Episcopal Church Will Not Cease Its Support for Gay Marriage

A spokesman for a conservative religious think tank believes that even though same-gender “marriage” has deeply divided the Episcopalian Church and the Anglican Communion, he doesn’t think there will never be a schism.

Anglican leaders on Thursday responded by stripping the Episcopal Church of its leadership role for the next three years.

St Matthew-in-the-City has publicly shown its support of the Episcopal Church on their social media pages, saying Facebook, “The church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia needs to stand with the Episcopal Church and walk away from association with the oppressive voices who would deny the humanity of LGBTI people”.

Maybe he should recite what his bible teaches to some of these so-called Anglican leaders who want homosexuality recognised.

Leading evangelist Franklin Graham praised the Anglican Communion’s decision last Thursday to suspend the entire U.S. Episcopal Church over its embrace of same-sex marriage, calling it a “major scolding they deserve”.

The Anglican Church in Canada is considering whether to follow the Episcopal Church’s lead and allow same-sex marriage.

The head of the Episcopalian church said gays and lesbians would experience “great pain” from the decision and “the exclusion or segregation of anybody is not the way of God”.

The Global Anglican Future Conference, a coalition of conservative Anglican leaders from around the world, welcomed the suspension, adding that “this action must not be seen as an end, but as a beginning”.

Walton goes on to report that of the 85 million Anglicans in the world, half are in sub-Saharan Africa, which is a vibrant, growing part of the church.

The summit aimed to avert a permanent divide in the Anglican Communion amid conflict dating back to the liberal church’s consecration of Canon Gene Robinson, who is gay, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

Referring to the treatment of gay and lesbian Anglicans, Welby apologized personally “for the hurt and pain in the past and present that the Church has caused”.

The Episcopalian church has been banned from taking part in ecumenical and interfaith bodies, internal committees or votes on doctrine or polity for a period of three years.

It said the changes in teaching on marriage in the Episcopal Church represent a “fundamental departure from the faith and teaching held by the majority of our provinces on the doctrine of marriage”, which it defined as a lifelong union between a man and a woman. “The majority of those gathered reaffirm this teaching”.