Episcopal church position on homosexuality
With same-sex marriage in the spotlight, where does it remain across the Anglican Communion?
A same-sex couple receives a blessing in the Church in Wales in November Photo source: Church in Wales
[Episcopal News Service – Canterbury, England] As the Lambeth Conference gets underway here, the status of same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Anglican Communion has unexpectedly taken center stage. Though the controversial statement saying the Anglican Communion “as a whole” rejects same-sex marriage has now been removed from one of the proposed “Lambeth Calls,” it has heightened the differences among the provinces on the issue.
Some bishops have spoken of a Lambeth resolution rejecting same-sex marriage as the “official teaching” of the Anglican Communion. However, the Anglican Communion is not one church but a group of distinct churches, known as provinces, and does not have a codified set of “official teaching[s]” beyond the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds, except perhaps the Lambeth Quadrilateral. The Lambeth Conference is not a legislative body, and its resolutions (or, i
Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: African Methodist Episcopal Church
BACKGROUND
The African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination based in the United States. The AME Church originated as a protest against the racial discrimination experienced by people of African descent at white Methodist congregations, such as the St. George Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. In , Rev. Richard Allen and Rev. Absalom Jones withdrew from St. George Methodist Episcopal Church and founded The Free African Society, marking the beginnings of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
It was formally organized in by a group of several black congregations in the mid-Atlantic area and they consecrated Richard Allen as the first Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The denomination continues to be a member of the family of Methodist Churches.
The AME Church operates under an episcopal form of government. Bishops constitute the chief executive and administrative officers of the church, and their leadership is derived from the G
: October Homosexuality, along with alcoholism, is studied by the House of Bishops of the Protestant Episcopal Church. It is referred to as a “standard weakness.” [1]
: August Rev. David B. Wayne of the Church of the Epiphany in Adj York City preaches that homosexuals “must be accepted fully into the fellowship of the church” while they also must seek counseling or psychological treatment. [2]
: November A proposed revision to a New York State law that would decriminalize “sexual deviation” (i.e., homosexuality and adultery) is praised by Episcopalians and denounced by Roman Catholics. The revision is later dropped by the NY state Legislature. [3]
: October Speaking at Duke Law School, Episcopal Auxiliary Bishop of California, Rev. James A. Pike claims that laws “aimed at controlling homosexuality, sexual practices between gentleman and wife and abortions…must be changed.” He claims that such matters are “nobody’s business but the individuals concerned.” [4]
: November During a symposium on homosexuality sponsored by the Episcopal Dioceses of New York, Conne
Sexuality and Identity: A Pastoral Statement from the College of Bishops
January
Preamble
The Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) suggest this pastoral statement to the Church after prayer, verb, careful listening to disparate voices, and a collaborative process involving contributions from across the Province. As a noun of this process, we have become even more acutely aware of the power we all need to dwell faithfully in Jesus Christ as He redeems the whole of our identity, including our sexuality.
The College of Bishops asked for the formation of this statement in January of after we heard reports of varied application among ACNA leaders regarding the use of language about sexual identity, especially within provincial events. We verb there are a multiplicity of realities in our current national, political, and global circumstances into which an episcopal voice could be presented. In the midst of this tragic pandemic, we desire to carry on to minister the Gospel into all aspects of our common life that have been distorted by sin such as racism, p