You simply cannot spoof the Antipope John "The Tantrum" Spong

Nope. Not when he ingeniously cuts off any thoughts of spoof or satire by writing this:

Ecclesiastical kindergarten games

In the recent communication between the Pope, Benedict XVI, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, which will allow Anglicans to become Roman Catholics with an "Anglican Twist," we have a sad picture of how out-of-date and irrelevant institutional Christianity has become. Here we have two unimpressive Christian leaders, rooted deeply in yesterday, jockeying publicly to see who can be the most prejudiced about the role of women and the place of homosexual people in the life of the Christian Church. It would be amusing if it were not so ludicrous.

This debate is by now rather tired and most of the world cares very little what either of these two leaders thinks. The Pope constantly parades before the world an uninformed homophobia and his attempt to suggest that women are "separate but equal" is almost pathetic. On his last trip to Africa where violence, bloodshed and massive hunger exist, his moral outrage was directed only toward the use of condoms to stop the spread of the HIV virus. Who can still take those attitudes seriously? The Archbishop of Canterbury, on the other hand, long ago sacrificed a commitment to truth on the altar of church unity, made peace with those infected with the prejudices of sexism and homophobia and acted as if unity could actually be achieved by rejecting women or gay people.

The wise parent will often let the tantrum-throwing, irrational, demanding two-year-old wear himself out before approaching and asking, "Are you done throwing a fit now?" The child, in this case, springs to his Sprongy feet and declares, "I wasn't throwing a fit! I don't know what you're talking about!"

Both of these church leaders seem to me to be lost in the fog of antiquity. For that reason it matters little to me or to most of the world that they continue to play their ecclesiastical kindergarten games. I am quite simply not interested in this debate. It does not speak to my world, and I am amazed that these two men, who are otherwise learned and educated, are nonetheless so unaware of this reality that they continue to pursue their agenda so passionately.

Well, if Spong has no interest in this issue, we can only conclude he has ranted about it for the same reason the two-year-old threw his sippy cup across the room: he hungers for attention. The parent, fortunately, can take heart in the knowledge that children, with proper parenting, will grow into mature, thoughtful, and rational creatures. As for Spong, well, he will always have the enabling comforts of The Washington Post and other media outlets, which appear to be dying as quickly as his brand of sterile, empty, dogmatically anti-doctrinal, Christianity-bashing "Christianity."

Comments

[Charles E Flynn]

The merits of being deeply rooted in "yesterday" is a proper subject for discussion, unlike the merits of being deeply rooted in a 29-cent homemade worldview.

[Gail F]

Oh my goodness. Believe it or not, Bishop Spong played a large role in my return to the Church -- although that was before he went off the deep end. The poor man is delusional. The other day he wrote a long piece about how he was not going to write or say anything more about gay people or homosexual marriage, because the battle is over and his side won and he was just going to shut up about it. I thought "Spong Vows to Shut Up!" would have been a good title for it. He just rants. What a sad waste. How the mighty have fallen...

[David K. Monroe]

He's not delusional, he's just found a way to assure himself of ready access to the editorial pages of major media outlets by being The Bishop Who Hates Christianity. He's used this pose to make himself a major player in the media in spite of the fact that he's a spectacularly untalented thinker and theologian.

[Jackson]

Benedict's "homophobia" seems rather informed to me.

[Ed Peters]

"...spectacularly untalented thinker and theologian."

great line

[Athelstane]

I, for one, am delighted at the prospect that John Spong will no longer speak out on gay people or homosexual marriage.

...but (and you know there's a but)...

We all know how unlikely that is.

Spong's faith simply is not life-giving. It leaves nothing but spiritual desolation in its wake, because it worships nothing but the ever demanding self. The rapid demographic death of the The Episcopal Church (average Sunday attendance per parish now under 100) is only one more piece of evidence of this. "[S]terile, empty, dogmatically anti-doctrinal, Christianity-bashing" faith. That is about the size of it.