Acccording to Bloomberg, but curiously so far no other news agencies, Uganda to Drop Death Penalty, Life in Jail for Gays.
Uganda will drop the death penalty and life imprisonment for gays in a refined version of an anti- gay bill expected to be ready for presentation to Parliament in two weeks, James Nsaba Buturo, the minister of ethics and integrity, said.
The draft bill, which is under consideration by a parliamentary committee, will drop the two punishments to attract the support of religious leaders who are opposed to these penalties, Buturo said today in a phone interview from the capital, Kampala.
As Warren Throckmorton notes here,
Not enough but a start…
Counseling to be added. Now the ex-gay ministries will come into even sharper focus. Evangelicals who promote change as a political exercise will need to really think through whether the data supports them because real lives are in the balance.
UPDATE: On the other hand, some clergy seem resolute to maintain the bill.
From that last link, Church leaders back govt on anti-gay Bill note the following (emphasis added):
“The Bill is ok. But it has been misunderstood. We need to educate people on this proposed law,” he said.
Bishops from the Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox, Seventh Day Adventist churches as well as Muslim kadhis agreed to defend the Bill in their centres of worship.
Meanwhile, Time has these reports by Zoe Alsop:
And at MSNBC Rachel Maddow continues her series on this. For links to the latest episodes from her show, and other material, see Warren Throckmorton’s reports:
3 CommentsBishop Alan Wilson wrote a further post, this one is titled Two ways to win an argument….
Richard Morrison in The Times wrote Nothing but sex please, we’re vicars…
Savi Hensman wrote for Ekklesia Liberating the Anglican understanding of sexuality.
The New York Times published an Associated Press report headlined Episcopal Lesbian Bishop Calls Election Liberating.
The Baltimore Sun published a report headlined Lesbian bishop-elect finds support as well as controversy and the transcript of the interview is at Glasspool: ‘I anticipated some kind of reaction’…
6 CommentsOpen letter to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church and the Bishop of Los Angeles
Dear Bishop Katharine and Bishop Jon,
We congratulate you and the people of the Episcopal Church on the electoral process which has led to the election of the Revd Canon Diane Jardine Bruce and the Revd Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool as Suffragan Bishops of the Diocese of Los Angeles. We are aware that the process was carried out with great care and prayer, as will the decisions of Bishops and Standing Committees who consider whether to confirm the elections. We wish the elected candidates all joy in their ministries and assure them of our prayers.
The Anglican and Episcopalian tradition is, at its best, one which celebrates the breadth of human experience and welcomes the many ways in which we, as Christians, try to live out our vocations under God. We are therefore deeply sorry that the reaction from the Church of England to the election of Mary Glasspool has been at best grudging and at worst actively negative.
While it gives us no pleasure to dissociate ourselves from the sentiments expressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose wisdom in so many areas we deeply respect, we greatly regret the tone and content of his response, particularly in the context of his failure to make any comment on the seriously oppressive legislation being proposed in Uganda.
We wish you to know that there are a great many within the Church of England who like us are unequivocally supportive of TEC in being open to the election of bishops without regard to gender, race and sexuality. We pray that the Communion at large will grow in confidence and maturity, so that it can learn to celebrate both those things which hold us together and those things over which we disagree. In that context we greatly welcome the Theological Round Table recently announced by the Churches in India.
We urge you and your fellow Bishops and diocesan Standing Committees therefore not to be persuaded by responses from outside your province in considering the request to confirm these elections, and urge those who disagree to approach the Episcopal Church with a renewed and reinvigorated sense of trust in the actions of the Holy Spirit. As a Communion we are called to be an example to other Christians and those who have no beliefIn a diverse and global world threatened by much, it is time now to move on from these questions which divide us and focus on responding to the huge challenges we face together.
Yours sincerely
Giles Goddard
Chair,
Inclusive Church
Updated
Stuff on this just keeps on coming in.
ENS Los Angeles women bishops’ elections create ‘bit of a wave’; tsunami of reaction, expectations
Bishop Alan Wilson What hath Kampala to do with LA?
Living Church Canon Glasspool’s Election Draws Pointed Responses
Kampala Monitor Orombi angry over new lesbian bishop
Ruth Gledhill has written Friend of Dr Rowan Williams feels ‘betrayed’ by his stance on gays.
The subject of that interview, Colin Coward, has commented in Betrayed by the Church’s stance on gays.
Earlier posts by Colin are here, and also here.
Symon Hill has written Questions for Ruth Gledhill and Rowan Williams.
And now, Ruth Gledhill has blogged Out and Angry: Colin Coward on being gay priest in today’s church.
13 CommentsThe Chicago Consultation has issued this press release:
Chicago Consultation Asks Archbishop to Reconsider Statement and Silence
18 Comments“For weeks the Archbishop of Canterbury has been silent as the Ugandan legislature considers making homosexuality a crime punishable by death. Lambeth Palace has let it be known that it was working behind the scenes to influence the situation because public confrontation would be counterproductive and disrespectful. Yet the election of the Rev. Canon Mary D. Glasspool, a remarkably qualified gay woman as a suffragan bishop of Los Angeles, incited the Archbishop’s immediate statement of alarm, implying there would be grave consequences unless bishops and standing committees in the Episcopal Church refused to consent to her election.
“Canon Glasspool is a qualified, respected and beloved servant of God whom the Diocese of Los Angeles has discerned has the gifts of the Spirit to help lead their ministry. She is no threat to the work of God or to Jesus’ commandment that we love our neighbor as ourselves. On the other hand, executing gay people and creating a state system of oppression is a gross violation of the spirit of the one who welcomed the outcast to his table. We are as perplexed by the Archbishop’s speedy condemnation of the former as we are by his prolonged silence of the latter.
“We believe that honoring the relationships and ministries of gay and lesbian Christians, is, in the end, the only way in which the Anglican Communion can be faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We hope that when the Archbishop realizes the damage he has done to the Communion’s ministry among gay and lesbian Christians and those who seek justice for them, he will reconsider both the words he has spoken and the words he has not.”
Savi Hensman has written A bishop Anglicans can live with.
Riazat Butt has written Election of lesbian bishop divides Anglican community.
Paul Vallely has written Rowan Williams cannot now prevent an Anglican schism.
Scott Gunn has written Of “bonds of affection” and misplaced anxiety
Susan Russell has written Advent is for lighting candles, not for fanning flames.
Tobias Haller has written Episcopalections.
12 CommentsGeorge Pitcher writes at the Telegraph A lesbian bishop need not mean Anglican handbags at dawn, his concluding paragraphs are:
11 Comments…What the American Episcopal direction really means is that we’re moving towards a schism that looks like the Mercedes-Benz logo. In one segment we have the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions; in another, the conservative and orthodox Anglicans and, in the third, those who push the Reformist tradition alongside Bishops Glasspool and Robinson.
To those who say this last category is taking the Church to hell in a handcart, or possibly a handbag, I would say this: when Anglicans started to ordain women priests in the Nineties, female bishops became a logical and rational extension of that Reformist tradition. As for lesbians, the Bible has even less to say about them than it does about homosexuals. It may very well be that Queen Victoria, for whom lesbianism is said to have been removed from the Labouchere Amendment in 1865 when homosexual acts were outlawed because she simply didn’t believe they existed, was being more obedient than she knew to her scripture study.
But, ultimately, what Bishop Glasspool shows us is a God who is infinitely more interested in love than in sex. Sadly, nothing could be further from the truth for his human creatures.
Daily Mail Steve Doughty Archbishop of Canterbury calls on Americans to block lesbian bishop’s appointment
Telegraph Tom Leonard Archbishop of Canterbury concerned over lesbian US bishop
Press Association Rethink urged on gay bishop role
Ekklesia Williams questions lesbian bishop’s appointment – but stays silent on Uganda
And at Cif belief Andrew Brown in a piece mainly concerned with Uganda, titled Rowan Williams’ choice concludes with these paragraphs:
40 CommentsWhat makes his difficulty darkly comic rather than tragic is the speed with which he has reacted to the election of a lesbian assistant bishop in Los Angeles. A statement came out of his office less than 12 hours later urging the Americans not to proceed.
Consider the case of two Anglicans of the same gender who love one another. If they are in the USA, the Anglican church will marry them and may elect one of them to office. If they are in Uganda, the Anglican church will have try to have them jailed for life, and ensure that any priest who did not report them to the authorities within 24 hours would be jailed for three years; anyone who spoke out in their defence might be jailed for seven.
Under Williams, the church that marries two women who love each other is to be thrown out of the Anglican Communion. The church that would jail them both for life, and would revile and persecute their defenders, stays snugly in his bosom. Not even the Archbishop’s remarkable gift for obfuscation can conceal these facts forever.
Updated again Sunday evening
At 10 am Sunday London time, this statement was issued by both Lambeth Palace and the Anglican Communion Office:
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Statement on Los Angeles Episcopal Elections
Sunday 06 December 2009
The election of Mary Glasspool by the Diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan bishop elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole.
The process of selection however is only part complete. The election has to be confirmed, or could be rejected, by diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees. That decision will have very important implications.
The bishops of the Communion have collectively acknowledged that a period of gracious restraint in respect of actions which are contrary to the mind of the Communion is necessary if our bonds of mutual affection are to hold.
Reporting of this statement in the media:
The Times Ruth Gledhill Election of lesbian bishop ‘is very serious’, says Dr Rowan Williams and on her blog Lesbian Bishop: Archbishop of Canterbury warns of serious questions and later, Dreams of Church liberals are almost dead
The first link above has had the headline changed to Anglicans split over election of lesbian bishop after a write-through for the Monday paper edition
BBC Anglican church leader worried by US gay bishop vote
Statements:
American Anglican Council
Anglican Mainstream
Updated Saturday evening
I linked earlier to the statement by the US Presiding Bishop. ENS now has a news report on this, see Presiding Bishop says church opposes proposed Ugandan legislation.
Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said Dec. 4 that the church believes “the public scapegoating of any category of persons, in any context, is anathema” and thus is “deeply concerned” about a proposed Ugandan law that would introduce the death penalty for people who violate that country’s anti-homosexuality laws.
Jefferts Schori also noted in her statement that “much of the current climate of fear, rejection, and antagonism toward gay and lesbian persons in African nations has been stirred by members and former members of our own church.”
“We note further that attempts to export the culture wars of North America to another context represent the very worst of colonial behavior,” she said. “We deeply lament this reality, and repent of any way in which we have participated in this sin.”
Yesterday, the Guardian reported that a Ugandan church leader brands anti-gay bill ‘genocide’.
If Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill becomes law, it will be little short of state-sponsored “genocide” against the gay community, a prominent member of the Ugandan Anglican church said this week.
Canon Gideon Byamugisha said the bill, which recommends the death penalty for anyone repeatedly convicted of having gay sex and prison sentences for those who fail to report homosexual activity to the police, would breed violence and intolerance through all levels of society.
“I believe that this bill [if passed into law] will be state-legislated genocide against a specific community of Ugandans, however few they may be,” he said..
Today, the Guardian has this this editorial comment: Uganda: Unjust and infamous.
…Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill 2009, which is now before parliament, is unpleasant even by the standards of anti-gay laws around the world. Its supporters will decry any criticism as neocolonial interference, but the reality is that Uganda is being misled, not least by evangelical churches, some of which have links with the American Christian right.
The proposed law is more a rant against homosexuality and the west than a workable piece of legislation intended for Uganda itself. Much of it consists of a list of unfounded claims, starting with the statement that “same sex attraction is not an innate and immutable characteristic”. Infamously, it calls for the execution of gay men found guilty of “aggravated homosexuality” – by which it means those who are HIV positive, or who have sex with someone who is under 18 or disabled. The bill may be amended during its passage through parliament to replace the death penalty with life imprisonment, but that change would be only a gesture to spare the blushes of Uganda’s aid donors. If passed – which looks likely, since its sponsor is a member of Uganda’s ruling party – the bill will continue to write hate into law…
Update
Episcopal Café unearthed this gem:
A senior member of the Anglican Church has thrown support behind the government move in a bid to phase homosexuality out of the country.
Rev. Michael Esakan Okwi said on Friday that not even “cockroaches” who are in the “lower animal kingdom” engaged in homosexual relations.
Read Anglican funeral occasion for comparing gays to roaches.
4 CommentsUpdated
Ruth Gledhill reports: Archbishop of Canterbury in ‘intensive’ efforts to combat Ugandan anti-gay death law.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams has been criticised widely for failing to speak out against the new anti-gay law in Uganda that could see some homosexuals being executed. But there is method in his silence. Today, Lambeth Palace told me: ‘It has been made clear to us, as indeed to others, that attempts to publicly influence either the local church or political opinion in Uganda would be divisive and counter productive. Our contacts, at both national and diocesan level, with the local church will therefore remain intensive but private.’
And there is an excellent set of links there to what various other people have said recently on this topic.
Warren Throckmorton reports:
Extreme Prophetic declines to oppose the Anti-Homosexuality Bill
Is Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill part of reclaiming the 7 mountains of culture? – Part One
Addition Is Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill part of reclaiming the 7 mountains of culture, Part Two
He also provides links to the coverage of this story by Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, here, and earlier here.
Update
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori has issued a statement, see Presiding Bishop expresses concern about Uganda’s proposed anti-homosexuality bill for the full text.
41 CommentsVoices continue to be raised about the anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda.
Independent Thomas Sutcliffe: No dignity in this pretence of unity
Atlantic Monthly Andrew Sullivan Rick Warren, Silent Enabler Of Hatred
National Post Stephen Harper slams Uganda on anti-gay bill
Politics Daily David Gibson If Uganda Executes Gays, Will American Christians be Complicit?
Religion Dispatches Michelle Goldberg Uganda’s Radical Anti-Gay Measure and the American Religious Right
From church sources:
Anglican Church of Canada House of Bishops issues statement on Uganda’s anti-homosexuality bill
ENS House of Deputies president condemns proposed Uganda anti-homosexuality legislation
10 CommentsAndrew Brown wrote last Thursday at Cif belief about A gay witch hunt in Uganda.
The Bishop of Bristol, Mike Hill had quite a lot to say about the Ugandan situation in his recent address to the Bristol Diocesan Synod. Read the PDF file here. The relevant portion is copied below the fold here.
I linked previously to the following item, but because it was buried in the updates at the bottom of another article, some may have missed it.
Bishop Joseph Abura of Karamoja Diocese, Province of the Anglican Church of Uganda, has written an article for Spero News. Read For some Anglicans, Vices are now Virtues. That diocese has links with Winchester rather than Bristol. Winchester diocese has made no public statement, as far as I know.
British and other politicians are now speaking up about this, at the Commonwealth conference now in progress in Trinidad:
Also, Newsweek has an article by Katie Paul Eric Goosby: No Hold on PEPFAR Funds for Uganda
18 CommentsUpdated again Thursday morning
First, this article by Savi Hensman is more general, but nevertheless relevant to the Uganda issue.
Second, these articles by Colin Coward are specific:
The Guardian interview by Stephen Moss is at Archbishop John Sentamu: ‘Mammon has been given a pasting’.
Meanwhile…
The United Reformed Church (URC) has become the first major Christian denomination in the UK to issue a statement condemning Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill.
See URC breaks silence of UK churches over Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill.
And, from the USA, news via Episcopal Café of The Family’s role in the Ugandan anti-gay bill.
Warren Throckmorton also reports on this, see Author links sponsors of Anti-Homosexuality Bill to The Family.
The transcript of the radio programme to which these articles refer can be found here.
Updates
Bishop Joseph Abura of Karamoja Diocese, Province of the Anglican Church of Uganda, has written an article for Spero News. Read For some Anglicans, Vices are now Virtues.
Colin Coward notes here that this diocese is linked with the Deanery of Alton, in the Diocese of Winchester. As Colin says, the bishop’s views deserve to be read in full.
And as Episcopal Café notes here, ACNA Bishop John Guernsey serves under Abura.
See also More on American ties to Uganda.
15 CommentsUpdated
Episcopal Life Online has published a report, Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill causes concern and caution.
The Chicago Consultation published a press release, Chicago Consultation Asks Anglican Leaders to Oppose Ugandan Anti-Gay Legislation.
The New Statesman published an article, Uganda is sanctioning gay genocide by Sigrid Rausing
And it got a mention on the Guardian website, Activists denounce Uganda’s homosexuality bill.
Warren Throckmorton has published further articles:
Ugandan university hosts dialogue; Exodus letter plays a role
College of Prayer, the Ugandan Parliament and the Anti-Homosexuality Bill
The full text of Professor Sylvia Tamale’s address can be found here.
Update
There’s a further ELO news release, Executive Council members call for special meeting on Uganda legislation.
5 CommentsUpdated Sunday lunchtime
Media reports following the meeting:
BBC Archbishop of Canterbury and Pope to ‘seek closer ties’ and
Robert Pigott Anglicans and Catholics attempt to bridge divide
New York Times Rachel Donadio Anglican Leader and Pope Hold ‘Cordial’ Talks
Telegraph Jonathan Wynne-Jones Archbishop of Canterbury tells Pope that Catholic row left him feeling ‘awkward’
Mail on Sunday Jonathan Petre Rowan Williams confronts the Pope over ‘poaching’ of clergy
A very useful commentary by Austen Ivereigh in America +Rowan and Pope Benedict ‘mend fences’
Updates
Observer John Hooper Williams faces pope over Vatican call for converts and also
Leader comment: A subtle champion of the faith
Ruth Gledhill has Archbishop of Canterbury in Rome: In giving we receive
The BBC radio programme Sunday has a segment starting about 32 minutes in. It includes a brief audio interview with Rowan Williams.
Bishop David Hamid has a useful blog entry, see Anglican-Roman Catholic Relations.
22 CommentsToday The Times has a leader, Ecumenism rebuffed.
It includes this:
…In the interests of his own authority and the integrity of the Anglican tradition, he should give the pontiff two clear messages.
First, the Anglican Communion is not an arrangement of convenience among disparate parties. In creating the new structure, known as an apostolic constitution, the Vatican acted precipitately. Second, there is an impeccable case for the Church to welcome women priests and homosexual clergy. On these issues that have sharply divided Anglicans, Dr Williams is clearly liberal by temperament. Stating that position openly, regardless of its effect on Anglican-Catholic relations, is overdue…
The Independent also has a leader, Heavy hand of Rome. It says:
…Last month saw one of the most divisive acts by the Catholic Church in decades. The Pope unveiled an “apostolic constitution” which would allow practising Anglicans to join the Catholic Church. Under the new arrangement, Rome would even admit married Church of England clergy and allow entire congregations to continue using their traditional liturgy and prayer book. The Archbishop has been quietly criticising the Catholic move in recent days. But behind closed doors he ought to be more direct…
In the same paper:
It is the best and worst of times for Anglo-Catholic relations by Paul Woolley
A warm welcome from the Pope sows Anglican unease by Simon Caldwell
The Church Times website has an update to the printed version, Archbishop takes the argument to Rome by Paul Handley.
Andrew Brown wrote Graphic confusion in Rome at Cif belief yesterday. He links to this helpful flow chart from The Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley.
A detailed critical analysis of Anglicanorum coetibus comes from Australia, where Charles Sherlock has written Pope skips language of love in Anglicans manifesto.
46 CommentsUpdated Friday morning
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Archbishop of the Anglican Province of Congo and the Bishop of Winchester today voiced their concerns over the continuing conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Update
The Bishop of Winchester spoke in the House of Lords on this subject. You can read what he said here.
13 CommentsUpdated Friday morning
The Archbishop of Canterbury gave an address today, in Rome. He was the guest of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The address was part of a symposium being held at the Gregorian University, to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Cardinal Willebrands, the first president of the Council.
You can read the full text of the address here.
Reporting of this event by the media:
Telegraph Archbishop of Canterbury claims differences between Anglicans and Roman Catholics are not that great by Martin Beckford and Nick Squires
Guardian Rowan Williams urges Rome to rethink position on female bishops by Riazat Butt and John Hooper
The Times Archbishop of Canterbury tells Pope: no turning back on women priests by Ruth Gledhill and Richard Owen
Associated Press Struggling Anglican leader in Rome for papal talks by Nicole Wingfield
Reuters Anglican head challenges Vatican over women clergy
Agence France Presse Anglican leader urges ‘convergence’ with Catholics
Reporting on the blogs:
Alan Wilson What kind of Unity? and of Church?
Ruth Gledhill Rowan in Rome: The Fightback Begins
57 CommentsPolitical Research Associates has published a major report entitled Globalizing the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, African Churches, and Homophobia.
The report is written by The Revd Kapya Kaoma, an Anglican priest from Zambia.
From the press release:
11 CommentsGroundbreaking PRA Investigation Exposes Influence of U.S. Religious Conservatives in Promoting Homophobia in Africa
U.S. Christian Right also mobilizes African clerics in U.S. “culture war” over ordination of LGBT clergy
Sexual minorities in Africa have become collateral damage to our domestic conflicts and culture wars as U.S. conservative evangelicals and those opposing gay pastors and bishops within mainline Protestant denominations woo Africans in their American fight, a groundbreaking investigation by Political Research Associates (PRA) discovered.
Globalizing the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, African Churches, and Homophobia, a new report by PRA Project Director Reverend Kapya Kaoma, exposes the U.S. Right’s promotion of an agenda in Africa that aims to criminalize homosexuality and otherwise infringe upon the human rights of LGBT people while also mobilizing African clerics in U.S. culture war battles. U.S. social conservatives who are in the minority in mainline churches depend on African religious leaders to legitimize their positions as their growing numbers makes African Christians more influential globally. These partnerships have succeeded in slowing the mainline Protestant churches’ recognition of the full equality of LGBT people. It’s working despite the real movement toward full equality within deonominations because of the sensitivity of liberals to the question of colonialism. Are we being insensitive to the realities of Africa? But, Kaoma argues, although U.S. conservatives have organized African religious leaders as a visible force opposing LGBT equality, it is not true that all of Africa takes this stand…
