Is the Episcopal Church acting like George Bush?

Rev Scott Benhase of St Philip's Episcopal Church in Durham, NC, asks a challenging question. His article in The Witness (a progressive Episcopal magazine) is here: http://thewitness.org/article.php?id=973

He believes that President Bush is approaching the struggle on terrorism as if it were an ideology. The Soviet Union articulated a clear, Communist ideology. When the West tried to contain that ideology, it had a clear idea what it was fighting. Direct action, political and/or military, was applicable in that struggle. The struggle with terrorism, though, is about culture. Muslims generally want the West to leave them alone, to not impose our cultural perceptions of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The struggle against terrorism cannot be won with military force. The struggle will be won when Muslim cultures struggle with it - they cannot do that with our interference, because it actually breeds fundamentalism.

The same may be true of the Episcopal Church's position on homosexuality. We cannot dismiss our sister churches as backwards and uneducated, and we cannot believe that if we are persistent enough, they will come around to our way of thinking and then all will be well. The legacy of missionary colonialism is simply too fresh in their memories.

Benhase believes, then, that if our sister churches want us to withdraw from the Anglican Communion, we should do so in a spirit of humility. Hopefully such a separation would be temporary, but it might last forever (or, as Benhase put it, until Jesus comes again). But it might be healthier for all parties involved.


Of course, there are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in other countries. The Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola (a pox be on his house!) has supported legislation in Nigeria that would criminalize same-sex marriage ceremonies, positive discussion of homosexuality in the media or by organizations, or indeed any "public or private" affirmation of homosexuality. The proposed prison term would be 5 years. "Sodomy" is already illegal in Nigeria, punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment. Even the Bush administration condemned this legislation. I suppose that even if we were to stay, we would not be able to stop fundamentalists like Akinola from persecuting people in their countries. But, whatever happens, we must not forget that even in the US, LGBT people do not have the full protection of the law on their side, and they are in even more dire danger in other countries. I wish that Archbishop Rowan Williams would condemn Akinola's actions in this matter, but he has been silent - is he too scared to speak out? Some more info is available here: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/peter_tatchell/2006/05/anglicans_applaud_nigerian_hom.html