The Imaginary Majority

To the surprise of few who recall recent history, it turns out that there were not 20 Provinces in support of the rather bizarre Global South statement that came out last week. Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Southern Africa has made it clear that he won't touch the thing:

...I wish to offer this clarification of the position of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, in light of the potentially misleading impression that our Province has endorsed the Communiqué issued at the end of the meeting. Whereas Canon Livingstone Ngewu and I were present in Kigali, neither of us were made aware even of the possibility of a communiqué in the name of the Primates of the Global South, prior to its release...

So now there may be, at the very most, 19 Global South Provinces who will allow themselves to be associated with this obnoxious missive. 19 out of 38 can no longer be touted as a "majority."

I'm sure that a few more Primates will come forward in the days ahead to distance themselves from this embarrassing attempt to codify extremism. And no doubt there are a few Primates who would like to keep their name out of all of this, but will remain silent to keep on the good side of the Archbishop of the World Nigeria.

Since we will probably never know who wrote this thing, and in the end who was strongly in support of it, I guess we are free to speculate, and then let the Global South refute such speculations?

Marty Minns wrote the document. Almost all of it is about the Network. It uses Network language, and hands them everything they've been asking for on a silver platter.

Nigeria championed it at the meeting. Signatures were not affixed because they could not be assured of a majority signing on to such an outrageous statement. Instead, we were given the strong implication that all those present affirmed it, which has now been proven to be false.

Who really supported this? Peter Akinola, Nigeria; Henry Orombi, Uganda; Drexel Gomez, West Indies; and Gregory Venables of the Southern Cone. The 20 has become 4.

There's my speculations. Yours?

J.