Posted on 07/05/2009 11:57:16 AM PDT by presidio9
A senior Church of England bishop has angered gay-rights campaigners by saying homosexuals should repent.
Archbishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that the Bible defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman. He said the church welcomed gay people, "but we want them to repent and be changed."
Nazir-Ali is a leading member of the conservative wing of the global Anglican Communion, which is riven by divisions over homosexuality and the ordination of women.
Gay groups condemned the bishop's remarks. Campaigner Peter Tatchell said Nazir-Ali's view "goes against Christ's gospel of love and compassion."
And Derek Munn of gay-rights group Stonewall accused the bishop of promoting inequality and intolerance.
The 77 million-member Anglican Communion has been splintering since 2003, when the Episcopal Church the Anglican body in the U.S. consecrated the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has tried to hold the fragile communion together by getting churches to observe a voluntary moratorium on consecrating another openly gay bishop and developing prayers for same-sex unions. But many fear a split is inevitable.
Nazir-Ali's remarks appeared a day before the launch in Britain of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, a coalition of conservative parishes from around the world, which Nazir-Ali supports.
He was quoted as saying that people who depart from traditional Biblical teaching "don't share the same faith."
"We want to hold on to the traditional teaching of the church,"
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I agree.
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: If they make a mistake, I dont want them punished with a baby.
It sounds like Bp. Nazir-Ali is looking for martyrdom. He’s already got the Moslems after him, and now he’s taking on the sodomites.
I hope he’s got plenty of angels around him!
There are a lot of wonderful and brave Anglicans out there.
He is obviously one of the good guys.
Perez Hilton, this means you!
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Amen. Love the sinner, hate the sin.
This is a complete and total misrepresentation of the Bishops words and it is deliberate.
The church welcomes all. Murderers, thieves, and whores are all ministered by the church. They are accepted, but their activities are condemned. Would any of the Homosexuals contend that someone could be a good member of the church and continue to be an active thief. I think not. Theft is a sin and in order to be in league with the church you must refrain from sin.
The same is true of homosexual acts. The idea that being or having homosexual desires is not a sin. The sin is in the active pursuit of those activities. This is the reason the Anglican church has strayed from the active pursuit of proper teaching about God and His Law. They are liars to tell homosexuals that they can continue their sinful acts and expect to be in league with God.
It’s the only sin you see people parade over.
Wonder what the "campaigner" (whatever that is) would think if the Archbishop had said "Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
The Episcopal Church of America is not THE Anglican body in the US...
There are way more Anglicans AMIA, ACC, APA and AAC.
I love it when men show some balls.
Which now thinking about it makes me sound like a chick. I like it when men other then me and others like me(such as our Republican senators and reps or many modern-day Christians) show some balls.
Well, given the times we live in, that's just one of a number of possible misinterpretations :)
For what it's worth though, I did think it was a chick saying it :)
LOL true.
It was one of those those “Oh crap I should not have said it like that” moments. :D
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