The Sign of the Diner Parking Lot

Three more Church of England dioceses voted today on the proposed Anglican Covenant, and only one of the three accepted it, while the other two said No. This brings the total out of 44 to 8 in favor and 13 against. More votes next week; and you can follow the tally at Modern Church. In theory this could all be over by St Patrick's Day.

I have begun to wonder to what extent the merits or demerits of the Covenant itself are really the basis for voting up or down at this point. The voting has long been cast, in the wider Communion, in other extraneous ways — as a show of loyalty either to the Archbishop or the Communion itself, for example. Many who support the Covenant, as my friend Mimi points out, rarely cite the actual text, but point to the "idea" of the Covenant. (I've noted this somewhat gnostic trend myself.)

For something so important (i.e., "the only way forward") to do as poorly as it has so far -- even if it were to rally and finally be adopted by a majority of synods (and provinces) in the end, surely indicates that there is no fundamental consensus of support. It should be clear to all by now that the proposed Covenant is not "the future shape of Anglicanism" and is a flawed document put forward for final action too soon, and with too little attention paid to the feedback in the review process.

Its supporters have thus already lost a key "selling point" just on the basis of reception so far; and that may be having a kind of reverse band-wagon effect. Who goes to the diner with only a few cars parked outside? Let's keep driving, dear; there's bound to be something better down the road.

Tobias Stanislas Haller BSG
h/t Thinking Anglicans