Just when things were simmering down in the ever-boiling pot of Anglican angst, a courageous if foolhardy Canadian bishop most definitely pipes up:
globeandmail.com: Bishop demands better theology of sex
The Christian church has a deeply flawed understanding of sex that has led to morally groundless objections to masturbation, birth control, abortion and homosexuality, says a leading Canadian Anglican bishop.
In particular, the church has been wrong for centuries on the notion that sex exists only for the purpose of procreation, Right Rev. Michael Ingham, bishop of the Greater Vancouver Diocese of New Westminster, told a conference in Ottawa last night.
"Christianity as a religion stands in need of a better theology of sexuality," he said, "a better understanding of the complex role sexuality plays in our human nature and of the purposes of God in creating us as sexual beings."
He said the church has misunderstood references to homosexuality in the Bible, wasted energy in persecuting individuals who have argued for a new understanding of sexuality, and failed to comprehend how much the Bible and church doctrines have been shaped through the lens of male experience.
Now that's what I call getting out ahead of the wave. New Westminster is the diocese known for doing same-sex blessings/marriages, so it's a given that its bishop has strongly held views on the holiness of all persons. But I hadn't expected this devastatingly frank bombshell.
The comments section at the "Glob and Mull" are worth a read. Not as many fanatics frothing at the mouth as you might think.
I suppose it would be uncharitable to hope that he took a bit of the focus off of TEC and onto the Church of Canada. Not that I disagree with much of what you quoted here — and bully for him for speaking up — but …