The painful irony is that TEC's decision to reject the authority of God's Word has been gravely injurious, and has itself caused the very division that TEC's leaders claimed they sought to avoid. Once someone rejects Scripture, then they reject Jesus Christ and Christianity as a whole. It's as simple as that. We could not follow a national body that rejected the very Word of God.

Our Anglican churches (under the umbrella of the Anglican District of Virginia) attempted to resolve matters with the diocese and TEC graciously and out of court, following a process that we spent almost a year developing with diocesan representatives. But the diocese and TEC abruptly broke off discussion of settlement and instead launched a legal confrontation. They sued not only our churches, but also almost 200 individual clergy and volunteer board members.

The diocese and TEC have spent millions of dollars making this legal attack against our churches. And this has forced our churches to devote time, effort, and energy to raise millions of dollars for our legal defense -- all of which could and should have been used for spreading the love of God to our communities.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Virginia • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues

1. New Reformation Advocate wrote: A great op-ed piece, and a delight to see it in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.  As a Richmond resident, I must say that our local paper sadly hasn’t been known for doing much to cover religious stories at all in recent years (though that’s a national trend, with cutbacks at most daily newspapers due to falling circulations), and our paper has certainly not known for being sympathetic to the orthodox Anglican cause (like, say, the Washington Times). I’m glad the conservative side had the chance to present our view of this infamous legal dispute.  Now that the 90 minute hearing has taken place, we await the eventual decision, probably in June.  I’m glad that this long ordeal is finally coming to an end at last. Well done, Bishop Bena!  A very positive witness. David Handy+ April 15, 6:25 pm | [comment link]

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