Detailed Implementation

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ruler ship of God over his creation. In essence, Paul’s teaching which anchors New Testament theology on homosexuality is premised on his Jewish religio-cultural context in which homosexuality is regarded as an abomination. Going by Paul’s inspired New Testament writings especially the Epistle to the Romans, God’s wrath and indignation culminate in letting human idolatry and rebellion run its own self-destructive course. Homosexual activity does not merely move God to wrath, rather it is the consequence of God’s wrath on those who deliberately choose to defy the creator and exchange the natural for the unnatural.

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section is a resume of the teaching of some major Christian denominations on homosexuality apart from the Anglican Church.

(a) Roman Catholicism

Homosexuality from the perspective of the Catholic Church in line with the Scripture is unacceptable as a sexual behaviour. Homosexuality as an orientation is considered as an “objective disorder” as it is seen as ‘ordered toward an intrinsic evil.” Pope John Paul II (1986) in his Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith Letter to the Bishops of the Catholic Church, the church refuses to consider a person as a

"heterosexual" or a "homosexual" and insists that every person has a fundamental identity: the creature of God and by grace, his child and heir to eternal life. In the document Personae Humanae (1975) cited by Flannery, the Catholic Church while recommending pastoral care for homosexuals who have some kind of innate impulse states that:

Sexual relation between persons of the same sex is necessarily and essentially disordered according to objective moral order. Sacred Scripture condemns them as gravely depraved and even portrays them as the tragic consequence of rejecting God. Of course, the judgment of sacred Scripture does not imply that all who suffer from this deformity are by that very act guilty of personal fault. But it does show that homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered and may never be approved in any way whatever. (p.

516).

Finnis (2016) posits that Catholic teaching on sexuality from the beginning has done no more, and no less, than point out the ways in which every kind of sex act

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more than authentic marital intercourse, is opposed to the good of marriage. One of the core teachings of the Church is that sexual intercourse and married love are ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring and so the sexual act must allow openness to fertility. The Catechism of the Catholic Church in this context on chastity and homosexuality concludes that homosexual acts which are contrary to the natural law, close the sexual act to the gift of life and therefore, under no circumstances can they be approved. (2357).

The Catholic Church, in spite of the mounting pressure from gay rights activists strongly believes and teaches that marriage is only between one man and one woman, and opposes same-sex marriage at both the religious and civil levels. The Church holds that same-sex unions create an unfavourable environment for children, and that the legalization of such unions damages society.

(b) Eastern Orthodoxy

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia states that the Orthodox Church holds the opinion that sexuality as we understand it is part of the fallen world only. In Orthodox theology, both monasticism and marriage are paths to salvation i.e. becoming whole. Celibacy is the ideal path, exemplified in monasticism, while marriage between a man and his wife is blessed under the context of true love. Traditionally, the Orthodox Church has adopted a non-legalistic view of sin, in which case homosexuality is regarded as sinful.

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However, all jurisdictions of the church such as the Orthodox Church in America have currently taken the approach of welcoming homosexuals while encouraging them to work towards overcoming the harmful effects of homosexual acts in their lives. The Orthodox Church denies the sacraments to people who seek to justify homosexual activity. In the 2013 assembly statement on marriage and sexuality, the Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, the highest body of the Orthodox Church America reaffirms:

The Orthodox Christian teaching on marriage and sexuality, firmly grounded in Holy Scripture, two millennia of church tradition and canon law holds that the sacrament of marriage consists in the union of a man and a woman and that authentic marriage reflects the sacred unity that exists between Christ and his bride, the church. Acting upon any sexual attraction outside of sacramental marriage, whether the attraction is heterosexual or homosexual, alienates us from God.

However, the Orthodox Church’s approach to people with homosexual orientation is that they are to be cared for with the same mercy and love that is bestowed on all humanity by Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity.

(c) Methodism

Given the evangelical nature of the circumstances surrounding the founding of the Methodist Church, its traditional belief is in line with biblical teaching that individuals should remain chaste outside the marriage between a man and a woman. According to P.E. Nmah (personal communication, October 10, 2016), the Constitution of the Methodist Church makes no provision for the acceptance of

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homosexuality, and Methodism’s core teaching on human sexuality singles out homosexuality in particular as an abomination.

The Methodist Church of Great Britain with the current liberalist swing of sexual morality has not reaffirmed its traditional stand on homosexuality. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia intimates that the United Methodist Church (in America) as its official position on homosexuality has maintained that homosexual practice is incompatible with Christian teaching. Following the 1972 Incompatibility Clause, other restrictions have been added at subsequent General Conferences. Currently, the Book of Discipline prohibits the ordination of practicing, self-avowed homosexuals, forbids clergy from blessing or presiding over same-sex unions, forbids the use of Church facilities for same sex-union ceremonies and prohibits the use of Church funds for “gay caucuses” or other groups that promote the acceptance of homosexuality. Despite these prohibitions, members of the Church are not of one mind on this issue. The Book of Discipline also asserts that homosexual persons are not less in sacred worth than heterosexual persons, and that both are included in the ministry of the Church and can receive the gift of God’s grace. However, in spite of the rising clamour for the civil rights of homosexual persons, efforts to pass resolutions to fully include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons in the life of the Church have failed so far.

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(d) Presbyterianism

In the Presbyterian Church, Wikipedia states that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is currently the only Presbyterian denomination in the United States that allows same-sex marriage, and ordains openly LGBT members in committed relationships as teaching elders (clergy), and ruling elders (elders elected to serve on the Session).

Other Presbyterian bodies such as those in Africa, the Presbyterian Church in America, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church all condemn same-sex behaviour as incompatible with biblical morality, but believe gays and lesbians can repent and abandon the lifestyle. A Statement of the Movement of Evangelical Presbyterian Churches (2016) in highlighting the orthodox biblical stand of Presbyterianism on homosexuality lists homosexual conduct, same-sex union and marriage and gender reassignment as sinful forms of sexual practice against which the Church shall continue to teach in their churches and in the public arena.

The liberalist Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2014 voted to change its definition of marriage, allowing its pastors to officiate same-sex marriages wherever gay marriage is legal, and also voted to change its Book of Order to describe marriage as being between "two people."

(e) Pentecostalism

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia asserts that most churches within the Pentecostal group of Christianity view homosexual behaviour as sin. The second largest

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Pentecostal Church in the USA, the Assemblies of God makes its view clear on homosexuality in a position paper in 2010:

It should be noted at the onset that there is absolutely no affirmation of homosexual behavior found anywhere in Scriptures. Rather the consistent ideal is chastity for those outside a monogamous heterosexual marriage and fidelity for those inside such a marriage. There is also abundant evidence that homosexual behaviour, along with illicit heterosexual behaviour is immoral and comes under the judgment of God.

The Assemblies of God Churches along with the generality of Pentecostal Churches insist that those who engage in homosexual activities should desist from such behaviour as it also applies to any other sin. Pentecostal Christians worldwide strongly oppose same-sex unions, and the idea of gay or lesbian pastors is viewed as an abomination. Pentecostals tend to ridicule and openly discriminate against their members who engage in homosexual activity. However, no section of Christianity is free from the negative effects of the current theological revisionism.

Wikipedia states that there is a growing number of LGBT affirming Pentecostal Churches especially in the Western world. Such Churches include the Anointed Affirming Independent Ministries, The Anthem Church, the Affirming Pentecostal Church International, and the Covenant Network, to mention but a few. These Pentecostal Churches welcome gays and lesbians in all levels of their Church hierarchy and base their position on research done into Scripture in the original languages, where they believe they find no condemnation of homosexuality.

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(f) The Baptists

The Baptist Church is traditionally opposed to homosexuality. The Southern Baptist Convention, the single largest of the Baptist denominations in the U.S.

believes that the Bible condemns homosexuality as sin. Baptists affirm God’s plan for marriage and sexual intimacy as one man and one woman for life and that homosexuality is not a valid alternative lifestyle. Mainline Baptist Churches in keeping with this stand do not allow gays into their pastoral ministry, and their clergy do not officiate at ceremonies for same-sex unions. Baptists also believe that homosexuality is not an unforgivable sin, as the same redemption available to all sinners is available to homosexuals.

However, Wikipedia reports a number of Baptist Churches that have less orthodox views on homosexuality. Among these include the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, a group of some fifty Churches and organizations committed to the full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons in their churches. It also notes that the historically African-American denominations of the National Baptist Convention have avoided issuing public statements on homosexuality, neither condemning nor endorsing it.

In summary, the issue of homosexuality in Christianity is a subject of on-going theological debate within and between Christian denominations. The traditional Christian rejection of homosexuality and its related acts according to biblical injunction was accepted across all Christian denominations and groups in times past. However, with the ever declining conformity to religious norms in our highly

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secularized society, many aspects of doctrines that used to be sacrosanct have been questioned, scrutinized, re-interpreted and “updated” to suit new moral tastes. This has evidently resulted in many Christians within different denominations holding different views on, and even differing definitions and attitudes towards homosexuality and the family.

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CHAPTER FOUR

ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE AND TEACHING OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION

Anglicanism as used in this work refers to the Anglican denomination as a branch of the Christian religion in the world. The name structured from its English origin and history evolved from the influence of English Christian missionaries working under the opportunities and tutelage provided by the British Empire.