CANTERBURY OCTOBER 6, 2017 (CISA) –Three of 39 primates in the Anglican Communion have shunned the Anglican Communion Primates’ Meeting in a show of continuing disagreement with same-sex relationships.
Archbishops Nicholas Okoh of Nigeria, Stanley Ntagali of Uganda and Onesphore Rwaje of Rwanda said that they have boycotted the meeting in protest of what they see as the Anglican Communion’s failure to uncompromisingly back traditional interpretations of the scriptures on sexuality, The Christian Times reported.
In an open letter, Archbishop Okoh who is chairman of the Conservative African organization Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) warned about the, “next great reformation” or, schism within Christianity over issues such as homosexual practice, same-sex marriage and the “blurring of gender identity.”
The five-day meeting (October 2-6) in Canterbury brought together leaders from around the worldwide Anglican Communion to discuss religious persecution, climate change and the refugee crisis as well as sexuality.
During the meeting the Scottish Episcopal Church was sanctioned after voting overwhelmingly in favor of same-sex marriage in June. During the last summit in January 2016, the Anglican Communion leaders imposed the same sanctions against the US. Episcopal Church after it passed gay marriage in 2015.
Leaders from the conservative group GAFCON had complained that the “consequences” handed to the U.S. Episcopal Church are not effective and have not been imposed, with figures from the church playing a full part in an Anglican meeting in Lusaka in 2016.
Archbishop Ntagali of Uganda said that the US Episcopal Church has torn the fabric of the Anglican Communion by consecrating a gay bishop and approving same-sex marriage.
“At times, I wonder whether we really share a common faith! If we are not walking in the same direction, then how can we walk together?” He stated in a letter explaining why he would not attend the meeting.
