Anglicans return to traditional morality.  Liberal bishops routed in vote on homosexuals

[06/08/98 - RUTH GLEDHILL, RELIGION CORRESPONDENT - Web - http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/Times/frontpage.html?1055868]

THE Lambeth Conference last night delivered a resounding blow to the liberal tendency in the Anglican Church with a dramatic swing back to traditional, conservative values on homosexuality and marriage. 

Bishops voted overwhelmingly against sanctioning the blessing or ordaining of practising homosexuals, and rejected homosexual practice as "incompatible with Scripture" and demanded abstinence for all who are not married. 

While condemning "irrational fear of homosexuals", they refused specifically to condemn homophobia. Instead, they agreed to note the "significance" of a statement from bishops in the southern world, the Kuala Lumpur statement, which states that homosexual practice is a sin and calls for a return to biblical norms on sexuality and morality. 

The conference voted to change the word "chastity" to "abstinence" in recommending scriptural behaviour for unmarried couples. The motion passed was a conservative, evangelical motion agreed in its original form by the conference sub-section examining the issue of human sexuality and then strengthened significantly in the course of the debate. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, was among those who voted for strengthening the motion to include an additional clause rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture. 

Dr Carey said: "We all agree that this has been quite a difficult and painful debate, whatever side one takes on this. Although I accepted the revised resolution with the stronger amendments myself, I am aware that not everyone is comfortable with that." But, while urging the need for both sides to listen, he said: "I stand wholeheartedly with traditional, Anglican orthodoxy. I see no room in Scripture or Christian tradition for any sexual activity outside matrimony, husband and wife." 

After the three-hour debate at the Lambeth Conference, when repeated attempts by liberal bishops to force an early closure failed, the motion emerged in a significantly more conservative form than it had been in before. 

Of the 739 bishops at the conference, 641 turned out for the debate at Kent University, Canterbury. Of those, 526 voted for the resolution, 70 against and 45 abstained. 

The conservative victory represents a serious rout for the liberal wing which, certainly in Western countries such as Britain, America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, has captured and held the agenda of the Anglican Church since the 1960s. 

The Right Rev Richard Holloway, Bishop of Edinburgh and a leading liberal, said: "I feel gutted, shafted and depressed." The Right Rev Jack Spong, Bishop of Newark, New Jersey, condemned the resolution as negative and said: "Be assured that today's minority will inevitably be tomorrow's majority." 

While it was clear from the start of the conference two and a half weeks ago that an alliance between Africans and Western conservatives was out to reverse Anglican liberalism, in particular in the run-up to the millennium, the scale of their victory last night still took observers by surprise. 

Although the Lambeth Conference has no legislative authority within the 70 million-strong worldwide Anglican Church, which has 38 provinces, such a vote on an issue of this importance will send a signal to provinces such as America, where homosexual ordinations and so-called "gay blessings" are relatively common, especially in coastal dioceses in the east and west. In the diocese of Newark, Bishop Spong has recently claimed to have 30 homosexual priests who are "out". 

It became clear yesterday that the Anglican Church had decided to put the cause of unity ahead of the cause of homosexual rights. Even English liberals, including the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Rev Richard Harries, came out in support of the resolution. Church leaders clearly took seriously the possibility of a split by African or Asian dioceses, were there to be any apparent concessions to liberals on the issue. 

The Right Rev Duncan Buchanan, Bishop of Johannesburg, who moved the resolution, said it was right to say "Jesus is the truth". But he added: "The problem is, as St Paul says, we can only see through a glass darkly." He pleaded: "Can we allow our differences to be points, not of division but of integrity and graciousness?" 

The Right Rev Eustace Kamanyire, Bishop of Ruwenzori, said: "It is important we take a stand on the fundamentals of our faith. We are Christians because we believe in Jesus, we believe in Christ, Saviour, Lord of the world. We share the faith as it is found in the Christian creeds." 

He said: "Homosexual acts are in no way sanctioned by Scriptures. On the contrary, they are condemned as immoral acts and are therefore a sin." Bishops who sanctioned same-sex marriages and the ordination of practising homosexuals were causing "serious scandal" in parts of the world, such as Africa, which were converted by missionaries of the Western Church a century or more ago. 

"It is a hindrance to witness. Those of us who come from young Churches can testify to the transforming power of God. This conference must affirm the authority of Scripture of the historic faith." 

The Right Rev Wilson Mutebi, Bishop of Mityana in Uganda, said: "In Uganda, the Christian faith is built on the Bible. We read other books of science and philosophy, but in the end we come back to the Bible. For us, the Bible and the apostolic tradition have authority through all our Church." 

The Right Rev Alexander Malik, Bishop of Lahore in Pakistan, said: "If we speak against homosexuals, it is not gay-bashing but a matter of faith, doctrine and dogma. 

"Homosexuality and promiscuity have existed from time immemorial, from the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. What is so new about it that it features as such a high-profile matter on our agenda? If it is an item, we have no option other than to state clearly the teaching of Scripture." 


The Lambeth Conference motion

Extracts from the resolution adopted by Anglican bishops at the Lambeth Conference: This conference .. 


In view of the teaching of the Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called for marriage. 

Recognises that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation. We commit ourselves to listen to the experiences of homosexual people. We wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the body of Christ. 

While rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with the Scripture, calls on all our people to administer pastorally and sensitively to all, irrespective of sexual orientation, and to condemn an irrational fear of homosexuals. 

Cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same-sex unions or ordaining of those involved in same-sex unions.