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Anglican Communion needs transformative leadership on sexuality

by
23 June 2010

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From the Very Revd Ian D. Corbett

Sir, — The compassionate and discerning statement from the Anglican Bishops in Southern Africa concerning the imprisonment of two homosexual men in Malawi, and drawing a careful distinction between human rights and theological scruples, was, together with the appeal of the Secretary General of the United Nations Organisation, instrumental in securing their Presidential pardon (News, 4 June).

It contrasts sadly with the more anodyne and tardier response from the Communion as a whole, and with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s tendency to rush to comment adversely on the much less urgent or, in the eyes of many, relevant issues of women bishops or gay ordinations.

It puzzles me that the Archbishop, who is of such intellectual eminence and spiritual profundity, does not handle the problem of sexual diversity with more aplomb. He allows the debate to continue without reference, for example, to cultural and historical dimensions.

For instance, in some cultures, such as Native American ones in which I have worked, more than two sexualities are identified (sometimes as many as six). Homosexuality is present in African cultures, in which I have also worked, although it may be classified in different ways (perhaps as intimate friendship).

Again, historically, in the high Middle Ages, the Church in Europe seems to have been at ease with same-sex relationships, as witnessed by surviving correspondence; the present party line of marriage or celibacy hardens only with the Reformation. When such issues are taken into account, sexual difference becomes a less parochial but more complicated matter, and yet also one much richer than mere sexual expression: we are into areas of spiritual theology — of personhood, in fact — rather than of moral theology.

But where is the leadership in thinking here that could transform this debate? Affirming the dignity and worth of human beings is more important than becoming mired in dilemmas of church order, and more worthy of the Communion’s immediate attention.

IAN D. CORBETT
5 Chestnut Grove
Clevedon
North Somerset
BS21 7LA

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