Tension in the Anglican Church

Leaders of the world’s 77 million Anglicans are meeting in Tanzania. It is a very important meeting since one, if not the only, item under discussion is the ordination of homosexuals to the priesthood and episcopacy (http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=250292007).

This issue became extraordinary when some Episcopal parishes in the United States began to align themselves with another jurisdiction, viz., under the Nigerian primate, Peter Akinola. Bishop Akinola vehemently opposes the United States Episcopal Church’s decision to ordain Gene Robinson as the first homosexual bishop (New Hampshire) and wants some sanction placed against the United States Episcopal Church and a promise not to continue the practice. His goals are complicated by the presence of the new leader of the Episcopal Church, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, who supports the practice.

This conflict has taken on higher visibility in the context of books questioning the validity of religion, e.g., Sam Harris has written The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation and Susan Jacoby’s Freethinkers.

The Anglican tradition has distinguished itself by respecting ambiguity and permitting a range of scriptural interpretations. To some, this has been a negative feature; for others, it represented hope that religion can accommodate a changing society and cultural mores. Sam Harris would argue that such broad accommodation of Scripture actually indicates a lack of credence in what is written. It supports his contention that if the person is the judge of what should be believed, what does it say about the reported generator of the sacred text? Sam Harris, however, would never have had a problem with religion IF all religions were as open to change as the Episcopal Church. His problem is that most religions end up energizing horrendous behavior in the name of God (some of which are quite evident in Iraq).

If the current angst in the Anglican Church cannot be resolved in the spirit of living with diversity, how much problematic will it be for traditions more rigid and insensitive to change, e.g., Roman Church?