Bishop John Bryson Chane, Episcopal bishop of Washington, wrote an important essay this weekend published in The Washington Post concerning the divide faced by the church over issues related to the inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the church. Bishop Chane writes:
It's no secret that the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion are engaged in a bitter internal struggle over the role of gay and lesbian people within the church. But despite this struggle, the leaders of our global communion of 77 million members have consistently reiterated their pastoral concern for gays and lesbians. Meeting last February, the primates who lead our 38 member provinces issued a unanimous statement that said in part: "The victimization or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us."
We now have reason to doubt those words.
Archbishop Peter J. Akinola, primate of the Church of Nigeria and leader of the conservative wing of the communion, recently threw his prestige and resources behind a new law that criminalizes same-sex marriage in his country and denies gay citizens the freedoms to assemble and petition their government. The law also infringes upon press and religious freedom by authorizing Nigeria's government to prosecute newspapers that publicize same-sex associations and religious organizations that permit same-sex unions.
Were Archbishop Akinola a solitary figure and Nigeria an isolated church, his support for institutionalized bigotry would be significant only within his own country. But the archbishop is perhaps the most powerful member of a global alliance of conservative bishops and theologians, generously supported by foundations and individual donors in the United States, who seek to dominate the Anglican Communion and expel those who oppose them, particularly the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. Failing that, the archbishop and his allies have talked of forming their own purified communion -- possibly with Archbishop Akinola at its head.
Because the conflict over homosexuality is not unique to Anglicanism, civil libertarians in this country, and other people as well, should also be aware of the archbishop and his movement. Gifts from such wealthy donors as Howard Ahmanson Jr. and the Bradley, Coors and Scaife families, or their foundations, allow the Washington-based Institute on Religion and Democracy to sponsor so-called "renewal" movements that fight the inclusion of gays and lesbians within the Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian and Lutheran churches and in the United Church of Christ. Should the institute succeed in "renewing" these churches, what we see in Nigeria today may well be on the agenda of the Christian right tomorrow.
Click here to read more from the bishop.
This is at least the second time in recent months that a prominent mainline church official has been openly critical of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD). The Rev. John Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ, said this past October:
"Groups like the Evangelical Association of Reformed, Christian and Congregational Churches and the Biblical Witness Fellowship are increasingly being exposed even as they are increasingly aggressive," Thomas said.
"Their relationship to the right-wing Institute for Religion and Democracy and its long-term agenda of silencing a progressive religious voice while enlisting the church in an unholy alliance with right-wing politics is now longer deniable. ... United Church of Christ folk like to be `nice,' to be hospitable. But, to play with a verse of scripture just a bit, we doves innocently entertain these serpents in our midst at our own peril."
Click here to read more about Rev. Thomas' remarks.
Human rights organizations such as the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission have condemned the developments supported by Archbishop Akinola.
In the United States this past summer the Klu Klux Klan was so impressed with IRD's anti-gay statements that they posted those statements on a KKK website. The Klan - to the embarrassment of IRD - later endorsed an anti-gay protest organized by IRD. Sadly, the Klan and IRD share similar agendas when it comes to the rights of gay and lesbian people.
As noted recently on this site, IRD has also recently teamed up with political extremist David Horowitz.
Let us offer our prayers for Bishop Chane as he brings light to darkness and names the powers in his church working to tear it apart. With leaders like Bishop Chane and Rev. Thomas standing with us it will be difficult for IRD and their political task masters to accomplish their ultimate goal of silencing prophetic Christian voices with the hope of furthering the conservative political movement.
Related Blog Link: Nigeria Today May Be the Christian Right of Tomorrow
