Dear Bishop Rowan
Denial and Pretend can be DEADLY to Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender (and often Heterosexual Women) Episcopalians/Anglicans throughout The Anglican Communion. Please take a moment and review RELIGIOUS REALITY in the PAST and in the NOW:
A Kaleidoscope of Horrors
From the Christian emperor Justinian in the sixth century until the eighteenth century, Christian communities around Europe regularly put homosexuals to death by burning, beheading, flaying, drowning or hanging them. The ancient Christian thinkers Tertullian, Eusebius and John Chrysostom all argued that same sex relations deserve the penalty of death...In medieval Europe, secular laws often invoked the authority of the bible to execute homosexuals. Bologna adopted the death penalty for sodomy in 1259. Padua followed suit in 1329; Venice in 1342; Rome in 1363; Cremona in 1387; Milan in 1476; and Genoa in 1556. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain actively sought out sodomites to be burned. In the hundred and twenty five years after Calvin taught in Geneva, there were thirty burnings, beheadings, drownings, and hangings of homosexuals in that city. Scores of men and boys were hanged for homosexual activity in Georgian England. Before the advent of modernity, women in Europe were also vulnerable to execution if convicted of lesbianism. The history of churches' treatment of gay people has for over a thousand years been a history of hatred, persecution and death. To this day, standard Christian textbooks devoted to moral theology and commenting on homosexuality are usually trite treatises because of their complete silence on the long-standing brutality meted out to homosexuals by churches, whether Roman Catholic, Anglican or Protestant. For homosexuals, the history of the Christian church has been a kaleidoscope of harrowing horrors.
Their fortunes have now changed. Physical violence has mutated into rhetorical violence, although there are still nine countries today where homosexual behavior is punishable by death.¨ Essay by Philip Kennedy, click HERE
Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney, Australia·Unrepentant
Sydney Anglican Archbishop Peter Jensen is reinforcing opposition to homosexuality in the church. Jensen said US Anglicans have become promoters of homosexuality in defiance of Anglican teachings and the Bible.¨ read it all, click HERE
Anglican Archbishop Henri Orombi of Uganda (Guilty/Unauthorized Provincial Border Crossings)·Unrepentant
March 25th, 2009 ¨The Christian community in Uganda has now declared war on the lives of Gay Men and Lesbian Women in that Country...and they have been abetted by American leaders in the anti-gay and ex-gay ministries.¨ read it all, click HERE
and
"The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) this week reported this intensified persecution of homosexuals in Uganda. The increased pressure on pro-gay organisations comes after the Anglican Church of Uganda launched a strong campaign against homosexuality." read it all, click HERE
and
"Results of the Police investigation. Fabricated charges. The good pastors (Ssempa, Male, Ssemuju, Kayira) who are god’s chosen anti-gay warriors were actually fabricating evidence to bring down a rival. All in the name of .. the Anti-Gay Agenda.¨ read it all, click HERE for Gay Uganda
Anglican President Bishop Mouneer of Egypt and The Anglican/Episcopal, Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East·Unrepentant
A letter to deposed bishop Bob Duncan of The Episcopal Church
¨I don’t know what to call it, a tragedy or comedy, for the faithful to be disciplined by those who tear the fabric of our Anglican Communion.Please be assured of my support and that the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa will continue recognize you as a faithful bishop. You are faithful to Jesus Christ, to the Church catholic, to the Anglican Communion, to the Windsor Process, and to your diocese. I find no fault in this. I trust that you will continue the ministry to which God has called you.¨ read it all, click HERE
Anglican Presiding Bishop Greg Venables of The Southern Cone of South America(Guilty/Unauthorized Provincial Border Crossings) ·Unrepentant
¨The behavior of conservative primates and advocacy groups at the recently-concluded Primates Meeting in Alexandria, Egypt and the comments of Bishop Gregory Venables in this interview with George Conger suggest a change in the strategy of the anti-gay faction in the Anglican Communion.
As always, with Venables, it is necessary to sift through the many unsupported assertions he presents as facts, but in this instance, that is worth the effort. To wit..¨ read it all, click HERE
Anglican Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria (Guilty/Unauthorized Provincial Border Crossings)·Unrepentant
"With the full blessing of the Anglican Church of Nigeria and its leader, Archbishop Peter Akinola, the Nigerian government has begun legislating one of the world's most repressive anti-gay laws.
"The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, leader of the global Anglican communion, has declined to criticise this church-endorsed homophobic persecution. Instead he embraces Akinola and the Nigerian church, appeasing their prejudice in the name of Anglican unity."
This searing attack on Dr. Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, appeared today on The Guardian's blog site. Read it all, click HERE
and
¨The founding fathers of the U.S. inserted 'In God we Trust' in their coins; modern anti-Christ agents in the name of civil liberties are hell bent to erase God not only from the American currency, but also from the entire public domain, including schools," Akinola said, read it all, click HERE
and
¨Today, 26 June, 2009, a report from the LGBT African Coalition says that three homosexuals were arrested by the Edo State police command in Benin City, Nigeria. They were paraded like common criminals and displayed on television. The command Public Relations officer has said they would be charged to court as homosexuality is a criminal offence in Nigeria.¨ read it all By Colin Coward+, Director at Changing Attitude, United Kingdom, click HERE
Anglican Archbishop Drexel Gomez of The West Indies, retired. Chairperson of The Anglican Covenant Design Group, currently. ·Unrepentant
¨The news from Jamaica for gays is not good; it's among the least gay-friendly countries in the western hemisphere. The one LGBT organization--JFLAG--posts on its web site this notice: "Due to the potential for violent retribution, we cannot publish the exact location of our office." Laws against homosexuality are actively enforced bringing the wrath of the conservative government on offenders. But worse is the riptide of homophobia that is rampant at the local police and civilian level. Beatings, murders, torture, slashings of gays--or those suspected of being gay--are not uncommon. In the Jamaica News and Reports pages accompanying this story are a dozen grim reports about the conditions for gays in this impoverished and touristy sunshine country that was once a British colony.¨ Read it all, click HERE
The Most Rev. Dr. Eliud Wabukala, Anglican Archbishop of Kenya (Guilty/Unauthorized Provincial Border Crossings)·Unrepentant
"It's better to be a thief than gay in Kenya," Mathenke says. Both are often punished by death, but being the latter means never revealing yourself to the public and remaining perpetually closeted. It means dealing with homophobes at day and pleasuring them at night.¨ read it all, direct from Kenya, click HERE
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams·Unabridged
"Words can generate deeds and he who verbally incites strife is as guilty as those who physically creates strife." - Aesop
·Thanks to Gay Uganda at the right sidebar
·Thanks to Philip Kennedy, God's Good News for Gays
·Thanks to Father Jake, at the right sidebar
·Thanks to Gay Jamaica, Crime and Punishment
·Thanks to Father Colin Coward, Changing Attitudes, U.K.
·Thanks to Timothy Kincaid, Box Turtle Bulletin
·Thanks to Episcopal Cafe, at the right sidebar
·Thanks to The Guardian, United Kingdom
·Thanks to The Sydney Morning Herald
·Thanks to Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, sidebar
·Thanks to Lionel Deimel, ¨No Anglican Covenant¨ logo
·Thanks to David G., The Hearse Ride, (new logo coloring)
·Thanks to Flickr Photosharing
Organized Looting Throws Gaza Deeper Into Chaos
-
Gangs are filling a power vacuum left by Israel in some parts of southern
Gaza, hijacking desperately needed aid for Palestinian residents.
15 minutes ago
7 comments:
Leonardo, even though I know these facts they still made me cry. I couldn't go to the references you posted, it's far too painful and I'd like to go to church this morning with a modicum of joy in my heart. How many more centuries will it take before all are free to be the person God created them to be?
Oh, sigh. Leonardo, I still find it so incredibly hard for me to live up to my Baptismal Covenant when it comes to these dangerous, misguided wolves in sheep's clothing (purple sheep with miters, in fact.)
TBTG for exposing their lies on a regular basis. Why is their own sexuality so threatened? Why do they feel a need to speak for God on sexuality? God Himself does not seem terribly interested in discussing the topic!
Leonardo,
An EXCELLENT post caputirng all the idiosyncratic foibles of those who would have us believe that God loves only some of us.
Well done senor!
Mother Amelia, Even though I´ve know these facts, over and over again for over six decades, they still make me cry too...and thank you all for your support because I think there is not only a lack of REAL moral leadership (missing the forest for the trees) at The Anglican Communion but the ABC is living in a insultated World of feckless actions and involement in REAL life and death issues at The Body of Christ. Makes me cry out with frustration as he chooses to wash his hands of fear/hate and crimes against humanity (Massacre of Yelwa) at The Anglican Communion.
Thanks for keeping us up to date. Another thought provoking post.
Hi Leonardo--I'm for dubbing them "If they only had a brain" group.
Why we should want to make a covenant with this group is beyond comprehension.
Oh dear, reality. How inconvenient. How un-British of you to notice, let alone speak it publicly.
Well, the good news is that we are all mortal and these churchmen will sooner or later shuffle off to their eternal reward. If it is good, then we do indeed have a generous and forgiving God.
The miracle is that God's grace reaches out to us gay folk despite the best efforts of much of the Christian Church.
Post a Comment