Tag Archives: homosexuality

Anglicans against anti-sodomy laws

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The latest from the Diocese of Niagara:

Anglicans for Decriminalization (AfD) is a group of Anglicans from across the Global Anglican Communion (GAC) which supports the decriminalization of private, consensual, adult samegender intimacy.

AfD was formed after the Primates of the GAC issued the first-ever unequivocal call for decriminalization on January 15, 2016. However, this revolutionary message was overshadowed by other events in the Communion, such as debates about same-gender marriages and the ordination of gay clergy/bishops.

Members of AfD, therefore, hope to first remind our more than 80 million GAC members that the lives of same-gender loving people across the world continue to be destroyed by British colonially imposed antisodomy laws, which initially reflected the teachings of the Church of England. Armed with this information we expect that right-thinking Anglicans will petition governments to repeal these laws.

Here is the stalwart bunch who are enthusiastically pursuing their vocation to smite anti-sodomy laws wherever they find them. In all fairness to them, I suppose it is pretty tricky to fulfil the great commission, to spread the Gospel message to every corner of the world, to make disciples of all nations without concentrating on anal sex just a little.

Anglican priest washes lesbian’s feet, forgets the bit about go and sin no more

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Rev. Sean Major-Campbell was not just washing a woman’s feet, of course, he was making a point: the washing was part of a service in celebration of human rights. Redemption from sin through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross had no place in the service; nor, it goes without saying, did repentance.

It doesn’t seem to have occurred to the foot washing Rev. that without the forgiveness gained through Jesus’ costly sacrifice, we have no rights before God at all; even with forgiveness, everything we have is a gift rather than a right. Had Jesus’ ministry been one of celebrating our rights rather than freeing us from our sin, Christianity would not have endured its early persecution, let alone manage to form a church that would survive long enough to sink into the decadent self-destructiveness of paying the ilk of Major-Campbell to distort its central message.

From here:

An Anglican priest this morning washed the feet of a Jamaican lesbian as part of a service calling for the Church to be more forthright in its demand for the recognition and respect of human rights for all. ‎

Reverend Father Sean Major-Campbell conducted the ritual at the Christ Church in Vineyard Town, where he is also the Rector.

The service, dubbed ‘In celebration of human rights’, was attended by several of Jamaica’s leading human rights groups and advocates.

Justin Welby wobbles on homosexuality question

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Conservative politician Ann Widdecombe questions the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Q: “is homosexuality wrong.”

A: “I am not going to answer that straightforwardly because it’s a complex question.”

He goes on to say: “my position is that the the historic position of the church is that sexual relations should be within marriage and marriage is between a man and a woman”. Of course, it’s an unarguable fact that the historic position of the church is that  sexual relations should be within marriage and marriage is between a man and a woman; Welby could scarcely say his position is that that is not the church’s historic position. What Welby does not say is: “my position is the same as the the historic position of the church.” Perhaps I am splitting hairs, but I suspect not.

Admittedly, Wobbling Welby isn’t as incoherent as Rambling Rowan but he still falls very short of the kind of clarity we see from other parts of the Anglican Communion.

Toronto School Board trustees ask whether nudity laws will be enforced at Toronto Pride parade

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The Toronto District School Board is not known for its staunch social conservatism or as a haven for delicate prudes so, when a few of its members hint that they would like Canada’s nudity laws enforced at the Toronto Pride parade, it’s reasonable to take the request seriously.

As one of the members noted:

“This is a municipal matter and it has to do with the policing and the enforcing of the laws of Canada in the streets of Toronto,” he told CBC News. “If you were to do this in any other ward throughout the city at any other time of day during that same period, you’d likely be arrested.”

Naturally, there have been cries of “homophobia”:

Some have criticized the trustees’ motion as homophobic

Yet, if gay men and women truly want their lifestyle to be accepted as normal, surely they would want to be treated just like everyone else in every circumstance; to do otherwise is discriminatory. By not arresting an individual parading himself naked during the Pride Parade, the police are exhibiting  a type of homophobia: the fear of treating homosexuals just like heterosexuals.

Archbishops of Canterbury and York call for pastoral care for homosexuals

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From here:

“Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

In recent days, questions have been asked about the Church of England’s attitude to new legislation in several countries that penalises people with same-sex attraction. In answer to these questions, we have recalled the common mind of the Primates of the Anglican Communion, as expressed in the Dromantine Communiqué of 2005.

The  Communiqué said;

‘….we wish to make it quite clear that in our discussion and assessment of moral appropriateness of specific human behaviours, we continue unreservedly to be committed to the pastoral support and care of homosexual people.

The victimisation or diminishment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us. We assure homosexual people that they are children of God, loved and valued by Him and deserving the best we can give – pastoral care and friendship.’

We hope that the pastoral care and friendship that the Communiqué described is accepted and acted upon in the name of the Lord Jesus.

We call upon the leaders of churches in such places to demonstrate the love of Christ and the affirmation of which the Dromantine communiqué speaks.”

Yours in Christ,

+Justin Cantuar   +Sentamu Eboracensis

The church, once again, is permitting its agenda to be set more by cultural priorities – and there can be little doubt that our society is obsessively preoccupied with homosexuality – than God’s. If it were the other way around, I can’t help suspecting that there would be at least the occasional ecclesiastical Communiqué calling for protection for the unborn. But that, of course, is not something that would be universally popular and the last thing that Western Anglicanism is interested in is being less than culturally relevant.

As expected, the emphasis is on pastoral care for same-sex attracted individuals – so long as no one is encouraged to resist same-sex attraction. This will inexorably lead, as we have discovered in North America, to blanket approval of homosexual activity within committed, faithful, monogamous relationships.

Partnered homosexual Anglican priest is head chaplain in Canada’s military

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From here:

In his new job as head chaplain in the military, Brig.-Gen. John Fletcher will be overseeing the religious needs of Canada’s troops, shoring up what the Defence Department calls its chaplaincy’s “inclusive, welcoming culture.”

As an openly gay member of the military and Anglican priest for more than two decades, it’s an environment Fletcher has benefitted from firsthand.

His recent appointment is in sharp contrast to past military policy, which allowed discrimination against gays and lesbians. Fletcher said he came out not long after a landmark court decision struck down the rule in 1992, alleviating his fears about what could happen to his career if he did come out.

Fletcher acknowledges that some may find it odd, or even scandalous, that he is a career military man, a priest and homosexual.

“I equally understand that some people will be excited and encouraged by the openness of my own church, to allow me to exercise this ministry and certainly encouraged that I’m free to work within a Canadian military that simply doesn’t discriminate on (the basis of) these things,” he said.

What strikes me as odd about this article is not the presence of a homosexual Anglican priest – something whose shock value is now rather less than the increasingly rare instance of encountering a heterosexual Anglican priest – but that the Defence Department is busy cultivating a chaplaincy that emphasises an “inclusive, welcoming culture.”

I was labouring under the misapprehension that the job of the military was to train men to kill other men in defence of their country; the chaplain’s job, I thought, was to try and  prepare soldiers for a premature introduction to their Maker by encouraging them to get to know him beforehand.

This brief description of chaplains in action strikes me as more convincing than today’s  warm, mushy, welcoming culture of inclusion version:

I frequently noted in the field, how chaplains – to a man – sought out front line action. And I assume that was because, as one put it, at the time: ‘There is where the fighting man needs God most – and that’s where some of them know him for the first time. – U.S.M.C. Commandant A.A. Vandegrift, 1945

Wrestler shocks interviewer by announcing he’s gay

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From here:

A WWE wrestler shocked his interviewer by casually declaring that he’s gay – and then added, ‘to be honest, I don’t think it matters.’

Darren Young, real name Fred Rosser, is thought to be the first major professional wrestler to come out while still active in the ring.

I’m shocked, too. I thought all WWE wrestlers were gay; I was waiting for one of them to come out as straight. Sweaty men grappling with sweaty men, the posturing, playacting and overdone bravura – it seemed fairly obvious.

Fighting the homophobia web virus

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At St. Christopher’s in the Diocese of Niagara, 1 Timothy 6:12 has taken a strange turn.

They are “fighting the homophobia web virus on the internet”:

St.C

I can almost see the homophobia web virus shrivelling, like a vampire in the sunlight, before the onslaught of rainbow flag, candles and small but doughty semicircle of crusading Anglicans.

I don’t know about you, but I had no idea there was such a thing as a homophobia web virus; the next time the Windows Technical Department calls I plan on asking them about it.

Desmond Tutu prefers Hell to homophobia

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Whenever someone uses the slippery word “homophobia”, we know immediately that rational thought has been abandoned in favour of a treasured but meaningless cliché. The OED defines homophobia as “an extreme and irrational aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people”. My daughter suffered from arachnophobia, leading to numerous pranks involving rubber spiders finding their way into her glass of water; the resultant shrieking was gratifying to no-one but the perpetrator – usually her brother. That was (she has overcome it now) a true phobia.

I don’t know anyone who is homophobic; I am not denying the possibility of the existence of such a phobia, but I’ve never encountered it. I suppose it could be treated in much the same way as arachnophobia, by systematic desensitization: first the sufferer would be invited to look at a photograph of a homosexual, then be placed in the same room at opposite ends, later a “good morning” could be exchanged and finally the whole thing would end with a hug.

That is absurd because, of course, it isn’t what Desmond Tutu and his ilk mean by “homophobia.” In Tutu’s view a person who is “homophobic” is anyone who doesn’t agree with him about the morality or immorality of homosexual activity, regardless of whether the disagreement is founded in rationality or revelation.

For Tutu, it’s all about emotion; if fact, it almost appears as if he experiences an extreme and irrational aversion – a phobia – to anyone who disagrees with him about homosexuality – including God.

From here:

“I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place,” Archbishop Tutu said at the launch of the Free and Equal campaign in Cape Town.

“I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this.”

 

Tim Hortons bludgeoned into removing filtre blocking gay website

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When Tim Hortons blocked Dailyxtra.com – “everything gay, every day” – from its free WiFi access, it probably assumed that most customers didn’t want their children accidentally stumbling upon everything gay, every day.

It seems this provoked a twitter storm; profit being everything, Tim Hortons reversed its policy.

For years, Tim’s slogan has been: Always fresh. Now it’s Everything fresh and gay, every day.

From here:

Tim Hortons has apologized for blocking a gay and lesbian news website from its free in-store Wi-Fi networks.

The popular Canadian coffee chain was facing an online backlash Friday after it was revealed that it restricted customers from accessing Dailyxtra.com, the online home for the free newspaper Xtra that’s distributed in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

When the publication asked that the site be unblocked, assuming it might have been blacklisted in error, it received an email stating the site was “not appropriate for all ages viewing in a public environment.”

“We try to ensure that all of our guests can enjoy a safe and pleasant experience when visiting us. We look at all of these types of requests in detail in order to provide the most latitude we can while keeping our restaurants a friendly environment,” reads an email from the address timhortonswifi(at)timhortons.com, which Daily Xtra forwarded to The Canadian Press.

“While there is no way to change this decision, we can assure you that it was not an easy decision to make.”

On Friday afternoon a few hours after Twitter users began promising to boycott Tim Hortons, spokeswoman Michelle Robichaud apologized on behalf of the company and blamed a third-party service provider for the error and the resulting miscommunication.

Dailyxtra.com “shouldn’t have been blocked. In fact, we’re working on unblocking it. It may already be unblocked. It should’ve never been blocked in the first place,” Robichaud said in an interview.