Religion and homosexuality
Menu
The worldwide Anglican
Communion & homosexuality
Sponsored link.
Quotation:
"The international Anglican Church has been in dispute for more then 50 years, over an inability to resolve issues of human sexuality. In the 1950s, the dispute was inclusion of divorced persons. In the 1970s, the issue focused on female priests and bishops and this is still controversial in some places. The controversy of the 1990s was full inclusion of baptized lesbians and gays. In the 2000s, the dispute has focused on blessing gay relationships and including partnered gay clergy and bishops. In these disputes, we are familiar with the vitriol from those who claim they speak for God in rejecting gay people."
Part of a homily delivered by Rev. Canon Dr. Martin Brokenleg at Christchurch Cathedral, Victoria, B.C. Canada on 2011-FEB-03, following the assassination of David Kato in Uganda for being gay. [One might add that the Anglican Communion has not even begun to seriously discuss their churches' solemnizing of same-sex marriages.]
Overview:The Anglican Communion is a world-wide faith. It is often considered to be a
separate branch of Christianity, along with Roman Catholicism,
Protestantism, and Eastern Orthodoxy. Some consider it to be a part of
Protestantism, even though its split from the Roman Catholic Church was not related to the Protestant Reformation . This section discusses disagreements within the Anglican Communion concerning equal
rights for homosexuals, and bisexuals in loving,
committed relationships -- including the right to be considered for ordination
as a priest, for consecration as a bishop, and to have their relationships
formally recognized by church ritual -- either a union ceremony, or (where permitted by local law) marriage. The
fundamental cause of the conflict is a difference in belief among different
provinces concerning the relative importance of three factors in what is called
the "three-legged stool" of Anglicanism:
 |
The Bible, |
|
Church tradition, |
|
Personal experience, including scientific and other sources of knowledge. |
On sexual matters, conservatives within the Anglican Communion tend to stress the first two
factors; liberals tend to stress the last one.
To complicate matters, liberals and conservatives interpret the Bible very
differently. They generally agree on what the Bible says, but cannot
agree on what the Bible means. In fact, to
many conservatives, the core problem is not whether homosexuals should be
treated equally in the Church, but how to interpret the Bible's authority.
Sadly, much of the attention and anger is over beliefs and policies concerning homosexuals. The root problem of biblical interpretaton and authority is less commonly discussed. Yet it is through discussion of these matters that resolution will finally occur.
As stated by an editorial in the Times Online:
"At the heart of Anglicanism lies a terrible dilemma. ... the Anglican
Communion is not a single Church demanding adherence to a disciplined codex
of canon law. It is a fellowship of 38 provinces, each with its own prayer
book, traditions and legal structure, bound together only by bonds of trust
and fellowship. When any one of those provinces takes a step considered by
others to be morally or theologically unacceptable, there is no legal or
institutional method for dealing with the breach. Tolerance and compromise
-- loving or begrudging -- are the only way that the communion can be
preserved. The alternative is schism."
"The communion now stands on the brink of schism. The pretext, which has
racked the Church for more than a decade, is the split over ordaining gay
priests. But the issue now goes far deeper. It has become a test of whether
the Episcopal Church [,USA], the small but influential American branch of
Anglicanism, has broken the bonds of fellowship with other churches,
especially the conservative African and Asian provinces in the “Global
South", in ordaining [sic] a homosexual bishop" who is in a committed same-sex
relationship. 1
Not mentioned in the editorial is the friction between
both the North American provinces -- the Episcopal Church, USA and the
Anglican Church of Canada -- and the rest of the Anglican Communication
in holding rituals that recognize the unions of loving, committed same-sex
couples.
Complicating the situation is the absolute certainty with which most
conservatives and liberals hold their beliefs. Everyone is totally convinced
that they have assessed the will of God with
precision and are following it.
Still another complication was the Episcopal Church, USA's election of
Bishop Jefferts Schori as the first female
primate in the Communion's history. This happened at a time when only a handful
of provinces allow women to become bishops and only a slim majority allow women
to be ordained as priests.
Topics discussed in this section:
Related sections on homosexuality:
and perhaps most importantly of all:
Site navigation:
Reference used:
-
Bitter Fudge: Anglicans have come close to an open split but
baulk at schism," Times Online, 2007-FEB-19, at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/
Copyright © 1997 to 2011 by Ontario
Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2011-FEB-11
Author: B.A. Robinson
|
Page Translator:
