Woeful inability to apply the Bible

Steve Vickers (Letters, March 3) rightly condemns the Anglican communion for becoming ensnared with “woke” activism. Dioceses strip money from congregations, who struggle to support underemployed clergy and maintain buildings. The well paid hierarchy, with plush residences and other perks, have sometimes bought into “woke” fads. American-style Bible belt fundamentalism also exists within Anglicanism. Marriage and reproduction are sometimes placed on a pedestal by evangelicals. Would a celibate, like John the Baptist, feel unwelcome in some parishes? Anglicanism is neither a woke commune, nor a fertility cult.

A woeful inability to apply the Bible is exposed in the unbalanced Anglican approach to abortion and same sex relationships. Abortion is said to account for over 40 per cent of human deaths globally per year, or around one death per second.

The Anglican communion has been fixated on same sex relationships, yet relatively uninterested in the silent genocide resulting from heterosexual sex. Our bishops have certainly not been consistent, and hurt has been caused to minority groups. Easter reminds us of God’s love for all, and of the inestimable value of each human life, so that God took on human flesh and died a shameful death to redeem us.

The Cross speaks of a universal invitation to everyone, with the solid evidence of the resurrection affirming this truth. Contemporary Anglicanism needs to return to the simple biblical message of new life and deliverance from evil. Steve Vickers speaks words of timely and great truth. A house divided against itself cannot stand.

James Hardy, Belfast