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Anglican Bishop Bans Faithful Christian Publication from Parishes
"As bishop, I do not endorse any such material"
By Hilary White
BRANDON, November 7, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A Manitoba Anglican bishop has banned a publication supportive of traditional Christian moral and doctrinal truths from his diocese. Bishop Jim Njegovan of Brandon Manitoba has said that the magazine, The Anglican Planet, is "sowing the seeds of distrust and disdain within the Church," and that the publishers "have no respect for those in authority over them."
Ironically, the publication that has so offended this ostensibly Christian bishop is one that promotes the traditional Christian worldview in which sexual relations are reserved for a man and a woman in marriage and that homosexual activity is sinful.
Njegovan told the CBC that he had banned the The Anglican Planet in his parishes. "As bishop, I do not endorse any such material. Nor do I wish to see it distributed in, or to, our parishes."
The Anglican Planet is published out of Charlottetown by Anglican minister David Harris who said that the bishop is making a mistake. "We're getting letters from people saying they just feel refreshed by another voice within the Anglican Church of Canada," said Harris.
Many orthodox Christian Anglicans, Harris said, feel the Anglican Journal, the official paper of the Anglican Church of Canada, "was representing an extreme liberal view of everything."
In the last few years, the world has watched as the forces of secular humanism and sexual libertinism have split the worldwide Anglican Communion in the west into warring factions with bishops often opposing their own flock in promoting anti-Christian positions. According to an extensive study done in England, church attendance, and therefore revenues, have plummeted as a result of the abandonment by clergy of the religious tenets still held by the laity.
Despite the accepted liberal orthodoxy that traditional Christianity holds no interest to Canadians, the magazine has surprised even its publishers by garnering close to ten times the expected readership. Subscriptions that were expected not to rise above 600 have already topped 5000.
"The response has just been incredible," Said Harris. "From coast to coast we have received e-mails [from readers] saying they never dreamed it was possible to like an Anglican paper. We've helped conservatives across the country feel like they are not alone."
Sue Careless, a pro-life journalist living in Toronto commented to Christian Week magazine that the orthodox Christian voice in the Anglican Church of Canada is not being heard elsewhere. "Any kind of movement must have its own media if it is going to go anywhere. The orthodox in the Anglican Church in Canada need their own voice, need their own face. There's a whole community out there. And I don't think they are being well served by the Anglican Journal."
Read the Anglican Planet online:
http://anglicanplanet.net/news.php
