Church split asunder on homosexuality issue
The Archbishop of Canterbury is expected to remain unswayed on the issue of homosexuality at an emergency meeting of church leaders at Lambeth Palace in London.
In a bid to ward of a schism at the heart of the Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams will urge the 38 primates leading the world’s 70 million Anglicans followers to seek a path beyond the current impasse over the ordination of gay clergy.
But he is expected to repeat his assertion made at the 1998 Lambeth Conference that homosexuality was “incompatible with scripture.”
The meeting was called after Canon Gene Robinson, an openly gay priest, was elected as Bishop of New Hampshire in the US.
Around 30 conservative archbishops, mainly from Africa and America, are to demand the expulsion of the United States Episcopalian Church from the Anglican communion; the church which approved Canon Robinson’s appointment.
Dr Williams sits on the horns of a gargantuan dilemma for the Church. Dr Williams, a liberal, may have to side with hardliners if he wants to retain unity among the different leaders.
Archbishop Greg Venables told the BBC’s Breakfast With Frost, the Church was split asunder with divergent opinion.
“[The Church] it is about two ships that have gradually moved apart over a long period time, now one is going that way and one the other way; its going to be very hard to change that.
“What we are talking about is Christianity, and what has happened is that over the last century a new version of Christianity has evolved, a post modern relativistic Christianity.”
The Bishop said an “open conflict” had emerged on the issue of homosexuality and followers had to decide whether to go for “traditional Christianity or this modern relativistic Christianity.”
Archbishop Njongo Ndungane, Primate of South Africa, said the Church ought to embrace “creative diversity”, and avoid “fragmentation” if at all possible.
“The point is to try and solve complex and difficult issues of our world today, not by ultimatums or by talking at each other, but rather by listening to one another and listening with our hearts. I believe fragmentation is not the way of God.
“The way of God is that of unity and that you must seek by all means to sustain and maintain the creative diversity modelled on the nature of God of which it has been a major characteristic of our church as Anglican communion.”
Dr Rowan Williams had “a good grasp of the situation” and was “right not to be too optimistic,” he added, but he said: “I sense he will want to help the church onto its original course.”
