It doesn't take an expert to observe the Anglican communion over the past 40 years or so and see that anything and everything really does go!
And exactly how old are you? I see from your profile that you are still a raw convert as far as Catholicism is concerned, so perhaps you are still blissfully unaware of the Roman Catholic Church's numerous foibles and difficulties.
Well I of course do not personally know Rev. Williams and I've never met him, but his actions speak for themselves:
To actual Anglicans they do not speak so clearly. Indeed, one of the great disappointments of the radical liberals has been that, having thought that they had installed one of their own on the throne of Canterbury, they now find that he is willing to back the conservatives in order to preserve the communion. He has (in an understated British mode) ridiculed Spong's works as being like the work "of an intelligent 6th former" (high school senior). So I think appointing him as a sign of all that is wrong with Anglicanism is an overstatement, at least.
Quite a lot, maybe not as much as you, but I certainly know enough about the history of the Anglican Church, esp its formation, and its core doctrines or beliefs to never ever become a member of the Anglican Communion. Believe it or not I almost became an Anglican, thank God I did some research before making such a decision.
Well, maybe you did and maybe you didn't. After all, I can find enough book-learning denouncing the Orthodox and most especially the office of the papacy. Those Renaissance popes-- the same ones who turned down Henry's request for an annullment-- abused their office scandalously.
The thing is, the Episcopalians are an easy whipping-boy, and so are the Roman Catholics. There's always some scandal. And all the while, Episcopalians and Catholics keep going to church, and take communion, and hear sermons of greater or lesser spiritual value. The Episcopal Church has been falling apart for thirty years, but oddly enough, it's still there.
All this waxing wroth about other people's churches to me seems totally counterproductive. I have trouble understanding it as anything other than an opportunity for self-righteousness on the one hand and an manifestation of spiritual blindness on the other. Look at the form of the argument: "My church is perfect; yours is a Godless mess." Isn't it
obvious what is dangerous about that sort of statement?
But it also trashes the possibility of real discourse, because it politicizes arguments. I've been challenged by a certain person several times over why I participate in Orthodox discussions when I "obviously have no intention of converting." In other words, my participation must be perceived through the political lens of fealty to an Orthodox church (and when it comes to it, a
particular Orthodox church). But while I might in another time and place argue that people should prefer Anglican belief to Orthodox belief, as an Anglican I have a basic acknowledgement of Orthodoxy which leads me to want the Orthodox to at least do Orthodoxy correctly.
All this positioning and posturing with respect to other denominations ties the speaker's Orthodox faith to the other. If you constantly think of your Orthodox or Catholic faith in opposition to Anglicanism, then your faith is inevitably distorted. The tendency is always going to be to make the differences as large as possible, larger than they really are. You will commit to making untrue generalizations about Anglicans, and worse, you will tend to be pushed away from the heritage of faith that you and the Anglicans share.
