Hardly the headline grabbing stuff of VGR's New Hampshire, nor for that matter, of Bishop Duncan's Pittsburgh. With that in mind, it's interesting to see the ACC snail begin to inch its way out of its proverbial shell, with the dioceses of Ottawa, Montreal and Niagara asking their Bishops to go against the will of the Synod and perform SSBs anyway. Well, it's not up to the antics of the U.S.

Another word the PB likes is "task." She often talks about "our task" as Christians. This is not a Biblical concept. If we are to speak theologically, we will use the words "call" or "vocation," because it is implied in such words that there is an agency that does the calling (Latin vocare, to call). A "task" is burdensome, something that is laid upon us that we must be exhorted laboriously to fulfil. A vocation from God is a gift that makes us joyful and free.

Dr Williams argues strongly against the idea that religious diversity is at odds with social cohesion, but conversely, that it can help strengthen social harmony - if governments are willing to listen to the views of the faith communities:

Upon returning to report on what they had seen, they dissuaded the Israelites from entering the Promised Land. "We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes," they said, " and we looked the
same to them" (Numbers 13. 33) The people refused to take what God was offering to them. So, the Lord declared: "Forty years - one year for each of the forty days you explored the land - you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you." (Num. 14. 34)