5 October 2015 A.D. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Jerusalem conference may widen Anglican rift” (dated 21 Jun 2008)
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5 October 2015 A.D. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Jerusalem conference may widen Anglican rift” (dated 21 Jun 2008)
5 October 2015 A.D. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: Jerusalem conference may widen Anglican rift” (dated 21 Jun 2008)
Rice-Oxley, Mark. “Jerusalem conference may widen
Anglican rift.” Christian Science
Monitor. 21 Jun 2008. http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2008/0621/p06s01-woeu.html. Accessed 5 Oct 2015.
London
— On the scale of global religious movements, it is
only a small gathering – a few hundred bishops, clergy, and laypeople – but its
significance to one of the world's biggest churches is ominous.
This weekend, about 1,000 traditional Anglicans
implacably opposed to what they consider liberal leadership will descend on Jerusalem
for an eight-day meeting that threatens to solidify the deep divisions,
particularly over homosexuality, that have fractured the church.
Though organizers insist they are not breaking away
from the 77-million strong Anglican communion, the conference throws down the
gauntlet to the church's mother ship in England:
Some delegates are openly calling it a "crossroads" and a
"moment of decision"; others have said they will boycott the
once-a-decade summit of Anglican bishops known as the Lambeth
Conference, which takes place next month in Canterbury.
Even the summit's title – Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) – hints at an
attempt to redefine the church and chart a new path forward. Think of it as a
very strong tail trying to wag the dog.
"The objective is to think about the future of
the Anglican Church," says Lawrence
Dena, a Kenyan
bishop, who is joining the Lambeth boycott because of the homosexuality
question. "We have been handling this issue for a long time. We have
already had a lot of time discussing this matter over 10 years now; so how much
more time do we need?"
The Nigerian
primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola, was blunter. "Now we confront
a moment of decision," he wrote in a pamphlet for the conference. "If
we fail to act, we risk leading millions of people away from the faith revealed
in the Holy Scriptures."
"There is no longer any hope... for a unified
communion," he added. "The intransigence of those who reject biblical
authority continues to obstruct our mission, and it now seems that the
communion is being forced to choose between following their innovations or
continuing on the path that the church has followed since the time of the
Apostles."
Giles Fraser, a London
vicar who describes himself as from the more "progressive" wing of
the church, says the conference is "an attempt to destabilize things ahead
of the Lambeth Conference, an attempt to set up the beginnings of an
alternative church, which they are threatening if they don't get their own way
over issues like homosexuality."
A long history of disagreement
It comes as little surprise to discover that the
term "broad church" was originally coined for the Anglicans. They are
Christianity's third-largest communion, spread across 160 nations as a result
of missionary work over the past 400 years. They occupy a wide-spanning
theological and ecclesiastical bridge between Roman Catholicism and
Protestantism, accommodating liberals and conservatives, high-church
Anglo-Catholics and low-church Calvinists, with widely differing views on
liturgy, the Eucharist, vestments, social matters, and lifestyle.
As such, division and disagreement have been endemic
for decades, if not centuries, over issues from slavery to the ordination of
women priests.
But the decision by the US
Episcopal Church to consecrate Gene
Robinson, a gay man, as bishop of New
Hampshire in 2003 has split the communion into two implacably opposed
camps, centered broadly, but not exclusively, around the liberal leadership in
the English, US, and Canadian churches and the "Global South," which
includes the African provinces that have been the driving force behind GAFCON.
Caught in the middle is Rowan
Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is clearly struggling to
reconcile the irreconcilable. He stopped short of inviting Bishop Robinson to
Lambeth, but has invited those who consecrated him, triggering the boycott by
bishops from Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria, among others.
Matters were complicated by the revelation this week
that two Anglican clergymen recently enjoyed a formal wedding blessing in an
Anglican church in London, lifting the lid on the tacit "don't ask, don't tell" practice of offering church blessings
to gay couples.
Archbishop Williams has taken a dim view of this,
saying clergy are free to disagree with the church's teaching "but they
are not at liberty simply to disregard it."
Opponents want a far clearer stance from the
archbishop on the issue. "What we would long for from him is for him to be
clear on which way he wants to go," says Rev. Paul
Dawson of a traditionalist grouping called Reform. "Then people can
make their minds up and say we agree with that, or not."
Bishop Dena says traditionalists have no problem
with homosexuals in churches – as long as they are in the congregation.
"What we are against is that if I admit I am an adulterer, I want to
believe that my church will not accept me as a leader because adultery is sin.
This is the same thing as gay."
GAFCON organizers say the argument is not about
homosexuality, but about something far more important to Christians: the
primacy of Scripture. The problem is that both sides are vociferously claiming
Scripture in their favor.
"The commitment to Anglicanism is to Scripture
and teaching, and those who are innovating these new practices are setting this
aside," says Canon Chris Sugden, another of the GAFCON organizers.
But Giles Fraser counters: "It's not as if the
conservatives have a monopoly on the claim to Scripture. That's why it is
important that people sit down and debate this.
"It's incredibly immature of those who are
staying away from Lambeth to make their point by their absence," he adds.
"There have always been disagreements about how to interpret the
Scripture. Ever since things have been written down, there have been
disagreements on what they mean."
Breaking up would be hard
So why don't the GAFCON bishops just secede? One
problem is that they are only united around the homosexuality issue. When it
comes to the consecration of women bishops, another big issue looming for the
church, GAFCON delegates will find it harder to agree.
Second, membership of a massive church like the
Anglican communion does confer a certain stature that some would be loath to
give up.
And third, secession brings with it all kinds of
messy legal issues. Dozens of churches have left the US Episcopal Church in
recent years to affiliate with conservatives in Africa and
South
America, raising questions – legal disputes even – over the status of their
church property.
"It can get messy," says Mr. Dawson.
"If you can avoid having to go through public legal battles then it's
better to avoid it, which is why many people long to try and hold it
together."
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