Nigeria Working My LAST Good Nerve!
Lost in the din of pre-Christmas news were a few articles about
Episcopal parishes in Northern Virginia, including George Washington’s
parish, voting to leave the Episcopal Church and recognize the
Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, as their leader. Then there was
news of a law in Nigeria that the Archbishop is pushing to make
homosexuality subject to the death penalty.
I have written about
the struggles of the Episcopal Church of the USA regarding
homosexuality. My adopted church not only ordains openly gay clergy,
but also has an openly gay bishop. This summer, at our General
Conference, our deputies and clergy elected the Katherine
Jefferts-Schori as the new Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church of
the USA. As such, she is considered the "primate" of the United States
in the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the equal to Archbishop Peter
Akinola of Nigeria. This turn of events, some have decided, must not
stand.
The wealthy, largely conservative, and most certainly Republican,
parishes of Northern Virginia who voted to leave and join the Anglican
Church of Nigeria are bigots who should be faced with the full legal
force of the church to strip of them of the property they hold in
TRUST, a trust they have broken. For them, it was bad enough when we
let women become priests and bishops. It got much worse when
homosexuals were allowed to wear the clerical collar, and they reach
the end of their rope when an openly gay man was elected Bishop of New
Hampshire. Apparently, having a woman as the chief bishop of the
church in the United States was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
They simply REFUSE to acknowledge the authority of a woman, and instead
back a man who holds their views that women shouldn’t be priests, let
alone bishops, and gays deserve jail and death rather the the love of
Christ and the church.
These people are stalwarts of the
Republican Party nationally, considering the location of the fleeing
parishes. They hold nothing but contempt for a process based on the US
Constitution and written largely by our Founding Fathers. This
contempt is based on the fact that they have lost the argument. They
are on the wrong side of the great issues of the day, and they will not
tolerate it.
Personally, I’m tired of mollifying these
conservatives and their right wing, hate-filled agenda. If they want
to leave the Episcopal Church, fine. Lock the doors and give us the
keys as you leave. All property is held in trust by Parishes on behalf
of the National Church. That national church should be vigorous in
enforcing its rights in court. Let these bigots meet in a field for
all I care. We have tried and tried to reach compromise, approach
these people in good faith and loving spirit, and they spit in our eyes
each and every time. It’s their way or the highway, and I’m personally
sick of it. We have a woman as the head of our church, and some
dioceses may feel called to elect an openly gay person as their
bishop. Get over it. Time marches on.
Let’s look at what this
"savior" of theirs from Nigeria has been up to. Peter Akinola is a
proud bigot. He claims he must discriminate against women and gays
because the bible commands it (it doesn’t), and because he’s in
competition with Islam for the souls of Nigeria. Nigeria is a state
that is 50% Muslim and 50% Christian. The Muslims control the northern
parts of the country, and the Christians control the southern parts.
There is a real competition for control of Nigeria’s religious life.
Since Islam hates gays, Christians must to in order to "compete".
In
this spirit, Archbishop Akinola has openly supported a new law in
Nigeria that would not only outlaw gay marriages (which are now legal
in South Africa), but ANY form of association between gay people,
social or otherwise, as well as the publication of any materials deemed
to promote a "same sex amorous relationship." Under the law, anyone
attending a meeting between gay people could receive a sentence of 5
years in prison. Other activities prohibited by this law are
participating in gay clubs, reading books, watching films, or accessing
Internet sites that "promote" homosexuality.
Take a moment to
digest that paragraph. It’s stunning the malice and sheet hatred of
gay people expressed in this new Nigerian law. Two men having DINNER
together could be construed to be illegal under this law. Straight
people who allow more than one gay person in their home would be
eligible for a prison sentence of up to 5 years! Reading this blog
could get you put in prison or stoned to death. Apparently, the
Christian south would only use prison, but the Muslim north would be
allowed to use the death penalty, which constitutes stoning to death.
The Republican Episcopalians in Northern Virginia have aligned
themselves with Peter Akinola and his precious Gay Holocaust law. Make
no mistake, that this bill is intended to eliminate any person deemed
to be homosexual. No one will be safe.
In NYC, Archbishop
Akinola was visiting a church. Afterward, he was greeting parishoners,
and a man shook his hand, told him how much he enjoyed his sermon, and
then introduced him to "my partner, who’s been with me for several
years." When Akinola understood that the man clasping his hand was
GAY, he recoiled in horror, jerked his hand away, and jumped back.
Later, he recalled this story with PRIDE.
Personally, I’m done
with Nigeria too. In my work, I’ve known the problems they cause in
polio eradication, the corruption, the graft, etc. We should simply
build a wall around Nigeria and them rot. Oh wait, they have OIL, so
we can’t do that. Still, my disgust with this country leads me to
support such a wall nontheless. They are trying to destroy my church,
and if I went into their country, they would try to take my very life.
Reading my blog, one might think that all I care about are gay
issues. That is certainly not true, as anyone who knows me could tell
you. I care about access to quality healthcare, women’s rights, strong
families, fiscal responsibility, patriotism, fighting terrorism, etc.
The list goes on and on. Yet, as a gay man, I feel a sense of danger
in the political world surrounding me. I do have the sense that all
will be OK in the end, but it will take a while. I do not think that
any state in the USA would dare pass a law as draconian as the Nigerian
law. Yet, I see people from the other side of the political spectrum
rising up to CHEER the very men who push forward such laws. Perhaps my
being a gay man makes me more sensitive, and more likely to have a
vociferous opinion when it comes to gay issues. I would love to have
no reason to blog about it ever again. Unfortunately, I think I will
be an old man before that happens.
