CHURCH of England bishops are to debate an Anglican Church report arguing that polygamous marriages can sometimes show both "faithfulness and righteousness".
The report, to the 750 bishops and archbishops of the worldwide Church, also argues in favour of permitting some Anglicans to have children outside wedlock.
It takes a liberal stance on homosexuality, acknowledging that there are many examples of faithful homosexual relationships within the Church, as well as society at large. A faithful homosexual relationship need not be "inherently sinful", it says.
The report also addresses the euthanasia debate, noting that Christians believe there is life after death and argues against "clinging pointlessly" to life. The goals of medicine are to "relieve suffering", not simply to extend physical life.
The 24-page report, Called to Full Humanity, is certain to arouse fierce controversy when it is debated this summer. The paper has been written by the Most Rev Njongonkulu Ndungane, who is Desmond Tutu's successor as Archbishop of Cape Town. The report, which has been posted on the Internet, is at the top of the agenda of the Lambeth Conference, the meeting of the bishops and archbishops of the Anglican Communion that takes place every ten years.
The conference, in July and August at Kent University in Canterbury, is expected to be the strongest test to date of the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, primus inter pares, or first among equals, of all the bishops attending. Protests are being planned by the homosexual lobby.
On the issue of sexuality, the report says: "It has long been recognised in the Anglican Communion that polygamy in parts of Africa, and traditional marriage, do genuinely have features of both faithfulness and righteousness." By "traditional marriage", the report is referring to the practice where a man will impregnate a woman and have children by her before he will agree to marry her.
The report continues: "In addition, there seem to have been many examples of faithfulness and righteousness among those who have remarried after divorce. An increasing number of Anglicans also maintain that faithful homosexuality contains features of both faithfulness and righteousness."
The report acknowledges the "enormous challenges" church leaders are facing to their traditional teaching on sexuality throughout the world. It lists as inherently sinful practices such as promiscuity, adultery, prostitution and child pornography. But homosexuality is excluded from the list of sinful practices.
The report reserves some of its strongest criticism for new technologies. Globalisation through technology is "destructive" of local cultures and widening the gap between rich and poor, it says. "Television networks such as CNN have become so dominant in many parts of the world that there is a resulting transfer of the networks' own values to the rest of the world," it says. The Times - 27/04/1998
