Missionary Church rebukes Roper, supports buggery law retention
THE COLD reaction from the local Christian community greeting Reverend Dr Garnett Roper’s support for the repeal of the buggery law has continued, with the denomination in which he is a pastor now rebuking him.
In a statement affirming its support for the anti-gay law, the Missionary Church Association of Jamaica (MCAJ) has said that Roper’s opinions expressed in a radio interview last month, “are his personal views and do not represent the views of the MCAJ”.
Roper went public with his views on July 23, the same day The Sunday Gleaner published statements from the head of the Anglican Church in Jamaica and The Cayman Islands, Bishop Dr Howard Gregory, urging the Parliament to strike down the 1864 legislation.
Roper and Gregory are the most senior Christian leaders and thinkers in the country who have come out in support of the buggery law repeal. They have said that they do not personally support the act.
A MORAL ISSUE
Speaking on RJR’s ‘That’s a Rap’, Roper, who heads the MCAJ-affiliated Jamaica Theological Seminary, said the issue of buggery is a moral issue and not a criminal one. He also said that decriminalisation would help address the HIV/AIDS situation in the gay community.
The association said at a forum last week Thursday that ministers were “sympathetic” to the view that the local Christian Church needs to do more “to offer humanitarian assistance to homosexuals who have been recklessly displaced from their homes, communities, and educational institutions because of their sexual preferences”.
It further said, “Churches need to augment their efforts and strategically join with social-services efforts to ensure that homosexuals living with HIV/AIDS are able to securely access the best available medical treatment.”
But the Missionary Church Association is making it clear that it “does not believe that the removal of the buggery law is a necessary precursor for the securing of the best humanitarian assistance... [or] to secure the best available medical treatment for homosexuals who are living with HIV/AIDS”.