Anglican Church
schism recedes over gay issue with African leaders
24 June
2008- UK- The Church of England's leading conservative bishop told Anglicans
meeting in Jerusalem tonight that the greatest challenge facing the Church is
not homosexuality but "militant secularism".
The Bishop of
Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, warned that the West was losing its religion at
the very time it needed it most.
Issuing a
rallying cry for the West to recover its "Christian nerve", Dr Nazir-Ali
challenged the conservative wing of worldwide Anglicanism to rise to the
challenge of bringing a renewal of Christianity to modern society.
Making no
apology for having stated in the past that he wanted to convert Muslims, he
joked: "That's not all I want to do with Muslims."
The
Pakistani-born bishop was speaking to 1,100 bishops, clergy and laity at the
Global Anglican Future Conference in Jerusalem, set up to discuss how to move
forward in the wake of the wider Anglican church's progressive attitudes on
Scripture, and in particular homosexuality.
Many of the
300 Anglican bishops in Jerusalem, including the diocese of Sydney and the
province of Nigeria, are boycotting next month's Lambeth Conference in protest
at the liberal agenda.
But the
prospect of schism has receded as African leaders at the meeting stepped back
from the brink and declared they are not seeking to start a new church.
Dr Nazir-Ali
said he did not wish to apologise for his proselytising agenda, even where
Muslims were the target. "I have an obligation to witness to all that God has
done," he said.
He continued:
"Perhaps the greatest challenge we have is that of a militant secularism which
is creating a double jeopardy for western cultures. The West is losing a
Christian discourse at the very time it needs it most. Let us pray we are able
to recover our Christian nerve in the West and to make sure the Gospel is not
lost."
Earlier,
Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi, primate of Kenya and leader of that country's four
million Anglicans, and the Ugandan primate Archbishop Henry Orombi confirmed
there will be no split.
Archbishop
Nzimbi's comments are especially significant because he is heading the committee
that will draw up the final communique to be issued on Sunday night. It also
confirms that, as disclosed by The Times on Monday, the agenda is now reform
from within rather than starting a breakaway conservative Anglican church.
The emerging
figure that is crucial in the softening of the line on schism is the Archbishop
of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen, who has become the key player on the Anglican
conservative wing, shifting the emphasis from the US and African conservatives
to Australia.
In a recent
interview in the Sydney Morning Herald, Dr Jensen said it would be legally
impossible to engineer schism. The Episcopal Church of the US has already
launched a number of legal actions against breakaway parishes and bishops. Dr
Jensen said: "I'm part of a constitution, which is virtually
unchangeable,
of the Australian church. I wouldn't want to. I love the church. It would be bad
for Christianity, bad for the gospel." He continued: "I think there is going to
be an evolution in the Anglican Communion. It has occurred. And what the Future
Conference is going to work out is how to live best within that evolution.
That's its business."
Archbishop
Orombi said: "What we are meeting for here is not to plan to walk away. We are
meeting to renew our commitment, to renew our faith, to get a sense of direction
of what we can be as Anglicans. We do not want to start a new Church."
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