The first week of Synod began with a locally produced Compass program on ABCTV which many Sydney Anglicans could identify with as an accurate portrayal of who we are. The second week started with the screening of a BBC documentary on GAFCON, more than a year old, which veered towards caricature.

1. Even the name, Battle of the Bishops, portrayed the problems in the Anglican Church as a power-play. It concentrated on the issue of homosexuality, which is only the tip of the iceberg of the theological problems of the Episcopal Church, but the easiest for the producers to grasp and portray. In doing so, it distorted our position as anti-gay and nothing else. There were no quotes from the New Testament on sexuality, only from Leviticus. But as much as it misrepresented the orthodox position, the vibrancy and the courage of the African church did come through. The scene of Nigerian Bishop Ben Kwashi explaining how his wife was attacked, brutalised and left for dead was very powerful. I was with Ben Kwashi as he was interviewed in the Garden of Gethsemane and was disappointed but not surprised by the one dimensional line of questioning. This godly leader had so much more to say - if only he was asked.

2. The Synod debates attracted less attention from the local media this week, they were much more fixated by the Pope’s offer. The Age’s Barney Zwartz provided balanced coverage which concluded, despite the ballyhoo, that it doesn’t mean much in the Southern Hemisphere. George Conger at Religious Intelligence later did a review which showed there will be no exodus across the Tiber.

3. After years of considering it a duty to bash the hypocrisy of Christians, the papers, albeit briefly, turned the attack on so-called ‘celebrity atheists’. The writer, a jewish scholar, puts it in terms we can agree with “The telescope and the microscope that Hitchens says has made religion redundant, does not answer for us why we are here and what is the purpose of human existence.”

4. Speaking of Hitchens, it seems he has been keeping company with Douglas Wilson. In fact, they’ve been on a joint tour and there’s a movie about it. National Public Radio has this fascinating story about it. The movie is called ”Collision”. Not sure what the movie will be like, but the NPR interview is definitely worth a listen. Then send the link to every atheist you know.

5. We started with Nigeria, so let’s end this week’s top five with it. Christianity Today revealed something I had not been aware of, that the Christian movie powerhouse of the world is not the US, but Nigeria. In fact Nollywood, as they call it, recently surpassed Hollywood in film production. Read all about it.

Just a reminder, if you find this weekly round-up helpful, send the link to a friend and make my midnight pounding on a keyboard worthwhile! Till next week....