Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion has no central executive authority or a legislative body able to make decisions for all its branches.
Unlike the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury cannot issue edicts to the whole membership. Recognized as the principal archbishop, he is viewed as the focus of unity within the diverse communion.
Michael McAteer Toronto Star August 10 2003{Muslims call Christians and Jews 'People of The Book'. All three religions trace their origins to the same source.
People still have this idea that calling someone on their nonsense should be enough. But of course none of that matters, whether something is true or not; real or not is a little different but ultimately it doesn't matter either. It's what works. On the ground, in person right here right now.
Believing that the world was 'created' by someone who lives in the sky. Believing that when your body dies something that lives inside your body leaves and goes and lives somewhere else. Centuries of refining these ideas has made them invulnerable. And unimportant. They're rallying points now. Team colors. Uniforms. Like language and tribal identity. Like anything that organizes people around their genes. An excuse.
Really it's about the biology. Always. And if you look carefully at the rules of any of these religions, and their actions, they're concerned exclusively with biological things.
So of course it matters about homosexuals. And babies. And marriage.
Not because they matter to God more than old people, and whales, and aborigines. Because they matter more to the people in the churches, in the religions. Because they bear directly on the survival of the organizations. Which become rigid over time. Erected as they were in the heat of civilized ferment. Thrusting themselves into tomorrow with the insistent rhythms of human aspiration. Spilling the seeds of their particular spiritual vision across and through the doorway of the expectant future.
That's how they do it.
The codes are a formality. Hindus Buddhists Muslims Christians Jews all have that same wild-eyed fringe, that same reasonable anxious middle, and at the other edge, that same tolerant and wondering minority. Because it's not about the dogma. It's about the social architecture of the religion. Which is why the story above never mentions 'God' once, saying the Anglican community has no central executive, while Catholics do. Even though both purport to belong to the Creator of The Universe.
Mark Twain or one of those guys said, "God created mankind in His own image, and they returned the favor."
In the little bits of time I have these days for any real contemplation I've come closer and closer to a solid understanding of what takes place when people concentrate their energies like that, over time and with lots of participants. It's like the wizard of Oz sort of, the problem we keep having is the rational team was trained to expect the accurate depiction of the fraud and charlatanry to be enough to undo it. But it's not like that. And it won't be. Something rises out of that madness, with no substance but the smoke and mirrors of delusion and trickery. But like money,when enough people believe in it, it's as real as gold.}
