wfn.org | ACNS3591 Archbishop Akinola attacks Archbishop Ndungane over

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3591     |     NIGERIA	|     23 SEPTEMBER 2003 

Archbishop Akinola attacks Archbishop Ndungane over "Gay Remarks"

[ACNS source: All Africa News Agency] The Archbishop of the Church of
Nigeria, the Most Revd Peter J. Akinola, has written a strong-worded
letter to his southern Africa counterpart, Archbishop Winston
Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, expressing deep criticism over the
stand taken by Archbishop Ndungane on the controversial issue of gay
ordination within the Anglican Church.
Responding to Archbishop Ndungane's recent sentiments published in a
leading British newspaper, Archbishop Akinola has launched a scathing
attack on his fellow churchman, telling him, "you got it all wrong".

Archbishop Ndungane had indicated in an interview that African
clergymen, including Archbishop Akinola, who were expressing opposition
to gay ordination were arrogant, intolerant and hypocritical.

Below is the full text of Archbishop Akinola's letter, released
yesterday:

A MESSAGE TO ARCHBISHOP NDUNGANE

"My attention has just been drawn to a publication by a religious
affairs correspondent in a British daily criticising the stand of a
majority of Global South Primates and several other bishops around the
world over the current departures arising from the ongoing controversies
surrounding unscriptural revisionist innovations on human sexuality. 

Your criticism is based on some unfortunate presuppositions. And coming
at this time, it appears like an attempt to cause a possible diversion
of focus amongst African and Global South Church leaders. But thank God
these leaders have come of age, they are no longer to be pulled by the
nose nor taken for granted. We are poised, using every gift of God
available to us to defend orthodoxy, the integrity of the Church, and
banish the erroneous teachings you plan to impose on us. 

The criticism 

1. How correct are you dear brother Archbishop Ndungane in judging the
cloud of witnesses to biblical truth through the ages whose stand on
biblical ethics is only being upheld by those of us who are now branded
as arrogant and intolerant? Is there anything in our pronouncements that
constitutes a departure from the standard of morality held out in the
Bible?

Isn't it a paradox that the Archbishop of Southern Africa sees no
arrogance in those whose flagrant disregard of the stand of the entire
Anglican Communion has plunged us into this sad and avoidable
controversy. They have refused to ensure strict compliance with
resolutions duly passed at the Bishops' Lambeth Conference and the
Primates' Meetings. To you that is alright. Should there not be a
protest against such disrespect? When has the poor (as we in the Global
South are often called) begun to be proud over and against the rich (the
affluent West)?

2. How can you forget so soon the alert we sounded at the Anglican
Consultative Council (ACC) in Hong Kong barely a year ago? It is worth
repeating here:

"While I appreciate that the New Westminster diocese and the Church of
Canada may not be, in numerical terms, especially large ecclesia bodies,
we value them as dearly as we value all our partner Provinces. We have a
growing fear for the sense of loss which sustained departure by them
from our common path and mind must risk. We urge and pray that
reflection will lead to reconsideration. It is hard indeed to see any
action, which threatens our Communion to be justified as a 'local
mission priority'"

3. Brother Ndungane, you got it all wrong. What you cited as top
priorities are in this context clearly misplaced. I ask, are the issues
of peace, hunger, sharia, and HIV/AIDS, serious and prevalent, as they
are, more important to the Church than faithfulness to the plain truth
of Scripture? We remind you dear brother of our Lord's response to a
similar situation two thousand years ago as recorded in Luke
13:1-5.(Please take time to read it over and over again). His response
was that, tragic as those situations were, the more important priority
was repentance. He actually said, "Unless you repent, you too will all
perish" It didn't mean that Christ was not compassionate. If anything He
demonstrated compassion daily in His miracles and teachings. We are
following His footsteps by doing all we can for those caught in these
painful conditions as part of our holistic approach to ministry. 

We place a high priority on caring. For sure, the Archbishop has not
forgotten that 'man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that
proceeds from God' (Dt. 8:3; Matt. 4:4; Lk. 4:4). Peace, hunger, sharia
and HIV/AIDS are indeed major life and death issues, albeit, they are at
the physical level. Unfaithfulness to Scripture is a more major life and
death issue because it is spiritual. What shall it profit a man to feed
well and live long here on earth only to lose his soul in hell? What
then is the Church here for ?

4. On the question of integrity of ECUSA's decision, again we ask, can
one eat his cake and still have it in his hands? And can two walk
together unless they be agreed? (Amos 3:3). If the integrity of a part
is so important, what will be said of the whole? And it must be said
that this is not a matter of 'unity in diversity' for according to the
rule: in the essentials, unity; in the non-essentials, freedom; in all
things charity, the issue at stake falls within the orbit of the
essentials and thus any deviation means alienation. 

One suspects in your unguarded and scathing criticism a resurgence of a
hitherto latent feeling of hurt since the Lambeth Conference Committee
on human sexuality you chaired was overwhelmingly overruled by the
so-called hard-liners who are not willing to compromise the precious
heritage of scriptural truth.

5. The accusation of hypocrisy does not recognise the inherent
difference between what the Church openly and officially sanctions and
what it does not but exists. In the former, the Church stands
responsible while in the latter, the burden of blame and guilt remains
the private responsibility of those concerned with the accompanying room
for repentance and forgiveness. This accusation carries with it an
uncomfortable insinuation of double standards on the part of those
opposed to homosexuality in the Church. However, it still does not
square up as two wrongs do not add up to a right.

6. The unwarranted accusation that Africans do not know much about their
sexuality portends a talking-down of Africans-a gnostic tendency that is
capable of weakening the resolve of the African church leaders to be
God's prophets in times like this. The biblical prophets resisted it and
so must their contemporary counterparts.

I ask you dear brother to face issues and not fall into the temptation
of "casting stones". Apparently you do not know everything I have said
and done on every issue concerning Nigeria. That you have not heard any
fuss from me in the foreign media about certain issues does not mean the
Church which by the grace of God I lead is doing nothing. For instance,
I deliberately included Zamfara State in the itinerary of the immediate
past Archbishop of Canterbury to Nigeria and called the world's
attention to the infringement on fundamental human rights that the
imposition of the Islamic penal code portended for freedom-loving
peoples. The Church in Nigeria has borne the most brunt of this
unwarranted imposition. If you care to know, I urge you to refer to the
volumes of published findings by Christian Solidarity Worldwide
following their repeated visits to Nigeria, including my Office.

Conclusion

May I say as I conclude that your comments reveal a palpable failure to
grasp the nature of the issues at stake. Your criticism is so burdened
with such sad and most unfortunate presuppositions that see our stand
from the point of arrogance and intolerance rather than a strong will to
defend the 'faith that was once delivered to the saints.' When you
accuse us of arrogance and intolerance, be courageous enough to direct
the searchlight at yourself and those for whom you spoke.

What is at stake has to do not just with the identity of the Church
universal and our historic faith but also how we treat God and his
incarnate and written Word. Yes, we are a worldwide communion, but our
church is only a part of the holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Where
the autonomy of any part of our communion becomes a scandal in the
entire Christian world, then we must be humble enough to accept rebuke
and correction. There is still room for repentance. Amen."

The Most Revd Peter J Akinola
Archbishop, Metropolitan and Primate
The Church of Nigeria, Anglican Communion.

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