Anti-gay bishops crush liberals

[06/08/98 - Madeleine Bunting, Religious Affairs Editor - Web - http://reports.guardian.co.uk/articles/1998/8/6/14920.html]

Anglican bishops averted a damaging split yesterday by voting by a huge majority that homosexuality is incompatible with Biblical teaching and that sex is only permitted within marriage. 

The resolution represented a crushing defeat for liberal sections of the church against a powerful alliance of conservative evangelicals from America, Australia, Africa and Singapore, who threatened to walk out unless the Lambeth Conference upheld traditional Anglican teaching on sexual morality.

Making a decisive intervention in the tense two-and-a-half hour debate, to prevent the Communion from disintegrating, the Archbishop of Canterbury threw his office behind the conservatives.

"This has been a difficult and painful debate, whatever one's views. I became conscious during this debate that we could allow disagreement to become division," said Dr George Carey in an unscripted speech.

"I stand wholeheartedly with traditional Anglican orthodoxy. I see no room in the Scriptures and in the entire Christian tradition for sexual activity outside marriage."

The huge majority, 526 votes to 70 with 45 abstentions, represented a personal triumph for Dr Carey. Keeping the Lambeth Conference united has been a critical test of his leadership.

Many African bishops said it was Dr Carey's own views on homosexuality and the relationships he has built up on his visits to Africa which prevented them from walking out of the three-week Conference, in Canterbury.

During the debate, the Rt Rev Alexander Malik, Bishop of Lahore, Pakistan, voiced the horror of many bishops at the idea of same-sex unions and the ordination of active homosexuals.

"It is not gay bashing to uphold the authority of Scripture. It is a matter of faith and dogma. What will we do at the next Lambeth when people ask for blessings for union with their pet animals - dogs and cats?"

The Most Rev Moses Tay, Archbishop of Singapore, one of the key conservatives behind yesterday's decision, warned the conference against "unhealthy literature which can be polluting" from provinces with a more sympathetic attitude to homosexuality.

The conference's hardline resolution stated that it could not "advise the legitimacy or blessing of same-sex unions nor the ordination of those involved in same-gender unions". This is a significant setback to the campaign for gay rights within the Church of England.

English bishops currently teach that faithful homosexual relationships are acceptable for the laity but not for the clergy. In practice, there are a significant number of practising homosexual priests, and several bishops have admitted that, when ordaining they do not inquire into priests' sexual habits.

The Lambeth Conference, which meets once every decade, is only advisory and has no power to bar gay priests. But any softening of the Church of England's stance is extremely unlikely for the forseeable future, given the vehemence with which bishops, particularly the Africans, warned that toleration of homosexuality in one part of the Anglican church might seriously damage another.

In the United States, the Conference's decision will be greeted with dismay by many openly practising gay and lesbian priests, although the evangelical wing of the Episcopal Church greeted the resolution with delight.

"The willingness of so many American church leaders to try to legitimise homosexual behaviour has foisted this difficult discussion on the world-wide church. It has sapped our energy from urgent tasks such as evangelism and justice for the poorest," said the Rt Rev James Stanton, Bishop of Dallas.

The only concession the liberals managed to get into the resolution was that the church should continue to listen to homosexuals.

The Rt Rev Catherine Roskam, Bishop of New York, warned: "To condemn homosexuality is evangelistic suicide in my region," she said, "It will be a pyrrhic victory and you will have a divided church."

Outside the hall, there were bitter confrontations between advocates of gay rights and opponents. The Rt Rev Emmanuel Chukwuma, Bishop of Enugu, Nigeria, tried to "cure" Richard Kirker, spokesman of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement, by laying on hands.

"Repent, repent of your sin. You have no inheritance in Kingdom of God. Your church is dying in Europe because you condone immorality. You have made yourselves homosexuals because of your carnality," he told him.