It’s true that the election of a practising gay person as a bishop in the US in 2003 was the trigger for much of the present conflict. It is doubtless also true that a lot of extra heat is generated in the conflict by ingrained and ignorant prejudice in some quarters; and that for many others, in and out of the Church, the issue seems to be a clear one about human rights and dignity.But the debate in the Anglican Communion is not essentially a debate about the human rights of homosexual people. It is possible – indeed, it is imperative – to give the strongest support to the defence of homosexual people against violence, bigotry and legal disadvantage, to appreciate the role played in the life of the church by people of homosexual orientation, and still to believe that this doesn’t settle the question of whether the Christian Church has the freedom, on the basis of the Bible, and its historic teachings, to bless homosexual partnerships as a clear expression of God’s will. That is disputed among Christians, and, as a bare matter of fact, only a small minority would answer yes to the question….
Arguments have to be drawn up on the common basis of Bible and historic teaching. And, to make clear something that can get very much obscured in the rhetoric about ‘inclusion’, this is not and should never be a question about the contribution of gay and lesbian people as such to the Church of God and its ministry, about the dignity and value of gay and lesbian people. Instead it is a question, agonisingly difficult for many, as to what kinds of behaviour a Church that seeks to be loyal to the Bible can bless, and what kinds of behaviour it must warn against – and so it is a question about how we make decisions corporately with other Christians, looking together for the mind of Christ as we share the study of the Scriptures.
—Rowan Williams: The Challenge and Hope of Being an Anglican Today (27 June 2006)
[blockquote][b]Unless you think that social and legal considerations should be allowed to resolve religious disputes[/b] – which is a highly risky assumption if you also believe in real freedom of opinion in a diverse society – there has to be a recognition that religious bodies have to deal with the question in their own terms.[/blockquote]
And that is just what TEC believes.
Thanks for posting this again – well worth remembering the original vision. This piece by the Archbishop was what originally sold the idea of the Covenant to me and helped express for me what the value of Anglicanism is. Very powerful. It will be interesting to see how close to it the Archbishop keeps. I hope he does, it was an inspiring roadmap.
Yes, I find this statement particularly valuable as an approach that I too can use in responding to my ordinary TEC Episcopal friends who assume that anyone who has problems with the TEC line on these matters is ipso facto anti-gay. It just ain’t so, and Rowan Williams makes it clear why not.