Lutheran and Episcopal decriers not the same.

What to call them? Lutherans and Episcopalians who feel the votes taken by their governing bodies are unscriptural, immoral, theologically unsound, and flying in the face of world Christian opinion, both present and past.

These are not necessarily people who on other levels would be called conservative, although many are.

They are not all lamenting the decisions. Some believe the votes make clear genuine riffs in the community and are honest, if wrong.

But they all decry the decisions. So, let's call them decriers. They make public statements crying out against the changes as wrong, immoral, etc and say the Church is broken. They are crying out against what they perceive as the darkness that has overcome the Church.

In recent days the question has been raised concerning possible union of the decriers. If ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) decriers and TEC (The Episcopal Church) decriers are unhappy about the same sorts of decisions, and knowing that ECLA and TEC are in full communion, might the decriers find common voice and cause as well? Could the ELCA decriers, who have formed an organization CORE (Coalition for Reform) find common cause with the American Anglican Council and finally with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA)?

ACNA is having troubles holding itself together given differences within its component bodies concerning the ordination of women and the continued semi-autonomy of several of its subgroups. But more importantly it grew out of the ecclesial sensibility of rather high esteem of the episcopate. The bishop's council and the form of governance provided in ACNA's Constitution all point to the essential and core role of the episcopate.

I don't know the inner workings of CORE or of the ELCA from which its members came, but I am hard pressed to believe that ELCA decriers would be very comfortable with the ecclesial positions given bishops in the ACNA scheme.

Beyond that, of course, there is the reality that the American Anglican Council is a propaganda front for ACNA and is thus of no use to the ELCA decriers, and ACNA is settling in to be a modestly revised version of others on the long list of Anglican-like entities in North America. See "The Episcopal Church, a Question." for some on that list.

The decriers are not the same. Two groups that dislike the same sorts of decisions are not thereby joined, for their dislikes come from different places and have different ends.

On the other hand, keep a watchful eye, for there is always the opportunity for mischief. Two groups crying fire can cause a bit of a problem down there on the main floor.