Anglicanism and the Split over Homosexuality

While homosexuality is becoming more and more widely accepted, religion is undergoing many changes to appeal to the greatest number of people possible. Many religions are struggling with the question of whether or not they should promote that being gay is okay or not. In the history of the debate over homosexuality and religion there have been two major arguments against homosexuality. The “natural law argument” claims that only when there is a procreative possibility should there be sex. This would mean that two men or two women should not be having sex with one another because biologically it would be impossible for them to procreate. This ideal was challenged with the invention of birth control which then made it a possibility for heterosexual couples to have sex without the possibility, or with a very small possibility, of having children. The Anglican Communion began allowing contraception in 1958 at the Lambeth Conference and with this allowance they lost the ability to use this argument against homosexual relations. Also, it is stated that “sexual activity is not simply for procreation but also has a unitive function (it brings two people who love each other together)”. (Markham) It makes sense that if heterosexual couples are allowed to be involved in sexual relationships without children being the sole purpose behind the act, then this should also in theory be allowed to homosexuals. Then, of course, there is the biblical argument which also has a great deal of flaws. A primary example of the hypocrisy of this argument is that although the texts do mention homosexuality being wrong, they in addition, claim that divorce and remarriage are also immoral. Another reason that the use of the Bible against homosexuality is not legitimate is that the Bible has many more verses in favor of slavery than against homosexuality. Clearly, society has come a long way since the creation of the Bible and although many religions still believe in the word of the Bible, there are some things which have obviously changed. Slavery is one of these and the laws against divorce and remarriage is another. If the we today took the entire Bible literally, the world would be a completely different place. We have come too far as a society and evolved in many various ways and there just is not a place for a lot of the text in the Bible anymore. Because of all the contradictions of the Bible versus what is going on in the world today, there just is not a legitimate argument against homosexuality that exists within the Anglican religion.
There are over seventy seven million people in the world who consider themselves Anglicans. It is the “state established” religion in England with the Queen as the supreme governor of the Church of England. (Bates 2004) There are only currently approximately 2.3 million members in the United States now and many of the congregations are made up of black or Native American members. The numbers in the United States are declining but they are increasing in many parts of Africa. The number is up to seventeen million solely in Nigeria. This split in numbers has been causing an ongoing struggle because historically the leaders of the Anglican Church are white but with the decreasing number of white followers and the increase in African members, this is becoming quite unrealistic. Clearly, there have been many difficulties within the Anglican Church previous to the current issue of homosexuality and the church. With the principles which were created in the 1880s still trying to govern all these people who come from countries with different beliefs, these difficulties and this split seems as though it must be inevitable. Many people are surprised that after all the troubles and debates the church has had over the divinity of Christ and over issues such as baptism, that the church is considering a split over something as small as homosexuality which does not actually affect all that many of its members.
Anglicanism is a part of a Christian faith which is historically linked to the church of England and they tend to have similar beliefs, worship practices and church structure. (Wikipedia) Commonly, these churches are part of the international Anglican Communion, though there are now a fairly large number of Anglican churches which do not associate with the international group, many of these churches consider themselves to be Continuing Anglican. Continuing Anglican churches disagree with many of the revisions which have been created by the Anglican Communion. The Continuing Anglicans started around 1977 when changes were made in the Book of Common Prayer and when it became acceptable to ordain women. These separations have become even stronger since the recent ordinations of gay and lesbian people in North America. (Wikipedia)
The Anglican faith is currently experiencing a divide of ideas and beliefs which might end up causing a split in the church. This large divide within the church has been building for a great many years over various issues involving cultural and political differences, disagreement over the definition of self-government; liberals and conservatives contradicting each other and also the variation of laws between different countries. (Hurst 2005) The Anglican Church has, however survived all of these difficulties individually but as the differences pile up it has become more and more challenging for the church to remain united. Add on to this the new debate over homosexuality and it is no wonder that the church is struggling to maintain a united front.
Beginning in 2002 a Canadian diocese in New Westminster, British Columbia began blessing same sex unions. Many conservative primates were not happy with this action and they were especially outraged when the General Synod of the diocese released a statement using the words “the integrity and sanctity of committed adult same sex relationships”. (Hurst 2005) The way the word sanctity was used apparently implied “divine approval” and the West Indies archbishop Drexel Gomez was furious. He believed that a word like sanctity should only be used for marriages, he believes that the “attempt to give same sex relationships the same theological stature as marriage exacerbates the crisis in the communion and will reap devastating consequences”. (Hurst 2005) Many people have opinions on this issue and the opinions are quite varied. Many conservative African bishops feel that North America’s “independent actions have hurt the Communion as a whole”. (Hurst 2005) Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams struggled in 2005 to make peace with the African bishops but he admitted then that there still was a possibility of a division because nothing would be fixed until one side admitted they were wrong and Williams could not see that happening.
In 2004 the United States ordained a gay clergy member. Reverend Frank Griswold, head of the American Episcopal Church, appointed Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. Robinson is an openly gay priest who is involved in a same sex relationship. He was the first “openly gay and non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination believing in the historic episcopate”. The historic episcopate is the collective body of all bishops in a church who believe that the “succession must be transmitted from each bishop to a successor by the rite of Holy Orders”. Bishops who follow this succession are part of the historical episcopate. (Wikipedia)
Both of these cases have been met with strong reactions and opposition from the international branch of the Anglicanism. In 2005 Canada and the United States were asked to voluntarily withdraw from the Anglican Consultative Council until their next meeting in 2008. During this time they were also asked to not bless any same sex couples or to ordain any gays or lesbians. Archbishop Hutchison, Canada’s primate, was fully aware at this time that his church was split on the issue; he spoke to other primates in Northern Ireland about Canada. He explained to them a major flaw in having an internationally based religion. The problem was that at this time, same sex marriage was legal in seven of Canada’s provinces, soon to be legal nationwide and that Canada’s charter of rights prohibits sexual discrimination. Chris Ambidge of Integrity Canada, a network of Christian gays and lesbians, said it best when he said “Toronto is not Tanzania. New Westminster is not Nigeria. Canada’s same sex law will be passed, but being gay is still illegal in Central Africa”. With the differences that some countries have accepted and the stubbornness in others to stay the same, it is not surprising that a split has developed within an internationally based religion. This is not only an issue in gay rights but also with the allowance of remarriage after divorce and having female bishops.
Ian Markham discusses the General Convention of 2006 and the consequences of what came out of it. It was widely believed that those who were angered by the permission of gays and lesbians to have full participation at church would get over their anger. Unfortunately, the anger was underestimated. It was also not realized how strongly the rest of the world would react towards Anglicans who may or may not support the inclusion of homosexuality. This is especially true in places where there are very few Anglicans; an example of this, shown in the article is Anglicans in Pakistan. Muslims attacked the Anglicans; they were already disconcerted about how controlling America is. A senior Anglican in Pakistan told Markham that “Christians in Pakistan died because of the progressive decision of the American church”, so Anglican primates appealed to the Archbishop of Canterbury. In addition there was disapproval coming from members of the African church who are the majority of Anglicans. They had had enough of being told what to do by white people. Because of all this, the Windsor report was created. This report requested three things, an apology by the Episcopal Church of the United States of America; no same sex liturgies and no more gay bishops. The Windsor report also told the opponents of the Episcopal Church of the United States of America that it was inappropriate to interfere with another province.
Because of all the difficulties with religion and homosexuality there has obviously been a reaction from religious homosexuals. “Many consider being gay and Christian incompatible because of the perceived strict prohibition of homosexuality in the Bible”. (Yip 1997) However, although many homosexual individuals find themselves rejecting organized religion because of the church’s rejection of their lifestyle, there are still quite a lot of religious homosexuals who are struggling with their conflicting feelings. The relationship between religion and homosexuality is a complex one. It constantly is changing and developing over time. In addition to its ever changing nature, it is also fairly inconsistent across different religions. Some strict branches of religion absolutely condemn homosexuality while others are somewhat tolerant and a few are accepting. The level of acceptance is not only based off of which religion it is, but also is affected by the geographic location and the laws governing the country in question. This can be obviously seen in the case of the Anglican Church and the split over the actions of the churches in North America.
In a study by Andrew K. T. Yip, featured in the British Journal of Sociology, gay male Christians discuss their religion and sexuality through a questionnaire and an interview. These men have had all different experiences over the course of their lives but all agree that they have in some way felt “not good enough” or inadequate as a Christian because of their sexuality. One man said that he felt that the church did not want him because he is gay. Another talked about being at University and struggling because he felt as though he needed to give up either being gay or religious because it seemed to him that the two were incompatible according to the church.
Markham talks about how the discrimination of gays and lesbians compare to other discriminated groups in history. He believes that it is different than the discrimination of women and African Americans. The largest difference, Markham says, is size. While African Americans and women make up a huge percentage of the population, gays and lesbians are not as large. Markham instead compares homosexuals to Jews. Both minorities and both persecuted. Also, he makes this connection because he wants readers to be aware of the similarities so as not to have another occurrence like the Holocaust which came out of discrimination against a minority. Many people think that women gained rights, African American’s gained rights and now gays and lesbians are going through the same battle and acceptance will come along. However, many people doubt that the acceptance of gays and lesbians will come around the way it did for women and African Americans. This means that it is highly unlikely that the religious debate will be continuing for quite some time. It is probable that it will become even more heated and controversial as more and more parts of the world begin to legalize same sex marriage and ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. With the world changing the way it is and some governments and religions revising to accommodate today’s world and others resisting change and clinging to the traditions of the past, an internationally based religion seems out of the question. The power struggle will continue until one side gives in. Although these ancient religions made sense in the past, the world has changed and if religions do not keep up with the changes, they will struggle to keep supporters and to keep a united denomination.

























Works Cited
Anglican Church Of Australia. 8 June 2009 .
"Anglicanism -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 8 June 2009 .
Bates, Stephen. A Church at War Anglicans and Homosexuality. London: I. B. Tauris, 2004.
Cameron, Deborah. "Narrow Church?" Critical Quarterly 45 (2003): 109-12. Wiley Interscience. 14 Nov. 2003. 5 June 2009 .
"Gene Robinson -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 8 June 2009 .
Hurst, Lynda. "Anglican Divide Becomes a Chasm." Toronto Star 5 Mar. 2005. 4 June 2009 .
Markham, Ian. "Episcopalians, Homosexuality and the General Convention 2006." Editorial. Reviews in Religion and Theology 9 Nov. 2006: 1-5. Wiley Interscience. 7 June 2009 .
"Religion and homosexuality -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 8 June 2009 .
Yip, Andrew K.T., and Michael Keenan. "By Name United, By Sex Divided." Sociological Research Online. 28 Feb. 2004. 8 June 2009 .
Yip, Andrew K.T. "Attacking the Attacker: Gay Christians Talk Back." The British Journal of Sociology 48 (1997): 113-27. The London School of Economics and Political Science. Mar. 1997. Wiley-Blackwell. 8 June 2009 .