Ugandan Primate warns Church
THE PRIMATE of the Church of Uganda has urged the Church of England not to follow the Episcopal Church ‘into the abyss’ by endorsing gay marriage or blessing gay unions.
The Most Rev Stanley Ntagali told The Church of England Newspaper that while the Church of Uganda “has had no discussions about breaking away from the Church of England or the Anglican Communion,” it was troubled by its apparent indecision over sin and sexuality.
“It’s true that the fabric of the Anglican Communion was torn at its deepest level in 2003 when the American Episcopal Church consecrated as Bishop a gay man living in a same-sex relationship. Not only was this against the Bible, but it went against the agreed position of the Anglican Communion. Our current concern is that the Church of England seems to be drifting rapidly in the same direction,” he said.
In a sermon delivered on 1 March 2014 the archbishop stated the Western Churches appeared unaware of their double mindedness. “Many people have spiritual blindness but let us not mix issues. One hundred and thirty six years ago, the Church of England sent graduates from Oxford University to Africa to evangelise. America is a super power built on Christian principles... but in all this money is involved,” he said.
In a note of clarification to his sermon, the archbishop told CEN: “We are very grateful to them for sending missionaries who told us about the good news of Jesus Christ. Ironically, they seem now to be reversing themselves. Fortunately, we no longer need to be directed by them. We can read and interpret the Bible for ourselves, and we know what it says about sexual behaviour belonging between one man and one woman in holy matrimony.
“Homosexual practice is incompatible with scripture, and no one in the leadership of the church can say legitimise same sex unions or homosexuality,” Archbishop Ntagali told AFP, urging the “governing bodies of the Church of England to not take the path advocated by the West”.
Last week the Church of Nigeria congratulated the Church of Uganda for standing strong against overseas pressure for it to accommodate Western cultural practices to its preaching of the Gospel.
In a letter dated 21 February 2014, the Most Rev Nicholas Okoh, Primate of All Nigeria, commended the Church of Uganda for “upholding the authentic Gospel and the historic heritage of our Church, by rejecting the erroneous teaching and practice of homosexuality.”