ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY SLAMS ARCHBISHOP OF NIGERIA
Yesterday, March 5, 2021, Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, released a statement condemning the recent homophobic letter of Henry Ndukuba, the Archbishop of Nigeria. Find Welby's statement here .
The ABC identified three sentences of Ndukuba's letter that were "unacceptable." 1-that homosexuality is a "deadly virus." 2-that homosexuality is "a Yeast that should be urgently and radically expunged and excised lest it affects the whole dough." 3-that "secular governments are adopting aggressive campaign for global homosexual culture."
The ABC then declared:
I completely disagree with and condemn this language. It is unacceptable. It dehumanizes those huan beings of whom the statement speaks.
I have written privately to His Grace The Archbishop to make clear that this language is incompatible with the agreed teaching of the Anglican Communion (expressed most clearly, albeit in unsuitable language for today, in paragraphs c and d of resolution 1.10 of the Lambeth Conference 1998). This resolution both restated a traditional view of Christian marriage and was clear in its condemnation of homophobic actions and words. It affirmed that "all baptised, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ."
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The mission of the church is the same in every culture and country: to demonstrate through its actions and words, that God's offer of unconditional love to every human being through Jesus Christ calls us to holiness and hope.
Find the background of this issue in my 2 March blog post, "The Anglican Church in North America and Identity."
The letter of Ndukuba to which the ABC refers is available here . It is a blistering attack on ACNA which he accuses of being favorable to homosexuals and homosexuality. Finally Ndukuba demanded that the ACNA bishops "condemn," "dissociate," "discipline" "the Gay activists in their midst."
So, what is going on here between the archbishops of Canterbury and Nigeria? It is simply a new expression of the culture war between south and north.
The war began in earnest in the 1990's when the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada began removing discrimination against homosexual persons and accepting and including homosexuals into the life of the church. The Anglican Communion divided into pro and anti homosexual camps. In 2008, the anti camp formed GAFCON (Global Anglican Futures Conference) led primarily by the anti-homosexual rights provinces of equatorial Africa where homophobia was historically and deeply ingrained in culture. GAFCON carried a great deal of weight in Anglicanism because the largest provinces outside of England are those of equatorial Africa (as Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya). The next year, 2009, GAFCON organized the Anglican Church in North America as its proxy in the U.S. Its purpose was to replace the pro-homosexual TEC with an anti-homosexual province in the Anglican Communion. The recent brouhaha between the ACNA bishops and the "Dear Gay Anglican" crowd provoked the angry response from Ndukuba of Feb. 26. It showed just how seriously the GAFCON contingent views even the slightest kindness to gay people.
I have a couple of observations on this contretemps:
1-This ends any suggestion that homosexuality is not the issue. For instance, the leaders of the schism in South Carolina always insisted their actions were about religion and not homosexuality. Nonsense. It is starkly clear that homosexuality was and still is the driving issue in the schisms and divisions in the Anglican world.
2-The Nigerian church leaders learned the lessons of colonialism well from their British rulers. They are practicing a new version of religious colonialism. The Anglican Church of Nigeria maintains two dioceses in the U.S. as well as supporting GAFCON. GAFCON created ACNA and now expects ACNA to obey the masters. Ndukuba very clearly expects ACNA to toe GAFCON's line of homophobia as a good colony should. Moreover, the GAFCON bishops made Foley Beach, head of ACNA, the chair of GAFCON. They expect him to toe the line as well as they made crystal clear.
ACNA calls itself a province (although it is not a province of anything). The Church of Nigeria calls itself a province (it is a province of the Anglican Communion). By what right does the head of one province demand obedience from a supposedly co-equal province? It is because GAFCON sees ACNA not as equal, but a colony.
Simply put, GAFCON is trying to do two things:
1-make a new form of Anglicanism. Historically, Anglicanism has always been a non-dogmatic, non-confessional expression of Christianity, reformed in substance and catholic in form. The Church of England was created to unify the kingdom under a broad religion. It could not be too doctrinaire. GAFCON is now trying to make Anglicanism into a confessional religion, one that explicitly condemns homosexuality (under the guise of biblical authority). It is doing so to bolster the church in cultures that historically condemn homosexuality and criminalize homosexual behavior. Thus the attack on and attempt to replace gay friendly churches of the First World (North America and Europe). This is why Ndukuba is so upset now. Apparently, he believes the colonists have developed too much independence.
2-divide the Anglican Communion into two separate churches, one pro and one anti gays. GAFCON has created a shadow government in the Anglican Communion, one that perhaps will replace in importance the old structure of the AC.
Another point of the letters from Nigeria and Canterbury is that the two archbishops have seized the leadership of the issue of homosexuality. The archbishop of Nigeria has made it clear in no uncertain terms what he wants and expects. He wants an Anglicanism that is explicitly against any equality for and inclusion of homosexual persons in the life of the church. The Archbishop of Canterbury has moved himself into leadership in opposition to this stance. He has made it equally clear that the traditional Anglican Communion is open to homosexuals.
Where all this goes from here remains to be seen. Obviously Foley Beach has folded as a good, obedient colonist would. What will the "Dear Gay Anglican" crowd do now to stand up for homosexuals? We shall see.
The decennial Lambeth Conference is scheduled to meet next year. It will be fascinating to see what happens between now and then and what happens then when south and north meet face to face.
Meanwhile, all things old are new again. Homosexuality is the issue of the hour with which the church has to grapple. The people who made the schism in South Carolina thought they had solved the issue with their dogmatic and intolerant "Statement of Faith." They were wrong. The issue of homosexuality is alive and well in South Carolina, as even one of the leading clergymen in ADSC signed the "Dear Gay Anglicans" letter calling for acceptance of homosexual people. Meanwhile nearly half the laity of ADSC have said they were OK with allowing "non-celibate gays" into positions of leadership in he church. Apparently, there is a schism within a schism in South Carolina. The issue of homosexuality has not gone away. It will not go away now that the two most powerful archbishops in the Anglican world have thrown down the gauntlet.
