wfn.org | Bishop seeks bridges for sexuality debate

["Christopher Took" <storm@indigo.ie>]

ACNS LC042 - 23 July 1998

Bishop seeks bridges for sexuality debate

By Nan Cobbey
Lambeth Conference Communications

The hoped-for dialogue on human sexuality almost derailed when
polarized positions on the issue dominated the first meeting of
the sexuality subgroup.

Bishop Duncan Buchanan of Johannesburg (South Africa), the
subgroup's chair, said that in the group's first meeting,
progressive bishops argued with conservatives over whether
homosexuality should even be on the agenda. Bishop Buchanan said
the hostility caused him to cancel a planned presentation by
members of the group, "Changing Attitudes," an English coalition
of gays, lesbians, and their supporters that promotes
non-confrontative dialogue on issues involving gays and lesbians.
The subsection members had voted to delay the group's
presentation.

Bishop Buchanan said he was "shocked and traumatized" by the
degree of anger, but said he hopes the effort for productive
conversation can begin afresh. "I expected [anger]. What I didn't
expect was the strength of it."

Bishop Buchanan added, however, "I respect their right to be that
angry. "That's where we began in South Africa." He told the
reporters of his country's extensive experience with "hugely
polarized" groups.

"One of the things we have learned in South Africa is that you
can start by being hugely polarized but that doesn't mean that's
where you'll end," he said. Peeling away "the suspicions, the
misunderstandings and misperceptions" is hard work, he said, but
it is working in that country recuperating from apartheid. He
implied that it can work at the Lambeth Conference as well.

"People have come from all over the world with vastly different
agendas . . . and while, for some, issues around homosexuality
are crucial and urgent, for others it doesn't even exist," he
said. Before opening the briefing to questions, Bishop Buchanan
confided that "many people have come with some very heavy agendas
from their own constituencies. Some have been mandated to react
and say certain things in certain contexts."

When asked if bishops would walk out if the homosexuality issue
were pushed too aggressively or whether there might be a way to
bridge the divisions, Bishop Buchanan responded, "What we will
almost certainly have to do in our report is say that we reached
no consensus. I think that's an honest statement. It's not trying
to cover up."

Asked about the "delayed" presentation by the advocacy group,
Bishop Buchanan said he hoped "that we will see them, whether
it's the whole group or a part of the group."

His statement prompted a reporter from Christian Challenge a
conservative publication based in Washington, D.C., to ask
whether celibate homosexuals and those who claim to have obtained
healing from homosexuality would also be permitted to speak.

"I am told there are people in both contexts who would be
available and ready to give their point of view," Bishop Buchanan
said, adding, "I would certainly be open for that process to take
place."

But when the reporter continued, "Also pedophiles, adulterers and
any other . . . " Bishop Buchanan cut him off.

"Do remember that homosexuality does not mean pedophilia," he
said, his soft voice picking up a sharpness not present earlier.
"Let's get this right. Some of the most aggressive pedophiles are
heterosexual. So please don't come at me with that one. That is
one of the bits of mythology that we are going to bust right
down."

Asked if he could "envision the Anglican Church ever blessing
same-sex marriages," Bishop Buchanan said, "The answer is, if
this is what God wants it will happen. That may sound naïve but
that's where I come from."

A reporter from the All-Africa News Agency asked whether Africans
might be permitted to preserve their "innocence," given that
"Africa is not quite ready to debate this issue let alone
practice it."

Bishop Buchanan suggested that "while Africa as a whole may say
it's not for us," the extent to which homosexuality does exist
will start to emerge. "It is not quite as simple as the way your
question was posed."

He also said that many of the men from Mozambique, Lesotho and
Transkei working in the mines "and kept away from their wives
moved into homosexual relationships quite comfortably . . . so it
is not quite as simple as the way your questions was posed."

A reporter from The Guardian newspaper wondered if permitting the
bishops to self-select the sections they would join did not
"particularly polarize" the section Bishop Buchanan chairs.

"It is my belief that many people have got into the section in
order to-this is not substantiated, it is an instinct-in order to
protect a point of view. I don't argue with that," said Bishop
Buchanan. "That's where we start."

"But it makes it hard for you to handle," the reporter
commiserated.

"Are you kidding!" he shot back, and touched off a
tension-relieving burst of laughter.

For further information, contact:

Lambeth Conference Communications
Canterbury Business School
University of Kent at Canterbury
Telephone: 01227 827348/9
Fax: 01227 828085
Mobile: 0374 800212

http://www.lambethconference.org