An appeal court in Kenya has confirmed a lower court ruling that three priests who were suspended because of allegations that they were homosexuals, must be reinstated, because there was no evidence to support the allegations. Previously the Employment Court had so ruled, but the Anglican Church of Kenya had appealed against this.
Daily Nation ACK to reinstate priests in gay case after losing appeal
The Anglican Church will still have to reinstate three priests sacked over alleged homosexuality and pay them Sh6.8 million after the Court of Appeal dismissed its application to stop the execution of the orders by a lower court.
Justice Philip Waki, Justice Roselyne Nambuye and Justice Patrick Kiage threw out an application by the Registered Trustees of the Anglican Church of Kenya that sought an order to halt the enforcement of a judgment by the Employment Court in Nyeri.
EVIDENCE
Judge Byram Ongaya of the Employment Court had, on September 2016, directed the church to reinstate Archdeacon John Njogu Gachau, Rev James Maina Maigua and Rev Paul Mwangi Warui so that they could perform their pastoral duties.The court found that it was unlawful for the church to suspend the three priests from pastoral work without evidence that they were homosexuals.
SALARY
Justice Ongaya also ordered the church to pay the priests all their accrued salaries from August 2015, when they were sacked.Archdeacon Gachau was awarded Sh2,437,780, Rev Maigua Sh2,224,996 and Rev Warui Sh2,219,814.
However, the church applied to have the execution of the judgment suspended pending the determination of an appeal seeking to overturn the court orders…
Also, Anglican Church to pay clerics suspended over homosexuality
There is also a report in Christian Today Anglican priests sacked for being gay must be reinstated, Kenya court rules.
The Anglican Church in Kenya needs to keep their imaginations zipped up!
Once again, the Church, totally obsessed about sex… but gee, wow, these priests re-instated *BECAUSE* they’re not gay. Awesome people leading these Churches… and the Church of England is having its own position on human sexuality threatened, compromised, delayed, avoided, kicked in to touch… so Provinces like these don’t get hurt feelings about what other Christians do in the privacy of their relationships, half a world away? If one wanted a good illustration of why the English archbishops should concentrate on the culture, the diversity, and the needs of their own English churches – and not be constantly compromising and… Read more »
Interesting.
Virtue signaling falls to law.
If ever this news were needed it is right now. At a time when the GAFCON Leader, Archbishop Ngatali of Uganda, has pledged his refusal to attend the next A.C. Primates’ Meeting on account of the non-Gafcon Provinces repudiation of sanctions againt LGBTI people in the Church; here is news of the Kenya Government’s rejection of the local Kenyan Anglican Church’s suspension of 3 of its clergy on account of their suspected homosexuality. It should be noted that there was no proof of their suspected sexuality at the time the hierarchy of the Kenyan Anglican Church enforced their abrupt dismissal.… Read more »
“Witch-hunts against suspected homosexuals by the Anglican Church in Africa are an injustice”
An injustice which the Church of England, and its leaders, are entirely relaxed about, and see no reason to criticise. It’s culture, you see, and we mustn’t criticise.
Ones thoughts and prayers are with those three priests, their families, and those to whom they minister. They will have suffered grievously in the past years, and it has taken the civil order to bring justice for them. Shame on the Anglican Church that has listened to the gossip mongers. Yes the whole of the Anglican church, including the Church of England that behaves no better. The Anglican Communion, and the Church of England will not move forward as long as we have Archbishops who are afraid of their own skin, and cannot grasp the fullness of the variety of… Read more »
“Or because the archbishops themselves really do think gay sex is a sin.”
Of course they do. They would hardly say that it is unless they believed it. Let’s have a little less of the “educated, powerful men forced to say things they don’t believe by (duh duh DUH) SHADOWY FORCES”. The reason they say what they say is because they believe it. No more excuses for the words coming from their mouths.
The archbishops probably do believe that homosexuality’s sinful (Sentamu was willing to die for his beliefs, so if he now believed in equality, it’s unlikely that he wouldn’t break ranks; given all his talk of radical inclusion, I guess Welby may’ve changed his mind and kept quiet for political reasons).
Given that they continue to discriminate against LGBT people, does it matter? Whether they’re motivated by sincere belief or realpolitik, their actions are the same.
I am somewhat confused about where the Church of England in general and the Archbishops in particular are on all this. Appearing on Good Morning Britain in June 2016 ++Sentamu appeared to say that while he still has personal objections with same-sex marriage, he believes in LGBT equality generally, and does not consider homosexuality to be a sin. Asked whether homosexuality is a sin, he insisted: “I would never say that. I would never say that, because sin is doing something consciously against God.” Am I confused or am I confused?
Anthony, I think the standard distinction that is commonly made is between ‘homosexuality’ as an orientation/condition – and acting on that orientation. If we look at what is actually demanded of priests, they are allowed to have a homosexual disposition to contend with, but if they act on that (in other words, actually have gay or lesbian sex) then they are liable to loss of licence just like the Kenyans. If gay sex is not a sin, why would priests be threatened with sanctions or risk removal? As things stand, they are required to be celibate. That pretty much indicates… Read more »
Anthony Archer is right to be confused, especially in the light of ‘The’ Statement issued the week before last where homosexuality and sin were in close juxtaposition – and it is largely assumed Sentamu was the author. Perhaps Anthony’s membership of the CNC will allow him to have a focused conversation with Sentamu which may lead to greater clarity about what he actually believes.
To avoid accusations of misquoting and selective quotation, here’s the man himself, writing his own words, with no-one editing:
http://www.archbishopofyork.org/articles.php/2481/a-response-on-marriage-and-civil-partnerships
In his own mind, this is not a manifesto for discrimination.
Congratulations, Anthony Archer, for being elected to the CNC. We look forward to your eirenic influence being felt in the choice of bishops in the Church of England. This is sorely needed at this time in its history.
Many thanks to Interested Observer. John Sentamu stresses that he doesn’t want to disrespect gay and lesbian people. He does not actually address whether he thinks gay *sex* is wrong or a sin. In fact he implies it’s unproductive to go down that line. On the other hand, he explicitly states that marriage is only between a man and a woman. This then leads to a further unstated issue: if this is so, is sex outside marriage wrong? So there is an indirect implication – because of who he feels qualifies for marriage (not gay or lesbian couples) – that… Read more »