What the Archbishop of Canterbury Should Have Said About Gay Rights - By Gene Robinson

[DonViejo]

Justin Welby said the Church of England can’t rush on gay marriage because it could could become a rationale for violence against Christians in Africa. But that lets the murderers win.

I admire Justin Welby. The committee to nominate the next Archbishop of Canterbury was obviously thinking outside the box when they went beyond the usual deep-thinking, theological wizards and academicians to nominate this thoroughly 21st-century Christian to lead the Church of England. Welby spent most of his adult life in the business world, getting ordained as a middle-aged man, and serving as the Bishop of Durham for just over a year before becoming Archbishop. He is a man of deep faith and brilliant intellect, with a healthy dose of modernity and realism. I think they made a great choice.

Which is why I was stunned to read an account of Archbishop Welby’s response to a call-in show questioner about the newly-implemented marriage equality law in England. In response to a question about why the Church of England does not allow its clergy to officiate at civil same-sex marriages, Archbishop Welby responded:

“I have stood by gravesides in Africa of a group of Christians who had been attacked because of something that had happened in America. We have to listen to that. We have to be aware of the fact,” Welby said. If the Church of England celebrated gay marriages, he added, “the impact of that on Christians far from here, in South Sudan, Pakistan, Nigeria and other places would be absolutely catastrophic. Everything we say here goes ‘round the world.”

Welby was referring to violence against Christians in Africa that the perpetrators have justified in connection with supposedly gay-friendly activities by the Anglican churches in the United States and Canada. He said he had been warned during a visit to South Sudan that Christians could face violence from Muslim neighbors who believed that having Christians nearby would make them gay.

more
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/04/13/what-the-archbishop-of-canterbury-should-have-said-about-gay-rights.html

[skepticscott]

1. Robinson seems to be saying

that since he personally has declared that Welby is an absolutely corking chap that the only appropriate response to this is to be "stunned". How about, sorry, Gene, but having 'deep faith' (whatever the fuck that even means) and 'brilliant intellect' was no reason not to judge him as being just as much a bigot as his predecessor, and those of us who saw through the facade are not stunned at all.

[xfundy]

2. "...believed that having Christians nearby would make them gay"

So that's what does it.

On second thought, is there nothing that doesn't make one gay?

[cbayer]

3. I am so glad that Gene Robinson is writing these pieces for the Daily Beast.

He is exactly the right person to take on the wrongheaded thinking of people like Archbishop Welby.

Excellent article.

[skepticscott]

4. Well, no...he's not

It's abundantly clear that his judgement of Welby was clouded and biased from the beginning. No one looking at the man objectively should have been "stunned" by this.