Anglican Church to allow gay bishops

[Rychard the Lionheart]

Anglican Church to allow gay bishops - Article from Yahoo News dated 20th June 2011.

The Anglican Church is set to approve controversial guidelines allowing openly homosexual clergy to become bishops.

In a paper due to be published on Monday, the Church will seek to move in line with the Equality Act by updating its rules to permit celibate homosexual men to be promoted.

The paper, entitled "Choosing Bishops - The Equality Act 2010", provides legal guidelines for those considering candidates for promotion and spells out that sexuality must not be a factor in the final decision.

"A person's sexual orientation is in itself irrelevant to their suitability for episcopal office or indeed ordained ministry," the paper said.

However, the report does advise that church leaders could block a candidate if "the appointment of the candidate would cause division and disunity within the diocese in question.

"It is clearly the case that a significant number of Anglicans, on grounds of strongly held religious conviction, believe that a Christian leader should not enter into a civil partnership, even if celibate, because it involves forming an exclusive, lifelong bond with someone of the same sex," it added.

"It is equally clear that many other Anglicans believe that it is appropriate that clergy who are gay by orientation enter into civil partnerships, even though the discipline of the Church requires them to remain sexually abstinent," the paper continued.

The Church has been urged to clarify its position after Jeffrey John, a celibate priest who is in a civil partnership with another cleric, was forced to stand down as suffragan bishop eight years ago.

The guidelines will be presented before the Church's General Synod in July.

The Anglican Church, which split from Rome in 1534, has 77 million followers worldwide and is Britain's dominant religion.

A step in the right direction but with strings attached again.

[East]

Sometimes I worry more about the church accepting gays...I am not sure that is a desirable outcome. I worry about Republicans accepting gays as well...I think it is a blessing that both of these groups condemn us. When they start accepting and/or embracing us I will start to worry alot more.

[colinmackay]

Sometimes I worry more about the church accepting gays...I am not sure that is a desirable outcome. I worry about Republicans accepting gays as well...I think it is a blessing that both of these groups condemn us. When they start accepting and/or embracing us I will start to worry alot more.

Oh? Why would that be a worry?



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[East]

Oh? Why would that be a worry?

I am not a fan of the thought police and I think that organized religion uses fear to control the masses. I am also not a fan of the oppressors embracing the people they oppress....it never turns out well.

[marshlander]

How much of a step in the right direction is this? It is nothing more than a sop to comply with the law. Straight Anglican clergy are not required to be celibate within marriage and civil partnerships are not recognised as having equal status to marriage by the church. Any and every appointment is going to cause "division and disunity" within the diocese and so gay candidates are even less likely to be considered now this position has been articulated. This is not a step forward at all. It's a complete mess.

[OrphanPip]

The Anglican Diocese of Canada had to step down from performing gay marriages a few years ago because they were threatened with schism from England. Apparently the Nigerians consider us out of communion. The largest protestant denomination in Canada, the United Church of Canada, is highly decentralized and allows individual parishes to decide if they want a gay minister or not, and whether they will perform gay marriages or not. It should be noted that Canada is an odd ball because it has a long tradition of the United Church being aligned with the political left, largely out of the social gospel movement. Our social democratic party was founded by a minister, who was also responsible for bringing universal health care to Canada.