It’s about the fact that I’ve stood by a grave side in Africa of a group of Christians who’d been attacked because of something that had happened far, far away in America, and they were attacked by other people because of that and a lot of them had been killed.
—Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, 4/4/2014
My last post here commented on the Archbishop of Canterbury's recent remarks about a visit to Africa. While there, the Archbishop visited the site of a terrible massacre of Christians. He was told by locals that the perpetrators of the crime were incited by fear that Christians would introduce homosexuality to the community. By inference, the accusation implicates the Church in North America.
Lionel Deimel has just issued a challenge to the Archbishop of Canterbury to back up the implied accusation. The Episcopal blogger from Pittsburgh writes on May 4th in Lionel Deimel's Web Log:
Lionel Deimel has just issued a challenge to the Archbishop of Canterbury to back up the implied accusation. The Episcopal blogger from Pittsburgh writes on May 4th in Lionel Deimel's Web Log:
The Archbishop of Canterbury made this rather elliptical remark on a radio talk show a month ago. He has done little to clarify his assertion, which has been taken to mean that the Church of England cannot perform same-sex weddings because it will lead to the murder of Christians in Africa, as has happened before as a result of The Episcopal Church’s consecration of a gay bishop.
What I do not want to do here is discuss the morality of the archbishop’s putting the brakes on church blessings of same-sex unions in England with the intention of protecting the lives of Christians elsewhere. That topic has been adequately explored elsewhere. I want to discuss Welby’s premise.
If Justin Welby is to be taken seriously, he needs to document his contention that Africans have been slaughtered because of actions of The Episcopal Church. I have been unable to find any news reports making such a connection, and I think it exceedingly unlikely that such a connection exists.
As I admitted earlier, I do not doubt that the archbishop was told of the connection by his informants, but that is only hearsay, and hearsay from people who likely concocted their story for their own purposes. Perhaps they even believe their own story. That, however, does not make the story true.
Violence in Africa usually has more proximate causes, however—tribal rivalries, political struggles, contention for resources, or abstract Muslim-Christian antipathies. The people who know why the Christians Welby talked about were killed are not the witnesses of the atrocity, but the perpetrators. Did anyone ask them what their real motives were? Would you expect a truthful answer even if you did? Probably not.
The challenge to the archbishop, then, is to present independent evidence that actions of The Episcopal Church have been a proximate cause of atrocities in Africa. If he can offer no such evidence, he should admit it. Otherwise, it will be reasonable to conclude that Justin Welby believed what he was told because of his own prejudices, and his credibility, or even his veracity, will be in grave doubt.
Well, archbishop, what about it? Is there anyone else out there who can verify Justin Welby’s “facts”?
If Justin Welby is to be taken seriously, he needs to document his contention that Africans have been slaughtered because of actions of The Episcopal Church. I have been unable to find any news reports making such a connection, and I think it exceedingly unlikely that such a connection exists.
As I admitted earlier, I do not doubt that the archbishop was told of the connection by his informants, but that is only hearsay, and hearsay from people who likely concocted their story for their own purposes. Perhaps they even believe their own story. That, however, does not make the story true.
Violence in Africa usually has more proximate causes, however—tribal rivalries, political struggles, contention for resources, or abstract Muslim-Christian antipathies. The people who know why the Christians Welby talked about were killed are not the witnesses of the atrocity, but the perpetrators. Did anyone ask them what their real motives were? Would you expect a truthful answer even if you did? Probably not.
The challenge to the archbishop, then, is to present independent evidence that actions of The Episcopal Church have been a proximate cause of atrocities in Africa. If he can offer no such evidence, he should admit it. Otherwise, it will be reasonable to conclude that Justin Welby believed what he was told because of his own prejudices, and his credibility, or even his veracity, will be in grave doubt.
Well, archbishop, what about it? Is there anyone else out there who can verify Justin Welby’s “facts”?
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