In the December issue of "Emel," the spiritual leader of the world-wide Anglican Communion said, "We have only one global hegemonic power. It is not accumulating territory; it is trying to accumulate influence and control. That's not working."

In the wide-ranging interview, the Anglican leader linked criticism of the United States to one of his most pessimistic declarations about the state of Western Civilization.

He said the crisis was caused not just by America's actions, but also by a misguided sense of its own mission. He poured scorn on the "chosen nation myth of America, meaning that what happens in America is very much at the heart of God's purpose for humanity".

The Anglican leader, who was once described as a "hairy lefty" and a throwback to the 60's, said the US needs to develop a plan to help ravaged peoples.

Many Christians, not to mention American Episcopalians, might agree with Williams' assessment of U.S. current foreign policy initiatives and failures. There has been a massive swing, in recent elections, away from America's current policy on the occupation of Iraq, coupled with a genuine fear that Bush might go to war with Iran.

We are not fools. That's why we have elections. Not all of us have a Dispensational, pre-millennial theology that demands the world get worse in order for Jesus to return. We are not all gun-slinging yodels and backward good ol' boys tossing down Bud Lights and heading off sodden to trailer trash heaven every night.

Furthermore, many of us (Episcopalians) do not equate the Kingdom of God with America. We are a generous people given to helping people once a war is over. The US bailed out Europe with the Marshall Plan after WWII. We have, over the years, poured billions of dollars into Africa, most of which have been stolen by tin pot African dictators,while still millions pour in now to counter the AIDS pandemic. England has no equivalent of Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.

"It is another thing to go in for the assumption that a quick burst of violent action will somehow clear the decks and that you can move on and other people will put it back together - Iraq for example," Williams said.

Most Americans have concluded that the war in Iraq is wrong. Many believe that it was started on a lie, (there were no WMDs and Saddam Hussein posed no threat to the US), continued and sustained on a lie, and will end on the truth that it was a lie. We don't need Dr. Williams telling us what we already know.

A senior Church of England bishop, who declined to be named because he did not wish to have a public confrontation with his own Archbishop, told The London Times, "This represents the further suicide of the West and a lack of moral will. It is removing the moral will of the West from the inside."

Dr. Vinay Samuel, an Indian priest who heads the Oxford Centre for Religion and Public Life, said that the Archbishop misinterpreted the British Empire. "British control of India was for the purposes of trade, the exploitation of resources and people. Their imposition of order was solely for these purposes," he said. "There is no difference between British imperialism and US imperialism."

This writer has been traveling to India on and off for more than 35 years. What is clearly overlooked by Dr. Williams is that the British left a legacy of a civil service which is still in place today, an organized military, paved roads and an Anglican Church, which while not strong, provides the backbone of much of what is Christian in India today. The British also brought to an end the horrible practice of Sati (Suttee) in which a widow would immolate herself on her husband's funeral pyre, at a Hindu funeral. The British occupation of India, while based much on trade, was by no means a total disaster. I have met elderly Indian gentlemen who, to this day, pine for the good old days of the British Raj. One of the most vibrant Anglican Christian ministries in India today, called SALT (Scripture Applied Leadership Training), is based on St. Thomas Mount (where St. Thomas who brought Christianity to India lies buried). The Rev. John Stott, an English Anglican, has probably done more than any other Christian leader to implant solid biblically based Anglicanism in India over the last half century.

The Archbishop of Canterbury also condemned Israel 's security barrier, described Western modernity as "eating away at the soul" and, during mild criticism of Islamic societies, urged the Muslim world to acknowledge that its "present political solutions aren't always very impressive".

One would like to ask the archbishop, if rockets were continually raining down on Lambeth Palace, what sort of solution would he seek, short of abandoning the place (which Israelis physically cannot do) in their own country.

Williams is right to say that Western modernity is "eating away" at our souls, but Dr. Williams Affirming Catholicism offers little hope of a corrective action to the openly secularist society that England has become. Courses like Alpha and Christianity Explored offer more hope for the average Brit than the lofty intellectualism of Dr. Williams.

Recently the former Prime Minister of England, Tony Blair said he could not open his mouth about how his faith affected his policies or personal life when he ran the country for fear of being called a "nutter". This is a country that openly boasts a state church with Anglican parishes in every village, town and city! What has England come to?

What is remarkable about Williams' interview is not that he shouldn't comment on the world scene. He has every right as the world leader of 56 million Anglicans to do that, or that we should all agree or disagree with his statements. The problem is that Archbishop Williams is pontificating on this subject when his own Anglican household is in such trouble. One might well judge that his own leadership has "broken down."

Anglo-Catholics in the Church of England want a Third Province and Evangelicals in the CofE have twice approached the ABC with a covenant to get out from under liberal bishops in the Church of England. They have threatened to withhold millions of pounds which, if they chose to do so, would probably bankrupt the church or at least throw a serious monkey wrench into the day to day support of priests, bishops, cathedrals and much more. His own Anglican house of cards is falling around down his ankles over sodomites in the pulpit and the possibility of women bishops at high altars.

The disconnectedness is as deep as it is wide.

He's not the only guilty prelate. Mrs. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the American Episcopal Presiding Bishop, journeyed to the Korean Peninsula on a peace-making journey recently where she made a lot of noise about reconciliation of the two countries. Anglicans from around the world were told to break down barriers. "We have gathered here to do just that, and to work at tearing down the barriers between us that make enemies. We are here to practice peace-making, to un-learn our ability to make war, to shape communities that seek peace and harmony rather than division."

Really. Here she is ranting about peace in a country where she doesn't have a hope of changing anything (the Americans and South Koreans have been trying for more than half a century) while all the time her denomination is coming apart at the seams with four of her bishops fleeing to Rome, four dioceses ready to walk away from the Episcopal Church, while tens of thousands of Episcopalians have departed TEC taking dozens of large cardinal parishes with them...and she is talking up peace in Korea while ignoring the fact that father son presidency's have starved and killed two million people!

Victor Davis Hanson in the "National Review" called Williams British experience in India "politically-correct but historically laughable". On Iraq he said that the anti-war Left says the US is wasting a trillion dollars and thousands of lives in Iraq, and yet we are not clearing the decks and putting it back together. Which is it? Who is clearing the decks and moving on? And who are the "other people" putting Iraq back together? Iran? Saudi Arabia? China? The British in Basra?

Hanson went on to berate the Bearded One saying Williams should read a little about British military campaigns in India, and then count the corpses. "He should also tally up the amount of money the U.S. has spent for civic and economic development in Iraq over four years, and then compare that to what Britain invested in any four-year period in their centuries-long occupation of India."

Hanson then took a hearty swipe at Williams saying, "if he is worried about the soul of civilization in general, and the U.S. in particular, he might equally ask his Muslim interviewers about the status of women in the Muslim world, polygamy, female circumcision, the existence of slavery in the Sudan, the status of free expression and dissent, and religious tolerance (i.e., he should try to visit Mecca on his next goodwill, interfaith tour)."

Finally, he said all Williams will accomplish is to convince Episcopalians in the U.S. not to follow the Anglican Church, and most Americans in general that, if they need any reminders, many of the loud left-wing British elite, nursed on envy of the US, still petulant over lost power and influence, and scared stiff of the demographic and immigration trends in its own country, are well, unhinged.

Ruth Gledhill, religion correspondent of "The London Times" said in her Blog that in many respects, Rowan Williams has been a disappointment as an Archbishop of Canterbury. "Rather like Gordon Brown and the old left of the Labour Party, he promised much but would perhaps have been better remaining in 'opposition' than in power. It is ironic that he attacks the US for British-style imperialism when many in his own Anglican Communion accuse him privately of using imperialist methods of 'divide and rule' in attempting to resolve his own intractable problems with the Church. It is refreshing to have a Church leader who is unafraid to speak out on political issues. That it is necessary is a symptom of how ineffective our political opposition has been in recent years. If (or should I say when) the Tories win the next General Election, and a Gordon Brown-led Labour Party is back in opposition, Rowan Williams can then get back to leading his Church. If there is still one to lead."

Hard-hitting words indeed.

The terrifying inconsistency in Dr. Williams is his absolute unwillingness to give clear moral leadership on matters of faith and morals (is homosexual conduct right or wrong) while he is perfectly willing to give political advice to the United States and Israel!

The Anglican Communion is on the verge schism, if it is not already underway. Dozens of Primates, representing millions of Anglicans in the Global South, are ready to pull the plug on the Anglican Communion over sodomy and a theology that saves nobody and nothing.

If it all comes unraveled as many now believe it will, Williams will only have himself and Mrs. Jefferts Schori to blame for the implosion. The communion is all but lost and making nice with Muslims and whacking Bush won't do anything to help the situation. The crisis in the Anglican Communion is spiritual and theological in nature. Williams needs to tend to his flock that is begging for leadership - a leadership that needs the strong words of a St. Paul, and not a Friedrich Hegel. For many, however, it is already too late.

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