Anglicans Vote on Gay and Lesbian Issues
Pastor Dale Morgan
Anglicans Vote on Gay and Lesbian Issues*
Wednesday February 28, 2007 11:46 PM
By THOMAS WAGNER
Associated Press Writer
LONDON (AP) - The Church of England's assembly on Wednesday affirmed
existing teaching that homosexuality is no bar to full participation in
the church but avoided the fractious debate within the Anglican
Communion about accepting gay sexual relationships.
A motion approved nearly unanimously by the governing General Synod
disposed of language including a commitment to ``respect the patterns of
holy living to which lesbian and gay Christians aspire,'' but affirmed
``that homosexual orientation in itself is no bar to a faithful
Christian life or in full participation to lay and ordained ministry.''
Bishop Michael Perham of Gloucester had urged the synod not to take a
side in the debate about whether people in gay relationships can be good
Christians or, as in the U.S. Episcopal Church, serve as a bishop.
``This is not the moment - it is very clearly the wrong moment - to
shift our formal position and give any sense of winners and losers on an
issue on which we are finding it hard to reach consensus,'' Perham said.
John Ward, a gay member of the synod who supported the amended version,
had asked the assembly ``to say explicitly that we can and should have
an open and Godly dialogue with one another about human sexuality and
that we should create a safe place for this to happen without fear.''
Ward, whose voice trembled at times during the debate, also said: ``I
have experienced people in this synod who are afraid to be seen sitting
next to me.''
The Rev. Mary Gilbert, who sponsored the original motion, said she was
happy with the outcome as creating ``an open, careful listening process
about the issue of lesbian and gay Christians.''
The morning vote followed two hours of emotional debate between liberal
and evangelical synod members. Liberals emphasized Anglicans must
support gay Christians, who they said were an important part of the
Church of England, and oppose any prejudice they face.
Evangelicals unsuccessfully tried to halt the debate with two procedural
motions that were voted down. Some said Scripture was clear that only
sex between married, heterosexual couples is permissible. Others argued
that being gay should be defined as a choice, not a natural condition
determined by their genetic makeup.
After a 2-hour afternoon debate, the General Synod approved a second
motion that acknowledged some church members' criticism of Britain's
Civil Partnership Act. It came into force in 2005, legally recognizing
same sex relationships and allowing gays to virtually marry.
The synod said it understood the government acted to protect gays from
discrimination, but said it should have ``done so in a way that avoided
creating a legal framework with many similarities to marriage.''
The synod scrapped a more radical motion, proposed by the Rev. Paul
Perkin, a member of the evangelical group Reform, expressing ``deep
concern'' that the act ``undermines the distinctiveness and fundamental
importance to society of the relationship of marriage.''
Perham said the church was at a delicate moment, following the meeting
of Anglican leaders earlier this month in Tanzania, which included
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the Church
of England and the Anglican Communion.
The leaders gave the U.S. Episcopal Church until Sept. 30 to pledge
unequivocally not to consecrate another gay bishop or approve an
official prayer service for blessing same-sex couples. If that promise
is not made, the Episcopal Church could face a much reduced role in the
Anglican world.
The global Anglican Communion has 77 million members, and they have
spent years debating how Scripture should be interpreted on salvation,
truth and sexuality. Each province of the Anglican Communion is
self-governing, with its own decision-making structures.
In a speech to the General Synod in London on Monday, Williams said:
``The public perception, as we've been reminded by several commentators
in the last week or so, is that we are a church obsessed with sex.'' He
said, ``It feels as though we are caught in a battle very few want to be
fighting.''
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On the Net:
The Church of England: www.cofe.anglican.org
The Inclusive Church.Net: http://www.inclusivechurch.net
The Reform evangelical group: http://www.reform.org.uk