Anglicanism Split!

[Monty]

From Premier Christian News:

Major split among Anglican Communion announced

GAFCON, the movement of conservative, biblically orthodox Anglicans has announced that it will no longer recognise the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It has also told provinces to remove any reference to being in communion with the See of Canterbury and the Church of England.

In what has been viewed as a major split in the Anglican Communion and a snub to the Church of England, the GAFCON primates have issued a statement which said the Anglican Communion will be “reordered” and provinces of the Global Anglican Communion won’t take part in meetings called by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

They have also rejected the other so-called Instruments of Communion. These include the Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), and the Primates Meeting. The primates said those “instruments” have “failed to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Anglican Communion”.

The statement, written by the GAFCON chairman, Most Rev Dr Laurent Mbanda, Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, highlighted that GAFCON primates could not continue to have communion with those who “advocate the revisionist agenda, which has abandoned the inerrant word of God as the final authority”.

Anglicans who hold traditional biblical views have long rallied against the Church of England’s stance on issues such as sexuality and gender.

The statement published on Thursday came almost two weeks after Rt Rev Dame Sarah Mullally was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury-designate, becoming the first ever female to hold the role.

Earlier this year, the Church in Wales also elected Most Rev Cherry Vann, who is in a same-sex relationship, as Archbishop of Wales.

The article closes with:

The Global Anglican Communion will celebrate its formation at the upcoming G26 Bishops Conference in Abuja, Nigeria in March 2026.

[Cervaise]

I know what’s intended by the terminology, but it’s nevertheless amusing in a juvenile sort of way to read a story with repeated phrasing like “the primates believe” and “the primates issued a statement.”

[GuanoLad]

@Monty

abandoned the inerrant word of God as the final authority

I wonder why there are ten thousand different religions.

[Monty]

@Cervaise

I know what’s intended by the terminology, but it’s nevertheless amusing in a juvenile sort of way to read a story with repeated phrasing like “the primates believe” and “the primates issued a statement.”

Hah! That reminds me of one thing that bugs me in some Science Fiction. No matter what critters the space farers encounter on another planet, it’s always the humanoid or chipmanzee or other simians called primates. That’s even if the actual top level intelligent species on the planet is not humanoid/simians. That’s a glaring error in terminology, IMHO!

[Der_Trihs]

@Cervaise

I know what’s intended by the terminology, but it’s nevertheless amusing in a juvenile sort of way to read a story with repeated phrasing like “the primates believe” and “the primates issued a statement.”

I’m reminded of a funny incident where the office of one such religious official got a letter from a research center for primate studies asking if they’d be willing to share data. They joked that while the Primate was known to enjoy the occasional banana, they’d never seen him walk on his knuckles.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Monty

GAFCON, the movement of conservative, biblically orthodox Anglicans has announced that it will no longer recognise the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Splitters!

[John_DiFool]

@Monty

@Cervaise

I know what’s intended by the terminology, but it’s nevertheless amusing in a juvenile sort of way to read a story with repeated phrasing like “the primates believe” and “the primates issued a statement.”

Hah! That reminds me of one thing that bugs me in some Science Fiction. No matter what critters the space farers encounter on another planet, it’s always the humanoid or chipmanzee or other simians called primates. That’s even if the actual top level intelligent species on the planet is not humanoid/simians. That’s a glaring error in terminology, IMHO!

So much for “Ape shall never kill ape”…

[griffin1977]

Anglicanism splits again

Fun fact if you see a church called Anglican (rather than Episcopalian) in the US then it’s a schismatic off shoot of Anglican that has broken with the mainstream church over one the previous controversies like this. And, unlike the Episcopalian church, it’s probably super conservative (one of the few MAGAs in my social circle went to one of them, before deciding to be Catholic instead)

[Little_Nemo]

@GuanoLad

@Monty

abandoned the inerrant word of God as the final authority

I wonder why there are ten thousand different religions.

I think the general principle at work is “God said I was in charge until he comes back.”

[Slithy_Tove]

Ignorant of the issue besides the OP’s cite: it’s basically about homophobia, and its coming from Africa.

So is this just more “Eat da Poo-poo” Afro-Christianity?

[bump]

@griffin1977

And, unlike the Episcopalian church, it’s probably super conservative

Yep, it’s the usual suspects resisting any sort of movement out of the eighteenth century, never mind into the 21st.

@Slithy_Tove

Ignorant of the issue besides the OP’s cite: it’s basically about homophobia, and its coming from Africa.

Pretty much hit it on the head. I wouldn’t put much into it; there are these sorts of schisms somewhat regularly; apparently there was one back in 1979 about the ordination of women and the adoption of a new Book of Common Prayer.

Personally I feel like we’re better off without those homophobic hillbillies and Africans who are splitting about this.

[Elmer_J.Fudd]

They really need to bring that church back to its original principles: Making it okay to divorce your wife if she can’t pump out a son.

[Babale]

@Cervaise

I know what’s intended by the terminology, but it’s nevertheless amusing in a juvenile sort of way to read a story with repeated phrasing like “the primates believe” and “the primates issued a statement.”

Aside from “Polly wants a cracker”, the vast majority of statements are made by primates.

[Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela]

In M. R. Carey’s “Pandominion” series (1. “Infinity Gate”, 2. “Echo of Worlds”), there are a near-infinite number of alternate parallel Earths, and on each one of these planets, evolution has taken its own specific pathways. Some of these planets have no life, some of them are dominated by simian evolved species, some of them dominated by saurian evolved species, some of them by lagomorph evolved species, and so on.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

What percentage of the Anglican provinces are affiliated with GAFCON?

[Kropotkin]

This sounds about right!

[Mangetout]

@Slithy_Tove

Ignorant of the issue besides the OP’s cite: it’s basically about homophobia, and its coming from Africa.

There is a cause and effect loop here - sure, it’s homophobia from Christians because they are from Africa, where homophobia is prevalent stance, but part of the reason Africa is like that is because first world Christianity made it that way.

The GAFCON stance is more originalist. I don’t think that makes it right, but its the other part of Anglicanism that has changed.

[Kent_Clark]

This surprises me only because the Anglican church has been splitting since at least the 1970s - and pretty much always over the same reasons. GAFCON itself dates back almost 20 years. In the U.S. and Canada a whole bunch of churches split off from the Episcopalian Church in 2008 and formed the Anglican Church in North America. The only difference this year is that GAFCON no longer pays even lip service to the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury

[Monty]

@Kent_Clark

This surprises me only because the Anglican church has been splitting since at least the 1970s - and pretty much always over the same reasons.

Not to mention the freakout over the new (1970s) prayer book for the Episcopal Church in the United States. I was Episcopalian at the time and was shocked by some of the vehemence over that, especially since the old book was basically included in the new book.