Archbishop of Canterbury Says Nativity "A Legend"

Telegraph (UK) ^ | December 20, 2007 | Sophie Borland

[Biggirl]

That is why is it SO IMPORTANT to support doing fact checking on subjects like this one because the MSM SEEMS to get it all wrong.

[jboot]

With all due respect, I cannot decode how you extract the concrete statement "Yes, I believe in the virgin birth" from:

Yes; I believe that the conception of Jesus was a moment when the creative action of God produced a reality as new in its way as the first moment of creation itself. And I believe that what opened the way for this was the work of God through human history over centuries, coming to its fullest moment in Mary’s consent to God’s call. The recognition of the uniqueness and newness of Jesus is a recognition of the absolute freedom of God to break the chains of cause and effect that lock us into our sins and failures; the virginal conception is an outward sign of this divine freedom to make new beginnings.

If there is any concrete statement to be found in this turgid mass of weasel words, it may be something to the effect of:

"The conception of Jesus was really, really special and can be considered-if we so choose-to involve a virgin birth, but it is better understood as a metaphor."

Not a sweeping affirmation by any means.

[bobjam]

While those Christmas cards, and just about every Nativity scene and Christmas pageant in the Western World show the “3 Kings” being present at the Birth, the Gospels paint a different story. They indicate the Wise Men came after the birth- possibly as many as two years later. This is why “3 Kings” are observed the Sunday before Epiphany and not on Christmas Day.

For militant Christians of other denominations, who know their own churches are in perfect order and are completely devoid of homosexual clergy and leaders who might privately question major doctrines, might do well to read the interview before lauching more diatribes against the Anglicans.