Wikipedia co-founder joins traditionalist Anglican Church

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has announced that he’s planning to affix the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA).

For a few years Sanger was a “sceptic” of faith, but in February announced that he had change into a Christian.

In an in depth blog post Sanger said that his objections to Christianity slowly fell away “one after the other” and that the private conduct of Christians, particularly on social media, influenced his view.

In 2019 he began reading the Bible and in 2020 he returned to God “quietly and uncomfortably”.

Now, in one more lengthy blog post, Sanger has explained his reasons for joining the traditionalist ACNA.

One of the pillars of his decision is his belief within the Protestant idea of Sola Scriptura i.e. that the Bible is our only reliable source of knowledge about matters pertaining to God.

This belief led him to “rule out Catholicism fairly quickly and Orthodoxy somewhat more slowly” resulting from their additional emphasis on non-biblical authorities, corresponding to church traditions and councils.

Sanger said, “While I respect and love Catholics as my Christian brothers and sisters, I disagree with them on many other points, and sola scriptura is the basic one which ultimately explains the remaining.”

On why he had chosen ACNA, Sanger said that “Anglicanism has a distinguished status as one of the crucial theologically serious denominations”. 

However, he took aim at what he called the “dumbed-down Church”, saying that it was “widespread in Evangelicals” and “contrasts with Anglican intellectualism”.

Liturgy, in addition to serious considered scripture were also a key component of Sanger’s decision: “Anglicans take their liturgy seriously. Defined by the classic Book of Common Prayer, it’s—as I even have discovered for myself—quite beautiful and galvanizing. It should be so for any Christian, I feel.”

In coming to his decision Sanger said he had examined a complete range of Christian denominations and traditions and regarded the trends, strengths and weaknesses of all, before finally selecting ACNA.

“There are not any perfect denominations. Yet I even have concluded, not reluctantly but enthusiastically and after years of deliberation, that the ACNA is one of the best place for me,” he said.