Anglicans
英国圣公会教众
United we fall
团结无法拯救的分裂
Aug 7th 2008
From The Economist print edition
The writhings of worldwide Anglicanism are another reason to disestablish the Church of England
英国圣公会在全球范围内承受的痛苦是应该废黜英国国教圣公会的另一个原因
IN THE end it held together, but only just. The 650-odd bishops who attended the once-a-decade Lambeth conference went home with open schism between the liberal and conservative wings of the worldwide Anglican Communion averted. A split may prove no more than postponed, as the agreed mechanisms for making minds meet are oh-so-slowly put in place (see article). But at least the unedifying spectacle of comrades in Christ tearing strips off each other over gay sex will vanish from the headlines for a bit.
最终的团结一致为时已晚。650名主教在出席10年一度的Lambeth会议后，反常的带着自由派和保守派两个阵营间公开的宗派分立回到了各自的教区，而这样的分裂是圣公会在全球范围内都在尽力避免的。这样的分立也许只体现为预先约定好用来统一思想的机制无法按时就位；但是至少基督教友间在同性恋问题上相互指责的丑行一段时间内应该不会再出现在头条新闻上了。
Does it matter if Anglicans fall out? Most churches are riven by tensions: it is not so long ago that the Roman Catholic Opus Dei glared at liberation theologists, and Moscow’s Orthodox still squabble like mad with Constantinople’s. But Anglicans lack the glue that binds those churches together: the power of the pope to impose discipline on straying Catholics; the body of undisputed theology that unites Orthodox believers even when they quarrel. Anglicanism works through relationships, a sense of belonging to a family with a shared inheritance. That now has waned. Despite the apparent reprieve, this year’s Lambeth conference could well be the last of its kind.
解散圣公会的后果真的有那么严重吗？多数教堂因为无法承受压力而分裂开来：正当罗马天主教组织Opus Dei怒视自由派神学家的时候，同样信奉东正教的莫斯科与君士坦丁堡之间却还在疯狂的争吵。英国国教徒们恰恰缺乏将这些教堂团结在一起的媒介：这种力量需要通过某种关系发挥作用，也就是对同一种传承所产生家庭般的归属感。而这种纽带已经变得力量微薄,尽管恶化的形势明显的到缓解，但今年的Lambeth会议很可能是此类活动的最后一次了。
As a secular newspaper that supports gay marriage and believes in a firm line between church and state, we can hardly claim to be a neutral observer in this. Yet trying to look at the Communion from an Anglican perspective (or that of most of them), two things stand out. First, schism might not be a bad thing. And disestablishment would be a very good thing.
作为一家支持同性恋婚姻并且坚信宗教信仰与现实生活有明显界限的非宗教报刊，在这个问题上我们很难宣称自己为中立的观察员。然而当尝试着从大多数圣公会教众的角度观察英国国教的时候，两个问题凸现出来：第一，宗派分立似乎不全是坏事情；第二，废黜英国国教应该会是一件极好的事情。
Good and bad reasons to stick together
成也萧何，败也萧何
The first point is simple realism. Too many angels have danced on too many pins as prelates struggle to embrace mutually incompatible beliefs. The rock on which the Anglican Communion is breaking is ostensibly the consecration of openly gay clergy, especially bishops, and blessings for same-sex unions. Only a small minority in America’s well-groomed Episcopal churches or the Church of England’s underpopulated pews finds clerical homosexuality non-negotiably bad nowadays. Many in Africa and other parts of the “global South” do-and they see efforts to enforce liberal values as “colonial”.
第一点是简单现实主义就可以解释的。正如太多的天使飞舞在针尖上一样，高级教士们努力的接受互不相容的信念。目前圣公会的绊脚石从表面上看是公开的将同性恋甚至人员神圣化，特别是主教；以及为同性婚姻赐福。目前在美国，只有少数非常传统的圣公会或者在人口稀少的地区神职人员的同性恋行为才被不假思索的被认为是亵渎行为。非洲的大部分地区和部分”发展中国家”持同样的观点–他们把强化自由主义价值观的行为看成是”殖民主义行为”。
Attempting to find a way to square this circle has not been an inspiring task. Some argue that liberals must hang in there to rein in the homophobes and misogynists. In fact, too often it is the high ground that gives. The gay American bishop whose promotion launched the latest round of internecine bitterness was not invited to Lambeth. Conservative rebels refused to come anyway. If someone did manage to bury this bone of contention, another would emerge. So why haven’t liberals and conservatives gone their separate ways before now?
尝试解决这个不可能完成的任务并不会令人振奋。有人主张自由派必须坚持到底并且控制那些同性恋恐怖症患者以及厌恶女人的人；但事实上正是在这些问题上做出了最大的让步。对美国同性恋主教晋级的决定引发了最新一轮的痛苦内讧，而他本人也没有被邀请到Lambeth。保守派的叛逆者也拒绝退让。即使有人成功的平息了这个争论的焦点，那么另一个也会出现。那么为什么在此之前自由派和保守派没有他们各自分立的道路呢？
One reason is the sheer weight of history, but this is less important than it was. Another is that most upstarts would rather take over an existing business than go off and start their own-and in Britain, at any rate, Anglicanism’s heirs are in for some serious real estate too. A third is the fact that the Church of England, alone of the Communion, is an established church, its practices and values intertwined with the state and nation it serves. Its peculiar status has inclined it to fudge the argument.
其中一个原因完全来自历史传承的份量，但这个原因已经不再象从前那么重要。另一个原因是因为绝大多数新贵们宁愿接手一个现成的生意也不愿意开创他们自己的 –在英国，至少英国圣公会的继承人们会参与一些重要的房地产项目中去。第三个原因是圣公会已经建立起来，他的价值观与实践已经与它所服务的州府及国家纠缠在一起。这一奇特的地位使它可以规避这些争论。
Establishment brings fewer material advantages to the Church of England these days than the Lutherans, for example, enjoy in much of Scandinavia. And a creeping disestablishment is under way. Yet centuries of crowning kings, burying princesses, celebrating the nation’s victories, running a lot of its state-funded schools and getting Parliament to cast an eye over the decisions of its ruling General Synod have made the Church of England what it is. It prides itself on keeping the door open to all comers, though few pop in. It stresses inclusiveness and stands up for a public space for all faiths. Admirable stuff-but its numbers are falling.
目前在斯堪的纳维亚的大多数地区设立机构给圣公会带来的实惠远比不上路德教会，于是废黜的活动正在悄悄地进行中。尽管圣公会拥有属于它数个世纪的王室荣耀，掌握很多州府资助的学校，通过议会监视宗教大会；尽管这些传承让圣公会达到今时今日的地位；尽管鲜有加入者，但是它以向所有人敞开大门而荣；尽管它为民众的信念而挺身而出；尽管这是一些让人无比钦佩的人；但是圣公会的数量在下降。
Compare that with churches in America, or Africa. No theocrats they, but fishers of men in competitive waters. Their messages must be more sharply defined to win souls. But by keeping the focus soft, as an established church must, the Church of England, which dominates this least authoritarian of associations, has blunted the contest of ideas and distorted debate within the Communion (and its own ranks). Time, surely, for all sides to fight their corner, free of the shackles of the state.
将这些与在美洲以及非洲的教堂相比，那里没有神权政治家，只有人中龙凤，他们的福音必须更清晰明确的赢得灵魂的信赖。那里的圣公会做到了一个建立起来的教堂所必须做到的–保持低调，但却控制着这个专制组织。它模糊了观念的抗争并且在圣公会内部曲解争端。对于准备战斗到底的各方来说，时间无疑会解除束缚他们手脚的桎梏。
译者：Tidehunter http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=13260&extra=page%3D1