Anglican bishops issue statement on human sexuality
The Presbyterian Layman, September 10, 1998
Every 10 years Anglican bishops gather in Canterbury England for the Lambeth Conference. This year’s conference was attended by 750 bishops from 167 countries, including 300 from the Episcopal Church in the United States.
After two weeks of study and a three hour plenary debate, the bishops voted 526-70 (with 45 abstentions) to issue a strong reaffirmation of biblical teachings concerning human sexuality. They rejected an attempt to form a study commission on the subject to report back at a later date.
The Lambeth statement
The bishops declared that the Lambeth Conference:
• “in view of the teaching of Scripture, upholds faithfulness in marriage between a man and a woman in lifelong union, and believes that abstinence is right for those who are not called to marriage. …
• “while rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture, calls on all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex;
• “cannot advise the legitimising or blessing of same-sex unions, nor the ordination of those involved in such unions.”
Bishops react
Many of the bishops supporting the statement were from Africa, where evangelical Christianity is growing rapidly. Bishop Eustace of Kamanyire of Uganda said the “false teaching [about homosexuality] from certain parts of the Anglican Communion is causing serious damage and scandal to Christ and his church. It is a hindrance to the witness and growth of the church.” Bishop Winston Mutebi, also from Uganda, added “the Bible and the apostolic tradition are authority for all that we do in our church.”
However, according to The New York Times, Catherine Roskam, assistant bishop in the Diocese of New York, “said she would ignore the resolution. ‘I’m not taking the language of condemnation back to my constituency. It has rendered itself irrelevant to my work as a bishop.’”
Bishop Richard Holloway, head of the Anglican Church in Scotland, announced that the votes of the African bishops had been bought by “chicken and sausages,” an apparent reference to barbecues hosted by evangelical American bishops.
And bishop John Shelby Spong of Newark, N.J., a long time pro-gay-ordination activist, was not only critical of the statement but, according to The Washington Post, “was quoted as saying that the African bishops are ‘more limited in their experience’ and susceptible to ‘superstition.’” Spong further declared that African Christianity had only recently “moved out of animism” and that it ignored “the intellectual revolution of Einstein and Copernicus.” Although he reportedly apologized later, Spong initially told The Church of England Newspaper “If [the African bishops] feel patronized that’s too bad. I’m not going to cease being a 20th century person for fear of offending somebody in the Third World.”
Archbishop of Canterbury George L. Carey, who presided over the conference, called the debate “quite difficult and painful,” but declared, “I stand wholeheartedly with traditional Anglican orthodoxy. I see no room or description in the entire body of Christ for any sexual activity outside of matrimony of a husband and wife.”