Kevin Kallsen, George Conger, and Gavin Ashenden discuss the shooting in Texas, Hindsight since 2010, and predictions for the near future.
Kevin Kallsen, George Conger, and Gavin Ashenden discuss the shooting in Texas, Hindsight since 2010, and predictions for the near future.
We love to watch Anglican Unscripted… the conversations are brilliant, straightforward, and so important in this world. We live in Lecanto, Fl. and Father George Conger has helped us in so many ways. Thank you for all you do!! Everyone should listen to these incredible conversations! Bobbie and Chuck Holloway
I can very easily see that here in Canada, churches who do not follow the politically correct line of culture in areas of sexuality and, “reproductive rights” will lose their tax-exempt status., including the ability to issue tax receipts for donations.
Yep. I sometimes marvel at George’s optimism about his location’s ability to withstand the pressures of this age… but it’s clear that the culture where he’s living is a totally different animal from what people are experiencing in urban centres, the northern US, and definitely here in Canada.
Okay, and just further to this, because I can’t resist…
I do think that Canada, while different from the US in many ways, should act as a bit of a warning. The political map is split, but a very small shift of demographics, a very small tweak of a map, can throw things one way or another. For example, in the recent (Canadian) federal election, the overwhelmingly conservative vote of the West was rendered completely irrelevant to the outcome. So a whole half of the population, and a majority in parts of the country, has government that in no way represents them.
The Canadian Liberal government has a “big government” philosophy (typical also of the left in the US), which means taxing extensively in order to redistribute the wealth according to federal priorities. Ultimately this is very bad news for individual choice and freedoms, but when the promises are big (free health care, free daycare, living wages, etc.), many people who struggle, and many well-intentioned people who are concerned for those who struggled, buy in.
Recently, the values testing that Gavin referred to was actually implemented in Canada in what was obviously a trial run. Long standing grants for summer student employment were restricted to charities that would sign on the dotted line with regard to “reproductive issues” and various “identities.” Organizations excluded from the running now included the Salvation Army and a huge array of Christian camps and soup kitchens. Was there outcry and outrage? Yes. Was the policy change walked back? No. Not for several years. Not until the next election campaign came and Liberal numbers appeared shaky. But it’s clear to me that this is the direction in which they want to move and will continue to move as long as they have the reins in their hands, which they do, again.
No doubt George knows his people, and no doubt the South would be furious at such developments. But the messaging in the media and entertainment and education is the same there as it is in other parts of the west. And the political map in the US is split, with demographics shifting every year. The Trump Supreme Court appointments will buy time even if the Democrats claim power in the coming election… And the federal/state power structures may buy a bit more… but it can still happen… and it’s worth asking the question, “How will we be faithful should the government in power begin to tighten the screws?”
I share George’s American optimism. Gramsci’s method of world Marxist domination achieved by taken over the institutions is flat. The turning point was Britain’s Brexit vote and the 2016 election. The elites whether wealth, churches, news media, or universities are heaped with scorn, derision, and push back at any attempt to peddle lies.
I can remember my university days back in the 1960’s when professors would conduct teach-ins with one taking the side of why the US should lose in Vietnam and the other would debate why the Viet Cong should win. Tricky. Tricky. Someone did burn down the NROTC building and another did set off two cases of dynamite on the steps of the administration building. And then there was a big march that shut down the I-5 freeway for a few hours. Oh yeah. One of the grad student leaders and member of the Seattle 7 SDS chapter who spent time behind bars for attempting to blow up the Federal Building was a guest of Bill Clinton for his inauguration.
Not so optimistic for the Anglican church as such in the Northern Hemisphere of any stripe.
Totally agree about Benedict, Gavin. He’s wonderful. It was a sad day for Catholics and defecting Anglicans alike when he passed the torch to Francis.
Well, Benedict may have been better than the more liberal Francis, but if we believe that Roman Catholics have got the faith fundamentally wrong – which Anglicans have been saying since the Reformation (and Rome hasn’t changed, but instead has moved even further away from biblical Christianity) – then Benedict wasn’t the answer either. It’s one thing to find ourselves on the same side as more conservative Roman Catholics in the culture wars, but it’s entirely another to suggest that we have the same answer, because we emphatically do not. Drawing a parallel with the paganism which Paul encountered in Asia Minor and Greece and the worldly thinking we find all around us today, can we imagine the apostle calling for an alliance of Christians and Judaizers to meet the challenge? Of course not! Because both the Judaizers and Rome preach a different gospel which is really no gospel at all.