“We shall do all we can to support our Archbishop in his immensely difficult task of developing the life of our Communion.”

As several commenters here note, the two evangelical bishops associated with Wycliffe Hall were notably absent from among the signatories.

From what I can gather, the “evangelical wing” of the Church of England can be broken down into several groups or factions: conservatives who support the African primates in their quest to reform the Anglican Communion (or declare themselves the true Communion); liberal revisionists, that is low-churchers who have embraced to one degree or another the broad-church agenda; and conservative pluralists, who will stay within the Church of England and support the Archbishop of Canterbury to hold the whole thing together, despite deep doctrinal divisions. (No doubt this list is not exhaustive, and probably not precise enough.)

I imagine you can find among the Anglo-Catholics an analogous range of inclinations, including members who would reassess the Thirty-nine Articles, reinterpreting (expunging?) elements that reflect the controversies of the 16th century and are thus no longer meaningful in 2008. A Tract 90 revividus, if you will. But will the traditionalists among the high-churchers care if the faith is refashioned Romeward if morals remain decidedly postmodern?

If the future of the Anglican Communion is of any interest to you, count down to the Lambeth Conference here.

. . . is that sound you hear. Ann Coulter is willing to campaign for Hillary Clinton if John McCain is the Republican nominee.

No doubt Hillary is thrilled beyond her ability to express herself.

As is, I’m sure, John McCain . . .

Over at Pajamas Media, actor Ron Silver has a blog. Silver’s TV work has run the gamut from Rhoda in the 1970s to the West Wing more recently, and in film from the serious—Silkwood, Enemies: A Love Story, and Reversal of Fortune (as Alan Dershowitz, no less)—to the goofy-sweet Garbo Talks and the one decent Jean-Claude Van Damme film, TimeCop.

He has also done something even more remarkable: He’s actually spoken at the Republican Convention and been a vocal supporter of President Bush, at least as far as his foreign policy goes.

This has caused Mr. Silver—who eschews political labels—no amount of grief in La-La-Land, as one might expect.

A quote from a November 15 entry:

I believe the President’s critics are profoundly mistaken. I believe they misunderstand how he’s trying to protect us. I believe they misunderstand the nature of the threat. I believe they misunderstand history. If they succeed in dismantling what President Bush has set in motion, the results may well be catastrophic and history will never forgive them.

George W. Bush: a revolutionary liberal internationalist? History may so decree. Let’s wait and see.

Whether you cheer him on or merely cheer “Ron, Ron, the Neocon!” along with his costars, this is a guy who actually risks something with his opinions, as opposed to 95 percent of his confreres who believe they are taking a courageous stand—AND CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED!—because they recycle their organic waste (now available in lieu of first-run network programming).

From David Brooks’ New York Times column today:

Obama is the one insistently calling on audiences to serve a cause greater than self-interest. He’s the one transcending partisanship and telling young people that politics can be the means to a meaningful, purpose-driven life.

Regardless of whether Brooks has gotten Obama right (how, exactly, is he transcending partisanship?), somehow I don’t think politics was what Rick Warren had in mind…

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation recently filmed a 30-minute mini-doc on our editor-in-chief, Richard John Neuhaus.

It is remarkably fair, even affirmative, and well worth your half-hour.