Bible supports gay
partnerships,
says leading Anglican
bishop
From ekklesia.co.uk
on the Web, May 28, 2006
The Rt Rev Richard Harries, the
Bishop of Oxford, has declared that anti-gay proponents in the churches need to
be "converted" to see that homosexual unions are supported by a faithful, modern
reading of the Bible.
He also reaffirmed his conviction that an openly gay man should be allowed to be
appointed a bishop -– as has already happened in the USA, with Bishop Gene
Robinson of New Hampshire.
In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Bishop Harries, who is one
of the Church of England’s most senior bishops, and who retires this week,
expressed his regret that Canon Jeffrey John, now Dean of St Albans, had been
forced to withdraw as Bishop of Reading after it emerged that he had a long-term
partner.
In 2003 Archbishop Rowan Williams bowed to pressure not to appoint Dr John, even
though his relationship was celibate.
"I'd still like him to become a bishop," Bishop Harries told Jonathan Wynee-Jones.
"He has all the gifts … but there is still a process of discernment going on.
For there to be change, evangelicals have to be convinced that a permanent,
faithful same-sex partnership is congruous with biblical truth."
Dr Harries continued: "It's difficult to have gay partnerships fully accepted by
the Church, a Church in which evangelicals are a valued part, if they are so
strongly opposed to it. There has to be a conversion to a new way to see
that gay partnerships are not contrary to biblical truth. They are
congruous with the deepest biblical truths, about faithfulness and stability."
The Rev Dr Giles Fraser, the chair of Inclusive Church and an Ekklesia
associate, responded: "His comments will be received with joy by the
majority of ordinary churchgoers. It is absolutely clear that the Church
needs to have a more welcoming and loving attitude to gays."
Bishop Harries, who was made a life peer last week, said that the Jeffrey John
affair had made people think about the issue in way that they never had before,
reports the Sunday Telegraph.
The Anglican Communion is currently embroiled in a spat over the Bishop of
Guildford, John Gladwin, who was forced to cut short a pastoral and aid visit to
Kenya when the media accused him of belonging to “a gay club”, actually the
respected group Changing Attitude.
The Rev David Peak, the Archbishop of Canterbury's Secretary for International
Development, who has been in Sudan, is going to Kenya to try to calm the
escalating row.
And in a recently published book 'Other Worlds, Other Voices', Esther Mombo,
Academic Dean at St Paul’s United Theological College, Limuru, in Kenya
expresses an understanding approach to homosexuality. She is a member of
the Inter-Anglican Doctrinal Commission and served on the Lambeth Commission
that produced the Windsor Report.
Oxford New Testament professor Christopher Rowland is among the many other
Christian academics who say the Bible can support an affirmative approach to
homosexuality.
The conservative Anglican pressure group Reform was today among the first to
condemn Bishop Harries remarks.
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