Albert Mohler: "The Orthodox Are Finished"

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Acting in open defiance to the worldwide Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church has voted to end a de facto moratorium on the election and consecration of openly gay bishops. The vote -- overwhelming in both houses of the denomination's General Convention -- comes barely 6 years after the American church brought its worldwide communion to the brink of disaster.

The specific language adopted by the General Convention declared the church's openness to the ordination or election of homosexual persons to "any ordained ministry." In taking this action, the Episcopal Church now signals its absolute determination to defy Scripture, tradition, and the urgent cries of its own sister churches in the Anglican Communion.

Of course, the General Convention did not use the language of defiance in describing its own action. Instead, delegates to both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies attempted to describe the action as a way of remaining true to their church's own principles and convictions. In one sense, the delegates could make this claim with something of a straight face. After all, as speakers during the debate made clear, this action is an honest reflection of what the Episcopal Church has now become. the rest