Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby.
Conservative Anglican Archbishops in Africa have warned that the decision by the Church of England to allow clergy to bless same-sex marriages endangers the unity of worldwide Anglican Communion.
The General Synod of the Church of England on February 9, 2023, voted in favor of permitting the offering of prayers and liturgies for civil gay marriages.
The Church said the step was part of a compromise measure which included the church’s desire to “lament and repent” its failure “to welcome LGBTQI+ people and for the harm that LGBTQI+ people have experienced, and continue to experience in churches.”
It however states that the church has not changed its doctrine that marriage is a lifelong union between one man and one woman and will not wed same-sex couples.
By that vote, the Church of England joined the Episcopal Church of America, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Church in Wales, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Church of Brazil, and a few other member churches in recognizing all civil marriages.
The Archbishops of Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria are rejecting the decision, insisting that blessing same-sex unions is inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible.
The Archbishops, who represent more than 35 million Anglicans, posted their reactions on their diocesan websites.
The Archbishop Stephen Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu of Uganda in his statement said, “The Church of England is very good at making contradictory statements and expecting everyone to believe both can be true at the same time. That’s what they have done with this decision.”
Kaziimba said that it is wrong to bless sin, adding that although the English church insisted that its doctrine on marriage has not changed, it has done exactly that, with the terminology of wedding versus a service of blessing being the only marked difference.
“The Church of England … has now departed from the Bible and their message is the opposite,” said Kaziimba. “They are even offering to bless that sin. That is wrong. As the Church of Uganda, we cannot accept that. God cannot bless what He calls sin.”
Archbishop Kaziimba disclosed that the Church of Uganda broke ties with the American church, after the Episcopal Church in America backed the installation of Bishop Gene Robinson, a gay man, as a bishop of New Hampshire.
Kaziimba described such provinces as those that walked away from the Anglican Communion.
Referring to the coalition between the Global Anglican Future Conference, known as GAFCON, and the Global South Fellowship of Anglicans dioceses
that formed in response to LGBTQ acceptance elsewhere in the church, the Archbishop said:
“We are not leaving the Anglican Communion; we are the Anglican Communion.
“There is no way we are walking together,” said Kaziimba. “These are the provinces that have walked away, but we pray for them to repent.”
In his statement, Archbishop Jackson Ole Sapit, the primate of the Church of Kenya, blamed the action of the English church on “the unfortunate rise of devious liberal churchmanship within Anglican Communion.”
Ole Sapit said: “We make a humble request to these churches: Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead.”
For Archbishop Henry Chukwudum Ndukuba of Nigeria, it is another period of reformation that will cleanse the Communion of ungodly leaders.
In a statement on Sunday (Feb.12), Ndukuba said: “History is about to repeat itself. The Anglican Church is at the threshold of yet another reformation, which must sweep out the ungodly leadership currently endorsing sin, misleading the lives of faithful Anglican worldwide.”
The primate called on GAFCON dioceses and other orthodox groups within the communion to stay resolute in upholding the faith.
However, the English Church's decision was highly welcome by LGBTQ activists in Africa, some of whom are Anglican clerics.
The Rt. Rev. Christopher Senyonjo, a former Anglican Church bishop in Uganda and founder of Integrity Uganda, an advocacy group for LGBTQ people, said what the Church of England has permitted is the blessing of partnerships, not marriages.
In a telephone interview, Senyonjo told Religious News Service, “It is expected that when two people come together in a love relationship, they are going to have children, but as time goes on, it is realized that two people can be in love when they are not going to have children. I think that’s where we have to think hard about what human sexuality is.
“We should not just condemn the action (by the Church of England) without a very careful consideration of what a love relationship is.”
The Rev. Michael Nzuki Kimindu, a former Anglican priest, now president of Other Sheep Africa, a Christian group advocating for LGBTQ rights in Christianity and Islam, criticized the African Church leadership for trying to paint the action of the Church of England as a Western issue.
“Homosexuality is not a Western issue. It is a human condition found in every culture, geographical area, and religion. It’s just fair that people should understand that it is not going anywhere no matter how much we bury our heads in the sand, ” Kimindu told RNS.
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