Monday, December 15, 2008

The deceitful use of language in the Episcopal Church

I ran across this comment and found it so eloquent that I wanted to quote it. While the example refers specifically to the Episcopal Church (TEC) which is primarily located in the USA, it also holds for a number of the main (declining) denominations in the West. There is no common language anymore. And yes, I am Anglican and I have good relations with a number of Episcopal churches back in the US, which is why I am more critical of it than other churches. From HERE:

This is an infuriating speech, precisely because its piety is manipulative, and dishonest. This is not mere name calling on my part. The evidence is stacked in rank on rank. At every turn, TEC has used language to manipulate, they have altered denotation and connotation, they tortured standard speech to create special distinctions that satisfy their own agenda. And now, we are to believe that TEC wishes to reform itself in Christ’s image and ways. But buried therein, we meet the word “diversity” and we realize what the speaker’s purpose is, to etiolate and attenuate opposition by using the language of peace to assert a soft domination.



This speech is a counter-attack, a form of suffocation with sweetness, as if he were spreading a toxic marshmallow Fluff on peanut butter. I have read many a TEC verbal gambit here, but this is monstrous in its audacity. As many another has asked, why would any Episcopalian wish to stay in the same church as such pusillanimity? Larry



One good friend of mine was studying to be an Episcopal priest and half-way through seminary he and his wife and their kids became Roman Catholic. I have two other good friends in seminary, they will both be ministering in the US but neither of them will be with TEC. These are young guys (late 20's and early 30's) who are dynamic and very talented and I don't know of any priests in TEC like them.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Saying "Anglicanism" is just like saying "Hinduism" or "Protestantism".

Anonymous said...

Preach it, bro!
It's always nice to nail down people on what they REALLY mean by the words they use.
So you can't revive a denomination by recruiting middle-aged divorced women as the next generation of clergy? I'll have to bring that up at my classis.

Abu Tulip

Abu Daoud said...

Hmm, I see that both of you are as cynical as I am about mainline churches in the West. Normally I don't post rants like this, but it seemed the aesthetic quality of the rant somehow elevated it to the level of genuine polemics, thus worthy of blogging.