new Archbishop of Canterbury Church sd ordain gays
Submitted by TBL on 2002-12-2 13:50:50, Monday
|
The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, wants the Church of England to consider ordaining gays. Dr Williams makes no secret of the fact that be believes there is a place for practicing gay priests in the Church of England. Days before his confirmation as archbishop, Dr Williams has spoken out saying the Church should carefully reconsider ordination of active homosexuals. His comments will undoubtedly spark another clash between liberals and conservatives within the Church of England. Conservative evangelicals have already demanded his resignation even before he is made Archbishop over the issue. In An Archbishop Like This, to be shown on BBC 2, Williams argues that the Bible bars homosexual acts by heterosexual men, but not among life-long homosexuals. To the fury of conservative evangelicals, who have challenged him to recant his liberal views or resign, he says that he believes the Church should acknowledge same-sex relationships. "If the Bible is very clear - as I think it is - that a heterosexual indulging in homosexual activity for the sake of variety and gratification is not following the will of God, does that automatically say that that is the only sort of homosexual activity there could ever be?" What about those people who - with prayer and thought and seriousness and adulthood - say 'I've never known anything different'? What are we to say to them?" "I can see a case for acknowledging faithful same-sex relationships. I wouldn't want to talk about marriage - it isn't appropriate language". "But the Anglican Church doesn't see things in that way. I just want the debate to be an honest one, with a recognition that what at first sight seems absolutely straightforward when you look in the Bible, when you look a bit harder, may not be". "And that's a principle which we accept in a number of other ethical areas." Dr Williams has seen an avalanche of protest from conservatives since he admitted that he had knowingly ordained a gay man. Despite the ban, it is thought that there are as many as 1,000 gay full-time clergy in the Church of England. Dr Williams has also condemned the trappings of power and status within the Anglican church which he says is “profoundly anti-Christian”. He has also questioned if the monarch should remain supreme governor of the Church. There is little doubt that Dr Williams plans to make some radical reforms to the Church of England. http://uk.gay.com/article/community/religion/1484 |
Follow ups: