Is the Church a Safe Place? (Crew)
The Archbishop of Canterbury has declared that the church should be a "safe place" for gay men and lesbians. Many people have weighed-in on his comment. Thinking Anglicans blog has noted several other responses to the Archbishop's statement. It is our honor to publish here the response of Louie Crew, founder of Integrity, long-time Deputy to General Convention, and member of Executive Council.
Exxon and many of the other biggest polluters of the environment routinely pay huge advertisement fees to tell us on the evening news about how carefully they protect the environment.
Ask Jeffrey John how safe the church is for gays under Archbishop Williams' archepiscopric. Ask +Gene Robinson.
Or go to a town where you are not known and introduce yourself as lbgt to the local Anglican leadership. Move among them for a week incognito and then ask yourself how safe Anglican space is.
LGBT Anglicans have taken to the bank Lambeth's promise to dialogue dozens of times only to have the cheque bounce leaving us to pay – some with unemployment, all with increased stigma – the fee for the Communion's insufficient commitment to its promises.
Look at the price the Anglicans in Nigeria are asking lgbts to pay in the church's vociferous support of fierce criminal penalties even for those who advocate on our behalf.
Believe the Archbishop of Canterbury this time only when local lbgt Anglicans are heard with respect and kindness by Anglicans in Abuja, Kigalie, Kampala, Buenos Aires, Pershawar, Nairobe, Kitwe, Dhaka, Kinshasa, Antananarivo, Nicosia.....
The Archbishop of Canterbury himself has steadfastly refused to meet with lesbian and gay leadership in The Episcopal Church, against whom the primates have led major charges naming us anathema.
Perhaps the Archbishop's promises this time will not be cheap window dressing. We live in hope.
Louie
Louie Crew, Ph.D., D.D., D.H.L.
Founder of Integrity
Chair of the Newark deputation to General Convention
posted by Lisa Fox at 3/29/2007 12:10:00 AM
3 Comments:
If the Archbishop of Canterbury wishes the church in Nigeria to be a safe place for gays and lesbians, his voice is needed to condemn the church-backed legislation in that country that criminalizes homosexual persons. Moreover, the church cannot be a safe place when Nigerian officials nod toward Islamic Sharia, as seen by the Nigerian Ambassador to the UN, as quoted below. Source: UN WATCH, posting of 29 March 2007, on the do-nothing UN Human Rights Commission.
The Rev. Robert Russell Smith
Rector
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
Perryville, Maryland
Death penalty by stoning under Sharia law for unnatural sexual acts... should not be equated with extrajudicial killings and indeed should not have been featured in the report..." - Nigeria Ambassador Joseph Ayalogu, Sept. 19, 2006, challenging criticism by UN expert Philip Alston of Nigeria's use of stoning to death as punishment for homosexuality.
As is rightly observed these days, there is a double standard in the Nigerian Church these days. The nod and the wink given to polygamous marriages, permissible by Nigerian law...clearly not a Christian practice. Plus the fact that many polygamous marriages involve girls 12 and 13...which in the West would be condemned as institutionalised paedophilia....where is Akinola's condemantion of this.
There is a lack of subtlety about this whole discussion, but why shoudl that surprise us the Church has never been particularly good at nuancing.
I can't help think during Holy Week that the manifest hatred of homosexuals that is so evident in certain sections of the Church is yet another bail beiung banged ruthlessly into the hand of the Saviour of the world
It was certainly interesting for me to read this blog. Thanks for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read more soon.
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