Anglicans to probe gay marriage

2003-04-03 13:20

Cape Town - The Anglican Church in southern Africa has released what it calls a "preliminary report" on same-sex marriages - a union it does not recognise.

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane said on Thursday the document, which makes no specific recommendations, was meant to stimulate discussion on the issue.

Its release follows last month's Constitutional Court ruling that twins born by artificial insemination to a lesbian couple were legitimate, a term traditionally used for children born in wedlock.

The report is the product of a committee Ndungane appointed in response to a synod resolution last September, requiring the church to clarify its position on same-sex unions.

The report urges the church, which has 10 million baptised members, to set in motion a "pastoral process to help the church engage, at all levels, with homosexuality".

It says local church workshops should be held to enable members to "participate in discerning God's word to the Church" on homosexuality and same-sex unions.

It also recommends interaction with NGOs, ecumenical partners and educators.

"While sensitive to the need to uphold the unity of the church, we stress that unity should not be allowed to be employed as a delaying tactic... as an excuse to avoid the issue," it says.

It also points out that same sex-marriage is already a recognised traditional institution in South Africa, that the present Rain Queen of the Lovedu has four wives, and that her mother was married to 11 women.

Njongonkulu said he envisaged the matter would come up again for discussion at the next synod, in July 2005.

On the agenda for Lambeth 2008?

He said the Lambeth Conference of the worldwide Anglican Church in 1998 had advised against blessing same-sex unions, and he felt the worldwide Anglican community ought to act together on this issue.

However, on the whole question of homosexuality, the bishops at Lambeth had indicated that there was "a lot we don't know".

It was likely that Cape Town would be the venue for the next conference, in 2008, and this issue would be on the table there.

The committee report said it appeared that while the church in the northern hemisphere was ready to legitimise same-sex unions, Anglicans of the southern hemisphere were still "strongly, if not resolutely" opposed to the practice.

Njongonkulu said the fundamental teaching of the church was that marriage was between a husband and a wife.

'A spirit of respect and tolerance'

"The view is that same-sex unions are against that kind of fundamental teaching that the church has on this issue," he said.

Asked for his personal view on the issue, he said that, as a servant of the church, he carried out what he was instructed to do.

"An archbishop has no personal view," he said.

Asked whether the issue was likely to divide the church, he said there were people in it who recognised the complexity of the issue and appreciated that it was being put on the table.

"Far from losing members, we are engaged in trying to find solutions," he said.

"I like to hope that this process will deepen our understanding and generate a spirit of respect and tolerance in dealing with issues relating to homosexuality."

- SAPA