Not a gay day for Anglicans

The worldwide Anglican Church is in a state of crisis over homosexuality. The trouble is that the Christian message is being polarised and turned into a "what's best for me" situation. It is also the case, as with the Episcopal Church in the USA, that people have become Anglicans but have brought their own agendas with them.

Traditionally Anglicans have taught that they preach not a new faith but the faith "Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est - That which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all". Unhappily, new ideas and beliefs have tugged on the comprehensive nature of Anglicanism.

The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is about Christian living. Whatever is said in the world, this sacrament does not embrace genitally-based homosexual relationships and by its nature cannot do so. There are only two ways of living out the Christian life. Celibacy and Matrimony. However, we all fall short, some more than others. Our lives are seduced by temptations all around us. Those not living up to the Christian ideal should not be castigated or denounced.

It is therefore a little sad that the Archbishop of Canterbury has had to step in to defuse the rising tensions over the issue. He quite rightly deplores the threats made against Rev Colin Coward, director of Changing Attitude, describing them as the "latest round of unchristian bullying". During the Second World War the saying "Careless talk costs lives" was used. Similarly, careless talk costs Christian integrity!

In Australia, the Reverend Richard Lane has denounced a judge for calling himself a Christian Anglican whilst living in an openly gay relationship and warned as a "messenger, watchman and steward of the Lord in the Anglican Church of Australia", he faced God's judgment. Well, all I'd say is that we all face God's judgement. However, the Australian judge, Mr. Justice Kirby, made an assertion on ABC Radio late last year that the Anglican and Catholic archbishops of Sydney, Peter Jensen and George Pell, had, via religious instruction, made it hard for people to adopt a more tolerant attitude to gays. This is his opinion, but the teaching of the Catholic Faith should always preach tolerance whilst not abiding sinful activity.

I would hope that clerics like Richard Lane temper their language. It is one thing to practice the traditional sacramental teaching of the Church. It is quite another to pose as being God's chosen over other people.