Influence of the Church of England

The last post generated the following reaction:

"Many thanks, Mike .. just so long as you are against it too! .. As you point out, we already have all that we need in our common creeds etc. I only have one point to add. I have heard it said (and I agree) that, although in theory this is something that needs to be considered by each church in turn in the Anglican Communion, the position of the church of England, as the'mother church' of the Communion is going to be more influential (in moral terms, not legally) than the position of other churches. If we reject it, the chances are that it will not really get off the ground elsewhere. Time will tell, no doubt, but I think we need to be aware of this when we vote on the matter."

I have responded:

I am not entirely sure about the influence of the Church of England per se (as distinct from ABC)

Many Americans find it impossible to understand why their country is despised in some parts of the world - this makes their attempts to influence specific situations all the more compromised.

In the same way, I suspect that from our perspective it is easy to overlook the empire legacy and that anything 'British' is not always seen as necessarily to be respected.

Indeed, being first in this process and rejecting the Covenant might well lead to some Churches feeling all the more that it is needed, specifically to overcome that legacy of 'us' telling 'them' what to do and how to behave.

Avoiding a messy outcome from this process will take some finely naunced language.

In my submitted-but-not-yet-examined thesis, I develop the notion of Uncertain Theology which allows for the possibility that what is 'truth' may have to find different forms in different contexts.