The bishops of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (Anglican) have publicly apologised to homosexual people who have been hurt by the "unacceptable prejudice" against gays and lesbians within the church.
The bishops, meeting in synod in Cape Town, said in a press statement released on 6 March: "As a church we have been responsible over the centuries for rejecting many people because of their sexual orientation.
"The harshness and hostility to homosexual people within our church [are] neither acceptable nor ... in accord with our Lord's love of all people. We repent of this attitude and ask forgiveness of many homosexual people who have been hurt, rejected and marginalised because of this deep-seated prejudice," the bishops said.
However, they rejected all forms of promiscuity which, they said, dehumanised many relationships.
"The church's position is that sex is for life-long marriage with a person of the opposite sex for companionship, sexual fulfilment and procreation. The reality is that divorce and remarriage, polygamy, same-sex unions, single-parent families, and persons living together outside marriage do exist.
"As a church, we have to find loving, pastoral and creative ways of dealing with all these situations," the statement continued.
The bishops called for further study within the church on the subject of homosexuality, in particular with regard to the original Greek and Hebrew of the Biblical texts.
"We are unhappy at the tendency in some quarters to attack homosexuals on the basis of simplistic interpretations of certain scriptural texts," the bishops said.
The statement, issued on behalf of the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Njonjonkulu Ndungane, conceded there was no consensus on the topic of homosexuality among the bishops and within the church as a whole. The bishops undertook to continue to work towards consensus, pointing out, however, that it would be dishonest to force themselves into an artificial consensus in order to satisfy public pressure.
The synod discussed the issue after its theological commission tabled a report on homosexuality.
Article from: Noel Bruyns, ENI