SHOULD THEY BE OUTED?

Should closeted LGTB hypocrites who bash others of like sexual orientations be outed?  Would you out a basher if you were certain the LGTB person was a hypocrite?

I do not speak of people who choose to stay closeted and do no harm to others.

THE ANGLICAN COVENANT - GET THE GAYS

Lisa Fox at My Manner of Life posted a splendid letter from the Diocese of Rupert's Land in the Anglican Church of Canada on the Anglican Covenant.  We all know that the roots of the covenant are in the Windsor Report.  The letter spells out plainly and clearly what many of us well know to be true but continue to tiptoe gingerly around.

Finally, of course we are aware of the reason that this document has been born, but on which the document is entirely silent, namely, the matter of gay and lesbian persons’ rights in regard to marriage, ordination and consecration.

Yes.  Further, Lisa says:

I appreciate the observation that the people who forced the Anglican Covenant are silent on the bigotry that spawned it -- namely, their hatred of gay/lesbian people and our relationships. Thank you, Rupert's Land, for pointing to that. Many of us point to the ugly heritage of racism in our history. Someday, I hope the proponents of the Anglican Covenant will be named as the bigots they are. Their supposedly Biblical hatred of gay men and lesbians is the veneer behind which they hide. One day, they will be remembered alongside the bigots who repressed the Africans in South Africa and the African-Americans in the U.S. South. 

The two statements point out that the original intent of the covenant was to 'get the gays',  and 'get' TEC for ordaining a gay bishop, and 'get' the Anglican Church of Canada for allowing same-sex blessings, though you won't ever hear the proponents of the covenant say such a thing in public.

Read the whole of Lisa's post, which includes the entire text of the letter from the diocese. 

MICHELE BACHMANN...'I AM NOT ANYONE'S JUDGE'

Damn! You could have fooled me, Michele.

H/T to Leonardo at Eruptions at the Foot of the Volcano.

FEAST DAY OF ARCHBISHOP JANANI LUWUM OF UGANDA

The statue of Archbishop Luwum is on the right above the West Entrance to Westminster Abbey, along with statues of Maximilian Kolke and Manche Masemola.

Archbishop Luwum served in office during the bloody rule of Idi Amin. He protested the murderous policies of the gorvenment and often interceded on behalf of those imprisoned for opposing Amin and his policies.

Posted below is an excerpt from the biographical information by James Kiefer at the Lectionary:

The Archbishop called on President Amin to deliver a note of protest, signed by nearly all the bishops of Uganda, against the policies of arbitrary killings and the unexplained disappearances of many persons. Amin accused the Archbishop of treason, produced a document supposedly by former President Obote attesting his guilt, and had the Archbishop and two Cabinet members (both committed Christians) arrested and held for military trial.

On 16 February, the Archbishop and six bishops were tried on a charge of smuggling arms. Archbishop Luwum was not allowed to reply, but shook his head in denial. The President concluded by asking the crowd: "What shall we do with these traitors?" The soldiers replied "Kill him now". The Archbishop was separated from his bishops. As he was taken away Archbishop Luwum turned to his brother bishops and said: "Do not be afraid. I see God's hand in this."

The three (the Archbishop and the two Cabinet members) met briefly with four other prisoners who were awaiting execution, and were permitted to pray with them briefly. Then the three were placed in a Land Rover and not seen alive again by their friends. The government story is that one of the prisoners tried to seize control of the vehicle and that it was wrecked and the passengers killed. The story believed by the Archbishop's supporters is that he refused to sign a confession, was beaten and otherwise abused, and finally shot. His body was placed in a sealed coffin and sent to his native village for burial there. However, the villagers opened the coffin and discovered the bullet holes.

What a courageous man in the cause of justice. What steadfastedness he showed in the face of persecution and death. He lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ without counting the cost, which was his very life.

Whose is the leading voice from the Christian community advocating for justice in Uganda today, where draconian legislation against LGTB persons is pending? Is it the voice of Anglican primate, Archbishop Henry Orombi?

From the Daily Monitor via Box Turtle Bulletin:

“We are saying homosexuality is not compatible with the word of God. We are saying that this culture of other people is against the traditional belief of marriage held by the Anglican Communion,” says the Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Henry Luke Orombi. Bishop Orombi says that the Anglican Church will never accept homosexuality because the scriptures too do not allow people of same sex to join in marriage.

“Homosexuality is evil, abnormal and unnatural as per the Bible. It is a culturally unacceptable practice. Although there is a lot of pressure, we cannot turn our hands to support it,” says Bishop Orombi.

I guess not.

But wait! From Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, retired Anglican bishop of West Buganda in his letter to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams:

Peace from God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I give thanks on behalf of the family and friends of David Kato for your love and prayers at this difficult time. All over the world, human beings are longing for liberation, love, respect and the dignity to have meaningful lives. This week alone, we witnessed it in Egypt .We also see this longing in the struggle for human rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people (LGBT) through the sacrificial life and death of David Kato. As human beings, we must respect our differences and be united in our call for listening and sharing with each other. To understand God, we are all called to understand the mystery of each other, including our sexualities. God has given us this gift and to defame, condemn, imprison and kill human beings because of their God-given nature, is a great human error. The church has a tragic history of condemning Jews, Moslems, scientists and LGBT people. Our teaching and theology has a causal effect and if we do not learn from our own historical mistakes, we will repeat the same sinful destruction of lives, families and communities.

Bishop Christopher has no standing within the Anglican Church of Uganda, because he has been excommunicated due to his advocacy for justice and equality for LGTB persons.

The Preface For the Feast of Archbishop Luwum

O God, whose Son the Good Shepherd laid down his life for the sheep: We give you thanks for your faithful shepherd, Janani Luwum, who after his Savior’s example gave up his life for the people of Uganda. Grant us to be so inspired by his witness that we make no peace with oppression, but live as those who are sealed with the cross of Christ, who died and rose again, and now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

At St Laika's, MadPriest posted a lovely prayer service with music honoring Archbishop Luwum on the feast day.

Image at the head of the post from Wikipedia.

CHRISTMAS SERMON FROM CANTERBURY

Whenever I read or listen to a speech or a sermon by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, I confess that I wait for the "Gotcha!" moment. Very likely, all of us, myself included, have moments when we appear to contradict ourselves by our words or by our actions. So I preface my comments here with the sorry disclaimer of a bad attitude, hardly in the spirit of the present season, because I have been puzzled more times than I can count by the seeming contradictions in the words and actions of the ABC. I read the text of the archbishop's Christmas sermon in just such a manner. There is much that is good and true in the sermon, but I did not have long to wait for the moment. Early in the sermon, come the following wonderful words:

The story of Jesus is the story of a God who keeps promises. As St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 'however many the promises God made, the Yes to them all is in him'. God shows himself to be the same God he always was. He brings hope out of hopelessness – out of the barrenness of unhappy childless women like Sarah and Hannah. He takes strangers and makes them at home; he brings his greatest gifts out of those moments when the barriers are down between insiders and outsiders. He draws people from the ends of the earth to wonder – not this time at the glory of Solomon but at the miracle of his presence among the humble and outcast. He identifies with those, especially children, who are the innocent and helpless victims of insane pride and fear. He walks into exile with those he loves and leads them home again. (My emphasis)

Inevitably, my mind moves to the daft Anglican Covenant. If the covenant is put in place, the result could be to raise barriers between member churches of the Communion, rather than bring barriers down, to declare certain members insiders and other members outsiders, or the lesser discipline, to label certain churches of the Communion as second tier, not quite up to par, assigned to the fringe as "not like us".

I cannot resolve in my mind the seeming contradiction that the man who speaks such words in the sermon about bringing down barriers, at the same time, urges upon the member churches of the Anglican Communion the exclusionary and divisive Anglican Covenant. I don't get it.

Archbishop Williams goes on:

And lastly, a point that we rightly return to on every great Christian festival, there is our solidarity with those of our brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world who are suffering for their Christian faith or their witness to justice or both. Yet again, I remind you of our Zimbabwean friends, still suffering harassment, beatings and arrests, legal pressures and lockouts from their churches; of the dwindling Christian population in Iraq, facing more and more extreme violence from fanatics – and it is a great grace that both Christians and Muslims in this country have joined in expressing their solidarity with this beleaguered minority. Our prayers continue for Asia Bibi in Pakistan and others from minority groups who suffer from the abuse of the law by certain groups there. We may feel powerless to help; yet we should also know that people in such circumstances are strengthened simply by knowing they have not been forgotten. And if we find we have time to spare for joining in letter-writing campaigns for all prisoners of conscience, Amnesty International and Christian Solidarity worldwide will have plenty of opportunities for us to make use of.

Our Christian brothers and sisters call out for help and we must pray for them, support them, and help in any way possible.

Those who suffer for conscience sake as they strive for justice and equality deserve our same help and support.

But what about our brothers and sisters who suffer persecution, violence, and even death in areas of the world because of who they are? What about our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, many of them Christians, many of them Anglican? A mention urging prayer, support, and help for LGTB persons is strangely absent from the archbishop's Christmas sermon.

Is it just me? Is my habitual nitpicking of the archbishop's words and actions in play here in an unjust manner?