Peter – I have a question about the stance of traditionalist Anglicans (I am one) toward the laws on homosexuality in Uganda and Nigeria. I think we’re all acquainted with the support these and other GAFCON provinces have given to the breakaway parishes in the United States (I belong to one, Truro Anglican in Virginia). GAFCON support was predicated on the notion that the Episcopal Church was engaged in false teaching, chiefly on issues of sexuality. Now, the Anglican primates of Uganda and Nigeria have endorsed and supported the passage of statutes criminalizing homosexual behavior and, in doing so, further inflamed a culture in which gays and lesbians are at risk of violence. This stance appears to be in direct contradiction to biblical teaching on the dignity and inviolability of the human person and the responsibility of the church to defend the weak. In fact, this stance lends the church’s support to the persecution of a marginalized minority. Church support for this legislation is, in itself, a form of false teaching that has an almost perfect symmetry with the pro-gay false teaching of TEC (also highly destructive of the human person), except of course that the Ugandan and Nigerian instances are actually worse because they involve potential imminent physical danger to homosexuals living in those countries.
It is undoubtable that a culture of fear and hatred is growing in Uganda and Nigeria towards LGB people. I cannot see how the Anglican churches there can countenance that.
Peter – I have a question about the stance of traditionalist Anglicans (I am one) toward the laws on homosexuality in Uganda and Nigeria. I think we’re all acquainted with the support these and other GAFCON provinces have given to the breakaway parishes in the United States (I belong to one, Truro Anglican in Virginia). GAFCON support was predicated on the notion that the Episcopal Church was engaged in false teaching, chiefly on issues of sexuality. Now, the Anglican primates of Uganda and Nigeria have endorsed and supported the passage of statutes criminalizing homosexual behavior and, in doing so, further inflamed a culture in which gays and lesbians are at risk of violence. This stance appears to be in direct contradiction to biblical teaching on the dignity and inviolability of the human person and the responsibility of the church to defend the weak. In fact, this stance lends the church’s support to the persecution of a marginalized minority. Church support for this legislation is, in itself, a form of false teaching that has an almost perfect symmetry with the pro-gay false teaching of TEC (also highly destructive of the human person), except of course that the Ugandan and Nigerian instances are actually worse because they involve potential imminent physical danger to homosexuals living in those countries.
I’d appreciate having your reflections on this.
It is undoubtable that a culture of fear and hatred is growing in Uganda and Nigeria towards LGB people. I cannot see how the Anglican churches there can countenance that.
I agree. And the effort by the UAC to rationalize this looks like a form of false teaching to me.