The Economist has called for disestablishment, in another bit of fallout from the sharia controversy. This has been enthusiastically picked up by Ekklesia, who think it's a good idea, and Thinking Anglicans, who also link to a BBC radio item, and have a good discussion going. This one will run and run, especially if the global Anglican communion breaks up and the Church of England becomes separated from more liberal churches on one side (ECUSA) and more conservative ones on the other (Nigeria, Uganda).
This is a debate I've consciously avoided so far. My main question is 'what will it mean locally?'
One of the things I've noticed recently is now unanglican my anglican church is. Some who attend refuse to go on the membership list or electoral roll because they disagree with the stance on sexuality, but still worship with us. Many are from a free church background who look for the nearest sound church when they move house not a particular denomination. So I suspect any difference caused by a split in the anglican communion might be negligible.
ReplyDelete