From the The East African Standard (Nairobi):
African Anglican Archbishops yesterday rejected the apology by the American Episcopal Church over the ordination of a homosexual bishop and the wedding of gay couples.
The clerics, representing 50 million faithful, asked their American counterparts to repent instead.
“They have only apologised and not repented,” said Dr Reverend Bernard Malango, the Archbishop of Zambia.
“Apology does not make sense to us, the biblical word is repentance,” said Kenya’s Archbishop Benjamin Nzimbi.
They were speaking late yesterday at a news conference in Nairobi at the end of a two days meeting skipped by South Africa’s archbishop Njongokulu Ndungane, the only pro-gay voice in Africa.
The meeting dubbed third Trumpet, was chaired by the Nigerian Primate archbishop Peter Akinola was also attended by representatives of representatives from South East Asia, Latin America and Asia.
The Episcopalians last week met in Salt Lake City and issued an apology to the Anglican Churches ‘for the hurt’ caused by the ordination of Dr Gene Robinson, a homosexual cleric and blessing of same sex marriages.
Dr Akinola also took a swipe at the assertion by archbishop Ndugane that Africa’s anti-gay stand was at the expense of poverty, HIV/Aids and conflicts.
“Poverty is not an issue, human suffering are not an issue at all, they were there before the creation of mankind,” he said.
I think this dam broke years ago when Catholics began to dissent from Church teaching after the issuing of Humanae Vitae (on birth control). I don’t think that prior to that, members of any denomination felt it acceptible to pick and choose which articles of faith they would accept or not accept. At least if they did, they were not as vocal as they are now.
After that, other issues such as divorce and remarriage (and henceforth annulments) began to be taken in different lights: the clergy softened their treatment of those who did find themselves in such situations, perhaps in an effort to avoid losing more congregants in the midst of already declining Church attendances.
Now, I consider independent thought a good thing and to mindlessly and blindly accept any and all things coming from any one source to be the result of a lazy intellect. At the same time, I do wonder how much one can discard but still maintain the essential qualities of any particular faith.