The Anglican communion headed by Canterbury cathedral has been taken over by a group of radicalized elites. The massive shift affects not only the Anglican communion itself, but Great Britain, the Commonwealth, and the global Christian community.

The current coup seeks to disestablish Christianity in favor of a religio-political cult dedicated to applying queer theology to the Church, a process that involves the deconstruction of historic church doctrines.  

The current coup is as significant as Henry VIII’s break from the Catholic church and the authority of the pope in 1534. Henry’s actions disestablished the Church’s position as being superior to earthly authority by making the state headed by the person of the King as the supreme head of the Christian church.

The sign and seal of the queering of Canterbury communion and the cult’s ascendency to power has been the defacement and degradation of the cathedral by the recent graffiti display approved by the Dean of the Cathedral, David Monteith, who considers himself married to a man. The artist is Alex Vellis, who self-describes as a non-binary trans activist using the pronouns “they/them.”

While the graffiti is in the form of removable stickers and so will not remain permanent, it is worth asking a question posed by Dr. Gavin Ashenden, former chaplain to Queen Elizabeth II: Why would both the dean and the artist approve a message that would “wound, disturb, disorder, disrupt and pollute a cathedral”?  

The answer is that the disruption is a deliberate assault designed to undermine the foundational beliefs Canterbury cathedral has represented for over a millennium.

Since ancient times, defacement and destruction of buildings, particularly religious sanctuaries, indicate profound political and theological shifts. Destruction of rivals’ symbols, statues and buildings is meant to show the watching world the complete loss of the authority wielded by those who created them. The God or gods on whose behalf the constructs were erected are considered conquered and effectually dead.  

Sennacherib destroyed the temples of the gods of Babylon.  Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the ruler of the Seleucid Empire, erected a statue of Zeus and sacrificed a pig in the Jewish Temple of Jerusalem.

In more recent times, the mosaics of Hagia Sophia, which means Holy Wisdom, have been overwhelmed by huge medallions summarizing in writing the wisdom of Sunni Islam. The cathedral’s emphasis on the trinitarian doctrine of Holy Wisdom as the emanation of the Holy Spirit has been replaced by a religion seen by its adherents as superior to Christianity.

The Russian Orthodox faith was seen by Josef Stalin as a rival world view that required suppression and outright destruction. The Cathedral of Christ the Savior was turned into rubble and its treasures seized in 1931. The space it once occupied was turned into a public swimming pool. Other churches were turned into public lavatories.

The “opiate of the people” was considered conquered and a new order established. The old God was thought to be erased as new gods took over.

In like manner, leaders of the religio/political cult have assumed power over the Anglican Canterbury communion, long considered primary among Anglican communities worldwide.  They are announcing the God formerly worshipped by devout Christians in Canterbury cathedral has been disempowered and new gods have taken authority.  The old ways have been, as Dean Monteith has proclaimed, “disrupted,” and that disruption is considered a good thing. The continuing disruptions are now likely to be ratified by the newly chosen archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally. She has indicated she is committed to the doctrines of queer theology, including blessing same sex unions.

Once again, a core issue within the Anglican community concerns marriage. For Henry VIII, the Catholic Church and the authority of the pope were to be discarded because he wanted an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Eventual seizure and redistribution of the Catholic monasteries’ wealth and the persecution of those committed to Catholicism followed.

Now the Christian views on marriage established by Christ are once again deemed outdated and must give way to the beliefs of a now ascendant cult that seeks to establish unions between men and men; women and woman. Indeed, the trans movement within the cult seeks to abolish the distinction between the sexes altogether.

While the secularist mindset regards the issues presented by the defacement as picayune distractions, the consequences of the attempts to cancel the thousand-year-old Christian culture of Canterbury Cathedral are enormous.

The nations of the British Commonwealth are deeply affected, as many have large Anglican communities who strongly disagree with the attempts to redirect and supplant the doctrines of Christianity.

For example, Nigeria’s status as a member of the British Commonwealth may well be affected.  Nigeria has a larger and far more traditionally minded number of Anglicans — some 18 million — than England itself. The Nigerian Anglican community has now split from the Canterbury communion.

In view of the lack of support for the Anglican communities of faith, it is not surprising to find the current hierarchy of Canterbury, including the incoming archbishop Mullally, reluctant to address the persecution of Nigeria’s Anglican Christian community, some of whom have been martyred.

During a Christmas gathering in 1170, Henry II reportedly raged against Becket, exclaiming, “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” Some knights took Henry’s words to mean he wanted Becket dead.  They obliged, murdering the archbishop in front of Canterbury’s altar.

The poet T.S. Eliot, author of  Murder in the Cathedral, relates that Becket said he had to resist the king’s authority over the Church, putting “the law of God above the law of Man.”

Eliot depicts the faithful, who, despite the murder of the archbishop of Canterbury, regarded the act as “the desperate exercise of a failing power.” They added they still “expect the rise of a new constellation. ... [The] Church is stronger for this action.  Triumphant in adversity, it is fortified by persecution; supreme, so long as men will die for it.”

It was also T.S. Eliot who in his poem “The Hollow Men” indicated the ennui and spiritual emptiness of moderns whose faith had been shattered.

Were he alive today, he may well have predicted that unless spiritual invention revives the Christian faith in Canterbury and indeed in all Great Britain, Anglicanism will also end “not with a bang, but with a whimper.” 

A combination of disinterest in and ignorance of the Christian world view has almost ensured the current energies of the leaders of the Canterbury communion will continue to be directed toward dissipating the Christian faith that once undergirded Canterbury and the West.

Only a return to the ancient paths of the Way for which millions have been martyred; the Way that Christians believe leads to eternal life filled with beauty, goodness, and inexpressible joy will ensure that Anglican Christianity does not end with a whimper.

There is hope.  There are leaders who see clearly what is happening and are resisting. Among the resistors is the Most Reverend Dr. Laurent Mbanda of Rwanda, who has stated:

The reordering of the Global Anglican Communion is about more than appointing a woman as Archbishop of Canterbury. It responds to decades of departure from God’s Word, ongoing revisionism, and failed communion structures. ... We have not left the Anglican Communion; we are the Anglican Communion.

Andrew Lines of the Anglican Network in Europe also has responded strongly to the assault on traditional Anglicanism:

The large majority of the Anglican Communion will not be able to work with Dame Sarah in her new role because of her ... track record of departure from key aspects of historic Christian doctrine and ethics. The appointment demonstrates the imposition of the worldview of elites from the Western world rather than a desire to engage with and unite faithful Anglicans from different cultures for the sake of gospel mission.

From ancient times, stone has been used for buildings as a sign of the endurance of the worldview that inspired their erection. The founders and builders of Canterbury cathedral believed a thing of beauty is a joy forever, a monument to the beauty, goodness and holiness of God.

Perhaps a time of repentance must presage renewal of the living faith that inspired the creation of the now sadly defaced cathedral. It may be a beautiful beginning of a renewal of faith to heed Canterbury Cathedral Choir’s call to repentance before God.

God have mercy on Canterbury.

Fay Voshell is a frequent contributor to American Thinker.  She may be reached at fvoshell@yahoo.com.

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