Protestant Clergy – Page 15

January 19, 2016January 19, 2016

The Selective Outrage of the Anglican Church

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, addresses the media during a press conference in Canterbury, England, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. Anglican spiritual leader Justin Welby is set to lead a task force that will focus on rebuilding relationships after religious leaders temporarily restricted the role of the Episcopal Church in their global fellowship as a sanction over the U.S. church's acceptance of gay marriage. Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is expected Friday to explain the decision to bar Episcopalians from any policy-setting positions in the Anglican Communion for three years. The decision avoided a permanent split in the 85 million-member communion, though it dismayed liberal Anglicans. — The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, addresses the media during a press conference in Canterbury, England, Friday, Jan. 15, 2016. Anglican spiritual leader Justin Welby is set to lead a task force that will focus on rebuilding relationships after religious leaders temporarily restricted the role of the Episcopal Church in their global fellowship as a sanction over the U.S. church’s acceptance of gay marriage. Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is expected Friday to explain the decision to bar Episcopalians from any policy-setting positions in the Anglican Communion for three years. The decision avoided a permanent split in the 85 million-member communion, though it dismayed liberal Anglicans.

For the worldwide Anglican Communion, the world’s largest Protestant denomination, sexuality has become a line in the sand.

The Episcopal Church, Anglicanism’s American branch, was suspended on Thursday for three years for its willingness to consecrate same-sex marriages. But the punishment is not expected to dissuade Episcopalian leaders. As Jim Naughton, a communications consultant for the Episcopal Church said, “We can accept these actions with grace and humility but the Episcopal Church is not going back. We can’t repent what is not sin.”

But the denomination’s decision should not be interpreted as a theologically orthodox parent lovingly disciplining its rebellious child. Beneath the Anglican Communion’s actions against the Episcopal Church lies selective outrage, with the Episcopal Church being punished for its attempt to interpret doctrine, while unambiguous sins of other leaders have gone unaddressed.The Episcopal Church has been embroiled in controversy over LGBT issues since at least the mid-1970s, when it declared that gay men and lesbians “have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.” It later moved to accept the ordination of LGBT clergy, even consecrating Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop in 2003.

During this same period, the Episcopal Church began bleeding worshippers—losing half its membership since 1966—with donations falling alongside. While some vibrant Anglican congregations began sprouting across America in recent years, many have chosen to sidestep the Episcopal Church and align with foreign bishops instead. The Episcopal Church has become a mangled mess of a denomination, divided among itself and drifting rapidly from its global compatriots.The final collision came last year when the Episcopal Church decided to officially bless same-sex marriages. For its more conservative leaders, this was a bridge too far.

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So the vote to suspend the Anglican Communion’s U.S. arm on Thursday is only somewhat surprising. Many have predicted that some kind of schism is inevitable. But the way in which the vote occurred is deeply troubling. It passed by a two-thirds majority and “included prominent voices among African bishops who have loudly condemned the American church for its liberal stance on gays.”Africa is a continent that is regressive, even oppressive, in its treatment of LGBT persons. In approximately 70 countries, including 34 in Africa, gays and lesbians can be imprisoned for years or even receive life sentences. In Nigeria, it is illegal for LGBT people to hold meetings or form clubs. In countries like Somalia, they can be executed by the state under Sharia law. In Mauritania, men convicted of homosexual acts can be stoned to death. In Angola, cross-dressing will earn you jail time. And famously, Uganda offers life sentences for those convicted of “aggravated homosexuality,” whatever that means. An earlier version of their anti-gay bill allowed for the death penalty.Anglicans maintain strong presences in many of these countries, and Christian religious leaders, including Anglicans, have supported the oppressive treatment of gays and lesbians there. Uganda’s anti-gay law, for example, was backed by its Anglican Church. Such laws are wildly out of step with any ethical code bearing the label “Christian.”

The public and private support of such laws by African Anglican leaders is inexcusable. But instead of being defrocked, these prelates have maintained full participation in the Anglican Communion and have even led the charge to single out the Episcopal Church for punishment. This year, African Anglicans celebrated the appointment of a Nigerian Bishop to the prestigious role of secretary general, despite his history of support for the criminalization of homosexuality.Jesus compared the Pharisees to “whitewashed tombs” that “look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.” Christina Rees, a member of the General Synod, the governing body of the Church of England, called out her church’s similar inconsistency:

This is not how Anglicans should behave. It’s awful. It’s a terrible outcome to the meeting of the primates in Canterbury. What action will now be taken against all those churches in the Anglican Communion who treat gay men and women as criminals? Will they be suspended for three years, too?

Likely not. The Anglican Communion is selective in its outrage.

Christians of mutual goodwill can and should have full-throated debates over whether same-sex unions constitute a violation of Christian doctrine and practice. But there is simply no moral equivalency between marrying a gay couple and sentencing them to rot in jail. Focusing on the former while overlooking the latter epitomizes what Jesus referred to as looking at the sawdust in your brother’s eye while ignoring the plank in your own.

If the Anglican Communion wishes to scrutinize the Episcopal Church’s positions on homosexual marriage, then those branches outside of the United States need to get their own houses in order. Otherwise, the Anglican Communion will not just be the world’s largest Protestant denomination. It may also be the world’s largest body of hypocrites.

Complete Article HERE!

January 15, 2016January 15, 2016

Episcopal leader: Church will not reverse gay marriage stand

The Associated Press reports:

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said Friday the U.S. Episcopal Church will not roll back its acceptance of gay marriage despite sanctions imposed this week by Anglican leaders.

In a phone interview from England, where he attended the gathering of top Anglican archbishops, Curry said he told his fellow leaders they should expect no change. The top Episcopal legislative body, called General Convention, last year voted overwhelmingly to authorize same-sex marriage ceremonies in church. In response, Anglican leaders Thursday stripped the Episcopal Church of any role in deciding doctrine or determining how the Anglican Communion operates for three years, effectively reducing the church to observer status in the 85 million-member global fellowship.

“They heard from me directly that that’s not something that we’re considering,” Curry said. “They basically understand we made our decision, and this is who we are, and we’re committed to being a house of prayer for all.”

Curry said the church was resolved to work toward building acceptance of same-sex relationships throughout the Anglican fellowship, which the Episcopal Church represents in the United States. A majority of Anglican leaders at the meeting affirmed the teaching that marriage is only the union of a man and a woman.

“We are loyal members of the Anglican Communion, but we need to say we must find a better way,” Curry said. “I really believe it’s part of our vocation.”

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the spiritual leader of the Anglican family, had organized the assembly in Canterbury to help avoid a split in the fellowship that had been building for decades over differences about homosexuality, women’s ordination and other issues.

Those rifts blew wide open in 2003 when the New York-based Episcopal Church consecrated the first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in New Hampshire. Ever since, theological conservatives, led by Anglican leaders in Africa, have demanded some penalty for the U.S. church. Many have distanced themselves from the Episcopal Church and in 2009 helped form an alternative to the U.S. denomination, called the Anglican Church in North America.

Welby does not have the authority to force a resolution of the conflict.

In their statement from this week’s meeting, Anglican leaders called the Episcopal Church approval of gay marriage “a fundamental departure from the faith and teaching” of the majority of Anglicans. As a result, Episcopalians “no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies,” and could not vote or fully participate in Anglican committees, the leaders said.

The statement also included a condemnation of “homophobic prejudice and violence” and rejected criminalization of homosexuality, which has become common in African countries.

“For me, it is a constant source of deep sadness that people are persecuted for their sexuality,” Welby said at a news conference in Canterbury Cathedral, at the end of the meeting. He expressed “how sorry I am for the hurt and pain in the past and present that the church has caused and the love sometimes that we have completely failed to show.”

Outside, gay rights demonstrators, many from Africa, waved signs and sang. “We are here talking about human beings, real people who are having their lives torn apart,” said Jayne Ozanne, a leading gay rights activist in the church.

Anglicans, who trace their roots to the Church of England, are the third-largest grouping of Christians in the world, behind Roman Catholics and Orthodox.

The Anglican Church of Canada is scheduled to vote in July on a proposal that would change church law to allow same-sex marriage. If the change is approved, it would have to be reaffirmed at the church’s next legislative meeting, or General Synod, in three years. Archbishop Fred Hiltz, who attended the Canterbury gathering, said the penalty for the Episcopal Church will be a major consideration.

“Obviously, this whole thing will weigh pretty heavily on the minds of people going into the General Synod,” Hiltz said in an interview. “If we vote for a change in the canon on marriage there will be some consequence.”

At the news conference, Welby underscored that the meeting had averted any break and that the Anglican leaders “unanimously indicated that they wanted the churches of the Anglican Communion to walk together.” He announced the next once-a-decade meeting of all Anglican bishops, called the Lambeth Conference, would take place in 2020, an announcement he had delayed as he worked to keep the communion together.

Both Welby and Curry said there had been no discussion of the specifics of this process or what would have to happen over the next three years for the Episcopalians to be restored to full participation in the global fellowship. Anglican conservatives, who have affiliated as the Global Anglican Future Conference, said they were pleased with the penalty against the Episcopal Church, but were concerned that the sanctions didn’t go far enough and that Anglican leaders did not clearly state what the consequences would be if the Episcopal Church failed to change its position on gay marriage.

January 14, 2016January 14, 2016

BREAKING: Episcopal Church suspended from Anglican Communion

File under: Oh SNAP!

By Kimberly Winston

(RNS1-may13) England’s best-known cathedral and mother church of the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion will stay open to the public despite the fact that two-thirds of the historic building is in urgent need of repair. For use with RNS-CANTERBURY-BRIEF, transmitted on May 13, 2013, Photo by Trevor Grundy. — England’s best-known cathedral and mother church of the 77 million-member worldwide Anglican Communion will stay open to the public despite the fact that two-thirds of the historic building is in urgent need of repair. For use with RNS-CANTERBURY-BRIEF, transmitted on May 13, 2013

In a move that took some by surprise, the Anglican Communion voted to censure its American branch, the Episcopal Church USA.

At a private meeting in Canterbury, England, the home of the Anglican Communion, leaders voted Thursday (Jan. 14) to suspend the Episcopal Church from voting and decision-making for a period of three years.

The move is a reaction to a string of Episcopal Church decisions stretching back to 2004 when it elected Gene Robinson, an openly gay man, as a bishop. In July, the Episcopal Church voted to allow its clergy to perform same-sex marriages, something the majority of the other churches in the communion do not approve.

“Given the seriousness of these matters we formally acknowledge this distance by requiring that for a period of three years The Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies . . . ” a statement issued by the Anglican Communion reads. “They will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.”

“The traditional doctrine of the church in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds marriage as between a man and a woman in faithful, lifelong union,” the statement continues. “The majority of those gathered reaffirm this teaching.”

The Anglican Communion consist of 44 member churches from around the world, representing about 85 million Christians. The Episcopal Church has about 1.8 million U.S. members, who now find themselves without a voice in denominational decisions.

The suspension comes after four days of discussions among church leaders — known as “primates” in church parlance — over the Episcopal church’s position on homosexuality in relation to the position of the broader Anglican Communion. The meetings apparently got testy — British Christian media reported the Archbishop of Uganda, among the most conservative of Anglican branches, walked out amid disagreements.

Jeffrey Walker, the Anglican program director at the Institute for Religion an Democracy in Washington, D.C., said the suspension of the Episcopal Church is significant, but does not, at this point, represent a schism, or irreparable rupture, within the Anglican Communion.

“This is not kicking the Episcopal Church out of the Anglican Communion, but it is saying is that by making these decisions for the past 12 or so years the Episcopal Church has created this distance and there will be consequences to those decisions.”

The Anglican Communion consist of 44 member churches from around the world, representing about 85 million Christians. The Episcopal Church has about 1.8 million U.S. members.

The Lambeth Palace press office did not respond to requests for comment about the vote, which was leaked to the media.

Complete Article HERE!

January 11, 2016January 11, 2016

Anglican communion’s ‘bitter divide’ over gay rights

By Caroline Wyatt

This week could mark the last rites for the Anglican communion as a truly global Church.

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has called the 38 Primates or leaders from the global communion to a make-or-break meeting in Canterbury, where the bitter divides over gay rights and same-sex marriage are expected to dominate discussions.

The main question ahead of the meeting is not whether but when church leaders from up to six African countries may choose to leave the summit.

The communion itself has been likened to a lengthy marriage that is now coming to an end, with many wondering whether this is the time to move into separate bedrooms, and tell the children, or to decide to file for a divorce – and whether that split can be managed amicably.

Gay priests

One Church of England source has termed it 80% likely that some will walk out of the meeting after the agenda has been agreed, as those who – on Biblical grounds – are firmly against accepting homosexuality want an apology and repentance from the liberals within the US Church for appointing openly gay priests and bishops.

After years of sniping and sometimes open warfare, the Most Reverend Justin Welby is keen to move the Anglican Church – and the more than 80 million followers that it claims around the world – beyond the issue of sexuality to focus on what he and others see as the real challenges – global violence in the name of religion, climate change and poverty.

In the face of such intractable differences over Christians who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans, Lambeth Palace may well suggest that the communion reshapes itself into a loose confederation of churches, which can be joined by those who wish to do so, rather than trying to shoehorn radically different world views into one grouping led by Canterbury.

‘Open depravity’

The current disagreement boiled over into open hostilities when the Episcopal Church in the US consecrated the openly gay (and non-celibate) priest Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

The consecration of openly gay American Bishop Gene Robinson proved controversial

That split the Church openly in the US, with the breaking away of the traditionalist Anglican Church of North America (ACNA).

Its Archbishop, Foley Beach, who termed that consecration “open depravity” and “sin”, has also been invited to parts of the meeting in Canterbury, although ACNA is not an official part of the Anglican communion, to the dismay of some liberals.

Anglican Communion

Made up of 38 autonomous national and regional Churches plus six Extra Provincial Churches and dioceses

The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Communion’s spiritual head

There is no Anglican central authority such as a pope. Each Church makes its own decisions, guided by recommendations from the Lambeth Conference, Anglican Consultative Council, the Primates’ Meeting and the Archbishop of Canterbury

In 1968 those gathered at the Lambeth Conference decided the individual churches needed more regular contact than a once-a-decade conference of bishops. The Anglican Consultative Council, which features laity, priests and deacons, met for the first time the following year

The Primates’ Meeting was established in 1978 by Archbishop Donald Coggan (101st Archbishop of Canterbury) as an opportunity for “leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation” and has met regularly since

Archbishop Beach’s views are likely to find an ally in Archbishop Stanley Ntagali – the leader of the Anglican church in Uganda – where active homosexuality is a criminal offence.

Last week, Archbishop Ntagali warned on his website that he would walk out of the meeting of Primates if “discipline and Godly order” were not restored to the communion.

Likewise, Archbishop Eliud Wabukala of Kenya has warned against the global “ambitions of a secular culture”, calling for a return to Gospel beliefs.

the anglican communion

Both are members of the group of conservative Anglican churches known as GAFCON (Global Anglican Future), whose General Secretary Peter Jensen has said that “truth matters even more than institutional unity”.

GAFCON’s members see themselves as “authentic” Anglicans who follow Gospel values, and the group could ultimately form the leadership of those conservative churches if this meeting leads to a formal schism – although that would be a lengthy bureaucratic process, needing agreement from church members in the relevant Anglican province.

Given the fractious Primates’ meetings of the past, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has done well simply in persuading all 38 Primates to meet around one table this week, using much of the personal capital he built up during his visits to every single Anglican province around the globe.

Anguished discussion

Whatever happens at the meeting itself, he has done all he can to make the relationship work, although it is increasingly clear that the current institutional arrangement is no longer fit for purpose, given such deep disagreements over a fundamental issue.

The more liberal provinces that are open to changing Church doctrine on marriage in order to allow for same-sex unions include Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, Scotland, South India, South Africa, the US and Wales.

Traditionalist Archbishop Foley Beach will be at Canterbury

However, England is one of the countries where that bitter divide over sexuality is already at the heart of much anguished discussion and debate.

With equal marriage now part of civil law in England, the Church’s insistence that it should not form part of Canon law is increasingly contested by some of its own clergy and members of its congregation.

The strength of feeling over the issue in England was made clear in a heartfelt open letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York on Sunday, which called on the Church to repent over its treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans Christians as “second class citizens” over issues of sexuality.

Complete Article HERE!

January 10, 2016January 10, 2016

‘Repent’ call to Church over gay Christian treatment

'Repent' call to Church over gay Christian treatment

More than 100 senior Anglicans have urged the Church of England to repent for “discriminating” against lesbian and gay Christians.

The demand is made in a letter to the Archbishops of Canterbury and York ahead of a meeting of 39 primates from the global Anglican Communion.

They say the Church must acknowledge members around the world have been treated as “second-class citizens”.

The Church of England says the letter will be discussed at their meeting.

The Bishop of Buckingham and several cathedral deans are among the 105 signatories.

‘Interpreting scriptures’

The letter asks the two archbishops “to take an unequivocal message” to the meeting.

It urges them to tell the other leaders that the Anglican Church needs to acknowledge it “failed in our duty of care” to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Christians and “apologise for our part in perpetuating rather than challenging ill-informed beliefs”.

It adds: “We understand that the primates come from a variety of contexts with differing ways of interpreting the scriptures, but we urge you to be prophetic in your action.”

The Anglican communion in Canterbury from Monday is scheduled to last a week.

But BBC religious affairs correspondent Caroline Wyatt said there were fears disagreements over issues of sexuality could lead to a walk out by conservative Church leaders from nations such as Uganda and Kenya.

The rift in Anglican Church over sexuality is even greater than that over women priests and bishops and those against homosexuality on biblical grounds want the liberal wing of the Church to repent over consecrating openly gay bishops and clergy, she said.

The letter was organised by Jayne Ozanne, former director of the Accepting Evangelicals group which campaigns for the rights of gay, bisexual and transgender Christians.

‘Vilified’

She told BBC News a “line” had been reached.

“It was time to stand tall and actually call the Church back to its roots to reminding them about the fact that we are there to welcome and serve all,” she said.

“We have not treated the gay community as equal members. We’ve actually vilified them.”

The Bishop of Leeds Nick Baines said he had not been asked to sign the letter, but added: “There should be no place for homophobia in the Church or anywhere else.”

He told BBC News that “change isn’t necessarily a terribly bad thing”.

However, Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, said he does not agree with the argument that there can be “different interpretations of scripture” on the issue.

“The Bible is clear on many things, including its teaching on human sexuality and the Church has upheld that teaching for 2,000 years,” he said.

Complete Article HERE!