Posted on 08/06/2003 11:10:45 AM PDT by Dane
SYDNEY, Asian religious leaders on Wednesday condemned the appointment by the U.S. Episcopal Church of its first openly gay bishop, warning that regional Anglican bishops might consider cutting ties with their American sister church.
In Britain, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who is spiritual leader of the Church of England and of the Anglican Communion, said that the bishop's confirmation would have a "significant impact" on the worldwide Anglican Communion, but he appealed to opponents not to react rashly.
The U.S. church reached its historic decision after rejecting accusations of sexual misconduct against the Reverend Gene Robinson.
In an election Tuesday, 62 of 107 American diocesan bishops voted to approve him.
Moments later, more than a dozen conservatives among the bishops denounced the decision as an affront to church teaching and said it would split the worldwide church in two.
Reaction from Anglicans around the world was not long in coming.
In Australia, Peter Jensen, the Sydney archbishop, said the new gay bishop would not be welcome in his diocese and urged opponents in the United States to fight the decision by withholding contributions to church coffers.
"For the first time, a branch of our Anglican church has knowingly appointed a person to this senior position who lives in breach of the Bible," he said.
"It impacts on all of us because when a branch of the church does this, its teachings become compromised."
He said the decision was "catastrophic" for the church, and the start of a "loosening of ties" within the Anglican communion.
"Practicing homosexuality is culturally and legally not acceptable here," said Bishop Lim Cheng Ean, the leader of the Anglican Church of West Malaysia.
Lim said Southeast Asian Anglican bishops might discuss cutting ties with the U.S. church at a previously scheduled meeting next week because of Robinson's appointment.
"We will be having a meeting of the bishops of the province next week. We may discuss this then and a decision may be taken then," he said.
There are four Southeast Asian dioceses- Kuching, Singapore, West Malaysia and Sabah.
John Dayal, vice president of All India Catholics Union, also denounced the decision.
"The election of a gay bishop is a blatant aggravation of societal norms, and in India it certainly will not be acceptable," Dayal said.
"Irrespective of denomination, Indian bishops and clergy in international forums have opposed both gay matrimony as well as the ordination and consecration of priests and bishops," Dayal added.
But the head of Australia's Anglican Church, Peter Carnley, rejected fears that the decision could tear apart the Anglican community.
"I don't think it's a communion-breaking issue," said Carnley, who is considered a liberal voice in Australia's Anglican community.
The Episcopal Church, with 2.3 million members, is the U.S. branch of the global Anglican Communion, which has 77 million members and has been debating the role of gays for decades.
Robinson, a 56-year-old divorced father of two, has been living with his male partner for 13 years and serving as an assistant to the current New Hampshire bishop, who is retiring. Parishioners there said they chose Robinson simply because he was the best candidate.
In Minneapolis, where the vote was held, conservative bishops decried the decision.
"The bishops who stand before you are filled with sorrow," said Bishop Robert Duncan of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.
"This body has divided itself for millions of Anglican Christians around the world, brothers and sisters who have pleaded with us to maintain the church's traditional teaching on marriage and sexuality. With grief too deep for words, the bishops who stand before you must reject this action."
Duncan, who had fought Robinson's approval for weeks, said he and his colleagues would call on the top leaders of the Anglican Communion - the 38 primates around the world - to intervene on the "pastoral emergency that has overtaken" the Episcopal Church.
"May God have mercy on this church," he said.
But others rejoiced in the decision, praising the popular bishop-elect for his work and saying the decision marked another barrier overtaken by church leaders
"It's a great day for the church," the Reverend Sandye Wilson, of the Minnesota Diocese, said.
"This is a church which has finally understood that men and women created in the vision of God can be the guardians of the faith - and be gay or lesbian."
Supporters say the decision will bring new people - especially young ones - into the church.
But opponents say that the reverse will occur; they fear that people will stay away from their churches this weekend, stop giving donations and wonder what the church has come to represent
Robinson said that his approval was a "tiny sign" of a broader movement in the church and across the United States in the acceptance of gays and lesbians.
"I think we're seeing the moving into a mature adulthood" about the treatment of gay people, he said.
The presiding bishop, Frank Griswold, said the decision did not resolve the issues about homosexuality for the church.
"What it does do," he said, "is place squarely before us the question of how a community can live in the tension of disagreement." (AP, NYT)
"This is a church which has finally understood that men and women created in the vision of God can be the guardians of the faith - and be gay or lesbian."
The above passage sounds like a Hillary campaign slogan.
JMO, but the Episcopalians are now unitarians.
JMO, but to some of the paleos on FR, the color of skin determines ones character, rather than the content of their religious beliefs.
Yep.
That's been one of my most frequent thoughts through all this. Gay? How about the fact that he's unapologetically divorced as well? Have any of these people supporting this guy even read C.S. Lewis? Do they even know who he was? Do they even have a clue what the Gospel is about?
Warnings are only effective before the fact. They have fired on us. Now only action counts.
Not really. This isn't even Christianity as these people clearly don't understand who Jesus Christ was. And I don't say that just because they support homosexuality but because by their very words it is so clear they don't know the Lord.
He was standing there when he should have been walking out.
What puzzles me is why hold on to the trappings of a church at all...for the beauty of the buildings or the lovely music....??? what is the motivation.....?
I keep thinking of Lewis's last volume of his space trilogy....the corrupted language, the soft spoken gentle heresy.
What puzzles me is why hold on to the trappings of a church at all...for the beauty of the buildings or the lovely music....??? what is the motivation.....?
I keep thinking of Lewis's last volume of his space trilogy....the corrupted language, the soft spoken gentle heresy.
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