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July 23, 2008

Archbishop Supports Church Condemnation of Gay Sex

Archbishop Supports Church Condemnation of Gay Sex

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, said he remains "committed" to the Anglican Church's official stance against gay sex in an attempt to preserve biblical norms, reports The Times of London. Williams added, "I do not believe that sex outside marriage is as God purposes it." He spoke out regarding the controversy swirling around the acceptance of homosexuality within the church on Tuesday at the once-a-decade Anglican Lambeth Conference in England.

“Are we heading for schism? Well, let’s see. If it is the end of the Anglican Communion, I do not think anyone has told most of the people here,” Williams told The Times. Division within the church arose after openly gay bishop Gene Robinson was consecrated in the United States in 2003.

Afterward, church elders decreed that no more gay bishops could be consecrated. Liberals within the church are hoping to reverse that ruling by the time the next General Convention meets in the summer of 2009.

As a result, 230 bishops boycotted the Lambeth Conference and organized their own rival meeting, Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, in Jerusalem last month. Also speaking at the conference, the Archbishop of Sudan, Daniel Deng, called for openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson to step down from his post, the British Broadcasting Company reports. Deng blamed Robinson for the boycott, saying that his behavior "violated Anglican norms," according to the BBC. (The Advocate) 

Keywords:  Gene Robinson 
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Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

  • Name: Jeff
    Date posted: 2008-12-05 2:11 PM
    Hometown: Seattle

    Comment:

    I support the exclusion of gays from the church. I am gay and was raised Episcopalian, but have left the church and joined Unity. Ever religion has a right to set standards. I feel welcome at Unity and out of place in the Christian community so I moved on. Instead of trying to change the church change directions youself and free yourself.


  • Name: Randall Peasley
    Date posted: 2008-07-24 3:58 AM
    Hometown: Portland, Oregon

    Comment:

    Seems he has been bought off! Why is it the older people can't understand God's love is inclusive? Would he have been against women voting? Would he have denied God's Kingdom to all those not of the caucasian look? God IS inclusive - we are ALL equal in God's sight. Since I was born gay (there is plenty of evidence out there if one will open a narrow mind to read), I don't blame God for making me gay, but I embrace his gifts, ALL of them. Thank you.


  • Name: Art M.
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 9:05 PM
    Hometown: San Francisco, CA

    Comment:

    AH, I see. It was perfectly OK to throw out the BIBLICAL NORMS prohibiting divorce way back when - when the Anglican Church was first formed - but allowing gay sex just can't be. GOTCHA. Frickin' hypocrites. What am I saying - they're Christians. THEY HAVE TO BE HYPOCRITICAL! It's in their nature.


  • Name: Gene Rocks
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 7:29 PM
    Hometown: Myrle Beach, SC

    Comment:

    STOP TRYING TO REDEFINE MARRIAGE! I'm for Biblical marriage like in the Bible-- Solomon had- what? 300 wives and umpteen concubines.. No, wait, since I'm Christian, that dosen't count; so I'm for marriage like Jesus said in the sermon on the mount, you know --marriage without any divorce-- No wait, I'm an Episcopalian, so it's OK to go against what Jesus said and have a divorce, after all. Thank God for Rowan telling us us what to think nowadays, since Jesus Himself actually never said anything at all about queers. I wonder if they were included in the people we're supposed to love. Oh, probably not...


  • Name: Genie
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 7:05 PM
    Hometown: Vermont

    Comment:

    I remember how excited many of us were when ABC Williams was elected/appointed because of his then-positive and prophetic stand FOR LGBT folk while he was in Wales. That changed as soon as the politics started hitting the fan, and, sadly, it's only gotten worse. Has he flip-flopped on his membership and affiliation with the - gasp! - Druids too? As an Anglican/Episcopalian with Welsh heritage myself, I'm very disappointed that Williams' has not stayed true to his lifeblood of courageous rebelliousness. As a straight American woman who supports and is allied with LGBTs, I'm heartsick that he lets politics, blackmail and threat of schism stand in the way of Jesus' truth of love and acceptance for all. Do as Jesus did, Rowan, not as the bible and traditionalists say!


  • Name: Ed Tilley
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 7:01 PM
    Hometown: Wilmington, North Carolina

    Comment:

    I am an Episcopalian who sees in the Archbishop a coward. Thankfully, history will judge him that way.


  • Name: Gregg
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 6:55 PM
    Hometown: Chattanooga

    Comment:

    I see he also supports NOT trimming his hairy-ass eyebrows. What did you expect from him, to support gay marriage?


  • Name: Phoebe K
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 5:24 PM
    Hometown: Boston MA

    Comment:

    Speaking as an Episcopalian, Williams is an as**ole. Bishop Robinson was validly elected by the Episcopal Church in the US and it is the height of arrogance for Williams to refuse to allow him to participate in Lambeth with all the other bishops. I predict the Episcopal Church in the US will split from the Anglican communion. It can't happen soon enough,


  • Name: Salchak Toka
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 5:24 PM
    Hometown: kyzyl

    Comment:

    That's okay, Rowan. I'm opposed to churches that are founded so that kings can have their divorces, and then turn around and tell others how they should conduct their interpersonal business. So go to hell, Rowan.


  • Name: Michael K
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 5:04 PM
    Hometown: West Hollywood

    Comment:

    So if you don't support sex outside marriage, then allow everyone you accept into your church to marry. Don't allow me to come in to your church as a member and then keep me a second class citizen. As a Episcopalian I have looked to this church as a beacon of hope for gay rights. While I still think the Episcopal Church is moving in the right direction, I am frustrated by the current Arch Bishop and his wishy washy approach to what is going on within the Anglican communion. Either we are a part of the church or we aren't. If we are, give us equal rights. If we're not, then let us go completely.


  • Name: Doug
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 4:45 PM
    Hometown: Citrus Heights, California

    Comment:

    I think we're seeing the death throes of the last, angry, dying lions of deeply flawed "traditional" Christianity. I am a nominal Catholic although many would call me a "cafeteria" Catholic because I am gay and have been with my partner for 34 years next month. I have friends who left the RC church for the Episcopal Church when Pope Ratzinger was elected, but at least here in Northern California, there are Episcopal and even Catholic churches who are more than gay-friendly. In any case, nothing can stop gay marriage, and there is no way they can marry us yet forbid us to have sex. We'll all look back on this in 25 years as being similar to the dust-up over throwing out the laws against interracial marriage. I'm happy to be on the winning side, whatever the berobed old fossils currently bluster against.


  • Name: John J. Bennett
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 3:40 PM
    Hometown: Omaha, NE

    Comment:

    ABC Williams is one of two major disasters in unorganized religion today: the other being Benedictus XVI. These unholy men should co-author "Mein Kirche" & finally realize they both (& their minions) are hate-mongers of the first order. One of my greatest hopes is that ALL churches finally convert to museums. Some great art & architecture that should be preserved, instead of being destroyed or built-over as their missionaries did in many lands. As both a recovering Roman, and now a recovering Anglican, I see absolutely no reason for these institutions to exist. Their credo is practiced duplicity and pure evil. Now I feel a bit better.


  • Name: Father Raymond Clark
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 3:05 PM
    Hometown: San Diego CA

    Comment:

    "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Jesus, from the Cross). "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (Jesus, in the Holy Gospels) Father Raymond Clark San Diego CA USA


  • Name: Manuel Andrade
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 3:00 PM
    Hometown: Portland Maine

    Comment:

    As a former Anglican (Epsicopalian) I am thoroughly ashamed of the cowardly stand taken by Rowan, ths could have been his moment to shine and uphold the bapstismal covenant and uphold the dignity of all people. He failed. Shame on you Rowan!! Manuel Andrade Portland Maine


  • Name: Chris Sullivan
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 2:51 PM
    Hometown: Chicago, IL

    Comment:

    The only lasting legacy of organized religion is to never underestimate the power of brainwashing. It isn't "indoctrination" - that's why they have to get you since nearly birth and drill the nonsense into your head with their silly rituals and cheap, melodramatic theater. No sane adult, having been shielded from such twisted pathos, would ever buy into it as an adult. Whatever "God" is most certainly has nothing to do with these bizarre and largely unhealthy institutions. It's no surprise that most of the main religions in the world today started thousands of years ago - long before cameras, film, the internet etc. - all the modern means of proving something true or not. The conveniently self-serving catch-22 of having "faith" is absurd. The burden of proof should not be on the people who are intelligent enough to want proof of such ridiculous beliefs - it should be on all the masses who are so deliriously brainwashed, they have lost all objectivity.


  • Name: Tony
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 2:19 PM
    Hometown: NYC

    Comment:

    Rowan Williams', uncharitably Christian stand on brotherly or sisterly love, has amazingly circuitous logic: " I do not believe that sex outside marriage is as God purposes it." If gays are enfolded in the church and allowed to marry, then his objections to them having sex outside of marriage should fall away. So then the only remaining answer if objections linger is that he just doesn't approve of gay sex (in or out of a committed marriage). Ergo he is saying that Love is not Love is not Love. Prejudice however one states it is PREJUDICE. Fortunately, only I and my partner get a say in what takes place in our bed and in our hearts.


  • Name: Owen Jones
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 1:38 PM
    Hometown: Cardiff, Wales UK

    Comment:

    Does anyone really even care what these antiquated and redundant fossils have to say? The majority of Britons are atheists and the churches sit empty in the UK. No one is listening and no one cares what you have to say Mr Williams.


  • Name: Timothy R Hulsey
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 1:24 PM
    Hometown: Charlottesville

    Comment:

    No wonder Williams supports sharia law in the UK.


  • Name: Roger Burr
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 12:26 PM
    Hometown: Marble Hill, MO

    Comment:

    I love when they use terms such as 'Biblical norms'. These same 'biblical norms' prohibit the eating of shellfish, (goodbye, shrimp, crab and lobster), and the stoning to death of disobedient children and adulterers. Interesting to speculate how many Republicans would have been caught in THAT one. Nonetheless, what ultimately counts is His admonition to "love one another as I have loved you". Until then, organized religions will continue to see their numbers dwindle, as divorcees; LGBT people and others who have been 'condemned', empty the pews in ever increasing numbers. When the collection plate finally comes back empty, perhaps someone wake up!


  • Name: Joe
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 11:25 AM
    Hometown: Fort Worth

    Comment:

    "Williams added, 'I do not believe that sex outside marriage is as God purposes it.'" They don't allow us to get married, and then slam us for having sex outside of marriage. How convenient!


  • Name: Chris
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 11:24 AM
    Hometown: MA

    Comment:

    He's just jealous: "if I can't have it neither can you".


  • Name: Willy
    Date posted: 2008-07-23 7:04 AM
    Hometown: WI

    Comment:

    Religion kills


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