THE BEAT GOES ON — GRISWOLD, EAMES, AFRICAN PRIMATES, RIGHTER AND MORE

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Frank T. Griswold, has written a letter to Irish Primate Archbishop Robin Eames in an effort to put into perspective what he believes are the central issues facing the Anglican Communion from ECUSA’s standpoint as the commission pursues what could be a break-up or a new configuration of the whole communion.

As ECUSA heads with Gadarene-like swiftness toward the cliff’s edge, Griswold wrote a letter rather than answer a questionnaire he had been asked to fill out—a typically individualistic thing to do, but typically Griswoldian—to explain his church’s position.

Griswold opined that there were many interpretations of Scripture on a number of issues, including human sexuality, but then lit into what he called “other dynamics at work in creating the strains we feel.” One, he said, was electronic communication:

“Events in one part of the world are instantly transmitted across the globe. Our contexts invade one another without explanation. Because our world has become very small, we need to remember that our day-to-day realities are vastly different.”

Electronic communication also makes it easy for misinformation to be spread abroad and take on a life of its own. This is all the more reason for us to deal directly with one another when there are serious questions or concerns, and not rely on interpretations or reports that may be untrue or biased.

So what Griswold is saying is that the Internet exists and Virtuosity can send stories that reveal the truth around the globe in nanoseconds—stories that might actually be true about the state of ECUSA. But Frank would like us all to move to “a deeper level” and ignore what I write and listen only to him and his liberal spinmeisters like Dan England, his foremost flak.

With all the lies and half-truths he tells, anyone who can read English will never believe anything he says—or only about 25 percent of it. When you read words like “conversation,” “gracious,” “inclusivity,” “diversity,” and “Sufi Rumi,” et al., take a deep breath and pop two Valium.

He has spun the truth so often he has no credibility left. He lied to the Lambeth Conference in October after signing a document that he wouldn’t participate in Robinson’s consecration—and then went right ahead and did it.

If you read only Episcopal Life, ACNS, and ENS, you would never have learned that ‘truth.’ They spun it to look like Griswold had no option—that he had to participate in Robinson’s consecration because he is the head banana and couldn’t stay away. The truth is Griswold has been pro-gay for years, and this was the culmination of all his dreams, hopes, and aspirations—and he would have gone to New Hampshire even if he couldn’t have worn a bulletproof vest.

With no absolute truth and “no one right way,” everything in his mind is up for grabs—everything. After all, if he wants us to go to a plain with the Sufi mystic Rumi to resolve our problems, then why bother with Scripture at all?

In Britain, even the Tory Party wants to learn from a recent gay summit. The Tories have said they will take positive lessons from a conference on gay issues designed to help the party “represent all sections of society.” Wrote one Anglican vicar to me:

“It is staggering to see all the fortifications being so quickly reduced by Satan to dust and rubble. Soon there will be nothing left of Western society, only round-the-clock fornication, fueled by free Viagra for everyone aged 10 upwards.”

I have taken a hard look at Griswold’s letter to Eames in today’s digest. You may make up your own mind. But clearly the American Presiding Bishop is worried that some sort of discipline is in the works—and being taken out behind the woodshed could be publicly humiliating enough for him to actually feel some pain.

But Griswold has a marvelous ability to spin even the worst situations into a positive view of how the church can move forward together “graciously,” and if he succeeds, it will only be because the Africans are too gracious to dump on him, preferring instead to find a way forward for the whole communion, helped along by the ever-unctuous Eames.