"This time, this time, this time, this time . . .

Once again commentators and lawyers on the conservative side of the Episcopal Church are tearing apart the latest decision by a judge that found that you can not leave and take the property with you if you were once a member of the Episcopal Church.  For instance see this written by a A.S. Haley.  Not sure who he is but his profile lists him as a church attorney.  Again not sure what what that means but if he really makes a living as a church attorney more power to him.  He seems to have taken over for Brad Drell who is down to posting about once every two months.  I also link to Mr. Haley because he once posted that I wouldn't link to him.  So here you go Mr. Haley.

The problem with all this is that these people continue to mislead people into thinking that they will be able to leave the Episcopal Church and keep the property.  Every time a decision comes out Mr. Haley and others go on and on telling us how the bad news for the dissidents is really bad news for TEC.  They nitpick the opinion and show how it will never be applied anywhere but this specific fact pattern and this specific state and tell the dissidents to not fear the decision in other places.  

The problem with this beyond their bad legal advise is that people are mislead into thinking that they can leave the Episcopal Church and keep the property.  Now I am sure some will say that this is not a part of the decision for those leaving.  But it is fairly clear that some who leave don't feel as strongly as their leaders and go with the crowd.  This is especially the case when the leaders try to keep the church.  The other problem is that this is not the only place where they are mislead.  They are also fed a steady diet of misrepresent

ations about the Episcopal Church and its leaders.  This combined with the idolatry of scriptures leads to a mess for those in dissident Churches.  

All of this makes me sad.  It was very predicable the way the court decisions would come out and if the dissidents had better legal advice up front they might have taken some different paths that would have been less painful for all of us.

Meanwhile people like Mr. Haley still haven't stopped.  They remind me of a great scene in Bee Movie.  (If you haven't seen it you should it is more than just a kids movie.)  In the movie the main Bee, played by Jerry Seinfeld, is trying to fly through a window.  He tries several times each time thinking that this time he will be able to fly through the clear window and is each time met by a the window that keeps him from getting out.  He says

 "This time, this time, this time, 

this time . . ."  

This is what the conservative legal 

advisors are like each failure is 

met with renewed resolve to try 

again and again and again.  

And the saddest part of all is 

that it is a huge waste of time 

and money.