From an article in the Telegraph today:
“The floods that have devastated swathes of the country are God’s judgment on the immorality and greed of modern society, according to senior Church of England bishops.
The Bishop said pro-gay laws were to blame for the floods (photo caption)
One diocesan bishop has even claimed that laws that have undermined marriage, including the introduction of pro-gay legislation, have provoked God to act by sending the storms that have left thousands of people homeless.
While those who have been affected by the storms are innocent victims, the bishops argue controversially that the flooding is a result of Western civilisation’s decision to ignore biblical teaching.
The Rt Rev Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle, argued that the floods are not just a result of a lack of respect for the planet, but also a judgment on society’s moral decadence.
‘This is a strong and definite judgment because the world has been arrogant in going its own way,’ he said. ‘We are reaping the consequences of our moral degradation, as well as the environmental damage that we have caused.’
The bishop, who is a leading evangelical, said that people should heed the stories of the Bible, which described the downfall of the Roman empire as a result of its immorality.”
There’s a part of me that thinks something is being mis-reported here. But if not, the preaching that God is punishing the victims of the flooding is pretty unusual within Anglican theological discourse. I’m wondering about why this message was released at this time…
Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have made similar claims, but I’m not able to recall another instance of modern Anglican prelates making these sorts of statements.
Read the rest here.
It’s even more worrying when you consider that the said bishop has a responsibility for all the lay preachers/theologians in the Church of England. I’ve commented in more detail on this story on my blog, like you with a caveat that the paper may be mis-reporting (though I suspect, given some of his past support for weird exorcism groups at Ellel Grange, that it may, sadly, be accurate)
In case anyone’s interested, I recently posted about gay marriage and it can be found at http://bubbasoundsoff.com/2007/06/24/deflating-dobsons-rhetoric/
Bubba
The last bit by Bishop Chartres is a tad e contextu . I can’t imagine him using this kind of rhetoric. He may have been making some titters about climate change.
Frankly, I’m not surprised in the least. This sort of viciousness lurks just underneath the civil and reasonable tone in Anglican circles, and isn’t too hard to unmask even in the Windsor Report. At least Robertson’s straightforward in what lurks behind his reasoning. But now we see here as well. Nothing shall remain hidden. And of course, I’m sure this bishop is Windsor Compliant in all the points that really matter. Inciting others to violence implicitly if not explicitly against gay people is something Anglican leaders can wink wink nudge nudge one another about…
I’m reminded of the Tower of Siloam…if the good bishop finds himself facing adversity is he now the one reaping God’s punishment…probably, not, he’d blame it on the gays still.
And I thought some of our (USA) bishops were bananas.
“downfall of the Roman empire as a result of its immorality.”
Well some historians have said it was in fact the romans turing to christianity that led to the downfall of the roman empire. And oh please, punishment for homosexuality? At the end ofthe Athenian war (or pelopponesian war) it as Sparta (who used homosexuality as a practice in it’s military) that came out on top. if god punished people for sin, surely they would have lost. Though when they were eventually beaten, it was by an army from Thebes, who had as it’s main army homosexuals. Why didn’t god punish them?
Blaming homosexuality is the worse scapegoat i have seen. Homosexuality was around before chirst, the bible and christianity and was not the downfall of civilisation, in fact it increased empires. This man is just one of the few ignorant christians, who give the whle christian community a bad name.