Spring Break
Black Anglicans question conservatives, African ties
Daniel Burke/Religion News Service
Issue date: 8/17/08 Section: Divine Intervention
CANTERBURY, England - For five years, conservative Episcopalians eager to escape their liberal American church have been building ties with African Anglicans half a world away. But they have few connections with Black Americans in their own back yard, say Black Episcopal bishops who gathered here for a once-a-decade meeting of Anglican prelates.
"It's something that I like to point out," said Bishop Eugene Sutton, the first Black Episcopal bishop in Maryland, "the historical anomaly of dioceses that have nothing to do with the Black community going all the way to Africa to make these relationships."
Moreover, Sutton and other Black bishops here say that the use of Scripture to reject homosexuality in the Anglican Communion evokes previous eras' Biblically-based arguments in support of slavery and racism.
African prelates, however, reject that argument, and American conservatives say it is shared theology - not race - that motivates their alliances.
"This is just another revisionist attempt to use anything to undermine the orthodox position of the church and spread the agenda of inclusiveness," said the Right Rev. Peter Beckwith, the conservative bishop of Springfield, Ill.
While the eight Black Episcopal bishops here favor gay rights in their church, most Africans from the wider Anglican Communion disagree.
That conflict forms a part of the larger split running through the Lambeth Conference, a gathering of 650 Anglican bishops from around the world that ended August 3. The meeting comes as the Anglican Communion, and its U.S. branch, the Episcopal Church, are bitterly divided over whether to allow gay clergy and bless same-sex relationships.
In the small discussion groups that form the backbone of the conference, some Black Episcopal bishops say they have framed their support for gay rights within the context of a long struggle to include Blacks and women in the church and in society at large.
"As a person who knows what it means to be oppressed, I refuse to allow my brothers and sisters in the faith to be discriminated against," said Suffragan Bishop Gayle Harris of Massachusetts.
"It's something that I like to point out," said Bishop Eugene Sutton, the first Black Episcopal bishop in Maryland, "the historical anomaly of dioceses that have nothing to do with the Black community going all the way to Africa to make these relationships."
Moreover, Sutton and other Black bishops here say that the use of Scripture to reject homosexuality in the Anglican Communion evokes previous eras' Biblically-based arguments in support of slavery and racism.
African prelates, however, reject that argument, and American conservatives say it is shared theology - not race - that motivates their alliances.
"This is just another revisionist attempt to use anything to undermine the orthodox position of the church and spread the agenda of inclusiveness," said the Right Rev. Peter Beckwith, the conservative bishop of Springfield, Ill.
While the eight Black Episcopal bishops here favor gay rights in their church, most Africans from the wider Anglican Communion disagree.
That conflict forms a part of the larger split running through the Lambeth Conference, a gathering of 650 Anglican bishops from around the world that ended August 3. The meeting comes as the Anglican Communion, and its U.S. branch, the Episcopal Church, are bitterly divided over whether to allow gay clergy and bless same-sex relationships.
In the small discussion groups that form the backbone of the conference, some Black Episcopal bishops say they have framed their support for gay rights within the context of a long struggle to include Blacks and women in the church and in society at large.
"As a person who knows what it means to be oppressed, I refuse to allow my brothers and sisters in the faith to be discriminated against," said Suffragan Bishop Gayle Harris of Massachusetts.
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Gary LaBelle
posted 8/19/08 @ 12:36 AM EST
I agree with Beckwith. I'm a white coservative and am thankful for our friends in Africa. I met Bishop Tutu twenty years ago and was impressed with his grace, friendly attitude and down to earth personality. (Continued…)
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