St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

Rowan Williams was recently exploring how British law might accomodate Islamic communities. Unfortunately, his comments were generally misunderstood. I have a couple observations. First is the facts on the ground: The C of E has lost a discrimination case regarding a gay employee. The second is that Islamic Communities in England are already using forms of Islamic Law in the UK to settle disputes - outside of secular law.

The bishops wrote a letter, and it was very nice. There were some promises that were appropriate, simple and clear.

I want to make a couple observations about rhetoric that I've been hearing. I have a more detailed analysis about the entire conflict that I'm slowly working on, but I want to parse a couple phrases.

The primates have asserted they are in charge. Unity was maintained, but truth had a temporary setback. The flat-earth world-view about sex still holds the primate's imagination. So be it.

The communique will make no one happy. It does continue to misunderstand the democratic and transparent priorities of the Episcopal church. It assumes that bishops have power to command the laity. If only that were the case.