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Bishop taken to task for support for gay relationships

A group of orthodox Christian Anglicans has called a bishop of the Church of England to task for his support of same-sex relationships, reports Hilary White, LifeSiteNews.com.

The Rt. Rev. James Jones, a prominent figure in the evangelical wing of the Church of England, told the Liverpool Diocesan Synod this weekend that it is “consistent theologically and ethically” to allow diversity of opinion on homosexuality.

Comparing the objection to homosexuality to the disagreement over pacifism and the Just War theory, he said, “I believe the day is coming when Christians who equally profoundly disagree about the consonancy of same gender love with the discipleship of Christ will in spite of their disagreement drink openly from the same cup of salvation.

“This is I believe the next chapter to be written in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion.”

Christianity has, he said, “come to allow a variety of ethical conviction about the taking of life and the application of the sixth Commandment so I believe that in this period it is also moving towards allowing a variety of ethical conviction about people of the same gender loving each other fully.”

Evangelical Anglicans, however, have strongly objected to Jones’s comparison, saying he is being too “selective.”

The evangelical group Anglican Mainstream issued a statement following the meeting saying, “In terms of practice, such teaching fails to recognise that the deep logic of the gay/lesbian movement is the abolition of the Judaeo-Christian understanding of human identity, towards which acceptance of gay ‘marriage’ is a key step.”

Canon Dr. Chris Sugden, executive secretary of Anglican Mainstream, said, “With pacifism and the Just War, both sides of that discussion are concerned to limit war. It's not pacifism as against militarism, which would be the strict parallel.

“Would he apply the same argumentation to slavery? Would he apply the same argumentation to racism? Would he apply the same argumentation to abortion?”

Rev. Peter Ould, who says he suffered from same-sex attraction as a young man and is now married with children, wrote that Bishop Jones’s comparison avoids the depths of the issue.

“Issues around human sexuality cut deep to the core of anthropology in a way that the pacifism/militarism debate does not. The traditional human sexual moral is not just about how human beings should behave sexually but on a much deeper level about core issues of identity.”

He continued, “Human sexuality is an ontological identification in a way that an ethical position on war or peace can never be.”

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TAGS: United Kingdom orthodox Christian Anglicans Church of England same-sex relationships Rt. Rev. James Jones

[03/15/2010]

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