everyone seemed to think that the best response to the Islamic terrorists was to do exactly nothing while we wept into crying towels, went to face painting workshops and got on with the business of denouncing the evils of America.

But one friend was different. He said that Saddam Hussein was the wrong target and that the real enemy was Saudi Arabia. I pounded my fist and bellowed and drank many more pints like the best kind of public house jingoist until the conversation shifted.

Looking back on that conversation, I have to say my friend had a point. In the meanwhile, Western Europe is opening its borders to hundreds of thousands of Mohammedans from the Middle East. Some of these will do their very best to emulate their Prophet, and live by the Koran and the Hadith.

What could go wrong with that, it's a religion of peace, right? Go ask Kayla Mueller; oh, you can't, she's dead, after having her finger nails ripped out and being turned into a Koranic sex-slave.

LSP

Womyn Bishops Are So Very Awesome

The shrinking Church of England is falling over what's left of itself to make womyn bishops, the top jobs that the declining denomination has to offer. A former Archdeacon, Christine Hardman, is the latest in a series of womyn to break through the stained glass ceiling this year, and has been nominated as the next Bishop of Newcastle.

According to Church statistics, only 5 dioceses in the CofE grew between 2008-2012, with the other 38 in decline. Average church attendance shrunk by 37,000 persons in the same period. Maybe all the womyn bishops will turn this Titanic around. Here's a womyn's Creed to get things moving.

I believe in God, our Mother Bear,

source of all being. 

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s wisdom made flesh, 

along with Sophia, the church, and all that live in wisdom. 

Born of the bad-ass womanist liberation theologian, Mary, 

suffered under the systems of oppression of this world, 

was crucified, died, and was buried,

forever joining in solidarity with those murdered by Empire.

On the third day, the women declared him risen;

signifying God’s “No” to oppression.

He points to God our Mother Bear,

who works in this world, calling for justice for the poor and oppressed.

I believe in Sophia Spirit,

Christ’s body, the church,

the communion of saints,

the grace to reject this world’s systems,

hope for justice in the future,

and renewed life everlasting. Amen.

Beautiful, isn't it. Perhaps you didn't know that God was a Mother Bear and Mary was a bad-ass womanist liberation theologian. Now you do.

Good luck, CofE,

LSP

This Is Not Aberystwyth

It's raining, here in Texas, and that's about as far as the similarity to Wales' notorious seaside resort, Aberystwyth, goes.

A Typical Aberystwyth Street Scene

After Morning Prayer the power went out, so I took the dog for a recce patrol. I also took a pistol along for security, in case things got out of hand with the grid being down. 

Texas

In Aberystwyth that'd be illegal, because you can always call the police when you're being attacked by Welsh seaside rowdies.

A Bright Cheery Morning in Aberystwyth

The power's on, now, and we'll see how long that lasts. Smart people are building cisterns to hold the rainwater because, at some point, the electricity may not come back on again.

Off Grid,

LSP