| rdfs:comment
| - Issues concerning homosexuality are controversial in some provinces of the Anglican Communion. During the thirteenth Lambeth Conference in 1998, a resolution was passed stating that homosexual acts are "incompatible with Scripture" by a vote of 526–70; however, it also contained a statement which "calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex," and noted imporantly: "We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Ch
|
| abstract
| - Issues concerning homosexuality are controversial in some provinces of the Anglican Communion. During the thirteenth Lambeth Conference in 1998, a resolution was passed stating that homosexual acts are "incompatible with Scripture" by a vote of 526–70; however, it also contained a statement which "calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex," and noted imporantly: "We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ." The Lambeth Conference is "not an executive which imposes doctrine or discipline but it is a forum where the mind of the Communion can be expressed on matters of controversy." In 2003, the Church of England announced the appointment of Jeffrey John, a priest living in a celibate domestic partnership with another man, as the Suffragan Bishop of Reading. Many Anglican traditionalists reacted strongly and John eventually succumbed to pressure from the Archbishop of Canterbury (who had initially supported the appointment) and others to withdraw before he had been formally elected. John was later appointed as the Dean of St Albans instead. As of 2004, other Anglican provinces such as the Episcopal Church in the USA, the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil, the Anglican Church of Mexico, the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Southern Africa permitted the ordination of non-celibate gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex unions. In the Anglican Church of Canada, six parishes in the Diocese of New Westminster bless same-sex unions, and Dean Peter Elliott of that diocese is a gay man in a committed relationship. In 2003, the Episcopal Church in the USA consecrated Gene Robinson, a gay man, as the Bishop of New Hampshire. Responding to these theological disputes, many provinces, primarily from central Africa also some in Asia, America and Australia—representing about half of the 80 million practicing Anglicans worldwide—declared a state of impaired communion with their counterparts. Minority groups in Western provinces have stated their opposition to what they consider unscriptural actions by the Churches of England, Canada, Australia, and the ECUSA, and in the United States, some (such as the Anglican Mission in the Americas and the Convocation of Anglicans in North America) have withdrawn their affiliation with the ECUSA and realigned themselves with African provinces such as the Churches of Uganda and Rwanda.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)