Anglicans on homosexuality

Christian Century, August 12, 1998

ANGLICAN BISHOPS at the Lambeth Conference declared overwhelmingly on August 5 that "homosexual practice" is "incompatible with Scripture" and urged sexual "abstinence" for all people "who are not called to marriage." The declaration, a severe rebuff to those bishops in North America who have been blessing same-sex relationships and ordaining practicing homosexuals as priests, was reinforced by the archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, who said at the end of the debate that he could see "no room in Holy Scripture or the entire Christian tradition for any sexual activity outside matrimony of husband and wife."

The Lambeth Conference has no legal authority over the almost 40 autonomous provinces of the Anglican Communion, but the landmark resolution is certain to be used by conservatives as a test of fidelity to Anglican tradition. A total of 526 bishops, including Carey, approved the resolution and 70 opposed it; 45 bishops abstained.

The conference's two-and-a-half-hour debate over the issue was long and tortuous, and had to deal with six pages of amendments to an original resolution which in itself had been the subject of bitter argument in the days preceding the August 5 debate. The debate began with a compromise resolution which declared that "marriage between a man and a woman" is the norm according to scripture, and added that the Lambeth Conference could "not advise" bishops to bless same-sex unions or ordain practicing homosexuals. In an apparent gesture to liberal bishops, this original resolution also condemned homophobia.

However, during the debate an alliance of bishops from the developing world--Africa, Asia and Latin America--and evangelical bishops from Australia and some other Western countries won a battle to insert into a clause in the resolution the words "while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture..." The bishops voted 389 in favor of the amendment, 190 against. Carey voted in favor.

But several attempts by ultraconservatives to insert more extreme condemnations of homosexuality into the resolution were not successful. Bishop Alexander Malik of Pakistan, who was the most vigorous critic of homosexuality in the debate, called for the condemnation of homophobia to be deleted from the resolution since, he said, those who condemned the "perversity" of homosexuality were in fact upholding scripture. He asked if liberal bishops would come to the next Lambeth Conference--in ten years time--demanding permission to bless relationships between Anglicans "and their pets, dogs and cats." "Homosexuality has existed since Sodom and Gomorrah; there's nothing new about it," Malik said, adding that bishops and priests who support it are not upholding basic church belief and should not be part of the communion.

An amendment by Bishop Samson Muraluda of Kenya, calling for the condemnation of homophobia to be changed to a condemnation of the "irrational fear of homosexuals," was accepted after Muraluda strongly insisted that not all opposition to homosexuality is wrong. Bishops from the Anglo-Catholic wing of the church in England and Ireland and two women bishops from the U.S. spoke in favor of a softer line, some of them expressing concern as conservatives used amendments to toughen up the resolution's stance against homosexuality.

Episcopal Bishop Catherine S. Roskam, from New York City, told the gathering that although she accepted a statement by Bishop Peter Adebiyi, of Owo, Nigeria, that approving homosexual relationships would be "evangelical suicide" for Anglican churches in Africa, "to condemn homosexuality is evangelical suicide in my region." Liberal bishops did succeed in adding a line to the resolution by which the bishops "commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual people."

The conference also called on Anglican primates and the Anglican Consultative Council, the Anglican Communion's coordinating body, to "establish a means of monitoring the work done on the subject of human sexuality in the communion and to share statements and resources among us."

After the debate, some bishops and homosexual Christian groups expressed dismay at the tone of the proceedings and the resulting resolution. "I'm a straight man, so I haven't felt the pressure of homophobia, but sitting in there [in the conference hall] I felt it," Bishop Richard Holloway of Edinburgh told journalists. Other liberals contended that the resolution could be a justification for homophobia, and added that North American bishops would ignore the resolution and continue to bless same-sex unions and ordain lesbians and gay men.

Bishop John Spong, the U.S. Episcopal Church's best-known liberal, said after the vote: "Be assured that today's minority will inevitably be tomorrow's majority." He predicted that there will be openly gay bishops among the participants at the next Lambeth Conference.

Shortly before the August 5 vote, nine senior Anglican bishops sent a letter to all bishops at Lambeth urging them to take a stand against the ordination of practicing homosexuals and arguing that the blessing of same-sex relationships must also stop. The letter, apparently referring to liberal North American bishops, was signed by Archbishop Harry Goodhew of Sydney, Australia, and eight prelates from the developing world: Archbishop Joseph Adetiloye of Nigeria, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda, Archbishop Donald Mtetemela of Tanzania, Archbishop Patrice Njojo of the Congo (Zaire), Archbishop Livingstone Nkoyoyo of Uganda, Archbishop Moses Tay of South East Asia, Bishop Daniel Zindo of Sundan and Bishop Maurice Sinclair of the Southern Cone, Latin America.