Anglicans in Crisis
What is the issue?Recently, Anglicans have begun to declare themselves on what may well be the defining issue for their Church in this century: how homosexuality is to be dealt with in the Communion. Whether the Church can survive in tact is a important and serious question for all of its members.
The issue has been one Anglicans have been grappling with for many years and which now may be approaching some form of resolution. Confrontation over this issue has been growing as a result of several recent world events:
- In England, the appointment and subsequent withdrawal of Canon Jeffrey John as the new Bishop of Reading;
- In Canada, the blessings of homosexual co-habitants by the Anglican diocese of New Westminster, British Columbia;
- In the US, the election of an active homosexual to be the Episcopalian Bishop of New Jersey, whose consecration is set to take place in early August;
Although homosexuality is providing a context for the specific issue that is bringing about this crisis, the broader issues are the authority of Scripture and who in the Church decides on the authoritative interpretation of Scripture.
Evangelicals in the Church view any attempt at the ordination of homosexuals (active or celibate) as bishops and the blessings of homosexual co-habitants as contrary to Scripture. Liberals in the Church take what they describe as an �inclusive view� and, although there are some disagreements about exactly who and under what circumstances homosexuals can be admitted into the nether reaches of the Anglican clergy, most see little or nothing wrong with admitting them into positions of authority.
The 1998 Lambeth Conference appeared to be a watershed for conservative and liberal elements within the Church. Roughly ninety percent of the delegates voted in favour of Resolution 1.10 (526 in favour and 70 against) which, among other things, rejected �homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture� and proscribed �legitimising or blessing of same sex unions [and] ordaining those involved in same gender unions.�
The resolution, although non-binding, was a clear challenge to decades of liberal influence in the Anglican hierarchy and highlighted key differences between the traditional Anglican Church of the West and the emerging and energetic Anglican Church of the Third World.
Despite overwhelming support for Resolution 1.10, during the intervening five years the liberal power structure has continued to foster both normalisation and integration of homosexuality within the Church. The three events identified above represent perhaps the culmination of liberal influence and jointly, an explicit attempt to settle the question.
Recent events suggest, however, that liberal elements in the Anglican Communion may have miscalculated. They appear to have underestimated the commitment and dedication of evangelicals and other conservatives in the Church who have clear convictions about what Scripture says regarding homosexuality. While seeking to deal with homosexual individuals in a compassionate way, evangelicals hold strong beliefs that homosexuality is a sin and that homosexuals, who are not celibate and who have not repented of that sin, should have no place in the Church hierarchy.
In early July, many leaders in the Church were forced to take a huge step back in their attempts at inclusion of homosexuals in the upper echelon of the Church and, some might say, their attempts to �re-engineer� Scripture. That signal event was that Canon Jeffrey John, who had been appointed to be the next Bishop of Reading and who had had a 27-year relationship with another man, withdrew his name for the post after a six-hour meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace.
Dr. Jack L. Edwards, President
Canadian Communications Coalition, Inc.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
August 5, 2003
Christian Coalition International Canada Inc.
P.O. Box 6013, Station A
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