Could The Church Of England's Support Of Gay Marriages Have A Detrimental Effect On Africa's Christians?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/04/african-christians-church-of-england-gay-marriage-justin-welby

[Baldric]

Well, this thread should be a Stonker,
it's got Gay Marriage, Black People and Religion.

[ladybirder]

LOL Baldric, I'll hit the subscribe button.

[anotheoldgit]

Or any mention of the Daily Mail, which would automatically make it a lying non story.

[sp1814]

Moot surely?

The CofE is vehemently opposed to gay marriage. Even civil ceremonies, which have bog all to do with them.

Still, I suppose it's refreshing to see that the debate has moved on...

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// The CofE is vehemently opposed to gay marriage. ///

That's not quite true, even the Archbishop of Canterbury and some of his clergy now support gay marriages, according to this report and as it is from the Guardian then it must be true.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/27/archbishop-of-canterbury-signal-end-c-of-e-resistance-gay-marriage

*** Some clergy are offering to bless same-sex marriages despite their bishops opposition. The Reverend Andrew Cain, from north London, has also announced his intention to marry his partner. ***

[mikey4444]

Who cares if it does ? I am unsure why the Church of England has to constantly look over its shoulder at what Africa or any other part of the world is thinking, before it makes it mind up about something. There quite a lot of gay clergy in the C of E, and it would be quite hypocritical if they continue to show such a lack of understanding.

My local Church in Wales congregation measures about 10-15 on a Sunday morning. If the Church wishes to look for answers about why it is so unpopular and out of touch with modern life, it only has to look at the ways it is faffing about while Rome burns.

[naomi24]

Mikey, // I am unsure why the Church of England has to constantly look over its shoulder at what Africa or any other part of the world is thinking, before it makes it mind up about something.//

Because the Anglican church is not confined to England. As the article says, it’s a global organisation and is deeply split on the issue.

[sp1814]

AOG

That's not really 'support'.

The CofE stance is dictated by the General Synod.

The support of marriage equality has not been ratified by the Synod.

[mikey4444]

If there are places in the world that still want to cling to outdated, bigoted ideas, then let them split away. It shouldn't effect the way that the Church operates in Britain. There are numerous other Christian churches that people can join, like the Westboro Baptist Church for instance. The reason that the church in my village has fewer footfalls through the door than the pork butchers in Jerusalem isn't due to the gay wedding issue...its because churches in general are seen as out of touch and irrelevant to today's world.

Some people are gay...so what ?...get over it !

[naomi24]

Mikey, on the Le Pen thread you defend Islamic sensitivities and ask “what would be gained by causing serious religious offence.”

Here you tell Christians to ‘get over’ that which seriously offends them. One rule for Muslims and another for Christians? How does that work then?

[mikey4444]

That is not what I meant and you are far too intelligent to think so. Gay people are gay...if that offends some people, so be it. I am offended by some ignorant, small-minded Christians, who think that the earth is only 6000 years old. But it doesn't harm me in any way, so I ignore it. These people that think the earth is going to stop spinning, just because two people of the same sex want to get married, really need to find something else more important to be offended by. The ones in Africa could stop faffing around about homesexuality and start looking at the real problems that afflict the continent...wide-spread corruption and mass starvation would be good ones to start with. Where were the Christian Churches when people were hacking each other to pieces in Rwanda for instance ?

[emmie]

according to a part of a programme i watched with Ade Adepitan, the disabled former sportsman, Christianity amongst Africans in UK is on the rise, whilst many British, Europeans have stopped attending.
i wonder if the black Africans in UK have the same viewpoints on gay marriage as those i have heard expressed by various church leaders, and government leaders in many African countries. Stephen Frys documentary on the subject of gays and their persecution across many parts of Africa wasn't so much an eye opener, but it was pretty bleak.

[naomi24]

Mikey, are you equally offended by Islam’s view of homosexuality? Should Muslims get over it too? You can see what I’m looking for here. Consistency.

[whiskeryron]

naomi, hear hear

[sp1814]

naomi24

The odd thing about this is the relative silence from Muslims about homosexuality and (especially) same sex unions in the UK.

The stories we hear (registrars who refuse to officiate same sex civil partnership ceremonies, bed and breakfast owners, preachers, adoption agencies) have all been about Christians.

It's difficult to criticise non-Christian religious groups for intolerance if they're keeping relatively quiet about it.

[anotheoldgit]

sp1814

/// That's not really 'support' ///

The support of the Archbishop of Canterbury no less, there's just no pleasing some.

[sp1814]

AOG

That is not support of the General Synod.

The official COfE stance on same sex unions remains the same.

Same sex marriage is not supported by the COfE.

[anotheoldgit]

naomi24

/// Mikey, are you equally offended by Islam’s view of homosexuality? Should Muslims get over it too? You can see what I’m looking for here. Consistency. ///

I think you will find naomi that Mikey is following the popular PC approach, which makes it perfectly acceptable to criticise (no condemn) anything Christian but falls shy of daring to criticise anything attached to Islam, if one dares then an Islamophobia label is immediately attached, is there a label for anti Christian feelings?

[sp1814]

AOG

But don't you think there's remarkably little criticism of gay rights by other religions in the UK?

How often do we hear of Muslims refusing services to gay people?

How many Jewish leaders have denounced same sex marriage?

How many Hindu registrars have refused to officiate at civil partnership ceremonies?

I absolutely agree that the minute other religious denominations start to treat gay people as less than equal to themselves, they should be hauled before the courts...but first...they need to start breaking the law.

As Christians have done.