Anglican anxiety in an age of same-sex marriage

From a Christian perspective, marrying two people of the same sex is either wrong or it isn’t. The latter case would mean the church and theologians have been mistaken for the last 2000 years and now, for some odd reason, they have finally seen the light; or, as I suspect, they are children of their times and all their high-minded pontificating is little more than chronological arrogance.

One might be tempted to conclude that whether same-sex marriage is right or wrong is the defining issue to be discussed at the next Anglican synod, the either/or – or as is fashionable to say in our computer infested age, the binary – decision that is uppermost in every bishop’s mind. But no! What is unsettling the equanimity of our bishops and primate is how we talk about the problem, not the problem itself.

The compulsion to discuss how to discuss, must surely be among the last symptoms exhibited by an organisation that has utterly lost its way, one that, on its last legs, exerts its last few gasps to explain to uninterested bystanders the precise quality of those gasps – just before the final death rattle overcomes it.

From here:

“My sense is that there’s a lingering kind of anxiety within the church about how we have a decent conversation about this matter at General Synod 2019,” Hiltz told the Anglican Journal Monday, October 30.

A resolution to allow same-sex marriages in the church passed its first reading at General Synod in July 2016; a required second reading will go before General Synod in 2019.

Hiltz made the comments during an interview about the meeting October 23-27 of the House of Bishops in Niagara Falls, Ont.

A number of bishops expressed concerns, he said, about how same-sex conversations at the next General Synod could take place “in a way that doesn’t leave people feeling marginalized, isolated, pushed out—on either side.”

Many feel that the traditional legislative process that the synod follows encourages contention, he said.  “You basically either speak in favour or against. So immediately…you get some sense of the—in some respects—division in the house.”

Among the bishops, he said, there’s “a whole range of hopes and scenarios” about how conversation at synod might be guided.

Some bishops raised questions about the time limits imposed on General Synod members when debating, given the great importance many place on the issue of marriage.

There’s also anxiety among some in the church, Hiltz said, that the resolution, despite its conscience clause, doesn’t offer enough protection to those who oppose same-sex marriages—that if the resolution passes its second reading, would-be priests who are opposed will find it harder to get ordained or appointed.

A widespread concern, the primate said, has to do more generally with how those in favour and those opposed would be able to live together harmoniously afterward, whether the vote passes or fails.

14 thoughts on “Anglican anxiety in an age of same-sex marriage

  1. The matter of same-sex marriage is not one of majority votes or the wills of so-called bishops or synods. If the ACoC is to be true to the Gospel there can be no question on the issue. In fact, it should never receive so much as consideration. The authority of Scripture is clear and the Church – if it is indeed to be genuine Christian – must adhere to that authority and bishops have absolutely no authority to change the WIORD. Doing so will remove the ACoC from being Christian and make it a building that worships that detestable god of political expedience.

  2. Nobody should have the right to change the definition of “Marriage”. We can call it same-sex relationship or same-sex union, but never same-sex marriage.

    • Actually, the state can do whatever it wants with its own definition of marriage.

      But it’s entirely irrelevant; the only definition of marriage than can mean anything to a Christian is the Christian one.

  3. “There’s also anxiety among some in the church, Hiltz said, that the resolution, despite its conscience clause, doesn’t offer enough protection to those who oppose same-sex marriages—that if the resolution passes its second reading, would-be priests who are opposed will find it harder to get ordained or appointed.”
    This is a legitimate concern. Especially considering the history of woman ordination. Can a man be opposed to woman ordination and be a Priest in the Anglican Church of Canada? Can I find a Priest anywhere in the Diocese of Huron (within which I currently reside) that has not been licensed or appointed by a woman bishop? As a Christian that believes that God has Ordained His Priesthood to be only male I cannot in good conscience receive Holy Communion anywhere in the Diocese of Huron as within that Diocese all of its priests are now tainted with the sin of woman pretending to be a bishop. This in spite of all the assurances given to people like myself back when woman ordination was first inflicted upon this church. So it is expected that as homosexual sin is even further embraced by this church that people like myself will be subjected to even more and greater repulsions.

  4. While the temples, altars and practices inclusive of pedophilia of Baal worship are tottering and crumbling in Hollywood, the ACC pains its bold, bad and unblenching conscience about any consequent “division” between those in “favour” and those “against”.
    + “How long halt ye between two opinions?
    If The LORD be GOD, follow him:
    but if Baal, then follow him.” + I Kings ch. 18. Amen.

  5. “how those in favour and those opposed would be able to live together harmoniously afterward”. Zero chance. Oil and water. Light and darkness. The LORD and Baal. Christians are commanded to disassociate and separate from such. It is not a suggestion. #2019andOut

  6. Maybe Anglicans should seriously consider transitioning to a different denomination that actually wants to obey the Bible, rather than staying with what is clearly a sinking pagan ship? Would it not be better to be a Baptist with a good conscience than a wishful, conscientiously-conflicted Anglican? When should one head for the life boats? When neck-deep in water?

    • When?
      When they hear the dire strains of ‘Further, My GOD, from Thee’ – its first alarming sounds clearly intimated in the UK, July, 2015.

  7. I love the Baptists I have met – on fire for the LORD, However, for Anglicans, the better choice would be the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC). ANiC is totally orthodox.There are ANiC churches across Canada but, unfortunately, not in every locality. Enquire at their website. .

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