“Pagan garb?”  Well, to the uninformed about Welsh history, I suppose this is so.  +Rowan is a member of the Gorsedd o Bardd…..the Council of the Bards, and this has nothing to do with the Druid religion.  It is a cultural thing, as any good Welshman will tell you.

BTW, a bard can be either a poet, writer, or musician.

And mind you, I am not defending his tenure in office; it has been one of failure, as has been so well documeented.

Marin Bashir toss this line in, as if we wouldn’t notice:

And this includes many, in West African churches, whose moral position means they compare gay people to feral dogs, turn a blind eye to polygamy and treat women as chattel.

Who and what is he referring to, or is this just a repeat of that tired old canard about the ‘primitive africans’?

As I recall, +John Spong was one of those who referred to them as “primitive Africans,” and he later was forced to recant.  The references to homosexuality came from the international LGBT crowd, if I remember rightly.

Yes, Stefano, just slander. 

The “blind eye to polygamy” thing is a twisting of the circumstances some years ago where anglican leaders in countries where polygamy was rife had to use care in what they urged their new converts to do - if a convert or associate of the church put away his extra wives, the wives might well starve - there is no welfare in many of these countries.  Provision had to be made for the cast-off wives, but that doesn’t change the fact that the churches have always taught aganist polygamy.

+Rowan is a member of the Gorsedd o Bardd…..the Council of the Bards, and this has nothing to do with the Druid religion

No doubt. They’re just led by druids, who aside from leading the order, have nothing to do with it.

The Archdruid is elected for three years, and he is the Head of the Gorsedd of the Bards.

7.  If you will log onto “Welsh Bards,” you’ll find that it has to do with Welsh culture…...the arts, in fact.  For many years, I have been involved in re-discovering my own “Welshness,” and I’ve been participating in Gymanfa Ganoedd (festivals of sacred song, etc) throughout the U.S., and the only religious part of them has been hymn-singing in Welsh…..the language of my fathers.  And I’ve heard some great Methodist preaching, too! 

To be elected to the Council of the Bards (Gorsedd o Bardd) is considered a very high honor, and for any true Welshman or woman to be so chosen is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Now, call it what you will, but the wearing of the robes is regarded as something special, and is strictly symbolic of the Order, and nothing else.  The fact that the robes are similar to druidic garb is coincidental, in my opinion, and he or she who wears them as a way of celebrating their Welsh heritage deserves no form of censure or disapproval.  After all, we also wear the cilt and other such garb associated with Celtic tradition.  ++Rowan was elected to the Council because of his contribution to Welsh literature.

C’mon! Frazer’s The Golden Bough tells us that it used to be a high honor for a Celt to have sex with a horse prior to becoming king.  Just because something is a high honor doesn’t make it admirable, or Christian. Bonus: ask your average Episcopalian clergy-tron if the cross is a symbol.