Akinola and the Windsor Report

Aren't some of us being a bit naive ? Look at it this way: Akinola is a powerful man. He wants to rule the World-Wide Anglican Communion, or organize and rule his own Biblical Anglican Communion. In order to do so, he must survive. He is not interested in being a martyr. In order to survive, he needs some help from his government. He won't get help from his government by insisting on justice for gays, nor by preaching Christian non-violence. Archbishop Williams understands those things, and sees that admonishing Akinola about his outrageous behavior will not help the very dangerous political situation in Nigeria.

In order to look at another aspect, turn with me to page 450 of the 2006 Episcopal Church Annual, which supplies some statistics about the Anglican Communion. Assume, for the moment, that each diocese has a bishop in charge.

Now, if we group together the dioceses of Churches that might be broadly called "Western", including the obvious ones plus Brazil, Japan, and South Africa; and then group together the diocese of Churches that might be broadly called "Global South", including African, Indian, and Southern Cone; with a remaining group of small Churches not readily classifiable, we get:

• Western: 276 - probably won't follow Akinola
• Global South: 261 - probably will follow Akinola
• Other: 80 - uncertain

Perhaps this gives us some preliminary suggestions about how the future may look if the Episcopal Church at General Convention 2006 gets stampeded into 'Yes or No' decisions. I suggest that, remembering that the Anglican Consultative Council vote was about 50/50, the picture could change a lot if we insist that the Windsor Report, and all that flows from it, needs further careful study and international deliberation instead of a rush to judgment.

I'm not saying that Akinola's actions are "justified". I'm pointing out that he is up against some brutal realities, and it is therefore somewhat naive to think that admonitions from the ABC, or any of us, will influence his course of action.

Or, to put it a bit differently, we should make it very clear to ourselves and everybody else what we regard as Christian and Anglican, but we need not expect it to have much impact on him and those who are hand-in-glove with him.