The letter from Archdeacon Peter Macleod-Miller has certainly cleared the air for me.
I thought that if you went public with points of view and actions that went against the rules of an organisation that you belonged to, then it was pretty certain that you were going to draw flak.
But I can see that must have got that wrong, as he supports his mate, Bishop John McIntyre, against those nasty evangelicals who would prefer to stay within the rules of the Anglican Church of Australia and promote a Christian viewpoint based on the Bible.
I agree that Bishop John certainly has a track record on his very vocal support of social justice records, but there seems to be very little actual action on the ground from within his diocese.
The work amongst the Sudanese people is commendable (and I know this because I was on the Parish of Sale’s council at the time when it sought funding from Wellington Shire to do this work), but even his much vaunted views for aboriginal ministry struggles to find support from within his own diocese.
But the Archdeacon’s attack on evangelicals astounds me.
To use right wing, even Nazi-style language, to describe them is surely the height of bad taste, and one that does no good for those who want to promote a Bible-based message to our communities.
Perhaps if he can convince the bishop to be more evangelical, and less concerned with trying to squeeze meanings from the Bible that suit his own agenda, then maybe, just maybe, the truth of the Christian message might be better promoted throughout Gippsland.
