Anti-Gay Act splits Anglicans further

The gap between the Church of Uganda and the Church of England has continued to widen after the latter condemned the former for throwing its weight behind an anti-gay law.

In his capacity as the Primate of All England, Archbishop Justin Welby on Friday used a public letter to express his dismay at the Church of Uganda supporting the criminalisation of homosexuality in Uganda. 

Archbishop Welby who, as the archbishop of Canterbury, is the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, said “Anglicans around the world have long been united in opposition to the criminalisation of homosexuality and LGBTQ people.”

Last month, President Museveni gave the Anti-Homosexuality Bill the green light. The law recommends a number of punishments for those who promote homosexuality.  

Most Rev Samuel Kaziimba Mugalu, the Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Uganda, was quick to “thank the President for not surrendering to threats and for protecting Uganda from paths of self-destruction.”

While he says the Church of Uganda is opposed to the death penalty, which the new law proffers for cases of aggravated homosexuality, Archbishop Kaziimba says “it simply reaffirms what was already in the colonial-era penal code.”

“Our support [of the law],” Archbishop Kaziimba wrote on Friday, “does not require repeating.”

In his public letter, Archbishop Welby said such support “is a fundamental departure from our commitment to uphold the freedom and dignity of all people.”

He further stressed that “God’s love for every human being is the same, regardless of their sexuality, and that the Church should never by its actions give any other impressions.”

No holds barred
In a no-holds-barred response, Archbishop Kaziimba said “the Church of England has chosen to impair her relationship with the orthodox provinces in the [Anglican] Communion.”

He added that their prayers will be geared at ensuring that “[Archbishop Welby] and other leaders in the Church of England … repent.”

Tensions between the two churches started to become more pronounced in February after the Church of England’s General Synod voted by 250 votes to 181 to back a proposal by bishops to profoundly change its stance on homosexuality. 

This in effect green-lit same-sex relationships. After that vote, Archbishop Kaziimba said the Church of England was “offering to bless sin.”

He also warned that “there is no hope that we can walk together with the Church of England.”

In April, leaders of the Anglican Communion from countries opposed to same sex marriage used the Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (Gafcon) in the Rwandan capital Kigali to sever ties with the Church of England.

“We can no longer recognise the archbishop of Canterbury as an Instrument of Communion, the ‘first among equals’ of the primates,” Archbishop Kaziima said on Friday, referencing the outcome in the Kigali Commitment of Gafcon IV.

Uganda’s top Anglican bishop also wondered why Archbishop Welby only singled out Uganda and Ghana, and didn’t write to Anglican bishops of Cyprus and the Gulf to publicly advocate for decriminalising homosexuality in the Arabian Peninsula and Middle East.

Archbishop Welby had written thus in his public letter, “I also call on my brothers in Christ, the leadership of Gafcon and the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches to make explicitly and publicly clear that the criminalisation of LGBTQ people is something that no Anglican province can support: that must be stated unequivocally.”

Lambeth Conference
According to Archbishop Welby, the Church of Uganda is a subscriber to the traditional Christian teaching on sexuality and marriage set out in Resolution i.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, which commits it to minister pastorally and sensitively to all – regardless of sexual orientation.

At the 2016 Primates Meeting in Canterbury, the primates (bishops) of the Anglican Communion condemned homophobic prejudice and violence and resolved to work together to offer pastoral care and loving service irrespective of sexual orientation.

“We reaffirmed (at the meeting) “our rejection of criminal sanctions against same-sex attracted people” – and stated that “God’s love for every human being is the same, regardless of their sexuality, and that the Church should never by its actions give any other impression,” the Archbishop of Canterbury noted.

In a statement after President Museveni assented to the anti-gay legislation, Archbishop Kaziimba gave the Act a thumbs up for “affirming the merits of the existing provisions in the current penal code … building on existing laws by offering greater protection of children through strong anti-grooming measures.”

He added: “There is no moral equivalence between LGBTQ relationships (which cannot procreate) and lifelong, heterosexual, monogamous marriage.”

‘No love lost’
On Saturday, Bishop Godfrey Loum, the bishop of Northern Uganda, while reacting to the demands by the Church of England, described Archbishop Welby’s statement as misplaced and inconsequential.

“I think he is lost, he is really out of touch, he has not accepted the fact that we disagree completely with him and the Church of England over that matter, and he is deluded to think that even within the Church of Uganda, some prelates think like them,” he said.

Bishop Loum proceeded to add: “First of all, the Church of Uganda no longer submits to or fellowship with the Church of England for the same reasons, the Bible teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman, and anything that goes against that is no longer the word of God.”

When asked about the Church’s commitment to the resolutions of the Lambeth (1998) Conference, Bishop Loum said they are committed to the resolutions.

He was, however, quick to hint that Archbishop Welby’s interpretation of the resolution was a distortion to mislead.

“The Church will minister to everyone irrespective of their sexual orientation even sinners like homosexuals,” he said, adding, “The Church remains committed to helping people involved in all these forms of sinful acts to repent and get out of such habits, which the Bible considers sinful but not to condone and dine with them.”