Equal rights trump unity, reverend says

National Post ^ | 19 March 2008 | Charles Lewis

[big'ol_freeper]

Schism is not a "catastrophic" event and is preferable to placating those who do not treat gays as equal simply for the sake of unity, a Canadian Anglican theologian says.

"There are moments when treating unity as kind of absolute virtue that's higher than anything else is not necessarily the right thing," Rev. Paul Gibson said in an interview, concerning an essay he wrote that was posted on the Anglican Church of Canada's Web site yesterday.

He wrote the essay in relation to the present schism in the Anglican Church over same-sex blessings, and concluded that a unified church that treats gays unequally would be a greater evil than a divided church. Since the start of the year, eight Anglican parishes, out of a total of about 2,000 across the country, have formally left the national Church.

Archbishop Fred Hiltz, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, has said how much he grieves the fact that the Church is undergoing a split. "It's the kind of stuff that drives the Church to its knees," he told the National Post in an interview in November.

Tomorrow, the Anglican Diocese of Niagara will be back in court demanding access to the buildings of two breakaway churches until the larger issue of who owns the property is settled.

Rev. Gibson wrote that the current mood of "fear and anxiety" in the Anglican Church is not warranted and the history of Christianity is rife with examples in which schism was necessary. And unity, he added, has always been a goal rather than a reality.

"The primitive church was, in fact, united for a metaphorical 10 minutes," Rev. Gibson wrote. "In fact, even at the Last Supper, one member of the original band of Jesus' followers was already engaged in subverting his agenda and imperilling his person."

Even St. Paul wrote in his epistles about arguments breaking out among factions in the Church, he said, highlighting the "rancorous" feelings between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians over circumcision.

"Paul's tone certainly suggests the brink of schism, which is underscored by his suggestion that those who unsettle Gentile Christians might better castrate themselves."

And though the essay acknowledges the negatives of schism -- "constantly living in a state of brokenness and … institutional rivalry" -- Rev. Gibson can see the upside.

"The Reformation was not merely the victory of 'good' Protestants over 'bad' Catholics," he wrote. "In the long run, it was the restructuring in worship, thought, devotion, and government of Western Christianity.… If schism led to the remaking of the Church, however imperfectly, I am not afraid of it."

The three major Protestant churches in the United States that split over slavery in the 19th century is also an example in which schism was the right route, he said.

"Should the Northerners have capitulated and said slavery is all right after all? I don't think so?"

But Rev. Stephen Andrews, of president of Anglican-affiliated Thorneloe University in Sudbury, said that schism can rarely be seen as a positive. "It's like divorce: You can look at a divorce and say there are good things to come out of it, but how do you answer the question, was it worth it? And what have you lost in the process?

And once it happens, he added, as with the Protestant Reformation, it opens the possibility it may happen again and again. "It's been remarkable that the Anglican Church has been as cohesive as it's been for so long, especially when you look at other Protestant denominations, which are rife with schism."