The Rt Rev Musonda Trevor Selwyn Mwamba (at right), Bishop of Botswana, spoke to the Ecclesiastical Law Society in Liverpool, England, about two months ago. The speech last week found its way onto the website of the Anglican Church of Canada (ACC), whence it was quickly recommended by Thinking Anglicans. They must think it’s hot stuff. I respectfully disagree.
Maintaining that "[t]he African provinces are not a monochrome body as popular belief would suggest" (whose "popular belief" he doesn't say), Bp Mwamba presents three voices of African Anglicanism: conservative, liberal, and moderate.
The principal representative of the conservative voice is the Church of Nigeria and particularly its primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola. The Church of Nigeria has taken a strong stand against ordaining non-celibate homosexuals and celebrating same-sex unions. Following ACC’s and TEC’s acceptance of non-celibate homosexuality, Abp Akinola and other primates declared their provinces in impaired or broken communion with the two North American provinces.
Not bad so far. But then Bp Mwamba goes off the rails.
This conservative voice emphasizes the Bible over tradition. It opposes anything that is incompatible with the Bible and to this conservative voice homosexuality is contrary to the Bible. The inspiration behind this conservative voice is not only the Bible but other factors kick in such as cultural, religious and legal considerations.
What “tradition” is he talking about? And is he not implying that only conservatives oppose “anything that is incompatible with the Bible”? I imagine that liberal and moderate Anglicans would dispute that vigorously.
The Church of Nigeria no doubt believes that it is merely following the teaching of the Thirty-Nine Articles, Article VI of which clearly states the overriding importance of Holy Scripture in church doctrine.
The bishop then charges that the conservative voice on this issue relies on sources other than the Bible. No supporting argument or evidence is presented, only assertions.
So the conservative voice echoes the cultural abhorrence of homosexuality. The conservative voice also echoes the political and legal context in which it speaks.
That contention, however, renders problematic—if not inexplicable—the views of Western Anglicans who oppose normalisation of homosexual behaviour in the church. Why do Christians with no experience of African culture, religion, or law object to homosexual practice?
The Churches of Uganda and Tanzania are also very briefly mentioned as conservative voices. Bp Mwamba summarises this position:
This is the conservative voice from Africa. A voice prepared to exclude those voices or views deemed incompatible with the Bible and its position. A voice relatively quiet on speaking out on life and death issues of poverty, AIDS, and responsible governance.
First of all, no examples of exclusion are noted, nor is there any mention of North American conservatives excluded by the powers that be in ACC and TEC.
The allegation of silence on other pressing public issues is quite uninformed. Ten minutes with Google turned up the following news stories in which African Anglican leaders, including representatives from Nigeria, Uganda, and Tanzania, spoke out on the issues about which Bp Mwamba claims they are “relatively quiet”.
The Chairman of CAPA is The Most Rev Peter Jasper Akinola (at right).
To cover the "responsible governance" angle, here’s a September 2005 post from this blog.
Anglican Primate calls President “inhuman” to his face
No, this didn't involve the people you're thinking of: this happened in Nigeria. The primate was the Most Rev Peter Akinola, Primate of the Church of Nigeria; the president was Olusegun Obasanjo, President of Nigeria; and the focus of the criticism was government policies.
Anyone who thinks African “conservative voices” have been “relatively quiet” on those “life and death issues” just hasn’t been paying attention.
Bp Mwamba’s “liberal voice”, The Anglican Church in Southern Africa, doesn’t appear to me to contain any inflammatory misrepresentations like those tossed in under the conservative voice. (But perhaps liberals may take a different view.)
One moderate voice was discussed: the Anglican Church of Burundi.
The third African voice we discern is the moderate voice. Nicely, snuggled between the conservative and liberal voices. The Anglican Church in Burundi is a good example of this moderate voice in the Communion. In their statement on the issue of homosexuality and same sex-unions, the church has categorically stated that they remain committed to the Anglican Communion and to endeavouring to work with all the Primates who have been entrusted with the leadership of its provinces. In the statement they also indicated that they are committed to the Gospel imperative to maintain unity and communion that is rooted in truth and love. They emphasised their theological understanding of the authentic nature of the Church as being one, holy, catholic and apostolic and affirmed their loyalty to the authority of Scripture and the traditional teachings of the Church.
They expressed their hope in prayer that ways will be found to move forward with renewed commitment to “keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
Although the Anglican Church in Burundi abhors the events that led to the present crisis in the Communion they have expressed the need to continue to prayerfully encourage understanding and dialogue and re-assess structures and ways of drawing closer to each other rather than walking apart. Their position is one which seeks reliance on the Holy Spirit that will lead to repentance, forgiveness, revival, and healing and urge others in the Communion to work for a Church characterised by justice, and compassion that strives to be a sanctuary of care where truth can be told in love so that Christians can walk together in a way that honours the name of Christ and witness to his reconciling love in a hurting and fragmented world.
Bp Mwamba says that was a “statement on the issue of homosexuality and same sex-unions”, but nothing was said about “the issue”. Wha' happened? Well, an important bit was left out.
We recommend therefore that our relationships should be guided by the decisions of the 1998 Lambeth Conference Resolution I. 10 and Resolution III. 2(e), the Windsor Report recommendations, and the Dromantine requests.
Bp Mwamba skipped over the sentence in which the Anglican Church of Burundi affirms its agreement with the 1998 Lambeth Conference resolution that rejected “homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture”. The Windsor Report and the Dromantine communiqué both affirm Lambeth Resolution 1.10 as the view of the Anglican Communion.
So, the “moderate voice” agrees with the stance taken by the “conservative voice” on the issue that threatens to divide the Anglican Communion.
Now comes this little tirade. What was he thinking?
Where does ‘power’ lie in the present debate? The provinces in Nigeria have collectively the largest number of Anglican members in the world – more than the Church of England and ECUSA combined! America has long been generous in its hospitality and support for African church projects and its leaders, however, in the current situation, the almighty dollar has been used to strengthen the voice and position of some African bishops who have been invited to the States and given generous incentives. Very tempting indeed for a bishop from a poor African diocese to be feted and offered funds by his American hosts, if he endorses the party line!
He presents no evidence, no names, no specifics at all. This amounts to unsupported innuendo unbecoming an overseer of the Christian church.
Then, in a surrealistic flourish, Bishop Mwamba calls for humility.
We need to organise an , “Anglican Communion on Humility Conference”! Think of humility as an attitude or spirit of how we see people and the world in general. Humility is seeing, knowing and understanding people with reverence, a sense of wonder, respect and appreciation. It is honouring the person and life by not imposing our ways on them. It is this humility that is a missing ingredient in the war of views on sexuality. We seem to have forgotten that in God’s grace there is no space for arrogance, the holier than thou attitude and judgemental spirit.
I humbly suggest Bishop Mwamba ponder his own speech in the light of that admonition.
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